JoseC

Yay!!!! 

It seems that your best choice is what you are doing now. Anyway, I found that my suggestion would not work with sysex. Matrix cells will only play midi groove clips, and those will not save sysex, for whatever reason.

The thing with doing it from the Matrix is that if you use to start from a template you can have this set up there hidden out of the way within every project.  Now that I think of it it probably can also be done with sysex banks in the Sysex View triggered from a clip in the Matrix. If I am correct, and your synths support this, you would need only a track and a single clip. 

20 minutes ago, kennywtelejazz said:

 

The only thing that P 5 does that none of this other stuff does is save to PTN files ..

 

Thanks for your reply. Yes, the idea of saving PTN files, and especially arpeggiator files for the CbB is what made me ask. I have much fun jamming with arpeggiators to come up with ideas,  but I use to do it with hardware and I had not really paid much attention to the track arpeggiator in CbB until the other day that I played with it for a while and found that you cannot really program your own patterns unless you use P5, and searching a bit I came up with this: http://project5.technetos.com/technique/alesion-arp.shtml

So I thought about giving it a try.

In the meantime, you can do this: create a short midi clip, open the Event View and place a single event (cc 122 val 127) in it. Place copies of it in the Matrix view stacked in the same column, make them One Shot, and point each cell to a midi track that goes to a different synth. This way you just need to click the column header to send Local On to all your synths at the same time. It is still a manual solution, but it just takes a second. 

Just wondering whether it might be feasible to install it again and remembering old times...or making arpeggiator patterns, that IIRC should work with CbB

On 9/7/2019 at 9:43 PM, SomeGuy said:

Most people here aren't concerned with growing marketshare by closing the feature gap and making the DAW more applicable to more workflows.

They just expect people to use the DAW and help them increase it's market penetration, while "dealing with it" because "you can't complain about free."

That's why there is an overemphasis on bug fixes.  They're okay with the product, so they're only concerned about making it better for themselves... not you or any other "potential users."

Meanwhile they complain that it isn't getting enough reviews or press at music websites/magazines.

I don´t really get this post. What "feature gap"? CbB has its own feature set, that obviously is not the same as programs like Bitwig or Ableton Live, but that is not much different from other programs of its kind, like Logic or Cubase, and both of them are widely used for electronic music. Even  though Live has become the de facto standard for that, you see a lot of people using Logic, that has a feature set much like CbB´s. 

I also do not see that attitude that you mention, "you can't complain about free" from the developing team´s side, who seem very much commited to make this software improve, not only in stability but also in core  features.  And yes, maybe sometimes you can not complain about free if your complain is that you are not getting enough instruments or plugins of your liking with your free DAW.

17 hours ago, Chuck E Baby said:

Split Repeatedly

Splits selected clips at regular intervals, beginning at a specified time, with a specified duration. For example, you could split a long clip into 4-bar clips starting at measure 5.

Use the Split clips dialog (right click on the clip).

That will only split by measure. Unless I have been missing something, it will not split by quarter notes, for example.

10 hours ago, David Baay said:

It's working here. You sure your getting Shift? Alt+Smart Tool without Shift is the split tool. Also, you can move data within a clip without already having the borders slip edited. Cakewalk automatically adds a slip edit to the boundary when you do that.

Thanks  for your reply.  Yes, it seems pilot error here. I have managed to make it work here somehow, but somehow I still don't get well the correct way to do it when I import clips from the browser. 

Just noticed that moving the contents of a clip while leaving its edges fixed do not work as it did. Pressing ALT-SHIFT with the Smart Tool or the wrench tool selected should change the cursor in the upper third of the clip and allow to grab and move the content, but it shows the Split cursor (scissors) instead.

EDIT: For a minute I thought that it was solved. After bouncing the clip, ALT-SHIFT makes the right cursor appear...but of course then there is no audio to slip edit beyond the clip edges. 🤔

This should be a simple task, but I cannot find an easy way to do it. I just want to take an audio clip and split it repeatedly at the grid resolution. The Edit/Split dialogue just will do this with 1 Measure as the lowest resolution. I have tried with Audiosnap, but I  I cannot get consistent results, probably because (I guess) it works with transients and will not place a marker at a silent place. I always end up doing this manually. What is the easiest way to do this? 

I just noticed that the new green selection markers do not disappear when unselecting pressing the number 5 key. They do when using CTL+SHIFT+A.

All IDF that you install are imported into a file called Master.ins. If you had all your synths IDF in Sonar, the easiest way would be searching for that file in your previous Sonar instalation and just copy it instead of the default CbB Master.ins. The file format is identical, just copy your old file to the right CbB directory and it will work.

