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Music Meister

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    The first time I'm stumped by a melody

    in Songs

    Posted

    Hello to me fellow producers! So I don't know how many of you will know this genre but my problem today is that I can't hear a melody for my song. The genre for today is Electroswing. Electroswing is a genre that is derived from the olden days Swing music which was an evolved form of Jazz music from the 20's. Today, Electroswing has evolved from you typical live bands (think about the Cantina Band from Star Wars), into an electronic iteration of Swing which now features synth basses, leads, and many many more digital stuff. 

    Now that you just finished your history class, it's time to get into my problem. So I never knew what Electroswing was until my brother showed it to me and asked me to make him a song. I accepted the challenge and got to work on it. For about a week I attempted to use the foundation as the Cantina Band but I quickly found that that was going to make it difficult to structure a song around. I tried again and this time with an acapella but I only got to the kick pattern and called it quits because the acapella was wrong. So I spent the better half of about a week and a half studying the genre for real and learning how to make and learning by ear. This was a better approach as I was finally able to get somewhere and I had laid down the basic "puh doo puh doo puh doo" rhythm. From there the song took off and I find myself nearing the end and all I need now is a melody. "This is no problem. I've made plenty of melodies before, what's one more?" My own thoughts lied to me. While the rest of the song was somewhat easier, the melody posed to be the hardest because of how I made the chords. 

    What am I asking? Well, I came here to ask for help or advice with my melody problem. I wanted to know if anyone is able to either make a melody for me since I'm not an Electroswing expert or to help me figure out a way to make an Electroswing melody meaning giving me tips or ideas or something that will help me to spark an idea that will fit within my song. And lastly, I've never worked with brass before so I don't know how to make that cool ensemble so if you know how to make that, then please by all means do. 

    If you're making the melody, I ask that it would sound good on piano (duh), saxophone, and a synth lead as those are the key elements in Electroswing melodies.

    Below is my song demo so you can take a listen. 

    Key of D major

    BPM 130

    P.S. it sounds phasey because I had to lower the bit rate in order to shrink the file size so if anyone has a way to shrink file sizes as well, please let me know.

    Electro Swing demo.mp3

    Why Can't I Use My Samples?

    in Cakewalk by BandLab

    Posted

    1 hour ago, John Vere said:

    And I apologize for my snarky reply at first. It's just me after replying to at least a dozen threads were the OP never returns. I sort of get grumpy about that. The Question and Answer  sub Form should be re named  Ask a Question and Never return... 

    It's all good. I didn't appreciate how you handled it at first but I understand that I was gone for 4 months and never said a word. Trust me, I returned everyday to check back incase anyone had a fix but no one ever did and I never got the chance to say anything because I was so busy. 

     

    1 hour ago, John Vere said:

    The files were Compressed and instead of unzipping the downloaded folder you must have tried to access that folder directly  from Cakewalks Browser.  The files were still compressed and not usable. 

    Another thing through me off is I'm used to "Samples"  being something you use in a VST instrument. I call those Sample libraries. I call audio files you drop into the project directly- "Audio loops" . So originally I thought you had downloaded a Sample Pak that would be used like say with Dim Pro, Kontak or any sample based VST. 

    Anyhow glad you got it working. 

    I do think that the issue is that they weren't uncompressed or unzipped or extracted or whatever it's called because the "audio" samples seem to working fine in terms of drag and drop. The sound is indeed coming through from these files which is a good sign. So I think that the whole problem is that maybe, POSSIBLY, I should just extract the files. And as for the sampler a.k.a. Komplete Kontrol. I wound up downloading it and now I have a new plugin / interface thing that I can mess around with. I found out that Komplete Kontrol has a Synthwave pack that I must try out because I need this for my new song I'm making.

    Anywho, the problem seems solved and I ended up with a crap ton of files to extract, and a new plugin. So now I have tons of sorting to do but I thank you for helping me out and the same goes for everyone else. If something goes wrong, I'll come back here and this time I won't leave you hanging. 

    • Like 2

    Why Can't I Use My Samples?

    in Cakewalk by BandLab

    Posted

    I did manage to get one sample pack working! It's one of my recent ones that I downloaded from Slate Digital which is a Synthwave pack. I got the idea from all the talk about "extract" and "unzip" and "uncompress". So what I did is simply extract the sample pack and I placed it in my sample pack folder and Cakewalk allowed it. Should I continue to extract my other sample packs or would this pose a problem in the long run? If so, propose me a new idea.

    Why Can't I Use My Samples?

    in Cakewalk by BandLab

    Posted

    3 minutes ago, scook said:

    The files in the media browser do not have a valid audio file extension. If they are wav files the files will have to be renamed to add the .wav to their names.

    So what you're is that I have to rename every file so that it can become a .wav file again?

    Why Can't I Use My Samples?

    in Cakewalk by BandLab

    Posted

    On 9/4/2021 at 1:19 PM, scook said:

    There is an option in the media browser menu (B in the image below) under Views to "Show All Files And Folders"

    So I found out what you meant now. It did allow me to access my samples but now Cakewalk won't let me use them. 

    image.png.b31e19a2322d5bec188fd5572b6ca624.png

    That's the same thing I see in File Explorer. How do I make it so that these samples can be used in Cakewalk?

    Why Can't I Use My Samples?

    in Cakewalk by BandLab

    Posted

    23 hours ago, User 905133 said:

    Are you saying that the extension for some of your audio files is no longer "wav" but "Media File?" In other words are you saying that a file that might have been named "kick.wav" before is now "kick.Media File" (or maybe "kick.wmv" or something else other than *.wav?  

