Steve Hildner

On 8/25/2020 at 2:36 PM, Ken said:

Okay, here's my problem with this entire thread.  People are asking a perfectly reasonable question (albeit, over and over) and getting berated for it.  That's because the answer(s) aren't clear and in some cases are incomprehensible or don't address the ultimate aim of the question.  It's my guess that at least some of the very frustrated people asking this question have gone to YouTube and viewed this tutorial: How to use cakewalk for beginners.   Now, if someone can explain to us how Mr. Simple Green Tech managed to make it work, I'm sure we'll all go away happy.  The problem is, we've followed his directions exactly and it seems to work for him but not for us.  Yeah, we're a bunch of nubes, but we're not stupid.  What's probably misleading about that video is that he doesn't show the mechanism for adding the various drums.  You see the drums being hit on the plugin display, but you don't see how he's doing it.  My guess is he's using the keyboard on his computer or the virtual keyboard you get by hitting Alt-0.  It would certainly be nice if you could actually use the plugin to put down the notes, but maybe that's not possible.  Have to assume that the way Cakewalk works someone would have done it if it were.

I tend to agree. Alot of the tutes assume you already know certain things, and don't really hit on them. Alot of times the things they don't mention are absolutely crucial to proceeding. For example: I watched, like, 8 vids on mastering, and not one mentioned how to actually "render" your static mix to a .wav or .mp3 file by selecting all the tracks and exporting them. This stuff is not hard, but it's also not obvious if you simply don't know about it.

If I may recommend a YT channel to subscribe to, a tutorial channel by a guy named RexRed (RexRedHowTo) This guy doesnt have 8M followers and he is very accessible. He will answer any questions you have in hours. After I wrote him a few times asking about rendering, he proceeded to do a live stream on just that topic, as so many were in the dark. I can't say alot of these guys out there would do that. Sometimes you just want unlock your stupid multidock, or make that dotted line on the clip view go away. Little things that can slow down or halt a project. He will answer you.

As for there being TOO much information to quickly, I guess they are trying to hit on the main bullet points of whatever the tutorial is about, so you can't really fault them. I just wish I could say " Assume I know nothing" I find I watch a tute for a specific reason, and when its over I am overwhelmed with the amount of nuance that I must learn. Being able to tweak every aspect of a mix can be a dual-edged sword. DAW's are not something you dabble in, especially CW, and I am aware of this.

I only know that if you have no external interface, you have to use the keyboard interface in-VIEWS-Virtual Controller-Computer keyboard. if you just hit the notes with the mouse it won't record. Mine says Microsoft GS Wavetable Synth in MIDI preferences, and I checked it.

Thats all I know about that, and it was maddening until I figured it out. Its only a starting point, but maybe thats your issue.

On 5/12/2021 at 6:34 PM, Dean said:

I hope this is the right place.  Can a Casio keyboard WK-1200 be used with Cakewalk?  I did the DIN plugs for the keyboard into the Focusrite Scarlett 4i4.  Turned on MIDI on the keyboard.  Turned off Local Control.  Selected  a basic project.  In the MIDI track I made sure I had Focusrite for the input and output.  tried recording and the sound meters went up and down.  The track shows something recorded but no sound when playing the track back.  Need more info let me know.

Thanks

I am a newbie so I can only say this: I had the same problem, since I have no external interface, and it was maddening. You MUST use some sort of interface, just hitting the notes with a mouse won't record. Use VIEWS and pick the keyboard controller. Once you are using that, then it will record. It is really just a temporary solution until you have an external, I suppose. I don't know much beyond that, but maybe this will help.

PS- I also enabled the default GS Microsoft Wavetable Synth in MIDI preferences, I think you gotta do that as well.