A Guide to Creating Full Rock Band Custom Charts

[MCP]

So now that we've figured out the things to do and not to do, it's time for an easy guide to follow. Here's a few tools you will need.

Feedback
Leff's Chart to Mid converter
Anvil Studio Midi Editor


The first thing to do is begin with Feedback, as this is the easiest and most efficient way to create the charts. Guitar, Bass, and Drums can be created in Feedback. If you don't know how to use Feedback, go to the Feedback link above and follow the guide.

Drums

I suggest beginning with the drums track, as once that is down the guitar and bass will match up perfectly. If you are going to make a playable chart, it MUST match up with the measures in Feedback. This means you will have to match up the beats fairly well and do tempo changes or whatever to make it match throughout the song.

As stated in previous posts, feedback corresponding to respective pad colors:

green = bass/foot pedal
red = red pad (snare, for most songs)
yellow = yellow pad (hi hat/left rack tom, for most songs)
blue = blue pad (crash/right rack tom)
orange = green pad (ride/floor tom)




As you can see in the image, the hi hat beats match up with the eighth notes perfectly. I use Feedback 0.9b, but i've heard many others work just fine for drum charts. That is all that can be added for drum charts.

Guitar and Bass

Guitar and Bass charts (note wise) are the same as guitar hero. If you don't know how to do that, follow the feedback link above. Star Power in feedback doesn't correspond to star power for rock band. It must be added in with a midi editor like anvil for all instruments. The feedback star power is the solo section for Rock Band. If you would like to place your guitar solo section in feedback, you can. Otherwise it will be added with the midi editor, along with vocals.

The only event that should be put in is the "end" event at the end of the chart. Also, you should add in section names just to make it look nice.

By now you should be finished with your drum, guitar, and bass charts.

Now, use Leff's chart to mid converter. Make sure to click the "rock band" mark so it will write the part drums section



Now it is time to use Anvil Midi Editor or whatever midi editor you like. Don't be afraid to use the midi editor if you have never used it before because it is fairly simple to use.

Open up Anvil, then open up your song.



Click on "PART GUITAR COOP" and go to track -> delete. Do the same for the "TRIGGERS" track. You now should have 4 tracks, "PART GUITAR", "PART BASS", "PART DRUMS" and "EVENTS".

Adding Overdrive (star power)

Go to View -> Piano Roll Editor

In the Lower Left corner, you should see a button "add sounds". This will allow you to change the amount of notes you see in the main screen.



The notes should begin on C 5 (midi 60) and you should add 57 notes to it so the top note is G# on the 9th octave. This is the bar in which star power will be added. You should see a tool bar across the top of the note areas which has "grid" and "note" and a bunch of drop boxes.



As shown in the pic, OD (star power) will be added to the section of notes which the G#9 note covers. You can change the note durations to change the amount of notes the OD phrase covers. It is the same note for bass, drums, and vocals. Bass is the exact same as guitar for OD. The G8 note signifies the solo section for guitar. If you added this in feedback, it should be present. If not, add it in here and extend the G8 note to cover the solo section you would like.

Drums are a little different. OD phrases are the same, but fills are on a different set of notes. Go down to "add sounds" again and instead of 57, put 65. The top 5 notes, C10, C#10, D10, D#10, and E10 will be used for fills.



the highlighted section will denote a drum fill. Listen to the music and figure out where the drum fills will go.

Important!!! This next step will make the drum fills work or else they will freeze upon playing them. In "PART DRUMS" go to View -> Event List. Scroll to the top. Then click on View -> Comments. Add the events as shown below.



For clarity, they say:

[mix 0 drums3easy]
[mix 1 drums3]
[mix 2 drums3]
[mix 3 drums3]
[play]

Next, make sure you click on View -> Event List to see that they are added. You must do this in order to "save" the comments you added. The [play] event does not need to be put at the 5th note. Just leave it where it is and it will be fine.

For more info on drums, check out thesentence's guide here.

By now you should have added in OD for the Guitar, Bass and Drums section along with the drum fills. Now its time to add in the vocal section.


