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Update January 31 2024: Good news for people whom English is not their native language. I figured out how to add sub titles to my tutorials even after they are published. It will take a while to complete them all but this works brilliantly as you can now read a very basic script and follow along in your chosen language. So far I did the 2 last ones I published. https://youtu.be/eQWPVc6azHc and https://youtu.be/AKsvOP87yGw Update note Jan 2024: All the basics for new users should be here including step by step on recording a song. I will be redoing some of my old videos I took down due to errors and reposting those as well. I will also be slowly adding all the Transcripts for the narration on my web site for those who like reading. They can also be used to translate into other languages. https://sites.google.com/view/cactus-studios/cakewalk-tutorials https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL7YqVth30eGsURWrKGeu-fFyg3ETjF-Ox

@Lord Tim 1. I sort of thought so but someone the other day said something about re sizing and that's why I asked. I guess they were refering to the method I often use but I'm sort of lazy and I just tend to shoot a screenshot and I only crop them. I guess it's not hard to re size using the photos editing tools. And the You Tubes I'm aware of the link option and I often use that as well I put my Channel Playlist in my signature but many people use cell phones and signatures don't show. But a thought will be to have little thumbnails on hand I just insert as unlinked pictures. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL7YqVth30eGt7K5L5fUIUF_UjCsdAVCbd 2. The problem with that is I cannot confirm what happens as I already have Cakewalk installed. So I will have to assume it is very obvious to people that they can install the SI suite. But many people are using the Bandlab assistant still because it's an option on the web page. And all the tutorials tell people to use it because they are outdated now. I have totally avoided mentioning anything about how to install Cakewalk in my tutorials because it kept changing and I'm still not dead sure how it works. My only choice would be to totally uninstall it from one of my computers and start over I guess. Thanks as that does clear it up. But I was hoping there was a direct link.

I'm thankful you suggested grabbing the free demo and for showing me a screen shot that it did in fact have a map for the TD-8. I really had to see/hear it for myself. Also, thankful to @JnTuneTechfor making an undeniably true statement that my Roland pads deserve a good VST/ drum engine. Also, I can see you linked your YouTube Cakewalk Tutorial Playlist below. I just subscribed to your channel. I'll definitely be watching considering I'm brand new to Cakewalk, too.

The first videos I published are all about Cakewalk and Audio. Here is my Play list https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL7YqVth30eGt7K5L5fUIUF_UjCsdAVCbd For sure watch this one

Hello. If you want to use Cakewalk for live use on stage, I find the arranger track with its sections to be a very good way to organise a setlist. Each section is one song. You can arrange the order of them (create the setlist) in the arranger below. Now, when you play the sections individually (in the left sidebar, clicking the play triangle left of its name) it plays and stops at the end. To play the next section/song, you have to mouse-click the next play button. This works well, but it's not ideal in a live situation, because you need a person to use a mouse. Now, can this process »play the next section« be somehow implemented in a keyboard shortcut or even better to a midi foot controller? Even better, to have a shortcut for »up« and »down« between sections prior of playing them, so you can select another song quickly without touching the computer. In short: controlling the playlist/arranger with »up« »down« and »play« buttons/MIDI controls.

Even aside from the licensing cost for the encoder (which is baked into the very expensive price of commercial software that supports it so they can absorb that cost), how many studios really have a proper Atmos monitoring environment? Most of us are stereo or 5.1, but it's a substantial outlay to go Atmos. At the moment, outside of Apple hinting they won't add tracks to their curated playlist if they don't have Atmos mixes, there's not a lot of other reasons to pay all of that money for a proper mixing environment and software with an encoder tacked onto the price, honestly. Like I said, I'd be happy to see it included, but I'm not sure we should be holding our breath in the meantime.

I run the latest version on Cakewalk on a W 7 laptop I use for live keyboards as a VST host. It also has no problems at all playing projects. Only if there’s a missing VST as I have not really loaded it up with much other than what I require for live playing and backing tracks. The laptop is 2008 4 gigs of ram. I only turn on the internet to update Cakewalk a few times a year. My plan was to use it with Cakewalks playlist for live performance but I am now using videos for my songs and that rules out Cakewalk.

The 2 plugins I'm interested for some time are Clarity VX and Playlist Rider and both at $29.99 right now. I was waiting for a better price but after all this recent convolution I think I'll not see this happening. Maybe it's time to bring my waves WTB plugins to the top of my shopping list again.

Best you watch my first few tutorials which explain how to navigate and set up Cakewalks Skylight interface so you can understand all the options, of which there are many. It's not that hard once you understand the basics of how the interface is laid out and what you do to change this and keep it that way. Start with Video #2 if you already have Audio and MIdi working properly but they are also important. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL7YqVth30eGsdimFV6w1niyBN07M2uhRj

Hi John, thanks for replying. Yes the reason is we send multiple tracks to a Ui24R and that allows us ( or the sound guy ) to change levels if need be. Also thanks for your advice on Playlist. We use TTS-1 - so that's why it crashes huh! Harley

Odd never crashes for me and I know there’s a lot of others use it. And that said when Cakewalk does crash 99% of the time it’s a plug in. This is why I recommend only using very solid dependable VST instruments. Example most of us are finding the TTS-1 can crash Cakewalk so it only used to open midi files and preview. But I hope you have your answers to the original question now and can get you projects saved in proper folders . But I don’t see why you would need to have any audio in the first place. Freezing instruments is only something you do with supper large projects to save CPU. Read the info on my blog I posted in my last reply for details on this. I haven’t added the info about using the playlist yet. One last question. Is there a reason you need multi track playback. Can you not use just a stereo or split mono playback?

