RexRed

I will work on the the drums more, thanks Gary. Their tone is perhaps not deep enough. I will look into some other kits I have, experiment. The rolls sound nice but the tone of the beat seems a bit weak. I used the Black Velvet kit from Addictive Drums.

New song Cakewalk peeps! Best regards! RexRed

Here is a new song Cakewalk peeps! Comments and critiques are welcome Best regards RexRed

I use multiple 4k monitors on my Windows machine and run Cakewalk on a 4k monitor also. I have to display capture rather than window capture in 4k to capture Cakewalk in OBS studio. Please fix this. Or could someone please explain how "window capture" is done in OBS Studio. I have tried fidgeting with Windows 10 program compatibility settings and nothing seems to work. I have to resort to display capture. Unlike game capture type where it captures a window or app and only that. There are resizing issues with Cakewalk. Perhaps I just do not understand it but it should just capture the window when I select the Cakewalk program in the drop down list of active running apps. Cakewalk seems to oddly automatically resize itself when used in 4k so it is readable. This is a good thing. Though, Cakewalk does not seem to pass its actual window size info to OBS Studio. 4k tutorials on YouTube are really the best way to teach Cakewalk. Display capture is a workaround but not a good one.

Turning things on and off would only add another layer of complexity. Like how Cakewalk's default state has track inputs and outputs hidden. Many people have quit trying to use Cakewalk because they cannot figure out how to link their mic or midi controller to a track because it is "hidden". Face it, making music is not easy, Cakewalk makes a very difficult thing easier. Back when I had to use reel to reels, FSK and SMPTE time code, giant mixers and racks and racks of effects with a mass of cords and connectors... now, that was not a cakewalk. Labeling mixer tracks with masking tape... Grandmothers learn to use Adobe Premiere to make slideshows of their grandchildren. Cakewalk is the easiest DAW to use as it is, I suggest not making it any harder by hiding vital functionality. It just looks daunting. Try studying a schematic for a mixer and see if Cakewalk is not easier, no cords or midi/audio cables. VSTs are all built in, all the effects you could ever need on each track. People today have it so easy, and if that is still too hard, well, maybe they need to simply try harder to learn it. Midi synths versus having to actually learn to play many instruments? Again, people have it easy today. YouTube is full of tutorials... Cakewalk needs more function, not less. Many different ways to do the same thing; staff view, piano roll or simply recording on the fly, etc... I personally never use console view.

Thank you Chuck

Thanks Jim for the suggestion about the feedback loop. I posted this in a hurry and forgot about that. Mettelus, It would be nice if mp4 was the karaoke standard but most karaoke DJs are still using .cdg because old karaoke monitors are still often in the loop. Either way Cakewalk should go karaoke. Cakewalk has all of the groundwork laid out to do so. I just bought Karaoke Builder Studio tonight. It is actually quite a sophisticated program and has improved a lot. I am fascinated by it now. It would be a gargantuan task for Cakewalk to add that kind of functionality. Even the old karaoke standard is quite rich but going MP4 would certainly make things easier in certain ways and maybe harder in others. The karaoke programs have a lot of stuff built into them to aid that very process where a program like Premiere and also After Effects you need to use a slew of effects to accomplish the same thing but the possibilities are limitless in the Adobe apps. I am having fun with the Karaoke Builder I just wish Cakewalk could do this... And export in .cdg

It would be really REALLY nice if Cakewalk would not only load karaoke .cdg files but also save and edit in that format. How many of us have songs we have made in Cakewalk that we would love to take a thumb drive to our local karaoke bar with .cdg files and sing our own songs there? Cakewalk could easily be the defacto standard for Karaoke. Some may think it might cheapen the Cakewalk experience but on the other hand it would draw a hoard of users in who would not only create their music in Cakewalk but also export their music from Cakewalk. The current Karaoke builders are so crappy (in my opinion) and a really good one might actually create a "music revolution". What would it take? Overhaul lyric view and create a new karaoke view allow for a few bitmaps to be loaded in with a timeline and video pane and export capabilities? Lyric view sorely needs updating anyway (it is so buggy). Please consider this. Thanks.

