Ruby Gold

1 hour ago, John Vere said:

Watch for sales on Movie Maker formerly called Vegas. I bought it for -$35 few years ago. Not only is it good at movies and everything else it integrates with Sound Forge. You can have a lot of audio tracks too. 

Cool - thanks!

1 hour ago, Glenn Stanton said:

GIMP (free) - a photoshop like app

IrfanView (also free) - primarily a viewer but basic image editing possible

Inkscape (free) - a vector editor but also useful for tracing images...

Thanks! So I take it from these responses that basic image editing in Cakewalk is not possible - you can only import still images/video after it's processed? Is that it?

Hi thanks. Yup - I know that CW is audio editing SW, but I thought that maybe since it allows you to import visual media that you might be able manipulate said media within CW, but... maybe not. 🙂

Video editing software like Premiere or others will let you edit both, but I don't have access to it, hence, my hope that perhaps CW would suffice. Thanks for the input though!

Hi there. I'm still quite a newbie to Cakewalk, but have managed to figure out how to create and do basic manipulations for the audio and instrument of my song. Now, I'd love to import some still images and manipulate their length/duration to go with the beat of the music. I know that importing video is possible, but not sure about still images, and don't know how to manipulate them in the track, once imported. Can anyone point me to a simple but good tutorial or forum discussion link? Thanks much!

Great - thanks you all for the encouragement and links. Will check 'em out.

1 hour ago, mettelus said:

With being new, importing and tempo mapping audio might be more of a challenge. Joe's recommendation of using default instruments would allow you to do much of the work in the MIDI realm. The Studio Instruments that come with CbB cover most of the bases (soft synths), so you can sketch out a lot of material fairly quickly once you get the hang of things. The other advantage to MIDI is you can replace the soft synths the MIDI is driving at will, so sketching with something that doesn't sound "perfect" can be resolved later on (even collaborating with others can be helpful for this, since you may not own a soft synth you would prefer but someone else does).

Working with MIDI, the Piano Roll View (PRV) will become your best friend. Drum beat creation is simpler there, and many of the editing tools allow you to modify your work as notes, rather than as printed audio (which can be trickier, depending). For composition, MIDI tends to be quicker in some respects, then you can flesh out audio tracks as the song structure takes shape. There is no defined method to do things, so play around (and ask around) with things you specifically want to achieve. Many of the folks here have been around for years, and it is incredibly rare to not find someone who can answer a question. Sometimes it is as simple as knowing the term to search for.

Another resource that came to mind that you may find useful is a tutorial set from SONAR X2. It was called SWA Complete SONAR X2 and was made freely viewable on YouTube (9 hours of stuff); and the vast majority of it is applicable. Unfortunately, the chapters have no titles, but ShellstaX (from the old forums) posted them here. The nice thing about those is that they are structured by topic, so they are in more bite-sized chunks.

Awesome Mettelus! Thank you again. What a wonderful community this is.

2 hours ago, JoeGBradford said:

Have you downloaded Studio Drums when you downloaded CbB? There are some patterns in there that may work for you. If you haven't there are also other Studio Instruments to download

Hey Joe - no - I don't think I have - just the drums that come with the CW install - which aren't bad. But for me to build a beat track from scratch might not be the best way to go... Thanks - I'll check out the tutorials you mentioned.

Yes - I think it sounds okay - it's only a single notes melody line plunked out on the Yamaha just to see if I could get this to work before trying to add in chords or figure out how to do a good beat track under it, etc., so not entirely sure the flatness is just visual - I did an audio recording with a mic doing the same single notes melody line on my clarinet and the wave form was very visually dynamic. By comparison, this one is totally flat. So... not sure.

Can't honestly say I fully understand what you just said, above, lol, but I'll keep playing around with this and see how far I can get. Seriously - SO appreciate your time, good energy, non-judgy vibe and absolute helpfulness in your responses here.

Next, I'm going to see if I can find some already put together beats - something simple and dirge-y/ballad-y is what I'm looking for and then I'll have to figure out how to get it into the song (I'm sure there's some import function) and then get the tempo in sync with the rest of the song if I import some ready-made beat.  If you have anything to say about any of that - all suggestions are welcome. Thanks!

21 hours ago, mettelus said:

I just ran through the mechanics, and part of it may be in how you are setting up/recording the instrument track. Try this and see if it works for you...

