Behringer RD-6 Deep Dive: Song Mode / Track Write Mode | Copy & Paste | Sync

Following your comments on our RD-6 review, this is a Deep Dive Episode on the RD-6 in which we show how Song Mode / Track Write Mode really works (also applicable to the Roland TR-606), how to copy and paste patterns and how the RD-6 is synced to other devices.
► Get the RD-6 cheat sheet and the "Daft Punk - Da Funk" drum pattern transcription for FREE at / captainpikant
The gear used in this episode:
Behringer RD-6
Behringer TD-3
DJ Techtools Midi Fighter 3D
Cardboard, tape and a wooden skewer
Featured example drum patterns:
Aphex Twin - Flim
Cardi B - On Fleek
Daft Punk - Da Funk
Phil Collins - Don't Lose My Number
#drummachine #tutorial #rd6 #td3 #behringer
► Support our channel on Patreon: / captainpikant
► Subscribe to our KZbin channel: subscribe.captainpikant.com/
► Instagram / captainpikant
Table of contents:
0:00 Introduction
0:17 Copy & Paste
1:07 Sync
3:18 Song Mode
Produced by Jean-Claude Dirckx and Sophie Hoppstädter

[@CaptainPikant]

Hello everyone! Behringer released the new firmware 1.0.4 for the RD-6 (sweep erase, adjustable OH decay) so we updated our RD-6 Cheat Sheet. You can find it for FREE on our Patreon page!

[@GyeGreene]

**Very** clever to use the bits of paper: very "old school", and less time setting up than some fancy computer graphic that communicated the same thing. :) --GG

[@huntergalloway3944]

“We have made a grave mistake by adding Phil Collins to this song”.

[@els1f]

That killed me🤣💀

[@snellcheeks]

Apart from the super clear explanations, I love the aestethics of your videos such as the color schemes! Super cool.

[@Dudderlyful]

Excellent video with all the clarity anyone could ever need to understand this functionality, well done!!!!

[@ASH-ou4cg]

BRILLIANT! I REALLY enjoyed this video. The colour scheme is fantastic and your way of explaining is great! I enjoy your calm tone in explaining, the props used and the lovely female hand that played the clap sound ;).

[@hdjabs1950]

im learning how to use the TD-3 to recreate Da Funk. you can imagine my surprise when i decided to look at (i don't own) the RD-6 on KZbin and YOU'RE USING THE SONG IM TRYING TO RECREATE! This is surreal haha :) great video!

[@ilt17]

Impressive production, deserves more views, congrats

[@cresshead]

excellent video - great work on the difficult task of explaining clearly.

[@ASH-ou4cg]

Thanks so much for this, we all learned a lot.

[@EatingRecords]

Stunning channel ! Very nice work !

[@matheusc9442]

wow. thank you so much! you made it really easy to understand 💫

[@blackmirror5559]

. Love your beautifully clear graphics and demonstrations, you guys must be kindergarten teachers 🤗 Your lovely voice is a perfect companion too. .

[@StephenMcLeod]

Is that a blue Totoro?! Love the use of the arrows and cards. Nice to see someone else with an Arcade Fighter! Mad finger drumming skills.

[@CaptainPikant]

Yes we have quite a few Totoros sprinkled across our videos 😄 The Intern actually makes them herself.

[@StephenMcLeod]

@@CaptainPikant Love em!

[@FM-kd9vh]

Thank you so much for this!

[@MFPRODUCTIONSCHANNEL]

Brilliant videos 👌 I love your animations and humour, it reminds me of the “Look around you” series… looking forward to more videos! 🤗

[@CaptainPikant]

We've never heard of that show until now but thank you so much for introducing us to it - we've just watched the first episode and we love it 😁

[@MFPRODUCTIONSCHANNEL]

@@CaptainPikant my favourite episode is this 😂 kzbin.info/www/bejne/qKLOhnyJf8qdaNE

[@vaderbase]

3:15 I like this part most.