Hey David, it sounds like maybe your speakers are not in phase or set in mono. A mono switch could possibly make the music disappear or sound distant. I am playing/mixing this on a set of "Kustom" cabinets, 16" speakers with radial horns close range and it was mixed with Reference 4 turned on. It could be a problem on my end, it will not the first time I have blundered mixes. When I play it the music seems fairly well mixed with the vocals but I did not really test this mix for mono compatibility, like I usually do. I am sure some of the presets I used are out of correlation phase. I may revisit this mix again in the future just to check how my ears hear it after a break from it. Please let me know if anyone else is having a serious separation effect of the music track from the vocal in this song. Thanks for the heads up on the mix David. Best regards Cakewalk peeps! RexRed

Hey Tom, I have uploaded what I consider the finished version of this song. I took your advice and changed the bass. First I changed it to a fretless so it would poke through the music a bit more and the embellishments would be more fluid. I could have even gone further with more new embellishments but I settled for a middle path. Then I also added an electric piano to soften the acoustic piano. I panned the acoustic a bit to the right and the EP a bit to the left. I also played/added an electric guitar solo. I have placed it into a music video for YouTube so the mix now is pretty much set in stone. I debated adding drums and decided against it. I am not sure why because drums might had sounded good in spots but maybe it might have detracted a bit from the intimacy. As for the photo that accompanies my song releases, ReverbNation only allows for a finite number of photo storage and I have reached that quota. I have over 200 songs there so I have given up on the idea of having song art associated with each song release and I have settled for this static photo of me. I may write them an email asking them to increase the photo quota someday when I get around to it. AMiller, thanks for the nice compliment on my song here, always good to have your okay. And whoever bought my song on ReverbNation, thanks for that too. My songs are DRM free on ReverbNation. Best regards! RexRed

I am now sure it is not Cakewalk because it does it in other DAWs and standalones. The mid point on the PB wheel reads wrong 75 instead of 64 while the top and bottom read 0 and 127. Mechanically it is solid I took it apart and looked so I am thinking it is a recent firmware update. I guess a good rule is never update something's firmware if it is working fine. M-Audio says I need to send it to them to get the old firmware back. Really? They couldn't just post how to flash it? Well I have bought another company's product to replace it. Other than this the controller is working fine but the pitch wheel is something I use a lot. 250 bucks down the drain, out the window, arriba derchi, too bad I would buy a PB wheel to replace this one but I think it is a firmware issue. M-audio was no help at all, they were nice on the phone but all solutions led to either a huge expense or a dead end. Instructions on a flash or a download link to older flash would have been the way for them to go. Instead it remains for the most part, unsupported. Brother did this to me once where they flashed my printer so it could not use third party ink. My new controller will show up Friday and this, otherwise perfectly good keyboard, will go on the junk pile.

Is anyone having a problem with Cakewalk pitch wheel controllers? My M-Audio oxygen 49 pitch wheel won't zero properly and I have to manually put a zeroed envelope there just to stabilize the pitch. I am wondering if it is a firmware update I applied to my keyboard controller or if it is a problem with a new Cakewalk update.

Still a work in progress. Tips and suggestions welcome Cakewalk peeps. This was made totally from scratch me playing Freddy Mercury's sampled Grand Rhapsody piano! It still needs more love but I thought i would share what I have so far. Best regards! RexRed

Hey GaryBrun, thank you for the awesome compliment on my voice, it means a lot to me, and a BIG thank you for the tip on the clicks, your ears are extremely perceptive and you were exactly right. The click was because of an overlap of my loops that were not crossing properly. Some fades took them out completely, there were about 5 in the song but the others were masked in louder sections. There are still a few different clicks in the song but that is some weird snare type of instrument used in the loop itself, it is not that bad though. Your tip saved me from uploading this in a YouTube video and having it forever in the song there. I was able to edit the clicks out and slip this into the video's audio track before I published it. You are amazing and I am surely thankful your help! The file link in the header of this thread has been replaced with the new edited version. Best regards Gary! RexRed

