RealDrums
Styles Advanced Information
This
tutorial describes how you can make RealDrums styles. It is based on
Band-in-a-Box® for Windows, however it can be applied to Band-in-a-Box®
for Macintosh with these minor modifications...
The default
location of the Drums folder is /Applications/Band-in-a-Box®/Drums
(instead of C:\bb\Drums)
You will be
working with AIFF audio files instead of WAV files.
In the text
file, it points to the audio files with "wavename=MyRealDrumsFile.WAV.
This line should still end in .WAV for both Windows and Mac versions
even though the actual file may be MyRealDrumsFile.AIFF,
MyRealDrumsFile.M4A, or MyRealDrumsFile.WMA.
Edit the
following text files adding your Drum infomation to the bottom of the
text files (create backups first).
RealDrums
Name to:
Applications/Band-in-a-Box/Data/PGALLDrumFolderNames.txt
(this is the list that shows when you check "Show RealDrums that are
NA" in the Drum picker window, if you have any of those drum styles
then they will show)
Tags to:
Applications/Band-in-a-Box/Data/DrumStylesInfo2.txt
Info to:
Applications/Band-in-a-Box/Preferences/RDUserMemos.txt
Topics
covered:
Introduction to RealDrums
Making A RealDrums Style Using An Existing Template
Elements of RealDrums styles: The wave file
Elements of RealDrums styles: The text file
Testing your RealDrums styles
Using your RealDrums in Band-in-a-Box®
Introduction
to RealDrums
RealDrums
are actual recordings of studio drummers, pieced together by
Band-in-a-Box® to create a unique "real" drum track that is played
along with the MIDI tracks created by Band-in-a-Box® styles. You can
combine any RealDrums style with any Band-in-a-Box® style, so the
potential combinations are endless!
A RealDrums
style consists of a wave file containing various bars of drum patterns,
and a text file with instructions on how Band-in-a-Box® should
interpret the wave file. In order for the style to work, the text file
needs to be located in the main Band-in-a-Box® directory in the "Drums"
folder, and then in a sub-directory that is the name of the style
group. The file-name needs to be the same as the style group, followed
by an underscore ( _ ) and a three digit number representing the tempo.
Additionally, "_Style" has to be in the filename after the tempo.
For
example, for a "JazzBrushes" style that is 120 beats-per-minute, this
text file needs to be present:
C:\bb\Drums\JazzBrushes\JazzBrushes_120_Style.txt
The wave
file also needs to be in a subdirectory of the "Drums" folder. It is
usually located in the same place as the text file:
C:\bb\Drums\JazzBrushes\JazzBrushes_120_Style.wav
However it
can be in a different directory, and there are some instances where
this is necessary (see "Reduced Styles" below).
"RealDrums
style groups" are multiple RealDrums styles that have the same basic
feel, but were recorded at different tempos. In the example above,
"JazzBrushes" is the group, and "JazzBrushes_120_Style" is the style.
In that particular example, the JazzBrushes group contains 10 RealDrums
styles:
JazzBrushes_045_Style
JazzBrushes_060_Style
JazzBrushes_070_Style
JazzBrushes_100_Style
JazzBrushes_120_Style
JazzBrushes_145_Style
JazzBrushes_175_Style
JazzBrushes_210_Style
JazzBrushes_250_Style
JazzBrushes_300_Style
The easiest
way to make a style is to use a text-file template.
Making a
RealDrums style using an existing template
Templates
are available for download.
The
information given below is all you need to create a RealDrums style
using any of several provided templates.
For a more
in-depth look at the intricate details of creating styles, please read
on to the following topics under Elements of RealDrums styles
Recording
your wave file
For the
wave file that will be used for your RealDrums style, you can either
record a drummer, or you can piece together a wave file using drum
loops. If you use drum loops, just make sure you have the necessary
permission from the original artists and/or publishers of the loops.
Regardless
of the method that you choose for creating your drum wave file, you
need to have it conform to one of these descriptions in order to have
it match the accompanying template:
1.
32_bars_of_drumming.txt
2.
32_bars_of_drumming_with_shots.txt
3.
32_bars_of_drumming_with_shots_two_endings.txt
4.
64_bars_of_drumming.txt
5.
64_bars_of_drumming_with_shots.txt
6.
64_bars_of_drumming_with_shots_two_endings.txt
32_bars_of_drumming.txt
Bars 3-18 will use the same basic groove:
3 - PostFill (usually a bar of playing with a cymbal shot at the
downbeat, or some kind of bar that would sound good after a fill)
4-9 - normal playing
10 - Fill
11 - PostFill
12-17 - normal playing
18 - Fill
Bars 19-34 will use a slightly different groove ('B' section) than 3-18
19 - PostFill
20-25 - normal playing
26 - Fill
27 - PostFill
28-33 – normal playing
34 – Fill
35-36 - ending, lasting two bars (usually the second bar ends on the
downbeat, with a cymbal decaying)
32_bars_of_drumming_with_shots_two_endings.txt
This is exactly the same as 1, with these bars added:
37 – single drum hit, which will be used for "shots" in Band-in-a-Box®
38 – single drum hit, which will be used for "pushes" in Band-in-a-Box®
32_bars_of_drumming_with_shots_two_endings.txt
bar# 1-2 - count-in for two bars (i.e., "one, two, one-two-three-four")
Bars 3-20 will use the same basic groove:
3 - PostFill (usually a bar of playing with a cymbal shot at the
downbeat, or some kind of bar that would sound good after a fill)
4-9 - normal playing
10 - Fill
11 - PostFill
12-17 - normal playing
18 - Fill
19-20 - two bar ending
Bars 21-36 will use a slightly different groove ('B' section) than 3-20
21 - PostFill
22-27 - normal playing
28 - Fill
29 - PostFill
30-35 - normal playing
36 - Fill
37-38 - ending, lasting two bars (usually the second bar ends on the
downbeat, with a cymbal decaying)
39 - single drum hit, which will be used for "shots" in Band-in-a-Box®
40 - single drum hit, which will be used for "pushes" in Band-in-a-Box®
64_bars_of_drumming.txt
bar# 1-2 - count-in for two bars (i.e., "one, two, one-two-three-four")
Bars 3-34 will use the same basic groove:
3 - PostFill (usually a bar of playing with a cymbal shot at the
downbeat, or some kind of bar that would sound good after a fill)
4-9 - normal playing
10 - Fill
11 - PostFill
12-17 - normal playing
18 - Fill
19 - PostFill
20-25 - normal playing
26 - Fill
27 - PostFill
28-33 - normal playing
34 - Fill
Bars 35-66 will use a slightly different groove ('B' section) than 3-18
35 - PostFill
36-41 - normal playing
42 - Fill
43 - PostFill
44-49 - normal playing
50 - Fill
51 - PostFill
52-57 - normal playing
58 - Fill
59 - PostFill
60-65 - normal playing
66 - Fill
67-68 - ending, lasting two bars (usually the second bar ends on the
downbeat, with a cymbal decaying)
64_bars_of_drumming_with_shots.txt
This is exactly the same as 5, with these bars added:
69 - single drum hit, which will be used for "shots" in Band-in-a-Box®
70 - single drum hit, which will be used for "pushes" in Band-in-a-Box®
64_bars_of_drumming_with_shots_two_endings.txt
bar# 1-2 - count-in for two bars (i.e., "one, two, one-two-three-four")
Bars 3-36 will use the same basic groove:
3 - PostFill (usually a bar of playing with a cymbal shot at the
downbeat, or some kind of bar that would sound good after a fill)
4-9 - normal playing
10 - Fill
11 - PostFill
12-17 - normal playing
18 - Fill
19 - PostFill
20-25 - normal playing
26 - Fill
27 - PostFill
28-33 - normal playing
34 - Fill
35-36 - 2 bar ending
Bars 37-70 will use a slightly different groove ('B' section) than 3-18
37 - PostFill
38-43 - normal playing
44 - Fill
45 - PostFill
46-51 - normal playing
52 - Fill
53 - PostFill
54-59 - normal playing
60 - Fill
61 - PostFill
62-67 - normal playing
68 - Fill
69-70 - 2 bar ending
71 - single drum hit, which will be used for "shots" in Band-in-a-Box®
72 - single drum hit, which will be used for "pushes" in Band-in-a-Box®
Editing
the text file
For the
most part, the text files are ready-to-go. There are, however, a few
small essential changes that you need to make to the text file, and
some other small changes you can make to improve your style.
