John Vere

Yes mine is the 1st gen 6i6. it's prime use is for the "Studio B " laptop I have loaded up to clone what my main DAW has installed. I bought the Motu because I figured the 6i6 was soon to fade away but right after I bought the Motu, Focusrite updated the 6i6 driver again. But It doesn't have loopback and I do prefer not having a software mixer. The Motu has very well thought out monitoring system with the blend and then there's toggles to shut off inputs. But the 6i6 is still a great interface so I'm getting my moneys worth out of it still. ( and my Tascam us1641)

Het Larry, Yes the Mix Control is frustrating to learn but it has a reset toggle if you get into trouble that puts it back to the factory settings. Those factory settings are the input will be monitored in a 50/50 balance with the playback in the Monitors and both headphone channels. This is normal. A lot of interfaces like my Motu have a blend control on the front which when at 12 o'clock are a 50/50 mix. Scarlett just used software instead. This is good and it is bad. Good if you play in a band and need to set up 6 different monitor mixes, bad if you hate overly complicated systems. The knob system is idiot proof. Software mixers require the flight training of a airline pilot. I don't recommend using input echo for tracking vocals or guitars. You will hear the RTL which on my 6i6 and system is I think 16ms at 256 buffer. The very lowest RTL is about 7ms at an unusable buffers which cause drop outs. This is exactly why direct monitoring exists in the first place. Otherwise you will hear a slap back echo in the monitors as you listen to your guitar or vocals. I do believe if you have never changed anything in Mix control then you have been using direct monitoring all along. I do understand mix control but instead I use the method of turning down Cakewalks master bus if I need the guitar louder in the mix if I use the Scarlett. The Motu of course doesn't have the problem as it has the blend control, So does my Tascam and M Audio interfaces.

I don’t understand why you would not use the arranger? That is exactly why they added it a few year ago it allows you to listen to different arrangements of your song. I’m guilty of never even reading the instructions yet but it seems intuitive how it works. And it’s none destructive to the song you can delete the whole thing if you’re finished with experiments. It basically an extra track that can control the timeline of the project. Its brilliant for re arranging backing tracks using a download midi file when you want to make it longer by adding extra parts . I also used it once to place the lyrics in the song . You need the correct zoom level but it works great .

I’ll mention that I would avoid Akai. They don’t have replacement parts. I found out when I developed a dead key on mine . This is something that I’ve fixed in the past on Korg, Roland and Yamaha keyboards. It was only 4 years old and now it’s useless

Yes this is what the arranger does. Create your sections in your case it would be only 3. Now drag the 1st to the arranger at the bottom and then the 3rd. Click the playback and just those 2 parts play You can also export that version

https://youtu.be/Ih_eY-TpcDA

Old Obsolete Interface and a new one that has lots of complaints about the crummy asio driver. You need to spend a tiny bit more cash and your issues will go away. Think Focusrite, Tascam, RME, Motu etc. Behringer makes good stuff once you get away from the bottom end stuff.

To make the above video I did a lot of testing and reading on the topic. There can be either Midi or audio or both involved. It depends. Generally midi latency is not enough to be noticeable but people tend to point a finger at it and wrongly call it Midi latency when it might actually be the audio system that is at fault when it becomes noticeable. 99% of the time it's because we have CPU hog plug ins active. But Midi can have latency too. So without much info from the OP we can only guess. But one thing for sure they defiantly have not set up the audio system correctly at all. Same old same old.

You would need Melodyne Editor to convert any audio that is polyphonic ( chords) to midi. It is $399 USD but goes on sale for less from time to time. You might want to ask the people you bought the file from if it is available in midi format. Audio files are not as useful as far as any keyboard parts go. Hope it didn’t cost you too much if you can’t even use it.

https://www.resplendence.com/latencymon

When I had my shop it was common to get cheap guitars that the bridge has become unglued from the top. This often appears at the back as a fine line. If it is more than that and the top itself is bulging then the best fix is to install a tailpiece. A tailpiece will transfer the tension to the end of the guitar and remove the issue that was creating the bulge which is normally due to pour construction or inside bracing being damaged. Even if you re glue the bridge the top will still be bulging. There is the uncommon case where pour quality glue was used on the bridge and the top is not bulging. But to fix that you need a very deep C clamp. Tailpieces are inexpensive and easy to install. Here one I would use for $14.00 https://www.solomusicgear.com/product/solo-pro-nickel-guitar-tailpiece/ Word of advice. Best to learn guitar using a good quality instrument otherwise you will think you suck when it’s actually the instrument that sucks. Electric guitars tend to be better for starting out. They have narrow necks and low action. And they are quiet.

