Michael Fogarty

what it says in the title. I try to open Cakewalk on the new computer and it says to sign in to my Bandlab account. I am there, I see my profile pic. Even open Cakewalk from the Bandlab app. Opens -get the same prompt. (not activated -please sign in to your Bandlab account to activate Cakewalk.)
It wasn't like this before -meaning setting up the new computer is an ongoing project and up until now when I opened it was fine.

Lost. Is this a new forum and is Sonar $49.99 a month? I just looked it up online. Can you point me to the already-started discussions on this?  I do a lot of pro bono and very low budget productions and  the expense would kill me.
Thanks

thanks. A bit behind here. Is there an update? Is this really the price?

https://legacy.cakewalk.com/Products/SONAR/Buy-Now/SONAR-Platinum

34 minutes ago, John T said:

What specifically do they mean by HD?

That's what they are called. High Definition Masters. It's new to me. I have asked the Mastering Engineer to get back to me.

1 hour ago, Max Arwood said:

Just set up a midi track in cakewalk and set the Korg to that channel. I usually just record the midi. It will contain the midi notes and the cc data. I haven’t don’t it with waterfall, but other B3 Emulations just use the mod wheel for Leslie off and on. 

hi Max. That's not enough, sorry. I don't think you read clearly what the problem is. I need to know specifically what to do. Open a midi track and set the Korg to what channel? Where does the Waterfall go? I need a play-by-play.  I have never done this and can't see it in my minds eye.

The Korg is an analog audio instrument. I am using the midi from my MODX.

trying to figure out how to control the rotary toggle in real-time with a pedal or modulation. Sometimes the simplest things just don't compute in my brain. I want to use my Korg CX3 audio out into a stereo channel, yet be able to use midi implementation on the VST UAD Waterfall. How do you do that? I have my MODX connected via midi to facilitate this but how do you route the mod from that to the UAD Waterfall. Of course, if I use the mouse it works, but that is not an option. I want to be able to do it in real time. My Korg CX3 also has midi but I split the keyboard and don't think I can record channel 1 and 2 at the same time in Cakewalk.

Edit -just received this from the UAD forum.

"because the waterfall has to be loaded as a "midi controlled effect" audio gets into it via the "side chain input" of the plugin. you'll have to check in your daw how you do that. Select your organ audio track as the side chain input and mute the audio track so you don't hear both at the same time."

Any takers?

I Just received HD masters from one of my mastering engineers. It's been a while since I have used him. Is this what people do now? Is there any downside? (meaning, they used to just be masters -now they are HD Masters.
 

UPDATE

from Mastering Engineer:
Hi Michael,

I hope all is well.  We’re glad you liked the mastering.  We sent you HD files because they represent the best quality file you requested.  Most digital distributors take HD files nowadays, and we feel this is the best way to judge the mastering.  

Each project is different, and we use different tools depending on the source materials.  As long as you are happy with the sound.

Upon approval, we will generate the remaining files.  I hope this helps.

thanks, everybody. I am just going with lowering the input gain which was my initial question.  I was looking for confirmation, not direction if that makes sense and I got it. The individual tracks all sound fine, and he wants a really hot mix. I am using a clipper on some tracks. The mixes already sound a thousand times better so I am not going to start from scratch. The client is stoked. I also added keys as a bonus.

Thank you, and thank you again.

On 2/18/2024 at 3:40 AM, bvideo said:

Red-lighting the prochannel EQ is definitely worth avoiding when expecting it to show useful levels.

But just for fun, I overloaded the master bus with an audio track & the master bus input gain. Reduced the master bus master fader until the master bus meter was never red. Then enabled the prochannel eq & set a mild curve. The prochannel overload light was full on.  But I did not hear any artifacts while the audio played. So the red lights didn't seem to correspond with audible artifacts.

Of course some other VST or prochannel effects could react badly when processing "out of range" data, even when processing in floating point, so there might be several reasons for not fixing master bus overload using the master fader.

I don't use prochannel.

On 2/16/2024 at 11:28 PM, Andres Medina said:

Bear in mind that you can quick group tracks and/or buses and lower the volume of all with one stroke.

Depending on your levels, one way to go is Quick Group and lower all the tracks involved.

If the tracks have acceptable levels, then I would do the quick grouping at the bus level.

I do both all the time.

I never touch the Main Output.

yes, never considered the output volume. talking about the input gain.

On 2/17/2024 at 1:58 AM, 57Gregy said:

How did you determine that it's "too hot"? Can you hear distortion?

without a limiter it would be bouncing off the ceiling.

rebuild ten songs and over 500 tracks? I considered this hence the post but is it necessary? It seems you and David Baay disagree with each other. Where is truth? Yes, every instrument has been treated with great care. If it were a sensitive soundscape, smooth jazz or heavily acoustic I wouldn't even be asking this question, but its multiple  tracks of smashing drums and amped guitars so I thought it worth asking. Thanks for chiming in.

