A NO BS GUIDE
to the Boss BR 1200 Drums
using the Roland's BOSS BR
I had to hunt and peck. I bought the DVD manual. I used trial and error, but I did figure out how easy it is to write/ create/ invent/ produce/ make DRUM SOUNDS on the BR1200.
1)My tips are good. It took longer to type them than it does to read them, BUT you can.......
2).......Feel free to scroll down to the step by step process, skipping my tips and notes.
I can get wordy. I suggest if you are really interested in putting the effort to learn BR1200 drums that you skim this article. Then play with the BR1200, then re-read this...and after a while it will sink in.
One way to prove to yourself that it is really easy to make drums on
the BR1200 is to imagine a train on tracks. There are a lot of box cars holding
different parts of the drums in a song. These "box cars", or parts which
make up the train or song are seperate but they hook together. You must
understand the structure of a song. A song has seperate, but connected parts.
The drums designate where that occurs. E.g. There are starting drums. There are
singing the verse drums. There are bridge drums. You will create/invent many parts
and connect them. Once you make a basic 2 measure pattern, you can copy it 10 times
in two seconds then slightly alter each one part. This will reduce the "fake sound",
although I dont think it sounds fake, but then again I may have issues and may need
therpy.
To keep it simple set up 12 bar blues. 1 2 3 4...count..that is a bar.
There are 12 of those measure/bars parts in each part of the song, except for
the simple two bar/measure bridge (1 2 3 4-1 2 3 4 that is a two measure bridge).
There are notes to each measure...Making it simple, use 4/4 aka 4 quarter notes per measure/bar.
You create the measures/bars using a grid chart on the screen you where you input 4 quarter notes in the each measure.....etc etc
You can mix up the four quarter notes. You can input two eighth notes instead
of one of the quarter notes. As long as the total per measure is 4/4 or four
quarter notes per bar/measure it sholud sound good. I MAY BE WRONG, Thelonius Monk
might very much disagree, but if you wanna rock,,,,write the drums even and simple,
but not too simple, after all it is RnR. And bear in mind if people say it is a click
track, or sounds automated, just say "WELL IF THE DAMN DRUMMER would show up I
would let her do it". Where are you Samantha ex-drummer for Motley Crue?
What you need to do is set up a collection of 5 or 10 or 20 parts/box cars
of drums.These parts will be 1 measure..or 2 measure or 4 measures. They all have
the same BPM beats per minute, and then you connect them together to make a 3
minute song. To keep it simple most songs have 70-100 measures. If it is 12 bar
blues you have about 5 sets of 12 bars plus the intro and bridge. Then put it all
together. I realize some EXPERTS out there says I am a whore to use the electric
drums. They might say that it is not music. I say HAVE YOU HEARD MY MUSIC?....hehehe:)....I make sure
to OVER compensate by raging out some WILD FKING ROCK AND ROLL guitar trainwrecks.
Plus what am I supposed to do until Samantha calls, nothing? I would love
to have Tommy Lee or Ian Paice or Alex VH or Neil Peart or any other famous drummer,
whose name I cant spell correctly. But as it is I have the BR1200, and facts be known
I think it sounds pretty good. I could be wrong, but at least I dont need therapy
because I worked it all here with you, thank you:)
What did I create????
HEY...
.....If you like the sound of what I do, and you want to jam with me, email me and LETS DO IT. Currently I am only set up for MP3s, but I am willing to trade tracks by the mail although later I may redesign and use other files types. I only have a few requirements. You must be honest and tell me your opinion whenI ask for it. I require responses to questions, even if the response is "I dont want to say". It would be best if you own a BR1200. It is best if you are a ROCKER, because I like to ROCK AND ROLL. If you lack talent, but make up for it with attitude, that works for me, as long as you keep working to improve .... AND .... Be ready kick out the jams.
I am assuming that you recently obtained the BR1200 and that you
know your way around the control surface. I am assuming that
you understand the structure, sound and purpose of drums. I am assuming that
you know that most rock songs need many points in the arrangement designed to bring
everything back to the correct beat. I assume you know that 8 or 12 or 16 measures
make up a bar of music (though there can more or less measures to a bar). These bars in turn create the whole arrangement, or song. That is why you hear a fill pattern
at the 12th bar or 16th bar or 8th bar, or where ever it occurs.
