Mark Morgon-Shaw

Thanks Tom Obviously it depends on the type of track but I generally don't use reverb a bunch, and more often than not it's actually delay. I do like the Valhalla reverbs though and I use Echoboy for delay. The main trick with either of those is to use them as an FX send but to EQ the reverb return to keep all the mud and mush out of the mix - so the reverb bus may end up looking something like this. Well spotted , it's not actually a wall in fact. When I took the measurements there was still some bass overhang ( visible with a free program called Room EQ Wizard ) and this was visible on the waterfall plot. I'd been posting my results on a Gearslutz forum for acoustic treatment and someone suggested a " limp mass barrier " . So I looked into them and I just didn't have the budget but I did see mention of a "ghetto " solution of hanging a up a rug. I happened to have a large one as we'd just moved house and it didn't really fit anywhere so it was just lying around so I hung it the suggested distance a couple of feet from the back wall which involved pulling my desk further into the room. I measured it again and there was a noticeable improvement , the guys on Gearslutz all seemed to approve and ten years later it's still there !

Thanks Jeff, it's a big long learning curve for sure. Part of comes from doing it a lot , I can guarantee that if you wrote & mixed 100 tracks in a year, the 100th would be quite a bit better than the 1st. You don't need a big fancy studio to get good results but I honestly think if the room you mix in is not properly measured and acoustically treated you will likely find that once the mixes leave it, they won't translate well. Most of those tracks were made on the setup in the pic although I've since had bigger screens, and larger controller keyboard but you can see some of the acoustic treatment and I also use Sonarworks Reference as well. So it's about as flat as it can be for what is basically a garage studio. I've adopted more a "topdown" mixing approach over the years which means you do most the heavy lifting on the Master Bus or Group Buses and essentially to less on a per track level. A lot of mix issues I hear are down to arrangement - things clashing with each other and fighting for space in the mix. One thing that helped me learn to avoid that was the little mixcube, I spend a lot of the time working in mono which really highlights when parts are in the way of each other as well as being a great tool for balance. I see some gorgeous looking studios on the Cakewalk Facebook Groups that make me drool , but often when I listen to the music folks make in them they don't sound as good as they look. So it's definitely about the guy in the seat as much as the rest of it. f

Hey Cyril - @scook had you right, it is that setting. I use it on a fairly regular basis when I need some strings, they are using one of my tracks on CNBC promo at the moment that I wrote in Cakewalk using The Orchestra. https://www.cnbccouncils.com/ceo-council/ You need to untick it and it should work , but it 's a per project setting so it's a bit of a pain unless you make your own template.

Same here - I think the message only popped up because the program is now called " Cakewalk1.exe" and the existing firewall rules are for "Cakewalk.exe"

Some folks were asking about music for TV, here are some of my tracks and which shows they are in. All made in Cakewalk , I seem to be one of the few in a sea of mostly Logic Pro users but I refuse to use Apple gear on principle ( crazy pricing , non upgradable/repairable etc ) but I can make just as good music as they do in my beloved Cakewalk

Yeah I don't think I could have done it when my kids were younger and hold down a full time job too. Mine are at Uni / College now and I can generally do two tracks per week depending on how busy my day job is, but back in the day it would take me the same amount of time as it takes you now. This is why I often harp on about DAW workflow in some of the threads because when you work to deadlines every minute counts and when you use it pretty much day in day out you get a much better idea of it's strengths and weaknesses. I'm not sure it would be usable in it's current form, one of the unwritten rules is " no foley " ..which means no sound effects that are not musical parts and you have a fair few going. You could always bounce another mix without them. That transition around 36s is a bit clunky so you'd probbaly want to smooth that out and make it more musical. Those tranistions are often used as edit point when cutting to picture so some sort of rise & hit type sound usually works best ( like a reverse cymal swelling in the forward playing cymbal for example . If you send it to a bonefide sync library you'll need to be a member of a PRO ( Ascap / BMI in the US ) as the mebership number goes with the metadata and is how they know who to pay royalties to. There aren't really any that would take a one off track as it's not worth the Admin to onboard a new writer for one track, most want 4 or 5 or some want a full album. There is a lower tier of libraries that don't really deal a whole bunch with broadcast, they are more for content creators to get music from..corporate videos, Youtubers etc. You don't necessarily have to join a PRO to submit music to these places as they aren't really supplying TV shows so there are no royalties, you just get a share of the revenue that someone paid to use your track in their Youtube channel or whatever. If you wanted to try one of those places like Audiosparx, AudioJungle, Pond5 will probably let you sign up and put a single track up. Be warned though that one track is a bit of a needle in a haystack and you need a volume of material in any library before it will likely start getting used.

Ah right - I think I use a combo of LoopCloud and Melodyne for stuff like that, but it's not someting I do a ton. If they built in a decent sample workflow though it would be way better though.

