Cathie
try this alt approach to getting your song ideas down.
(ive done a ton of songs useing pg products over the years.
whether they or i are any good ; who knows.LOL.
but i feel a great sense of satisfaction at takeing an idea from my brain and finally hearing back the full finished song after many hours of work. thus pg products DO WORK.)
AN ALT METHOD.
1. fix firmly in your mind how you want the song to end up.
2. open up realband.
3. go to the option fill trak with drum pattern.
and find a drum pattern you like.
4. now layout the chords to your song in rb.
5. haveing done above just go to RT picker and search function acoustic guitar STRUM. FIND ONE STRUM YOU LIKE THAT FITS YOUR SONG VISION IN YOUR MIND. IE ONE WHERE YOU GO "YEAH THATS SWEET".
at this point cathie the whole idea is to build what are termed "scratch idea traks". ie your just getting the rough idea of the song down. and the arrangement generated in a simple fashion.
(think scratchpad.)
ie pulling the song idea out of ones mind and getting it down in a scratch form.
6.now sing a rough vocal on a spare rb trak. (you have 48.) and repeat vocal AGAIN ON A NEW TRAK. this will give the vocal "character". maybe experiment with some pg fx like echo chorus (just a tad) on one of the vocal traks youve recorded.
7. NOW STEP BACK AND EVALUATE. what does the song need versus what you hear in your mind ? any arrangement changes ? write down in a notebook what the song needs !
8. if happy with arrange now list what other instruments you hear in your mind and start building up test traks useing other RT's and midi traks.

sorry i dont have space to continue. but hopefully this will get you started on the foundation of your song.
GOOD LUCK !
ps if you need a decent audio interface. many are listed in the rb forum by lots of pg users. see the asio sound devices thread. i assume you have a good vocal mic.

best
oldmuso

Last edited by justanoldmuso; 05/15/21 01:41 AM.
New Song "PRETTY GIRL" for my wife...Dec 2023
(my vocs....mixed for good earbuds.)
https://soundcloud.com/alfsongs/prettygirlrbfinalcalfsongsdec2023mp3
(and rock song THE STALLION and bluegrass song... BANKER MAN....90 songs useing bb/rb.)