Micro BR File formats

[Geir]

Hi.

Does anyone know where to find a description of the (Micro)BR file formats?

G.

[Kody]

I'm not sure I know what you mean~ I bet 64guitars will help you as soon as he gets online...The guy is a genious  when it comes to this stuff~......hmmmm............this is awkward

[64Guitars]

Gee, I'm sure I can't live up to Kody's description, but......

The BR's audio tracks are recorded in the file "TAKE_DAT.BR0" using a proprietary Roland format called R-DAC (Roland Digital Audio Coding). You can learn a little about it in this article:

http://emusician.com/daw/emusic_roland_vs/index.html

There's some Java source code here that might help:

http://integrand.com/zoom

And some C source code here:

http://www.vsplanet.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=12407&fpart=1

I've never seen any file descriptions from Roland and don't expect to. It's proprietary information and I'd be very surprised if they ever released it.

[Geir]

thank you! It was some interesting stuff there. You shouldn't happen to have some info on the ARRANGE3.BR1 ? Would be interesting to try to write some arrangements on the computer and make the ARRANGE3.BR1 file. (of course I wold have to make some midi-version of the MBR patterns first, so it could take some time before I got to it .... but still ..)

G.

[Pedro]

I was wondering if it is possible to preview, in real-time, a BR0 file. I mean, basically being able to play the BR0 files in a regular audio player like Windows Media player. That code converts .BR0 to .WAV, maybe it could be tweaked to do it in real-time?

[64Guitars]

You shouldn't happen to have some info on the ARRANGE3.BR1 ?

I don't have access to a Micro BR so I've never worked out this file format. But you can do it yourself. The first 108 bytes are a header, so the arrangement data starts at offset 108. If you save a copy of your ARRANGE3.BR1 file, then change the value of a single parameter on your Micro BR and compare the new ARRANGE3.BR1 file to the saved one, you should be able to determine which byte changed for that parameter. Do this for each arrangement parameter and you'll soon have the file layout. There are only about 6 parameters per step (starting measure, tempo, time signature, pattern number, etc). Each step will have exactly the same layout, so you only need to work out the details of one step.

There are 5 arrangements in each song and 50 steps in each arrangement (so 250 steps in total). The ARRANGE3.BR1 file contains data for all 250 steps, whether they are used in the arrangement or not. That's why the file size is always exactly 3782 bytes. Each step is probably about 12 bytes, so there's 3,000 bytes accounted for. And for each of the 5 arrangements, there will be data stored for arragement name, drum kit type (preset or song), drum kit number, etc.

By the way, a shareware program already exists that allows you to create Micro BR arrangements on the computer and load them into the BR.

http://www.tommystoolbox.co.uk/index.html

[64Guitars]

I was wondering if it is possible to preview, in real-time, a BR0 file. I mean, basically being able to play the BR0 files in a regular audio player like Windows Media player. That code converts .BR0 to .WAV, maybe it could be tweaked to do it in real-time?

It should be possible to create a dedicated R-DAC player, or maybe even a R-DAC codec, but I don't know enough about it to do it myself. It would be nice if Roland would provide software like that. Perhaps, now that they own a major share of Cakewalk, we might see more computer software designed to work with BR data in the future. At least, we can hope.

One thing I like about the Zoom HD8 and HD16 is that each track is recorded in a standard 44.1kHz, 16-bit WAV file. So, no conversion is necessary. You can simply copy tracks from the Zoom to your computer and play them instantly, or load them into a DAW, etc. Memory card capacities are increasing, so it would be nice if Roland abandoned R-DAC in future BR products and used standard WAV files instead.

[Geir]

Thank you 64guitars!! I'll have a go at the ARRANGE3.BR1 file some day (hopefully soon). I'll chack out the shareware too.


G.

[Pedro]

It should be possible to create a dedicated R-DAC player, or maybe even a R-DAC codec, but I don't know enough about it to do it myself. It would be nice if Roland would provide software like that. Perhaps, now that they own a major share of Cakewalk, we might see more computer software designed to work with BR data in the future. At least, we can hope.

I see, that would be a good move, integrate the BR line with Cakewalk software.

[Geir]

I see the BR800 has ARRANGE2.BR0 a slightly smaller file for some reason. I'd love to be able to program the drums on the mbr (due to it's monitoring features) and move the ARR-file over to the 800, but I guess I'll have to investigate the differences first. Or does anyone know the difference between the two formats?