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Everything posted by msmcleod
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@Canopus meant you can't activate such an old version of Cakewalk... not the version of the operating system. The latest version of Cakewalk is 2024.12. Later versions of Cakewalk may complain that you're not on Windows 10, but it will still install. I've had it running on a Windows 7 machine without issues.
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You don't do this within Sonar, you set this in your audio interface control panel.
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IIRC, I don't think the timecode contains ANY tempo information at all. The timecode on tape contains only the hours/minutes/seconds/frames. You'd stripe the tape first, then set the zero offset for measure 1, then enter the tempo map into the tape-sync device. The device would then read the timecode from tape and send out MTC via MIDI using the tempo map you'd entered. I used to use a JLCooper PPS-100 with my MT-8X. Typically, I'd do the following: 1. Strip track 8 with the time-code. 2. Let it play from the beginning for around 10 - 15 seconds, then stop. 3. Set measure 1 to the current position, and enter in my tempo map into the PPS-100. 4. Set Cakewalk to sync to MTC and arm my tracks 5. Rewind the tape, press record in Cakewalk and play (or rec if I was recording on tape as well) on the tape machine. 6. Record my MIDI within Cakewalk, and audio on tape. You can be as accurate or inaccurate as you want to be in step 3, depending on whether you need things aligned to a grid within Cakewalk. For some projects, I just set the tempo arbitrarily to 120bpm, and forgot about it - especially if I was recording a keyboard part to an existing recording on tape. The song wasn't actually in 120bpm, but it didn't matter as I wasn't using the metronome, and I wasn't interested in editing the MIDI; all I wanted was to record a MIDI performance and have it play it back exactly as played. My usual workflow in this case was: 1. On a blank tape, record the whole band on to one mono track (usually track 8 ) 2. Record the drums on tracks 1 to 4, with the drummer playing along with the guide track on track 8. 3. Record the bass on track 5. 4. Bounce the bass/drum tracks to a stereo pair on tracks 6/7. 5. Use tracks 1 thru 5 to record the guitars, then finally the vocals. 6. Stripe the tape on track 8 (overwriting the guide track), then record the keyboards in Cakewalk. Obviously every session was different, so I could end up with a bass on it's own and drums in a stereo pair, or bass/kick on one track, snare on another, and overheads on a pair etc.. all depended on how many tracks I had spare. Really, the only reason I used time-code was to get one or two stereo keyboard tracks for the price of one mono audio track. I could also add a quiet drum machine kick or snare if needed, should the bounced drums balance not be quite right. Once everything was good, I'd typically take Cakewalk out of the equation by recording the MIDI from Cakewalk on to my Alesis DataDisk. That way, all I needed was the tape deck, the PPS-100, DataDisk and one or more MIDI sound modules. I could play from any position on the tape, and the DataDisk would pick up almost immediately. I'd also do a sysex dump from the PPS-100 to the same floppy on the DataDisk, so that the tempo map / start time etc was there ready to be restored for that song.
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AFAIK there's no plugin to do this, you need a hardware converter to convert the SMPTE timecode to MTC. In saying that, if you've alread recorded all 8 tracks at once into your DAW, there's no need to use the timecode track. All you need is to create a tempo map from the existing audio, and there are several ways of doing that, i.e.: 1. Drag an audio track to the time-line and let Melodyne extract the tempo; OR 2. Insert a MIDI track, arm it, then record the same single note played every beat. Then select the clip, then Process->Fit Improvisation from the main menu; OR 3. Set the now time to various points in the track, and "Set Beat as Now" giving the relevant measure/beat at the now time. The tempo will be calculated based on all previous "Set Beat as Now" operations.
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You can do this... however, if you've already marked all of your sections out, you can just as easily create an arrangement:
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It's probably on Lane 2 (or layer 2).
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Cannot write file - disk may be full (but it isn't)
msmcleod replied to profwacko's topic in Cakewalk Sonar
It really depends on the AV / Cloudsync app. AV's in particular can jump in as every time a file is accessed. You should have all of your project and any VST content (e.g. sample library) directories excluded. Not doing this is definitely liable to slow down, but could also cause crashes. Personally I've also excluded the VST plugin directories and Cakewalk application directories too, as I'm confident as to where the exe's/DLL's have come from. For cloudsync, I use Mega rather than OneDrive and I have a batch file that copies my project files to a directory on another disk which is set to sync to the cloud. The batch file does an incremental copy - i.e. it only copies newer / newly modified files. This means that it only syncs when I want it to, and I've also effectively got another backup. The downside of course is that I need twice the space for my projects. -
The clip index is always relative to the track / lane it is on. You could try adding the track index and lane index, e.g. : {tracknumber}-{laneindex}-{clipindex}_{clipname} It won't give you exactly what you're trying to get, but the numbers will be incremental.