Essential
Changes
The first
thing you need to do is change the filename of the wave-file and the
text file to match the RealDrums style group to which to which you want
your style to belong. For example, if you want your style group to be
called "MyFunkyStyle," and the style you recorded was at 70 beats per
minute, your wave file would have to be called
"MyFunkyStyle_070_Style.wav" and your text file would have to be called
"MyFunkyStyle_070_Style.txt." Both files would have to be placed in
your main Band-in-a-Box® directory (usually C:\BB) in the "Drums"
folder, and from there in a folder that is named for the style group.
In this case, it would be C:\BB\Drums\MyFunkyStyle\.
The second
thing you have to do is to change the first line of the text file so
that it has the same name as the wave file. In this case, you would
change "wavename=mystyle.wav" to "wavename=MyFunkyStyle_070_Style.wav"
The last
thing you would need to do would be that if your style were a waltz
(3:4) style, you would need to change "TimeSig=4" to "TimeSig=3". If,
however, you are making a 4:4 style, your style is ready to be used!
Additional
Changes
There are a
few additional changes that could be made to fine-tune your style. The
first is to enter a different value in the "Offset=" line. Drummers
often hit a drum a few milliseconds before the beat, because the actual
sound of the drum tends to peak a few milliseconds after it is hit.
Because of this, you want Band-in-a-Box® to "grab" a bar of drums a few
ticks (1 beat = 120 ticks) early to compensate for this. The amount
entered in the template is -5 (ticks), but if you are finding that the
drum hits at the beginning of bars are not starting properly, you can
experiment by setting a different offset value. -6 or lower (since it's
a negative number "lower" means -7, -8, -9, etc.) will mean the bar is
"grabbed" earlier, and a higher number (-4, -3, -2, -1, 0, etc.) means
that it will be "grabbed" closer to the bar line.
Another
thing you can change is the volume. If you are finding your style is
too loud in Band-in-a-Box®, you can reduce this by entering lower
numbers in the "dbAdjust=" line. The default is 0, but if you enter -1,
-2, -3, etc., the drum volume will be lowered.
For the
patterns and the shots, all of the patterns that are entered in the
templates will match your wave file, provided that the wave file was
recorded to the specifications listed above. You can make changes to
the patterns and shots, but it is a good idea to read further into the
specific meaning of all of the elements of these lines. This can be
done in the complete RealDrums style making documentation.
Testing
your RealDrums style
Once you
have made your RealDrums style, you can test it in Band-in-a-Box® by
loading a song and setting the tempo near to the tempo of the style you
just created. You would then go into the RealDrums Settings dialog
(either by selecting Opt. | Preferences | RealDrums or by pressing the
RealDrums toolbar button) and make sure RealDrums are enabled. Put a
checkmark beside "For this song only, use this RealDrum style," and
then select your style from the "RD" button. When you close the dialog
and play your song, your RealDrums style should be playing as well. To
make sure that it is playing, you can look at the Band-in-a-Box® title
bar. If your style is "MyFunkyStyle_070_Style," you should see
[RealDrums=MyFunkyStyle_070].
Elements
of RealDrums Styles: The wave file
The wave
file must contain a two bar count-in. This can be a metronome sound, a
drummer actually counting in, or even a two-bar drum fill. These two
bars will always be played at the beginning of a Band-in-a-Box® song,
unless the count-in is disabled in the preferences. It is important to
note that the beginning of the wave file should not contain a bar of
drum playing that is intended to be used in the middle of a song. If
this bar were chosen, there would likely be an audible gap of silence
at the beginning of the bar when playing in Band-in-a-Box® (this is due
to the "ms offset" which will be discussed later).
The
majority of the wave file can then contain any number of bars of
drumming, keeping in mind that there are two "substyles" available in
Band-in-a-Box®. This means that the basic groove should be the same
throughout the first half of the drum bars, and then the groove can
change and should remain basically the same through to the end. Keep in
mind also when you either record or piece together your wave file, that
in each "substyle", there need to be examples of fills, normal bars,
and post-fills (bars specifically designed to come after fills, often
containing a crash cymbal which completes a fill). You also need at
least one 2-bar ending.
After the
bars of drumming should be a short section of single drum hits. These
will be used to mix in with the bars of drumming to emulate pushes and
shots.
Example 1
shows an entire RealDrums style wave file. You can see that the first
two bars contain the count-in, then the majority of the file is taken
up by regular drumming (you can see that halfway through the pattern is
different - this represents the 'B' subsection), then at the end there
are 4 "shots" (single drum hits).
Example
1: Wave form of an entire RealDrums style wave file
Elements
of RealDrums Styles: The text file
The text
file contains three main portions, global settings, pattern definition,
and shots definition. We'll examine each one separately.
