John Vere

You use the word normalize which is a tool used when your not happy with a track being a low level and you want to bring the level up. But all that can do is push the PEAKS to the near limit. It won't actually make all the audio even. All's it take is one popped P in a track and there goes your peak level. Myself I would treat each track separately and use the PC76 U in pro channels to adjust the input gain until you see the compressor working. If a track is weak you can certainly normalize it but using gain is none destructive. I would also EQ each track. Basically solo each track until it sounds as best as it can. Then send the 20 tracks to a bus for further processing, reverb etc.

Yes definitely no reason to be using 8.5 anymore. Another solution which is how I transfer projects to other DAW's is simply save as a midi file and then export the audio as individual tracks. ( stems in Pro tools speak) I open the project as a midi file in the other daw and then just drag and drop the audio to new tracks. Its a bit more work but works great. You seem to understand the prep protocol for the audio but for others reading this I'll mention that you need to make sure all your audio tracks start at zero and exporting a track will create a wave file that runs from start to end with no parts missing. I seem to remember the OMF method being unreliable.

I have always used the first synth option. That way I have a track for the VST and other tracks for the midi that is assigned to the synth. Example I might break a piano into 3 tracks for editing and keeping parts organized. drums I often have 3 or even 5 tracks. That way I can assign parts to different VST's. I will use a track folder if I need to tidy up. There's really no big difference, it's all a matter of how you want things laid out on the track view. I like to have the VST track on top of all the corisponding Midi tracks and I colour code them the same too.

Traditionally in mixing you only HAD one reverb to work with and that might have been a Plate in the basement. People are sort of used to that and also in the real world if a band is playing in a nice auditorium or hall, then that is the space ( reverb) around the music. We close our eyes and we imagine we are in that space when listening. So that said it depends on if you are trying to create a " real space" or an "unreal space" . To me it jumbles up the music with a lot of different spaces and (depending on the music) can make it tiresome to listen to. So generally I use only one reverb on a buss set at 100% and then send my sub busses or individual tracks to that. This way the "band" is in that same space. The only other place there will be a different reverb is on a guitar amp sim because that's a classic sound. And then some synths often need a little help. But I'm very cautious about using too many "spaces" in a mix.

What is the soft synth? Is it a 32 bit? ,, a freebie?

Hey Lars.. I never monitor at the back end of Cakewalk as for me that is a good 20ms or so. I have always used direct monitoring via my interface and have no issues with timing. My Yamaha digital drums tend to put notes a bit ahead of the beat but I generally will be quantize anything midi so it is not an issue. Only time I don't quantize is a piano part played by a real piano player. And with the drums I sometimes like the way the snare sounds just a hair ahead like that, so I leave it alone. I'm all about music having a groove and a feel so am very picky about timing. I play the parts pretty dang close to where they belong and if my software messes with that I'm not happy.

If your ASIO driver report 4978 latency something is really f***d here. Usually control panel for driver is having a setting, like 128 samples or whatever. Not necessarily. That might be normal for that interface at a higher buffer setting. That is the sum total of samples. 128 is a medium low setting, I run my system at 256 and my total reported roundtrip is 1042 samples. My Tascam set at 256 buffer= input 324 + output 1087 total reported RTL if set to 512 buffer it almost doubles = input 580 + output 1625 = 2205 reported RTL On many low end interfaces there can also be hidden buffers. But none of that matters because if the driver is reporting the RTL correctly then Cakewalk adjust playback so that what you hear is put down in the correct place on the timeline. You can perform a loopback test to check your system is reporting correctly. use this tool https://oblique-audio.com/rtl-utility.php That said midi does not use your ASIO driver, It uses MME. There is no adjustment for midi timing offset as far as I know. The audio is involved with overdubs because your playing along with audio.

Thanks Craig, The M Audio is not important and I was amazed it worked great with the one computer. I wasn't expecting it to work at all. I got it for free from a old friend who was tossing it out. On the support web site they warn you that it might not work. but I was impressed they showed support up to that point ( W8) Funny thing about the Fast Track pro, it was my very first USB interface way back in I guess about 2006. Back then it had real iffy drivers and would cut out on me for no reason. It did this one night while I was doing sound for a dance show. Very embarrassing.. I got mad and bought the Tascam us1641 which was dependable under windows XP but not W7 when I moved on. Eventually both companies got their drivers working smoothly. I was real surprised when Tascam updated the driver for the us1641 in 2014 and then again in 2017. To bad they never updated the drivers for the UH 7000.