1. Right click in the left pane of the Track View and select "Insert Instrument..." (this "instrument" is the soft synth I mentioned earlier)
2. In the "Add Track" popup, it defaults to TTS-1 as the Instrument, and Omni as the input. Leave those as is for now, but expand the "Advanced" area at the bottom and choose "Split Instrument Track." What this does is separate the instrument into its MIDI (input) and soft synth (audio output) components. Select "Create" to close that.
3. TTS-1 will open and you will have two tracks, the audio output (icon with MIDI port and keyboard) and below that the MIDI track (icon of only a MIDI port).
4. The Arm (Record) buttons in those tracks are independent, so can record the audio, MIDI, or both. Arm both tracks and play the keyboard to ensure you have sound from the TTS-1.
5. Hit the Record button on the transport (at the top), and record a bit. You should see the upper track recording an audio waveform, and the lower (MIDI) track light up after the first note is played. Stop the transport.
6. That upper track is recorded audio, which I think is what you were seeking?

If that works...

1. You can delete the clips in the tracks of what you just recorded (select the clip contents and use the delete key to delete them).
2. Next select your MIDI track from previously (the one you asked about earlier with no audio), and shift-drag (shift preserves the timing ) that MIDI into the lower instrument track (the MIDI track).
3. Arm the upper TTS-1 (the audio) track only, then hit the record button on the transport (top of window).
4. As it plays the MIDI, the audio waveform will record at the top. Play it through till the end, and stop. That top track is now an audio file.

Hi again Mettelus. I went through  your steps above, and was able to get the 'audio' track along with the midi recorded out of the Yamaha keyboard. THANK YOU!!!!

The "audio" track (with the icon of the MIDI port and the keyboard) doesn't look like a normal waveform though - it's flat compared with other audio waveforms. Can you help me understand why? And... can that flat audio track be mixed, have effects put on it, exported, etc? Or does it need further conversion of some type until it looks like a normal waveform?  Thanks!

1 hour ago, JoeGBradford said:

The soft synth is the instrument you assign the midi notes to - if you have recorded a midi track insert a soft synth in the track below it - go up to the menu along the top of the screen  and click on  insert then  hover over soft synth - that will give you a list of the soft synths you have installed. Click on the one you want. Then click on your midi track  - at the bottom left of the screen you should see a small rectangular box with the letter 'o' in it - this is your midi track's output - click on the dropdown arrow to reveal the instrument you want to output to.

Hope this helps a little!

Thanks Joe - I'll take a look at this. Appreciate the help!

Thanks again Mettelus for the step by step. Look forward to trying it out. Appreciate your help!!

1 hour ago, mettelus said:

Just to make sure (I am not sure how new you are so do not take offense), MIDI data is simply note information (no audio), so to be able to hear it, you will need to output that MIDI track into a "soft synth," which takes in MIDI and outputs audio. That soft synth is an important middle man to the process. When you record MIDI, that is all you will get (MIDI), but you can then bounce that information to another track (with it being played by a soft synth), which will create an audio track of the performance. You can also create an Aux Track listening to the soft synth, which will allow you to record the soft synth output (real-time).

When you record MIDI, you can use that to drive any soft synth (so you can change just the instrument on the synth without affecting performance), so "just recording MIDI" is not a bad thing.

Did you use an "Instrument Track" when you recorded your performance, or were you listening to the keyboard output? Based on what you are doing you may want to research "instrument tracks" to get a better feel for how they work.

Thanks Mettelus. I'm not offended - I'm a rock bottom newbie! I did use Instrument track when I recorded the line I played on the keyboard. Totally get it about the middle-man concept - but how do I output the midi track into the "soft synth" (not sure what that is) and then output the audio  so it can be mixed, heard, etc? Also the point for me of getting the Yamaha keyboard input was to capture better sound/nuance etc than just using a virtual instrument - but is that what a soft synth is? Sorry - I warned you I'm a newbie. 🙂 And - deeply appreciate all the help being offered!

Hi all and thanks so much for the great suggestions. They worked! But it's a bit of a good news/bad news situation. I installed the correct driver as instructed and then was able to select the Yamaha as input on an instrument track and record what I was playing live into a track as midi data! YAY!!!! Thanks so much for all the help to get me that far you guys!  Now - problem is, there is no audio data being recorded. Since I don't have an audio interface, Mike's instructional vid on how to get the audio track from the played keyboard's midi data isn't possible. 

Is it possible without an audio interface to convert the recorded midi data to an audio track so I can hear it through my headphones/speakers and mix it with the other tracks to create my song?  Thanks in advance for your help!

Ruby

Thanks again for all the response  and links. Much appreciated. I will report back if it works! Happy New Year everyone.