Thanks John. Playlist causes Cakewalk to crash every time unfortunately. Actually, if there was a way the you could clear ( close ) the last track that was just played, that would make Playlist work without crashing. I think it's because it stacks up track after track, that this is what causes it to crash. Harley

As said by @OutrageProductions always use per project folders if there will be any audio in the projects. Never use a global audio folder this seems to always ends up with orphaned tracks.. You can take projects that are using a global audio folder and make them per project folders easily. Open the project and then using “save as” and checking the “ copy audio with project “ box. Save the project in a new location and possibly rename it too. Now the project will be in its own folder and the audio folder will also be inside that folder. But this is not necessary if there is no audio in a project. freezing a midi track only temporary saves the audio. Open the project audio folder. Now freeze the synth. You will see the new audio file created in the audio folder. Now unfreeze the synth and the audio files disappear. Even if you save and close the project that audio file is only there when synth is frozen. I would not freeze the midi any how as CWP projects with no audio are almost bulletproof for me. And they are very small file size. They are similar to a pure midi file but CWP also loads all the other goodies like effects and instruments. I have over 200 backing track CWP files and never had any issues at all for years and years. So I'm not sure why you had issues in the past. My first guess would be there were misbehaving VST instruments used. I was careful about my choice of instruments. I only used ones that seemed CPU friendly and avoid huge samples needing loading. So instead of freezing what might have worked was evaluate why a project caused an issue. If you want samples of my Backing tracks I have shared them freely on my web page https://sites.google.com/view/cactus-studios/cakewalk-backing-tracks Also why are you having to create new versions to create new set lists?? Are you using Cakewalks Playlist? You don't need to have different files to use Playlist. You just choose your files and save each set list you can re order playlists as well and re name. Very quick and easy.

C:\Cakewalk Content\Cakewalk Core\PlayList Files

From the CZ-V user guide ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3.1.1.2. Import Import is the command when you want to add a patch to your CZ library from outside your studio, or from an archive. You can import a single preset, an entire bank of presets, or a playlist. This command will bring up a popup directory window for your computer; simply navigate to a valid file (it MUST be in either the .czvx format, or as a MIDI System Exclusive .syx file) and click Open. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Yes printed books are no longer an item as they would also cost money. Even as an e book. You tubes seem to be what the public wants. There are now hundreds of free tutorials about Cakewalk by Bandlab. That actually makes using You Tubes as difficult as reading a 3,000 page owners manual. The documentation is kept updated and you can easily search topics. I use them a lot for my research to make my tutorials. in researching I also watch tutorials. There’s the professionally made ones produced by Cakewalk and they are still possibly worth watching but they are also very outdated now. But I like the fact that this series is accurate and actually teaches properly. No BS or self promotion. The rest are amateurs creating the content. These will run the scale from boring to entertaining as well as not helpful to very educational. There are many containing errors and wrong information. And lots of outdated stuff. My complaint when searching topics is many video presentations take way to long to show you the answer to your question. They are trying to entertain and not actually teach . I think these are the most popular because people like being entertained. There was a thread a few years ago with the OP complaining about this. They where looking for a Course about Cakewalk. Like going to school. Step by step instructions with out the BS and self promotion. This was the birth of my series. The first 12 videos on the playlist are designed to take you step by step to understand Cakewalk and all the options and features. As a music teacher of 30 years or more as well as having a professional teacher as a daughter who specialized in learning disabilities. I understand that not everyone can learn from a video. Next’s winters project is to take my narrative and with the aid of screen shots put together a text based tutorial to place on my website. Gigs are being booked already so time to get out of the house.

Holy cow your running at like max buffers. Try using 256 ms buffer. And it seems you are using ASIO which is defiantly what you use. That seems a good safe setting for any interface I've ever owned. I still have an old M Audio fast track pro that works just fine on W10. Even though they are more a Mac oriented company they still seem to have solid drivers for windows. I guess you never watched my audio set up video. My playlist is in my signature.

And there’s many more about midi in my series. My playlist is in my signature

@remyhardyIt was a long time ago but my brief use of Midi with DMX was the DMX controller board stored scenes and that was All I did so it was as simple as sending a program change to the controller. Very basic light show. We never did the flashing lights in time thing it wasn't really appropriate for the type of places we played. I think I used Ch 16. I'm sure I could have dimmed the lights too and I do believe that would be using CC events just like music. But I think each light needed it's own midi channel?? Sorry can't remember that was the 80's. My plans were to look for a very basic DMX controller to use with my cheepo LED lights and use Cakewalks Playlist instead of Win Amp. I would still only use mastered wave files in the projects with the say 3 tracks, Bass, Drums, Keyboards. Then 2 midi tracks. One for lights and one for my Lexicon processor. Down the road possibly a guitar pedal board that used midi.

