musikman1

20 hours ago, Michael Fogarty said:

you mentioned in another post the Audiobox. I have had and still have a Presonus interface. On my Studio 192 the pres and converters are very good -close to the big boys. What i did find out from the Asian representative though is that their interfaces are made to go with the software. The latency doesn't work well with other DAW - and I can testify Cakewalk is one of them. Seems it might have been a bit of an oversight, but they were stuck with the results.

Too bad about the Audiobox latency, thanks for mentioning, I wasn't aware. I only used my Audiobox a few times on my laptop and it was just to connect a guitar for practice, latency seemed fine for that, but I never tried putting it to the test on a decent sized project in CW.   I used to use an old Delta 66 by M-Audio, and it worked well for me at the time, but I've found M-Audio stuff to be kinda buggy in general sometimes.  I'm gonna have to make a list of which Audio Interfaces play well with CW, and also list the prices.  What are the Focusrite interfaces like, any good? I just watched another video on bit depth and the speaker mentioned they were decent for a budget interface. 

20 hours ago, Michael Fogarty said:

If you don't need more than two tracks, get a used Babyface.

Not sure what you mean about only needing two tracks.....you mean only two instrument inputs/outputs?  I use a mixer because if I want to have all my stuff connected and ready at any time, I need a minimum of 4 inputs for my stereo keyboards, 1 for my electric guitar, 1-2 for mics. That said however, I do usually only record one thing at a time since I do it all myself most times, so having something like an Audiobox would mean connecting whatever instrument I'm using to record and then disconnecting that to connect the next one.  I kinda like having it all available at once in case I want to audition other parts. 

12 hours ago, Will_Kaydo said:

Navigations were easy on their website for me. All you need to do is type in what you want. 

Ok, I just tried again and for some reason last time I selected 1202fx instead of 1204fx, my bad. I'm not sure if this is the one I need, or if I even need it, I'll have to check my driver version first.  Driver update can be a pain for me, can't seem to ever just be a simple process. The Behringer downloads page re-routes me to this page....  https://www.asio4all.org/

16 hours ago, John Vere said:

you are better off with a proper  interface. Mixer interfaces seem iffy  

It’s a good mixer. The compressor sucked  but it was best bang for the buck for channel count ant aux sends. All made in China even though it has British flag on it. 

Thanks for the heads up John. I'll take that suggestion about an interface. I have a basic 2 channel Audiobox that I sometimes use with my laptop, but I'll look into a better one going forward. I use a mixer cuz I'm usually running two keyboards, each in stereo, a couple guitars and a mic, so I like the mixer and having all of it connected all the time, even if I'm not trying to get a signal to my DAW.  Also, the MTK 12 can send multiple USB channels to multiple tracks in CW, so if I want to record an acoustic guitar track I can have three separate tracks recording simultaneously, one with a mic, one direct, and one room mic.  I can't do that with the Behringer, it's only a two way street, one in and one out.  

16 hours ago, Michael Fogarty said:

if your main setback is latency, I would suggest upgrading you digital interface.  If you want to keep the budget low, then research the newer (last few years) MOTU units. They have really improved the latency compared to the older. I still get better latency with RME, but they are pricey -or buy used like me. I am still using an i5 but usually can work with two instances of Omnisphere loaded, various other plugs at 2.9ms. When I start adding Izotope mastering plugs, etc for mixing, I boost if up to 5.8 or even 11.6, but I am finished tracking by that time. And yes, SSD will make a huge difference.

I love Omnishpere! I used to have Atmosphere years ago, but it's gone now and I can't find my registration info, and to upgrade to Omnisphere without it is really pricey.  I called them and they had no record of my registration, too many years have passed, so I'd have to purchase as a first time user, can't afford that right now. It's a great plugin, so is Bass Trilogy, but way overpriced imho.  Yeah I think I will eventually have to go with an interface that will give me super low latency compared to using my USB mixer.  The mixer will have to do until such time as I can afford another interface, but it's looking more like one of the best ways to beat it.  I'm using 80-90% of my 8GB of RAM all the time, according to the performance meter in CW, and my HDD is over 65% full and the HD meter in CW is always lit up red even in very small projects while the audio engine is running.  So there are definitely a few things that need addressing as far as upgrading.  SSD and RAM for sure, no question.

