John Vere

What happens if you insert a new bus, Can you change the track output to that?

There should be no latency while recording when you use the direct monitoring of your audio interface.

I was going to add after I noticed that Cakewalk did not automatically insert TTS-1 that all you would need to do is open the file and then "save as" to a midi filer and then open that and TTS_1 would automatically load, But then it was faster to just insert it. Why are you using mp3? Why not use wave? There is a Yamaha drum map somewhere in the cakewalk stuff.

Ya worked fine for me too, only difference between it and a regular midi file is it doesn't automatically insert the TTS-1 so as said, just insert the tts-1 and the file seems to play normally. Just double check each track is outputting to tts-1 It did this automatically for me but it might not always do this.

Do you have an audio interface or are you using Windows sound? Are these old projects you are opening? You normally won't get that message unless you change output devices. If I turned off my audio interface I get that warning. Cakewalk is looking for my interface. Go to your master Bus and see what it's output is set for. If you do have an interface then you need to install the drivers and make sure it is working by checking windows audio settings. If not then do as Scook says and use WASAPI and make sure to click APPLY

If you’re using an audio interface all levels are set by its controls Cakewalk meter is just showing you the incoming signal The meter on you audio interface is the best place to set levels. But most interfaces don’t have meters for line level inputs. Without knowing what you interface is it’s hard to say. But you may need to change the input pad or go into the software mixer.

If you computer has a large capacity ssd drive then one drive is fine. But for desktop systems having you data on a second ssd or 7400 HD works great. Right now I’m stashing this album I’m working on an external ssd drive because I’m moving between 2 machines. Don’t really see a difference in performance with the internal drive. It’s on USB 3 ports as said large sample libraries are often stored to a 3 rd drive. For me some ended up on the C drive because there was no choice during installing. The rest I point to my data drive because it is 1TB I use the 3rd drive as a backup drive plus external drives are back ups too

Are the drivers said to be for W10? like how old is the RME etc.?

Maybe what Lynn was saying is he was going to the file menu and browse to the folder, not the quick list. This would explain the syncing issue. I only use the quick list under the file menu, I disabled the start page. To me it's just a flashy looking quick start list.

Peak level is only part of the issue. Unless it's a sustained note it doesn't tell you how "loud" something really is. You need to know the RMS average or LUFS. What I'm using now with very good results is the Youlean meter. The paid version allows you to select an output format and reports when you go over that limit. It also allows drag and drop analyzing. The basic version is free but I highly recommend paying as it's a very good investment if you are mastering your own songs. https://youlean.co/youlean-loudness-meter/ Span is also free and is useful. https://www.voxengo.com/product/span/ And for Mp3 conversion I use Gold Wave which is free to use but will ask for payment and is well worth the $50. http://www.goldwave.ca/

All I do is not worry and then quantize the whole track if you have snap set up the new notes you draw will snap. But existing notes can be dragged anywhere and as far as I know they don’t snap. So I quantize

There are no Demos on my start screen. I think those were part of the old Sonar. I always unchecked that box during install anyhoo. If you have those (and the OP ever responds back) you can just post the CWP for them. Not sure but if they contain audio you would then need the audio folder too.

I have had this happen that the last project I opened and saved is not on the list. This is often when I have pulled a file from a back up drive and then save as to my working disk. Otherwise if I use my working drive the songs always seem to stay on the list. Interesting thought about the 32 bit plug in issue Steve, I'll have to pay attention to that as a lot of these older projects will contain 32 bit plug ins.

That's my point- There are 1,000 of technical ways to get there and not one of them is to be agreed upon by all. Mastering for me has been a life longquest and learning curve. I'm just faster at getting my mixes as close to correct than I used to be before finding the right plug ins. I could listen to my very first albums ( clients) and go, that still sounds great. For those as far as mastering goes all I had was the meters on the 2 track deck. Turns out tape is forgiving. The tapes were made in real time directly from a mixing console and I only owned 1 stereo compressor. There was no true mastering step other than splicing and adding bits of special leader tape. You had to organize the songs to fit evenly on the 2 sides of a cassette. In the mid 90's I had had my Yamaha 01v so now I had lots of compressors, eq, effects and best of all automation. This was driven by an Atari which also handled midi. I mastered to Sony DAT's, Mini Disk and later had a Philips CD recorder. These and the 01v has SPDIF so analog ended at the input of the mixer. I'm almost INB. It took me until 2004 to finally by a PC and start using Cakewalk to record audio, up until then it was Yamaha MD8. I also had Wave lab 4 and that immediately became my mastering ( and re mastering ) tool. I still use it. Over the last 16 years I've had to experiment with different mastering chains but for the most part I would manually edit out all the spikes in the track and didn't really have a grasp on limiting and master bus compression. That's only been the last 4 years that I found the right limiter ( BT Brickwall) and multiband Compressor ( LP Multiband) to give we the transparent results I was looking for. . Another huge improvement and time saver I just started to use. Youlean meter. I have always used Wave Lab to master using the Analyzer to set my RMS levels and the peak tool to look for overs and the spectral analyzer too . Now I'm loving the Youlean meter so I can now analyze a song in real time or with drag and drop. So I get there quicker. I record my originals strictly for my own enjoyment. I want them to sound great in my Truck and in my living room. Beyond that I'm not that concerned. I master for CD not MP3. I batch convert to Mp3 and post stuff on soundcloud, etc and they seem to be ok But because I am not planning on selling them I'm not mastering for that format. I'm hoping to have all my songs done to video and thats even another mastering challenge.

Ya that's the problem, I've got lots of projects and almost all of mine are like what the OP is after,,but, they don't use what's available in CbB. Also it's not easy to upload a 600MB project with all the audio. I guess you could zip it but I've never done that.

