Let's hear your personal top 2 workflow/usability tips for Cakewalk

[GreenLight]

It would be great to get a thread rolling with peoples' personal workflow/usability tips for Cakewalk. This could be anything: external controllers you use, special settings or features in Cakewalk that you use in a special way, a favorite pet that somehow enhances your inspiration (ok, maybe not that one.... then we'd all have to get a hamster?) or something else. I'm sure there are a lot of great ideas out there! 😃

My personal two workflow staples are:

1. Custom keyboard binding: ALT + X for "Start/stop audio engine"
   I run CPU heavy projects all the time and I don't want my CPU to max out during all the breaks when the project is not running. I use this constantly.
    
2. Custom keyboard bindings: numbers 1-7 for setting snap grid size to whole note, 1/2, 1/4, 1/8, 1/16, 1/32 and 1/64 note
   Also a complete life saver for all audio and MIDI editing. Also onstantly in use for me.

I could fill a whole topic of my custom keyboard shortcuts... 😂

[Promidi]

Self created CAL script and Studioware panels.....  (because they still work in CbB)

[GreenLight]

7 hours ago, Promidi said:

Self created CAL script and Studioware panels.....  (because they still work in CbB)

What do the CALs do? *curious*

[Promidi]

20 minutes ago, GreenLight said:

What do the CALs do? *curious*

CAL (Cakewalk Application Language) allows one to write code to manipulate existing MIDI data that is in your Cakewalk project.

CAL also allows changing of selection markers and the now cursor.

It is not applicable to audio data.

[GreenLight]

1 hour ago, Promidi said:

CAL (Cakewalk Application Language) allows one to write code to manipulate existing MIDI data that is in your Cakewalk project.

CAL also allows changing of selection markers and the now cursor.

It is not applicable to audio data.

Oh, sorry, I probably worded it weirdly.

I know what CAL is, but I wondered what your CAL scripts do specifically?

[Lord Tim]

For me, aside from keyboard shortcuts for a lot of stuff, there's 2 main things:

Track Templates - who wants to go through the boring grunt work in setting up basic track and bus structures every time? I have ones for quickly demo'ing material, for adding multi-out synth drums, setting up for a live kit, for vocal takes and choirs... you name it. All of my effects and routing get dropped in, in one go. That's not to say that I'll use the same settings on each project, but this is a great starting point that saves me a lot of time later.  I tend to prefer Track Templates over Project Templates just because I might be half way though a quick demo and go "you know, this is coming along great, let's make this into something" and it's a breeze to just import all of my structures and move tracks into them.

FX Chain Presets - these are great. Much like Track Templates, a lot of time they're for saving me time. I'll have a chain of my favourite guitar or vocal processing effects on there, a mastering chain, sometimes some nutty routing using Blue Cat's Patchwork plugin... heaps of uses. And you can assign controls to them as well, so rather than digging through each effect for a parameter, you can just automate the main FX Chain controls instead.

The more things I can do to save me doing boring set up work, the better.

[Lord Tim]

Bonus tips:

Folders and sub-folders - project organisation is the key to getting around a monster project with heaps of tracks and sections. The more I can fold away, the better.

Browser > Notes - I have my main control room monitor where I do most of my work and I mirror a screen out to my live room where I do live instruments and vocal takes. I'll usually have lyrics in the Notes view so I can see the track view as its recording, and still have lyrics up in font of me, rather than needing any other app or reading from a page.

[Promidi]

1 hour ago, GreenLight said:

Oh, sorry, I probably worded it weirdly.

I know what CAL is, but I wondered what your CAL scripts do specifically?

Many things.

For example.

Convert channel aftertouch to poly aftertouch., Add controller ramps (up, down or up then down).  Convert controller linear ramps to curves.  Change a contour of a controller curve

Create a controller linear ramps between first and last selected events. 

Convert a series of notes to a single note and pitch bend (to convert to legato) - this only works with GM/XG modules and TTS-1.

Use a slider to move a split point between notes.

Position the now pointer to the nearest measure, but of offset it by how far the left marker is from its nearest measure. (good for capturing notes that start start slightly before a measure when copying and pasting).

Many of these functions I have made as buttons on Studioware Panels.

There are many more - too many to list.

[JnTuneTech]

My own top tools/techniques in Cakewalk change for almost every project, as it depends on the workflow needed for the particular project. But I guess when starting projects in general, using custom project templates, & stored custom ProChannel presets for fx and instruments would be in my general top 2.

