I'm very new to RealBand, so this may just be a dumb question...
How do I access/adjust continuous controllers on a MIDI track, please?
The manual seems to imply a 'MIDI' icon, but I can't see one, or maybe use of 'shift' but nothing seems to change.
Jazz relative beginner, starting at a much older age than was helpful. AVL:MXE Linux; Windows 11 BIAB2025 Audiophile, a bunch of other software. Kawai MP6, Ui24R, Focusrite Saffire Pro40 and Scarletts .
what controllers do you want to use ? fyi rb is choch full of midi features....i like them like i like a 99 cone or knickerbory glory lol.
to save me pages of retyping from the rb manual...such is online on this site plus you will have a copy in rb via help...also go through rb tips of the day...they are a goldmine as are pg's posted vids on you tube as well as faq's mate. note rb is very deep with features...i dont know any other music app like it. (see some of my tips in pg tips forum...and have a nice pg tips cuppa tea...lol.)
i think you need this as a starting point...?? notice the controller settings features in rb piano roll.
is the above what you need ? please detail what you want to do.
hth and give my best regards to old blighty. ps i cant emphasis enough to go through all the rb tips of the day. its a wealth of info.
happiness...
om
Last edited by justanoldmuso; 09/02/2503:20 PM.
my songs....mixed for good earbuds...(fyi..my vocs on all songs..) https://soundcloud.com/alfsongs (90 songs created useing bb/rb) (lots of tips of mine in pg tips forum.)
I think I searched the manual only for 'expression', 'continuous' and then 'continuous control' to try to limit the number of hits, and I visually searched the index for similar texts. None showed, but bits I did find implied there was a way ... I just never found it.
JOM's chapter link showed it up quickly enough. I'd found the option on the piano roll, but it didn't show Expression (which is what I want) ... it appears one has to choose 'Control' then the CC number. Not unreasonable; I just never found it. Once I understood when editing it, what the red line that appeared meant, things seemed reasonable. I'll give it a proper go. I'd rather hoped for a record option from my controller pad, but it looks like there may not be one and spot editing may be the only way. That has has also helped with another issue. I guess I'd also expected to find it on the Tracks view, as there's already volume-automation(?) there.
Once I found that 'E' icon, that's also good to know, and again for things other than my present challenge.
This seemed a good time to try out RealBand ... I haven't before because I already have several DAWs that usually do what I want, but this time I was using a downloaded MIDI to make a cover of an existing song for a local dance group's publicity and I want to avoid copyright issues as far as possible. Usually I take the chord progression and build a style that has the right feel, but this time they were specific about "this song expresses our attitude". The song's chord progression is boring ... take out the melody and harmony hooks and there's basically nothing left. I need the hooks, maybe also the words, though there's usually a voice-over, with which the vocals conflict.
Jazz relative beginner, starting at a much older age than was helpful. AVL:MXE Linux; Windows 11 BIAB2025 Audiophile, a bunch of other software. Kawai MP6, Ui24R, Focusrite Saffire Pro40 and Scarletts .
Gordon. (ps RHARV...good stuff...respect.) re expression/midi.
1..IMPORTANT >>>set a rb track to midi. 2..on the left hand side of rb tracks view pull down on a track bottom with mouse. and youll find various midi settings includeing expression.
does this help ?
note...be carefull of a GOTCHA when bringing some midi songs from somewhere you didnt create. often they have front end embedded commands that will override your midi settings...SO you make a setting but the embeds override your settings. so its important if this occurs...and let me emphasise its not an rb issue as rb has no control over what other people set as embedded commands...that...you delete these front end commands in order for your own control settings to work. so you need to strip these out. as you prolly know now but i'll repeat for any lurkers rb will seperate a midi to seperate tracks...bam...done.
let me emphasise i keep on coming back to rb after my yearly sojourn testing various daws precisely for the reason that rb does things i havent seen in other daws. for example i have been an avid reaper user and avid contributor early on of feature ideas to reaps since it came out...but simply put rb has many of its own unique features. so its the old horses for courses. i use reaps for its neat things and rb for its neat things...thus its not one versus the other but a synergy of useing both mate. for example as your obviously a very experienced engineer if one considers op amps in electronics and lets say one is designing a mic pre...the designer will prolly say... 'well what components should i use to give studios the vintage sound picture they crave ? transistors ? cheap op amps ? tubes ? a combo ? can i keep price down by useing ten a penny op amps ?' as we all know sometimes its a synergy of various components that produce the optimum result according to product objectives. same with songs and useing the right apps or combo for the job. so simply put...people who never use rb are missing a heck of a lot of things that could help them. the above is just in case there are any lurkers thinking of looking at rb.