Vocals

First, look online to see if there is a midi or karaoke file with the vocal notes. Just google "song name" midi. If you find one, in Anvil go to file->merge song and choose the file. Merge it at the beginning. Make sure you only keep the vocal file and not any other file besides that. Rename the track "PART VOCALS". You may have to add rest notes to align the notes with the song. You must add P1/P2 sections in order to make the vocal track work. P1 and P2 sections are located on A 9 and Bflat 9 (Just below C 9).



Alternate these sections so the game knows where to cut off each phrase for scoring (blue oval). OD is on the same note as the other tracks (red oval).

If you do not have the vocal track for your song, the first thing to do is google search "song name" sheet music. Usually you'll find a preview of your song. This is just used to determine the key signature of the song. If you don't know what a key signature is, look it up, but it basically tells you what notes will be used in the song. You will basically have to transpose most of the song by ear. If you can't do that, you are pretty much out of luck. The vocal track can also be created in KRMaker (just search the forum), though I prefer Anvil to create it.

The vocal notes range from C4 to B7 (For RB1 and track packs i believe), and any note outside that will be treated as no note, as shown below. I think RB2 will accept even up to B8.



To counteract this, add a "#" sign after each lyric in the phrase to make it a "talky part". If my lyric was Someday, it would look like this: Someday#. Do this for each lyric in the phrase.

Now, you should have 5 tracks (part all 4 instruments and an event track). Each one should have OD and fills for drums, along with the added comments for the drums track. This is all you need to create a custom track.

***Even after doing this, there is a chance it will freeze on the loading screen while playing. This is either due to an error in the conversion process from the chart to mid, or a mistake in a track. If this happens, use leff's converter again and add the OD/fills again. This usually fixes that problem. Most charts, if done correctly, will turn out just fine.


Updates will be made as more progress is made, but this is all that needs to be done to make a full custom chart. So lets see some charts made![url][/url]

[MCP]

So now that we've figured out the things to do and not to do, it's time for an easy guide to follow. Here's a few tools you will need.

Feedback
Leff's Chart to Mid converter
Anvil Studio Midi Editor


The first thing to do is begin with Feedback, as this is the easiest and most efficient way to create the charts. Guitar, Bass, and Drums can be created in Feedback. If you don't know how to use Feedback, go to the Feedback link above and follow the guide.

Drums

I suggest beginning with the drums track, as once that is down the guitar and bass will match up perfectly. If you are going to make a playable chart, it MUST match up with the measures in Feedback. This means you will have to match up the beats fairly well and do tempo changes or whatever to make it match throughout the song.

As stated in previous posts, feedback corresponding to respective pad colors:

green = bass/foot pedal
red = red pad (snare, for most songs)
yellow = yellow pad (hi hat/left rack tom, for most songs)
blue = blue pad (crash/right rack tom)
orange = green pad (ride/floor tom)




As you can see in the image, the hi hat beats match up with the eighth notes perfectly. I use Feedback 0.9b, but i've heard many others work just fine for drum charts. That is all that can be added for drum charts.

Guitar and Bass

Guitar and Bass charts (note wise) are the same as guitar hero. If you don't know how to do that, follow the feedback link above. Star Power in feedback doesn't correspond to star power for rock band. It must be added in with a midi editor like anvil for all instruments. The feedback star power is the solo section for Rock Band. If you would like to place your guitar solo section in feedback, you can. Otherwise it will be added with the midi editor, along with vocals.

The only event that should be put in is the "end" event at the end of the chart. Also, you should add in section names just to make it look nice.

By now you should be finished with your drum, guitar, and bass charts.

Now, use Leff's chart to mid converter. Make sure to click the "rock band" mark so it will write the part drums section



Now it is time to use Anvil Midi Editor or whatever midi editor you like. Don't be afraid to use the midi editor if you have never used it before because it is fairly simple to use.

Open up Anvil, then open up your song.



Click on "PART GUITAR COOP" and go to track -> delete. Do the same for the "TRIGGERS" track. You now should have 4 tracks, "PART GUITAR", "PART BASS", "PART DRUMS" and "EVENTS".

Adding Overdrive (star power)

Go to View -> Piano Roll Editor

In the Lower Left corner, you should see a button "add sounds". This will allow you to change the amount of notes you see in the main screen.