On 2/18/2021 at 1:10 AM, Hatstand said:

 As far as improving latency when tracking/recording, the only thing I would suggest is track first then add effects plugins after finishing tracking. You can then work with a lower buffer rate then increase it once you have finished recording, to cope with the extra load once you have started adding fx. Freeze or archive tracks whenever possible to lighten the load

I hear that, and for awhile now as my plugin library has grown, I have been learning that even if I want to have all my plugins running for editing and stuff, sometimes I just have to work my project in pieces, as you have suggested. It kinda sucks sometimes, but I've found it doesn't hurt me to find ways to work more efficiently, given whatever PC limitations arise.

On 2/18/2021 at 5:35 AM, Will_Kaydo said:

My knowledge with Behringer was somewhat sweetly! It brings a unique sound to recordings that I'd like. Unfortunately most Behringer mixers work best with "ASIO4ALL" (not the best converters) Plus, this drivers does not run smoothly with CbB. It forced me to sell my USB 1202fx and grabbed a new cheap Audio Interface with a dedicated Asio Drivers. I was bummed over this, cause I could have just connected an Interface to it, for better latency performance. 

To update your Usb Drivers and Audio Drivers Click here  

Regarding your system specs: You have nothing to worry here - maybe just up your rams to 16 for now / and / bump up your cores to 8, 12, or 16 when the need for it is required. 

Hope this help you in any way.

I have already purchased a replacement for my Behringer. For now I got a deal on a Soundcraft Sig MTK 12. I don't know about their drivers, but they have to be a notch better than the Behringer, maybe a few notches from what I'm told.  Funny you mention that too, cuz I was thinking of trying to just hook up my Audiobox interface just to see if the problems still continue, will have to try that.  Thank you for the drivers link too, I was having trouble finding those for some reason. Behringer's website is kinda confusing to me, you?  I am definitely looking in that direction on the upgrade, at least an SSD drive and more RAM, then go from there. The six core seems fine for most CW applications unless I load a project with a lot of CPU heavy plugs, and I pretty much know which ones those are now.  Yes it has helped, and thanks!

On 2/21/2021 at 12:09 PM, Bristol_Jonesey said:

The basic rule is, you only ever dither ONCE and that is when you go from a higher bit rate to a lower one - 24 to 16

Keep everything at your higher rate until the mix is totally finished and then export at 16bit 44.1KHz WITH dither for  CD quality wav files

Thank for clarifying Jonesey, much appreciated! 

The videos above and these articles a friend sent me each helped a lot.  I made quite a few changes to Windows according to the suggestions in those articles and my PC definitely seems to be running more efficiently. I didn't expect to notice it that much, but it was quite a change.  Still need to upgrade some hardware, but in the meantime things have improved, thanks guys, much appreciated.

How to tune a Windows PC for best audio performance...

https://www.audinate.com/learning/faqs/how-can-i-tune-a-windows-pc-for-best-audio-performance

10 Things to disable in Windows....

https://www.cnet.com/how-to/10-things-to-disable-in-windows-10/

On 2/16/2021 at 4:58 PM, Bristol_Jonesey said:

You only need worry about going down to 16 bit for CD on your final, and I mean FINAL export when you use dither to go down to 16bit

Thanks for the info.  Just so I understood what you said correctly,.....you're saying Render at 32 and don't use Dither when I'm exporting my entire mix to a wav file. So you must be assuming that I'll be using another program separate from Cakewalk for the final mix mastering, and that I will then be using that program to Render a final cut for CD at 16 with Dither.  I assume that is what you mean, unless I'm staying within Cakewalk to master the final mix, then I would need to change from 32 to 16 in Cakewalk to output a 16 wav for CD. I am watching the "WTF is Dither" video right now, the fog is starting to clear a little bit..

On 2/16/2021 at 5:58 PM, Bruno de Souza Lino said:

I keep mentioning FabFilter every other post even though I don't have any of their plugins nor they pay me to do so but....These two videos will teach you everyone you need to know about sample rates and dithering:

Thanks Bruno, I appreciate the videos, I'll get to those later tonight.

