<grrrr> One of those things that I couldn't let-go until 1am...

Here's where I'm at now. I went into the thread "Unbelievable: Quickstart Tutorial", (and I truly thank Funkifized for expressing much of the same frustration that I've had with RealBand for the last 5-6 years.) And I thank those that suggested step-by-step ways to try to troubleshoot the problem. I think a lot of the problem had to do with ASIO and switching to the MME drivers. (For the record, I haven't actually selected or attempted to use the drivers for the Lexicon/Omega yet. I'll save that particular form of self-abuse for another day.)

At this point, I've discovered that I could use the DAW mode to transfer tracks from BiaB to RB... This is a workaround, because the file that I've been trying to use for my first RB project still crashes the RB process. (I've checked for other open dialogue boxes, other open apps, and have closed everything that isn't RB, and the problem still occurs.) I don't know if it matters, but the .SGU track I'm trying to open has both RealTracks and MIDI tracks in it. (I would be glad to send it if someone else wants to see if they get the same result.)

The second thing I notice is that when I attempt to use the DAW function to transfer the tracks one-at-a-time all the RealTracks come over just fine, and are in-sync with each other. When I do it with the MIDI tracks, (Rhodes piano and the Strings tracks), they come over, but they're out-of-sync. They both have about an extra second of time at the front that throws them off. I don't know how to edit out the extra time to sync them up, but I find it odd that they're out-of-sync in the first place.

So, I found a workaround for that. I exported the two tracks as separate WAV files, and then imported the WAV files into RB in separate tracks. (This is supposed to be "easier"?--"more efficient"?) So, now I finally have an RB file with each of the instruments on separate tracks. (It sure would have been easier if I could have just opened the .SGU file from RB and imported it...)

So, if someone has suggestions on how to sync up the MIDI tracks with the RealTracks tracks, I'd appreciate it...Or better yet, how to get RB to open a BiaB track in the first place.

Today, I'm going to play around with the Lexicon/Omega, and see if I can figure out how to use it to lay in the guitar-overdubs. (This may be more "interesting" than it sounds because I plan to make the first overlays a stereo track coming out of my Roland GR-33 Synth, and the stereo-output of my Line-6/PodXT....)

Thanks for the help so far...

But I would like to add to Funkifized's general impressions... RB may be "intuitively obvious" to some. I've been in the computer field since about 1975, and for about 20 years I was a software developer; and for about 4 years, 1998-2002, I was a "human factors engineer" for Lucent evaluating whether our telephony-control software was "human-friendly" or not. I've been whacking on PC's/laptops for about 25 years, and while I consider myself a "semi-expert" on BiaB (since about Version "12", around 2005), I keep pulling up RB about every 6 months to play with it...Then after a couple of hours I get frustrated and just shut it down. The "help files" are difficult to use; (who creates a help file nowadays that doesn't allow you to use the up-down roller knob on the mouse? or use Ctrl-F to FIND phrases in it all the way through the file?) I've watched the video tutorials, and while they point out some "features", they are hardly a "how-to" that one can use to LEARN the program.

Just my general observations... I'm going to try to stay with it this time and see if I can get a handle on it...(After 6 years, I figure it's time.) But editing and moving things around and "tweaking" must sure be easier for some than others.

Last edited by LadyJazzer; 01/16/11 08:25 AM.
"You play pretty good--for a girl."