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Idiots Guide to Mastering Feedback (v0.8b)
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Gokussj5okazu  





Joined: 25 Jun 2007
Posts: 291

PostPosted: Tue Aug 21, 2007 11:41 pm    Post subject: Idiots Guide to Mastering Feedback (v0.8b) Reply with quote

Staff note: This guide is old and out of date. Please use inimitable's new guide instead.
http://www.scorehero.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=73070


Nick and I have decided that this would be more effective on-site. Please, if you have any questions relating to this guide in particular, feel free to post.

Idiot Proof Guide to Mastering Feedback

I take no responsibility for any damage that you may cause to your property, your being, or anything at all for that matter. This guide is for educational purposes only and may not be reproduced without the owner's permission.

Also, please note that this guide is far from complete. I will add to it over time.


Index

Chapter 1: Determining and Setting BPM

Chapter 2: Determining and Setting Offset

Chapter 3: Placing Notes

Chapter 4: Syncing with BPM Changes

Chapter 5: Syncing with Anchors

Chapter 6: Finishing Touches: Song Events: Markers

Chapter 7: Finishing Touches: Song Events: Lighting

Chapter 8: Finishing Touches: Song Events: Crowd

Chapter 9: Finishing Touches: Song Events: Band

Chapter 10: Touches: Track Events: Guitarist


----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Now, let's begin.

This guide assumes you know and have several things beforehand. If you haven't or don't know how to do anything listed below, check out the Idiot Proof guide to MAKING custom charts using FeedBack


1. Downloaded Feedback

2. Downloaded Audacity and derived a .OGG file from the .MP3 of the song you wish to chart.

3. Downloaded TabIt, or any other program that allows you to find the average BPM of a song.

4. You should be accustomed to the controls in Feedback. This guide will not teach you the basics.

5. You will need a guitar tab of the song you wish to chart. Search Google for these.


----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 1: Determining and Setting BPM


Open up Feedback, and load the .OGG file of your song. Now you need to know the BPM of your song. In this example I will be using the program, TabIt. Press Ctrl+M to open up the metronome feature. Here is what you should see.




Now, while your song is playing in Feedback, switch to TabIt and press a key on your keyboard to the same beat as the music. You have to have a relatively good sense of beat to get an accurate average BPM. As you can see below, my average BPM was 98.




Now remember the number, you will be needing it in a moment. Close TabIt and switch back to Feedback. Set your beginning BPM. Now set your Step to 1/48th, and your speed to 0.5x. Most songs are in 4/4 time, so I shall leave that section out. If you DO have one that you know for sure has a different time, simply change it. It doesn’t affect the next step though.




Play the song, and carefully note the first instant that you hear the guitar playing. Some songs this is very easy to recognize, yet others are more difficult. Some are easier to do if played in 0.75x speed. As you can see below, the first note of this song appears precisely on the second line of the measure, how convenient. Unfortunately some songs are not so simple, and require tweaking. For now I will simply stick with this song to demonstrate the basics. I have marked the first guitar note simply so that I can remember its location.




----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 2: Determining and Setting Offset


So the first note of the song doesn't start on a line. This is somewhat of a problem as, though your chart will still sync up, it won't look the best. It's much nicer looking if the first note, and therefore subsequent notes, fall on beat lines. There are two different scenarios that may be encountered here, the first is much simpler than the second. The first occurs when the first note is played after the first beat line, but before the second. There are a few options when correcting this, so I will go over that first. The second situation occurs when the first note is played before any line. I will go into this more later, but it is slightly problematic.




The first scenario has several solutions. The easiest option is to set an Offset in Feedback. Simply increase the Start value until the first note lines up with the first beat line. As you can see, I had to set the Start value to 0.153.




You're probably wondering how I found this number? Well it's rather simple to find, and extremely accurate. First place your note bar on the first note of the song and remember the Time value. This note occurred at 0.459. Then place the note bar on the line where you would like the note to be. The new placement was 0.306. If you subtract the first value from the second, you are left with the number that you need to set your offset to. In my case, it was 0.153. So setting this value as the Start (Offset), it brought the first note of the song down onto a beat line, as pictured above.