Not sure because I've never used the export to mp3 but anyone see a difference in encoding algorithms? I always export as a wave so I can master the song in my wave editor. Once the wave file is 100% then I'll convert to MP3 using Gold Wave. The MP3 are amazingly identical to my ears. I use 192 kbps. Here some examples https://sites.google.com/view/cactus-studios/original-songs

Speaking of that. Does anybody know how to remove that driver? I did it a few years ago but it came back. It shows as my Recording Latency Adjustment device. This cannot be a good thing. My Tascam is in the dropdown but after you hit Apply the Generic returns. It is not listed in the programs menu in Control panel. Must be a dll hiding somewhere. Problem is I do use Wave lab a lot as well as Cubase to test things.

The problem with that question is the DAW really shouldn't matter--- but your system does. PC's come in a zillion different configurations. So once again I could have no issues with brand X but other people might. Example I have an old M Audio interface that I can use with one computer but the second computer won't install the driver. Both computers are latest version of W10 but they have different MoBo so therefore different BIOS. This is also a good reason to be careful of drivers. Your audio driver is the most important aspect of your audio system. Some brands fall behind on updating drivers and often abandon products to force you to buy something new. It's good to ask a lot of questions and you might learn something from the posts here, but a better idea is to pick an interface you like and then go to the web site and see what the drivers date is. I was thinking of the Tascam UH-7000 as it gets ( had) good review regarding the pre amps something on the top of my list. But a trip to the download page stopped that dead in it's tracks as the latest driver is 2015! Will it be updated? I doubt it.

This is the point of my list and I stand by what I said regarding everyone always will recommend the interface they have chozen. Everybody had totally different needs. They need to think about what those needs are, make a list and that will narrow down the search. And as far as not recommending any product this seems par for the course with just about all stuff that gets reviewed. There will always be 1 person who had a bad time with just about anything. Once you narrow down your choices then read as many reviews as possible just to get a general feel of each brand. Myself from what I've read over time is the top of the list seems to be RME for PC. I need to replace my Tascam us1641 interface because it is old and soon the drivers will not work in W10. I also gave away my 1st Gen Scarlett 6i6 to my band mate, I don't want it back as I hate the pre amps. I have also been using a Soundcraft mixer which uses a Steinberg USB ASIO driver and find no fault with it. It's just kinda big...

Home Studio didn't have a synth rack and once you realized this fact you soon forgot about it. I like the visual feedback I get from the synth rack. At a glance I can see what I have available already loaded. I might have synths in the rack I'm not using while experimenting with different sound possibilities. It's a little quicker sometimes when trying different instruments like say an electric pianos. You can tweek the sounds so each one is as close to what your after and then simply change the midi track output to try each in turn.

Are you using ASIO driver?

Here's a document I made a few years ago, nothing much has changed. There is a lot of choices. Make a list of your requirements first.. What kind of connectivity do you require? and how many of each. These are some of the options: XLR, 1/4", Combi jacks, RCA, ¼” line level, ¼” Instrument level ,MIDI, SPDIF, ADAT,MADI How many ins and outs do you think you'll need now and in the future? Are they accessible? Front or rear panel? Are all ¼” jacks Balanced? Is there a true stereo pair? Some don’t have a matched set of inputs which sucks for stereo recording. Pre Amps will fall under the “you get what you pay for” rule, but check out the reviews anyhow. A/D convertors will also fall under the same rule and generally all are good these days. Are there peak level meters or just a little LED for each input? Are there channel Insert jacks? Are there separate controls for Monitor level and headphone level? Is there a blend control for mixing Source with Computer ( DAW) ? How many Headphone jacks? A level for each? Are the input pads or line / Instrument toggle switches on the front, back or software controlled? Is it a metal box or cheap plastic? Is it light and portable or large and bulky, Rack mountable? Does it have an on / off switch? Does it use Buss power or a power supply? Buss power can have issues with noise and Phantom power. Look for at least an optional power supply. Does it have DSP effects built in? Does it use a GUI mixer? Having a software (GUI) mixer adds more options. Can it be used as stand alone? Some interfaces are also handy as a small mixer. What are the Round Trip Latency (RTL) specs? Do you need low RTL for real time processing or are you planing on using guitar sims? Low RTL is going to be at a higher price point. A $200 interface will have hidden buffers etc. Zero Latency monitoring is not the same as RTL. All interfaces have some latency. Zero latency is just marketing hype for monitoring directly from the interface. And most important of all, Does it have top notch drivers for your OS. What is the word on support from the company? Does it come with free software, An LE version of a DAW you would like to try? Everyone will recommend the interface they have chosen, that doesn't mean it is the right one for you.