Global
Settings
Wavename=x.wav
The first
line of the text file must be "wavename=x.wav", where "x" is the name
of the filename. For example, the first line of the JazzBrushes_120
text file is "wavename=JazzBrushes_120_Style.wav". This file usually is
in the same directory as the text file, but does not have to be. For
example, you could make an alternate style that used
JazzBrushes_120_Style.wav called JazzBrushesAlternate. The text file
would have to reside in
C:\bb\Drums\JazzBrushesAlternate\JazzBrushesAlternate_120_Style.txt,
but the first line would still be "wavename=JazzBrushes_120_Style.wav".
ForceWavTempo=x
This is
only used if the tempo of the style in question is different from the
tempo that is in the filename of the wave file being used. These are
called "reduced" or "expanded" styles, and will be discussed further
below.
TimeSig=3
This would
be used if you are making a waltz style. The line can simply be omitted
when making 4:4 styles.
OFFSET=x
Often a
drummer will hit a drum or cymbal slightly before a beat so that the
actual peak of the sound occurs on the beat itself. The offset
determines how many ticks (1 beat =120 ticks) before the downbeat a bar
of drums will be taken from the style wave file, which is intended to
compensate for any occurrence of this early playing on the drum track.
It is important to note that if a bar is taken 10 ticks early from the
style wave file, it is also placed 10 ticks early on the Band-in-a-Box®
drum track, so there will be no shifting of the actual groove.
If no
offset amount is entered, the program defaults to an offset of 0.
To
determine a good offset amount for a particular wave file, you can use
an audio editor (such as PowerTracks Pro Audio) to zoom in on the
downbeats of all (or a sampling) of the bars. You can then measure the
number of ticks between the start of the drum hits and the actual bar
line. The highest example would be entered as the offset amount.
In example
2, the beginning of the drum hit at bar 15 occurs at 14:04:118, or 2
ticks before the downbeat of bar 15. If all other bars were similar,
you would enter an offset of -2.
Example 2:
The left edge of the highlighted area represents the beginning of the
drum hit that occurs at bar 15, and the right edge of the highlighted
area represents the actual downbeat of bar 15.
dbadjust=x
If a value
is entered here, when the RealDrums track is played in Band-in-a-Box®,
the volume will be raised (or lowered if a negative value is entered)
by the amount entered. This is used to balance the RealDrums against
the other DXi instruments. This amount can be fine-tuned once the style
is completed and it is possible to test it in Band-in-a-Box®.
If no
dbadjust amount is entered, the program defaults to an adjust of 0.
dbadjustA=x
dbadjustB=y
You can
adjust the volume of the A section and B section patterns separately in
the same manner as "dbadjust" using "dbadjustA=" and "dbadjustB=". The
final volume of the parts will be based on the "dbadjust" amount added
to the adjust for the substyle in question. For example, let's assume
these values were entered:
Dbadjust=-5
DbadjustA=-2
DbadjustB=3
The total
volume adjust for the A section would be (-5)+(-2)= -7. The total
volume adjust for the B section would be (-5)+3= -2.
MultibarPatternPercent=x
When
Band-in-a-Box® is choosing a RealDrums pattern (see "patterns" below)
for a particular bar in a song, it randomly selects from all possible
patterns that fit based on their relative weight. If, however, a
percentage is entered here, then before this step it determines whether
the current bar will be use a multi-bar pattern based on the
percentage. If this occurs, Band-in-a-Box® eliminates all 1-bar
patterns as possibilities for the current bar of music. For example, if
"MultibarPatternPercent=20" is entered, then every time Band-in-a-Box®
searches for a pattern, there is a 20% chance that it will eliminate
1-bar patterns as possibilities. If "MultibarPatternPercent=80" is
entered, then every time there will be an 80% chance that 1-bar
patterns will be eliminated as possibilities. If such an instance
occurs, but no multi-bar patterns will fit in the Band-in-a-Box® bar in
question, a 1-bar pattern will be allowed.
If no
amount is entered here, then Band-in-a-Box® simply always picks between
all possible patterns based on their relative weights.
PushAmount8=x
PushAmount16=x
When pushes
are entered in Band-in-a-Box® (with either "^" for an 8th note push or
"^^" for a 16th note push, entered before a chord"), the RealDrums mix
single drum hits with the bars of regular playing to emphasize the
push. These settings determine how many ticks prior to a beat the
pushes are played.
Mathematically,
since 1 quarter-note is 120 ticks, in a straight 8th style the 8th-note
will be 60 ticks and the 16th-note will be 30 ticks, and in a swing 8th
style the 8th-note will be 40 ticks. However, since drummers
(thankfully!) do not play mathematically, these numbers will vary based
on their individual style, and the amount of "swing" in their playing.
A good amount to enter for these values can be determined by closely
examining the drummers playing in an audio editor and measuring the
number of ticks between a few 8th-notes prior to beats.
In this
straight-8ths style (example 3), this eighth note played prior to the
downbeat of bar 6 is played at 5:04:058, or 62 ticks before the
downbeat. The rest of the file could be examined in a similar fashion
(or random samplings), but based on this example you would enter
PushAmount8=62.
Example 3:
The left edge of the highlighted area represents the eighth note before
the downbeat of bar 6,
and the
right edge of the highlighted area represents the downbeat of bar 6.
If no
amount is entered for these values, Band-in-a-Box® determines the
amount based on whether or not the Band-in-a-Box® style being used is a
swing or straight 8th style.
ASubstyleAllowed=NO
BSubstyleAllowed=NO
Using
either one of these lines blocks all patterns for the specified
substyle, and then uses the patterns of the remaining substyle for the
entire song, regardless of the substyle selected in Band-in-a-Box®.
This can be
useful for altering an existing style. For example, if you have a style
made that uses brushes at the A section and sticks at the B section,
but you want to change it so that it only uses sticks, you can enter
the line "AsubstyleAllowed=NO" into the text file. All of the B section
patterns will be used for both A section parts and B section parts in
Band-in-a-Box®. This is also a useful tool in making "Alternate" styles
(see "Alternate Styles and Expanded/Reduced Styles" below).
It is
important, however, to not enter both of these lines. If you do this,
Band-in-a-Box® will not be able to find any patterns at all, and you
will get an error message.
MSSlide=x
This shifts
the entire drum part either forwards or backwards by x number of
milliseconds in relation to the MIDI parts. A negative amount will make
it play slightly before the MIDI parts, while a positive amount will
make it play slightly after the MIDI parts. This can be used to make
slight changes to the overall feel of the drummer. Entering a negative
amount will simulate a drummer playing slightly ahead of the beat,
while entering a positive amount will simulate a drummer playing
slightly behind the beat. Either scenario can be musically effective in
its own way.
***Note:
The MSSlide feature has not yet been implemented yet, but is planned to
be added in a future release. However, this line of text can be added
without causing any problems in the style, it will simply have no
effect until the feature is implemented.
