John Vere

You know what- I did a shoot out trying a bunch of the Brickwall limiters I had on hand and the Loud Max resulted in the closest to keeping it's setting over all of them including the Concrete and the BT limiters. I set them all at -1.0 and then blast them with a project using the You Lean Loudness meter to show results. Some of them gave readings dangeriously close to - .02 but the Loud max was best at only going as low as - .08 with exact same matterial. The Odd thing about my test is that the You Lean Loudness meter revealed this flaw. Cakewalks as well as Span and the M Loudness Meters all still showed only - 1.0 so they fool you into thinking your OK. Apparently the You Lean Loudness meter is considered more acurate then anything else available too. I think it catches readings on a finer scale. An interesting one was the Boost11. An often overlooked limiter. It did better than most others.

If you carefully read what I said you will see that Computer performance is only part of the equation. Most important to this topic is that only certain plug ins use what is called a "Look Ahead" function. A brief stab at explaining. In the analog world, a Brick wall limiter reacts to incoming audio which in simple terms is represented by voltage. It's job is to compress any signals over a certain level = voltage. Electrons are fast and the processor is also fast and so it's almost 100% effective at it's job. But everything digital relies on a much more complicated set of rules. To design a digital ( Plug in) Brick wall limiter it will be hampered by how long it takes to crunch all those millions of numbers. It needs time to think. I'm not clear on how this exactly works but the simple explanation is this adds more latency than what your system had before you turn this plug in on. A designer can give the plug in more time to think and those plug is are usually what we call " Look Ahead" this will be documented by the developer. Most of our plug ins like the ones found in the Pro Channel are very light on processing so generally are OK if left turned on. As you get more familiar with your "tools" you sort this all out. It's not really up to the DAW, it's up to the user to understand your tools and when to use them. If you read the documentation for your plug in, look for the words "light load" or "Low CPU usage". Your request for information is sort of a good idea, but guess what- that could possibly add even more CPU usage to monitor that info. That info could be right inside the Plug ins GUI or sometimes in that little "read me" file that you probably didn't. Also the developers all have web sites with lots of info. Many use lower buffer settings while recording and then shift to a higher buffer for mixing and mastering. They do this so their system is more stable for using heavy duty plug ins that we add during these stages.. Myself I just stay at 256 and never have issues. But then I'm not an advocate of using a ridiculous amount of plug ins. I always wait until I'm finished recording before I even turn on an EQ. I want my songs to sound good with out effects. If it doesn't, then I re record or use a different instrument or amp setting. Then when I do add effects my song goes from good to excellent.

Of course you can most certainly use light weight effects while tracking as long as you are aware of your systems capabilities. When we say to by bypass global effects this is just the ultimate way to take this out of the latency equation. People always miss understand latency and what causes it. Most modern computers are more than capable of good performance but they still need to be optimized. If your computer is busy doing something else you won’t get away with lower buffer settings. Higher buffers equals more RTL. ( Round Trip Latency) The design of Audio interfaces has a lot to do with latency performance. You pay more for top performance because a lot more work went into the design and components. And there’s most certainly a difference between ASIO drivers out there. But even the cheaper interfaces will give you the option of using direct monitoring which takes system performance out of the equation. You monitoring directly from the DAW and your input and ASIO keeps that in perfect sync. So for most users RTL does not matter much. The minute you turn on that input echo on an audio track to monitor, is the minute you will notice your systems latency This is only needed when using Guitar Sims. That’s because this echoes your input through the entire signal path and back out again. You hear the total RTL of your system. The A/D converter has latency, USB has latency, then your computer working with the driver is where the majority of latency happens and this can be optimized. And this is where adding certain plug ins increases latency. Then back out via USB and the interface D/A which adds a little bit more. A midi track with input echo on will be subjected to the output latency only. And adding mastering effects will most certainly increase this.

You sometimes get this if you changed audio interfaces since the project was last saved. Simply re assign the Master to your audio interface and save the project.