    Below is a screen shot of one of my samples. I clicked on the properties and the file says "Media File". I know that normally it says .wav or something like that. 

    image.png.d21bae182207d70d22651f0f833a9bcc.png

    23 hours ago, User 905133 said:

    Also, what "files app" are you using?  With a file utility I use, I couldn't find a single file on my PC with "Media File" as an extension.  Is it possible that your files app is somehow changing the extension?

    I'm using the stock file app. "File Explorer". 

     

    On 9/5/2021 at 11:13 AM, User 905133 said:

    Not sure if he changed his file format so you now have to purchase a license to use them in a DAW.  Have you contacted Cymatics on this issue?

    No because I figured that it was something wrong with my computer instead. 

     

    On 9/5/2021 at 11:13 AM, User 905133 said:

    UPDATE:  I took another look at my Cymatics  files.  Inside the main folder, there is also a _MACOSX Folder that has Loops and One Shots.  If I try to drag those from the Cakewalk Media Browser to a track, I get an file type error message.  Is it possible you are traying to use non-windows files? 

    How so? 

    Why Can't I Use My Samples?

    in Cakewalk by BandLab

    Posted

    14 hours ago, Kurre said:

    You could give information about where you got the samplepacks from and their name.

    That way we could check ourselfs what format it have and what needs to be done.

    I don't remember exactly where I got most of them but I know that majority come from Cymatics who is obviously a trusted source. The rest I don't remember but I know that those are also trusted people. 

    Why Can't I Use My Samples?

    in Cakewalk by BandLab

    Posted

    15 hours ago, bdickens said:

    It's an abbreviation that means that you should try to avail yourself of some of the voluminous documentation on the matter that's provided for you.

    What do you mean "siding with the other guy?"

    The Lord helps those who help themselves. And so do I. You're not really behaving like somebody who wants help.. You refuse to answer any of the questions that are asked of you and then you seemingly abandon the thread because you're gone for a month.

     

    I do want help and I left for 4 months because life caught up to me and I am in a real blackhole of problems right now. I do apologize for leaving all of you like this and I do appreciate all the help and assistance that you guys are trying to provide. And the "other guy" is the John Vere guy because yes I did respond super late but he still managed to find time to disrespect me and create a toxic conversation. That's what I meant. 

    Again, I'm sorry for leaving but you can't stop time and you can't prevent life from passing you in the race. 

    Why Can't I Use My Samples?

    in Cakewalk by BandLab

    Posted · Edited by Music Meister

    On 7/27/2021 at 12:12 PM, John Vere said:

    Your midi file looks like it is associated with Cakewalk which is correct.

    That has nothing to do with it. That's just a midi file I downloaded from Cakewalk. 

    Also I did download Komplete Kontrol but I have no idea how to drag my samples into it. 

    Why Can't I Use My Samples?

    in Cakewalk by BandLab

    Posted

    So this is a problem I discovered around about 2 weeks ago. I had just downloaded a sample pack to use for a new song I was working on. I was so excited to use said sample pack because those samples were what I needed to finish my song. But I quickly came to realize that those samples, didn't work. 

    I don't know if it's because I didn't download them correctly, the samples just aren't compatible (which is stupid because both of those are complete and utter non sense), or there's something more to it. I just downloaded more packs and midi packs too but none of those work either. I noticed that there's an icon next to a sample or midi file that shows what will be allowing me to listen to the file like shown below. 

    image.png.07f7838e2bf276dd6949430503d247f0.png

    It used to be Groove Music which was the default audio app for my laptop but I uninstalled the app and all other variations of apps like that, in hopes that it would change something. It didn't. So I just installed Media Player instead just so I would be able to listen to what my samples and midi files sound like. 

    I have tried multiple times to drag and drop my files from the Files app but it just gives me a grey "Not Allowed" sign. I also tried to change where my packs go so I could access them from Cakewalk but even that doesn't work. I have done this before however. At one point I downloaded the "Unison Free Mini Midi Chord Pack" and that worked perfectly fine in both forms like drag and drop and picking out the samples from Cakewalk itself. 

    image.png.6e08373779018ccb6e453e501c9a7bb3.png

    This is the ONLY pack that I downloaded that works fine. I downloaded this pack before I went and uninstalled the apps I mentioned earlier. 

    So there it is. I am unable to use my downloaded packs because of some weird app permissions thing that doesn't allow my files to transfer to Cakewalk. 

    If anyone has any idea how to help me, please do. Also some help with knowing where to store packs so they don't take up my laptops storage would be nice.

    Please and thank you.

    Exported song sounds different from playback in Cakewalk

    in Cakewalk by BandLab

    Posted

    8 minutes ago, abacab said:

    Freeze should work. It does a quick mixdown of the selected instrument track, along with any inserted FX, resulting in an audio track in its place. Audio tracks with no FX use almost no (insignificant) CPU processing.

    https://www.cakewalk.com/Documentation?product=Cakewalk&language=3&help=Mixing.23.html

    I just tried it and I tried to mess with my FX again but it still does the same thing. I don't know what to do and it seems like my problem has no solution no matter what I do. I can remove my EQ's but then I'll have no high pass filter for the build up and no way to shape the leads so they don't clash with anything. I can remove two EQ's and leave just one to do all the work but even with 1 EQ, the leads still cut out for that split second. It just seems like there is no way to fix this. 

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