Onto the second scenario. This occurs when your song starts too early. You can't simply set an offset like before because Feedback doesn't support negative offsets. There is a way to get around this though. Like before, find the Time value of the first note, and the Time value of the line that you want the note to be on, and then find the difference. In the example I've given, this time is 0.153.

Open up Audacity and load the .MP3 of the song you're using. Click Generate -> Silence. Then enter your number in the blank. I used 0.153.




Now go to File -> Export as Ogg Vorbis. Save the file with the same name as the original, but add an ending that identifies it. For instance, I would name this one; letitdie153.ogg. All you have to do now if load this new .OGG file in Feedback and move your starting note up.




----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 3: Placing Notes


So now you know where your song starts, but how are you suppose to know where the notes go? Well you could do it all by ear, but that often leads to syncing problems, so I will show everyone how to do it from Sheet Music/Guitar Tabs. I prefer to use Power Tabs because they show both the tab, and music notes, plus you can listen to the midi version of the song and compare pitches. Unfortunately the song I decided to demonstrate with, Let It Die, has only one Power Tab available and it is not 100% correct. However, it is close enough.




As you can see, the first note of the song is a grouping of 3 low notes. If you listen to the song however, it sounds higher pitched. This is because the guitar is tuned to a high octave range. Now you could interpret a 557 chord as several different chords; GRY, GRB, RYB, ect. I chose to set this first note as a GYB chord. My reasoning behind this is as follows. If you look farther on in the tab, there are chords that will be of higher pitch than this first one, yet there are also a few that will be of a lower pitch. I'm going to need space to make higher pitched and lower pitched chords, so I chose something that is in the lower/middle of the spectrum; GYB. Note placing is very straight forward, so I won't go over that in great detail. However, songs often change BPM, so that's next.




----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 4: Syncing with BPM Changes



Ok, if you look below you can see where I have placed several notes. But I have come upon a slight problem. Until the spot highlighted, everything has synced. At the next note, the music plays slightly after the note and continues to play after the notes. This is a case of a BPM shift. Basically, the band went slightly slower, which is perfectly natural and simple to fix.




All you need to do is reduce your BPM at the last note that synced up. In this case, the note at the bottom syncs but the next few go slower. So I simply drop the BPM slightly, test it out, and violla. This can take a bit of trial and error, and sometimes you simply need to reduce the BPM by as little as 0.01.




----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 5: Syncing with Anchors


An explanation of anchors:

rkcr wrote:

For those who are even more obsessed with accurate timing, there is one foolproof method - anchors.

The basic use of an anchor is neat, but not that useful. Place down an anchor and you've set a certain part of the song for sure to happen on that particular beat. You can adjust the rest of the song without disturbing this beat.

What really makes the anchor powerful is the fact that you can adjust where an anchor goes in time without adjusting where it is in the measure. That is, suppose you know where the first and last notes of a song are (in terms of musical composition). You could chart out the entire song, and then place an anchor on the first and the last note. If you knew where, in seconds, the first and last notes where, you just adjust the anchor (using '[' and ']') to set them, and voila - you've got an average BPM already for the entire song.

You can take this even further. Suppose you set down an anchor at each measure. If you knew where, in seconds, the downbeat of each measure was, you could simply configure the anchor and you'd be accurate within the average time per measure. To the most extreme, you could place an anchor on every single note!

So, anchors are useful, but how do I actually find where in time the beat is? Well, you'll need some sort of audio software. Audacity is the natural choice, though I prefer Goldwave since I've used it longer. Basically, open the song in your sound editor and look at the waveform. Find the note you want to find the time for, and make it so that the selection you have starts or ends right at the beginning of the note. Then write down where that is in seconds (any audio editor should tell you where you have selected).


----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 6: Finishing Touches: Song Events: Markers


This section is an absolute must if you plan on doing any other Events. You need Marker events placed at each song section so everything acts right. This isn't 100% necessary, but it looks good. All you really need to do is place each marked at its respective location.

[verse] - Start of a Verse.

[chorus] - Start of a Chorus.

[solo] - Start of a Solo.

[end] - End of song.