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Cannot write file - disk may be full (but it isn't)
msmcleod replied to profwacko's topic in Cakewalk Sonar
Have you made sure that your project directories are excluded from any anti-virus and/or cloud-sync (e.g. OneDrive) software? If other software is trying to scan the files as Sonar/CbB is trying to save them, this could cause this issue. -
Just to add to this... there are generally six methods of pitch shifting: 1. Simple speed up/slow down and stretch - this is what was used in early digital pitch shifters in the 80's/90's (such as the Boss half rack pitch shifter/delay - which was excellent BTW). This works pretty well, but higher pitches make you sound like the chip monks, and has noticeable quality issues with rhythmic content at greater shifts. Cheaper Karaoke machines used this method. 2. Speed up/slow down and Stretch with Formant preservation pitch shift - More advanced Karaoke machines and Auto Tune / DigiTech Vocalist used this method. The formants would be identified/removed and left as is, and the rest of the signal put through a simple stretch, then recombined with the formants. Again, pretty good quality, but bad with rhythmic content at greater shifts. 4. FFT frequency shifting - a Short Time FFT is done on the sample, the data is then moved to different frequency bins, and a reverse Short Time FFT performed. Very efficient processing wise, but prone to phasing issues. 5. Transient detection with speed up/slow down and stretch - this is what Groove Clips use. Rather than stretching the whole wave file, the parts between transients are stretched such that the transients always land at the correct time. 6. Transient detection with speed up/slow down and stretch and formant preservation - similar to 5, but with formant preservation. Fairly processor intensive, but excellent results. Melodyne uses a variation on this method.
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I'm not sure if you can do that with loopback. You may be able to do it via hardware - i.e. play YouTube through your onboard sound-card, take the output into a hardware harmonizer / pitch-shifter, then plug that into the 4i4's inputs, but I don't think you can "insert" something in the 4i4's internal loopback chain. There may also be software options, like a combination of VBCable and some stand-alone guitar effects (TH-U with it's Harmonizer module for example). I may be wrong though... maybe someone else can suggest something.
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Actually, just compared MHarmonizerMB to using native Pitch Markers, and Pitch Markers sound MUCH better with anything over a 1 semitone shift. It really is pretty simple to use them: 1. Drag in audio file 2. Select clip and go to clip properties 3. In the Groove Clip tab, enabled "Stretch to Tempo" 4. Check the original tempo matches the current project tempo 5. Enable "Follow Pitch", and set the reference note (if in doubt, just set it to C - everything will then be relative to C) 6. Add a pitch marker where you want the pitch to be changed. This will be relative to the reference note, so a pitch of D with a reference note of C will shift it 2 semitones. The quality can be improved by editing the transient markers, but you should only need to do this if rhythmic content isn't sounding right. I hardly ever need to do this.
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I've just given Melda's MHarmonizerMB a try, and it works really well, using it's "Basic Shifter" module: You can adjust and/or automate the Pitch control as needed. I've found the quality to be best with the formants "Keep" setting to 0.0%, assuming of course you're not shifting too far. For larger pitch changes, you'll probably want to increase this setting.
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Best way to connect Sonar MTC to MOTU MIDI Express XT
msmcleod replied to norfolkmastering's topic in Cakewalk Sonar
That's a very nice setup. I always dreamed of either the 238S (or the 688), but they were always out of my price range and by the time I could afford one, I'd already gone digital. I used the Yamaha MT8X for years, even after I'd started using Cakewalk CWPA. I only really retired it once I'd got used to my Yamaha DS2416 cards. I knew I'd be going digital at some point, so I went for the MT8X over the Tascam 488 because it had individual track outputs for later transfer. The MT8X was pretty basic. It did have a couple of location points / loop record points, but apart from that, MTC sync was a "tape must be master" affair. Sound quality was fantastic though. A friend had the 688, and honestly we couldn't tell the difference in quality. One thing I did swear by was Maxell XL-IIS cassettes (although the XL-II's were good too). I recently found a few old tapes in the attic, some TDK SAX and one XL-IIS. The TDK's were garbage, but the Maxell sounded like it was recorded yesterday despite being 30 years old. My mate with the 688 swore by the Maxell tapes too. Very hard to get hold of those tapes nowadays, and pretty pricey when you find them! -
Groove clips can do this used in conjunction with pitch markers. Every time the pitch marker changes pitch, the clip is transposed in real-time.