Pattern
Definition
All
patterns are defined in the text file using lines of text containing
seven elements, with each of the seven elements separated by a comma.
The seven elements are: 1) the text "pattern", 2) type of pattern, 3)
section definition (A, B or all), 4) weight (how often the pattern will
be played), 5) Mask (restrictions on where the pattern can be played),
6) duration of the pattern in bars, 7) the location of the pattern in
the style wave file.
Here are
some examples of defined patterns:
pattern,Normal,A,2,1,2,75
pattern,Fill,A,1,0,1,58
pattern,PostFill,B,8,0,8,3
pattern,Ending,0,6,0,2,114
pattern,Count-in,0,5,0,2,-1
As you can
see, each example here starts with the text "pattern." This simply lets
Band-in-a-Box® know that the line contains information regarding drum
parts that will be inserted into the RealDrums track. The next element
is the type of pattern, and here we have examples of "normal," "fill,"
"PostFill", "Ending" and "Count-in" types of patterns. The next element
is the section definition, and we have examples of "A" section
patterns, "B" section patterns and "0" patterns, for which sections are
not applicable. The next element is the weight. In these examples we
have weights of 2, 1, 8, 6, and 5. The higher the weight, the more
frequently the pattern will be chosen. The next element is the mask.
There are examples here of "0" masks, which impose no additional
restrictions on where the pattern can be played and a "1" mask, which
does impose certain restrictions. The next element is the duration in
bars, and we have examples here of patterns that last 1, 2 or 8 bars
long. The final element is the location of the pattern in the style
wave file. These numbers represent bars, however you'll notice that one
of the examples has a location of -1. This is because Band-in-a-Box®
uses a -1 based numbering system for bars of music in a song, which
will be explained in more detail below.
The six
elements that come after the text "pattern" are explained here in
further detail:
Type
of pattern
There are 5 different types of patterns, "Fill," "PostFill," "PreFill,"
"Normal," "Ending" and "Count-in."
Fills
Fills always occur in the bar immediately prior to part markers. In
Band-in-a-Box® songs, part markers (A or B) are used to delineate
musical phrases. Since drum fills are also used to conclude musical
phrases, drum fills always occur in the last bar before a part marker.
Unlike other patterns, fills can only be 1 bar long.
Here are some examples of Fill patterns defined:
pattern,Fill,A,1,0,1,8
pattern,Fill,B,6,0,1,32
pattern,Fill,B,5,0,1,58
PostFills
As the name implies, PostFills bars occur after Fills. That means that
PostFill bars always occur in bars in which there are part markers.
Typically, PostFill bars are generally bars that have a cymbal crash on
the downbeat, which is intended as a completion to the fill that
occurred in the previous bar. PostFills can be any number of bars long.
Here are some examples of PostFill patterns defined:
pattern,PostFill,A,8,0,8,1
pattern,PostFill,A,5,0,1,9
pattern,PostFill,B,4,0,2,17
PreFills
PreFill bars occur immediately before Fills. PreFills are not essential
for a style to work, but can be useful in situations where a drummer
begins an elaborate fill a bar early. When Band-in-a-Box® picks
patterns for bars that precede fills, it picks from among the pool of
normal and prefill patterns. Prefills can be 1 or 2 bars long, with the
2-bar prefill containing the actual fill as well.
Here are some examples of PreFill patterns defined:
pattern,PreFill,A,4,0,2,7
pattern,PreFill,B,7,0,1,57
Normal
Patterns
Normal patterns generally make up the bulk of a Band-in-a-Box® song.
Any bar that is not immediately before or after a part marker, and is
not a count-in or ending, will be taken from the pool of normal
patterns.
Example 4: All
of the highlighted bars in this example are "normal" bars.
Here are
some examples of Normal patterns defined:
pattern,Normal,A,2,0,1,3
pattern,Normal,A,5,3,2,11
pattern,Normal,B,5,1,2,75
pattern,Normal,B,2,5,2,64
Endings
Endings are
always 2 bars long, and generally have characteristics of fills for the
first bar, but then end with a drum hit on the 2nd bar, sometimes with
a cymbal on the downbeat, but also often with a particular rhythmic
figure. You should check the ending in the Band-in-a-Box® style that
you will be using the RealDrum style with to see what kind of rhythm
should be used in the drums to match up. Endings can only be 2 bars
long, and you need to have at least one ending defined for a style to
work.
RealDrums
Style Example 5
Example 5:
The two highlighted bars show where an ending is played in
Band-in-a-Box®.
Count-ins
Count-ins
are always 2 bars long, and always occur at the beginning of a song
(unless the count-in is disabled in settings). Count-ins are usually
side stick tapping "one_ two_ one, two, three, four", but you can put
anything in these two bars. You can have a person actually counting in,
or you can have 2 bars of drum fills as your count-in, etc.
Section
Definition
Band-in-a-Box®
styles and RealDrums styles have two "subsections," an 'A' subsection
and a 'B' subsection. When defining patterns, you need to specify
whether the pattern is intended to be played during 'A' section or the
'B' section. For patterns to which the section is not applicable, you
can fill this space with a "0." These include the count-in and the
ending. You can make an exception for the ending, if you want to
specifically designate an ending to occur only when the preceding bar
is 'A' or 'B'. Instead of "0," you would enter "Aending" or "Bending."
Just remember that if you do this, you need to cover both
eventualities. If you enter a "0" ending, this on its own covers both
cases.
Here are
some examples of 'A' patterns:
pattern,Fill,A,1,0,1,8
pattern,PostFill,A,8,0,8,1
pattern,PostFill,A,5,0,1,9
pattern,PreFill,A,4,0,2,7
pattern,Normal,A,2,0,1,3
pattern,Normal,A,5,3,2,11
Here are
some examples of 'B' patterns:
pattern,Fill,B,6,0,1,32
pattern,Fill,B,5,0,1,58
pattern,PostFill,B,4,0,2,17
pattern,PreFill,B,7,0,1,57
pattern,Normal,B,5,1,2,75
pattern,Normal,B,2,5,2,64
Here are
some examples of '0' patterns:
pattern,Count-in,0,5,0,2,-1
pattern,ending,0,1,0,1,33
Here are
some examples of special-case endings:
pattern,ending,Aending,5,0,2,37
pattern,ending,Bending,5,0,2,77
Weight
Every time
that Band-in-a-Box® needs to find a RealDrums pattern to insert into a
Band-in-a-Box® bar, it first finds all possible patterns that would fit
(based on the type of pattern, the section definition, the mask and the
length), and then it picks randomly from those patterns based on the
weight assigned.
The weight
is a number between 1 and 8 (there are special cases where you can use
0 or 9 which we will examine at the end of this section). When
Band-in-a-Box® has amassed the list of possible patterns, it then adds
up the weights of all of these patterns, and then the chances that each
pattern will be selected is based upon a percentage determined by the
weight of the pattern divided by the total.
