Two questions about cutting and pasting arrangements.....

[Rok TheKasbah]

*This question pertains only to editing midi arrangements

 

1. How can I simply highlight several measures of my arrangement (all tracks selected), Copy those several measures, then go to the place on the timeline I want to paste them, and paste them keeping the same track orientation I copied? Cakewalk always pastes the measures starting at some random track, which somehow even deletes tracks previous to the point on the timeline I am pasting the new section.

I know that I can do the multiple step process of "paste special", then go in and manually tell Cakewalk to orient the tracks starting at track 1, but is there a way to just have that be the default setting? Is there a way to easily just cut measures, then paste measures without Cakewalk randomly taking my 1st track and starting it down on the seventh track, and taking my 2nd track and pasting down on the 8th track etc?

 

2: How can I select several measures (of all tracks) then delete them and have all subsequent measures shifted accordingly?

The problem I keep encountering is even when I go through the extra steps of selecting the "delete hole" option, Cakewalk only shifts the tracks that had midi information in the area I selected to delete, but the tracks that had no midi information in the area I selected to delete, do not shift accordingly, and stay where they were, and I wind up just having to use the workaround of deleting the measures I dont want, then selecting all of the subsequent measures all the way to the end of the song, then cutting them, then putting the cursor at the beginning of the deleted section, then pasting.

Is there a more direct way to do this? I don;t recall having this problem with earlier versions of Cakewalk so I am hoping there is a setting that solves this.

Thanks for any solutions. : )

Edited January 7, 2023 by Rok TheKasbah

[Byron Dickens]

https://bandlab.github.io/cakewalk/docs/Cakewalk Reference Guide.pdf

[jackson white]

Arranger Track.pdf

[sjoens]

1. The track currently in focus (not selected) will be the 1st track pasted to. It should be the same track copied from to maintain track order. 

2. Turn on Ripple Edit.

Edited January 7, 2023 by sjoens

[Rok TheKasbah]

@sjoens

The ripple edit setting worked for being able to delete the spaces out of my arrangements that I tell cakewalk to delete. Thanks !  : )

Also, through plenty of trial and error, and hair pulling, I did eventually figure out that if I was already selected on track 1, then I copied and pasted sections of the arrangement, then paste later in the timeline, that my track orientation would be kept. But I was hoping there was a setting that addressed this because it is super frustrating and non-intuitive that I have to  tell Cakewalk that when I copy measures of my entire song then paste them later in the timeline that I dont want all the tracks jumbled up.

Basically every time I cut and paste I have to take the extra step of first selecting track 1 to inform cakewalk that I don't want the software change all the track orientations  : (

I cant imagine a style of composing where every time I cut and paste a section of an arrangement I want the software to randomly shift all of the tracks in the song starting at whatever track I happen to have last been focused on. I actually cant imagine any time at all  that I want to shift my bass track midi data to the keyboard track, and shift my keyboard track data to the hi hat track, and shift the kick track data to  data to the synth track, etc.

your info about the ripple edit setting is a lifesaver  : )

 

[Rok TheKasbah]

@Jackson White

I do appreciate your response about the arranger track. I am not ignoring it.

However, I am trying to figure out how to do the cutting and pasting and arranging the way I am accustomed to without using the arranger track. 

Thanks for willingness to help though.  : )

[msmcleod]

@Rok TheKasbah - the Arranger Track was specifically designed to be both as an edit tool as well as a traditional arranger.   

There's no need to create an arrangement to use it - quite often I'll create temporary sections to move or copy things around in a project.  There's things it can do that normal selection/drag can't do, such as work on both your tracks & buses at the same time.
 

[Rok TheKasbah]

@msmcleod

I could see the benefit of having a library of sections that you could easily select from a vertical list on a sidebar, but I feel that adding an arranger track is an extra layer of abstraction between the user and their end goal.

I dont want to make creating and arranging two separate processes. A lot of times I will be shuffling things around experimentally as part of the creative process itself. I feel like the arranger track function is more designed for once you know that you have a final "chorus" or "bridge" etc, then you move those chunks around.

So I just want to be able to cut and paste  things easily right in the main track window itself using the two vectors that were always available, selecting content, and placing it on the timeline.

A DAW is really supposed to already be an "arranger track" just by it's very nature.  If you look at the main window of the original cakewalk, there is just a grid of measures for different tracks placed on a timeline. And you just select the things you want and place them where you want. I.E. an "arranger track"

The issue I am struggling with is that the original efficiency of simply moving things around directly in cakewalk seems to have been hampered, or at least I have not yet figured out how to do it as easily as I was able to previously, not just in Cakewalk, but many other daws I have had experience with in the past. And that the aspect of what has been hampered on recent versions of Cakewalk, I now need to make up for by addressing those particular aspects by using the arranger track. Which essentially makes what used to one process, now in to two separate processes.

Also, because I already have to now create separate midi tracks that are nested underneath a blank instrument track in order to simply mute midi information of different tracks without also muting the track itself, the windows are becoming extremely chaotic. Combine with the way tracks never stay the same size and are always getting really large or small, and are all different sizes, and I am constantly resizing different track heights just to see whether they re muted or not, adding yet another track at the top is adding even more chaos, and what I am trying to do is simplify the chaos so I can put as much focus in to creativity as I can, and not waste creativity on redundant technical complexity.