Remote control Cakewalk from Android app

[Jacob Avlund]

Hello cakewalkers,

I'm somewhat new to DAWs and Cakewalk, but have been reading a bit on it so I'm not totally lost when using the program. There's something I'm unsure about how to do and could use some help.

I have a pretty simple use case: I would like to be able to use an app (preferably free) for my Android phone to remote control Cakewalk while recording vocals. Just basic transport stuff - record, stop, play, rewind. No piano, drums etc., I already have MIDI controllers for that stuff. Preferably over wifi/bluetooth but plugging in a USB cable can work as well.

Having googled the subject a bit, I'm not sure what the "standard" is for doing what I feel should be a somewhat common scenario. I see various solutions like EUCON, Open Sound Control and just sending a regular MIDI signal, but I can't figure out what the most straightforward and common way to do this for CbB is.

If it turns out there's no out of the box solution to this, I'd like to know what protocol should be used for this and maybe I can tinker something together that will work for me and possibly others.

Kind regards,
Jacob

[michheld]

I would refer to this:  "Please ask Dr. Mike" 😉

 

[azslow3]

There is no "standard" way. But there are several.

I think the simplest to try (and completely free) is WebTransport: https://www.azslow.com/index.php/topic,288.0.html
If you ask Cakewalk to rewind on stop, that can be sufficient (in case you have other controllers / happy with mouse and keyboard).

The next level is mentioned TouchDAW or TouchOSC: https://www.azslow.com/index.php/topic,295.0.html

TouchOSC has some advantages and disadvantages. It works "directly" throw OSC, so without  extra loopback daemons, it shows complete track/parameter names (TouchDAW emulate MCU, which has tiny displays) and you can adjust what it does/how it looks yourself (not so easy, but possible). But TouchOSC is a bit less stable and linked preset covers less then MCU (well, as you can notice at the end of the video, Dr. Mike rarely use anything except transport 😉 ).

WiFi requires proper configuration and can influence performance (many WiFi/BT adapters in notebooks trigger huge system latency, you get clicks/pops under low buffer settings then). If you can use wires, use ANY wired MIDI controller. You can configure it to do anything you need and that is not hard (in case wishes are not extraordinary). The cheapest I know is Behringer X-Touch Mini.  Some people prefer tiny "full scale DAW controllers" like Korg nonKONTROL Studio, other "one strip" controllers from Behringer or PreSonus, with idea "one good fader is better then 8 toys". But all that is relatively expensive.

[Jacob Avlund]

Awesome guys, thanks for the ultra fast replies! I'll look into the solutions shown. Maybe a(nother) dedicated MIDI controller is the way forward, the two I have really aren't very suitable for transport queries.

[Jacob Avlund]

On that topic, by the way: I see that Behringer X-Touch Mini and Korg NanoKontrol 2 are similarly priced, any recommendations as to one or the other?

[Jacob Avlund]

@azslow3 I just installed your WebTransport miniserver. While the UI, um, perhaps could use a bit of improvement (it's not super mobile optimized), the functionality really, truly ROCKS! Thanks a lot for that one!

[Glenn Stanton]

i use my wireless keyboard and mouse. video monitor is a 70" TV so it's pretty visible across  the room. the keyboard and mouse can operate up about 30' (transceiver type, not BT).

[msmcleod]

I used to use TouchDAW quite a bit...  and in fact I used the HUI mode on it to develop the HUI beta support in the CbB's Mackie Control control surface DLL.

It's pretty amazing to be honest - full MCU and HUI emulation for £4  and a cheap £40 android tablet.

The only reason I don't use it now as I prefer real tactile faders. But its perfectly useable.