For
example, if Band-in-a-Box® is finding a "normal" pattern for bar 3 of
the song, and it has determined that these four patterns are the only
possibilities:
pattern,Normal,A,5,1,4,11
pattern,Normal,A,1,0,2,17
pattern,Normal,A,7,3,2,13
pattern,Normal,A,2,1,1,20
The first
thing it would do would be to add up all of the weights. In this case,
5+1+7+2=15. The chance that each pattern will be picked in this
instance is determined by its own weight divided into the sum. Here
then, are the chances for each pattern to be picked in this instance:
pattern,Normal,A,5,1,4,11:
5/15=0.333 or 33%
pattern,Normal,A,1,0,2,17:
1/15=0.066 or 7%
pattern,Normal,A,7,3,2,13:
7/15=0.466 or 47%
pattern,Normal,A,2,1,1,20:
2/15=0.133 or 13%
When 9 is
entered as a weight, the program treats it slightly differently. A 9
weight means that any possible patterns that have a weight of 8 or less
are completely eliminated as possibilities.
With the
previous example, if you changed the weight of the first two patterns
to 9, but left the last two as 7 & 2, then the last two would be
eliminated as possibilities, and the percentages would change to:
pattern,Normal,A,9,1,4,11:
50%
pattern,Normal,A,9,0,2,17:
50%
pattern,Normal,A,7,3,2,13:
0%
pattern,Normal,A,2,1,1,20:
0%
It is
therefore important that you are very careful when using a weight of 9.
It is usually used in conjunction with a mask (masks will be explained
in greater detail below). For example, if you had a mask that stated
that a normal pattern could only be played 7 bars after a part marker,
if you then gave it a weight of 9, any time Band-in-a-Box® needed to
find a pattern 7 bars after a part marker it would always use that
pattern. However, it would not affect any other bars.
The other
special case is a 0 weight. This is only used for fills. When
Band-in-a-Box® finds possible patterns, if a particular pattern is
going to end where a fill is required due to the part-marker placement,
then the pattern will only be included as a possibility if that bar in
the style wave file has been designated as a fill at some point in the
text file. Likewise, a pattern that ends with a fill will not be
considered a possibility if the fill doesn't match up in the
Band-in-a-Box® song.
For
example, let's say that Band-in-a-Box® is searching for a pattern to
place at bar 5, where bar 6 will need to be a fill:
It will be
looking for a normal pattern, and it can use a normal pattern that is 1
or 2 bars long. However, if it picks a 2 bar pattern, it needs to make
sure that in the style wave file, the second bar is designated as a
fill.
Let's
assume that this pattern is entered in the text file:
Normal,A,5,0,2,15
This is a
2-bar normal pattern beginning on bar 15 of the style wave file. This
pattern could only be picked in this instance if there was another line
somewhere in the text file defining bar 16 of the style wave file as a
fill:
Fill,A,5,0,1,16
However, it
may be that this fill would not work well as a stand-alone bar (perhaps
there is a cymbal decay that crosses over bars 15 & 16 that you do
not wish to break up - see "Duration" for more information on this). In
this case, you would still want to define the bar as a Fill, so that
multi-bar patterns ending in this fill would be used at the right
place, but you would never want the fill to be picked on its own. In
this case, you could give it a weight of 0:
Fill,A,0,0,1,16
Mask
A Mask can
be used to specify that a pattern should only be used a certain number
of bars after a part marker. It only applies to Normal patterns, and
all other patterns should be given a weight of 0 (0 means no mask).
Here is a
list of the possible masks, and what effect they will have:
0 - No
mask: This pattern can be used anywhere
1 - Odd
bars only: 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, etc. bars after a part marker
2 - Even
bars only: 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, etc. bars after a part marker
3 - 3, 7,
11, 15, etc. bars after a part marker
4 - 4, 8,
12, 16, etc. bars after a part marker
5 - 5, 13,
21, etc. bars after a part marker
6 - 6, 14,
22, etc. bars after a part marker
7 - 7, 15,
23, etc. bars after a part marker
8 - 8, 16,
24, etc. bars after a part marker
etc.
Many drum
beats use 2-bar rhythms that then repeat, so it's very common for the
"1" and "2" masks to be used. If you have assigned a "1" mask to
several Normal patterns, and a "2" mask to several others, you will
always be sure that the 2-bar grouping remains consistent. Just
remember that you have to make sure that there are enough patterns to
cover all possibilities. If you have only patterns with "1" masks, and
no patterns with "2" masks, then Band-in-a-Box® will not be able to
find any patterns for even bars. The safest thing to do is to use a
mask of "0," but this may not be the most musical approach. A mask of 4
is often used for more subtle fills that would highlight 4 bar phrases.
Masks higher than 8 are not commonly used, as it would mean that the
pattern would be played very rarely.
Example 7:
Normal Pattern needed for bar 13.
In example
7, if Band-in-a-Box® is trying to find a normal pattern for bar 13, it
will look for patterns with a mask of 0, 1 (because it is an even
number of bars from the part marker) or 5. If it were trying to find a
normal pattern for bar 14, it would look for patterns with a mask of 0,
2, or 6.
Duration
PostFill
and Normal patterns can be any number of bars long, however there is a
practical range that is commonly used. Other patterns are restricted to
a certain number or range of bars. Here is a list of the pattern types,
and the ranges of durations:
Fills - 1
bar long only
PostFills -
1 bar or higher, generally no higher than 8 bars
PreFills -
1 or 2 bars long only
Normal - 1
bar or higher, generally no higher than 8 bars
Endings - 2
bars long only
Count-ins -
2 bars long only
The
difference between favoring short patterns and long patterns is a
balance between consistency and variation. Long patterns may sound more
consistent, because you will be hearing large portions of raw audio,
exactly as the drummer played it. On the other hand, with short
patterns, there will be more variety in the phrases, because there will
be many more possible combinations when single bars are mixed and
matched together. Many people will favor a combination of long and
short patterns. Also, while it is possible to have very long patterns,
it is important to remember that patterns will not cross part markers,
so if you designate 16 bar patterns, but in your Band-in-a-Box® songs
you have part markers every 8 bars, those 16 bar patterns will never be
played.
In example 8, if Band-in-a-Box® is trying to find a Normal pattern for
bar 5, it can pick a 1, 2, or 3 bar pattern, or a 4 bar pattern that
ends with a fill. It can not pick a pattern that is more than 4 bars
long.
Another thing to keep in mind is that for any given bar in the style
wave file, you can have as many different patterns defined as you like.