Ruby

Thanks all for all this! My keyboard is a Yamaha PSR E403 to answer that question, and my guess is you're right about the USB port on it not being able to transmit midi data.  Like I said, it is an antique, and I bought it for creating little musical snippets for videos I was producing back in the mid-2000s.  I use Windows 10. 

My singing voice is fairly sucky, but I have an okay mike anyway and decent headphones. Looks like I'm going to need to invest in some more stuff to make this song work. I'm not really a songwriter - but this one song just kind of came to me, first as a riff, then a whole melody line and then words - so I feel compelled to build it out into a real song, which is why I downloaded CW and am trying to learn it. Complicated! Especially for someone who's not really a musician nor versed in DAWs.  Thanks for all your suggestions and I'm open to any additional ones that occur to you. 

I'd love to get a keyboard that is as close to a plug and play kind of situation as possible. I'm reasonably tech savvie - but not a sound/music production specialist - so, easier/less is better. Just something to help me get better sounding virtual instruments recorded directly  into  CW that I can than edit in piano roll and mix with other tracks, etc.

PS John didn't scare me away, and I am a her not a him.  😉

Thanks Joe. Unfortunately, when plugged in, my keyboard is not showing up as Mike says it should under the USB to midi inputs in the preferences. Just not there. No input is shown. Perhaps I need some kind of audio interface like he shows in the video, but not sure it's worth making more investments for a keyboard that is so old. If any of you have recommendations for a not too expensive keyboard that would be a plug and play situation into CW - please let me know.  Thanks again.

Okay - so I plugged the Yamaha to the laptop via a USB Type B to USB Type A cable.  I created a new 'instrument' track but am not sure what to select for input - the Yamaha isn't showing up - just OMNI and Midi channels with numbers - so not sure it's recognizing the instrument.  Because I don't know what I'm doing - I tried both input options of "Virtual Controller" and "All Input" and neither worked to record when I played from the plugged in keyboard with the track armed to record.  Also, the only output option was  Microsoft GS Wave Table Synth, and I'm not sure what that is. 

Can someone explain to me what I need to do/set-up in CW for it to recognize what I'm playing on the keyboard and record it to the instrument track I created?

Thanks for your patience and help!

Thanks!

Oh ok - great thanks! Do you happen to know the name of this type of USB cable/port?

 So - this is what the port situation is on the Yamaha. The 'usb' port is so old I don't know that there is a converter to be able to play the Yamaha keyboard directly into Cakewalk. The one you suggested looks like it doesn't have this shape.  Am I wrong?

THANKS everyone who's kindly offered suggestions. MUCH appreciated.

Ruby

Hi there. I'm brand new to DAWs in general and to Cakewalk in particular, but have managed to figure out some of the basics through tutorials, reading, etc. That said, I'm still a babe wandering around a dark forest. I work on a new Dell laptop, but it has a built-in sound card - so nothing special there.

I wrote a song that has a melody line and some chords. When I play the chords with the melody on my ancient (maybe 16 years old - so no modern outputs/inputs) Yamaha keyboard, the chords sound good with the melody, but when I tried to input them note by note with the virtual piano that comes with Cakewalk in piano roll mode, they sound terrible - like a 'plunk' -  not remotely 'real' sounding, nor do they sound like they 'go' with the melody line (that they sound perfectly in synch with when played on said keyboard).

Does anyone have suggestions - written so a newbie can understand them, please - to either make the entered notes/chords from the virtual instrument sound more real, OR what a good, simple new keyboard/converter set-up would be to play actual notes/chords and get them into Cakewalk as they sound when played? I'm not thinking a midi controller, I'm thinking some kind of real keyboard with the ability to get bits of music onto a track in Cakewalk sounding how it sounds when played. And, on the latter, an explanation of equipment needed to make that happen.  If these are ignorant questions - I apologize.  Just trying to figure out how to get this song made so it sounds reasonable. Thanks in advance!

Thanks so much for this reply.   I'm not finding the program intuitive, but it seems so good, that it feels worth the time investment,  however,  I'll have to learn a lot more about these options and how to use them before I can have the facility to use them to the effect I want.

In the CW PRV I just used the native piano sound (which is actually the sound I wanted - not electric piano or other virtual instruments).  Given that, can you tell me where I'd find the key switch and the legato articulation you mentioned?

Hi there. I'm a newbie and am finding Cakewalk both delicious and very daunting to learn. I've written a melody (outside of CW)  and would like to insert the notes into a  project and build it out into a song. Discovered PRV and am slowly but surely getting the notes in. My question: how do you make the notes blend into one another smoothly rather than sounding like very separate notes, plunked one at a time? Thanks!