EDIT: now that I'm watching some of the video, one question popped to mind. What about when I'm recording everything in a project at 24 then I have some drum loops in that project which have been recorded at 16bit? I would guess if rendering at 24 or 32 it won't take away from the quality of the 16 bit drum loop.

On 2/16/2021 at 5:58 PM, Bruno de Souza Lino said:

That you'll have to check on a plugin by plugin basis. I'd say that the worst offenders in terms of the developer not caring about performance are Waves, Kush, Arturia, IK Multimedia, Eventide, iZotope, Zynaptic, NeuralDSP, STL Tones and those are a few I remember off the top of my head.

Well you have a good memory!  I do use some Waves and IK Multimedia Plugs.  The Abby Roads plugs from Waves are nice, but high on CPU.  I also have the IK MM B-3 Organ, and that is definitely high on CPU. Their tech told me because they don't use samples, they use all math with that plug.  I notice I save some CPU when I don't have the B-3 UI open. Once I get my sound I close that. But it is noticeably slowing things down when I have that in one of my projects, it would seem I have enough CPU to handle it, so maybe I need to look at either my RAM being low at 8GM, or my HDD that it could be affecting. This is a good example of what I was saying about these CPU hungry plugs, if I start loading these in, things get a little slow. The other thing I noticed is with some of the heavy plugs is that I need to change the ASIO from Normal to Relaxed to avoid audio dropout. That's ok if I'm just using a plug for playback, but if I'm recording and I set the ASIO to Relaxed, I get more latency and it puts a delay to my notes as I'm playing on my midi controller.

On 2/13/2021 at 7:41 PM, abacab said:

If you are not using all 8GB that you currently have, then adding more RAM will not speed things up. However if you are frequently maxing out the RAM, then adding to it is a no-brainer. Lack of sufficient RAM will force Windows to use the page file on disk when the RAM is full, and that slows down performance.

I'm not sure what function of CW eat up RAM, but I think I'm going to up the RAM to at least 16GB if not more, because I also do a video project once in awhile, so it won't go to waste.

On 2/13/2021 at 7:41 PM, abacab said:

Your current CPU has 6 cores at 3.5GHz, so it's no slacker. And you can always use any new SSD drives in a new computer, so that's not wasted money at least trying out that route.

I was wondering if the SSD drives come with different transfer rates, and I saw an article online that says they do. I'm not sure which to buy, but I would think the fastest one would be the way to go, as long as my motherboard is ok with it, which I have to find out.  This older sample build on Partspicker website seems similar to the build I have now (minus the SSD drive and extra RAM). https://pcpartpicker.com/guide/PB6MnQ/entry-level-amd-gaming-build

I like that the SSDs have come way down in price since the last time I checked. I'll likely go with 2 of them, one for OS and apps, the other for running my CW projects and video projects. Now to decide what size, I see they are mostly 1 or 2 TB, any advantage or disadvantage going with the bigger 2TB?

On 2/14/2021 at 7:12 AM, Bruno de Souza Lino said:

The interesting thing about the AMD FX CPUs is that they aged well, unlike their Intel counterparts. You can still get somewhat of a decent performance with a FX8370 or 8350 with sufficiently fast RAM and a ssd.

I'm glad to hear they age well. Maybe I won't need to change out my motherboard or CPU this time around.  My friend mentioned that 16 core processor not being too expensive, but I think I'd have to change the motherboard along with it, so it could get a little more expensive going that route.  With the VSTs an audio FX plugs getting more and more CPU hungry I'm wondering if it would be wise to upgrade the CPU.

On 2/13/2021 at 7:41 PM, abacab said:

I am running two SSD drives now, one for my [C:] Windows boot and programs drive, and another for my [D:] samples, projects, and other misc. content. The computer boots in 30 seconds, and programs and projects launch in less that that. No lag in the UI, and almost instant responsiveness.

Wow, that sounds great.  Before you upgraded to your SSD drives, were you having any audio breakup/dropout issues because of the HDD?  I know my Behringer mixer's audio drivers are not helping me, so that will be on the way out the door in the near future as well.