I've used Cakewalk since Windows 95 days and I've never used the Loop Construction section - I think I may have looked at it many many years ago and dsmissed it for my workflow ...what do you mainly use it for ?

If you're interested in writing for Libraries, I suggest following the Sync My Music Youtube channel - there is a free 5 part course about writing for production music libraries there where you can get an overview of what it's all about. I have to warn you though it's pretty competitive and you would need to write at least 50 tracks per year for a couple of years to make any sort of dent in it. Although this is one of the better tracks I've heard on the Cakewalk forum the production bar is somewhat higher for sync so you'd need to hone those mixing and mastering skills some more to reach the standard but it sounds like you have some decent composition ideas that would work for TV. Mostly you have to write to briefs rather than whatever comes into your imagination - " We need X styles of music for upcoming shows " - so you have to be cool with writing what they need , rather than what came into your head that day. If you do get anywhere it can be rewarding to hear your music in TV shows, much better than just sharing stuff with friends online and hoping someone wil listen. It's kinda cool to know literally millions of people have heard your music around the world, even if they don't know it was you. The money can vary hugely, I've had some placements earn literally pennnies whilst the best ones can make 4 figures over time. All I would say to you or anyone else interested is if you do it you go all in. Read the Dan Graham articles in Sound on Sound about library music, and be prepared to do a lot of work for a couple of years with zero money before you start getting any traction. Good Luck ! Edit : Posted a link to some tracks in a thread I just made

Thanks Noel, I just tried the reditributable installer and the only difference it made was Cakewalk now tells me an update is available too

They need a pathway for their Bandlab users to upgrade to , their App apeals to the younger demographic but I suspect when they make the jump some of the users who came through as beatmakers etc will not find the transition as easy as it could be and we could lose them.

Hey Noel - Same issue here , it happened after I installed Wavelab 11 ( 30 day Trial ) and it updated a bunch of redistributables Using the rename workaround for the time being.

Same here

I requested this in 2019 and many others before did so on the old forum

Yep This a common occurence when midi editing, it shouldn't really happen and is a pain I think the point is the PRV shouldn't allow crazy tiny midi notes to be created that then can't be edited properly, I've got in the habit of deleting them and re-drawing when it happens. Got zero to do with playing skills , if you do any extensive amount of midi editing this is a regular occurence.

I don't really have any separate midi tracks as I just use simple instrument tracks

All hail the mightly Console Inspector

I'm not sure what you mean then ? If I hide a Folder in Track Manager the corresponding console strips are hidden as long the option to keep the track / console views in sync is selected ?? I.e. - Only Drums selected in Track Manager Leaves me with only the Drums in the Track View And correspondingly in the Console View So it does respect the folder in both views

I've said it multiple times, but Cakewalk will never regain it's place among the top DAWs until they cater for modern producers with a proper sample workflow.

So basically it's an Inspector for the Console View that would include a Track Manager- Why not make that the request, it might have wider use outside of just the Track Manager. I make 2 tracks every week , week in , week out... 100+ every year and personally I never use the Track Manager but then there are many other things in Cakewalk I never use too that others migh want. As a concept a Console Inpector might have wider implications than your orignial feature request though and may have some merit but I don't think there is much in it from a workflow / speed POV.

It looks exactly the same as the Track Manager but in the Inspector instead of a pop up menu. I mean - what's quicker, pressing H or mousing to the top of the Inspector to choose a tab ? I don't think there is much in it. Personally I think it would use up valauable space on the Inspector tabs at the top, it's already full with ProChannel - Track Properties - Clip Properties - Tempo & Arranger. I wouldn't want it to replace any of them, I don't think I've ever used it anyway even on session swith 100+ tracks. If you want a true solution the request should be about giving the user configurable Inspector tabs so " we " can choose what we use the most..and have a host of options including a track manager for those that want it. Personally I would much rather have an improved Midi inspector with proper humanise features and not rely on CAL. I'm sure everyone has their one set of preffered tools.

Software tends to adopt the old pardigms of recording hardware which is where a lot of the design features for DAWs are drawn from. On recording hardware things that tended to flash were because they were waiting for something to happen, and then went solid once it happened. i.e. on my original black face ADAT the LED above the play button flashes whilst it's reading the time code on the tape and once it knows where it is it goes steady because it's locked on to it. When you Record Arm a track or group of tracks they flash whiilst the machine is wating for you to hit Record and then they go steady. They do this with good reason though, recording to a tape based ADAT although digital is 100% destructive. You better be sure when you hit record because you'll overwrite whatever was previously there and it's never coming back. The flashing light is like a warning ...Are You Sure ?? As we also had to record with real mics and real instruments it was very different from recording into a DAW with virtual instruments. Being able to see which tracks were in record mode from a distance was helpful if whatever you were recording was across the room and using the remote to operate the recorder.

What is the perceived benefit ?

I agree, more options and ways to make curves are needed not only for the tempo track but all automation types

Not for me thanks, I see no benefit.