Helios.G

Huh, that's interesting. If that's right, then I shouldn't have any issues with this, I'll have to test it. Thanks.

Hey Guys/Bakers, I'm still here building my custom production template and am almost done. I was wondering, is there a way to load up a vst instrument and have it on standby but not actually loaded in the session? For example, you can load a plugin chain and deactivate all fx until you want to use them. Is there a way of doing this with VSTi's? EDIT: Hey guys, thanks for everyone chiming in and trying to help me, I tried all the methods described here, and they all helped, but I ended up going with setting up the vsti's I needed then playing a dummy midi note and freezing the track. I just felt that was easier and less hassle for my set up since I literally only use virtual instruments sporadically. Thanks again for trying to help me out.

If it's a small section, best advice I can give is to go back and re-record that section. There are plugins that will use trickery to mitigate some of the damage, but in my experience they never quite sound natural. If it's a very short portion, like a one word, or a couple of words, and the project isn't going for commercial/major label release, then maybe just clip gain it down to match the other phrases in that section and call it a day.

Hey Gregy, just an FYI, I figured out what was going on on my end here. You have to put the keyboard in DAWRec mode in it's settings for it to track out properly in cakewalk. You lose Arpeggio functionality, but it lets you hear only the track selected when highlighting different tracks as intended.

Yeah, I figured as much, no problem, I'll just have to get creative with my routing then. No worries though, you saved me from a major headache today! Thank you

That worked! You're a lifesaver Gregy! One last question. I'm making my template so I can get to creating much faster, for each section I have a folder with a midi track and an audio track for bouncing down ideas later. So far I've only set up the bass folder, and ran into the routing issue with my second folder, drums, when I reached out to you. My question is, setting up bass with it's one instance is relatively easy. Is there a way that I can split the drum kits parts to different outputs, so like Kick, snare, toms, etc? From one midi instance?

So if I understand you correctly setting each instance to midi omni would have them play their respective parts without triggering the same notes on each channel? I had it like that, so now I'm even more confused. I also tried to give each midi track it's own channel and that would result in silence in all but the 1st midi track. Thanks for getting back to me so quickly, I appreciate it.

Hey 57Gregy, Sorry to bother you about this again but since you showed me how to do this, I sort of left it on the back burner. Today I was setting up a new production template ready to put your tips to good use when I realized I didn't know how to split the channels up so that each midi instance doesn't trigger the other. Would you mind walking me through how to separate channels so they trigger only the chosen instrument in the mx49? I tried using different channels in the drop down menu in cakewalks midi tracks, but all previous midi tracks would still play when I'd strike the keys. I'd really appreciate any direction here. Thanks!

Thank you so much Klaus, that worked perfectly! To think I've been dealing with this for ages.

Hey everyone, I'm building up my new production template and I came across a problem that's always bugged me but I sort of just dealt with it. When I create group busses and set up my preferred color palette, I'd like to save them in the boxes made for this, but it only allows me to save one color. The moment I try to add another color to my favorites, it overrides my last choice. How do you add more than one color in that section? Thanks.

Sorry about this happening to you. This is one of the main reasons why it's good practice to always disable any wifi before opening a session, cakewalk or otherwise.

Hey Everyone/Bakers, I do a lot of vocal editing and production work. For years I've done this all pretty much exclusively in cakewalk (sonar back in the day). I've always had to color take lanes differently one by one manually, and I'd love for it to be automatically done, or at least have an option one can turn on or off for this to be done. Why? Because when you're comping a vocal, especially in heavy, very dense productions, it's useful to see visually which parts of the comp came from where. This is extremely helpful when going back for edits, or the ocasional "re-comp" when asked by a producer. Personally, I'd find it useful for double tracking, as I usually make doubles, and sometimes harmonies from the takes that weren't utilized in the final lead comp. Just my 2 cents, but I think this would be a cool feature to have.

Merry christmas.

Compressors have 2 basic functions. The 1st is to control/lessen dynamic range. So if you have a sound that has parts that are too loud, and parts that are too soft, you'd use a compressor to even out the level to a more manageable dynamic range (volume). The second basic function is to glue things together and make them more cohesive. Think bg vocal bus, drum bus or the master bus for example, where you'd use light compression to make everything gel a little. There's also a third, but this is a bit more subjective. Some compressors (think vintage, analogue type, and those modelled after them) have a certain tone/character that they give a sound when you run audio through them. In these cases you'd use these types of compressors for dynamic control AND the tone they'd give you. If you're a beginner, I'd focus on the 1st two basic functions, and worry about tone after you feel comfortable with that first. Good luck.

Nice tip Variorum, thanks!

Thank you so much for posting this 57Gregy! This is really really helpful!

Oh, this is quite awesome! So how does one install this? I'm honestly floored I'd never heard of this, lol. Thanks for clearing some of this up for me btw

Hey 57Gregy, forgive my ignorance, I have an mx49, what do these files do exactly? I've used mine to lay down midi and record directly from the synth itself inside cakewalk. Is there something I've been missing or doing wrong all this time?

I use plugins to monitor with Reverb, usually sonitus for these purposes. I set up two tracks, both with input monitoring on. I place sonitus with a room verb on at about 60% wet on the 1st track, and the 2nd track is dry. when the artist is recording, they hear themselves through the sonitus plug, because of the nature of reverb having some natural decay time, it doesn't sound off or unnatural to them, and I get the dry version for my purposes with the other track. I use this trick for a lot stuff. Takes some finagaling depending your system specs, but even for simple setups, this usually works great.

Yeah Tim, I think I conflated mixing to picture with scoring in this case. My bad.

I am not a professional arranger by any stretch, but for scoring Davinci Resolve is what I go to. It's got a daw built in, and it's editing features for video are pro level. Me personally, I'll never leave sonar/cakewalk, unless it dies again, but for video/film I don't touch it. Oh, also, davinci has a free version that is full functional, with the exception of some fancy effects plugins for video. Which in your scenario shouldn't be a problem. Just my 2 cents, good luck.

100% agree. Nothing against creative sauce, I follow him on youtube, but I was sent to groove3 when I was a noob intern years ago (SONAR PE 6), and have recommended to people new to platform even during the CBB years. They really know their stuff.

That's a good tip. Thanks JohnnyV

Hey David, yeah that's it pretty much. The inability to fine tune that part of the process. If I move it from zero to try and get a tighter sync, I can't ever get it back, unless I remove the region effect as a whole and then start over. It's a bummer cause I think drum replacer, sonically, is better than a lot of plugins that do the same thing. I guess I'm just frustrated cause I've got something I need to get done. Thanks for trying to help though.

Hey Guys, I've been looking all over the forum and the old forums for sonar, and can't find an answer so hopefully someone here knows. I'm working on a project, and have drum replacer on a track. It's working as intended, but the playback is a bit off, but I can't get the sample head to lineup exactly with the sample start. Is there an easy way to get it to zero milliseconds? Thanks. If anyone's wondering it's the section marked G on the manual in the drum replacer section. Thanks!