BACKGROUND The trick with the harmonisers is not to have the harmony too loud because every now and then audio artifacts and octave jumps occur. These are incredibly difficult to avoid. Fortunately, at lower volumes, the listener's ear doesn't hear them and the harmony is still just as effective. I've used TC Helicon Harmony many times and I like it.
Harmonisers are also useful for creating a track that user can learn to sing and then create their own vocal harmony.
PG Music include a songfile and an associated WAV file that can be used to practice with the harmonisers. This file is found in...
\bb\Documentation\Tutorials – Audio Harmony
The file is called LISTEN.MGU
CREATING HARMONY WITH TC HELICON IN REALBAND
1. Open the file Listen.MGU (mentioned above) in Realband and test that it plays.
2. Save it as an SEQ file. This is Realband's file format and saves BIAB information as well as Audio information.
3. If the file doesn't play it means that Audio and MIDI driver settings need looking at. Please create a thread in the Realband forum at the link below
7. After you select the top options, you'll be taken the screen on IMAGE 3 below. Set it as I've shown.
Notice that Audio is track #8 and that the first empty track on which to write the first harmony track is #10. For this reason, I chose "11" as my first harmony track (#5 on IMAGE 3)
8. Click OK
9. When you get to the next screen (IMAGE 4), set it as I've shown.
What to look at...
I've turned down the volume of the input track 8 to zero (#1)
#2 shows which setting refers to Harmony Down and which refers to Harmony Up.
I've left the volume settings where they were. If you want to make volumes louder, slide these upwards.
#4 I've set the "Harmony Down" to sound a little more masculine (the 'M' setting)
#5 I've set the "Harmony Up" to be a little more feminine (the 'F' setting)
#6 I've added a natural vibrato to "Harmony Up"
10. Leave everything else as is and click on "Generate" on the right side of the dialogue box. IMAGE 5 shows the harmony tracks written to Realband tracks 11 and 12.
After I played around with volume levels -- I raised all the MIDI volumes and lowered the Audio track volume a little...you'll find mp3 files of my results at the end of the post.
NOTE: I only used Coyote WT to play the MIDI backing. With either Realtracks or a superior soft synth the mp3 files would sound much better.
The good news is that once creating harmony with TC Helicon is mastered, the second harmoniser on IMAGE 1 in the first post, is pretty much self-explanatory.
In other words... it's worthwhile learning TC Helicon.
Beatmaster: Hope it worked ok for you! Please let me know if my instructions are lacking any where and I'll adjust them.
rharv: I had no idea that webpage existed! I seriously enjoyed listening to "After The Storm". That's a great sounding piano! You've also managed to take TC Helicon to levels I have yet to achieve. You've given me some goals to work towards now. Thanks!
One thing I will add is that if you are recording a vocal, you should sing/record it without vibrato in your voice (just sing it straight). It makes for a cleaner harmony in the end. You can record the vocal twice (one with vibrato, one without), and use the one without vibrato to create the harmony. You can add harmony back in to the harmony tracks using the drop down after creating the harmony tracks. This should give you better results.
John
Laptop-HP Omen I7 Win11Pro 32GB 2x2TB, 1x4TB SSD Desktop-ASUS-I7 Win10Pro 32GB 2x1.5TB, 2x2TB, 1x4TB SATA
Noel, As I thought about this,that was a 12 bit 32k sampled piano from my Roland S-series sampler (or maybe the W-30) back in the day. Probably late 80's. It worked for this song I guess, but the piano sound is all a facade <grin> .. the sound set loaded from a 720k floppy. Yeah, I'm that old
We have much nicer sounding pianos available now .. maybe this one worked because the song was written using this sound and the whole mix was shaped around it (?) I dunno, but thanks!
Make your sound your own! .. I do not work here, but the benefits are still awesome
Convenient Ways to Listen to Band-in-a-Box® Songs Created by Program Users!
The User Showcase Forum is an excellent place to share your Band-in-a-Box® songs and listen to songs other program users are creating!
There are other places you can listen to these songs too! Visit our User Showcase page to sort by genre, artist (forum name), song title, and date - each listing will direct you to the forum post for that song.
If you'd rather listen to these songs in one place, head to our Band-in-a-Box® Radio, where you'll have the option to select the genre playlist for your listening pleasure. This page has SoundCloud built in, so it won't redirect you. We've also added the link to the Artists SoundCloud page here, and a link to their forum post.
We hope you find some inspiration from this amazing collection of User Showcase Songs!
Our User Showcase Forum receives more than 50 posts per day, with people sharing their Band-in-a-Box songs and providing feedback for other songs posted.
Video: Enhanced Melodists in Band-in-a-Box® 2024 for Windows®!
We've enhanced the Melodists feature included in Band-in-a-Box® 2024 for Windows!
Access the Melodist feature by pressing F7 in the program to open the new MultiPicker Library and locate the [Melodist] tab.
You can now generate a melody on any track in the program - very handy! Plus, you select how much of the melody you want generated - specify a range, or apply it to the whole track.
This new panel offers built-in specific support for the Reaper® DAW API allowing direct transfer of Band-in-a-Box® files to/from Reaper® tracks!
When you run the Plugin from Reaper®, there is a panel to set the following options:
-BB Track(s) to send: This allows you to select the Plugin tracks that will be sent Reaper.
-Destination Reaper Track: This lets you select the destination Reaper track to receive media content from the Plugin.
-At Bar: You can select a bar in Reaper where the Plugin tracks should be placed.
-Start Below Selected Track: This allows you to place the Plugin tracks below the destination Reaper track.
-Overwrite Reaper Track: You can overwrite previous content on the destination Reaper track.
-Move to Project Folder: With this option, you can move the Plugin tracks to the Reaper project folder.
-Send Reaper Instructions Enable this option to send the Reaper Instructions instead of rendering audio tracks, which is faster.
-Render Audio & Instructions: Enable this option to generate audio files and the Reaper instructions.
-Send Tracks After Generating: This allows the Plugin to automatically send tracks to Reaper after generating.
-Send Audio for MIDI Track: Enable this option to send rendered audio for MIDI tracks.
-Send RealCharts with Audio: If this option is enabled, Enable this option to send RealCharts with audio.
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