The notes should begin on C 5 (midi 60) and you should add 57 notes to it so the top note is G# on the 9th octave. This is the bar in which star power will be added. You should see a tool bar across the top of the note areas which has "grid" and "note" and a bunch of drop boxes.



As shown in the pic, OD (star power) will be added to the section of notes which the G#9 note covers. You can change the note durations to change the amount of notes the OD phrase covers. It is the same note for bass, drums, and vocals. Bass is the exact same as guitar for OD. The G8 note signifies the solo section for guitar. If you added this in feedback, it should be present. If not, add it in here and extend the G8 note to cover the solo section you would like.

Drums are a little different. OD phrases are the same, but fills are on a different set of notes. Go down to "add sounds" again and instead of 57, put 65. The top 5 notes, C10, C#10, D10, D#10, and E10 will be used for fills.



the highlighted section will denote a drum fill. Listen to the music and figure out where the drum fills will go.

Important!!! This next step will make the drum fills work or else they will freeze upon playing them. In "PART DRUMS" go to View -> Event List. Scroll to the top. Then click on View -> Comments. Add the events as shown below.



For clarity, they say:

[mix 0 drums3easy]
[mix 1 drums3]
[mix 2 drums3]
[mix 3 drums3]
[play]

Next, make sure you click on View -> Event List to see that they are added. You must do this in order to "save" the comments you added. The [play] event does not need to be put at the 5th note. Just leave it where it is and it will be fine.

For more info on drums, check out thesentence's guide here.

By now you should have added in OD for the Guitar, Bass and Drums section along with the drum fills. Now its time to add in the vocal section.


Vocals

First, look online to see if there is a midi or karaoke file with the vocal notes. Just google "song name" midi. If you find one, in Anvil go to file->merge song and choose the file. Merge it at the beginning. Make sure you only keep the vocal file and not any other file besides that. Rename the track "PART VOCALS". You may have to add rest notes to align the notes with the song. You must add P1/P2 sections in order to make the vocal track work. P1 and P2 sections are located on A 9 and Bflat 9 (Just below C 9).



Alternate these sections so the game knows where to cut off each phrase for scoring (blue oval). OD is on the same note as the other tracks (red oval).

If you do not have the vocal track for your song, the first thing to do is google search "song name" sheet music. Usually you'll find a preview of your song. This is just used to determine the key signature of the song. If you don't know what a key signature is, look it up, but it basically tells you what notes will be used in the song. You will basically have to transpose most of the song by ear. If you can't do that, you are pretty much out of luck. The vocal track can also be created in KRMaker (just search the forum), though I prefer Anvil to create it.

The vocal notes range from C4 to B7 (For RB1 and track packs i believe), and any note outside that will be treated as no note, as shown below. I think RB2 will accept even up to B8.



To counteract this, add a "#" sign after each lyric in the phrase to make it a "talky part". If my lyric was Someday, it would look like this: Someday#. Do this for each lyric in the phrase.

Now, you should have 5 tracks (part all 4 instruments and an event track). Each one should have OD and fills for drums, along with the added comments for the drums track. This is all you need to create a custom track.

***Even after doing this, there is a chance it will freeze on the loading screen while playing. This is either due to an error in the conversion process from the chart to mid, or a mistake in a track. If this happens, use leff's converter again and add the OD/fills again. This usually fixes that problem. Most charts, if done correctly, will turn out just fine.


Updates will be made as more progress is made, but this is all that needs to be done to make a full custom chart. So lets see some charts made![url][/url]

[thesentence]

Dude sick guide! Someone desperately needed to make this, for Rock Band customs were going extinct.

Could you possibly link my guide for further explanation?

http://rockband.scorehero.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=14366

Thanks

Also yeah you don't need the [play] event on the 5th note, I never actually do that. Someone just told me to add that.
_________________

The Guide to Playing Custom Songs in Rock Band PS2

[thesentence]

Dude sick guide! Someone desperately needed to make this, for Rock Band customs were going extinct.

Could you possibly link my guide for further explanation?

http://rockband.scorehero.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=14366

Thanks

Also yeah you don't need the [play] event on the 5th note, I never actually do that. Someone just told me to add that.
_________________

The Guide to Playing Custom Songs in Rock Band PS2

[elemenohpe]

thanks for the guide. this should help me make some more progress for my first submissions!
_________________

My (REAL) band is called The Winter Mission. Click the banner below to check out our tunes.

