A singer’s thoughts on unpitched vocals
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Even easier than that would be recompiling those unpitched customs without a vocal track at all like you prefer. You can do this yourself, all the instructions are here.
Good suggestion. Again, takes more work than having a systematic solution. But please stop eluding to my being lazy or not taking time to read. Just from the work I’ve done (and not having ask a million questions), you should know that to not be the case.
Good good. Now say something like, “My library is forty percent pitched vocals!”
Winner of the internet for the day!!!! Brilliant.
In all honesty though, I do wish a non-pitched chart would be indicated with the info disc icon. As it is, the only way to know is by clicking on the song and looking at the info area, which is fine, but I normally overlook it (I guess I just assume a disc that is gold or better is good to go for full band, which if unpitched vocals are not counted is obviously not true). Quite a few times I have loaded up new songs for a Rock Band club night only to find out that the vocals are unpitched and the singer gets frustrated at that fact. What happens next? The song is stopped and something else is played.
That doesn’t help in game once you have hundreds to choose from. Unless you are suggesting there is a way to tell in the game.
Download the song, open the CON, extract the DTA, edit DTA to mark Vocals as No Part, save the DTA, save the CON. It’s probably a 1 minute process.
I know that many people who use their setups for parties prefer to download customs that have all legacy instruments charted at the least. I’m sure that most people would prefer to have unpitched vocals if the only other alternative is to just have nothing instead. If a custom has unpitched vocals, I just skip it and hope that someone finishes it down the road. But obviously I think that unpitched vocals should be available to people who need full band songs. And like Farottone said, you can always pull the .dta out and change the difficulty number to a 0 on vocals.
You can reach me on Discord: Fat Halpert#3165
I was very disappointed that songs I loved and wanted to download were missing pitched vocals, so I learned how to help authors pitch those charted-but-unpitched vocals. It’s actually pretty easy, and the authors I’ve worked with (Chainsaw Octopus and funkydunkleman) are more than patient, accommodating, and generous with their time. I just finished three part harmonies for a Jack White song funkydunkleman authored and Chainsaw Octopus and I have been collaborating on a Wombats song from my suggestions thread.
Point is: It ain’t hard to help out, even if you aren’t technically skilled. I feel your pain about unpitched vocals… I tend to avoid them, but now I don’t have to, because if I love a song enough, I’ll offer to pitch that shiz myself.
Incoming pun. You’ve downloaded enough songs. It’s time to pitch in
” src=”/wp-content/uploads/invision_emoticons/default_SA_wink.gif” />I know that many people who use their setups for parties prefer to download customs that have all legacy instruments charted at the least. I’m sure that most people would prefer to have unpitched vocals if the only other alternative is to just have nothing instead. If a custom has unpitched vocals, I just skip it and hope that someone finishes it down the road. But obviously I think that unpitched vocals should be available to people who need full band songs. And like Farottone said, you can always pull the .dta out and change the difficulty number to a 0 on vocals.
Yup. Makes sense and I get it. If your party people don’t mind unpitched, there you have it. An indicator would be nice in game to help everyone out, but for those like me who want to only sing pitched, editing the dta file is a fine solution.
Point is: It ain’t hard to help out, even if you aren’t technically skilled. I feel your pain about unpitched vocals… I tend to avoid them, but now I don’t have to, because if I love a song enough, I’ll offer to pitch that shiz myself.
Incoming pun. You’ve downloaded enough songs. It’s time to pitch in
” src=”/wp-content/uploads/invision_emoticons/default_SA_wink.gif” />Not sure if you were just being general or couldn’t resist the pun, but for the record, and in case it was missed before, I have offered and I have “pitched in” on others customs for vocals. I don’t believe in just taking, I have spent time authoring from scratch and by ear without the assistance of midis or multi track files, which is a big time sink and if others have downloaded, I do believe that qualifies as return. I know people would rather concentrate on burying the poster than addressing the topic, but even having contributed doesn’t seem to save you here. But I can take it.
Now that I have a few authorings under my belt, I plan on backtracking, taking all my learnings and applying that to the others I authored that were incomplete, because I know the importance of a full band custom. With that said, if I can’t author something well, I probably still wouldn’t put it in as I think it’s better to have a solid track than a clunky one.
Like many of us, I play rock band using many different instruments; however, the one I’m best at is vocals (I’m 1,000 skill level on PS4 having sung over 400 songs – I can FC anything with practice). So it’s very aggravating when customs that should have pitched vocals are authored with unpitched. Since I want the song for other instruments as well, I don’t want to just not download it.
To put it in perspective, it’s like authoring a guitar track and having a green note play through the whole time, only breaking when you hear the guitar break. Imagine that on expert.
It would make more sense to author it without any vocals, so at least I’d know which songs I don’t want to play as a vocalist. As I can’t tell you how many times I’ve chosen a song (after having so many customs now) only to be met with unpitched vocals when starting to play. Having to back out of the song and then find another one, only to be met with the same thing again.
Curios on the communities thoughts…
I really love these kind of comments from a new user.
Here is your solution, Take 30 seconds to look at the custom you are downloading including the details of what’s in the custom in the database, most will tell you they are unpitched. Don’t just click it, load it play it then realize it has unpitched. That is your fault, not the fault of the author.
Here is another solution, download the custom & when you put it in game review it & give it a 1 rating, then when you are trying to impress your friends with your singing ability you can have these not show up in game
We as authors do not make these for you, we make them generally for ourselves & we are kind enough to put hundreds & thousands of hours into making & sharing these only to have someone like you come along and say crap like, don’t post them that way cause I don’t like it, post it my way & beg someone to help you. There are only so many authors that can do pitched vocals properly & there time is limited.
