Eezye

agree with this. i've asked for this option in previous threads... a few other DAWs have this function and it would be quite easy to add

cakewalk is awesome, cool to have for free for so many years as well. that being said, it is the only DAW I've ever used that has stopped recording/playback due to performance errors both on capable and not so capable machines. it is not user error, it is cakewalk itself and how it performs. not a complaint, just an observation... i know of what you speak, Misha

20 minutes ago, Will. said:

I'm going to keep saying this, what Cakewalk has, is pre roll auto punch. It only uses a different language than other DAWs. 

As i said way earlier in the thread, it has a clunky workaround. Just want a simplified version (which technically has an added function)

7 hours ago, Lord Tim said:

To actually clarify what people are talking about in this thread, without all of the bickering and stupid crap, I'm going to assume @Eezye meant the following:

Scenario 1 example:

While the transport is stopped, you have your Now Time on measure 20, and you've set a pre-roll of 2 measures. You press R to record, and playback starts from measure 18, and actually begins recording from measure 20, and continues until you press stop.

Scenario 2 example:

Essentially this is Auto-Punch but doesn't stop. You choose the measure you want the punch to activate, let Cakewalk play from wherever, and it kicks in to record from that measure, but continues until it's stopped or taken out of record mode manually.

These are both different to the metronome count-in because that only plays the metronome before the transport starts, ie: you're not actually hearing the music so you can play along with it.

Is this all correct?

I can see the use for Scenario 1, it'd save a couple of keystrokes or dropping markers to help identify the places where you'd want to start the transport to give you enough time to get ready to sing or play your phrase.

Although if I was intending to do this stuff without taking my hands off of my instrument, I would tend to set up a MIDI foot controller and map it to the transport buttons and just let it play from a few measures back. This is doable today, with the caveat that you have to find your lead in yourself before you start recording.

But as it stands, actual pre-roll as described above is not in Cakewalk.

This is EXACTLY it. This would simply things a lot for many and it seems easy to implement

1 hour ago, Will. said:

Now you're just rambling a lot of BS and making things up. Cause what that Guy explain in that video on "Pre Roll" is exactly as in these videos I have sent. 

At this point I believe you do not know what you want and just making up things everytime. 

No dang difference as he even said he has to go in and out of record by punching it in. 

I believe you're confusing this with step record. 

In the millenial morse code of  @bdickens RTFM! 

how about you CTFO bro, don't fly off the handle at me because you don't understand things. other people here understood me perfectly well, cakewalk does not offer this function. you have to do a workaround, and it could be so much better with this addition. how about you quit visiting this thread and let those who get it chime in

1 hour ago, Will. said:

Infact: I take back my previous reply about it would beneficial to have it, cause it just dawn on me now, Cakewalk has been doing this way before STOne. 

I just never use it because i find it of no use. 

 

 

what is it you are doing here? it looks to me you are hitting record over and over again while its playing back. that is kind of hard for me to do with my hands on a guitar.

and no, the options in the metronome tab are count in beats/measures... as in just the metronome clicking before the start of record. what i want is a playback of all the tracks by a user defined bar/beat before the record point... NOT just the metronome, and also not having to touch the keyboard so i can be actually playing when it happens

1 hour ago, Will. said:

So you have a timing issue? (No disrespect) Cause I get good results on the first take with a count-in. I set a permanent 4beat count-in on one measure before the actual recording starts and nail it then and there. Its less mouse clicks. I just press Alt&R to arm the track and hit R when im ready to record. What ever I want to record - i always make sure it is stuck in my head. 

Like i've said: I do not see it as a "HUGE" improvement but only as a "Beneficial" option to have for those that finds it difficult to nail things on the first go with a "count-in." 

PS: I just tested this in CbB and there dont seem to be any difference. What are you actually requesting? I even watched your video. 

 

im requesting the playhead go back a preset number of beats or bars before the recording actually starts. so for example, if you set "2 measures" in the option menu for preroll, it would play 2 bars before where the playhead is located, and start recording once it reaches the playhead. that way, you can play along to the actual tracks before it starts recording. its exactly the same as if someone was punching you in manually, usually setting the playtime a few bars beforehand so you can smoothly punch in. this is a much more natural way of punching, and you don't have to mess with region markers in this case. plenty of people here understand what the option is and why it's useful. and no, it's not a timing issue. it's just a smoother and more inspiring punch in, without having to worry where your punch OUT point is because there isn't one. it's ok if you don't understand it, i'm not completely sure i can explain it in any other way at this point. look at "preroll" in reaper/cubase/studio one or study the one that is apparently in logicpro. that option is what im looking for here. it is funny to me how some people here are so against new functionality... i'm not asking for a visual change, or anything else trivial. this is a big improvement with little effort

2 hours ago, Will. said:

I wouldn't go as far as to say its a "HUGE" improvement.

Though I hear what you're saying. I've used it before, in fact just recently when a pianist asked for it using logic pro in the main studio. I wouldn't use it myself, i really dont see the point in it - but it would be nice to have the option when collaborating with other producers/beatmakers and when artists from other labels ask for it. 

But to say it is an improvement - NOPE. It would rather be "Beneficial" to have it as an option available in case it gets asked for. 

i would consider it a HUGE improvement. any time i don't have to use a workaround to get the desired action, that is a time savings. and as you pointed out with the logic example, this is a standard feature on many DAWs now. it hugely speeds up recording when you are the one engineering and tracking alone. as far as "what's the point", it's much easier to get a good take if you play along to the track a few beats/bars before recording starts... and without preroll record, you have to set region points (one being many many measures back depending on the length of the section being recorded and then click back with the mouse before the region to get this type of behavior. with the option baked in, you only need to set the bars/beats in the menu and hit R wherever the playhead is located. so much easier

bumping this because it's a good request

Windows 10 support doesn't end til 2025... Why not just stay on 10 a few more years? Delay the worry

58 minutes ago, Bronxio said:

I also support this feature request.

