BR900

[jimsz]

Hi Folks,

I've had a BR900 for a couple of years and still can't figure out how it works. The manual is dog eared from reading it so much and trying to figure it out. To this day, I've yet to record a song on it but have spent many long hours trying. I would like to toss it out the window. 

Does anyone know how to use this thing? Thanks.

Jim

[SteveB]

JMZ - First of all, welcome to the Forum (there's an introduction thread near the top if you want to say hello). Our esteemed Moderator 64guitars runs a BR website (which I can't find the URL for at the moment), which will no doubt tell you all you want to know - which is a very good start.
And also you can ask individual questions about your 900, which helps the rest of us use our brains a bit. Use a mixture of the two, you'll have a ball learning.
And of course, just listen to the music, some of which will have been recorded using the BR900...sometimes the individual will tell you what machine they've used. Hope that helps to show that you're not alone.

SB

[jimsz]

Hi Steve, thanks for the welcome and the words of encouragement. I just spent another 6-7 hours trying to figure out how to put a song together. I can see that others are doing it so it's got to be me that has the problem. Very frustrating, which I'm sure you can read into from the OP.

After posting the OP, I pulled out my old Yamaha MT1X and Alesis drum machine and had my drum arrangement completed and recorded in about an hour or so. Easy peasy.

Maybe it was time I went back to these basic tools and put the BR900 up for sale for someone who can appreciate it.

[64Guitars]

If you want our help, you'll need to be more specific about what it is you're having trouble with or don't understand.

The most common problem people have is understanding v-tracks and bouncing. It's really quite simple once you get it, but a lot of people seem to have trouble relating to the concepts at first. See this page for a detailed explanation:

https://songcrafters.org/64guitars/BR/Tutorials/V-Tracks_and_Bouncing.html

[jimsz]

Wow! Great site, many thanks!!!

Currently, my problem is the 50 steps issue. Yeah, I know it's an issue most beginners have problems understanding, but I'm not a beginner with multi-track recording, just having a problem trying to comprehend how to get past that issue.

Is there a step by step instruction for this?

Thanks again. 

[64Guitars]

The most common reason that users have trouble with the 50 step limit on drum arrangements is that they assume they have to use a step for each measure of the song. This is not necessary (nor desirable). The pattern specified in any step of an arrangement automatically repeats until the starting measure of the next step. So, if step one (which always starts at measure 1) is pattern P002 and step 2 is pattern P327 with a starting measure of 121 specified, then pattern P002 will play for 120 measures (4 minutes at 120 bpm) before switching to pattern P327 and repeating that pattern until the user presses Stop. Since pattern P327 is the Break pattern which produces no sound, the arrangement effectively ends after 120 measures. So, this 4-minute arrangement only used 2 steps. We still have 48 unused steps available for this arrangement.

Another mistake that beginners make is to insert fills after every one or two measures to keep the arrangement interesting. This isn't necessary since most of the preset patterns are several measures long and already contain sufficient variety (each measure of the pattern is slightly different). So, you can reduce step usage by only inserting fills when transitioning between a verse and a chorus or bridge, for example.

See these pages for more info:

https://songcrafters.org/64guitars/BR/Tutorials/Rhythm_Guide_Intro.html

https://songcrafters.org/64guitars/BR/Tutorials/Arrangement_Example.html

[jimsz]

From your link - this may be what I was looking for, it makes sense, I'll give it a try and get back to you. Again, many thanks, sir!!


"For example:

    * Step 1:  Play pattern P026 for 8 measures
    * Step 2:  Play pattern P032 for 4 measures
    * Step 3:  Play pattern P026 for 12 measures


When you enter the steps into the BR, you don't specify the length of the steps directly. Instead, you specify the starting measure of each step and the BR derives the length from that. Each step automatically repeats until the starting measure of the next step. Step 1 always starts at measure 1.

So, the previous example would be entered as:

    * Step 1:  Pattern P026   Starting Measure 1
    * Step 2:  Pattern P032   Starting Measure 9
    * Step 3:  Pattern P026   Starting Measure 13
    * Step 4:  Pattern P327   Starting Measure 25"

[64Guitars]

Drum arrangements would probably be a lot easier to understand if we could specify the length (in measures) of each step rather than the starting measure. For example:

Step		Pattern	Length
1		P007-Rock2-In	2
2		P008-Rock2-V1	8
3		P009-Rock2-F1	2

etc.

You can achieve exactly the same arrangement by specifying the starting measure but most people find it harder to relate to.

Step		Pattern	Starting Measure
1		P007-Rock2-In	1
2		P008-Rock2-V1	3
3		P009-Rock2-F1	11

etc.


You might find it easier to understand arrangements by using the free BR Rhythm Editor software:

http://www.roland.com/products/en/_support/dld.cfm?PRODUCT=BR%2D900CD%5FV2&iRcId=1812322&dsp=1

It gives a graphical representation of the arrangement so you can easily see the length of each step. You can also change the length of a step by dragging its edge with the mouse.

[jimsz]

That worked quite well, I've got the entire arrangement programmed using that method. It certainly is complicated and difficult to keep everything straight, but if you right it down as you're going through, it makes it a little easier.

Have downloaded the editor, installed and had a quick perusal. It looks very interesting but I'll need to spend some time with it to figure out how it works. The user guide looks very good.

Thanks for all the help getting me up and running. Awesome, dude.

[64Guitars]

It certainly is complicated and difficult to keep everything straight, but if you right it down as you're going through, it makes it a little easier.

It gets easier as you become more familiar with it. One thing that helps is to use the FF and RWD buttons to move from step to step rather than moving the cursor to the step number and turning the TIME/VALUE wheel.

Also, if you haven't already done so, you should download and install my BR Explorer program. One of its features is that it lists your entire drum arrangement in a scrollable table. If you right-click on this table and select "Copy Arrangement to Clipboard", you can then paste the entire arrangement into a text editor, word processor, e-mail, etc. like this:

      Starting   Step                   Pattern             Time
Step   Measure  Length  Pattern          Length   Tempo   Signature
  1       1        1    P001: ROCK1-IN      1     130.0      4/4
  2       2        2    P002: ROCK1-V1      2     130.0      4/4
  3       4        2    P003: ROCK1-F1      2     130.0      4/4
  4       6        2    P004: ROCK1-V2      2     130.0      4/4
  5       8        2    P005: ROCK1-F2      2     130.0      4/4
  6      10       15    P004: ROCK1-V2      2     130.0      4/4
  7      25        1    P006: ROCK1-E       4     130.0      4/4
  8      26       ···   P327: BREAK         1     130.0      4/4

Using a word processor, for example, you can change fonts and set tab positions to align the columns as desired, then print the arrangement out. Sure beats trying to scribble all the steps down on a piece of paper.