Craig Anderton

This tip was written up in The Big Book of SONAR Tips on page 16, but not in The Huge Book of Cakewalk by BandLab Tips, because Channel Tools isn't included with CbB. Here's the illustration that goes along with the tip, and shows how the panpot "sliders" appear in the mixer channel.

Thanks for the props! The most appropriate tools are sometimes the least-expected ones.

All DAWs have different preferences. It's unfortunate that you have to be a rocket scientist to make music these days, but I'm afraid that's the case. Think of all those preference parameters as a combination lock - get the numbers right, and things work...and then there are all the Windows variables. I still don't miss tape, though

I use the Multiband Compressor for bass, but often not set for compression. Think of it as a supremely flexible graphic equalizer. However, if you have problems with resonances or dead spots, you'll need a parametric. I wrote an article for Sound on Sound magazine about recording bass with Sonar, it's still relevant because it uses mostly Sonitus effects. There's also an in-depth description of how to use the Sonitus Multiband as a high-performance graphic equalizer on page 112 of The Huge book of Cakewalk by BandLab Tips.

An important point to remember is that clip gain is pre-effects. So for example if you have level-dependent effects like compression or distortion as an insert effect, altering the clip gain will alter how the effect reacts. You can use this to good effect, like with amp sims - ramp up the clip gain, and it's like increasing the drive control.

FWIW I wrote a pretty extensive article on ripple editing in Cakewalk. It's a very useful editing technique, for many reasons.

Most of these services accept 24-bit files, which have sufficient resolution that dithering isn't really needed. With FLAC files, the audio will come back the way you sent it. If the streaming service applies data compression, then all bets are off because that process affects the sound anyway. Where dithering remains more relevant is with creating CDs, which are inherently 16-bit. Granted, the CD is on the wane as a format. Still, about 50,000,000 of them were sold in 2019, and they're still the main way to sell music at merch tables. So prepping audio for 16-bit reproduction still matters, and of course, Cakewalk lets you burn CDs

This is a subject that comes up a lot at workshops and seminars. Cakewalk offers five different types of dithering when you export - Rectangular, Triangular, and 3 different Pow-r types. Often, there's confusion about which type to use for different types of material, or whether even to use it at all. So, I investigated dithering pretty deeply, and wrote an article that includes audio examples of a file exported as 16 bit undithered, 24 bit undithered, and with the three Pow-r dithering types, as well as Triangular dithering (which you'll never use after you hear the Pow-r versions). To make the dithering audible, the audio examples are normalized to a level where you can hear the results of dithering very clearly. I hope this clears up some of the mystery around using dithering in Cakewalk!

Can you create a separate track so that the conflicting clips are on separate tracks?

Also, a lot of powered monitors have built-in limiters.

What do you need that RMAA doesn't do?

That's a good tip. I describe something similar in books and seminars, where I recommend people plan out in advance where they want the instruments to sit in the audio image (left/right but also front/back), like the way theatrical actors have "marks" for where they're supposed to stand in relationship to the stage.

I know what glue means, I just think it's kind of a silly word. BTW for "glue" compression, I prefer to use two compressors in series, set to very low compression ratios and with high thresholds. Pages 179-180 in The Huge Book of Cakewalk by BandLab Tips describe how to do this, but if you don't have the book, I did a post in the Presonus blog about how to use compressors in this way with Studio One. The basic settings translate to the Sonitus compressors.

Tim explained it well. Note that there isn't a standard for streaming used across all platforms, but they're "close enough." I still use some degree of dynamics processing for the master to get a certain "sound," but I don't have to concern myself with competing with other songs on a playlist that are much louder.

Good points, Tim. For a long time, although I mixed without anything in the master bus, toward the end I'd always strap on dynamics and squash things to anticipate what would happen when it was mastered. And yes, it can mess with your mix. However, I did find that over time, there was less and less difference in the mix between the unlimited and limited versions, because everything kind of came up by the same amount. Then the LUFS thing hit, and doing too much compression actually made your mixes sound smaller when brought into conformance with LUFS standards. So...always in motion is the future. What worked yesterday might not work today but might work tomorrow...or what worked today may never work again! I will say, though, that music's (seemingly inevitable) march to streaming has thrown a lot of the old workflows out the window.

