Hey there, I'm wauterboi. For those of you who do not know me, I create experimental music and I would absolutely love to work on creating songs for Rock Band. The only issue I have is the fact that I lack the following:

• X-Box Live
• XNA
• Rock Band for the X-Box 360
• Rock Band guitar and drumset
• Money to get the tools

Yeah. I'm not going to go on and on and rant on about, "ZOMG THEY MAKE IT FOR X-BOX 360 BUT NOT FOR PS3?!11?!" because I could assume that a port to PS3 would be especially hard. I only see it happening with X-Box 360 due to XNA, and the PS3 lacks an equivalent.

Plus, if I were to ask, "Hello mother, I would like to obtain a copy of Rock Band 2, another guitar for Rock Band, another drumset for Rock Band, a subscription to X-Box Live, and a subscription to XNA," I don't believe I would get the wanted results.

Anyway, I've tried looking for information surrounding the idea of song creation and the PS3 and I've gone without luck... on the Rock Band forum at least. I've checked else where, and it seems that only the RBN Store will arrive to the PS3. This saddened me, because I have the ability to do the songs as I have musical knowledge, I know how to use MIDI and MIDI files, I've made my own music for fun for other games like Osu! and Stepmania, and really, I would love to play my music on Rock Band.

So what I would like to ask is is there any chance of being able to create music for the PS3 or a possible work around? (For instance, perhaps testing the songs on the PC... I don't know how well that'd work out, but I've got my Rock Band drumset to work with the PC and send out MIDI messages. :P) Is there any hope for me?

The only other option would be to go off to one of those stupid authoring businesses that I keep hearing about... I honestly think that's ridiculous. Give me a day, a soda, and a pair of headsets and I'll give you a song in less than half of the week. (Given I have the missing tools.)

Well, you don't need a 360 to make a song, only to submit and test your song. To make a song all you need is Reaper, the correct plug-ins, and your song master tracks. There are ways to test it on your PC. One of the plug-ins for Reaper is the RBN preview window, which will show you your song as it plays out through Reaper. Another method is to test it out in the game Frets On Fire. It's basically a guitar hero/rock band clone for the PC.

When it comes time to submit your song you will NEED TO HAVE A 360. You could always have someone you know submit it for you if anyone you know has one.

Also, an alternative to going through an authoring program, is to go through a freelance charter like myself, who's rates are much more reasonable :D



-EDIT-

Also, just so you know, covers/remixes are NOT allowed in the RBN since you don't own the rights to the song.

Well, the thing is that to submit I'd need XNA and XBL, which is like 150 bucks right there... right?

Well everything you need is....

Reaper: $60 (unless you go to the pirate bay)
An Xbox 360: $130-$300 (depending on package, prices from Gamestop)
Xbox Live: $50 (for a year)
XNA: $50-$100 (50 for 4 months, 100 for a year)

so in all it can cost anywhere from $230-$510

Most people have the luck of having most of these things already. You have to look at it as an investment. If you are looking to release 7+ songs then I'd recommend buying this stuff and doing it yourself. If you looking to release 6- songs then I recommend hiring someone else to do it for you.

Well my question to you is: Should I wait until the store even pops up on the PS3? It'd sure suck if I got my song up, and I had to wait until November until I could play it on the PS3.

Oh, by the way, I have over 60 songs I can do. :D (although, I'd probably want to do around 10-20.)

Well, even once the store is released for the PS3 (which a time-frame hasn't even been established for yet) you will still need an Xbox 360 to submit and test songs, so I recommend starting the process as soon as possible, especially since the RBN is "scheduled" to go live at the end of January.

The actual price for me would be 100 bucks, I have a 360. Meh, I dunno.

I actually have no clue what I should do at this point. :P

Well, heres a little tip... You don't need xbox live/XNA to make a song, so make a song and continue to edit it until you're ready to submit it, THEN buy xbox live and XNA, that way you get the most time for your money.

And even if you don't want to purchase the XNA account (being a musician, I'm gonna assume you already have a DAW for authoring, since you don't *need* Reaper) until you feel ready to submit to creators.rockband.com , you can always ask someone who does to take your song file (after you compile it in Magma) into Audition Mode and take a video recording of the gameplay for you, so you can clean up your camera/lighting/animation. That way your song can be as close to complete as you can get before dropping the dough.

You can get a 30-day trial of Reaper and the tools from HMX (Magma/Reaper plugins) for free so you could start authoring a song right now, you just wouldn't be able to test it in the game without the XBL/XNA.

Also, it is very unlikely that you're going to have your first song finished in only a few days, at least not in any form that's even remotely bug-free. The premise of RBN is that any band can do it themselves, and you can, it's just going to take a lot more time than you think.

If it was as easy as you're assuming, there would be no need for "stupid authoring businesses". I strongly encourage you to start taking a crack at it now, using the free tools available, so that you can get an idea of just how difficult it is before making immature comments like that.