Hi Everyone,
I'm trying to add several shot chords and a hold chords to my song. Some work great, while others sound awful. I believe I'm doing the same procedure and getting different outcomes.

Here's what I do when adding shots and holds:

1-write the chord name and place either 2 or 3 periods after the chords (for a shot or hold respectively). I also do this in the "chord settings" area with no difference.

2-when the chord sound awful I delete it and do #1 again. The tracks are unfrozen and I hit the generate and play button. Then listen to the chord. Sometimes it sounds better but still off key. Sometimes just as bad.

Of note, I've set the guitar to "simple". The only chords which sound bad are some of the shot and hold chords, no others.

Thanks in advance for any advice.
Mike

Open the RealTracks Picker window and select the RealTracks you're using. Expand the columns for Artist, Holds and Simple so the cell dialogs are fully revealed.

Artist tells you who created the RealTracks. Click on the Artist column header to sort Realtracks by Artist. The artist may have made other RealTracks using the same instrument. If they did, do those RealTracks use the same Holds folder? Look in the Holds column to find out. If so you may find you can copy Holds from one folder to another to get more holds that match your taste. Make sure you make a note of any changes you make. You may also find the RealTracks you selected uses Holds from more than one folder. Last, the RealTracks may select a hold based on simple or direct input selections.

In all this investigation you may discover the Holds folder for the RealTracks doesn't have a hold chord for the chord you want to use. Sometimes if the song is an instrumental you may find changing the key signature works because the program is using a different pool of holds.

Mike,

Another thing to try...

Use the "S" (solo) button in the mixer to isolate each individual Realtrack and play the problematic bar. Doing this allows identifying if the problem arises because of a single Realtrack (e.g. the guitars might be good but the piano is not, etc.).

Regards,
Noel

Jim, Noel,
Thanks very much for the suggestions. I'll give them a try and let you know what happened.

Much appreciated!
Mike

Hi Jim,

I did as you suggested and got into the info on Real Tracks and holds. I wasn't able to find any additional holds in other folders but enjoyed learning about the details of Real Tracks! This is really an amazing program!

Hi Noel,
I soloed each instrument and it was the guitar part that was causing the problem. I tried simplifying all the instruments but that didn't help--the final chord to my song still sounded way out of tune (but the other holds were great). So...I got rid of the final hold on the last chord, muted the drums and let the song just finish. Not perfect, but certainly good enough. I'm learning more and more about this program every day!

Thanks,
Mike

GuitarMike,

Thanks for the feedback! I'm glad you found a satisfactory resolution.

You should report the RealTrack number giving you the problem along with a reference to this thread to support@pgmusic.com to see if they can provide a fix.

This will give a greater variety of holds also if they add the RealChart to the hold:
RealTrack don't always get it right :
RealChart Midi Edit Changes RealTrack Audio