It does not matter when the break occurs as long as you provide a marker sound
to help a "lost" instrument can find it way back into the groove. "THE CUE" can be the crash, or rocked out TOM TOM TOM TOM, or anything. You should
write on a piece of paper what and when you want the drum sounds to occur. Go listen to the drums I wrote. Listen to the beat 1 2 3 4 then FILLED WITH TOMS. I used a variation of the 12 bar pattern.
Let me state MY PURPOSE. I am no expert about this topic, otherwise I would charge you money for this information, my only payment will be an email of thanks. I use ignorant terms like "sounds" because, it may not even be a song, but it is a sound. I may be wrong about some assumptions, but this guide will get you on the fast track to using the BR1200 to write drums. I have a long way to go, but I thought I would help humans who follow me have an easier time getting down making songs,,,or at least sounds.
This guide on first glance may seem long hard, but if you are in my target
audience then you will appreciate this step by step guide.
If you know rock and roll, and you can go.1-2-3-4
BAM-da-da-BAMda-BAM-da-da-BAMda-BAM-da-da-BAM...
TICK-TOCK-BING-BONG -DIddly diddly DO...
BAM-da-da-BAMda-BAM-da-da-BAMda-BAM-da-da-BAM...
TICK-TOCK-BING-BONG -DIddly diddly DO...
BAM-da-da-BAMda-BAM-da-da-BAMda-BAM-da-da-BAM...
TICK-TOCK-BING-BONG -DIddly diddly DO...
Take that drum pattern in your head and write it.
Before we start I want to MAKE SURE YOU KNOW
and understand that the Boss Br1200 is a temporary electronic device.
It can and will fail. Like riding a motorcycle, it is not IF...
but WHEN it is goingf to crash, and how bad the damage is.
ALL THAT SAID.....I am flabbergasted at how well the BR1200 can record my sounds,
and master them and create CDs or export using a USB.
The BR1200 is a temporary electronic device.
BE SURE TO BACKUP important songs track and creations. On a Regular basis burn CD of your kewl ass sounds.
On a regular basis use the USB connection to back up your kewl ass sounds.
READ THE MANUAL about using the USB plug. There is a section
which discusses problems when the USB freeezes in "waiting mode".
If you play games with the BR1200 then it may NOT DISCONNECT,
then you may have to turn off the unit by unplugging it.
DO NOT DO THIS!!!. Baby the BR1200, or it might dump EVERYTHING ON THE HARDRIVE... ALL OF YOUR INFORMATION MAY BE LOST.
Make sure to BACK UP you infromation. Back up you hours and hours of effort, or BAM!!!!!! the information was gone.
The BR1200 is a temporary electronic device, and the manual says NEVER unplug the unit until it has shut down completely on its own.
What do you do if it freezes and will not disconnect? First of all did you
make sure you have everything saved before you went all willy nilly? for instance trying
to plug the BR1200 into new computer hookup. If you did save it, it may be OK to just
pull the cord, BUT PROBABLY NOT!!!
What did I do? I had to bring in a correct computer to connect to the BR1200.
The BR1200 said"WAITING"...and the BR1200's turn off switch would not work. It was stuck,
until I plugged the BR1200 into a proper USB computer. It then attached itself to the computer and then I was able to disconnect the BR1200.
BE WARNED: Do not spill wet stuff on the BR1200. Clean the dust off of it.
Go slow and be patient with it. Make sure it is NOT connected to a switchable
power outlet. Treat the BR1200 like baby. It is a temporary electronic device used to
temporarily create and store sounds. It has several ways to output your
hours and hours and hours of effort. Do not let important effort evaporate.
BE WARNED: Develop good habits. Before turning the BR1200 off
Be sure to slide all sliders to zero. Turn all knobs to ZERO. Turn all input
and outputs to OFF. Keep the air vents open. Feel the bottom of your BR1200
to see if there are HOT SPOTS, where the machine is under stress. Keep all liquid and goofball far away from the BR1200.