[@handwoundpickups6555]

Great video thanks

[@arghdoe4580]

Fantastic video! Really useful and clear. I really want to take advantage of the track mode, but The RD-6 is really unintuitive.

[@PWMaarten]

Very well made and funny video

[@maxwellstaley1936]

id love too see a video on the td3!

[@montorgueilrecords]

Excellent explanations as always!!! Great job my friend 👍 I was forced to suscribe ! :D ;)

[@TheoAndHisPedals]

Thank you!!!

[@DJ_Gassan]

Very great content! Thanks. When i select track mode i only can choose from a pattern from pattern group I, any idea about the reason behind that?

[@MDOTURFAVORITE]

They need to do Rd6 tutorial for daws I haven't seen one yet

[@BukoczeRecords]

Hi man! Great video. Maybe you know how to solve this problem: when I switch to track mode, pattern group II automatically changes to pattern group I and I cannot create a song from the patterns saved in group II. Regards!

[@fjfrancois]

👍🏻❤️👍🏻

[@_Rib_tree_]

Please help me Can you program one pattern to play multiple times then switch to another pattern ? Like how do you even create a song on this thing Who makes a song that goes back and forth between 4 patterns ?!?

[@BigCrashTrackLoop]

Am I just being really stupid? Only had my RD-6 for 1 day, but the box definitely states "64-Step Sequencer", but when I'm editing patterns only seem to be 16-steps long. What undocumented button combo and/or mode do I need to create 64-step patterns? Big respect to Captain Pikant for this vidtut - by far the clearest and most accurate RD-6 tutorial on KZbin. Thank you!

[@CaptainPikant]

Thanks so much! No that's definitely a mistake in the packaging text. The maximum pattern length on the RD-6 is 16 steps. If you want longer ones, you need to chain them.

[@BigCrashTrackLoop]

@@CaptainPikant Thank you for the confirmation. I'm generally pretty good with programming machines, and I've got a TD-3 that has similar "quirks", but this 64-step thing was elduing me. Just thought it best to ask a stupid question and have someone more experienced respond. I'm happy chaining Patterns together and/or writing Tracks, but with "64 Step Sequencer" so obvisouly printed on the box and although the specs have been updated on their website (www.behringer.com/product.html?modelCode=P0EE2) Behringer's official NAMM 2020 video still says "...64 step sequencer..." Check this video at 1:40 kzbin.info/www/bejne/aWq6k6qqaJmcabM. My guess is this is what they planned originally (to be similar to the RD-8), but maybe something buggy happened so they cut it back to 16. Whos knows? Maybe a future firmware update...?

[@aaronmcentee9310]

I feel they meant 32-step sequencer (as that would be technically correct, pattern grps I & II) but ended up printing 64. Still, 32 steps give way to 256. My biggest issue with this line (I also purchased a TD-3 AM) is that the instruments feel.....not broken but that they did not finish the sequencers and functions. Ill be damned if i can MIDI through 5 pin or USB via DAW as i have tried many times and was unable to send programmed or live playing into the seq. of the TD-3. Very frustrating. I have had some good luck using Korg's SQ-1 external seq. I found it best to go no higher then 5 Volts per Oct for your range and it would let me send programmed patterns via DAW thru the USB and then MIDI 5 pin adapter to TD-3. I still could not get it to rec on the fly seq. which i feel kills the fun of having a seq. sorrry, but im not Mozart. I just cant make a composition in silence. I need that work in progress groove....

[@albertpauw8234]

Already made 8 months ago, but since I recently bought an RD-6 it was very worthwhile to watch and the explanation of track mode is excellent, thank you. One question, have you ever got the DS function working (in a TR-606 you can find it in the manual) which gives the possibility to repeat the track AFTER the pattern marked with .$. I cannot get this to work (using the TR-606 manual, the RD-6 manual is useless). Pressing the Pattern Group switch should insert a .$. at the current track, but in the RD-6 it just switches pattern group. Tried different key combinations (e.g. function + pattern group) but that does not work. Am I missing something or is this not implemented by Behringer? Thank you for the excellent videos! Regards.