Using compressors on the master was often used pre-digital to get more level on vinyl...the loudness wars have been happening for a while But Bit's right that these days, it's kind of a given. Personally, I prefer not to mix with a compressor in the master bus, because then you're depending on the compressor to compensate for what may be lacking in the mix. Whenever I've tried "top down" mixing (of which I'm not a fan, either), with the compressor bypassed, the mix doesn't sound as good to my ears. So you might think "well if it doesn't sound as good, then just leave the dynamics enabled." But I've found that if I optimize the mix with zero dynamics processing, then add dynamics processing as the last step when mastering, the final result sounds better than if it had been done "top down" from the beginning. However, I also regard mixing and mastering as separate processes. Once I'm totally happy with the mix, while mastering (which I do several days later so I can hear the mix with fresh ears), I'll always add some dynamics control. My current favorites are the Waves L3 Multiband Stereo limiter, which I've been using forever, and more recently IK Multimedia's Stealth limiter (very transparent, but a major CPU hog). Having about 3-6 dB of gain reduction can make a good mix really come alive, and the multiband dynamics sounds much more natural than single-band dynamics processing. (Note that some people want a compressed sound, which is of course perfectly legit, it's just a personal preference that I want my music to sound like there isn't any dynamics processing, even when there is.) I agree that bus compression on the master can "glue" (whatever that means!) tracks together, but so will adding dynamics as the last step of the process. Bottom line is if a mix needs dynamics processing, then I feel there's a problem with the mix. But if the mix likes dynamics processing, then you can take a good mix to the next level. Finally, if you're giving the mix to a mastering engineer, I recommend not using anything in the master bus. Some "pro" engineers have really raked me over the coals for this, because they say I'm asking the artist not to be true to their vision. My response is I have better toys than they do and so do most mastering engineers. I just finished mastering Martha Davis's latest album and bless her heart, she sent me mixes with no dynamics processing. Because of that. I was able to tame some issues in the mix that would have been impossible to fix had the mix been compressed.

If East West Symphonic Orchestra Play Edition responds to polyphonic aftertouch, you can edit poly aftertouch data in the event editor. It's kind of a PITA, though; a keyboard with polyphonic aftertouch would allow doing it in real time, and then you could just overdub or punch until you got it right. Note that the MIDI 2.0 spec has new types of commands that allow doing basically what MPE does, but with all the data is on a single channel, This makes it much easier to edit in a DAW. It's anyone's guess when this will become commonplace, but I highly doubt it will be this year.

The biggest difference I see (and yes, this is a generalization!) I see is that old skool engineers asked "what if?", while new skool ones ask "how do I?"

The Virtual Input is for loopback (only available with Windows, not the Mac drivers). There's an article that tells all in the PreSonus support section.

Very few programs can serve as either a ReWire host or client, one that comes to mind is Ableton Live.

@Jim - thanks for the mention! @Dave - if questions remain after reading the articles, I'll be monitoring this thread so I can answer...assuming scook doesn't get to it first

First, thanks to the person who started this thread because those are excellent, free instruments. I'd also add the TX16Wx sampler, which is also flexible and free. However, the OP also underscores that there are plenty of free instruments, so Cakewalk doesn't really need to develop more. I think the main point is the suggestion that Cakewalk partner with the companies offering free software to include them in Cakewalk. That's an intriguing idea; Acoustica bundles some effects you can find on the web for free with Mixcraft. I don't know what's involved with creating that relationship with developers, though, and if included, then it would fall on Cakewalk to make sure the plug-ins worked with Cakewalk and didn't cause unforeseen problems. The need to do QC might be a stumbling block to making this happen. I'd REALLY like to see Cakewalk re-introduce Rapture Pro. I assume they would need to charge for it, because of the effort required to fix some of the loose ends. But it was an instrument with features no other instrument has, and can make sounds that are unique. I've tried porting some of my custom Rapture Pro sounds to other instruments, and it's not easy. Rapture Pro also has a ton of content available that's just lying dormant from companies like DSF, and of course, I did several expansion packs. They provide a wide cross-section of sounds for an innovative synth. Rapture Pro's six elements also make it ideally suited to MIDI guitar. Bring back Rapture Pro!

Is there any chance that with a file of that size, you're running out of memory?

There's an article on my craiganderton.org free educational site that explains how I got the M-Audio Fast Track Ultra working with Windows 10 and Cakewalk, hopefully the Ultra is close enough to what you have that the same advice applies.

You might find this article helpful. It's important to adjust the transient markers to fall at just the right place. Chapter 8 in "The Huge Book of Cakewalk by BandLab Tips" (link in sig) covers AudioSnap, along with some specific information about quantizing guitar parts.