If you use the USB connection make sure the comouter has at least Microsoft ME/2000/XP. My windows 98 USB did not work
correctly, and I had to bring in my XP machine. BUT I WAS NOT GOING to pull the plug. As soon as a correct machine was attached, the BR1200
was perfect. THE MORAL? The BR1200 works great, If it does not , it is probaly you. YOU WILL BE
THE PROBLEM. By "you", I mean "ME" too. My friend, if you have read this far, you can trust me.
I am paid nothing for this HOW TO GUIDE.
I do not say things like "it is you" very often.
It may sound rude,
but when I say it, listen..it is good advice, and I need the same advice.
Usually most machines and programs and cars and stocks and woman and men and things in life will MESS YOU UP. They are the problem, BUT...........
The BR1200 is one of the few devices I have ever messed with, which worked as well as it does. I have had ZERO 0 goosegg problems with it.
That is a very high compliment coming from me, it is rare that a device works perfect. THAT IS NOT TO SAY that there are some design flaws like the screen is too small, or there is no wave forms, or blah blah blah. I am saying
that the BR1200 does do what it says it will do, perfectly.
Good job to the humans at Boss/Roland.
I repay the efforts by spending my time writing this long guide about how to use the BR1200 to make drums.
STEP BY STEP HOW TO make drums on the BR1200, at least one way to do it, there are several. The method
described here may be the hardest, but it will give you complete control
of all drums patterns and they will be 100% original..ALL YOURS!!!!!
0) Press the utility button to bring up the selection screen.
1) Go to Song- NEW ( the cursor buttons to see more )
2) Pick type Drums+LOOP (use the knob)( this is NOT a bass lesson )
3) Push the Go button.
4) The message "new song.complete" will appear.
The screen will read something like Song 56 with the tempo of 130.00.
The BR1200 thinks you want P001 arrangement and Drums
and want a song with 130 BPM beats per minute tempo.
Maybe you and maybe you don't, but imho I say change it all
be in control of the process. The BR1200 will allow you to "HAVE THE POWER"
Gain control
YOU WANT TO BE IN CONTROL.
Understand this:
you will KNOW how many measures your song will be,
you will KNOW what the tempo should be,
REC/PLAY buttons are figure A.
Edit Patterns and arrangements in figure B.
Many adhustment are contolled by buttons on the screen, fiure C.
If there is no sound, adjust the volume slider figure D.
When you XX that means use round knob with the CURSER ARROW KEYS to set the adjust settings on the BR1200.
5) Press the (fig B) button to select either an ARRANGEMENT or a PATTERN
5) Select ARRANGEMENT (fig B)
5) XX (fig XX)Using the knob adjust your arrangement's name from P001 to U001
6) SET the BPM: to 132, because WE ROCK!!!
7) Press edit. (fig B)Select the drum set you want, and use name to name arrangement.
8) After entering the info press the EXIT/NO button twice.
8) Use the WR CPY DEL(fig C, the screen) button to write your arrangement, press go.
You will now have your very own original drum arrangement SAVED.
It will be called whatever you named it and have the correct BPM
(It still has the wrong drums...which you will delete)
USING THE PROGRAMMABLE RHYTHM buttons
on the control surface you can switch between editing the
arrangement and editing the pattern.
To keep it simple I am only talking about drums, to keep it simple.
You are going to create/ author/ invent /write 100 measures of drum sounds.
These drums sounds control the EVERYTHING in the song.
It is the arrangement of the song. You may want repeat and slightly alternate
the snare with a cow bell, and throw in a CRASH or two...or use the toms to create a fill. Do what ever you want, as long as you don't hurt anyone else.
9) Press the button to select either an ARRANGEMENT or a PATTERN
10) Press the edit button to go there.
10) Press the VIEW button.
LETS START WITH THE ARRNAGEMENT.
Make sure EVERYTHING HAS THE SAME BPM tempo...132
Press the ARR EDIT to go to the correct screen.
THE FOLLOWING MAY BE DIFFICULT TO LEARN, or not..