Hi. I've inherited a 10 song project with many playing errors which I have fixed,  but my master bus is way too hot. I have everything going through buses -drums, vox, organ, piano, guitars, acoustics, etc. The mix is good now, but when I summed everything it's just too hot. Is the best remedy sonically to lower all the buses by the same amount -lets say .3db, or is it ok to just lower the input of the master bus (it would have to be -.6 to not clip. )What effect does that have? Am I hurting something by doing that? Feels weird to have everything going in their hot and just lower it. Or am I making too big a deal out of it? Should I put a clipper at the top of the master bus? (the genre is alternative and the client wants it to sound a bit tough/dirty so I'm not worried about that 
 

PS I know about rolling off the lows of different instruments, etc, but simply across the board on all the songs the master is too hot. Most have over 50 tracks and do restart the whole mix again would be way too tough. It's my fault this happened. I got everything sounding great, but it's just too hot.

I have a client who can't open my exported Cakewalk midi file. Does anyone have any experience? Seems the problem is an Ableton one. Do I have to  export the tracks one track at a time?

I am exporting one at a time. This works.

hi Charles. Probably at some point you had, or copied something further down the timeline. I have tried Control X, delete but have yet to find a solution other than setting a from, thru point.

I would think it is your usb connection going to sleep. Have you done suggested tweaks for using a DAW in windows? That being said, I prefer using a real midi connection to USB. It can be a pain at times.

1 hour ago, David Baay said:

When the Smart tool is used in the top half of a clip, it should automatically operate as the Move tool and display the relevant cursor.

will try this asap -I wondered why is was called a smart tool.

2 minutes ago, John Vere said:

I use T which opens the tool menu right where the mouse pointer is. This is pretty fast if you are good at both mouse and shortcuts 

that's nice -it doesn't toggle between the two but at least it puts it closer to reach -thank you John. Using it now.

How do I make a shortcut so I can toggle back and forth between the smart tool and the move tool? Working on a client with phrasing issues, and skipping beats and I by mouse have to go back and forth between them repeatedly. Would be nice to be able to touch a key instead. It says that the smart tool is F5 (though when I push F5 it goes to Now because I bound it top that years back ) and the Move tool is F7 (doesn't do anything.)

Bandlab or Cakewalk?

I think saving as .wav is the way to go. That way if you have to make post edits your loss of quality will be way less, or if you send to talent to collaborate, mix, or master. I have been using this for years and I mean years. Assuming it is still free.

https://winlame.sourceforge.io/index.html

this is hell. Did you try rolling back? I am 1.4.11. Can you get it? Do you have it?

does this really work in Reaper? Do they have a way to slow down audio? Skeptical.
From what I can see, but I am often wrong, you want to make some tempo changes. Do you mean to ritard in places? Or am I wrong? The audio itself won't slow down, it will be slower getting to it. If you recorded the audio at 90, and want it to be 85 in a certain section, outside of re-recording it, I send it to a utility like SoundForge and time stretch it. Are there a lot of tracks?

On 10/22/2023 at 8:42 AM, msmcleod said:

Saving the project as a Standard MIDI File will export the tempo map inside it.

This is the standard way of transferring tempo maps between DAW's.

Just for clarification, within CbB:

• File -> Save As .mid will include the tempo map,  File -> Export MIDI will not.
• File -> Open a .mid as a project will import the tempo map,  File -> Import MIDI will not.

I saw the video - great stuff. Is that you? 

I understand how to save Cakewalk project files as SMF. I send these to all the talent I work with. In Logic I tried to find a link for my client to “save as” so that I can use his midi file but I can’t find anything online., only select regions and export.

6 hours ago, David Baay said:

Hi Michael, I would be happy to take a look at one of these for you. It may not be so much work that it requires payment. I've been recording without a click for years and using Set Measure/Beat At Now to align the timeline to the music when needed. I'm a MIDI guy, but the process is essentially the same for audio; it just takes a little longer to make sure you're setting the timeline too transients accurately. If the click from Logic is truly well synced to the performance, it will be easier. But if that's the case, you might also look into having the client export/save the tempo map as a .MID file that you can open in CbB to bring in the map.

P.M. me a link to a download (a zipped CbB project folder or OMF file). Should be able to get to it tonight if not sooner.

P.S. Had a listen to the MP3s and snapped the first 8-10 bars of the raw one. Client definitely has a unique sense of how long a phrase should be and where chord changes should happen in addition to the drifting timing. I don't envy you, but the basic chore of finding the beats and setting the tempo is not too difficult. Would be easier with a guitar track alone.

thank you David. Lot to think about here. At this point song 2 isn’t done yet, so nothing to send. I am more worried about the “how long a phrase should be part”. You put that into words well. I used to do this same work on 8 track TEAC recorders, splicing and moving so cutting and dragging on computer is much easier, but would be much more accurate if I could cut at and paste to a measure.

  So, is it better that he sets his logic to not follow him, or leave it as is, and send me a midi file? I read online a day or so ago that the tempo map won’t translate to another DAW.

edit: probably a dumb question, but is what you will be make it accurate enough to soft quantize parts of a midi take on a VST? - or just helps it to line up. I assume since he is drifting it wouldn’t work.