EDT

Hi Gswitz, not sure I could manage the editing to do that, but I will give it a thought.

Hi, I have a track I am finishing off and the main instrument within it is my old Yamaha CP-30 which I recorded into an audio track however I recorded it a bit too "hot" and there are a few notes, not many - maybe 10 or 12- which are slightly distorted and I was wondering if there is anything in Cakewalk which I can use to edit them out without actually deleting the audio. I would probably try and record it again, but I have since sold the CP-30.

I have just encountered a new problem. I am using the TTS-1 synth but the input echo doesn't allow me to hear what I am playing during recording. It works before recording when the input echo button is on, but as soon as I press record it doesn't work. The midi track records the notes I am playing, I just can't hear what I am playing. Yes, I have tried muting all the other tracks and I have checked that the TTS-1 track is the only one armed and with input echo switched on. I have also used the SI-Bass and SI-Strings just now on the same project and have not had the same problem with them, so it appears it is something within either the TTS-1 or the record function in Cakewalk which I need to change? Please help....I need to get this track finished once and for all!

Or even have a set up button so you can choose to have task wizards by default instead of menus and have all the menus discretely hidden under one menu button just in case.

Yes basicaly it does. But also just to simplify the options and jargon too. There are menus all over the place in Cakewalk some of which purport to do the same things but come up with different things, which could conceivably be replaced with task wizards (as I now know they are called!)

I am using a Cakewalk drum loop from SI-Drums. I had created a groove clip from it and all was fine until a couple of minutes ago when: 1. It now carries on playing for about another 10 seconds after the loop ceases to show any notes in the track. 2. I inserted a separate midi track into which I wanted to drop some drum fills from the sample midi loops from the Cakewalk media browser. These wouldn't play despite being in a separate track. 3. Freezing and unfreezing the SI-Drums track affects the separate midi track inserted for the drum fills. Not sure why this would be...I haven't linked these tracks in any way. Any ideas? EDT

In fact I have found another way to do this....I split the atom.... Sorry...I split the clip into three sections on separate tracks to effectively overlay the sections which were slightly too long. Thanks again.

I should add, I don't even want to edit the vocal sample in any way at all, other than to simply play a bit faster so it plays in time with the drum loop. Is this not possible?

Track 1: imported (mainly) vocal harmony sample about 12 seconds long Track 2: midi drum loop from Cakewalk Trying to tie the two together so the vocal sample follows the tempo of the drums.... Tried the quantize tool in Melodyne. It asks me to use the SI-Drum Track as the reference but then doesn't do anything to alter the timing of the notes in the vocal sample. I take it what I am expecting is too much and I need to physically change the position of each note in the vocal sample individually? [Rhetorical question: if what I am asking Melodyne to do automatically is too difficult, then what is the point of the quantize tool?]

Thank you again Mark! The second video is certainly in depth but then still doesn't explain the jargon and there are still interminable menus and options which use further jargon which I get the feeling I would need to have a two day course on to learn what they mean. Conversely, I don't need to know what they mean if the software would simply ask me a question or two about what it is I want to achieve rather than giving me menus of options which mean nothing to the untrained eye. Some of the points touched on in the second video make this apparent - the nomenclature is esoteric. I almost already feel like I will never understand Audiosnap. There must be a better way of presenting Audiosnap to idiots like me - maybe even splitting it into different functions - use easier to understand workflows, set out into steps 1 -3 for instance, then "Finished?" rather than "Render". However, I also appreciate that those trained in how this all works would probably want to retain the menus, jargon and interfaces they are familiar with. Maybe the programmers could add a new form of project lens which would have simpleton buttons and pop up boxes to ask the user what they want to achieve when they select two tracks out of the six tracks in the project for example. By the way thank you for your tip on Vocal Sync and possibly using that with guitars. I have a project which that may well come in very useful on.

Pursuant to the above, I have installed Drum Replacer and Melodyne (trial version, didn't realise it was a separate paid software). Not sure how Drum Replacer is supposed to work. Again I have looked at YouTube for instructions but I still can't see how it operates in a user friendly way although I can see from the videos how useful it might be for a number of things. First, I couldn't find it - I know this will sound off hand but for me it isn't a form of "FX" - even that might technically be how it works - it is an editing tool. However, I eventually found it under the Region FX menu. I then looked through the menu options and clicked through them but still don't really know what they mean other than the "open editor" option (self- explanatory, even to me that one is). I tried to replace the audio kick and snare with the bundled samples but they played out of time compared to the original audio. Nowhere can I see any instruction as to how to change it or how it works. The adjustable bits (threshold, dyn(?)) mean nothing unless one already understands what the jargon means. I should add - I always work offline as I don't like the internet running in the background, so maybe I am missing whatever the help module might tell me whilst I'm using Cakewalk. I would love to use this and fully believe it would be helpful, but I am increasingly pulling my hair out at the lack of my knowledge of some of the Cakewalk functions to those of us who are not experienced audio engineers or haven't been using previous versions of DAWs for many years. Anyway I shall go back to YouTube and search out some more instruction videos for now! Thanks for your help so far.