[music_start] - Band starts playing, music begins, etc.

All pretty self-explanatory, have fun.


----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 7: Finishing Touches: Song Events: Lighting


So you're song's complete. You got all your notes laid down where you want them. It gets a little boring playing in a venue that's just lit by one light the whole song, so why not add some events? First check out my page about the available events for Feedback.

Idiot Proof Guide to Events in Feedback

First, I'll show how to add in lighting events like a professional light show artist. ^_^ Well Here's my song, all laid out and ready for glamourification.




Exactly what lighting to use, and when, all depends on the song. This song doesn't exactly start with a quiet part or a soft part, it's just average. So I'm going to start out with the lights sweeping the stage. So on the second beat, I simply place a [lighting (sweep)] event. This gives a nice, but not overly-emphasized, intro into the song. Remember, you also need the [music_start] event on the very first line of your song. Without this, none of your lighting events will work.




The song is rather timid for a few measures. At the next beat, in this picture, the bass guitar and bass drum comes in, so that's naturally a good spot for a [lighting (flare)]. Flares are good for any spot where a new instrument comes in with exhilaration, such as a sudden thump from a bass drum, or a loud beat from a second guitar. You can also see I threw in a little color. During verses I like to change up the color every measure or so, it keeps in interesting. ;-)




Now as you can see here, I have placed a [lighting (blackout)] event. You're probably wondering why. Well if you listen to the song, there's a section here where everything stops playing except the guitar, but it plays very quietly. So imagine the lighting going out and just hearing the guitar play. Pretty cool.




Here's an example of a good place for a [lighting (strobe)] event. As you can see, there is a series of fast notes ahead, and the song is just generally faster paced in this section. Normally [lighting (strobe)] events are used for extremely fast sections, but in this song, it doesn't get any faster than this so now's as good of a place as any to use it.




----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 8: Finishing Touches: Song Events: Crowd


Ok, so you've got the song finished, added some lighting, what's left? Get that crowd in the background moving a bit, they're boring back there, all still. All you can really do is control their speed and lighters, but I'll go through this anyhow. As you can see, I've placed a [crowd_half_tempo] event. In slow passages, use this, but in normal speed passages use [crowd_normal_tempo]. I suggest avoiding [crowd_double_tempo] in any song with a BPM over 100, unless you like crowds that go spastic.




Now you can set your crowd's lighter animations. Alot of songs don't really have a section that's appropriate for lighter waving, but some do. In fact, my demo song doesn't, so pardon the lack of pictures for this one. Basically, just place [crowd_lighters_slow] or [crowd_lighters_fast] during any section that seems emotional, melodic, or just generally calm. You must [crowd_lighters_off] to stop the waving.


----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 9: Finishing Touches: Song Events: Band


Let's get that band moving around a bit, they look so dull. The first thing I'll demonstrate is [band_jump].

Research has shown that [band_jump] doesn't activate when you place the event. Instead, it activates at the next measure line. The band lands 1/4th beat after. This may be a bit off, but from several videos, it appears that this is how it works. The picture below demonstrates this.



[sync_head_band] This is a good event for normal speed passages that make you want to really rock out, not to mention it looks cool. The band will continue this animation for 4 measures, at normal tempo. [sync_wag] is also used in similar passages, and it lasts just as long.




----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 10: Finishing Touches: Track Events: Guitarist


Now that the band and crowd are moving, let's give that guitarist/bassist some emotion. These events control the player's facing and hand expressions. Here you can see I've placed the [play] event. This event is required or else your character will play at completely random times. Don't forget this one.




Next you can see I have placed a [wail_on] event. This causes the guitarist to do more of a "smacking" motion when he strums. Good for fast but steady parts. Be sure to use the [wail_off] event when you want the character to return to normal play.




Here I've placed a [solo_on] event. This is what causes your character's fingers to be set on fire while playing. The camera also switches. This is, of course, for solo sections. Unfortunately this song lacks a real solo, but the bridge will do.


