Newbie Questions

[jpoprock]

Hey all. I'm brand new here. I just dl'd RW Std, and I use it with a Line 6 Toneport or the Stealth cable if I choose. I like Line 6 and the Gearbox plugin, so I'll probl stick to that. I did a search for my main question (Demo file?), but didn't find anything. So here we go...

I've been messing around with RW, and I think it's pretty cool. Sometimes some of my drum tracks playback sorta strange. Like the Matt Sorum "fast" loop has a fill that sounds like it's got some kind of effect on it. It does the same thing every pass thru. But I don't know if it's a weird latency thing, or if that is how the sound actually is. If it is supposed to sound that way, I have no idea why they would want it to! It doesn't sound very natural.

I recorded some "riffs" just as a test run, and I'm having trouble understanding how to have multiple riffs going in say the "intro". Maybe you can't? Maybe it's one riff at a time in the timeline?

So I went up to "open" to see if it pointed me to a "demo file" I could load, with hopes to visually be able to see how a song layout works, but there is none. Is that right? Or is there someplace I can download one?

I still need to read thru the manual more to understand how it all works. I have a real good feel for it already as I'm a Pro Tools LE and Ableton Live user. But I can't figure out how to download someone's track so I can collaborate on it, etc.

Also, can you import your own "loops" or do you always have to use the ones RW provides for you? Cuz I have a TON of loops and drumsoftware like EZDrummer, Drumcore, and DKH Superior. I have many loop CD's too from Big Fish that could be fun to try.

Hope my questions aren't to redundant. Thanks for your time!

Jason

[Charvelguy]

Regarding the second paragragh... I think you are crossrelating this to Ableton where you can stack multiple riffs. Riffworks uses one riff block at a time in the timeline-correct. You can record multiple layers within that riff until there are no more takes to play... I think it can handle to up to like 40 or so takes per Riff block.
To create a multi layer 'intro' .. as you are refering too here..I think I get what you want. For example..what you can do is put drum track loops in a riff block..(you can use your loops via rex or rewire thru another program like ableton)...put that up in the upmost songline and then.. go to the mix tab. Open mix tab and choose the bottom choice 'mix to riff'
You will now have a bounce track of your drum riff in a new riff block. You can bounce stuff as many times as you have shots to record takes..so ALOT of layers can be achieved within one riff block, you just have to work with it a bit to get the jist of it.

If you want to collab on another person or with another person in a real time format you go to Rifflink tab. TYou should have a Sonoma Key account setup..choose your name wisely and this will open you up to the online realm of Riffworks where you can interact with peole all over the world-pretty cool!

There is a demo tune, its quite good actually-very pro which demos what RW can do and how simple it is. Not sure what location you can find it but I'm sure someone can direct you.

[Charvelguy]

Oh, and welcome to RW/RL Jason. Happy 4th to ya!

[jpoprock]

Thanks for the "welcome!" Glad to be hear. I think it's just the ticket to get my juices flowing again! I don't have the time I used to, because I'm busy with my young boys. And I have this room full of awesome gear and plugins, tons of nice guitars, etc, and NO TIME OR MOTIVATION! I figure with this program, I will at least be able to catalogue riffs and ideas, and maybe even spark something for a proper recording.

I think I see what yer saying about the riffs. If I wanted my opening riff to be a riff, and then some kind of other melodic pattern under it, I would simple make that one "Bank" have the multiple riffs. If one "box" can hold many riffs, then I think I understand. It's kind of like Live, but kinda not. Where that Live will allow you to just stack "riffs" one per box, RW allows you to have many riffs inside one box, but you generally have to use what's inside of it. And since you only have one stereo track to put them to, you have to think ahead, kinda like the good old days of bouncing on a 4-track.

I guess it's kinda like each riff box is a snap shot of the entire session, but only in increments of however many measures you choose to record in. So, riff box 1 is like a snap shot of the first bar length of the song, and you repeat for the 2nd bar length, 3rd, etc.

Right??

Another thing I noticed was that after my guitar riff got tracked, it sounded like it was being compressed. I could almost hear it pumping, yet I didn't record with compression, nor is the compressor turned on in RW.

Finally, before I realized how it worked, I went to hear someone's work in Rifflink to hear what his style was. Thinking maybe I'd collaborate. But I couldn't hear what he had so far. I then thought that maybe I had to join first, so I did. Later, I read the manual (shock!), and now know that you have to open RW up and click on RiffLink. His file loaded and I can now hear what he's got. My question is, is this the only way to hear someone's work in progress? to join, then load it Rifflink? My next question is, I how do you remove yourself from collaborating? I had "joined" online. But then had to join again inside of RiffLink. Just how to do you get completely out of the collaboration?

I finally finished my Profile too if you want to check it out.

