Ableton Live to Cakewalk

[no1shero]

Hey guys,

This would be my second topic, but I am curious, have any of you here previously used Ableton Live 8/9/10?

If so, I'm wondering what kind of advice you guys could give me to help improve my workflow in Cakewalk. I just feel like maybe people with previous Ableton experience, and workflow methods created through Ableton, might be able to help explain things a little better to me.

Thanks in advanced for any help!

Edited December 28, 2019 by no1shero
Missed some info

[martsave martin s]

you can open a demo project(on start-screen) there you can experiment the basic options (add fx,solo track,..)

you can also go to preference (hitting p on the keybord)and see what's all settings are there)

just take your time to learn cakewalk..wich is really in fact easy tu use, both basic and advanced...

 

martin

[Craig Anderton]

Cakewalk has the Matrix View, which is very much like Ableton Live's Session View. As an Ableton user, though, I have to say the programs are conceptually rather different. In my opinion (which probably no one else shares, LOL), Cakewalk is a recording studio disguised as software, while Live is a musical instrument disguised as software. 

[no1shero]

On 12/28/2019 at 2:54 AM, martsave martin s said:

you can open a demo project(on start-screen) there you can experiment the basic options (add fx,solo track,..)

you can also go to preference (hitting p on the keybord)and see what's all settings are there)

just take your time to learn cakewalk..wich is really in fact easy tu use, both basic and advanced...

 

martin

This is a good idea, I will give that a try for sure, thanks!

[no1shero]

On 12/28/2019 at 3:07 PM, Craig Anderton said:

Cakewalk has the Matrix View, which is very much like Ableton Live's Session View. As an Ableton user, though, I have to say the programs are conceptually rather different. In my opinion (which probably no one else shares, LOL), Cakewalk is a recording studio disguised as software, while Live is a musical instrument disguised as software. 

I personally started in FL Studio years ago, then once I got into Ableton I was hooked. I’ve tried everything from bitwig, studio one, to logic and probably some others between.

Honestly, I’ll likely end up sticking with Ableton, just because my workflow in Ableton is unmatched by any other DAW so far, but I do want to put as much effort into this one as I can and see what happens.

If I could ever find a nice compromise between some of the features in Ableton & FL Studio, I’d be sold 100%

The price point and the looks of some of their stock plugins is what pushed me to try cakewalk lol.

[rsinger]

I use both. I like looping to develop songs. I often develop ideas in Live 9, then move over to cakewalk to record/mix and master. When Gibson dropped Sonar I tried mixing in Ableton, but it didn't seem up to the task. My opinion.

[Starise]

I am coming at this from the opposite direction and have Ableton 10 as an addition to Cakewalk. I mainly bought Ableton because I understood it to be the best program for live work. It is really good for live DJ work. Mixing with loops. Triggering sections of loops. What I really needed was a way to play backing tracks which can be done in almost any DAW including Cakewalk, so my Ableton has been sitting gathering dust. I have used it with a laptop to play backing tracks and it works well for that.

The main differences are the dual screen approaches that are unique to Ableton.  Yes Cakewalk has the matrix but it doesn't seem to work as well going between screens as Ableton does. Especially if you built a song in the loops view and want to record it as a typical multitrack in tracks view. The main uses I have found are, moving mixes around live at the loops level, changing between verse/choruses on the fly live. Want an extra chorus? No problem. Want to add another sound to an existing chorus during a live gig, no problem....great for modern DJ and dance music. You can get there with Cakewalk but less intuitive to link those cells up with midi triggers. You need some kind of midi control unless you plan to use hot keys. I used a Qneo.

Cakewalk is a great program for those who don't conceptualize everything in a "loop" format, even though Cakewalk plays any loop you can throw at it, Rex, acid...or you can make your own loops. 

They are both  complicated ecosystems to the uninitiated that need full attention. You need to invest time into Cakewalk to learn it same as Ableton. Then you can do pretty much anything you want to do in either one. I didn't find a lot of the functions in Ableton  as intuitive compared to most of the more common DAWs, Ableton is a little quirky  that respect. Once you learn it though it seems easier.

There are people here who have controlled entire shows from a laptop using Cakewalk including the lights. It can be done.

[eduggg]

Hi,

I am interested in using the matrix option in cakewalk but it only lets me use a midi channel, I explain, when I apply a midi note to an audio in a cell with a midi channel and in another commune I apply another audio with another midi channel the program only Accepts an independent midi channel that the midi properties are set to omni mode.

Is there a possibility that matrix accepts several midi channels simultaneously for different audios in different columns?

Thanks for any help.

[Starise]

Right click on a cell. Select midi learn and push the key or button on the midi controller.

[Jon L. Jacobi]

Live is my main DAW. Alas, it's pretty unique in the DAW world so not a whole lot will translate verbatim. Are you looking to perform live? If then, no slam on Cakewalk as at least it can be used where many other DAWs can't, but Ableton is by far your best option. Everything about it is designed with that in mind.