So, for example, you can define a 1 bar pattern that starts at bar 5,
you can then also define a 2 bar pattern that starts at bar 5, a 4 bar
pattern, 8, etc.
In deciding what lengths of phrases will work well, an important thing
to consider is whether or not certain bar lines make good cut-off
points. For example, let's assume that in a style wave file, at the 4th
beat of bar 15 there is a crash cymbal that decays into bar 16, but
fades out before the end of bar 16. Bar 15 would likely not be very
good as a 1 bar pattern, because you would have situations where bar 15
would be used, and would then go directly to a different random bar
that likely does not have a cymbal decay, so you would hear an abrupt
cut-off which would greatly reduce the musicality of the drum part. In
situations like these, you would then make sure that other patterns did
not end with bar 15 as well. For example, a pattern at bar 14 would not
be good as a 2 bar pattern, because it would cut off in the same place,
but it would be good as a 3 bar pattern. Conversely, bar 16 would not
likely make a good pattern at all, because it will start with a cymbal
decay that had no start to it. This doesn't mean that bar 16 will never
be used, it will just never be the start of a pattern.
A good rule to follow is to try and have at least one 1-bar PostFill,
Normal, and Fill patterns for each subsection, just to make sure that
all possible circumstances will be covered. Once you have that, you can
determine what other patterns will work well based on the phrasing of
the drummer.
Location
The final element in pattern definition is the location of the pattern
in the style wave file. This number represents the bar number in the
wave file, but it is important to remember that this is a -1 based
numbering system. The first two bars of the wave file are reserved for
the count-in, which are considered to be bars -1 and 0. The drumming
starts at the third actual bar of the wave file, but is referred to as
bar 1. So, if you are viewing bars in an audio editor, remember that
when you reference these bars in your text file, you need to subtract 2
before you enter them in the patterns.
If this is confusing to you, there are two ways you can simplify this.
Some audio editors allow you to designate bar "1" at any point in a
wave file. Simply go to bar 3 and designate that as bar 1. Then, any
bar number you see will directly match what needs to be entered into
the text file. The other thing you can do is that while you are
actually working on the style, you can cut the 2 count-in bars, which
will shift the rest of the track back by 2 bars, and any bars you see
will be the same bar numbers you need to enter into the text file. Once
you have finished the text file, you can then paste the count-in back
in to the beginning of the file.
Shots
Definition
In
Band-in-a-Box®, shots and holds are entered by putting either 2 or 3
periods after a chord (2 periods for a shot, 3 for a hold). With
RealDrums, when a shot or hold is entered, the drums stop for the
duration of the chord, and a single drum hit is played in place of the
drum beat. Pushes are entered by typing either 1 or 2 caret symbols
("^") before the chord in question (1 caret for an 8th-note push, and 2
carets for a 16th-note push). With RealDrums, when a push is entered,
the regular drum beat continues throughout, but a single drum hit is
added to the mix to emphasize the push.
Example
9: Bar 1 shows a shot, bar 3 shows a hold, bar 4 shows an 8th-note
push, and bar 7 shows a 16th-note push
The single
drum hits are generally recorded at the end of the wave file, after the
main drum groove, but they do not have to be.
Like
patterns, shots are also defined in the text file using lines of text
containing several elements: 1) the text "shot", 2) type of shot (0 for
shot or hold, 1 for pushes), 3) the bar number of the shot in the style
wave file, 4) the number of ticks (1 beat = 120 ticks) before or after
the bar number the shot occurs, 5) the duration of the shot in ticks,
6) weight, 7) volume of the shot
Here are
some examples of defined shots:
Shot,1,82,-2,455,1,100
Shot,0,83,5,360,1,90
Shot,1,171,240,200,1,80
The six
elements that come after the text "shot" are explained here in further
detail:
Type of shot
The type of shot needs to be either 0 or 1. If 0 is entered, the shot
will be used when chords are entered with two periods (shot) or three
periods (hold). If 1 is entered, the shot will be used when chords are
entered with two or three carets before them (8th & 16th note
pushes).
Bar number in style wave file
Like with patterns, you need to remember that RealDrums styles use -1
based numbering, so you need to subtract 2 from the bar number as you
see it in your audio editor. More than one shot can be played in a
single bar, and you would use the tick adjust amount to distinguish
between the two.
Tick Adjust
The shots do not necessarily have to occur at the bar lines, and the
tick adjust can be used to tell Band-in-a-Box® exactly where the shot
starts. Simply measure the number of ticks from the downbeat of the bar
number entered to the start of the shot, and that is the number that
should be entered here. If the shot starts before the bar number that
was entered, a negative number should be entered here.
For example, if a shot is recorded at bar 82, but on closer examination
it appears that
Shot,1,82,-2,455,1,100
In another example (see example 10 below), a shot is played at the
third beat of bar 171. In this case you need to use the tick adjust to
indicate that it a full two beats after bar 171. Since one beat is 120
ticks, two beats would be 240 ticks, and it would therefore be entered
as such:
Shot,1,171,240,200,1,80
Example 10: Here the shot begins at bar 171 (173-2), at the third beat,
or 240 ticks into the bar.
Duration
Unlike patterns, which use numbers of bars for durations, the shots use
ticks for durations. So, for example, if a shot lasts for three beats,
you would enter 360 (3 beats * 120 ticks per beat).
Here is an example of a shot that lasts for three beats:
Shot,0,83,5,360,1,90
For the best effect, the sound of the shots should decay naturally, and
the entire length of the shot including the decay should be entered in
the text file. This is especially important when all other instruments
are silent, and all you hear is the decaying sound of the drum hit.
Weight
The weight for shots works exactly the same as the weight for patterns,
except that there is no need for the use of 0 or 9 weights. This number
should be between 1 and 8, with higher numbers representing a greater
chance that the shot will be selected each time.
Volume
The volume of the shots is represented by a number between 1 and 127.
If 90 is entered, the volume will not be adjusted at all. If a number
between 1 and 89 is entered, the volume will be lowered accordingly,
and if a number between 91 and 127 is entered, the volume will be
raised accordingly. It is generally easiest to test the volume amounts
once the style has been completed.
Additional
Entries in the Text File
Bars
Blocked
During the
testing of your style, you may come across instances where a particular
bar from the style wave file simply does not sound good going into
another specific bar from the style wave file. When this happens, you
can enter a "BarsBlocked" line into your text file to ensure that these
bars are never played back-to-back.
When
"BarsBlocked" is typed into the text file, followed by bar numbers
separated by commas, Band-in-a-Box® takes the first number, and all of
the bar numbers that follow are "blocked" from ever following the
initial number.
So, for
example, if this line is entered:
BarsBlocked,24,35,41
then bar 24
can never be followed by bars 35 or 41.