[@CaptainPikant]

Hi Albert, thanks for watching! We're glad the video was helpful to you :) Regarding the Dal Segno function we arrived at the same conclusion as you, it seems that Behringer printed it on the case but implemented it neither in the TD-3 nor the RD-6.

[@StephenMcLeod]

Thank you for doing this! I circuit bent mine to fix the clap volume, give the kick some more oomph, and bring out the hi-hats more. I managed to break the open hat and had to rescue it mind you ha. How do you access the adjustable OH decay? (Now that I've got it working again...)

[@CaptainPikant]

Hey Stephen :) You can manually adjust the OH decay if you turn the instrument dial to the OH position, then hold FUNCTION and turn the tempo dial (clockwise = shorter decay). To set the OH decay back to auto just do the same while the instrument dial is in any other position. Do you have a link to the mods you applied? Are you happy with the new sound?

[@StephenMcLeod]

p.s. thank you :)

[@strummer10]

Is there a way of selecting how long you want a pattern to play for? For example, say I wanted to start with an intro of 4 hi-hats before starting a drum pattern, how do I keep that drum pattern going for, say, 16 bars before changing to a fill pattern, then back to the drum pattern? At the moment it’s playing 4 hi-hats, drum beat and straight back to 4 hi-hats and repeat.

[@CaptainPikant]

In song mode there's no way of saying "Play this pattern 4 times". You have to queue the pattern as often as you want it to play.

[@strummer10]

@@CaptainPikant Ah ok. So if I wanted a particular sequence I’d have to keep pressing that pattern’s button to trigger it? Sounds like what I want it to do (so I can play guitar over the top) involves recording into my laptop and then playing over the top. Thanks.

[@robmitchell5834]

Is it possible to select the pattern the RD-6 plays via midi? For example, C1 plays pattern one, D1 pattern two, etc. Thanks

[@CaptainPikant]

Sadly not, that would have been an awesome feature.

[@justinreilly3107]

Great video 👍🏻 How do I get those hats to trill like that from your Cardi B pattern?

[@CaptainPikant]

Thanks! I did that by setting the pattern tempo modifier to 2x, which effectively gives you 32nd notes but eats up twice the pattern slots (you need to chain two patterns to get a whole bar). Normally you'd do this with substeps or rolls, but the RD-6 sequencer doesn't have those. We show this in our RD-6 review if you're interested kzbin.info/www/bejne/o5mUoHeha7qBldk

[@justinreilly3107]

@@CaptainPikant thanks so much man!

[@illegalgiant_]

i couldn’t get midi signals to fire this unit from my digitakt. seems maybe impossible? did you ever get this to work? running midi cable out of digi into unit. it starts but i can’t custom fire anything. tried a bunch of cc values and notes. the guide at the end says a bunch of midi messages but they don’t seem to work :/

[@CaptainPikant]

Have you set the same MIDI channel on both machines?

[@illegalgiant_]

@@CaptainPikant definitely

[@stephenlife686]

Anyone able to explain when I do exactly as in the video to make a song it doesn’t work and it keeps changing from pattern group 1 to group 2.

[@CaptainPikant]

Have you tried updating to the newest firmware? There was a bug with the pattern groups switching that's been corrected in the newest firmware.

[@stephenlife686]

@@CaptainPikant hi thanks for the reply. Yeah, I updated it and it’s working fine now👍

[@DJShoji]

Thank you for the howto video. Question: is there a way to save / load patterns and songs via USB, MIDI or tape (audio)?

[@CaptainPikant]

Behringer has a unified tool for all their machines on their website called "Synthtribe" that can be used to import/export pattern data. It's not as user friendly as it could be, but it does the job.

[@DJShoji]

@@CaptainPikant Thank you for the reply! It would be even great if they add data import & export over audio - it would be very useful!

