Matthew Carr

Thanks scook! Will use that going forward

Gifs are perfect as they are optimised for size, and having video is sometimes so much easier than describing. It's just weird that they get inflated by so much when you upload one - like it's being converted to a video format or something. I tend to used ScreenToGif - free and does everything you could need. Have just created and linked a gif on imgur, works ok, but not as immediate as having the gif displaying inside the post - as you have to click through on the link

Hi, anyone know what I'm doing wrong or if there's a workaround? If I insert small gif in a post , say around ~250KB, it gets stored as a 5MB file in the forum I've added a few Gifs in the past and not realised this was happening, and now I'm at my limit for attachments 😞 Don't really want to start deleting old Gifs, as it makes old posts non readable.

Not sure if this is intended behaviour, but seems a bit weird? If I've set some tracks to view automation, rather than clips, then I insert a new instrument, the tracks all get sat back to viewing clips? Before inserting instrument After inserting a new instrument track - the tracks all get set to clip view? Is this intended? I'm currently using Cakewalk 2021.04 Early Access 2, but think this behaviour has probably existed before https://imgur.com/a/0rrbyyi

As it's a dell laptop, I would definitely recommend running this https://www.resplendence.com/latencymon To my knowledge, most Dell laptops have issues with real time audio

😂😂 The guitarist actually suggested we do that. We put him in his place!! 🤣

Thanks Mark - I totally agree, it's definitely possible to set up a project that will work; 95% of what's needed is there. A few minor mods to existing features would just really make live performance a distinct workflow, and easier to setup. Studio One is really pushing their live performance 'Show' page, and Cakewalk can knock the socks off that, with just a few enhancements. I haven't really progressed to breaking out my songs into sections, but being able to easily loop or jump to sections of the song on the fly would be great! Conceptually, I would expect the performance arranger view to display two lists; A) Songs, and B) Song Parts. Selecting a song would filter the Song Parts to only show parts belonging to the Song. It didn't seem to me that normal arranger mode does that? Using my project as is, I do find I hit some limitations 1. I have to use the mouse to interact with the arranger view. That's not great for live use, ideally there would be keyboard commands for navigating the arranger view which could then be bound to midi commands. (Would also be great if an external program change could be associated with selecting a section) 2. If I select an arranger section, program changes that belong to the song are not sent out until the playhead moves over them So if I cue up a song which selects a crunchy patch on the guitarists FX board, the patch change doesn't get sent until I start playback of the backing track. Ideally there would be an option to send out the initial program changes of a section when selected, if playback is stopped / paused. (as happens when you open a normal .cwp file that has patch changes) I totally take on board your comments re tempo / key changes - they can be added to the timeline using normal methods, I just thought it was more intuitive to be be able to set them for each song (which would then add them to the timeline in the background) - but I can see that would probably cause a massive headache with UI inconsistencies.. Being able to set the playback mode of the song / section, rather than adding MCI to add pause events, would be better I think. Using an MCI event to pause playback doesn't work so well if you then want to loop the section - playback still pauses when it reaches the MCI event. Having a dedicated playback mode for the section also opens up the possibility of an Icon to show the current playback mode of the section, and also controlling the mode via keyboard / midi. I'm sure that there are loads of different ways people would approach this, what I wanted to do was start a discussion and put forward some ideas if there was interest. Let's keep the ideas flowing!

