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jkoseattle

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Posts posted by jkoseattle

  1. Because my projects tend to take forever to load, I leave them open when I'm done working. Every time I come back to my computer after having been away all day I get a dialog that says "The above audio/MIDI device was disconnected from your system. Would you like Cakewalk to reroute these outputs to an available device?" Click "No" to keep current settings."

    I always click No and there's never been a problem, but it's annoying that I have to do this every time I sit down, plus there's a low level worry that there really is something wrong. what is this about?

  2. What no one posted:
    "Hey Jim, you're a great guy and a talented composer. By the way, you may not know that a lot of expression pedals come with little dials on them so you can ADJUST the range of values the pedal will send. Make sure you haven't inadvertently turned that dial. Because, who knows, maybe you just need to turn it all the way and suddenly the full 0-127 range of the pedal is open to you!"

    My response:
    "Wow! You got it exactly right, it was as simple as that! Problem solved.  (And thanks for confirming what I've already suspected regarding my prodigious skills.)"

  3. I used to be able to click on a section in the Arranger track and have all the events in all tracks under it also selected. In fact, I used to do that by accident all the time. Now that I WANT to do it though, it won't do it. Did something change? I want to copy my whole intro section way off to the right past the end of the project and play around with it and if all goes well replace my current section with this new one. Er? I feel like I'm going crazy. Didn't I used to be able to do that?

  4. I just read an article which gave me an idea I wanted to run by here to see if anyone  has done it -- or maybe everyone already does it. This is an orchestral piece which will feature a lot of solo instruments at various times. The idea is to have two tracks for each instrument. A wetter one for when it is part of the greater ensemble, and a drier one for when it is featured in a solo moment. By linking these two tracks, I can just use volume sliders to adjust the balance between these two tracks to bring forward instruments and then pull them back again without affecting the overall volume quite so much. Does this sound like a good idea? Would simply adjusting the amount of reverb on a single track accomplish the same thing more simply, or would I find a benefit in adjusting more than just reverb on these two tracks and so having the linked tracks thing would be more useful?

  5. TTS has crashed Cakewalk for me every single time. I so wish I could use it. Have never had time to figure it out.

    Let me post this then and ask if these instruments also sound crummy to get an idea of the bar you are hoping I reach. The violin is the only live instrument in this track. Well, and the rain.

    Anyway, thanks everyone, really, but I'm going to stop asking here. I do appreciate everyone's opinion, but this isn't going to be a trumpet-centric piece and I don't have the time to chase down versions of every instrument I'm going to be highlighting. I definitely posted too soon here before every other instrument comes in. I guess the trumpet bits are just gonna sound bad to trumpet afficionados, as I'm sure the oboe solos will to oboists, the harp to... you get the idea. Sigh... pressing on! Thanks again.

    • Like 1
  6. On 3/22/2024 at 12:52 PM, Glenn Stanton said:

    what Glenn heard: "use some electronic cleaner spray to remove the built up gunk (open the back up)" (10 min) and "if it's still failing - check the resistance settings (open the back up)" (5 min) and "if it's still failing, buy a new pedal" (24-48 hours)🙂 

     

    Edited for realism: 
    what Glenn heard: "find out what electronic cleaner spray is (20 min) go to store to get electronic cleaner spray (1 hour) come home empty handed and buy electronic cleaner spray on Amazon (10 min) await delivery (1000 min) grab some tools and clear table space (15 min) figure out how to open pedal and poke around acquainting oneself with the innards (25 min) try and determine what built up gunk might actually look like and whether or not any is even in there (20 min) use some electronic cleaner spray to remove the built up gunk" (10 min) and "if it's still failing - check the resistance settings (open the back up)" (5 min) and "if it's still failing, buy a new pedal" (24-48 hours)🙂 

    • Like 1
    • Great Idea 1
  7. I've been using the Scale Velocity feature forever. But this instrument isn't affected by velocity very much. I've been altering CC1 Modulation on this one track until the envelope is looking like the Olympic mountains. But it's across the board too high. Is there a way to scale my modulation the way I can scale velocities?

  8. It was a mix sanity check. I should have specified that these instruments are what I'm going to be using so I'm not really interested in knowing what other instruments I could go out and procure. I was more interested in whether the articulations and mod wheel movements sounded decent, as this is a Cakewalk-related forum after all. Saying off the bat "That does not sound like a trumpet" is not helpful. Because, well, it actually IS a trumpet, and it sure sounds like one to me too. 

    But I should have waited. Lots more instruments still to be introduced later in the piece, which will affect this.

    I know, I've been on this forum many years, (though this is the first time venturing into this area). Everyone is really polite most of the time so I was taken aback. My experience has had me slaving away on a piece for weeks or months, then releasing it and only then being told the mix is no good. And yet, having people review my mixes along the way is hard to come by. 

    Anyway, in the meantime, I'm moving on, already made some adjustments. Big piece to finish. Lesson learned, sorry everyone.