Hmm I was unaware that they had the code so that is really good news. Sonitus suite seems to have all the important features and in a format anybody can figure out with out a manual. And it is clean. Speaking of manual 2b Played got back to me in 30 minutes to explain they didn’t have a manual because they ( like Melda) built it in. But they had many requests so we’re working on one. Seems like very supportive company, I’m impressed. So now I will make a point of purchasing something from them as a thanks for the freebie. In my search for a delay I turned on my Lexicon mx200 which I keep patched into my mixer. Now that is what I’m looking for! What is it about hardware that make it so easy to get the right sound in a few seconds? To bad the USB connection stopped being supported by W7. Another irreplaceable delay is found in my Yamaha 01v. Tap tempo was used live for each song. We need to remember what it used to cost to have good effects in the studio. Bein spending time playing with the plug in doctor. Still not sure what im looking at. The manual tells you little and the few videos were also not educational. But I think I am seeing what a crappy plug in looks like now. It seems better suited to compressors and eq type effects. Delay is tricky as they instantly toss the display into chaos.

We have to move on with Software of any kind. But thanks a lot for the heads up. the 2B delay is not at all like the Sonitus, it is actually very different but not in a bad way, it's just different like a lot of them are, but it was free, so I jumped though the hoops and it is now being tested. Doesn't seem to have a manual so I sent the developer a question. That's always a bad mark from me, no manual or even a description on the web page of what it does. Especially when the controls are obscure. This one at least has built in pop up descriptions so not an issue. Attention Punters: this actually totally belongs in this thread folks, it looks promising normally $25 CAN but free for a limited time only https://2bplayed.com/product/2b-delayed/

I still am using the Sonitus delay but I am searching for the perfect replacement. Sonitus is DX and unsupported. Very old code. One day you'll try and open a project and it might crash. To me it's like the chance you take with using 32 Bit plug ins. I have removed them all with the exception of 2. I still have Mr Tramp 32bit in a lot of older projects and if I open those I replace with Lounge Lizard by AAS. I have one project that totally depends on Warp Delay and it's still works but I bounced the track just in case. I just installed about 18 new free delay plug ins and now my testing machine has 23 delays including the Sonitus and the few from Cakewalk. First I need to learn how to use the Plug in Doctor,,, that might take a while. Most of these are from Plugin4free. I have a few more to install and will add here later. I haven't been to KVR yet as well as I will go over this thread too. 2Ping -Beatassist,eu These are part of a package APD - Beatassist.eu ATK Universal Variable Delay not expecting much as there other VST's didn't impress. BT OIlcan Blue Tubes ( Sonar freebie) Weird category BT Tempo Blue Tubes ( Sonar freebie) Not sure why I don't use it but I guess I'll soon find out! Chow Matrix Chowdsp This is very very weird and a different approach to interface. CombeeDee Beatassist.eu Deelay Interaudio Sixth Sample Delay M-ST Crashes Cakewalk -VST3 and VST 2 Delay ST Didn't crash Dub Station Audio Damage Flying Delay G Delay GVST.co.uk LaGrange Nag screen Ursa DSP NA Analog Rack Delay Nembrini audio I'm using this already a keeper Pan Delay Em Ry? Replicant Audio Damage ( very weird) Sonitus Delay Cakewalk DX TED-FLT_DLY Another freaky one. Tempo D Cakewalk DX Tempo D Voxingo been using this for long time but is more weird than normal Tungstun - Keeping this just to look at the GUI while watching Carnival Row. Valhalla Supermassive- Lots or fun with this one but falls under the weird category.

Best you watch my first few tutorials which explain how to navigate and set up Cakewalks Skylight interface so you can understand all the options, of which there are many. It's not that hard once you understand the basics of how the interface is laid out and what you do to change this and keep it that way. Start with Video #2 if you already have Audio and MIdi working properly but they are also important. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL7YqVth30eGsdimFV6w1niyBN07M2uhRj

Yes what you missed is the other threads on the topic that started I think in January. It’s because they are not just perfecting the Cakes recipe but they are adding another layer or 2. Possibly some nicer icing too.?