Speaking of which, I never got a reply specific to my question about what the most common setting I should use for my Record and Render bit depth settings.  I ask because I'm wondering if the settings I have now are causing problems with audio breakup.  I know I'm off right now because mine are set to 16 Record, and 32 Render, doesn't seem right to me.  My friend told me I should be at least 24 on Record, but base on my system specs, do you think I should I change the Render from 32 to 24 as well?  The thing that is confusing is, for Rendering, if I'm going to go with basic CD quality wav file most of the time, (16bit 44,100).. isn't it necessary to set the Render rate at 16? Appreciate any insight on that.  Thanks much!

15 hours ago, Bruno de Souza Lino said:

If I'm not mistaken Steve from Gamers Nexus, a YouTube channel about enthusiast hardware, still runs a FX 8000 CPU in his personal computer. In his words, it does everything he needs and the types of games he plays run fine in there.

I agree it's likely save me a bit of dough just improving on a few things rather than a full upgrade.  I'm gonna try finding out how much of a difference in performance it would mean going from my FX6300 to the FX8000.  If not much than I'll try the RAM and SSD first. This chip is pretty fast for most applications, it's just that DAWs and plugins and VSTs give it a good run for the money.

3 hours ago, abacab said:

Not if you "clone" your existing OS drive onto the new SSD before swapping it.

For example, Samsung even provides the cloning software to move your system onto one of their SSD drives. I've used it several times. Works great!

That's what I am hoping I can do.  I should be able to at least ghost the image to an external like I usually do now. My friend who works on my PC says it's no problem either. It would save a whole lot of time to not have to reload, re-register, re-activate, etc... not fun, I'd rather be using the time to write and record.

9 hours ago, Bruno de Souza Lino said:

Replace your main OS drive with a SSD first before buying a new PC and see if I you can either add more RAM or upgrade to the FX 8000 models.

I like your suggestion for budget reasons it would save me a bunch of $$.  However, I suppose whether I do a full upgrade or just add the SSD to replace my HDD, I'm going to have not choice but to reload all my software, unless I can manage to make a ghost image of my HDD then have my friend transfer that to the new SSD. But I'm not sure if that transition is possible because they are two different types of drives, so I'll have to ask him if it's possible. I had it done successfully once before from one HDD to another HDD.  As for the chip, I'd have to find out if I could continue using my current motherboard if I upgrade to the 8000. 

5 hours ago, eezye said:

i would either add a second HDD or get an SSD to replace your main drive and use the HDD for backup/other files. sounds like your computer is doing what you need it to do still, so I'd hold off on the upgrade (unless you are bored and just want to, by all means). I'm still running a 1st gen core i7 860, and it does everything i want it to still. granted, im not a super power user, but it handles everything i do in cakewalk with ease (albeit my projects are pretty small, admittedly).

Makes sense. I think my chip would likely handle my projects, especially with the addition of more RAM, I'm barely at the minimum right now at 8 GB. Part of the concern I have is that my projects mainly consist of 90% audio tracks on average, and I do use quite a few audio FX plugs, and the occasional VSTi, but if the project gets kind large I usually freeze those or bounce them and archive the original tracks containing the plugs.  I also do a few video projects from time to time, but mostly audio.

The problem I'm finding with increasing the buffer size is that I immediately get latency, even just going from 256 to 512, and especially latency when using my midi keyboard to trigger VSTi instruments. I had been using a mastering plugin which was a drain, and I set my ASIO from "normal" to "relaxed" and that helped with the dropout I was getting, however, I can't record at that setting so I would switch it to "relaxed" only when mixing, then back again to "normal" for recording.

I've got over half full out of the 1 TB available I have 539 GB Used and 390 GB free. Could that be causing the breakup? I'm asking cuz the little disc icon in the Data Transfer meter in the Perf Module is showing red all the time during playback, and I even tried an empty project and added one audio track at a time, when I got to only 3 audio tracks playing at once, the disc icon turned red. That doesn't seem right to me. I suppose only having 8GB RAM isn't helping. I'm just trying to pinpoint what might be the likely cause.