Use the cursor keys( fig XX ) to move the highlighted variable.
You will see MEAS PATTERN LENGTH
Use the cusor button to select what you want to do.
YOU WANT TO start at measure 1-01 and fill until measure 100-1
with drum patterns you create. You do not fill it all at once you input small
sections of the drums. KEWL? You need to create short, 1 or 2 or 4 measure,
drum patterns. First you want to create a 1 measure drum intro...
After that you want to create 2 and 4 measure patterns so the drum sound
slightly altered. Then you can copy/duplicate those patterns which you
can then slightly alter to make even more 2 and/or 4 measure patterns.
After you create them, you have a list of U ( users patterns ) and number e.g. U100,
U101, U102, U103, U104, U105, U106, U107, U108. You save all of these
named patterns in the BR1200, and then you can add them measure by measure
until you have 100 measure 3 minute drums pattern.
Use the cursor (fig XX )keys to move the highlighted variable.
You will see the headings- MEAS. PATTERN. LENGTH.
Use the cursor button to select what you want to do.
11) MEAS shows where you are placing your pattern.
12) Make sure arrangement is blank.
12) Select measure 001 and push delete button to delete all of the patterns
after where you select the MEAS. Push delete to erase the input.
13) With 001 selected move over to PATTERN
14) Using the round knob ( fig XX ) select either P U S
This means P reset pattern, U ser pattern, S ong pattern.
15) You want to select U..for User because you are a kick ASS
rock and roller and you want to make original patterns.
BUT WAIT HOLD EVERYTHING.
We need to write/create/invent something to go into the U pattern, the User pattern.
U and a 3 digit number
You have to push the PATTERN ( fig B ) button to EDIT drums.
XX-Set the correct settings on the BR1200 by using the round knob with
the CURSER ARROW KEYS.
Here again you select P S U and then the 3 digit pattern you are creating.
16) Push the PATTERN button and a screen will show patterns
16) XX-Adjust to U.then change the number to 100 U030
17) Push PTN EDIT on the screen
You will see a box come up that SAYS U030
You can adjust BEAT MEASURE and SWING Position and RATE.
Set the BEAT to 4/4 and IGNORE the SWING and RATE.
18) Adjust the MEASURE to 1 for our 1- measure intro
19)Press REC ( fig A )
20) Press STEP
21) This brings up a grid ..The screen is too small, but just deal with it.
You can use the RES screen buttons adjust the number of
measures which are displayed. this also adjusts the size of note to insert.
We are working on a one-measure pattern with 4 beats, with 4 quarter
notes per beat, 4/4.
22) press the RES( fig C )buttons until you can can see boxes with 1-1 1-2 1-3 1-4.
Do you know about this? This the 1 2 3 4...which we count in a song.
We are creating a 1 measure intro..So that you will learn how to make drums
with your BR1200. I sure am typing a lot for you, I hope you appreciate
that. If you do send me an email to say how great it is that I saved you
time which I had to waste learning. But I figure that if I teach you THEN
YOU SAVE TIMEthus WE SAVE TIME thus overall the world is a better place and
when you say thank you.. I feel good, and then I am inspired to help more
and so are you thus overall the world is a better place..
FOR FREE no profit just good karma.
ANYWAY......,
23) With the 1-1 1-2 1-3 1-4 set up on the screen.
It will show T4 T3 T2 T1 CY RC OH OH S1 K1 these can
be adjusted XX- using the round knob with the CURSER ARROW KEYS.
Focus on The K1 Kickdrum S1 Snare OH highhats open/closed and CY.
Add the T1 tom-toms for fill.
First create four crash symbol opening bam bam bam bam..GO
For the intro lets add 4 CY at 1-1 1-2 1-3 1-4.
XX-Move to the correct box, and spin the knob to insert your drum sound.
Figure D is the drum volume level. If you have no sound, it might be at zero.
By using the RES button ( fig C )you can adjust EXACTLY where the note goes,
and if it is a quarter note, 1/8 note 1/16 note.your choice.
