Colin Nicholls

ZIP file now includes a second version of the theme, the "Matcha Edition"

EDIT: Is it possible you are just bouncing the selected track? You need to do the entire mix. Does it sound right when you just play back the two tracks? ORIGINAL: Well, this technique definitely works because I've used it to detect differences between mixes, and other stuff. Here's what I would do achieve what you want: So, we have CLIP_1 (guitar) and CLIP_2 (guitar+synth), imported to a unique track each, say TRACK_1 and TRACK_2. I'd make sure they were aligned correctly. Obvious, but I'd zoom in to check to make sure they were in sync. Then I would flip the phase on one TRACK_1. Then I would BOUNCE TO TRACK (entire mix) to create a third TRACK_3 that will contain the SUM of TRACK_1 and TRACK_2. Actually you shouldn't need to bounce, just listen to the mix and you'd hear it. If your starting clips are what you think they are, this should leave you with the (guitar+synth)-(guitar) which should just be the synth part. Now, from your screen shot, it sure looks like this is what you are doing. So I'd question a) your source clips, b) sync/alignment, or even c) try flipping the phase on each track in case the clips are not the phase you think they are

Crap I meant the PAUSE key. Thanks Mark. From the manual:

Something isn't right here. Can you post this in the main forum with steps to reproduce using Mercury (or Tungsten) ? I'd be willing to help you figure this out but I think this thread isn't the right place.

Please let me know if you spot something that doesn't work in the context of the theme. I tend to focus on the parts of the application that I actually use. For example, I've never used Sync or ACT, so these tend to get short shrift in my themes unless someone asks for it.

My knee-jerk reaction was to say "Press Scroll-Lock PAUSE on the keyboard" but if you are working with time code and sync in Cakewalk then that suggestion is probably way off base and you'll need someone else's advice...

@msmcleod, I actually used this technique yesterday with reasonably good results. I named the arrangement "the name of the album" and then one-by-one placed each section into the arrangement and chose the "Export as Audio" from the arrangement menu. Choosing MP3 did give me the opportunity to add the metadata for each export but I kinda understand how this is working under the hood. Thanks for the suggestion. It would be nice to have some sort of "batch mode" for this sequence of steps but I can also see how it gets complicated with the metadata and all the different export formats. Even so, exporting the whole set of sections without any ID3 tag info or whatever would be a time saver. I'll leave it up to the developers whether any enhancement in this area is feasible. I'd love to see it in a future release.

@Kai Young, you should be able to do this by: Loading a clip into a new track Pressing the "invert phase" button as you have done bounce to a new track The button doesn't invert the clip itself, it inverts the phase of the output of the track. So, by Bouncing to a new track, you are effectively taking the output of the first track and saving it into a new track. The new track will have the phase inverted.

@John Nelson, I use Paint.NET. Paint.NET works great except for the way it messes up the title bar of the main window (sorry, pet peeve of mine). The website is rife with "DOwNloAd nOW!" ads that should be set on fire. Perhaps you clicked on the wrong link. This is the latest URL: https://www.dotpdn.com/files/paint.net.4.2.13.install.zip

It seems to me that you need a reference tone on another track. V-Vocal does not come with Cakewalk By Bandlab, but it will be detected and available if you install CbB alongside your SONAR 8.5 install. You can choose to use either application. (This assumes that your SONAR 8.5 install is 64-bit on Windows 64 Bit)

OK, I've updated the ZIP (See URL in top post) and I'm calling it. This is version 1.0. I've left the clip colors as-is, even though head and tail fade curves are possibly on the hard-to-see side. Updated top post description and preview images

The @Lord Tim modification:

Do folks really use the "small size" Transport module?

@Brian Nixon, do you mean you want different colors for different notes in a single MIDI track?

Refreshed the ZIP. Still at version 1.0, but includes the following changes: New Control Bar Transport Module "Record" buttons Revised Input/Output icons for drop-down menus:

It's page 63, and Global/Alternative Text #1 is in fact the correct element for specifying the text color for a SELECTED ProChannel module. No points awarded. Good catch on "present", I'll fix it. Of course it is "preset". You get one point.

@Brian Nixon, interesting. I'm glad you are finding the theme useful. I have not finalized the clip colors yet but by default I am definitely aiming for a dark waveform/MIDI on a light clip background. I'm not sure why you're having trouble with this: >> it forces all of the MIDI notes in the drum-kit clips to be a black foreground color and does not allow me to change the black foreground color. Are you talking about Clips in the Track View/Clip Pane, or are you talking about the Piano Roll View? If I use the Mercury or Tungsten themes, and create a new project and add an instance of, say, SessionDrummer, then when I open the MIDI track in the Piano Roll View I see orange/brown notes on either a white or black background, but the notes are perfectly legible. Even if I then assign a drum map and view the notes in the Drum Pane, they are still visible. I'm not sure why my theme would make a difference to this.

Who doesn't enjoy a nice flat white in the morning? I know I do. It's about the only type of espresso coffee drink I can make on my machine. However this theme doesn't really have anything to do with coffee, except maybe if you look at the "select/focus/OLED" displays and say, yeah, I have a desire to lick the crema out of an espresso cup right about now... I've been chasing the goal of the perfect non-3D "light" theme for some time and this is my latest effort. I want a theme that is clear, un-distracting. If you don't like grey, this probably isn't the theme for you. FLAT_WHITE.ZIP Previews: Updated 2021.12: refreshed Folder Archive button

It's working for me when I open in from the URL in FireFox. Also when downloaded and opened in Foxit Reader. Can you try in other browsers, or let me know what your configuration is? EDIT: Note that I updated the document twice yesterday, the second time was to fix some links. So it's possible you're looking at an older revision? They'll be at least one more update before I take a break from it for a while.

I've been working on a new theme and in the process I found some aspects of the latest Theming Primer to be, well, less convenient than I expected. Also, LibreOffice kept crashing as I tried to update and maintain the document. So, um, I've kind of returned to the original format, but without losing the handy ability to cross-reference places where a theming element is used for more than one purpose. I've removed Section C and integrated the information back into Section A. Also there's a lot more content. At the same time I've corrected the name of the PDF so that it actually matches the title of the document. The new URL is: https://prodigalsounds.com/sonar/themes/Young Lady's Illustrated Primer to Creating Cakewalk Themes.pdf Version 2020.10.17 I've updated the first post in this thread with the new information.

It looks like the Steinberg USB driver supports ASIO. Make sure that Cakewalk is set to use ASIO. What do you see under Preferences > Audio devices?

Is it possible your MIDI tracks are in a folder, and the folder isn't expanded to show the contents?

Are you editing drums/percussion hits?

See: http://forum.cakewalk.com/Sonar-and-boot-camp-on-a-Mac-m3146220.aspx

Cakewalk By Bandlab has been updated regularly since it was released as a free download. There is no set update schedule but past history shows that every 2 or 3 months there has been an update. The last one was at the beginning of September. I would look out for another sometime next month, but I'm just guessing. The last version was 2020.09, and although the .EXE file has a version stamp of 26.9.0.6, this does not mean that a release with an EXE version of 27.x is any more significant. Numbers like 26 and 27 have very little meaning although they correspond roughly to annual rollovers.