As for the upgrade, all great advice, I appreciate it.

17 hours ago, John Vere said:

I just keep my working projects and stuff on the second SSD. I archive and back up to the 1TB drive as well as a few externals and the cloud.

John, just so I have this straight....so I assume on your first SSD you have your Windows OS and all your programs/apps, including CW, then you keep all your CW Projects along with their respective audio on the second SSD.  So tell me, which SSD drive is taking the most punishment from continuous playback, for example if you're doing a 4-5 hour mixdown session and constantly playing the tracks over and over? Would it be the SSD with the CW program on it, or the second SSD with all the project and audio? or both?   I assume it would be the second, am I correct?  If that's the case then I'll definitely be looking at getting two SSD drives, unless I have to budget, then I can maybe go with a regular HDD 7200rpm for the OS and Programs, and have only one SSD for projects and audio, if the projects and audio drive is going to be taking the most beating.

14 hours ago, John said:

Basically, the faster the better. I found that core speed is more important than the number of cores. SSD is far better than a mechanical drives. More memory  is better than less.   Most important is a good solid audio interface.  

John, I understand, and the audio interface is where I'm lacking as well in my current setup.  That Behringer mixer is not good as an audio interface. For one, it only is 2-way usb, so I did pick up a Soundcraft board, which gives me much better drivers and multi-track usb, just haven't swapped them out yet, can't wait actually.

Jim, thanks, I'll have to look up the hardware you mentioned, as I'm not familiar with it just by the model numbers. Sounds like it's worth checking into though. I have a friend who is great with building PCs so I'll also run all these options by him at some point.

One last question....as for my Record and Render bit depth settings, ...based on my current setup, what would you recommend I set those at?  Currently I have it set at 16 for Record and 32 for Render, but a friend of mine recommended at least 24 for Recording.  The thing is, for Rendering, if I'm going to go with basic CD quality wav file, isn't it necessary to set the Render at 16?

Ty

MM

Hi my friends,

My current PC setup:  AMD FX-6300 Six-Core Processor, 8 GB RAM, AMD Radeon R9 380 series, WD 1 TB HDD, Windows 10 Pro 64bit

I know this is likely a wide open query, and many of you will have different opinions as to what's best, so I'm just asking in the most general sense for the PC hardware specs for a music studio PC that will handle a lot of audio tracks, and a good amount of plugins, some of which are getting very CPU intensive these days.  I've learned quite a bit of the necessary technical stuff to get me by,  but I'm no computer guru, so I'd appreciate the opinions of those well educated in the technical end of computer recording here for their opinion.  Basically, I don't want to have to upgrade again a year from now cuz I made a wrong choice, if that makes sense.  I apologize if this question should be in a different forum, but I couldn't find one just for computer topics, maybe I missed it.

I've been thinking about investing in an upgrade for my studio PC in the near future.  One thing that got my attention was I've been noticing lately that the Data Transfer activity meter in CW is always in the red in the Performance Module.  I checked my HDD and it is in fact over half full,  (539 GB Used and 390 GB Free)...would deleting some unnecessary data or moving it to an external storage help that situation at all?  Unfortunately this is happening even in projects with just a few audio tracks.  I did delete the files in the Picture Cache, and that helped a little.  My buffers are at 256, but when I try to up them to 512 I get too much latency with most of my VSTi plugs. (My audio interface doesn't help, I'm using a Behringer Xenex 1202FX mixer as my interface, soon to be replaced!) The CPU performance seems ok, usually quite low unless I use a couple of CPU intensive plugins, then it may max out at around 30-40% on average. 

I was wondering what the best setup would be, especially for the Hard drive. I know a SSD will be in order, but I've noticed there has been some controversy as to whether or not to have more than one active HDD.  Further on that, I'm not sure what would be stored on each if I do go with more than one.  From what I have read, it seems typically the Windows OS and all apps/programs go on one, and all CW Projects and data on the other. This scenario can be a little confusing to me, because if this is the case, and if for example I have one regular HDD, and one SSD, wouldn't the drive that is taking the brunt of the data transfer be the one where I store all my CW projects and audio?....., and shouldn't that be designated to the SSD drive and not the regular HDD since the SSD drive accesses data faster?  Or should I maybe need two SSDs?  The confusion comes in as to which drive gets the most wear and tear from constant project playback/mixdown, the one with the Windows OS, or the one storing all the CW projects and audio? I would guess the latter.