There' just a lot of things typical of novice recording engineering done incorrectly that all add up to quiet recordings. First the low level recording. I too have a Scarlett 6i6 which is similar in design. Yes there are no hardware input levels as those inputs are designed to be teamed up with hardware that has a master volume, like a keyboard or a mixing board. Put the tracks in record standby , play as loud as you will be playing and adjust your keyboard master volume to keep below clipping at ALL times. There is also the Mix control software but that takes a very steep learning curve to master. Once you've got a better level on the track you then need to push that at the master without clipping. All it takes is one little peak to clip the output. This is were a good mastering limiter is required. I use the BT Brickwall set at - 0.9 and this allows me to hit the master a little harder. But then I always master my songs in Wave Lab because it's critical to producing a proper finished release. The recording process : In the real world this is done by 3 different people who are very good at what they do with years of experience and training. Please don't expect a computer to bypass any of this process and get the same results they do. Tracking Mixing Mastering

Just FYI my on board sound just say's Hi definition audio codex. It's a HP off the self desktop about 11 years old. I cannot get my Tascam interface to run in any mode except ASIO now. I had to shut it off to run Cakewalk in WASAPI. On W7 I for sure I used WDM when making live recordings because I teamed it with a Yamaha mixer. So I guess the driver was made for w7 and is hanging on by a thin thread. I will start shopping for a new interface I guess. I did use this computer all winter using WASAPI working with midi and editing songs and can't remember having drop outs. What are you system specs? Almost a dumb question these days but one thing for sure is Cakewalk likes lots of memory> I have 16 GB's. Also I'm running SSD drives with lots of space empty.

Yes, I just take it as a given that it won't work. I usually have to re download from the web site. I got lucky this time and it downloaded to my download folder and I fired it up from there. I did have to re log in and it never remembers me so I have to look up my password. I don't mind, it's free and so no right to complain.

I don't use midi guitar parts unless it was something that was part of a downloaded file. My own creations I play real guitar so it's keyboard chords I'm referring too here. I admit to have never even opened the staff view in Cakewalk. I used to read music and occasionally have to follow along looking over a piano players shoulder, but I guess the kind of music I normally play is not presented in that format. But that's a great idea I'll have to mess with it just for fun.

I have a set of powered Mackie CR 4 studio monitors that I bought just for my home office set up. I just plug them into the little green jack on my CPU. But that is irrelevant as I could have any cheap computer speakers or headphones and that would not change anything I'm aware of. We moved last summer and my studio stuff is still packed in boxes. So I can't do any recording but I like to do a little listening and midi editing, try different effects and VST's. For that you can use WASAPi and I guess I always use shared so my other computer stuff will work too. I dug out my Tascam interface a few weeks ago and am now using that.

OK fair enough. I just loaded a default theme and I now see what your talking about. I guess I'll have to either learn how to use the theme editor or live with the dang black background on the PVR. It's the only thing that bugs me. Those icons are baffling. but I guess they are better for multi language users.

Ya I realize there are many ways to create chords but what Kalle is saying and like me, is to be able to do this in Piano roll view. I often have to flesh out simple 2 or 3 note chords I have played. I'm not a keyboard player but I can play real basic chords. But then I have to manually edit note by note to make those chords more interesting. I need a really smart mouse tool!

Edited as was dead wrong--- Yes I see what the OP is talking about. So much for my favorite theme

As I said, Cakewalk is optimized for and expects to see an ASIO driver. If you choose to use any other mode you will have these issues. It's the price you pay for not having a solid system. USB class compliant devices are fine in a pinch but not what you build a smooth running studio set up on.

You cannot expect Cakewalk to perform properly using a crappy driver from 1998. And if the other drivers are not working then your whole system must not be up to par for audio work. Try the WASAPI mode again as that the most stable for on board audio. I can certainly use it with out issue. You for sure will have audio issues when you do not use ASIO mode. Cakewalk and all DAWs for that matter expect the user to own a proper audio interface.