However,
when using this feature you need to be very careful that you are not
creating situations where Band-in-a-Box® will not be able to find a
possible match for a bar. When you block a bar, you need to make sure
that there are patterns defined starting on other bars that would also
work.
Comments
When you
create your style, you may want to add comments into the text file as
reference points, or as reminders about certain aspects of the style.
This can be done in two ways: 1) semicolon comments 2)Pascal-style
comments
If you type
a semicolon into the text file, whether it's at the beginning of a
line, or at the end of a pattern definition, any text that is typed
after the semicolon is ignored, which allows you to type comments. For
example:
;this
entire line will be ignored by Band-in-a-Box®
pattern,normal,A,5,0,4,15;this
text will also be ignored by Band-in-a-Box®
Pascal-style
comments are comments that are enclosed by { and } characters. Any text
enclosed by these characters will also be ignored by Band-in-a-Box®.
Unlike the semicolons, these comments can occur in the middle of a
pattern definition, and the line can continue after the comment. For
example:
{this
entire line will be ignored by Band-in-a-Box®}
pattern,normal,{this
text will be ignored}A,5,0,4,15
Alternate
Styles & Expanded/Reduced Styles
Alternate
Styles
It is
possible for a wave file to be used for more than one style. For
example, you may want to duplicate a style, but omit certain fills, or
assign different weights to certain patterns.
In this
case, you still need to create a new RealDrums style group by creating
a new sub-directory in the "Drums" folder, and the text file for the
style needs to be present. The only difference is that in the text file
you would have the name of the wave file you are using, and that name
will be different from the text file name.
For
example, if you have a "MyFunkyStyle" style at 90 bpm, these files
would be present:
C:\BB\Drums\MyFunkyStyle\MyFunkyStyle_090_Style.txt
C:\BB\Drums\MyFunkyStyle\MyFunkyStyle_090_Style.wav
To make an
alternate style, you could create this file:
C:\BB\Drums\MyFunkyStyleALT\MyFunkyStyleALT_090_Style.txt
The first
line of this text file would be:
wavename=MyFunkyStyle_090_Style.wav
Expanded/Reduced
Styles
Often you
will find examples of drum grooves where the pulse can be treated as
8th notes or 16th notes. For example, different musicians may disagree
on whether a groove is 90 bpm with a 16th note pulse, or 180 bpm with
an 8th note pulse. In Band-in-a-Box®, some styles are treated as 8th
note styles and others are treated as 16th note styles, and you may
find examples where a drum beat that is intended for 8th note styles
may work equally well on 16th note styles at half the tempo. In these
cases, you can create two separate styles that both point to the same
wave file, and treat it as two different tempos. The same method as
described in "Alternate Styles" above could be used, with one addition.
For the style in which the tempo is different in the text file then it
is in the wave file filename, you would need to add the
"ForceWavTempo=" line to the text file.
For
example, if you have a "MyFunkyStyle_90" Style, the following files
would be present:
C:\BB\Drums\MyFunkyStyle\MyFunkyStyle_090_Style.txt
C:\BB\Drums\MyFunkyStyle\MyFunkyStyle_090_Style.wav
For an
expanded style, you could create this file:
C:\BB\Drums\MyFunkyStyleEXP\MyFunkyStyleEXP_180_Style.txt
The first
line of this text file would be:
wavename=MyFunkyStyle_090_Style.wav
And an
additional line would be needed:
ForceWavTempo=180
There some
additional points in making expanded and reduced styles. First of all
there is the issue of bars correctly matching up. If the number of bars
in a particular group of bars in the higher tempo version are an odd
number, this can throw off the slower tempo version. For example, if
your high tempo version has an A Postfill, an A Normal, and an A Fill,
then a B Post, this will mean that in the slower tempo version, the A
Postfill and A Normal will become a single PostFill bar, which is fine,
but the A Fill and the B Post will also become a single bar, which will
not work. This could then mess up everything that came after. It would
have been better if the high tempo version had an A Postfill, an A
Normal, another A normal, then the A Fill, and then the B Post. For
this reason, if you know a drum part is going to be used at two tempos,
it is quite a bit easier to record or piece together the drum part with
the slow tempo version in mind first, and this can then be expanded.
The other
things you need to take into account are the count-in and endings. The
count-in will be different for the two tempos, so it's best to record
two completely different count-ins. The alternate one can be pasted
onto the end of the file if necessary. For endings, it's also good to
simply record two versions of them, which also can be at the end of
your file.
Testing
your RealDrums style
Once you
have made your RealDrums style (or, depending on the level of
completion, even during the making of it) you can listen to it and test
it in Band-in-a-Box®. If your text file is named with the convention
detailed in the introduction, and is located in the correct directory,
it should automatically appear in Band-in-a-Box®. The easiest way to
select your RealDrums style is to enter the RealDrums Settings Dialog
in Band-in-a-Box® ("Opt| Preferences| RealDrums," or simply pressing
the RealDrums toolbar button). Make sure RealDrums are enabled, and
then put a checkmark beside "For this song only, use this RealDrums
style." If you then click on the RD button, a list of all available
RealDrums should appear, and your style should be among them. When you
exit this dialog and play your song, you should be hearing your
RealDrums style.
You can
make and save changes to the text file, and when you press play again
in Band-in-a-Box®, any changes in the text file will take effect. If,
however, you make any changes to the wave file, the wave file needs to
be reloaded for the changes to take effect. To do this, simply select a
song that uses different RealDrums, press play. Then stop and reload
the song you were working on.
Adjusting
Volume Levels
If the
balance between the RealDrums and the MIDI instruments needs to be
adjusted, you can do this by simply adjusting the dbadjust= setting in
your text file, saving it, and pressing play again in Band-in-a-Box®.
You can continue to do this until you have found a good balance.
For the
volume levels of the shots and pushes, the best way to test this is by
testing one at a time. If you have more than one shot or push, you can
"comment-out" all but one, then you will always be hearing only that
shot or push. For example, let's assume you have three shots entered:
Shot,0,82,120,547,1,110
Shot,0,83,188,1151,1,90
Shot,0,85,380,1058,3,90
To test the
first one, add a semicolon to the beginning of the 2nd and 3rd lines:
shot,0,82,120,547,1,110
;Shot,0,83,188,1151,1,90
;Shot,0,85,380,1058,3,90
Band-in-a-Box®
will therefore ignore those lines, and you will only hear the first
shot. You can then adjust the volume level until you have it right,
then do the same with the second shot, etc.
Developer
Mode
It is also
extremely useful when testing RealDrums styles to use "Developer mode."