Master.ins is a text file, so you can open it with any text editor and check whether you found the right file and your synths IDF are there. In older Windows OS, Master.ins used to be in the same directory than Sonar.exe. This is more confusing (to me, at least) in newer OS, so what I use to do when migrating my Master.ins file (something I don't do often) is a drive search until I find the right place to copy it. Maybe somebody can tell us the right path, but if not, a bit of drive searching will do.

On 8/31/2019 at 8:36 AM, Efrem C.'79 said:

Currently all the "Cakewalk world" is rather confused. The Command Center remains active, but only for those who have created an account from 2014 to 2017. However, those who want to try the Cakewalk-Sonar plugins for free now cannot do so, and cannot even try the old Sonar versions. Another aspect: if the same plugins are no longer updated, what is all this for? I mean, what is the use of keeping and leaving Cakewalk sites if in these sites it is no longer possible to try out the various versions of the DAWs or even the plugins? If I can propose an idea, for me it takes a "General Reset". If BandLab has serious intentions it should reset everything and start over (or from the beginning). Sonar still contains several bugs, it has a rather heavy and "flooded" structure / layout of features that are repeated several times within the software itself. You would start from scratch redesigning everything. You would start with a new, lighter, more streamlined graphic (in vector graphics) with the possibility of resizing the graphic interface, and then inserting the various functions (forgetting the themes editor ...). I would leave the DAW completely empty from the plugin. Then I would create a good line of plugins (maybe for a fee). But by good line of plugins I mean good with a capital B. It is an idea that I propose to try to give new life to Sonar. And you would go back to renaming it with the name of Sonar, since it is the most known and recognizable name for so many ... Thank you.

Maybe you did not notice, but Cakewalk by Bandlab (there is no Sonar anymore) already HAS a very good line of plugins within Pro Channel. About a full graphic redesign, I think that all users would say that it would be nice to have, but for now, the work of the developing team has already made clear that there are "serious intentions" even without it.

1. You use One Shot, well, when you do not want the clip to loop. If you also want to perform with the Matrix, launching clips from a controller, you´ll probably want to play some clips just once.

2. I am not sure now whether you can assign specific keys directly. You navigate within the Matrix with the arrow keys, and fire them with Enter. I guess that what you want to use is the Virtual midi keyboard, that can be played from your computer keyboard. I guess that you could map it to the Matrix.

3. On how to map controllers:

https://www.cakewalk.com/Documentation?product=Cakewalk&language=3&help=Views.47.html#1366958

7 hours ago, scook said:

If this helps, the way I got around the port issue was using an FX Chain see http://forum.cakewalk.com/FindPost/3768664

I have not messed with VCV Bridge in some time but this trick still appears to work.

I just had time to check that the port numbers persist with your FX Chain, and sure they do! Thanks again!

1 hour ago, scook said:

If this helps, the way I got around the port issue was using an FX Chain see http://forum.cakewalk.com/FindPost/3768664

I have not messed with VCV Bridge in some time but this trick still appears to work.

Thanks again, I will try that as soon as I have a minute. 

29 minutes ago, scook said:

Not sure if it is worth the effort. The VCV Bridge is a temporary solution introduced a little over a year ago. It is not really supported by the VCV developer.

There is a VST version of of VCV Rack based v0.6 that works with CbB called VeeSeeVST Rack (the kvr thread has links to the development on GitHub). It has most of the free modules (although a few are missing such as NYSTHI and Vult). It also does not have any of the paid modules. Pretty sure development stopped with VCV Rack v1.0 was released. Still may be a better plug-in solution for now.

Thanks, scook. I already explained the state of things to Noel by PM, but it seems that he got interested nonetheless, which tells a lot about his commitment to  CbB and its users. Not that we had not noticed, but still. 

The bridge is unsupported in v 1.0, but is working here fine, with this minor annoyance in CbB, that does not exist in Ableton Live, at least. Differences between v 0.6 and v 1.0 of VCV Rack are important enough to try and make it work.

I am using Bridge instances just as audio inputs in CbB, with all midi sent from CbB to VCV Rack using virtual midi cables, and it works fine this way. The only thing is having to set bridge port numbers every time I open the CbB file, that is something I can live with until v 2.0 arrives and VCV Rack becomes a full VSTi as announced.

40 minutes ago, Noel Borthwick said:

Hi @JoseC, we looked at VCV. This is a completely different issue and its caused because the plugin is a minimal wrapper that doesn't handle chunked data saving. It also doesnt support a default vst program so our code is not saving any state for it. We'll try and handle this corner case where the plugin has no programs and no chunks.
This is really an outlier case though. I haven't seen any plugs like this before 

Thanks a lot, Noel for taking your time to take a look a this. You are the best!!!!

