Musician Archive

By request, here's a KB-style article on using the droid playback modules. Feedback is welcome!

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Droid Playback Module
User’s Manual

What is a droid playback module?

A droid playback module allows musicians to record music in their droid and play it back later as accompaniment or a background track.

Who can use the playback modules?

You must be at least a Novice Musician to use the module.

How do I record music on to a playback module?

First, call your droid. If at least one playback module is installed in your droid, and you are a novice musician or higher, you will see an option labeled, “Access Playback Module.”

If you choose that option, a new window will open. This window will have a track listed for each playback module that is installed in your droid, (droids can potentially have up to 6 modules in them, depending on the model. Consult your local Droid Engineer for more information about droid models.)

To record a song, first decide which instrument you want the recording to use, and equip it. In the playback module window, choose the track you would like to record to (make sure it says, “EMPTY”), and click on “Record/Play” at the bottom right of the window. You will be informed that, “Your droid is ready to start recording your music.”

Start playing the song you would like to record. Flourishes are not necessary and will not affect the recording. After 30 seconds you will be told, “Your droid has successfully completed the recording session.”

How do I play back songs that I recorded on the playback module?

There are two ways to do this:

Option 1: Open your droid’s radial menu and choose, “Access Playback Module.” Select the recording that you would like to play, and click on “Record/Play” at the bottom right of the window.

Option 2: Invite your droid to your group, and start playing by typing “/startband” and selecting a song. If your droid recognizes the song you are playing, it will automatically play along, using the instrument you recorded.

How do I make the droid play something other than the base melody?

Since droids do not record flourishes, they will play the same base melody loop over and over unless you tell them to do otherwise. This is accomplished using band flourishes. To use a band flourish, make sure your droid is in your group, and type “/bandflourish” followed by a number between 1 and 8 (i.e. “/bandflourish 6”). This will cause everyone in the band to perform that flourish, including your droid. (NOTE: If player-character band members do not want to respond to band flourish requests, they can turn off this feature by typing “/bandflourish off”. Your droid will always respond to band flourishes no matter what.)

How do I make the droid stop playing music?

There are two ways to do this:

Option 1: Open your droid’s radial menu and choose, “Stop Playback.” The droid will stop playing immediately, even if it is in the middle of a flourish.

Option 2: If your droid is in your group, type “/stopband”. This will cause the entire band to play a final flourish and stop playing, including your droid.

How do I delete songs that I have recorded?

Make sure your droid is not playing any music, open its radial menu, and choose, “Access Playback Module.” Click on the track you wish to delete and click on “Delete” at the bottom of the window. You will be asked to confirm that you really want to delete that track. Click OK, and you will be told that, “The song data was successfully erased.”

Helpful tips:

1. If you and your droid are grouped and you change songs using /changeband, your droid will also change songs if it recognizes the song. Otherwise it will stop playing.


2. It is possible to record the same song on to different tracks using different instruments. However, if you start a song using /startband or /changeband, the droid will automatically use the lowest-numbered track that matches that song. If you want to use one of the alternate recordings you will need to start it manually (using the radial menu).


3. Keep droid batteries handy. If the droid runs out of power, it will not respond to flourish requests any more.


4. A droid will consume points from its action bar if it plays flourishes. When choosing a droid model to use for your playback modules, have the Droid Engineer help you choose something with moderate HAM values. MSE droids, Treadwell droids, Protocol droids, and other non-combat droids all have very low HAM and will not last long in a concert. DZ-70s, Astromech droids (R-units), and LE repair droids all have much higher HAM values.


5. As an alternative to a higher-HAM droid (which can be expensive), consider having the Droid Engineer add an auto-repair module to the droid. When this is turned on, the droid will heal itself every 10 seconds. This will consume battery power faster, but it should be more than able to compensate for your droid’s flourishes. In addition, it will also automatically repair any other friendly droid in range, so even if more than one person is using a playback droid, only one of them needs to be equipped with an auto-repair module.

Message Edited by OrionsByte on 05-11-2004 11:09 PM

If I'm in a group, and using the droid, it'sordinarily because no one else is playing the instrument the droid has recorded. Usually its a bandfill. So when I want to get the droid to flourish, I run a macro with bandflos specifically for that instrument (ie. /bandflourish 1 bandfill or /bandflo 1 b). That way, nobody has tobe inconvenienced by me and my droid (or not be afk),turning off theirbandflourishing.

Can you have your droid /pause ? I want to create my own band but with only droids...people suck....j/k ...but seriously Droids make good bandmates they dont eat all the food in my cooling box.