If the plug in uses an installer the common generic system will allow you to uncheck unwanted versions. And you can select the pathway for each type. If not then I would point that out to the developers as who on earth still uses 32 bit anyway? 32 bit plug ins usually get put in the Program 86 folder and I keep that one out of Cakewalks plug in scan. So even if you can control the installer the 32 bit plug ins are easily ignored by the scanner. I only have 2 32 bit VST’s lurking and those I moved the the 64 bit folder.

You might want to post this in the Feedback thread that’s were bugs ? go

Ms

My head is already too full of audio geek trivia so I’m not sure I can squeeze that one in but I have a feeling it will. I think I’ll hire someone to cut my lawn this summer so I’ll have more spare time for this.

Talk about " There's always more than one way to do anything in Cakewalk" Now that's the shortcut I like. and easy to remember D= Duplicate, clever. Interesting it placed the copy after the last note selected but it was a hair early. I tried setting snap to grid to whole note and it was still just a hair early. I opened a new project and tried again and now it was late by a 1/64 note. Tried snap and still the same. Played around and defiantly works but seems out of my control as to what happens. No big deal you can easily drag them to correct place. Thanks for the new idea to play with.

Is that what it looked like when you got it or did you chop it up trying to extract the tempo. If it didn't look like that and you have the original do as Mark said above to try and set the tempo. If that's what it looked like you can fix that by exporting it as tracks. Make your setting like mine in the screenshot and you will get all the tracks as continues stems from start to end. Then do as Mark says to create a tempo map that only drift a little bit. Tempo maps that look like the one you have are wrong and not musical. The tempo should only vary a little and in a smooth way if you tap along carefully. It may take a few tries to create the manual click track but I've done it a few time and it does work. I insert SI drums and use the snare side stick. C#. Once you have a usable tempo map then there are some options to line up each track. I used to chop them up like it looks in your screen shot. I now use Melodyne. You can set it's grid same as the projects and use the time tool to put the blobs where they belong. I do this a lot for 3 part harmonies. Some versions of Melodyne can quantize automatically to the grid. Manually it is time consuming but wow does it sound good when done. Sometimes the lead vocal isn't perfect so I place the Now Time at it's transient start and use that to line up the Harmonies. Cakewalk also has a Vocal sync regional effect but it never worked for me which is most likely pilot error. I have not read the instructions yet as I'm happy enough with my Melodyne workflow. I have the editor open anyhow to fix pitch and amplitude.

Sorry if my comment seemed aimed at you it totally wasn't, I was tossing in one of my famous pep talks. A lot of new users are not even musicians at all and I like to encourage those people to try. The keyboard is the best instrument to learn about music on because it will make perfect sounds the first time you touch it. ( well if you hit only one note) The Saxophone or a violin I don't think anybody ever got a perfect tone out of the first attempt

Exactly. My normal song creating is Guitar and vocals sketch tracks played to a generic drum beat that seems close enough for now. Rarely I might use the metronome if I'm in a hurry to get an idea down. Then real bass converted to midi. Then I build keyboard parts playing my controller to match the feel of the Vocal guitar parts. I might slow the tempo down if I'm struggling. It's pretty easy to slow the tempo down if you know how. Just activate Audio snap for the guitar and vocal tracks, clip follows project. Doesn't matter if they get trashed as they are just rough anyhow. But they actually don't get trashed. I'll tidy up in PVR quantize and fix bloopers but I don't get fancy just yet. Now I'll build a good drum track following the bass etc. Now I'll find the correct tempo and lay down the audio tracks perfectly as possible. Next I get fancy with the midi keyboard parts in PVR adding layers and adding more notes, adjusting timing so it's in perfect sync to the drums, bass and guitar. Add keyboard harmony parts for the vocals. But now this-I like to add Little fills that I can draw easier than play -- and its these little fills and runs I like to add that this copy/paste method will now save me time. This could also be handy for drum Tom fills. So another big thanks to @OutrageProductions My chops have been steadily improving since I was sort of forced to learn keyboard back in 1986 so I could create Midi tracks... So you folks who are just starting out. Even if you've never played keyboard,, it's not that difficult to play one very badly and fix stuff with midi. Over time, like me, there will be less stuff to fix. It's actually very rewarding and I actually played my first gig as an official keyboard player last November. So put that mouse down and order a keyboard controller right now, you'll never regret it. This is my recommendation- https://www.roland.com/au/products/a-49/