_________________
FBMrider86 wrote:
Just put the damn disc in the drive. Assuming you don't throw your computer off of a 3 story building, it shouldn't fuck up your disc.
Phr34k wrote:
Internet Explorer 6 is a giant cunt. That is all.
Guide to Advanced Editing in Feedback


Last edited by Gokussj5okazu on Sat Aug 25, 2007 10:18 pm; edited 3 times in total
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Gokussj5okazu  





Joined: 25 Jun 2007
Posts: 291

PostPosted: Tue Aug 21, 2007 11:49 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Idiot Proof Guide to Configuring Feedback

I take no responsibility for any damage that you may cause to your property, your being, or anything at all for that matter. This guide is for educational purposes only and may not be reproduced without the owner's permission.


Index

Chapter 1: Configuring Keys

Chapter 2: Adding to Events List



----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 1: Configuring Keys

Ok, so you don't like the controls of Feedback, and want to set your own? Here's how. Open up the Config.ini, located in your Feedback directory. Right-click the file and select Open With... Now select Notepad.





Now you should have a screen like the one below. All you need to change is the text within the " " area that falls at the end of each command.<br>




----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 2: Adding to Events List

This will show you how to add Events to the list of events that Feedback uses. Any event added here will appear in the main program whenever you press the E or W key. First, open up events.txt. You should see a screen like the one below. All you need to do is add events into the list, save, and you're done.



_________________
FBMrider86 wrote:
Just put the damn disc in the drive. Assuming you don't throw your computer off of a 3 story building, it shouldn't fuck up your disc.
Phr34k wrote:
Internet Explorer 6 is a giant cunt. That is all.
Guide to Advanced Editing in Feedback
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GHCity  





Joined: 01 Jul 2007
Posts: 1086

PostPosted: Tue Aug 21, 2007 11:58 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Aweomse man! We owe you one.
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xSergeantMINORx  





Joined: 06 Jun 2007
Posts: 1656
Location: Fremont, CA

PostPosted: Wed Aug 22, 2007 12:04 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thanks a lot; you can consider me one of the very few people who used chapters 6-10.
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Aric  





Joined: 06 Apr 2007
Posts: 480
Location: Hamilton, Ontario, Canada

PostPosted: Wed Aug 22, 2007 12:21 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

It will probably help a lot of people who can't find the website. Nothing new but still as helpful as ever.
_________________
MY CUSTOM CHARTS!!! Including: Stairway To Heaven!

covery wrote:
you should get star power by hitting the notes with stars on them, then use your start power to activate start power so you get lots of scores. Make sure you hit your notes good becuase they make score go ^^^. This is a key point, do not forget.


Lmfao.
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nickb611  





Joined: 23 Oct 2006
Posts: 3731
Location: Villanova, PA

PostPosted: Wed Aug 22, 2007 1:35 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Aric wrote:
Nothing new but still as helpful as ever.


Word. And yeah, this was some positive thinking. Much easier now that it's on SH.
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MikeyMan2627  





Joined: 23 Jun 2007
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PostPosted: Wed Aug 22, 2007 2:53 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I have a question: If I type end instead of [end] in Feedback, will it still end the song there?
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GHCity  





Joined: 01 Jul 2007
Posts: 1086

PostPosted: Wed Aug 22, 2007 2:59 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

MikeyMan2627 wrote:
I have a question: If I type end instead of [end] in Feedback, will it still end the song there?


You don't use brackets. Period.
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Gokussj5okazu  





Joined: 25 Jun 2007
Posts: 291

PostPosted: Wed Aug 22, 2007 3:29 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Ya, don't use the [ ] parts. For some reason, Feedback will recognize [end] as the same as 'end', but that won't work for any other events. Just don't use the brackets, they're just to emphasize the events in the list.
_________________
FBMrider86 wrote:
Just put the damn disc in the drive. Assuming you don't throw your computer off of a 3 story building, it shouldn't fuck up your disc.
Phr34k wrote:
Internet Explorer 6 is a giant cunt. That is all.
Guide to Advanced Editing in Feedback
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xSergeantMINORx  





Joined: 06 Jun 2007
Posts: 1656
Location: Fremont, CA

PostPosted: Wed Aug 22, 2007 3:52 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Gokussj5okazu wrote:
Ya, don't use the [ ] parts. For some reason, Feedback will recognize [end] as the same as 'end', but that won't work for any other events. Just don't use the brackets, they're just to emphasize the events in the list.

