Breaks - Rests, Shots, and Held Chords

Breaks are points in a song when one or more of the instruments rests, plays a shot, or holds a chord.

- Rests specify any, some, or all instruments to rest at any bar. For example, you could rest all instruments except the bass for the first 4 bars, and then add the piano for 4 bars, and then add the entire band for the rest of the song. You may optionally disable the rests in the middle or final choruses (e.g., where you would likely have a solo, and rests may not be appropriate).

- Shots specify certain instruments play a “shot,” where the chord is played and then a rest follows. For example, the song “Rock Around the Clock” has a shot on beat 1 followed by a rest for 2 bars. The duration of “shots” is 60 ticks per beat.

- Held chords specify that certain instruments hold a chord sustained for a certain number of bars. For example, you can have the bass and piano hold a chord sustained while the drums continue to play a pattern.

A chord can be specified as a by adding a period after the chord.

C. indicates a C chord that is a REST.

C.. indicates a C chord that is a SHOT.

C... indicates a C chord that is a HELD CHORD.

Selecting BREAKS for different instruments.

You can specify that some instruments not be affected by the rhythm break.

The coded names for the instruments are:

B for Bass, D for Drums, P for Piano, G for Guitar, and S for Strings.

To type a rest for all instruments on a C chord type C.

To exempt instruments, add their letters following the break. For example, C.bd will put a rest on all instruments EXCEPT the bass and drums.

To indicate a held chord for all instruments except the piano, type C...p

I believe the same theory holds true for the pushes as well.


Lenovo Win 10 16 gig ram, Mac mini with 16 gig of ram, BiaB 2022, Realband, Harrison Mixbus 32c version 9.1324, Melodyne 5 editor, Presonus Audiobox 1818VSL, Presonus control app, Komplete 49 key controller.