  9. What David said: "Maybe take the pedal apart and check for cold/broken solder joints, etc."
    What Jim heard: "Maybe go buy a new pedal."

    • Like 1
  10. I just looked at the manual for the keyboard and it does say that you power down and back up the keyboard and the pedals reset, so that I should have the pedal at 0 when powering up. Which I did, no change however. Still bottoms out at 85

     

  11. Right, that's how I assumed it worked. The entire range of the pedal is sending signals to the keyboard, it's just that when I go down to the lowest, it's about 83-85. Yesterday it was 83, today it's 85. (That seems significant somehow.) I also have a sustain pedal and it generates 0 and 127 as always.

  12. This is the very beginning of a much longer piece which employs a full orchestra. The ensemble here is two pianos, solo trumpet, solo cello and basses. I've used EQ and reverb in places. (The majority of the piece does not feature the trumpet or cello particularly, that's only for this opening bit.)

    I am looking for feedback on a few things: 1) The mix overall. I need some objective ears on this. This isn't a final mix by any stretch, and some of it is going to depend on how the rest of the piece ends up sounding, but I'd like to get this project off to a running start. Any thoughts are welcome. 2) How fake does the fake trumpet sound? I'm using the best VIs I know, EastWest's Hollywood Orchestra, and I've messed with modulation and note durations and keyswitches to a certain extent, and though I know it won't fool anyone, I want it to be more or less non-noticeable. I already hear a couple necessary fixes. 

  13. This is the very beginning of a much longer piece which employs a full orchestra. The ensemble here is two pianos, solo trumpet, solo cello and basses. I've used EQ and reverb in places. (The majority of the piece does not feature the trumpet or cello particularly, that's only for this opening bit.)

    I am looking for feedback on a few things: 1) The mix overall. I need some objective ears on this. This isn't a final mix by any stretch, and some of it is going to depend on how the rest of the piece ends up sounding, but I'd like to get this project off to a running start. Any thoughts are welcome. 2) How fake does the fake trumpet sound? I'm using the best VIs I know, EastWest's Hollywood Orchestra, and I've messed with modulation and note durations and keyswitches to a certain extent, and though I know it won't fool anyone, I want it to be more or less non-noticeable. I already hear a couple necessary fixes. 3) Where do you or people you know generally solicit this kind of feedback?

  14. Trying to get some momentum on this mammoth undertaking I'm just now starting, grrr.......

    I'm in PRV. I must have flipped a switch that prevents playback while recording. I am still in Sound on Sound in settings, and nothing is actually getting lost, but while recording, I do not hear existing material. What's the switch I flipped?

    Oh never mind. I wasn't in sound on sound, somehow I got switched to Comping, which I never ever ever use. I figured there must be some keyboard shortcut I accidentally hit, so I went into keyboard shortcuts, which reminds me of something else which has now been promoted to the Topic Of This Thread:

    --- THE TOPIC OF THIS THREAD ---

    When I go to Keyboard Shortcuts in Preferences, it takes maybe 15 seconds for it to display. Is anyone else experiencing this? And if I close Preferences while on the keyboard shortcuts page, Cakewalk remembers what page I was on last time, so the next time I open Preferences, it wants to go directly to keyboard shortcuts, which means I need to wait that 15 seconds before I can use preferences at all.

  15. Hmm, that sounds promising. But each song having the identical track layout means I can't halfway through this project decide I need a solo flugelhorn and add that track to a certain project, right? Cuz then that will mess up my identical track layout, yes?

  16. On 12/21/2023 at 11:47 AM, Promidi said:


    To the OP: 

    You say you’re only getting 60% to 100%. 

    Are you able to use MIDI monitoring software to see what the M-Audio Hammer 88 is actually transmitting when moving the expression pedal?

    I use the free utility ShowMIDI for this. 

    This can run in standalone or as a VST and will show you what the M-Audio Hammer 88 is actually transmitting when moving the expression pedal.

    https://github.com/gbevin/ShowMIDI/releases

    Thanks for the advice. I installed ShowMIDI as instructed, and it worked great right away. What I learned is that the expression pedal does generate CC11 through the it's entire range of motion, but the range of messages only go from 83 to 127. So pressing the pedal from bottom to top will generate messages starting at 83 and going up to 127. This agrees with what Cakewalk is recording. The pedal itself is sending messages through its whole range, so it doesn't appear to be a physical issue, just that it won't send anything below 83. 

    So now what?

  17. That makes sense. So as far as making sure the transitions are seamless, I just have to be ready to finesse the details, yeah? Make sure all the same effects are in every instrument across movements, for example, and that the volume & expression envelopes match up. Sounds like an enormous hassle, but maybe that won't be so bad.

    I'm worried that halfway into the thing I'm going to realize I need to adjust an effect on some instrument, or even adjust some knob in the instrument itself, which will mean opening up every other movement that uses that instrument and matching the change. Is that really how people manage it? Or is it more that I need to make sure I'm totally satisfied with every instrument's settings before laying down notes?

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