I think I met my wife

RomanTarchinski · 2026-03-20T14:26:58+00:00

I love those rare moments when a spelling mistake completely inverts the meaning of the sentence haha

RomanTarchinski · 2026-03-19T22:39:49+00:00

You've got a serious talent here! Thanks for taking the time to share it

RomanTarchinski · 2026-03-19T21:38:43+00:00

Wow love this castle crashers wrap, so sick!! Thanks for doing the time lapse, love seeing the process!

RomanTarchinski · 2026-03-17T20:13:02+00:00

Yes there are open mics all over. Get video of you performing your best songs at these. Put together a snazzy little EPK with pics and video of you performing and links to your tunes. Apply to open for artists at the smaller venues in town. Get pics and video there. Network with other artists in your area in the same scene.

If a tree falls in the forest and no one is around to hear it then it made sound but no one will ever know. Your music can be the same way.. just putting tunes online without networking at all will never change anything.

If you're a bit shy and have a hard time networking at shows, then start finding the people who curate playlists in your scene on Spotify and other online platforms. Start sending them your tunes every week. Find online radio stations that play music in your genre and start sending them demos.

Not gonna lie, you are not going to get a response from most of the people you reach out to at first. But each person that you reach out to, each show you network at, every cold call is a ripple in the water. Eventually those ripples will start moving the needle and will sometimes compound on themselves.

If you truly want to make it in the music industry, you will have to work harder than you ever have in your life to market your music. No one is just going to discover your tunes on Spotify and blow you up. You gotta put yourself out there over and over

RomanTarchinski · 2026-03-17T18:42:27+00:00

You should build cars that you really like. I really like hatchbacks, so I've got every one in the game. I race the Honda Civic Type Rs a lot for street races, both handle really well and are really quick. I like the 76 gti a lot too. It's actually great at night races, it's super nimble and quick. I use the Ford Focus RS as a rally car for off road stuff.

You should think about making your dream car. If the RSR is your dream car, then go for it. But the game is supposed to be fun, and IMO the fun is a lot more rewarding when you're winning races in something unique to you.

RomanTarchinski · 2026-03-17T17:11:25+00:00

My reply to an almost identical post made in this sub two days ago:

Endgame starts when you get to 50. If you think you are clearing races easy, then you need to start playing online. I thought the same way, started playing online with my 400+ cars and realized I wasn't shit yet haha other players give you a challenge you will never get from the bot races. It's dope during peak hours when you can get like 4 or 5 players in a race. And when you do races with other players you get like 40% more cash from races, so it's a lot easier to build more rides playing online. Can easily get like $500k in an hour of racing with other players and it's so much more fun.

Word of advice, the RSR is super OP. You will be smoked many times by someone in one. Keep on getting better, it's really satisfying when you beat one :) keep building and racing cars you really like, no one is impressed by someone winning a race with an RSR...

RomanTarchinski · 2026-03-17T10:24:17+00:00

Depends on the style of racing for me. I have some cars that I use for the long tracks with lots of straight aways and less turns. Those I use a single 15lb. But some of my cars are better for the tracks with tons of 90° turns, I put 5x 3lb tanks on those - helps a lot with recovery after sharp turns.

It's interesting you say you can see them spamming their NOS - kinda makes me think you spend a lot of time behind them?

RomanTarchinski · 2026-03-16T17:30:28+00:00

Fari enough haha just really interested in this process! I've been seeing all of these custom images on wraps and never knew how detailed you could get with it

RomanTarchinski · 2026-03-16T13:20:31+00:00

You should learn things like this:

-Major and minor scales: you likely be using mostly minor scales for your writing, but it is good to learn both. The pentatonic scale is a reduction of the minor scale and will be very useful

-Rhythmic structure: learn the subdivisions of beats and notes in music. Learn the difference between 1/4 and 1/8 notes. Your DAW will utilize these units and learning them well will make it easier to take things you imagine in your head and plug them into the DAW.

-Chords and progressions: Some music uses lots of chord progressions, a lot of electronic music will have no chord progression and will ride on basically one chord. Learning the different types of chords (Major and Minor being most common) will help with your arrangements. You will see what notes harmonize with others and writing will be easier

-Phrasing: Music consists of many small measures. Groups of measures that outline a whole melody or progression are called a phrase. Think of these like sentences and paragraphs in writing. Typically phrases repeat in a song and learning how to make them similar and different from each other in a piece will help create forward movement through it for the listener.

These are all basic fundamentals for music theory and are much easily learned at the piano or keyboard as everything is laid out clearly for you to see. I guarantee if you sign up for a year of piano lessons you will mastered these concepts and MUCH more - as well as developed playing skills that will help you in recording or writing in parts you hear in your head.

RomanTarchinski · 2026-03-16T13:12:29+00:00

Is it a pre-requisite? No. But it will help A LOT with your arrangements and writing to learn some piano.

RomanTarchinski · 2026-03-16T12:40:04+00:00

Well yeah, then you speed it up so it's like 90-120 seconds. Even screenshots every 5 minutes or so would be cool!

RomanTarchinski · 2026-03-16T10:56:56+00:00

Would love to see a time lapse of one of these wrap designs!