the problem re rb is lots of people dont give it a fair shake imho. i suspect some first time users open it up and possibly get bedazzled at the fact its choc full of a zillion features...and groan with the idea of going through a new learning cycle. same happened to me when i started out with rb...but i'm a stubborn SOB...lol...and the more i got into rb and the more i developed work methods specific to rb the more i realised it was a blinkin goldmine of features. in summary rb rewards the person willing to stick with it, and experiment...cos its sooo deep. lol...probably pg are sick of hearing from me re rb suggestions like other daw makers ive made suggestions to over the years.
btw...that ry mini pc i got is still a star and just works day in/out. fast win/bb/rb boots. love m.2 and no bloatware etc etc. i show friends this hold in your hand pc and what it can do re music production and it blows their blinkin minds. so i got a second one for the net. thanks for suggesting that i look at mini pc's. so i left laptops and too big towers behind.
ps i miss your lovely county of hampshire.
happiness and respect.
om.
Last edited by justanoldmuso; 09/03/2505:38 AM.
my songs....mixed for good earbuds...(fyi..my vocs on all songs..) https://soundcloud.com/alfsongs (90 songs created useing bb/rb) (lots of tips of mine in pg tips forum.)
The manual seems to imply a 'MIDI' icon, but I can't see one, or maybe use of 'shift' but nothing seems to change.
Ah, OK, that's there until replaced with an instrument icon.
-------------------------------------
Originally Posted by justanoldmuso
2..on the left hand side of rb tracks view pull down on a track bottom with mouse. and youll find various midi settings includeing expression.
does this help ?
They appear to be fixed settings; if they're automatable I have yet to find how.
Originally Posted by justanoldmuso
note...be carefull of a GOTCHA when bringing some midi songs from somewhere you didnt create. often they have front end embedded commands that will override your midi settings..
That was one of my reasons for liking the 'E' icon option. I was already aware of embedded, because I'd have volume changes overriding my own settings. BiaB has exactly the same, of course.
Originally Posted by justanoldmuso
rb has many of its own unique features. so its the old horses for courses <snip> ...people who never use rb are missing a heck of a lot of things that could help them.
What stopped me originally was learning from a friend, when I moaned, that "You don't have to use RealBand to get RealTracks; the naming misleads" and that BiaB was already a new and strange environment to which I didn't also want to add a new DAW. That's just all too much for a proper focus.
Originally Posted by justanoldmuso
...and groan with the idea of going through a new learning cycle. same happened to me when i started out with rb
Quite.
Jazz relative beginner, starting at a much older age than was helpful. AVL:MXE Linux; Windows 11 BIAB2025 Audiophile, a bunch of other software. Kawai MP6, Ui24R, Focusrite Saffire Pro40 and Scarletts .
I believe you can record controllers easily. If your controller sends them.
Choose a MIDI track and record away. CCs will get recorded. Also, on the mixer is a way to record mixer moves if that's how you like to work.
I shall be giving that a try. There isn't any obvious "record controllers without notes" option, but I can duplicate a track to experiment.
It might also be possible to copy the CC data to a different track.
Jazz relative beginner, starting at a much older age than was helpful. AVL:MXE Linux; Windows 11 BIAB2025 Audiophile, a bunch of other software. Kawai MP6, Ui24R, Focusrite Saffire Pro40 and Scarletts .
frankly ive never been happy with any daws automation features. whether drawing such in or recording fader moves. maybe its my vision impairment...but overall automation is a pita and i lose patience quickly as i never seem to be able to get the result i hear in my head. lets take volume automation as an example...entering the different graphical points drives me crazy. i find when i want precision at some point in an audio track or midi track i get the best results viz what i hear in my head by splitting out that track section to its own track. eg lets say bars 41 to 48 in a 120 bar song need special settings.... i split that 8 bars out to a seperate track. ive done a zillion vocal tracks this way irrespective of the daw i'm useing at the time eg rb or reaps or whatever daw.
frankly i think its the nature of the automation beast. often there is no option if one wants precision to get into down and dirty editing in the track itself. i used to go nuts in big studios in the 2 inch tape 24 track era trying mixer automation. if i did get it right it was often a fluke...lol.
just my 2 pennies or cents opinion. i assume you need to deal with crescendos and decrescendos ?
happiness.
om
my songs....mixed for good earbuds...(fyi..my vocs on all songs..) https://soundcloud.com/alfsongs (90 songs created useing bb/rb) (lots of tips of mine in pg tips forum.)
There isn't any obvious "record controllers without notes" option
After going to bed, I realised I'm being dumb ... just record and add to the track without actually entering any notes. Doh!
Didn't get the time to try anything today. Thanks for the extra observations, I'll try soon.
Last edited by Gordon Scott; 09/04/2502:10 PM.
Jazz relative beginner, starting at a much older age than was helpful. AVL:MXE Linux; Windows 11 BIAB2025 Audiophile, a bunch of other software. Kawai MP6, Ui24R, Focusrite Saffire Pro40 and Scarletts .
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