I've used pre-roll in Cubase in the past for dubbing. It was awesome. With a keyboard shortcut, you can enable or disable it, so you can start playing from the cursor point, or X seconds before (and record with pre-roll, of course). I would love to have that in Cakewalk too, the workflow is much slower for large dubbings, going back and forward to begin the recording (and then just listening to that part).

With the punch function, I see I can record in a specific portion only and that's ok, but... the workflow is not the same, at least for the dubbing case.

It is absolutely a huge workflow improvement. Tracking parts more specifically, or writing on the fly while recording etc

33 minutes ago, Kevin Perry said:

Fair enough - I just can't what real problem this solves.

It's a workflow improvement. I used to use cubase in the past and it has a similar option, and i saw the option in studio one as well. You don't have to set markers or any of that, with the option selected, you get pre-roll right from the playhead. Just makes tracking faster if you are recording part by part or completely flub a take. There's a reason it's an option in other DAWs, it's quite useful

20 minutes ago, Kevin Perry said:

This seems more complicated than just putting the cursor/Now Time where you want it - I don't always want the same "pre-roll" setting, even in the same project, so having to change an actual setting rather than just click seems...pointless.

That is the beauty of this addition, it would be an option you could select. Don't want it? Don't use it. I want it, as well as a few others

Keep in mind that a pre roll record punch isn't just for punching in and out where you made a mistake, it allows you to play along to the track before recording starts in order to get a more seemless transition between wave regions and not have to trim/tidy up the connect points as much. Playing along a few bars and recording into the next part makes for a much more natural take. Not having to worry about where the punch out of a region is is immensely helpful, and having the pre roll start by a user defined amount would allow a fast, expected workflow during the songwriting/tracking stage. This is the only real thing i currently think is missing from cakewalk that i would use a LOT.

It's annoying if you dont want it to punch out and want it to keep recording. It'd be better to not have to rely on workarounds. They could add the option to the metronome page in preferences, or recording in audio etc. This would not be a very hard option to add i would think, and i believe a lot of folks would use it. What is the point of feature requests if folks just dismiss them? This would be a useful feature to add

Or, improve workflow in cakewalk by adding the option. This is what feature requests are for. Why are you being such a hardass about this?

in order to punch in cakewalk, you have to define a punch out point too. you can work around it by setting the punch out time waaay ahead in the project, but it would be easier to include a pre roll. you are not understanding my request... it's basically an option to have a set number of beats or bars play before the recording starts and NOT have a specified punch OUT point. i want it to punch IN and not out, ie, just punch and keep recording indefinitely. 

here is an example of what I'm referring to, as I am not sure how to make it any clearer in text 

Yes, im aware of the punch properties. Cakewalk does not currently have the option I'm discussing

would be nice to have a pre-roll record function, like studio one has. you can specify a number of beats/bars that will play before the playhead marker sets record so that you can hear the track(s) up to the record point... makes it easier to play along to the music for punch and rolling. basically, this is exactly the same as when a producer plays a track and manually punches you in while it plays, but enables to you to do it when you are tracking yourself.

Whenever I see my friends (I have quite a few facebook musician friends or when it comes up in conversation) asking what DAW they should get, I always recommend Cakewalk. I make it clear that it's a legit, completely unhindered DAW for free... so it'd be pretty senseless NOT to try it, or even use it alongside another already paid DAW. I think that in and of itself is pretty effective, to be actively recommending it as individuals whenever the topic comes up as word of mouth will always be powerful.  I want it to be as popular as it can to keep the support ball rolling!

i would either add a second HDD or get an SSD to replace your main drive and use the HDD for backup/other files. sounds like your computer is doing what you need it to do still, so I'd hold off on the upgrade (unless you are bored and just want to, by all means). I'm still running a 1st gen core i7 860, and it does everything i want it to still. granted, im not a super power user, but it handles everything i do in cakewalk with ease (albeit my projects are pretty small, admittedly).

this is definitely a valuable post. this has been a point of contention with AMD vs Intel in DAW performance since ryzen first launched. glad to see this issue is resolved and that one can confidently get pure low latency performance from team red... thank you for sharing this!

Could be a good opportunity to turn people onto trying cakewalk and letting them know it's alive and well, if they didn't know already. I was on the fence about upgrading from a very old cubase until i found out about cakewalk being free now... so i figured "why not" and tried it out. Needless to say i didn't need to buy cubase haha.

Running a 10 year old system myself, core i7 860 on windows 10 1803... Runs amazingly with everything I need it for, including cakewalk! I've upgraded from windows 7 to 10, so its also a 10 year old windows install all on old HDD drives haha. Good to know that 1903 should continue being awesome when i upgrade in a few weeks.

13 minutes ago, RBH said:

Male sure your recording is set-up as " Overwrite " mode and not  " Sound on Sound ".  Hover the mouse over the  Record button and a drop down menu will open so you can quickly change methods.

that is not the issue i'm having, i am using overwite mode. what i am asking is if there is a way you can "disable input monitoring" for MIDI tracks, exactly like you can with audio tracks. this is for pre-punch playback, where i prefer to NOT hear the MIDI input i'm playing and only the recorded MIDI performance until i hit the punch point