Hi craigr68, It's always fascinating to see how others approach live performance, I'm intrigued by your approach! I get the impression that the performers amongst us are always looking for the perfect tool, but it's not out there, so we end up 'constructing' something using what's to hand . In my project, I've basically implemented a lot of the things Mark pointed out in his post (the screenshots below are for a test project, not a real gig btw!) 1. I have a 'Pause Events' track, where I've inserted MCI commands to pause playback at the end of each song (where needed) 2. In the 'Leadsheets' track folder I have a some midi tracks with outputs set to a 'Sink' virtual midi port, i.e. the midi doesn't go anywhere. I then set the staff view to view these midi tracks, and for each song I've added the leadsheets I need on the same tracks. It means all songs have the same generic track names in the staff view, but that's fine. I maximise the staff view and then as each song plays I can view any Chords / Lyrics / Leadsheets I've entered, in sync with the backing track. Entering lyrics is an exercise in frustration, so I tend to find remembering them is almost easier! (one day staff view will get some love... we just have to believe harder🤣) 3. In my song instrument tracks, I use 'Automated mute' to mute the VSTs outside of the songs they are used for This means the VSTs are all loaded in memory when you open the project - so if you want to use massive Kontakt instruments, you're going to run out of steam eventually. I tend to use (for my shame) Air Music Technologies Xpand2 as my goto live VSTi - it's a pretty low resource multi timbral rompler, so I can set up keyboard splits all within one VSTi. It sounds... OK... (for pubs gigs, anyway) In my FR I suggested the track folders linked to songs could always be muted, and only un-muted when the linked song was active - which would avoid having to draw automation for every VSTi. It's a simple solution using existing functionality, but if If the bakers really wanted to go to town on this they could look at dynamically loading / unloading the VSTis in the linked track folder for each song loading based on the setlist. That's what some of the live performance hosts do (e.g. Gig Performer) As and aside, I tried out Gig Performer and it was pretty neat, but to me none of the live VST hosts has the full package yet, esp. if you want to be able to view notation / leadsheets 4. For backing I used mixed down Audio track - streaming audio doesn't use much resource, so it's a much better option than generating it via midi / vist

Yes, Studio One looks very appealing for the show page - was considering buying but the fact you can't have a midi track (to control external gear or to view as a leadsheet during performance) put me off. It's something they are actively developing though, so maybe in a future update. As for Cakewalk - having arranger sections triggered by midi would be great. I've actually been trying out cakewalk for live performance using the arranger and it works pretty well - midi control of launching arranger sections would be definitely be a good enhancement. I added a few other ideas in this FR https://discuss.cakewalk.com/index.php?/topic/28172-use-arranger-track-as-a-set-list/

Sorry for a long post! I think there's an opportunity to leverage the great work made on the arranger track, to create a fantastic live performance tool. I've been trialling it out, and all the component pieces are there, it just needs a bit of glue / enhancement to make it a really workable option Here's an example project being used for my 80s (ish) cover band, which uses backing / click tracks extensively: Basically, I use the arranger track to create sections for each song, then use track folders to contain my audio backing tracks, Midi data to control outboard gear, Midi control of DMX etc. I then create a track folder for each song, which contains the virtual instruments used to perform the song controlled from my master keyboards. It works surprisingly well! I can re-arrange the set list before any gig using the arrangements functionality During the gig, I can jump to any track I want by clicking on it - it cues it up instantly I use a workspace to remove any GUI components not needed I use Mix recall to move between live and playback scenes The Live scene plays the project, and allows recording on any track that's armed The Playback scene plays back audio, and sends recorded midi data to the vsts After rehearsal, I can adjust the mix, effects, instrumentation etc in context of other band members performance At a gig (hopefully soon!) it makes it easy to do a virtual soundcheck Importantly, (which could be a big USP for cakewalk), I can view notation, chords and lyrics via the staff view during the performance - perfect! Once you've had the ability to glance over and see notation / lead sheets synced up perfectly with the backing track you really don't want to go back... To bring this all together and make it easier to use I'm thinking of perhaps a new project file format (.cwl - cakewalk live), which when opened changes the behaviour of the arranger track to make it more suitable to live performance. It could also be achieved by a toggle switch on the arranger menu, which could be simpler for the bakers I guess? There's a lot of options that could be included in the set-list version of the arranger window - I'm sure others have ideas, but my initial thoughts would be 1. Add a separate right click context menu to each song in the set list, along the lines of: With this context menu you could define some additional properties for the song The Play mode, which determines what happens when the playhead reaches the end of the song Continue, pause at end of song, loop song The tempo and key of the song Yes, I know you can insert tempo and key changes in the timeline, but would be a nice to have to be able to set this on a song basis! 2. When creating a song section, a linked track folder is created with the same name as the song section The linked track folder is only displayed when the song is selected Any virtual instruments within the track folder are bypassed (muted), unless the playhead is within the song This would tidy up the project view and make it easier to manage, and avoid the current situation of having to draw automation to mute each virtual instrument outside of the song it's used for I have a bunch of other ideas, but this post is long enough already.. If there's any interest I can add more 😁 Cheers, Matt