From the documentation- Recycle plug-in windows By default, SONAR recycles the currently-open plug-in window when you open a new plug-in UI, and all previously open plug-in windows are closed. This prevents SONAR from being filled with numerous open plug-in windows, and you don’t have to manually close plug-in windows that are no longer needed. If you prefer to always open a separate window for each plug-in, go to Edit > Preferences > File - VST Settings and clear the Recycle Plug-in Windows check box. To toggle the current behavior, hold down the CTRL key when you open a plug-in UI: If Recycle Plug-in Windows is enabled when you hold down the CTRL key to open a plug-in, all other open plug-in widows also become pinned. If Recycle Plug-in Windows is disabled when you hold down the CTRL key to open a plug-in, all other open plug-in widows close, and the new plug-in window is unpinned. To pin a plug-in window so it remains on screen when subsequent plug-ins are opened, click the window’s Pin Plug-in Window button .

That Midi tab is so hidden - this tiny little word almost off the bottom of your screen. I only learned of it's existence a few months ago. But then I'm new to the Simple Instrument track world but I can see a lot of people not knowing it's there. There used to be a few reasons why a lot of us who did come originally from hardware seem to prefer the Midi/Instrument combo but now I can't recall any of those reasons anymore. The big plus to me for using Simple Instruments is that it cuts my track count right in half for midi. I used to hide the Midi tracks to make room, how dumb that seems to me now. I'm still opening old projects that have hidden midi tracks.

Thanks for the explanation of how this ended up like this. I've personally never had issues with any Version of Cakewalk and for the last 18 years always used the Split Midi tracks. I always thought this made it easier to swap out different synths, Of course there's a better way to do this that I guess I had not yet discovered. When I started making Tutorials a few years ago I was forced to at least give Simple Instrument tracks a try. I have changed to those since. As a matter of fact if I open an old project with split tracks I immediately convert it to all Simple instrument tracks. I actually see no reason for the old split tracks to even be an option. I'm sure other DAW's don't have 4 different tracks.

I saw that too and totally agree. Recording is done in steps. Bed Tracks, Overdubs, Editing, Mixing and THEN mastering. Adding Mastering Effects while you are still in the first 2 and even 3rd stages is not recommended. But of course we often have to return to Overdubbing stage to fix stuff or add a better idea as we progress, So therefore the Global Effects By Pass toggle is your best friend. Not only for Midi delay, but keeping Audio tracks in sync. Sometimes your song will actually sound better all of a sudden when you do this. ⁉️

Either Cakewalk or your drum machine needs to be the clock source. Example if you don’t sync them then your drum machine will play at a different tempo than Cakewalk. Even if you set them both to same tempo it can drift. I can sync my Roland 505 by setting it into midi sync mode. I then go into Cakewalk preferences/ Project/Midi/ and set it to transmit Midi start/stop. Every device is different so read your manual. It might use MMC like my Yamaha MD 8 did.

This is the first time I've hear that term used. Interesting. the page you linked I cannot see the pictures, And yes I have Cakewalk.com allowed in both Chrome and Edge on all my computers. This line here is where the confusion lies for me---- Synth tracks are distinguished by the synth icon to the right of the track number. If I could see the picture it would seem it would be the one from my screen shot as Track 1. The one we call a Simple Instrument track? Bottom line is Cakewalk has never really given the 2 types of instrument tracks clear labels. It's frustrating for me making tutorials as I try real hard to use correct terms for features as I talk about them. Usually the Help Module will correctly label features and icons. But below you'll see they actually call the Split Instrument track an Audio track, why is that? an Audio track we would assume is for recording audio, not midi??? Of course it is technically an Audio track but why not label it with a title that clearly defines it's purpose?