[@sauros1]

Is it possible to trigger the RD-6's patterns via Midi? I'm hoping to sequence the patterns in the RD-6 but control them via a DAW or other midi instrument to synchronize the pattern changes. Thanks!

[@CaptainPikant]

No, sadly you can't fire off the different patterns via MIDI. That would be a killer feature indeed.

[@sauros1]

@@CaptainPikant Thanks for the response!

[@xxxwetacidxxx]

Please, coud you make a video "how to control RD-6 via a midicontroler keys using a midiDIN cable in Ableton. I have a problem to do this in Ableton.

[@CaptainPikant]

I'm sorry, we don't have Ableton. But if you ever need a Reaper tutorial let us know ;)

[@xxxwetacidxxx]

@@CaptainPikant Thank you. It would be enough when you tell me how to switch the channel into the MIDI IN mode. Btw nice and helpful videos.

[@CaptainPikant]

@@xxxwetacidxxx don't remember it from the top of my head, but we have a free RD-6 Cheat Sheet on our Patreon :) www.patreon.com/posts/behringer-rd-6-43566713

[@xxxwetacidxxx]

And the last question at least, please. If I use a midi in input, can I send a midiclock signal through a midi out/thru?

[@dagamusik]

When you record a song is not possible to use PATTERN GROUP I & II?

[@CaptainPikant]

Yes you can use patterns from both banks to build songs, but for this demonstration we only used patterns from one bank.

[@dagamusik]

@@CaptainPikant I tried and when playing it plays only the I :/

[@CaptainPikant]

I just checked and it works. Try selecting the pattern group first before actually selecting the pattern. Does that work? If not, are you on the newest firmware?

[@dagamusik]

@@CaptainPikant Yes I updated it after getting the sequencer a few days ago. I could achieve that but I had to press "PATTERN GROUP" twice o 3 times so that it cycles (II - I - II) if I don't do that it always record PATTERN I. Thanks for your help and your videos I'm just got my RD-6 and it's amazing.

[@maracuder]

What's the Controller at 3:10?

[@CaptainPikant]

It's a DJ Tech­tools Midi Fighter 3D.

[@maracuder]

@@CaptainPikant Thank you, especially for your videos, too!

[@_Planeview_]

Is there a auto stop when in song/track mode or does it just keep repeating?

[@CaptainPikant]

It keeps going forever. When it hits the DC mark (5:50 in the video), it will loop from the beginning. But you could always leave one of the patterns blank and use that a few times as a landing strip at the end of the song.

[@_Planeview_]

@@CaptainPikant good idea. Thanks for the videos, they’re great

[@_Planeview_]

@@CaptainPikant quick question, Let’s say I’m running it at 90bpm (just an example) is it possible to program a 2:30-3 minute song per song bank? I’m trying to find something that I can perform with while playing guitar.

[@CaptainPikant]

You'd need about 68 plays of a 16-step pattern to fill three minutes at 90 BPM. That's no problem, the song/track memory of the RD-6 and TD-3 can take more than 200 if I recall correctly.

[@_Planeview_]

@@CaptainPikant exactly what I wanted to hear 👂! Thanks 🙏

[@bigmaz4002]

Is there a way to delete tracks?

[@bigmaz4002]

More specifically, when I am in track write mode and press clear the flashing button is not the first patter but number 11. I’m so confused by this.

[@CaptainPikant]

Hi Big Maz, keep in mind that the blinking light in TRACK WRITE MODE doesn't show the position in the song/track, but which pattern is currently saved in that position. So in your case it seems that pattern 11 is saved in the first position (which you reached by pressing CLEAR).

[@fromgreetings]

Just Cardi B and Phil.

[@user-hk1gw8bd9p]

If you can, please add Russian subtitles)

[@CaptainPikant]

Sorry, none of us can speak Russian ☹️

[@user-hk1gw8bd9p]

@@CaptainPikant then it's time for me to learn english 😊

[@YoungNino2017]

9 minutes of why I'll just send my patterns via ableton til the end of time