As for the rest I would likely be looking at a better CPU, I have a six-core at the moment, which seems to handle projects with a lot of audio pretty well, but a friend said I probably can get a 16 core now for the same price.  Definitely need more RAM, at least 16GB RAM, or maybe even 32GB.  

But again,  generally speaking here I'm just asking what the most important factors are when considering the main essential hardware pieces I'd be upgrading to for a music PC. Thanks, I appreciate the feedback.

MM 

Thanks Larry,  I must have been reading through too fast and missed that, will go back again.  Forgive my ignorance, but not sure what you mean by "OP"..

John I checked the CW help page on this, unfortunately they don't give as much detail as I'd hoped, but the percentages are somewhat basically explained..... here's is what's there...

Length dialog

The Process > Length command, which opens the Length dialog box, can be used to stretch or shrink MIDI and/or audio clips, and/or to move their start times. Process > Length lets you stretch or shrink the selection by a fixed percentage and makes the adjustment by altering the individual events. A value of 200 percent, for example, stretches the selection to twice its original length, while a value of 50 percent shrinks the selection to half its original length.

This command offers the option to stretch audio clips along with the MIDI information. Sometimes you don't want to adjust the speed of your audio. Audio can be stretched or condensed up to a factor of 4 (e.g., it can be shrunk to as little as 25 percent of its original length, or expanded to as much as 400 percent of its original length).

You can also use the Process > Length command to alter only the start times or the durations of notes. For example, changing the durations of notes to 50 percent of their original length can create a staccato effect.

The Length dialog box has the following fields:

Change:  Use the fields in this section to tell Cakewalk what to change, including:

Start Times. Choose this option if you want the start times of the selected events to shift by a percentage of their distance from the beginning of the selection. For example, if a note starts on beat 3 of a selection and you enter a value of 50 percent, Cakewalk shifts the start of the note one beat to the left, or half of 2 beats.

Durations: Choose this option if you want the durations of the selected events to shrink by a percentage.

By “N” Percent : Fill in the percentage number that you want the selected events to change by, which can be positive or negative.

Stretch Audio: Choose this option if you want duration of any selected audio to change.

Type: (disabled unless Stretch Audio is checked)

Choose options based on the source material: single voice or instrument versus a group of instruments (ensemble or polyphonic), and how long you want to wait for processing to finish: better quality can take a long time if you’re processing several tracks.

Ok, a lot of info to process, but this gives me a couple of options, thanks guys for taking the time to assist, much appreciated!

John, I read the webpage that popped up when I opened Process/Length and clicked the help button, the other options in that Length window don't make a lot of sense yet, so for now I just left all the boxes checked, and left "type" as "radius mix".   So for now I just did a quick test with the Process/Length tool, seeing as how I'm extremely busy with RL stuff the next couple days.  I just quickly took a drum loop audio clip in a project where the tempo is 159bpm,  and entered 50% and it seemed to double the tempo, or at least it seemed twice as fast to me and the clip shrunk to roughly half the size. Not sure why, but after using the Process/Length tool set to 50% I opened the Loop Construction view to check the clip's bpm and it was not doubled, it was 164bpm, I kinda expected it to be double, or at least much higher than that.  (these are the things that drive me nuts in CW with audio editing! :). Not that I need to have all the numbers fall perfectly into place, just curious why it didn't double the bpm number in the LC view, or at least be higher than 164.  I guess it must be correct though, maybe I'm not getting the percentage math correct in my head. 

Also, one of my first thoughts was, how will this method affect audio vocal tracks? I'll have to give that a test too with one of my utility projects that I use to experiment with these kinds of issues. That way nothing important is lost or ruined.