Yes a very interesting topic and important on forums like this one where the majority are new to using recording equipment and needing a lot of help along the way. In the old days we bought books and read them cover to cover a few times until we "got it". Now people want to jump in with both feet and figure because it's a computer you don't need to have any knowledge of the craft of recording, the computer will look after you, right? Sorry, it still helps to study the craft and the internet has made this easier in some ways and harder in others. This forum is a good example of a place you can learn about recording using a DAW. But that has it's pitfalls as we all know on forums the quality of advice can be all over the map. Back when, to publish a book on any topic, that book had to be "approved" So for the most part only knowledgeable people wrote the books and if it was a terrible book nobody bought it and it faded from existence. Well written books became popular and were recommended by other professionals. So you could mostly trust a book on any given topic. Now the internet has made it easy to find those books but then also offers for free a lot of bad information which is hard to wade through it all. If you want to make your head spin ask a question like " what is the best way to Master my songs" on Gearslutz. At least here we are polite and most of us are the first to admit that we are not professionals.

Go to my thread on Christmas songs I posted a whole bunch of CWP files that are just midi data so easy to download. https://discuss.cakewalk.com/index.php?/forum/2-cakewalk-by-bandlab/

I ended up wiping out practically all left hand piano parts, cause I couldn't make it work with the bass guitar. That's why a good rock and roll piano player keeps their left hand on their beer mug! The exception is Boggie Woogie. Just listen to Asleep at the wheel Route 66 and how the piano bass and Upright bass track perfectly together.

Here's the rest of my collection. holly-jolly-christmas.cwp jingle-bells.cwp Let_It_Snow.cwp white-christmas.cwp Winter_Wonderland.cwp

Here's a few links I've gleaned a few songs from. http://www.grandpaschober.com/?DivisionID=21171 https://www.midiworld.com/search/?q=christmas carols http://midkar.com/holidays/christmas/christmas_01.html http://midkar.com/holidays/christmas/christmas_02.html http://midkar.com/holidays/christmas/christmas_03.html http://midkar.com/holidays/christmas/christmas_04.html http://midkar.com/holidays/christmas/christmas_05.html http://www.garyrog.50megs.com/xmas.html Just be warned they will open in Media Player and sound kinda lame. But the midi file will be in your download folder. You can set Widows to open the midi file in Cakewalk. Use the "open With" dialog. You can make Cakewalk automatically insert TTS-1 by going to Preferences/Midi /Devices/Output uncheck all boxes. When choosing midi files look for the ones with a bigger file size. This implies more instruments have been used. Some are very bad and just a piano part played poorly with bad timing. Half the fun is looking for a good version of the song you want. Below are some more that I had worked on. I think they were all done in Home Studio so should be already to roll in the CbB basic world. Begining to look.cwp BlueChristmas.cwp Frosty_The_Snowman.cwp Have_Yourself_A_Merry_Lit.cwp here-comes-santa-claus.cwp

Absolutely. I totally score free stuff there all the time. Last 2 freebies were izotope Nectar and Ozone 9 elements for free. Both because I bought a $ 8 VST. I have tried them both but found the Nectar when you use the automatic gizmo made my vocals sound worse. And actually quieter. So I guess that is hit or miss. But it is straight forward to dial in your own settings. It's very subtle which is a good thing. Don't go looking for "wow that sounds 100% better" it's very small difference. Same with Ozone. I slapped it on a few songs in the master buss and the automatic gizmo didn't change a dang thing that I could hear. I think my mix was so perfect it baffled the software

Glad I got to help. Yes keep those old sound modules going. This winter I plan on digging all of mine out and hooking them up. If you have a lot of them a mixing board is the way to go. I'll be dusting off my Yamaha 01v which I will run everything into. I also have a MIdi splitter box I made with a toggle switch. I think it was a Craig Anderton project from the Electronic Musician mag days. Hardware lasts forever. And it tends to gather dust, but some of those boxes cost me $1,800 so heck if I'm going to sell them and only get $50. I especially love my Korg o5R/W.

I do this as my mike lead isn't a jack and doesn't fit the Steinberg input jack. I just caught this. What type of mike and cable is this and what model interface? Most interfaces have XLR inputs, can't think of any that don't? And it would be scary to think your mike doesn't have a XLR cable. That implies low quality hi Impedance. Or very old Shure. It's not the really the issue but seems odd. Nothing wrong with using a mixer. I used to always have a little Mackie in front of my interface. It has better pre amps and the headphones are easier to control otherwise I'm messing with Mix Control software. There should be very little difference as long as you use short good quality balanced cables. Kurre- I always say "This is the way I do it" I never say it's the correct way. It's what I have learned results in a mix that translates and sounds balanced on all other systems. What is the point of adding frequencies that most will not hear on a cell phone speaker. I leave plenty of low end which comes across in a sub woofer.

I thought it would be fun to share ideas on messing around with Christmas music. There are 100's of midi files available so this is a good opportunity for family fun. I've shared the CWP file for Grandma so you can record your own version. I removed all the audio. For the video I'm actually playing live along with the backing track as it is below. I drop the videos ( I used 3 cameras) into Movie Studio Plat 14 and then I add the audio from my Tascam DR 40 which records a board mix to get the vocals and guitar and I also add the the backing track to beef up the mix. I had to change the bass and drum VST's so to the SI instruments so anyone can play it. I realized I forgot to replace the piano part so if you don't have AD Keys use any piano. AD keys is free by the way. I have the full version but the demo is the same minus a few upper and lower octaves. Granma Got run over.cwp