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As @Wookiee says, the XV5080 does everything that the JV1080 does plus a LOT more. The XV5080 is a much more powerful synth, but as such, editing patches is more involved. Not saying the JV1080 is a simple synth by any means, but it is less intimidating in some respects. Personally, given the choice I'd choose the XV5080 every time.
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This is exactly what would happen in this case. If you stop, then want to start recording again, you'll need to manually mute the last take before recording again.
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Best way to connect Sonar MTC to MOTU MIDI Express XT
msmcleod replied to norfolkmastering's topic in Cakewalk Sonar
Just out of interest, how will this work using Sonar as a master? When I did this in the past, I used my used my PPS100 to generate SMPTE code and recorded it on track 8 on my 8-track. I then told the PPS100 that measure 1:01:000 started at exactly 15 seconds in, and set Sonar to slave. At that point, I could record on both Sonar / 8 track. It was always the tape machine that was in charge though, because it was playing back the time-code into the PPS100, which was then sending MTC to Sonar. My tape machine had no feature to locate to a specific location.... maybe your machines do? I get how Sonar can tell your MOTU what the time is... I'm just curious as how the tape machines sync up their time-codes to sync with each other / with the MOTU. -
I upgraded all of my Win 10 machines to Windows 11 (four of which weren't "compatible" win Win 11) a couple of weeks ago. All you need is a spare 16GB (or larger) USB stick. 1. Download Windows 11 ISO from Microsoft 2. Download "Rufus" ( a bootable USB stick creation utility) 3. Point Rufus as the Windows 11 ISO, and tell it to put it on your USB stick. 4. Rufus will detect it's a Windows 11 installation disk, and ask whether you want it to remove the TPM / CPU checks from the the install script, among other stuff like removing bitlocker / forcing online MS account etc. Check the various options, then allow it to continue. 5. Once created, don't reboot - simply open up the USB drive and click on setup.exe I had zero issues with all of my machines, and they've done at least one update since then without issue. The vast majority of software didn't need re-authorizing, with Magix / Overloud / XLN Audio being the exceptions... but all of those allow you to remove old computers online, so not an issue.
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Assuming you've got a full size keyboard, to the right of the function keys, you'll see the Print Screen, Scroll Lock and Pause buttons. Scroll Lock stops the clips view from scrolling when the now time goes off to the right. Pause causes the screen to update only once a second - I think this is what you're referring to.
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Best way to connect Sonar MTC to MOTU MIDI Express XT
msmcleod replied to norfolkmastering's topic in Cakewalk Sonar
In the past, I've always found Cakewalk is better as a slave than a master... mind you it's been a long time since I've done it, and PC's were a lot slower then! -
Try this: 1. Select the existing synth track (or if a split instrument, the synth audio and MIDI tracks) 2. Save it as a track template. 3. In the new project, insert the track template. 4. In the old project, copy special making sure it copies track envelopes 5. In the new track, make the first newly inserted track the active track and ensuring the now time is at zero 6. Paste into the new project At that point you should have a copy of the synth and its envelopes in the new project, so you can now copy the envelopes as necessary to other tracks.
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Something else will reside where it used to be. It's not fully baked yet though.
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Cannot figure out why Export different than mix I hear
msmcleod replied to dougalex's topic in Cakewalk Sonar
Audio export runs at a much higher speed, and unfortunately not all plugins work properly when they're running at top speed (the vast majority do though). It could of course be project corruption, in which case re-creating the problem track will probably fix it. The way to determine this is to do a real-time export. If the real-time export works, then it's a plugin problem; if it's still wrong, then look at recreating possible problem tracks. -
Cannot figure out why Export different than mix I hear
msmcleod replied to dougalex's topic in Cakewalk Sonar
^^^ This... well actually, not your master bus, but the master fader for your hardware output. Your hardware output fader should always be at 0.0, then adjust your master fader accordingly. It's fine to also have your master bus fader at 0.0, but you must have your hardware output fader at 0.0 for it to export at the same volume.