Spoke too soon, as soon as there's a mix of real and virtual midi inputs, the issues start up Project with two tracks: one input from a preset mapped to virtual midi cable one input from a preset mapped to physical controller All mappings look good Close the project, connect another physical controller, open the project and... The mapping for the virtual Lower_Keyboard (PrLowerKB) stays mapped correctly The track with input from the physical controller LX61 has changed to receive input from both virtual midi cables, and the the newly add physical controller SL MKII. The input from the LX61 has been lost The mapping for the virtual Upper_Keyboard (PrUpperKB) is changed to receive input from the physical LX61 If I attempt to view the mapping for the physical controller again, the screen shows no mappings - I think this is a different bug on the Input Presets screen (sorry) If I open the preset manager via clicking on the 'Manage Presets' button for the track, the mappings are shown If I use the drop down list to select the preset, the mappings are not shown Hopefully this helps Mark, please let me know if you need any further info

Thanks Mark - that looks interesting, never come across that functionality before so will give it a try! Updated: This looks like it could be a great workaround, on a simple test it seemed to work, I just need to try it on a more realistic situation - I'll give an update once I have Thanks again Mark, really appreciate your help

Sorry for the long post below - the tl/dr; I think there is an issue with virtual midi ports, but not physical midi ports (For clarity, in the below tests each physical midi controller was plugged into the same physical usb connector each time) I removed all virtual midi cables on the PC, rebooted, and created a new project with one physical midi controller connected (Impact LX61) I then closed the project, connected another physical midi controller (Novation SL MKII), and re-opened the project. No changes, everything as expected I closed the project, enabled the SL MKII as a midi input, and opened the project. Again, no changes to the midi input of the track This is what I would expect - connecting / adding new midi devices doesn't impact old projects - happy days! 😀 I then disconnected the SL MKII, added a virtual Midi cable (Lower_Keyboard) with loopMidi, rebooted, and opened the project again (note, I hadn't enabled the virtual midi cable). Still good, no changes the the midi input I close the project, connect the SL MKII, and open the project - still good, no changes. I close the project, enable both the SL MKII and virtual midi cable as inputs, and open the project - still good, no changes So, to summarise at this point - if the project only has midi inputs from physical midi devices, they work exactly as expected - they are not changed by the addition / removal of other physical or virtual midi devices I then close the project, disconnect the SL MKII, open the project and add another track using the virtual midi cable 'Lower_Keyboard' as the input Opening and closing the project works as expected, the track inputs stay as they were originally saved I then close the project, connect the SL MKII, open the project and.... The midi input from the physical midi device stays the same The midi input from the virtual cable is changed to accept midi data from all active midi inputs!! 😲 Sooo... this to me really seems like a bug, inputs from virtual midi devices are being changed when new physical midi controllers are added to the setup, whereas inputs from physical midi devices are not changed. Getting to the limit of my understanding now.. I hope someone can chime in with an explanation, or confirmation that this is a bug and I can report it. Cheers, Matt Just to add, this seems like an edge case scenario that only happens when you add a new midi controller to your setup, but it affects me a lot. E.g. When I open a project in my rehearsal space, that I've worked on in my studio, the inputs from virtual midi devices get corrupted on opening. I even have the same PC and midi controller keyboards plugged into the same physical USB ports at both locations, but it's not enough!! Because there is some gear connected at the rehearsal space that has USB midi functionality (even though it's not checked as active in preferences) , it's enough to trigger this bug.

Thanks for the replies, they're appreciated! Due to the way Windows handles USB connections, we've always had to be super careful with making sure Midi devices are on, and connected to the same physical hardware usb connector to avoid problems, but this seems more than that. The midi input was changed from receiving midi data from one single device to receiving midi data from three devices. I could maybe understand if the input was switched to a different device - but why has the input been changed to receive data from three devices? Following the above comments, the conclusion is I can never connect a new piece of USB hardware with midi functionality (mixer, keyboard, interface etc), as if I do, then all my existing projects will be corrupted on opening My gut feeling is that this may be to do with the way virtual midi ports are being enumerated for tracks with input echo set to on. I'll do a few tests and report back.

Just to add results of a further test If I enable the newly connected hardware controller for midi input and then open the project, one of the inputs stays as it was when saved, whilst the other gets set to all three midi inputs So the inputs are now being royally messed up when opening the project!