It's a terminology issue here. I call Track 1 a Simple instrument track. It will record only midi data in it's lane but it is also the Audio output for the instrument. These seems to be it's official name as far as all documentation goes. I call Track 2 an Instrument track because that is all it is. an instrument Audio output track. It may also be called a Split Instrument Track. It will record audio into it's lane, not midi data. Its a way to record what you are hearing generated by the instrument and played from a keyboard controller, external midi source or midi loopback. But most use it in conjunction with the needed midi track which here is represented by track 3. I guess we can wait another 6 months for a response from the OP ?

No they don't chop beginnings, but Cakewalks export can. I just ran into this yesterday so I had to re export and give it a bit more space, The real start of the song was at 3:00 so I set for 2:04 but I had to use 2:01 or it chopped it off, just like yours did. This is why I always use a Wave editor to top and tail, but I was just posting to Sound Cloud so I could proof my mixes on my phone etc. The Bass ending part you can fix by slip editing the end of the bass track.

Great job, only comment would be the hard panned guitars I would bring them more to the centre. I also am fan of those 60’s organs I use the free Combo Model F and V As I was typing your other songs have also played really good stuff big thumbs up from me

This sounds overall real good to me. Only criticism ,if you don’t mind, is both the beginning and end. The beginning sounds like something got chopped off before the first note. The end the bass is leaking after the last note. And the riff is not interesting enough to have it repeat that many times. Either shorten it or add some ear candy.

You are off to a very good start. Here’s my input for what it’s worth For vocals I always split into short clips and slip edit the silent part out. Then it’s easy to work with these in Melodyne. The bass sounds very muddy. If you haven’t tried it yet , try Ample P bass lite. It sits in a mix with out any processing for me. For other things takes to long to explain in detail but I made a whole series of tutorials that covers all that. They take a song from start to finish in cakewalk that if you’re a newbie it’s was made just for you. It starts with 201 and there are 10 in a row. just pay attention at the end for link to next video. It’s titled original song but it can apply to cover songs as well. Only difference is I usually start cover songs with drums or a midi file if I can find the song https://youtu.be/oOJgZG0UhFM

Great job but ya, even though the hard panning was part of that era it was quickly scraped for good reasons. Something about the bass notes in the intro? Ending cuts off too. But totally enjoyed this as I’m a huge fan of 12 string electric. Was it a Ricky?

Just a hair. I was first listening on my iPhone speakers and that’s where I proof mixes. Even though the phone sounds like crap, You’ll find commercial releases are balanced so if I get my songs balanced on my phone I know I got it right. I most certainly don’t use that for other aspects of a mix, just the balance. On my headphones your song sounds excellent. The vocals sound just fine, but this is the mission for me, my mix needs to work on all systems. I’m remixing all my old stuff right now and as always learning new things. Im watching videos by this guy and learning a lot, he uses FL Studio but most of the tips apply to any DAW. Look for the ones on Mixing, Mastering and calibrating your speakers

There’s lots of reasons to export tracks. Im doing a lot of this these day to convert from 44.1 to 48. The other use I have for this is to use Audio snap you need fresh tracks that are continuous from start to end. This video shows how I use the export dialogue to convert tracks.

This video covers this topic see if it helps

When I use it I simply extract the Midi data and then remove the regional effect from the track. I can then either keep the original audio track or delete it and just use the midi data which is what I always do. So there’s no need to have any regional effect activity in projects.

Sounds good but intro way to long had to skip over it.

I guess I missed the first mix and as said this is super close to perfect. I would push the vocals to the front just a hair more. Can’t understand lyrics on the lower notes. Good tune well done ??

This is what it looks like when I want to export tracks as stereo stems that have been processed by effects and master bus. I choose “Tracks” if I just want to grab the raw audio. Your screen shot doesn't have half the dialogue boxes open so hard to tell what settings you are using. The important part is to always check the project length as this can cause a slow export if Cakewalk thinks the song is 2 hours long. This took about 30 seconds to export. I often export un processed stems as I'm in the process of converting old 44.1 projects into 48.