John Vere

Ripple editing is a common tool found in both audio and video editing software. In all of those I’m familiar with the cross fade needs to already be there. It’s purpose is to keep everything together when you remove or add a section to a multi track timeline. And it doesn’t always work perfectly no matter the software. To add a cross fade automatically is beyond the scope of the purpose of the feature.

1. Exactly. With the way Cakewalk works any further editing requires you unfreeze the track first. Takes 2 seconds. I can see you might have a workflow you were using in another DAW but this is always an issue if you change between any software as each is different 2. There is 18db of headroom for audio tracks you can use either the gain control or clip gain if it’s just a clip. If that is not enough then use Process/ Audio/ Normalization and set it at the desired max peak level.

The reason is in Cakewalk instrument tracks are audio tracks. If it is a simple instrument track that you freeze Cakewalk renders the midi to Audio and the tracks midi data is not physically present in the track anymore. It is stored as part of the project for retrieving when you unfreeze. So you need to do all your editing when it is midi. There’s no real reason to freeze track unless your maxing out your system and trying to lighten your load.

Your situation only verifies why most peoples workflow with Melodyne is as follows 1. work with a copy of the original 2. work with short clips 3. Render the clip when finished This solves all of your issues. First if you don’t like what Melodyne did to a clip after rendering it’s a 2 second deal to grab a copy of the original and try again. There’s no reason to be afraid of committing a clip. If that isn’t working because the issue with that clip is not fixable with Melodyne then easy to re record that one clip. I think you’re workflow is not very common so therefore the developers won’t be to excited about fixing it.

@Elton Wilson Don’t feel bad What’s happening right now is the developers are working on a proper installer for Cakewalk. Right now we are still stuck with a system that rarely works for new users. There is a secret beta version of the new Web installer that only someone with very high levels of searching the internet would ever find. So congratulations you found it. Thanks to MrCook you now found the secret installer and so you should be good to go.

Absolutely Dell are notorious for bloatware. Are you saying it’s only a duo core and only 2.2 ghz? That’s not very much these days. My HP pavilion I would love to replace because it’s only i7 4 cores @ 3.5. It’s struggling with working with video.

FYI if there are VST 3 available you really don’t need the VST 2 version. Noel just mentioned this in another thread.

Snares need compression to keep them on top but not peaking. There’s one built in to AD you can try but I tend to create 4 outputs for it and 1- kick 2- snare- 3- cymbals 4- every thing else. You can have all 12 outputs but 4 works better for me. I then use the pro channel EQ and the PC 76 compressor for each output

Hey, leave the guy alone, it's best we keep all this great stuff we have a secret?! But ya gotta sort of laugh when you see these threads. Sorry Mr Bit for poking fun at you but truthfully, you need to upgrade.

Google= Cakewalk Windows 11=

Yes, Obviously a routing issue like a aux track or something bypassing the master buss. Play the song and mute the master buss.

Truth be told I never even noticed the change ...I actually thought they looked the same and wondered what the fuss was about. But then again I could use with better glasses..?

It fine. The VST scan is only looking for dll. and ignores all else. I think only the right sort of dll. I put everything I download for free in the Program Files/ VST folder. This includes any read me files and PDF's.

Track view Views menu/ Display

Yikes don’t say that ? It even hurts to use a mouse right now!

Thanks for you excellent advice @User 905133 I’d love to have as much input from other experienced users as possible. With You Tube if you screw up you can’t edit the video. You have to totally delete it and add the new version. This is why I deleted my first 10 tutorials I made over last Winter. They probably took 100’s of hours to make but I found flaws in each that even though minor I couldn’t except. And as I go forward I’m learning more about Cakewalk than ever. So I want to include new info or workflow ideas. You wouldn’t believe how many details I edit out as I go. I start out with Word , Cakewalk and the Documentation page side by side and start exploring every dialogue box and configuration associated with the topic feature. This might be 4 pages which I’ve learned equates to a 16 or more minute video. I try for under 10 min. So it takes hours of careful editing. But here’s the catch. What might seem unimportant to me might just be the perfect thing for someone else. Because there are already a zillion Cakewalk quick start videos I’m trying to not take the easy way out and just touch the surface. But how deeply should I dig? Cakewalk is almost bottomless! I feel I’m getting better at this and then because of that I will probably redo the 6 videos I just did. No problem. It’s part of the plan to post these, get feedback. Back to editing and update. I figured it would take all Winter. I just had shoulder replacement surgery so it’s a 6 month excuse to work on this. I can’t even play my guitar or keyboards right now and I’ll be selling my drum kit as I’m told no way ever by the surgeon

Just looking at your screen shot again what is impossible to duplicate is the Browser has the double sideways arrows. It normally would have an up arrow. Yesterday I’m was typing out my narrative for the next tutorial which just happens to be about the Browser view. I proceeded to explore every docking option. It’s sort of a View I’ve never bothered with as I always have the Synth Rack at the top and the browser below. I’ll drag either one bigger or smaller if needed. And I’ll use B to get it out of my way. I learned a few things by poking around. You can undock by dragging any of the 3 views Browser, Synth Rack and Help Module to the Track View area . The Right side docking space disappeared and there are no arrows to pull it out. It’s gone. You can remove the 3 views by clicking the x or using their hide /show keys B, alt9 and Y. They return to where you left them. If you grab any of the 3 views and move it right the Blue “ you can dock here” appears and you can dock the view on the right again. The browser and synth rack can also be dragged to the multi dock but not Help. I didn’t realize that the Right hand space was just that, a space to dock those 3 views. Same as the space at the top of the track view which seems exclusive for the Multi Dock only. Conclusion is the skylight interface has 4 docking locations at each edge of the Track View. But only certain views are legal for each location? I think I now discovered all docking scenarios and your view is definitely not one of those.