24) PAY ATTENTION.use the cursor button to go left and right
and up and down. Move to the left and notice that the CUR position in the
right corner also moves. Depending on what size note you are using you
will move from 1-1-000 to1-1-24 101-1-048 to 1-1 072 to 1-2-0.etc etc.
If you change the RES the movement will be smaller eg 1-1-000 to1-1-016 to
1-1-032 to 1-1-048 to 1-1-064 to 1-01 080 to 1-2-000 IT JUST DEPENDs ON THE RES resolution......you choose.
TIP- to start with keep it simple with ¼ note entries in the correct spots.
25) Scroll up to the CY crash and use the knob to create note/dot at
location 1- 1-000. Scroll acorss the screen and create a another note at 1-2-000
1-3-000 andalso at 1-4-000..
26) Press the ZERO button on the PLAY/REC controls..and that will
set the measure to ZERO then JUST PUSH PLAY. I you do not hear it, check the
volume slider, ( fig D ) or the output speakers volume. Keep looking for your problem,
because it is probably NOT an issue with the BR1200.
The drums will cycle through the pattern and you can hear it.. this is a short
1 measure pattern, but it is yours.
27) When you are happy with the sound, back out by using the
EXIT/NO key and come to a screen with *TMP on it
Press the name button and name the pattern using XX-keys/knob
PRESS GO WHEN YOU ARE DONE and the pattern is named.
You can access this pattern 500 other U patterns when you are creating
a drum track.
Create GOOD HABITS Don't get sloppy. Arrange your drum patterns
with some logic. A limitation of the BR1200 is you must use paper and pen
to keep track of your patterns.
You can also use S song in addition to U user patterns. the User
patterns are useable in any song. S patterns are only usable in its song.
OK that is the intro, now we need some 2 and 4 measure patterns.
28) ( fig XX ) go to edit patterns, and select U and 031, which will
be one after the U030 intro we wrote.
29) With U030 selected Press PTN EDIT ( fig C)
30) Scroll to measure and set this pattern to 2 measures.
31) Press REC (fig A )and STEP
32) This box will look like U0303 except this pattern has 2
full measures. the beat is still 4/4 and the tempo is still 132.
33)Adjust the RESolution to ¼ note input. Notice that when you
scroll across the "CUR" count also move. It show you where the
note is going. You must correctly match up notes sizes.
This means if you insert four quarter notes in one measure you
have to match that in the next measure. It is Ok to insert
2 oneEighth notes for one quarter, but you should not have
1 and a half notes in one measure and 1 and 3/4 notes in another.
HOWEVER it is rock and roll, I leave up to you.
Create a bunch
on little patterns like this, remember where you stored them, and what
they do. Make a memo of what the patterns do. Are they the intro, or a fill, or that
last RAMJAMMING of
the song .You create what you want and then you insert them into your
arrangement.
BACK TO WHERE WE WERE.
SO HOLD EVERYTHING..
We need to write/create/invent something into the U pattern
Use the cursor button ( fig XX )to select what you want to do.
13) With 001 selected move over to PATTERN
14) Using the round know select either P U S
This means P reset pattern, U ser pattern, S ong pattern.
15) You want to select U..for User because you are a kick ASS
rock and roller and you want to make original patterns.
34) Select U 030 ( the intro you wrote ) select LENGTH as 1 measure.
35) Scroll ( fig XX )back to the left and knob to MEAS 002
36) At measure 002 you input pattern..which you select
under the PATTERN select input U 031 for the correct number
of measure .If it was 2 measure pattern set it to 2 measure..if it
was a 4 measure pattern set it to 4 measures.
When the whole arrangement is complete. back out using the EXIT/NO
button until the WR CPY Del screen comes up. Press the write button..
and write the TMP pattern into your U 009 selection. PRESS GO (fig C )
37) You are done Press the EXIT /NO button and then
press the STOP + REC ( fig A )to save you whole song.
Today is March 18 2007. I will come back and review this website
to see if it needs help and if you have anything to add
please let me know>> >> >>>>
Write "BR1200" in the title, becauseIdelete90%ofmymessages.
More to come..This report needs to be cleaned up