If you’ve got a song you just know is destined to be a hit, rejoice, for the Rock Band Network beta launches today.
Since Rock Band Network was first released to the discerning public, amateur and professional musicians alike have been hard at work converting their hit songs into digital hammer-ons and pull-offs. Today, these songs will be shared with a select audience and later, the entire Rock Band world.
However, if you haven’t taken a look at the toolset since its launch, you may need to set aside some time before composing your first song – about 20 to 40 hours’ worth, according to Harmonix.
To begin creating songs for the Rock Band Network, you’ll need to own a copy of Reaper, a music production tool that allows bands to record, edit, process, mix and master their songs to their liking. Once the song is ready, it has to be “mapped,” meaning you’ll need to choose which buttons on the guitar will correspond to the rifts and chords in your song. There’s a more thorough walk-through of this process here. Your charts-topping single is then ready to be beamed into the Xbox360, where you can test the song and share it with the general community.
Or course, you’ll also need a Xbox360, a copy of Rock Band 2, and a current membership to the Creators’ Club which will make you a card-carrying member of Microsoft’s game development community. This will give you access to a special Rock Band creators area where you can schmooze and share with fellow musicians. Rock Band network has already piqued the interest of popular bands such as Creed and Evanescence, as well as record label Sub Pop, which represents bands such as The Shins, Mudhoney and Flight of the Conchords.
So,if you’ve got a song in the pipeline and a Rock Band Creators membership, get ready to commence with the rocking.
Source: Joystiq