Larry, I do have midi tracks mixed in with my audio. Why is Brundlefly saying to "Snap the Now time at 121:01:000."??   I assume he's saying to set the project's play marker to start playing at 121:01:000, but why at that measure number? That thread is helpful, but a little confusing at first, I'll have to study it a little longer to grasp the concept he's suggesting and experiment with it over the next day or so when I have more time.

I'm glad to see this has sparked a few of you to try some things.  John, I personally have tended to stay away from using CW's audio stretch tools, which is why I came here checking if there was a quicker/easier way to achieve this.  I am assuming you are using CW's Audio Snap Palette?... or are you using some other set of tools in CW that I'm not aware of, and if so, where are they located ? The Audio Snap Palette is the only place I know to go to edit  audio, is there another?  Whenever I've tried in the past I've never gotten the results I was aiming for with the Audio Snap Palette. There was always some glitch that I had to figure out why what I tried to do didn't work.  It must be me not grasping the details, because I remember watching a YT video and the guy teaching it made it look easy.  I know CW is designed to give us a good amount of options and tools, but it just never seemed very simple to use, and it should be if the task at hand is simple, like changing the tempo. 

For now I can at least go with mixing down the whole project to a wav, exporting, then using another software to change the tempo.  If there is some light that can be shed on making CW's audio stretch tools/features more easily understood, I'm all ears. 

57Gregy, will using the Process/Length change the pitch of the song, or will the pitch remain intact? I ask just in case I want to use this in other scenarios where I may want to speed up a track, then maybe record another track after the fact.  If it changes the pitch then I won't be able to do that.

Timbo, Wavelab I see is a mastering software, not very expensive either, I'll have to look into that, thanks.  I have something that I sometimes use to slow a song down to shed a part, it used to be called Riffstation. Don't think it's available any longer though.  I'm going to try that, I'm just not sure if it will output an audio file, or if it's strictly just for manipulating audio.  (I didn't know that about Phil Manzanera upping the tempo, thanks for the tidbit!)

Right Colin,  this is the first time I've ever had this happen, it was just a matter of me liking the tempo at first, then just liking it better a bit faster later on. Usually I'm locked in at the start and right through to the end.

Hi,

Best I can describe is I've painted myself into a corner, so to speak.  I have a project/song that is nearly complete, but after listening many times in my mix sessions, I've noticed I don't like that the tempo is just a little too slow for my liking, and it is making the song drag. (kinda like playing a gig with a bad drummer I guess!)   Problem is I've got 25 or so audio tracks of different instruments and vocals, and maybe just 2-3 midi tracks of VST instruments (that I've not yet converted to audio).  I want to speed up the tempo while maintaining the key of the song, but I don't want to have to edit one track at a time with CW's audio tool, I've tried that before and it's just too confusing.  I know if I just try changing the project tempo, I'm going to have a mess on my hands, which will again bring me back to having to use the CW audio tools on each individual track. 

Is there a quick way to do this universally to all the tracks at once, or am I better off just mixing down the project as is to a wav or mp3 file, then finding a different software that will speed it up without compromising the key of the song?  Does such a software exist??  Any help appreciated. Thanks!

MM

Hi Steve, not able to help, just posting because I've noticed a slight drag in temp when I have a full project with a lot of audio tracks and/or plugins. Not sure why, but the tempo seems to drag. I have yet to update to the most recent, so I will try that first.  Like you, the first thing I thought of was maybe I don't have enough PC power or RAM but other than running the minimum required 8GB RAM, my processor is 6 core, so the jury is still out on that for the time being. Not sure if it was a universal bug that got fixed with the latest update, or if it is just an isolated issue still.

If you are just having trouble with loading a pre-recorded audio jam track (wav or mp3) file, and wanting to record a guitar track over it at the tempo of the jam track, you might look for a setting that is called something like "set project tempo to track" or "set project tempo to audio"....someone else here may know where exactly to find it and the proper name. It's likely in the preferences/settings menus somewhere. If I find it I'll re-post it for you.  Also, if you double click on the audio jam track, it should tell you the original tempo of that clip and you can try setting the project tempo to match. HTH

MM

That graphic is very helpful scook, I didn't think the controls would be found there. I was thinking more like a traditional analog synth, so I was primarily looking for them in the LFO/Mod sections only. With DP being vst, I keep forgetting that other controls can be assigned for more than one function, so very helpful to know where they are, at least in that particular patch.