I’m mainly a singer as well, so when I ran into a custom that I wanted that also had un-pitched vocals, I resolved to learn how to pitch them myself. If you’re as capable as you suggest, then you should have the ear for it.
I agree with Dash, They claim they are very good at singing, maybe it’s time to learn how to use Reaper & get your knowledge of singing into all them songs that are unpitched
So it’s very aggravating when customs that should have pitched vocals are authored with unpitched.
Tell me about it.
It would make more sense to author it without any vocals
A big reason why I add unpitched vox to my customs is so that they can still be played with 4+ people in a party setting.
My most popular unpitched, non-AC/DC custom is probably Glory Days by Bruce Springsteen.
Now if you were having a RB party with friends, and that song showed up, would you rather back out as the singer and sit aside needlessly singing along trying to remember the lyrics while GBD has fun? Or would you stay in the game, score some extra points, sing along to the lyrics? Maybe even freestyle or improvise some words if you want, and finish with 100%?
My goal with my customs is to make them as fun and accessible as I can for as many people as I can. I do not have the ability to properly pitch vocals, so I do the next best thing. If someone here comes along and says they would like to add pitches (which has happened numerous times) I always provide them with the relevant files to do so, and make sure to credit them where I can.
As I can’t tell you how many times I’ve chosen a song (after having so many customs now) only to be met with unpitched vocals when starting to play
I can’t speak for everyone, but I always make sure my unpitched songs are 0 tier vocals, and songs that include pitches are always at least tier 1. That should be a universal rule with customs.
Well said Funky
I agree about unpitched vocals. I was looking through the database and found a song I really liked. I loaded it and played it and there were no pitches. I was very disappointed. But I have it on my list of updates to songs. I guess I personally think that it should be pitched or no vocals at all. Instead of leaving it unpitched, post it without vocals at all and ask someone who could check it out to provide pitched lyrics.
What about the people who are not as picky as you? There are ways you can avoid them but some people aren’t as damn picky as you & they don’t expect them to be like what Harmonix makes. They take what they get & learn to either love them or to not download them at all.
My last words on this are, if what we make is not up to your standards, There is always RB4, go support them
Not sure if you were just being general or couldn’t resist the pun…
Both just being general and I love puns. Was nothing personal. Sorry if you thought it was… a sour note…
I just want to point out two things I neglected to mention above…
Yes, authors, please continue to add non-pitched yet still-charted vocals, for two very important reasons:
1. As others pointed out, this really helps party players because you don’t have to back out. Yeah, it sucks that you’ll get an amazing score that you can never beat if the song eventually gets pitched (
), but just muffle the microphone and break combo on purpose ( 
).2. As someone just starting to dabble in the creation process of customs, specifically and particularly with pitching vocals, adjusting “tubes” (a term funky taught me to describe a pitched length of vocals!) is MUCH easier than timing the beginning and end of the vocals myself. I honestly/sadly am very obsessive/compulsive over things like this, so I’d rather trust that an author timed the “unpitched” tubes properly and pitch them myself… this saves the author time by allowing me to do the work for him/her (especially if that author is not skilled with pitching vocals) and allows me not to dwell over perfection (or lack thereof). Everybody wins!
I agree with what Dash, funky and spindoctor have said. Now, puting authoring aside for a moment, your problem seems to be organising your songs before they are loaded in the game, that is your fault.
The tools provided by this community are available to ensure your game contains only the songs you want. Take the time to review/preview songs before loading them into the game.
C3Contools can actually batch sort pitched/unpitched songs and move them around in folders on a windows pc. I campaigned the wonderful TrojanNemo to add this feature. Now he has offered his source code, you can dive in and make you own programming changes and add features for your personal use.
And +1 for rating songs in game with 1 lighter (rating) if they are not up to your standard.
With a little preparation before gameplay you will get the experience you expect. You control what songs get added to your game.
Take a few seconds to read what I wrote. I’m not attacking anyone; however you ARE attacking me, which I don’t appreciate and quite frankly, am getting quite tired of it. I’m told to read before posting, well, follow that advice and maybe, just maybe click my name to see what I’ve done. If you would, you would know that I HAVE authored and contributed to others vocals (now said for the THIRD time in this very short post) and that I spend time learning and doing. So telling me to take time and learn Reaper makes no sense as I’ve already DONE THAT.
What I would like, as someone who enjoys singing to pitched vocals, is for the instrument of vocal to be treated like all other instruments. If you don’t know how to create it, don’t do it. However, as was brought up and I’ve readily and happily acknowledged, authors include it for reasons they feel are important for a party atmosphere. Great! That didn’t warrant an attack, just an explanation. And again, makes total sense.
Now god forbid I try to see if we can get to better by asking questions and seeing answers and then understanding. Maybe there was a way in the game to indicate non-pitched. Maybe there was an easy way to accomplish that. But as you and so many other people have proven OVER and OVER again, there’s just no way to have any conversation without it becoming like I’ve committed treason.
I agree with what Dash, funky and spindoctor have said. Now, puting authoring aside for a moment, your problem seems to be organising your songs before they are loaded in the game, that is your fault.
The tools provided by this community are available to ensure your game contains only the songs you want. Take the time to review/preview songs before loading them into the game.
Once again, an attack and didn’t read my OP. I still want the songs for other instruments.
However, there is already resolution in this thread, so please stop coming after me.
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