This is a checkbox in the RealDrums settings. When it is turned on,
Band-in-a-Box® does two things. First of all it spell-checks your text
file when you play a song. If it finds an error, it reports the error
to you before beginning the song. When Developer mode is off, if there
are typos in the text file, the entire pattern definition is simply
ignored. For example, if you misspell "pattern" as "pattrn," you will
see an error message when you start that will tell you the typo as well
as the line number where you can find it in the text file. When you
press OK, the song resumes.
The other
thing that developer mode does is generate a "DrumAudioResults.txt"
text file every time you press play. This text file tells you exactly
what patterns from your text file were picked for every Band-in-a-Box®
bar. The file also has other global and statistical information. This
information can be extremely valuable as you fine-tune your style.
DrumAudioResults.txt
file
The first
information that the DrumAudioResults.txt file gives you is global
information about the style and song. It tells you the wave file that
was used, the song tempo, the total number of bars, and the total
number of times you've played the song in the current session.
The next
information it displays is a separate line for every bar of the song.
The first item for every bar is the actual bar number in the song, but
the type of information that is displayed after that depends on whether
the bar represents the start of a pattern, or a subsequent bar in a
multi-bar pattern.
Here is an
example of a bar where a pattern begins:
Bar#
12,relbar=4, MaxBars=5, Chose pat#21, line #26 Normal,a
sub.,mask=2,dur#bars=2, wrote 2,WavBar=14, Candidates=11 ,time=0:26
Here is an
example of a bar where a pattern is continuing:
Bar #13
WavBar=15 ,time=0:28
For bars
where patterns begin, here are the items that follow the bar number:
relbar=x
This number represents the number of bars since the last part marker.
This number therefore determines whether or not Normal patterns with
masks assigned can be used. For example, if relbar=4, a normal pattern
with a mask of 0, 2 or 4 could be chosen, but patterns with masks of 1,
3, 5, 6, etc. could not be chosen.
MaxBars=x
This number represents the number of bars to the next part marker.
Since patterns can not cross part markers, any patterns that have a
duration greater than the MaxBars= amount can not be chosen.
Chose pat#x, line #y
This is the actual pattern selected, shown in two different ways so
that it's easy to identify in the text file. If you count down from the
first pattern in the text file, pat#x will show you how many patterns
to count to find the one that was used, and does not take the global
info at the beginning of the file into account. Line #y shows you the
actual line of the text file, which would include lines for the global
settings and any comment lines. If your text editor has line numbers,
this is the easiest way to find the pattern that was chosen.
Type, subsection, and mask
The next information is the type (Normal, PostFill, etc.), subsection
(A or B) and mask of the pattern chosen.
dur#bars=x, wrote y
The dur#bars= amount tells you the number of bars in the pattern, and
the "wrote y" amount tells you the actual amount of bars written. In
most cases, this number should be the same, because Band-in-a-Box® will
always try and keep the defined patterns intact. Sometimes, however,
multi-bar patterns may need to be cut short, for example if it needs a
1 bar pattern but you have only designated 2 bar patterns.
WavBar=x
This tells you the bar of the actual style wave file that was used for
the current Band-in-a-Box® bar. Remember that this is using -1 based
numbering.
Candidates=x
This tells you how many possible patterns there were for Band-in-a-Box®
to choose from for the current bar. If there were 3 or less possible
candidates, this line appears instead as "FEWCandidates=". This lets
you know that perhaps there are not enough of a certain type of
pattern. As long as there is at least 1, you will not get any actual
errors, but for the sake of variety, the more possibilities the better.
If there are no possible candidates, you will get an error message
"******* Unable to pick a drum audio bar for bar #x". In this case, you
need to examine your text file to see why this is occurring. It could
be because there are simply not enough patterns defined, but it could
also be because of the overuse of the "barblocked" feature.
time=
This tells you the time in minutes and seconds where the bar is
located. This is useful if you have rendered a file, and you are
listening to the rendered audio file for problems.
For bars
where patterns are continuing, the only items shown are "WavBar=x" and
"time=". The one exception is where Fills are concerned, in which case
you may see one of two messages tagged on to the end of the line. "BB
song has fill, WAV is at end of multi bar pattern. WAV file has a fill
also" means that a Fill was designated in the text file, and the
current pattern is ending with that Fill. The other message you may see
is "*** BB song has no fill, but WAV has a fill ***(Could be Error2 if
mask0)" This means that Band-in-a-Box® has recognized that a bar that
is designated as a Fill occurred within the pattern, but not at a place
where a Fill is required. Fills often sound good 4 bars into phrases,
even if no fill has been designated, so in these cases, this could be
fine. If, however, the Fill sounds out-of-place, you made need to
examine this further in your text file.
At the end
of the DrumAudioResults.txt file there is statistical information about
the song you just played. Because of the random nature of styles, this
information will likely be different every time you play the same song,
however you may see some patterns develop that can help you fine tune
your style.
The total
bars will always be the same for the same song, but the number of
patterns written will be different depending on how many short or long
patterns were randomly selected. The average bars per pattern gives you
an overview of the length of patterns selected. Long patterns are
desirable because they generally sound more consistent, while short
patterns are desirable because they lend themselves to greater
variation. It's therefore good to get a balance between the two, and a
good average is between 2 and 4 bars.
It's also
good to have a high average candidates amount, as this is also a sign
that your style will have good variation. If any Band-in-a-Box® bars
had 3 or less patterns to choose from, they were flagged as
"FEWCandidates," and the total number is listed at the bottom. This
lets you know if you need to define more patterns.
"MultiBarPatternPercent=" simply lets you know the setting you have
entered in your text file.
Using your
RealDrums in Band-in-a-Box®
As we have
shown above, you can select your RealDrums style for a particular song
in the RealDrums Settings.
It is also
possible to assign your RealDrums style to a particular Band-in-a-Box®
style. This is done in the StyleMaker. If you have either a new or
existing Band-in-a-Box® style open in the StyleMaker, simply select
"Style| Misc. Settings" or press ctrl-F10. This opens the Misc Style
Settings dialog. At the bottom of this is the RealDrums Settings.
_
Example 11:
RealDrums settings in the StyleMaker.
You can
enable "Style uses RealDrums" in order to designate a RealDrums style.
If your style is in the correct directory, it should appear when you
press the "RD" button. You can then select your RealDrums style, and
whenever the current style is played, it will use your RealDrums style
(provided that RealDrums are enabled). There are also additional volume
controls here. If you have your dB setting exactly where you want it in
your style file, but with this particular Band-in-a-Box® style you want
it a bit higher or lower, you can enter a setting here. There are also
fields for adjusting the 'A' or 'B' subsection volumes only.
You can
also remove the check mark from either "Allow 'a' substyle RealDrums"
or "Allow 'b' substyle RealDrums", which means that for this style, the
one with the checkmark remaining will be used for the entire song,
regardless of what substyle is currently called for in the song.