I'll play around with some of those settings and see what I can come up with.  As Kevin mentioned, even if I can't get rid of it altogether, just backing it down enough so that it's not interfering with the Leslie plugin fx would be fine. Thanks for the assist, much appreciated as always.

Hey scook, thanks, I remember using the Event Filter once before to stop the rotary per another discussion we had. I just thought maybe I could go straight to the source of the rotary fx somewhere within DimPro, maybe a modulation or LFO parameter setting I could quickly turn off instead of using the event filter.  I figured being an organ preset there would be something readily available on the dashboard.  I looked and tried changing a couple setting that I thought might be it, but no luck. Thanks bud, appreciate the reply as always. 

Hi,

Does anyone know how to turn off the Rotary speaker FX on the organ presets in Dimension Pro? I'd like to use a 3rd party Rotary Leslie plugin and need to turn off the one programmed into the DimPro preset.  I couldn't seem to find access to that parameter to turn it off.

(I assume all of the DimPro organ presets are programmed the same way for the Rotary FX, so it might not matter which preset.) Thanks

Hi

I'm using CW Vocal Strip FX plug-in on one of my projects. At some point I probably experimented with the settings during playback to see what sounded best, in particular the Feedback setting in the delay section.  After listening a few times, I decided to cut that feedback knob from about 11 o'clock down to about 8 or 9 o'clock and it sounded much better. I saved the project with that knob in the 8 o'clock position, but when I went back in the next time, the feedback knob position was back to 11 o'clock.

I thought maybe during my experimenting with different settings during playback, I may have recorded the automation of that knob. So I tried deleting the plugin altogether from that track, and re-inserted it again new, then with the now time at the beginning of the project, I set it where I wanted it without the playback running. Same thing happened. It's just not staying where I set it, even when I save the project afterwards. So I'm thinking there is some automation I need to delete somewhere, just can't figure out where, if that is in fact the solution. This is strange though, because in the plugin window the record and write automation buttons are both off.    Any help appreciated. Thanks!

MM

Hi

I'm using CW Vocal Strip FX plug-in on one of my projects. At some point I probably experimented with the settings during playback to see what sounded best, in particular the Feedback setting in the delay section.  After listening a few times, I decided to cut that feedback knob from about 11 o'clock down to about 8 or 9 o'clock and it sounded much better. I saved the project with that knob in the 8 o'clock position, but when I went back in the next time, the feedback knob position was back to 11 o'clock.

I thought maybe during my experimenting with different settings during playback, I may have recorded the automation of that knob. So I tried deleting the plugin altogether from that track, and re-inserted it again new, then with the now time at the beginning of the project, I set it where I wanted it without the playback running. Same thing happened. It's just not staying where I set it, even when I save the project afterwards. So I'm thinking there is some automation I need to delete somewhere, just can't figure out where, if that is in fact the solution. This is strange though, because in the plugin window the record and write automation buttons are both off.    Any help appreciated. Thanks!

MM

I'm wondering how taxing it is on the RAM to have these clip gain envelopes spread throughout a project.

I haven't noticed any spikes in CPU meter since adding them. 

I'm guessing probably not much, no way to tell for sure.

Thanks for the help, and for the JPEGs, much appreciated! This is kinda different than the method I used to use, but it gets the job done.

I agree, seems the best way to go is just ignore the other clips that are unaffected, doesn't do any harm to have an envelope waiting there in case it's needed.

Ok, hang on a minute. I must not be doing this right......when I use that method, ALL the clips in that track are given a Gain Envelope. I only want to use it on one clip, how is that done? I can't seem to get it.  I don't mind if it is destructive, I just want to use a gain envelope on only one clip.  Right clicking the clip does me no good, and highlighting just the one clip doesn't do it either, ALL clips still get the gain envelope when I use Clip Automation. There must be a way to isolate the gain envelope to just one clip without affecting the others....

Any help appreciated, thank you!