On the contrary, I used the brackets on all of my events in this version of my Nemesis chart, which I created before I knew you didn't need the brackets. Unless that function has been taken out of dB with the latest patch, the presence of brackets don't matter.
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Gokussj5okazu  





Joined: 25 Jun 2007
Posts: 291

PostPosted: Wed Aug 22, 2007 3:58 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

xSergeantMINORx wrote:
Gokussj5okazu wrote:
Ya, don't use the [ ] parts. For some reason, Feedback will recognize [end] as the same as 'end', but that won't work for any other events. Just don't use the brackets, they're just to emphasize the events in the list.

On the contrary, I used the brackets on all of my events in this version of my Nemesis chart, which I created before I knew you didn't need the brackets. Unless that function has been taken out of dB with the latest patch, the presence of brackets don't matter.


That function has been taken out. Now you can't enter ANY event with brackets or it freezes Feedback.

Very nice work on that chart btw, the effects fit extremely well.
_________________
FBMrider86 wrote:
Just put the damn disc in the drive. Assuming you don't throw your computer off of a 3 story building, it shouldn't fuck up your disc.
Phr34k wrote:
Internet Explorer 6 is a giant cunt. That is all.
Guide to Advanced Editing in Feedback


Last edited by Gokussj5okazu on Wed Aug 22, 2007 4:27 am; edited 1 time in total
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xSergeantMINORx  





Joined: 06 Jun 2007
Posts: 1656
Location: Fremont, CA

PostPosted: Wed Aug 22, 2007 4:12 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Gokussj5okazu wrote:
xSergeantMINORx wrote:
Gokussj5okazu wrote:
Ya, don't use the [ ] parts. For some reason, Feedback will recognize [end] as the same as 'end', but that won't work for any other events. Just don't use the brackets, they're just to emphasize the events in the list.

On the contrary, I used the brackets on all of my events in this version of my Nemesis chart, which I created before I knew you didn't need the brackets. Unless that function has been taken out of dB with the latest patch, the presence of brackets don't matter.


That function has been taken out. Now you can enter ANY event with brackets or it freezes Feedback.

Very nice work on that chart btw, the effects fit extremely well.


So you're saying that with 0.8b, using brackets crashes dB; however, using brackets in 0.7b will work fine? Just another reason for me to keep using 0.7b. I never liked the new one anyway.

And thanks, this is the new version of the chart. It's not perfect, but it's about as close as I'm going to get without using a midi editing program.
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Last edited by xSergeantMINORx on Wed Aug 22, 2007 8:07 pm; edited 1 time in total
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Aric  





Joined: 06 Apr 2007
Posts: 480
Location: Hamilton, Ontario, Canada

PostPosted: Wed Aug 22, 2007 7:35 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I'm excited for dB 1.0 myself. Curious on what will be done.
_________________
MY CUSTOM CHARTS!!! Including: Stairway To Heaven!

covery wrote:
you should get star power by hitting the notes with stars on them, then use your start power to activate start power so you get lots of scores. Make sure you hit your notes good becuase they make score go ^^^. This is a key point, do not forget.


Lmfao.
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MikeyMan2627  





Joined: 23 Jun 2007
Posts: 20

PostPosted: Wed Aug 22, 2007 7:53 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote



Bump.
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Aric  





Joined: 06 Apr 2007
Posts: 480
Location: Hamilton, Ontario, Canada

PostPosted: Wed Aug 22, 2007 7:59 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

MikeyMan2627 wrote:


Bump.


What was the use of that? I'm sure it wasn't impossible to find. It was still on the first page of the forum. Posts like that won't get you very far. Of course it should be stickied but that still doesn't let you off the hook, lol.
_________________
MY CUSTOM CHARTS!!! Including: Stairway To Heaven!

covery wrote:
you should get star power by hitting the notes with stars on them, then use your start power to activate start power so you get lots of scores. Make sure you hit your notes good becuase they make score go ^^^. This is a key point, do not forget.


Lmfao.
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View user's profile Send private message
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