New song for you beautiful Cakewalk peeps! 💓😁

The new version is up. I hope you like it peeps. Click the link above to listen to it, I replaced the old version on the same link. Big love and best to you! RexRed

I sincerely thank you Tom and Mark very much for your suggestions on this song. This site has been a gold mine on help with my mixes and I do listen to your suggestions and fix what I can per your advice. This song has some difficult hurdles, I don't mind telling you all that I used a guitar loop that I purchased from audioblocks.com for the main core of this song. I wrote and sang the lyrics/ melody, I chopped up the song loop and copied and pasted it respectively so it would fit my verse and chorus arrangement and I added a bass but that was pretty much it. So the subtle guitar lead is sort of glued into the mix with the guitar rhythm. I don't mind telling you all this because, it is not really my intention to take credit for parts of the song that I did not fully make even though my contract with audioblocks is royalty free. I realized a while ago that even though I can make an okay song from scratch that my approach is hit or miss and sometimes, lackluster. Where, through the offerings created by artists who have dedicated their lives to making loops that I can find some very nice frameworks for songs that in the end have a possibly greater overall appeal. I have made many of my songs totally from scratch but even with them I am still using synths and other instruments created by musicians. Where do you draw the line? I didn't build my acoustic guitar, drum kit and synth from scratch myself either. (hehe) So, I am sort of stuck because audioblocks did not supply me with separate tracks for this loop. I can eq, compress or add some overall reverb effect but that is pretty much it. I am also considering adding some drums that come in once the song picks up and a pad maybe and some other embellishments to give the various verses and choruses a bit of distinction. I am worried I will disrupt the subtle instrumentation of the loop which is transparent and very delicate. My thinking behind adding stuff is that it gives the song a more interesting overall appeal and therefore listeners will find it more palatable and it will become tiresome later rather than sooner. Also it makes the song more mine and not as much precanned. I can always go back to this mix if my additions overwhelm the intimacy of this original interpretation. I will look into trying to tame this loop as best I can and I will post something more when I have it and notify you all of the changes. Thank you for listening and helping me perfect my songs for primetime. Best Regards RR

Love to you all here at Cakewalk By Bandlab!!!

Excellent Wookie!!! Thanks for the listen and nice comment! 😉

WOW! THIS is awesome S.L.I.P! Big big thanks for hunting this list down! A lot of the bugs fixed in other DAWS are also noticeable in Cakewalk. Like the window resizing fix now allows you to scroll and see splayed tracks in Melodyne Studio where before they went out of the window view. I have found that Melodyne tech support is conducive to people submitting bugs. Submit away Cakewalk people! Melodyne is a great tool and worthy of much more refinement and features! Best! RR

Okay, the bass and drums have been turned up quite a bit, I took them out of the side chain so the vocals would not be turning them down. They really should not interfere with the vocal that much. The drums are short jabs and the bass quite low (for the most part). I trust you guys and I like the changes you suggested. Let me know if I went too far even if only in spots I am willing to turn the drums or bass up or down in sections, I have envelopes on the busses and can tweak any section even minutely if needed to make it right. Best to you all and thanks for caring about my mixes!!! 💗

Thank you all for the great comments and tips. Yes, that is me singing FJ Lamela, and I hear what you mean about the bass too, it would warm up the bottom end and balance the song more. Excellent tip! I will post the bass enhanced version and leave a message here soon. AMiller I will bring up the drums more also. Thanks for the the nice compliments awesome Cakewalk peeps! For more of my art please visit http://rexred.com

Here is a more appropriate picture Tom.

Thank for checking RHB

Hey beautiful Cakewalk people! Here is my new song, "Red Mountain Ogre" it is an instrumental and yes, I sing most of the male choir work in this song, it has over 100 tracks, it was quite an undertaking. Enjoy the fantasy march of the ogres to red mountain! (This song was inspired by Edvard Grieg). Best regards peeps! RexRed Most of track instruments in this song are from Dimension Pro. The spoken words are from Kontakt Voices of War Men of the North.