[John Vere]

Cakewalk is weird because they keep old dialogue boxes that are scattered all over the place. Making the tutorials forced me to explore every possible nook and cranny and you'd find things you would otherwise have never known about. Just recently while doing a Control bar tutorial I found that you can change the performance module to show different things.  It's probably been there since X1. 

I think it's pretty normal to learn enough about your software to get things done, but what this process taught me is that software becomes way more easy and quicker to use once you fully understand the features and all of their options. You have to take an occasional break from creating music and start poking around at all those little menus. Or actually pick a random page of the PDF users guide and read what's there. I'll guarantee that if you do this you will learn something new, and it might be something important to your workflow.  

I had been using Sonar and Cakewalk since 2004. I learned a lot just from reading this and the old forum. 3 years ago I think I had about a 30% understanding after all that time. That was plenty for me to make a zillion recordings. Now after going thought the software with a different goal in mind, teaching people how to use it, I'm just might be at over 80% understanding.  It is amazing how that has increased my productivity and how quickly I can finish any projects now. And a  Biggy is not being stumped when something goes wrong. I now know where to look for the solution. 

So that's my workflow tip- Take a little time out to learn about the software. Everything is in that PDF and it's posted right at the top of this page. 

[InstrEd]

17 minutes ago, John Vere said:

So that's my workflow tip- Take a little time out to learn about the software. Everything is in that PDF and it's posted right at the top of this page. 

Nah

John I would just rather watch your videos

[John Vere]

5 hours ago, InstrEd said:

Nah

John I would just rather watch your videos

No ! don’t do that I lie a lot! I tell people to use asio4all 🤡

[InstrEd]

12 hours ago, John Vere said:

No ! don’t do that I lie a lot! I tell people to use asio4all 🤡

How could you do that. That is so from the early 2000's

 

[Jeff Bowman]

Getting an Elgato Streamdeck was one of the biggest upgrades to my workflow.

I'm terrible at remembering keyboard shortcuts. Now I don't have to.

[Byron Dickens]

Project hygiene.

RTFM.

[GreenLight]

3 hours ago, Jeff Bowman said:

Getting an Elgato Streamdeck was one of the biggest upgrades to my workflow.

I'm terrible at remembering keyboard shortcuts. Now I don't have to.

I've been looking at the Streamdeck... looks really nice. What kinda stuff do you do with the shortcuts, transport?

[GreenLight]

On 6/3/2023 at 3:08 PM, Promidi said:

• Convert channel aftertouch to poly aftertouch., Add controller ramps (up, down or up then down).  Convert controller linear ramps to curves.  Change a contour of a controller curve
• Create a controller linear ramps between first and last selected events. 
• Convert a series of notes to a single note and pitch bend (to convert to legato) - this only works with GM/XG modules and TTS-1.
• Use a slider to move a split point between notes.
• Position the now pointer to the nearest measure, but of offset it by how far the left marker is from its nearest measure. (good for capturing notes that start start slightly before a measure when copying and pasting).

Many of these functions I have made as buttons on Studioware Panels.

Really cool! Did you program all those yourself?

A lot of the controller stuff you list that you do with CALs I'd love to have implemented in Cakewalk as "automation style" envelopes but for controllers...

[GreenLight]

On 6/3/2023 at 1:47 PM, Lord Tim said:

For me, aside from keyboard shortcuts for a lot of stuff, there's 2 main things:

Track Templates - who wants to go through the boring grunt work in setting up basic track and bus structures every time?

FX Chain Presets - these are great.

The more things I can do to save me doing boring set up work, the better.

Great input! I use both, but not enough, I think...

I'd like ProTools style import of tracks & buses from other projects... would be useful when you realize "I'd like that sound from that project".

[Lord Tim]

13 minutes ago, GreenLight said:

I'd like ProTools style import of tracks & buses from other projects... would be useful when you realize "I'd like that sound from that project".

Yep, definitely keen for that!

But in the meantime, the  "Use a Track Template to Rebuild The Project" technique works fairly well for now.

[Andres Medina]

4 hours ago, Lord Tim said:

Yep, definitely keen for that!

But in the meantime, the  "Use a Track Template to Rebuild The Project" technique works fairly well for now.

Yes, track templates can be as large as you need, comprising several instruments and corresponding midi data, fx, etc. I use them a lot. I even created a BIG orchestra track template, with all orchestral groups already configured. It's not a project template, but a track template. Easy to add to an existing project in one go.