I look forward to rockin' with you guys soon!

jason

[Charvelguy]

"you can checkout anytime you'd like, but you can never leave"

Yeah, you got it. If you joined in a collab via the Rifflink page from Riffworld, or even in the collab itself while in riffworks and after clicking the rifflink tab and signing on to your Sonoma key.. either way, once joined you cannot unjoin. Now, whether or not you contribute to the collab is up to you. If you record something and delete it.. the server will still show you as a collaborator joined into the collab.

You are also correct that you have to be in Riffworks, click on the rifflink tab and logged into your sonoma key..then join into the song to load the song file in order to hear what has been recorded in the collab.

[Charvelguy]

oh, I should also mention.. you do not have to join from the Riffworld page tab. You can pull up Riffworks, log onto your sonoma key and peruse any public collab without having to permanently join the collaboration. Not to mislead you, you do have to click 'join' to load the song, but you won't show as being a joined collaborator unless you add or make a modification to the song. Hope that isn't too confusing.

[rhynoclemmis]

Welcome jpoprock!

Please remember the board rules:
§14 - The new guys buy the beer!

Happy rocking!

[andrik]

Hi Jason,

You said you heard compression when listening to your riffs. Well that's one of the features of Riffworks. Riffworks has a limiter which is always turned on. this means nothing gets clipped when played to loud. the limiter in Riffworks is quite sensitve and kicks in pretty quick.
I'm not to happy about it myself, but it means that if you don't want that compression/limiting effect, just make sure your recording and playback levels aren't to high.

have fun with Riffworks, it's a great program!

greetz,
Andrik

[rhynoclemmis]

Riffworks has a limiter which is always turned on.

Wow, didn't know that. I heard that on a few of my guit recordings, too, but thought it probably was the effects board I used.... well, a lesson learnt.

[andrik]

Read the manual. I'm not exactly sure where, but it's stated quite clearly that the limiter kicks in beyond a certain db level (probably 0db).

Found it...in the manual it says:
RiffWorks has a built-in compressor/limiter on the output. It keeps the levels below clipping as much as possible, so if your levels start getting hot, you won’t hear that awful distorted digital clipping sound right away. If the level gets too hot, like when the needles are pegged and the Limit light is on constantly, you can still get some peaks that clip.
* Compression begins at -6dB on the meters.
* Limiting begins at -3dB on the meters.
* The Limit light starts to come on at -3dB also.
Some styles of music sound better with more or less compression and limiting. If your music sounds too squashed or pumps and breathes, turn down the Master Gain so that the MASTER Meters read -6dB at the peaks. When using Mix to Riff, the master output Compressor and Limiter are bypassed, and the mix is stored as floating point data to preserve all the information with no loss of resolution.

There's more in the manual. In short:
- there's no automatic limiter/compressor while recording.
- But there is on you master output. So if you feel it's to compressed/limited, lower your output levels.

best regards,
Andrik

[jpoprock]

I think the comp/limiting feature is pretty cool... now that I know what it is. It's a good idea for those who aren't so recording inclined. I now know to keep my levels in check so I can minimize it.

I'm pretty excited about this program. I think it's just the ticket to help "manufacture inspirato". Even if some of my ideas are dud's... it's still doing SOMETHING huh?

This stupid computer of mine is kind of a dog though. I did some deep cleaning and may have it working more smoothly. Seems like RW and Gearbox are sorta hoggy, but maybe it's just this machine.

I'm very excited about being able to use Rex loops too. Very nice! Maybe it's just me, but I think the built in loops that come with the program are somewhat limiting, but Im glad they are there.

Ok... who needs a beer?

J

[rhynoclemmis]

If you're experiencing problems with PC performance you might want to use Startup Inspector: http://www.windowsstartup.com/
You can disable not needed programs to free up some performance. I also disconnect the internet when recording (an issue on my laptop). If you do that, you can also disable the antivirus program (on your own risk). Be sure also to check out the task manager, as there are some programs that load up every time without you wanting that, some Adobe quick starts and itunes, of course.

Ok... who needs a beer?J

I'll have six or so. Thanks.

[warrior49]

OK, I'll be the beer for this one: Is there any way to insert a cymbal crash, ect... into a song. I have a cool intro for a song but if I mess with the intensity button it doesnt exactly put the cymbal crash where I need it.. or it starts putting more of them in. Are there any "one shot" drums out there? I'm starting to miss my Sony Acid Pro drum loops.

[warrior49]

Oops, I mean I'll BUY the beer

[mickeymix]

You can add crashes and such with REX files .........check your e-mail.............I'm gonna send ya some of mine and some that Marty Kolakowski made from his free REX thread..........you can add up to 4 REX at a time in conjunction with the ID's.....and I drink Budweiser ......muahahhaaaaaaaaaa