There are some plugins that could be used - SLGain Gain ($2.50) Hornet (Several to choose from), Waves - WLM Plus($29), Playlist rider($77), Vocal Rider($29), WA Production - Outlaw ($39), Nugen MasterCheck($199), LM-Correct($399!), Adobe Audition, Reaper,Audacity. "It should NOT be a big thing to code." To get an audio file to actually sound the same volume is very tricky. Different frequencies are louder at the same RMS and Peak. LUFS is supposed to take in consideration the Fletcher-Munson Curve. I have to use several plugins stacked in comping mode to make the takes close enough to only focus on the tone, pitch and performance. Vocal Rider, Outlaw, MasterCheck and Playlist rider. Waves MV2 is super good too. If you use plugins you would probably bounce the clips which will blend them into a single track. Probably not what you want. Check these Freebies too-> I have not used the Dynamic-Audio-Normalizer of the Volume-Normalizer-Master but, I have used The-Levelator. The-Levelator does not use LUFS but, is does bring low volume audio files to a very good volume level. You could drop your "audio" directory file in this. They will be renamed but, it shouldn't be too hard to copy the new file to your cakewalk project. https://www.videohelp.com/software/The-Levelator https://www.videohelp.com/software/Dynamic-Audio-Normalizer https://www.videohelp.com/software/Volume-Normalizer-Master

Run ASC Pigments V 4.0.3 Improvements: GUI: Performances improvements GUI: Minor UX/UI improvements Bug fixes: Fixed stuck notes when using a sustain pedal in Legato mode Fixed playlist import issue Fixed crash when browsing samples with keyboard arrows

I had an addiction I needed to kick. Posting on this forum. Back in November, to kick the habit, I deleted my Cakewalk Form Bookmark and that was it. No withdrawals or late night trauma. That was easy. I thought my time would be better spent actually using Cakewalk now that I had the beast fully under my control and continuing to produce videos about Cakewalk . Making those tutorials about features I had never bothered to explore before put my learning curve was at 76 degrees. I feel the videos are helping a lot more people that I was reaching here. And it was getting frustrating as the new generation are not as engaged as we old farts were so the forum made me feel like most of my answers were talking to the wind. In doing research for my videos typing in questions would often open this forum and like today I would see I had some PM's and then I also found that @Starship Krupa A member I highly respect, had tagged me in a thread. I didn't want to go off topic in the thread so figured the good ol' coffee house is a nice safe place to hide now. Here is part of his post I wish to respond to. Approaching BandLab for any kind of promo money is a good way to be disappointed. It's just not how they roll. As far as why YouTubers not being around the forum, well, unfortunately, it's apparently not even worth it for them to announce new content here, as so few hits come from this forum (or any, for that matter). That's according to @John Vere of Cactus Studios fame, who remains a stalwart forum participant. @AdK Studios is the only YouTuber who still bothers to announce new videos in the Tutorials section. It's sad. Not even XelOhh posts announcements here any more. This is so true. And say what you will about Facebook < I personally avoid it if I can, it is were all of our potential new form members are hanging out. It's a terrible format which I need not explain but that is where I post my videos when I publish them. I will have over 100 views by the end of the second day. My analytics show that it's about 40% coming from Facebook and 50% from subscribers and then 10% are keyword searches etc. There are 5 Facebook groups I post the videos to and I sneak the odd one onto Mike's page so that #6. I have to check those pages for notifications and sometimes get sucked back into the question and answer vortex. So I'm a forum lurker now and once in a while I'll check my notifications and PM's as well as I might scan through the main forum and Q&A . I see nothing has changed and people are getting top quality help. I got a nice new mike for Christmas a SM 7B and so I'm on a mission to redo 30 songs vocal tracks. I also grabbed the upgraded to Melodyne Editor and looking forward to surgically fixing a few guitar chord boners. If anyone is interested in what I'm up to this is my new playlist I started. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL7YqVth30eGuFWMs-8myWkFMJBrEnPU9b

I use the Media browser to play some mixed instrumental wave/mp3 files, and play/sing through the tracks in Cakewalk - so effectively have a Cakewalk project that is just used for mixing/effects rather than recording. It works as far as it goes, but I'd like more control over the audio file playback - a playback head to seek within the file, no automatic repeating, etc. Is there some capability for this already in Cakewalk, or a VST plugin available that would give me this functionality? I've seen the Cakewalk "Playlist", but that seems geared toward playing project files and not in conjunction with the DAW console/mixer features. I'd be after essentially something with the playback/seek features of the Windows Media player with a file list and the ability to only play one file at a time in a playlist, without auto-advancing to the next song. I would be using this for streaming my piano/vocal sessions on Twitch, where some songs have an accompaniment wave/mp3 file.

Black Sun Ensemble - Lambent Flame https://m.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLtLlUc8WoDhwEhkPnQd86f6cN5QD-xLb3

And for those of us not in pwalpwal's country... Here's a playlist.