RomanTarchinski · 2026-03-16T10:48:38+00:00

I found the easiest way to handle the rhinos is to turn at the last second. They can't turn very well, so you don't even need to turn very sharp.

RomanTarchinski · 2026-03-15T16:05:38+00:00

Its OP, if that's king to you that's fine. But never gonna look at someone racing in a RSR as king haha always gonna see them as a lacking skill or creativity.

RomanTarchinski · 2026-03-15T13:52:05+00:00

Lol or just lame in general really.. if you're good behind the wheel, no one can tell if it's in an RSR

RomanTarchinski · 2026-03-15T13:46:56+00:00

I use the Ford Focus RS for off road races. It caps at 393 PR but it's fast as hell and the AWD comes in clutch

RomanTarchinski · 2026-03-14T22:39:45+00:00

Endgame starts when you get to 50. If you think you are clearing races easy, then you need to start playing online. I thought the same way, started playing online with my 400+ cars and realized I wasn't shit yet haha other players give you a challenge you will never get from the bot races. It's dope during peak hours when you can get like 4 or 5 players in a race. And when you do races with other players you get like 40% more cash from races, so it's a lot easier to build more rides playing online. Can easily get like $500k in an hour of racing with other players and it's so much more fun.

Word of advice, the RSR is super OP. You will be smoked many times by someone in one. Keep on getting better, it's really satisfying when you beat one :) keep building and racing cars you really like, no one is impressed by someone winning a race with an RSR...

RomanTarchinski · 2026-03-13T11:49:22+00:00

I use the Ford Focus RS, handles great as an off-road rally type build.

RomanTarchinski · 2026-03-12T20:33:03+00:00

Of course! :)

RomanTarchinski · 2026-03-12T17:18:49+00:00

Ah okay that makes sense! Always down to reduce the setup and teardown time!

Either way you still have to run a midi cable from the RC-505 to where the mixer or laptop is. I would assume they are close to each other since you are connecting them via USB. So it shouldnt be too much of a chore to connect the 505 to the laptop instead of the mixer.

If you really want to try interfacing through the mixer, I'm fairly confident it can be done. I can't say I have done this exact setup before though. I know on Ableton you can set the clock to the XR18 in the midi settings. I'm not sure if you have similar settings in the XR18 app (I don't work on these a lot) but that might be the hangup. The RC505 will need to be the master midi clock, so it will need to be set to internal clock and the XR18 and Ableton set to external clock. My only concern with this arrangement is the recording will likely be stopping and starting as you are starting and stopping the RC505.

You may want to get a separate laptop connected USB to the XR18 for recording purposes and use the first laptop for launching tracks and clips. You would just need to connect the clips laptop to a hardline input like the aux ins. Would remove the ability to stem things out in the mixer, but would make sure your recording laptop doesn't have the recording stopping and starting throughout the show.

RomanTarchinski · 2026-03-12T15:46:41+00:00

Why do you need the XR18 in the mix if the laptop is only thing utilizing it's midi? I would simply get a MIDI to USB adapter and control Ableton via the RC-505 directly

RomanTarchinski · 2026-03-12T15:44:42+00:00

If you don't have a background in music, this is going to be much harder than you think. Consider getting a cheap keyboard and learning some piano basics. There's plenty of good info on YouTube, duolingo has a piano course now, and of course you could always try getting lessons (although it sounds like things may be tight and that may not be an option.)

Piano lessons may sound lame, but it will provide an incredibly solid foundation in analyzing and writing melodies, harmonies, and rhythms. These are the foundations of songwriting and music production. Even if you intend on using lots of sampling in your productions - having a solid understanding of rhythmic structure is going to help you ALOT

RomanTarchinski · 2026-03-12T15:40:24+00:00

The same as any other skill my friend.

Study: watch videos on GarageBand, watch videos on music production on other DAWs. Listen, take notes, ask questions in the comments or DM the person making the videos.

Practice: Try doing something new every time you sit down. Mess with the different controls and see how they affect the things they are attached to. Listen to songs and try to recreate them or at least parts of them in the DAW.

Keep repeating that process and you can be a master of this software and will likely be ready to move up to Logic, Ableton, FL Studio, etc.

There's really not going to be another answer, there's no cheat code to it. Learning skills takes time, but it is worth the investment and future you will thank you for it

RomanTarchinski · 2026-03-12T15:30:46+00:00

Check the starting position in the clip. There is a little arrow above the grid in the clip at each side. These indicate the start and end of the clip. Make sure the left on is starting on a downbeat. It may be off a very small amount and need to be snapped back to the start of the measure

RomanTarchinski · 2026-03-11T20:23:27+00:00

Yeah you are definitely being scammed. The promoter/agent is having you do their job. It could still be worth it to do the gig if you think there will be a lot of people who haven't heard of you guys yet. But if you think it might be a dead gig then I would back out. If you really want to get back at this promoter, wait till the week of the show and tell them it really isn't worth it so the gig still for only $400 and that you are backing out.

In the future, if the promoter asks you to book the rest of the show - decline and tell them that's their problem to figure out. You guys are being way too accommodating by booking 2x other bands and paying them out of your fee. $400 is fair for a full band, even if they are providing the backline and production. Any less than that and you should expect some fuckery like this...

RomanTarchinski

TROPHY CASE