LNovik@aol.com

Thanks to everyone for their helpful input. Well, one system seems to be bigger than the next. Scott, I would think you could get all of Edinburgh in your computer---digitally speaking, of course! I'm not trying to be picky here, but I just want to understand exactly what you're saying, since I am in the market for a new computer. So Scott, you say you have a "4TB SSD in my DAW machine..." SO, I guess that means for the computer that you make music with, you have a 4TB SSD as your D drive? I'm not sure what a "partitioned 512GB drive is. I assume that's also an SSD. Unless, you mean the 4TB SSD is your C drive, and you've separated (partitioned) a piece of it (512GB) to be the area in which you're running your DAW program. But if the latter is true, where is your D drive? Unless that's a separate back up drive. Lastly, I've been told that for plug-ins, such as effects plug ins, but possibly also for virtual synths, etc, they should be on the drive that contains one's DAW program. But perhaps, that's just because I have a large'ish HDD for saving programs and then just a single SSD for Cakewalk. So maybe I've just been told that it's best to keep plug-ins on SSD's. So, do you keep your plug-ins, etc on the same C drive as where your DAW program(s) reside, or do you feel that as long as they are on a SSD, they can be accessed quickly enough. (Or, are you plug-in's all on that first 4TB SSD that has a separate partitioned section. ) I'm making some assumptions here when I attempt to understand all this, so please feel free to call me a dunce if you feel it's appropriate. Lastly, I should say that with my music computer that contains this big HDD (either 1 or 2 TB's) and my 512 GB SSD, I don't seem to have any problem with running CbB. Though I must say I do music and videos as a hobby, not a job. The only reason I'm looking for a computer is that my non-music computer, which I use for my regular home computer AND for video editing of songs after I create them on the music computer, has been maximizing out its power. So I see stuttering, freezing, and a very loud fan noise as my computer's processor is maximized. I guess it might be a bit slower than the music computer, but also perhaps it takes more processing power to edit music + video together than it does to just edit music alone. LNovik

In the past, say >5 years ago, the word was that one needed a bigger HDD plus a 2nd SDD in order to do music production and video editing. When recently video editing a song, I was maximizing my processor. So, I was thinking of getting an updated computer with a similar setup. However, I see that in 2024, many of the hard drives are now already an SSD, such as a 1 tigabyte SSD. So, is it still recommended to have 2 disc drives, so one is dedicated to storage and the other to music and video production? Or is a 1 TB SSD enough to do it all? Thanks. LNovik

Thanks for that info, JnTuneTech LNovik

Thanks for looking that up and replying. LNovik

Hi, Though this involves music, it doesn't have anything directly to do with Cakewalk, other than I'm trying to make a recording with the help of cakewalk My question is: on the song, Funeral for a Friend, by Elton John, does anyone know what the castanets like sound is that appears repeatedly but only over a short segment of the song. It must be about 4-5 minutes into this approx 11 minute song, I suspect it may be a jam block or castanets--or just a synthesized version of either. it's where Elton plays those dramatic chords near the end of the first 1/2 of the song, and before the "Love lies Bleeding" section starts. Thanks. LNovik

Hi, Thanks for the replies. I also learned a new acronym, YMMV. The piano audio track conversion was just an example, because I also want to convert other tracks as well. Most of these other ones are monophonic, so my Melodyne Assistant can do the job-at least somewhat. The whole set of audio tracks making up the song was only in the $10 range total. The song was Funeral for a Friend, by Elton John--always a favorite song of mine. I like the midi versions as well for multiple reasons. I make a video out of the songs I download, targeted to just family and friends. So, ie, the MIDI version helps me learn the parts that I then play myself--such as guitar and keyboards. OF course, I could also just buy another version of the MIDI version, so that I can learn the notes from that one. However, it's nice when they sync together. Sometimes, in fact, I'll not like 1 or 2 of the instruments on the audio track version, and I'll replace them with my own instruments thru the MIDI track version. Lastly, as some of you may know, I never realized that the Bass part of Funeral for a Friend/Love lies bleeding contains such intricate areas of bass playing. Well, on my version, I think the playing strays off tempo several times. To my ears, it throws off the beat. So, by converting the bass to midi, I think it's a bit easier to see all the notes on the staff view and experiment with moving them slightly earlier or later. Or I'm thinking, maybe even apply some quantization. Lastly, I should say this audio version is from Song Galaxy, which I think is located in Australia. They often DO have associated midi tracks, but not always. They'll even usually make up corresponding MIDI tracks for perhaps about $50 or $60, I believe. But, they said, for a song of this length, it would be much more expensive, and out of my range. I must say that the bang for the buck (BFB?) of most of these audio files, including this one, IS pretty excellent. And, the other advantage is that they even come with the solo voice and voice harmony parts. So, I usually use the solo voice as a reference, and then disable it. But, it's nice to have the harmonies right in the same package. As I said, this is all for nonprofessional use, so I can get away with all of this. Thanks again for the comments. LNovik