4 hours ago, martin said:

sorry i dont understand..

what do i drag?

How did you do that? Here, as soon as I insert a note in the Step Sequencer, a midi clip gets created in the track. I have tried to get the results that you show, but I always get a new clip, that can be dragged anywhere.

Anyway, what I do is to open the PRV first and choose there just the notes or scale that I am going to use there, inserting a note for each. Then I right click in the new clip to make it a Step Sequencer pattern. This way the Step Sequencer opens with the rows I need. 

I am currently using VCV Rack connected to CbB with its Bridge plugin. For some reason, the Port number is not saved, and if I use multiple instances I need to reasign the port every time I load the project in Cakewalk. Since the VCV Rack bridge is actually on its way out until next version, when a VST is announced, I was just waiting for it to fix the problem. Maybe this will fix it. Everything is saved and recalled correctly in Ableton Live, btw.

Just grab it with the mouse and drag it to wherever you want, just like any other clip.

42 minutes ago, MusicMan11712 (aka Dr. Steve) said:

Thank you for these tips!!! I need to carve out some more time to expand my explorations of the step sequencer based on these ideas.  

I had done a simple test, basically: (1) a 1 measure, 3-instrument pattern that looked like what I imagined in my mind's ear (non-realtime mode--just clicking the buttons), (2) another 2 instruments entered on another midi track, and (3) a visually syncopated  ride cymbal in the 2nd 1/2 of the measure on a third midi track. All 3 were done with clean step sequencer slates.

So, I have been wondering where to go, and these tips point me in what sounds like an excellent direction.

ASIDE: One main usage of Cakewalk Discussion seems to be Problem-Solution.  However, in the discussions, I see all kinds of wonderful tips.  I have wondered if it would be possible/desirable to add a dimension to the reaction nature of the Disussion Interface: In addition to Like, Thanks, etc. TIP: Step Sequencer  (for example), with the potential to search TIPs and subcategories.  (Just wondering out loud.)

 

One thing to experiment with is using the Step Sequencer with the Matrix to experiment with polyrythms, like setting up a slightly shorter sequence, like 15/16 and looping it against the main beat until it cycles back. With the Matrix it is easy to make the sequence shorter or  longer and then recording the output when you get results that you like, instead of dragging patterns around in Track View. And don't forget that you have Swing per step, too.

17 minutes ago, GreenLight said:

Yes, I've used step probabilities a little when programming hi-hat patterns, I think I'll investigate it a bit more...

How is Matrix best put to use, if you're only doing studio work? I suppose it's a Live-style pattern trigger feature? I've never really investigated it...

The main error with the Matrix is thinking that it is like Live's Session view, trying to use it like it and becoming frustrated. It is not Session View, but it can be a useful tool, even though it still needs some more work to be done, especially to use it with the Step Sequencer. The main setback is that you can not do any editing from a Matrix cell, it is basically just a player.  You create your patterns or loops in a track, and then drag them to a cell in the Matrix. Currently you can create and edit a Step Sequencer pattern from a Matrix cell, but you can not listen to changes while the Matrix is running, you need to stop the Matrix and start it again, which makes it a little clunky workflow.

Having said that, besides the obvious use as a scratch pad and repository for storing patterns, loops and ideas that you want to try but not want to clutter your Track View, or even as an arranging tool to create sections and recording the output, I also use it to send sysex and CC commands to hardware synths, for example:

I have a Waldorf MicroQ rack that only outputs arpeggiated notes to its midi out when set to Local On. Problem is, there is no front panel way to do it, just CC messages, and the synth always initializes itself in Local Off. So I have two short midi patterns with just a CC message, one for Local On and another for Local Off and drag them to a Matrix row pointing to that synth, set like one shots, and I can send them with just a mouse click, or even map an external controller to do it. 

Anyway, once you get over the current poor integration with the Step Sequencer, for me the best use is what I said before, generate and record pattern variations using the step probability. Since you can do it for all CC parameters, you have a very powerful tool that will generate not only variations in notes and velocities but also in any other parameter automation, in a controllable, not random way.

43 minutes ago, GreenLight said:

Unfortunately no (as others already said) and the step sequencer does also not follow playback position if you have extended your step sequencer clip using groove clip looping (CTRL+L).

Step sequencers in general are probably most used for drum programming for electronic dance music and hiphop, but I recently got a great melodic sequence out of it for a techno track, with some great happy accidents when clicking and removing notes.

It would benefit from some more polishing though...

As I said above, you can automate that using step probabilities and recording the Matrix output. I agree with you that it needs more polishing. If its integration with the Matrix was a bit better it would be a more powerful tool than it looks at first sight.