Export midi from Cakewalk to Notation Composer for lyric editing or adding instruments, when reopening in Cakewalk I cannot hear the drum tracks. Why? Anyone used these two programs and have seen the problem?

[Jack Ballard]

 

This midi had drums that I could hear when originally played in Cakewalk. I put it into Notation Composer to add melody and lyrics. When I imported the resulting midi back to Cakewalk the drums can't be heard. I see them on playing on the VU meter but I cannot make them audible again. This is just a channel 10 problem. This happens every time I use this back and forth shuffling of midi files between these two programs. I have used Cakewalk for playing live performance midi backing tracks for over 40 years. I use Notation Composer to notate/create multi-track music that is much more complicated than the example below AND to publish sheet music of the resulting musical compositions. I REALLY need help making the drums audible again my live-performance midi tracks. HELP.....ANYONE?

Born In Chicago(AddMelodyLyricsChords)FromNotationComposerNoDrums1.cwt

[Promidi]

What were you using for the drums in the original Cakewalk project before you did the export to the MIDI file? 

If you used a drum VSTi, then that is the issue.  MIDI files can not have the VSTi configuration in then - these files simply contain MIDI data..

If you don't have an external sound module (like a Roland Canvas for example) that has drums, after you load the MIDI files into Cakewalk, you will have to reload the drum VSTi and then route your MIDI track to that VSTi.

You will need to keep the Cakewalk project file as CWP files to keep that routing intact.

[User 905133]

Just to confirm what Promidi said.  I downloaded your file, inserted TTS-1, and all tracks played.

[Jack Ballard]

Thanks Promidi and User 905133. Unfortunately Notation Composer cannot import a CWP,  so I have to save it as .mid and import it into Notation Composer. Then I save it as a .mid and reimport into Cakewalk and then save it as CWP again. I see how not keeping the file as CWP is my problem. I still could use your help. I have used Cakewalk for 40 years, like I said before, but I am not very knowledgeable about it. How do I insert TTS-1?

[David Baay]

Drag the MIDI file into the original project to bring the tracks in. Then either drag the MIDI clips to the appropriate track (holding Shift to preserve the start timing) or change the output assignments of the new tracks to the appropriate synth.

[Jack Ballard]

So if I hear you right, I drag the mid that I created in Notation Composer back into the original project (in its CWP version). I do this by opening the CWP version, then the new mid from Notation Composer and I copy the new mid and then go to the original version and paste the new files into the old project. Will that restore the proper assignments/TTS-1 instruments? Including the new instruments and lyric channels I created in Notation Composer? 

Are you doing each channel one by one or pasting all the files at one time?

[Jack Ballard]

Hey 905133, I just added TTS-1, which I had never done before, and after a little learning curve I was able to bring the drums back to life as well. This is my first time using a forum. My thanks to all who replied to my submission here! I can now repair about 40 midis I use where drums are not currently audible. 

[David Baay]

Any .MID file you drag and drop into an open CbB project (from Windows Explorer or the Media Browser within CbB) will yield a new MIDI track for each track in the file (assuming a Type 1 MIDI file). If you have hardware MIDI ports in the system (including a "GS Wavetable" synth if enabled in Preference > MIDI > Devices), the output of the new tracks will default to the first hardware MIDI OUT. If you have only virtual ports presented by soft synths, the track outputs will default to the first soft synth. Based on everything you've said, it sounds like maybe you were using your soundcard's wavetable synth for output before which should have worked fine.  Really I can't think of anything that would make only the drums go silent. If it were a channel problem you would typically hear the drum MIDI rendered by some other instrument sound.

In any case, it sounds like you are now understanding MIDI  and synth I/O routing and have it working.