If I have, ie, a piano audio track, which I have paid to download from a third party, is there a tool that I can use to convert that track to a MIDI track--so I'll end up with my original audio track and it's corresponding MIDI track below it. I'd like to do that for multiple tracks of a song, but I'll start with the example of just 1 track. Thanks. LNovik

Hi, Thanks for the reply. I DO see that the tempo from the MIDI track I'm trying to learn keeps changing--as you had suggested. SO, when I go to Project and insert a Tempo change that is quite a bit slower, it only lasts for a second until it goes back to a new faster tempo. I did try going to the Tempo track and selected "offset Tempo Map". However, that did not work to bring the tempo of that whole approx 12 measure section to 1 uniformly slow speed. Perhaps I was not doing it correctly? Thanks. LNovik

I am trying to learn a lead from a downloaded MIDI file/song. In the past, I have just gone to "Project," and chosen Insert Tempo Change. I can easily do that, and the tempo DOES change for a second or two, but then reverts to the original tempo. Perhaps it's the software that I've downloaded. I've tried it just for the track I'm working on and even after choosing all the tracks. Is there a way to get the MIDI speed to, in this case, slow down, and stay that way for the approx 12 measures that I want it to while learning how to play the lead? I do find it much easier to learn a lead when first slowing down the tempo considerably. Thanks. LNovik

Yes, it did occur to me that perhaps everything else was just too low, as Dickens has suggested. But, I guess, I didn't try enough to just make everything else louder. I will try this today. Also, I will look at those tutorials that John Vere has offered. Thanks for these replies. LNovik

I recorded my voice in a project. I then duplicated the track twice. In the 2nd and 3rd tracks, I nudged one to the right and the other to the left. I did lower the volume of these extra tracks. However, my volume is much higher than the instruments. What is the best plug-in (hopefully one that comes with Cakewalk, but not necessarily) to lower in amplitude the vocals. I HAVE tried lowering the gain of each track, but it only helps somewhat. I even tried to lower gains in the Nectar plugin, but it's still too loud. I know I could just keep lowering gain and volume everywhere, but I wonder if there is a good plug in that will lower and compress it so I don't loss the quieter volume parts completely. Thanks. LNovik

I DID recheck my computer desktop setup. When I push the computer keyboard inward on the sliders that it sits on, some of the keys on this computer keyboard do graze against the top of the structure that it's being pushed into. However, it does NOT appear to be enough to cause any timeline stuttering to occur. In other words, if I see there is NO stuttering when I hit the Play button and I then push the computer keyboard in all the way, hitting the tops of the keys and so being compressed slightly, it does NOT cause the timeline to start stuttering. In other words, I do not think that this is the cause of my timeline cursor stutter, and I'd like to appeal to others for any fresh ideas. Thanks. LNovik

Thanks for asking for that confirmation. I must say that the only time I ever press the Pause key is when the timeline cursor is not moving smoothly (or "stuttering") from left to right. In that case, I then hit the Pause key and the timeline motion smooths out. I guess if I ever hit the Pause button when the timeline was moving smoothly, it might cause it to start jumping, but I wouldn't know for sure. My point is that my timeline cursor seems to stutter at least every few minutes when I am involved in a song project. As I reread this, I will see if hitting my Pause button causes the stuttering. I say this because my keyboard on my NON-laptop computer is on a slider type of platform, so that when I'm not hitting any computer keyboard keys, I push it forward underneath my work surface. Perhaps that right upper Pause key is getting pushed against something during this process, enough to cause the stuttering? LNovik

I’m again writing about my “jumping cursor.” I recently reviewed some old notes and deleted some files, which someone had rec’ed. That did not help. I DO know how to hit the Pause button on the upper right corner of my computer keyboard, but it seems I have to do this at least every 5 minutes on my retracted keyboard. Are there any other new suggestions of how to combat this problem? Thanks. LNovik Dell, i7 8700 CPU 3.2 GHz RAM: 16 GB Samsung SSD 860, EVO 500GB Hard drive is ST2000DM001-1ER164. Windows 10 OS, and 64 bit OS

I had found this thread when I was looking for a solution to hanging notes. After I just now solved this very frequent and annoying problem, I was looking for where this thread was. Luckily I had copied some of the things that I believe Mark McLeod had said, so I was finally able to find it when I searched on that whole paragraph. I hadn't realized it was a Cakewalk thread, which is the DAW I use. I too had a MIDISport 4x4. I realized that even though I had thought I had updated the drivers in the past year or two, I went back to their site after reading this thread. The only Driver choice on their site that came close to my model was the MIDISport 4x4 Anniversary edition. I had been reluctant to get another MIDI interface for fear it would not solve the problem. However, when I realized that my hanging notes would even occur in a new project, with no other MIDI information challenging the device, I finally made my move. I bought an 8x8 MOTU Express 128. Though it's only been a couple of days, I've had no hanging whatsoever, and I used to hear it at least every few minutes. Thanks for helping me with this. LNovik