GOALS FOR GH:WT: (purchased on 12/29/08)
[X] Complete GH:WT Guitar career on Expert
[50%] Complete GH:WT Drum career on Expert
[X] Complete GH:WT Bass career on Expert

[elemenohpe]

thanks for the guide. this should help me make some more progress for my first submissions!
_________________

My (REAL) band is called The Winter Mission. Click the banner below to check out our tunes.

GOALS FOR GH:WT: (purchased on 12/29/08)
[X] Complete GH:WT Guitar career on Expert
[50%] Complete GH:WT Drum career on Expert
[X] Complete GH:WT Bass career on Expert

[sotz2004]

wow i am so using this guide, thanks alot dude!

[sotz2004]

wow i am so using this guide, thanks alot dude!

[boberta13k]

thanks for the informative guide.

Remember, I STILL hold the post for rockband customs, feel free to post all your wonderful creations there.
_________________

I totally died. in the meantime im drumming for my band, Magnum Solstice. if you want look us up and tell us we suck, ill love you for it :P

[boberta13k]

thanks for the informative guide.

Remember, I STILL hold the post for rockband customs, feel free to post all your wonderful creations there.
_________________

I totally died. in the meantime im drumming for my band, Magnum Solstice. if you want look us up and tell us we suck, ill love you for it :P

[thesentence]

Once customs get going I'm sure they will make a section of rockband.scorehero specifically for them... I hope
_________________

The Guide to Playing Custom Songs in Rock Band PS2

[thesentence]

Once customs get going I'm sure they will make a section of rockband.scorehero specifically for them... I hope
_________________

The Guide to Playing Custom Songs in Rock Band PS2

[MCP]

Updated the vocal section to be a little more in depth. If anyone can think of something missed, let me know.

[MCP]

Updated the vocal section to be a little more in depth. If anyone can think of something missed, let me know.

[jack2785229]

i dont want to sound like a complete idiot but where can you download the actual drum charts or do you have to create them your self?

[jack2785229]

i dont want to sound like a complete idiot but where can you download the actual drum charts or do you have to create them your self?

[rc11982]

If I already have a midi files for the drums, guitar, bass, I get these from Guitar Pro 5. Can I just use them without using feedback???

[rc11982]

If I already have a midi files for the drums, guitar, bass, I get these from Guitar Pro 5. Can I just use them without using feedback???

[MCP]

[MCP]

[conlan22]

wow great guide. I dont come on this side much so I was surprised to see that people could do RB customs at all.

[conlan22]

wow great guide. I dont come on this side much so I was surprised to see that people could do RB customs at all.

[rc11982]

Thanks for the reply... I am going to try to follow the steps and make my own.

[rc11982]

Thanks for the reply... I am going to try to follow the steps and make my own.

[NateTheGreat555]

haha just saw i needed those comments for the drum chart.
Updating as i speak.

Thanks a lot dude! Had all of the info that I was unsure about, like where to put the solo stuff and overdrive fills for drums!

[NateTheGreat555]

haha just saw i needed those comments for the drum chart.
Updating as i speak.

Thanks a lot dude! Had all of the info that I was unsure about, like where to put the solo stuff and overdrive fills for drums!

[nedthehead]

Hmm... there is one thing that hasn't be made clear. Call me a n00b, but I want some verification before I go any further.

Do I make one chart for drums, one for bass, and one for guitar? Or do I use feedback (F keys) to fit all three instruments under one chart.

Oh, this one also popped into mind. If I want to make Easy, Medium, Hard, and Expert, do each of those need their own seperate chart? Or can I combine them under Feedback?

Sorry for the stupid questions ;)

[nedthehead]

Hmm... there is one thing that hasn't be made clear. Call me a n00b, but I want some verification before I go any further.

Do I make one chart for drums, one for bass, and one for guitar? Or do I use feedback (F keys) to fit all three instruments under one chart.

Oh, this one also popped into mind. If I want to make Easy, Medium, Hard, and Expert, do each of those need their own seperate chart? Or can I combine them under Feedback?

Sorry for the stupid questions ;)

[MCP]

[MCP]