I have been trying to get to grips with more advanced audio editing functions but ultimately I often find myself not knowing what function it is I need and then have to search through quite traditional menus. It would be interested to know if there could be some more user friendly outcome based rather than process based pop up menus. e.g. if I want to match tempos/line up two tracks (I am struggling with this!) I select both tracks could it not just ask me in simpleton terms whether I want to do that, or x, y or z and then the software does the job behind the scenes (as it has all the tools to do it). Or rather than all the menus at the top and then the separate menus in the project itself. Could it be configured to have a simple "Timing" button and then it does the trick? This is just one example. Just an idea...I'm not a computer person really just a musician. EDT

Thanks - I'll have to install Melodyne then

When I try and do this (all I can find is the tempo map view from the menu) it shows the tempo then I can click to add new tempo at any given point. However all that seems to do is alter the tempo shown in the project tempo box and change the metronome. Does it therefore only work to change the tempo of midi tracks (which are by their nature flexible) but not imported audio? The vid suggested it would do both...perhaps I'm missing a trick ory version doesn't have this function? Clicking and dragging the clip over the timeline definitely doesn't do anything on mine.

Well, the simple answer is it varies from project to project but I have set out a few examples: 1. Making sure that drum loops from different sources which I have in different tracks marry up and play in time. E.g. track 1 has a midi drum loop and track 2 has an audio drum loop recorded from one of my drum machines, most likely not recorded at the same tempo as the Cakewalk project. 2. Tidying up timing and note length of a midi bass track to fit with previously recorded audio tracks. 3. Using the "grid" effectively and understanding what all the different time settings mean/do in practice. 4. Drum replacement - I have one or two projects where I would like to replace the audio drums with midi drums but obviously need to ensure the midi drums line up with the other audio. Sorry this is probably making my projects sound like a mess! But I promise I can play instruments in time I just want to tidy up imperfections and improve a few bits here and there. It's fantastic Cakewalk has so many amazing features but I'm struggling to get the gist of how they work or even which one I need to choose for a certain task. EDT

That is so helpful thank you...that is exactly what I want to be able to do (both ways as described in the video).

Thanks s much for your further help. I am generally at a loss as to whether Cakewalk does or will permit me to do what I want it to in terms of getting drum and other loops into the right tempo to match the other tracks. Maybe I am "too complicated" for it as I use external hardware (synths and drum machines, pianos and guitars...via midi and audio) and often simply record this in real time on my Boss recorder and then import it to Cakewalk. Most of my recordings are not triggered to start them so they have varying lengths of silence at the start. I imagine this messes with the notions of beats and setting project tempos etc in turn makes it difficult to adjust things later. Oh well!

I think I am wholly confused about how these functions work and perhaps more importantly what I should be using each of them for and what the interrelation is between them. Anyone out there prepared to give me a short summary of each? Or is it not feasible here? Appreciate if not.

It just came up with a circle with a diagonal line through it when I tried to drag it over the timeline.

I will try that....not quite got the hang of busses yet!

Couldn't get that to work either! Maybe I need to uninstall and reinstall?

I tried and it wouldn't let me for some reason. In any case I would be moving it manually and it would still need to be manually lined up with the audio. Seems odd that in such sophisticated software that would be the only viable solution!

I experience "audio engine dropouts" repeatedly on most sessions. I'm not a computer person, just a musican, so can't help with why but it seems to be very unstable. I'm using an HP laptop with Windows 10. Never or hardly ever actively doing anything else on it simultaneously with Cakewalk running. Always on flight mode to avoid internet based thingies getting in the way...

I seem to have mine set up so that if I want to fade all tracks out evenly I select all, but it then also moves any fades I have in tbe middle of tracks too, not just the end fades. Anything I can do to fix this?

Hi both, thanks. I think the prob I have is that I need to go back in later after freezing or bouncing to and work on the midi notes but after shifting the other audio tracks the midi track is no longer in the correct place. Is there something I can do to link the midi and any audio track created from it so that moving one in the timeline moves both identically? EDT