As time wears on here in Cakeland the developers seem to be listening and fixing lots of stuff requested along the way. Just now while exploring options in the Browser for next tutorial I discovered a few new things I thought worth sharing The notes tab in Browser: First I added a picture and sure enough after saving it now shows in the start screen cool. Didn’t know that. In the past I new about entering a Song name here but never tested the rest. If you export using the simple ( original) dialogue the name you put in notes will be what the wave file is named. But not any of the other info. The new advanced dialogue uses the project name by default. I then went to export as an MP3 and was surprised by a new dialogue that allows you to change the bit rate and stuff. Also you can check a box and the info you included in notes will be embedded in the file. So we now have a very advanced MP3 export dialogue Good stuff Cakewalk team.

Goodness Bob that's a new one even for me ⁉️ and a challenge. I would think that all you need to do is draw a volume envelope going up but I do believe there's a limitation on how much gain you'll get which I just checked and its only +6db from 0. So the CD track is already maxed out. A solution to this would be to apply gain to the whole song and reduce it down to a level that gives you enough headroom. This might be like -25db. Once you've leveled out the ending you could then normalize the track back to something like -1.0 db Other idea I might try is splitting it into a zillion chunks and applying Gain to each chunk to get them all the same level.. I would not want that task!

I'll be making a tutorial eventually but I think that one is #20 and I'm just working on #7

Everybody's different but if I recorded that low I'd then have more work to do to get levels where I need them for the Master. If my goal is a -1.0 12 LUFS master then I need to feed it a good healthy signal. If all my tracks were recorded at -18 I'm WAY off the mark. -8 is very safe as far as I'm concerned. -2 is a bit to close as example but not over the top yet. Insert a Soft synth and feed it a midi track with the velocity at around 100. It will probably output closer to -2.0 db by default. It's probably not clipping the meter either. There's plenty of articles and Tutorials about mixing and level and its all over the map so take it all with a grain of salt. A lot of these ideas are coming from different situations and systems. I just know what work for me coming from Analog equipment both recording and Live Sound mixing. My masters are nice and loud at -12 LUFS and they are totally safe from clipping @ -1.0 db true peak level. None of my tracks or busses are clipping or even close at -4 db even. You can actually hit 0 without a clip but that's not a good idea. It's not "wrong" to have to turn up the Gain on the Master Buss but it's not how most people would deal with a quiet song. It all boils down to healthy track output levels, effects in the correct place in the signal chain, sub busses for adjusting sections and a good limiter and analyzers on that Master buss.

I took my conclusion from the screen shot. He shows the gain at 12 o clock and it is reading -8.9. which is correct. It is true that experienced audio engineers don't touch Master bus Gain or Faders. You use your sub busses. This is why sub busses are important for normal complexed mixes. If your song is quiet it's no wonder as to me -18 is way to low. I use between -10 and -6 with -8 being perfect. I use the the track gain control to achieve this. I play the song and adjust buy analyzing the peak and LUFS is averaging for each track. I also use Span and the You Lean loudness meter for accuracy using LUFS or RMS as all it take is one little spike to make you "think" a track is peaking at -2 when in fact there was only one little peak and the average level was really -12. It's a bit time consuming but a properly gained project will almost mix itself. First step is before I use compression to tame peaks I will find the peaks and pull them down with a volume envelope or clip gain. It really depends on what the track is. Vocals take the most work. Bass, keyboards and rhythm guitar are usually a steady level. Drums are a problem child and usually need lots of compression to keep them up there without peaks. But the goal is 20 tracks that all are steady at -8db. Then I use the sub busses to mix the parts usually with the Vocals at unity and a little pull down on the rest. On the master I now use the free LoudMax limiter. Then the You Lean loudness meter to tell me my true peak level and LUFS which I go for 1.0 peak and - 12 LUFS. So easy to dial this in with the Loud Max.

I notice your Workspaces seems to be set to none? Not sure if this would cause that. Becuase I do use a few pre sets I made my screen is always exactly correct the way I want it, But-- I opened a blank template, I set my workspace to none and the whole browser view disappeared completely and there was no double arrow. So there were no views to see. So I inserted the Browser by pressing B and then added the synth rack. You are correct that I can minimize the Browser but there's no arrows to do that with the synth rack. Weird for sure. So are you using Screensets? If there's a bug then I'll assume it's something got messed up in a screen set.

Buss Gain are set different than Tracks. The unity is at 3 o'clock instead of 12 o'clock, Why? I guess because you don't normally need that +18 db of headroom that a track has on a buss because it is being fed by a track that should be in the ballpark and not that far out. You'll notice track gain is either + or - 18db. The Buss gain is from - inf to + 6.