LNovik@aol.com

Thank you, all. After reading your replies, it was a while before I found the ripple edit button, but that fixed it. To respond to your excellent point, Amberwolf, I do appreciate the importance of describing the problem I am having accurately. However, I don't think I have a much lingo as you guys do. So, to describe my problem on the subject line in a sentence seemed a bit too steep for me. Therefore, I just labeled it as a problem with importing. At least, that's what I thought i said. Indeed, I did say, "can't import." I'll try to be more specific next time. And I am serious when i say this. I really appreciate the support I get from the individuals who monitor this site. Thanks again. Though nobody answered my question about whether I keep asking questions on this site or if there is a newer one. I guess I'll find out as I go along.

I switched to Sonar free version about a week ago. Prior to that, I was easily able to bring in a wav file into my project. Today, I again tried. I did it with the regular "import" option from the File pull down menu. And then I tried it by simply dragging the wav file into a free audio track at the bottom of my other tracks. I actually WAS able to very easily do it. However, when I did this, every track above it was moved over to the right. So, specifically, I tried to place this approx 8 min wav file at about the 10th measure. When I started to listen, I heard the original project playing and then everything got slient. I then started to hear the sounds from the imported file. But every other track--and there were more than 50 of them, got moved until the point on the timeline where the imported wav file ended. Luckily, I was able to move all my files back into their correct position by hitting the undo button. But, of course, I can't import my wav file. I was thinking that perhaps the file was a different bit or sample rate. But I have to been able to import similar files until a week ago. Could this be a shortcoming of the new free Sonar? Lastly, is there a new forum to post questions to for Cakewalk Sonar users? Thanks very much for your time.

Thank you all. I had tried this at least 1 time after the first reply that included the "select" and then, All AudioSnap/Slipstretched. Perhaps I did not have the Audiosnap palette active at the time. But when I just tried it again, I realize that something was happening. First, I noticed that this time, all of the clips I had been working on did become highlighted. I then hit the "bounce to clips" menu item, and I could see it going thru 1 clip at a time. SPecifically, I could see that on the top of the screen, in the middle, something that represented data would sweep from left to right---and start again. So I realized the process was occurring with multiple files. I then saw that all of the tracks in my song--about 90 of them---were highligthed! So perhaps it was bouncing to clips every cip in the project. It then asked me if I wanted to bounce any clips from previous lifetimes. Ok, perhaps that's not totally true. But, of course, the bottom line is that I WAS then able to save it in the CWB that I am accustomed to using. So thank you all again for your support.

Thank you, 57Gregy. I thought I had found something useful in your reply. Specifically, nar the end, when it said: Editing audio Basic audio editing To select all AudioSnap and stretched clips On the Edit menu, point to Select and click All AudioSnap/Slipstretched. So, when I saw this, I though I could hit the Select choice under the Edit menu, and then point to and click on "Select and click all audiosnap/slipstreched. " And then the tracks and/or clips I had been working with with the Audio Snap function would be highlighted somehow so I could see them. But that doesn't appear to occur when I hit that Select button. However, I seem to have hit the "bounce to clip" with every part of every track that I had been working on. Howeveer, I keep getting an error message when I try to save my song as a CWB file saying I have current clips that have not been bounced to clip. I'm just wonderig if anyone else has a solution to this. Thanks.

My large song file has some tracks where I have used the Audio Snap function to align some real drum tracks that I imported from a friend. I now want to save the project. I usally use the cakewalk bundle (CWB) file type. However, it now says I can't save because there are some clips that have not been bounced to clip(s). I have repeatedly gone over the clips that I have worked on. I guess it's possible that I missed one somewhere. Is there any view or other function that will tell me what clips have NOT been bounced to clips? Thanks. LNovik

I have an idea of what everyone's saying, but not sure. I still want this to be ME playing the parts, though I will be adjusting some of the notes. I think I'll just continue to critically listen to the song sections, and when I hear anything that stands out as being early or late, I'll just manually adjust the timing of those specific note(s.) Thanks for the feedback. Larry Novik

I'm doing an instrumental song cover where the main verse has 3 separate tracks playing in harmony. That is, Jessica by the Allman Brothers. I know I can use Audio Snap or Vocal sync with audio tracks. But I have recorded these tracks first in MIDI so that I can edit them more easily. I also realize I could prob just convert each MIDI track to an audio track, and then sync them all with the above tools. But I would think syncing them first in MIDI would sound best. Does anyone know any method to sync these 3 MIDI tracks. Or, at least, the main verses (sections) of 3 different MIDI tracks. If not, I guess I can simply listen carefully to all the tracks and adjust notes manually when I hear them not syncing up perfectly. Thanks. Larry Novik

I went back to the Adobe Premiere Elements forum. For anyone who doesn't know, that's their entry level (though still pretty functional) video editing software. They were able to show me a very simple maneuver--simply clicking on an arrow to enlarge the track--that then displays audio transients. So thanks for all your suggestions. They did lead me in the correct direction. LNovik

Sorry, but I can't seem to get Emails when my questions are replied to on this Forum. So, thanks all for that input. Re: the last rec, that video from Youtube applies to Adobe Premiere PRO. I have Adobe Premier Elements. Also, about sending a copy of my last video. Good idea. I'll send that link now. Thanks. I discuss the blond wig at the very end.

So, first thanks to many of you who answered the basic question of my being able to see/utilize time code. I now realize I need professional video cameras for that. Though I do use a basic Canon SLR to do my video recording. But I'm assuming you mean a pro video recorder. Secondly, in my Adobe video editor--at least under my current settings in the program--I don't see the audio tracks that accompany and are just under the associated video tracks--as having any audio transients. I only see a solid bar. However, I will look to see if I can change it to a look that includes audio waves. Such as the wavy look of an audio track like one would see in a Cakewalk track. Then I COULD match audio transients, making my syncing much easier. And I DO realize what you mean when you say (something like) don't remove content from a given video track, bc then I'll have to re-sync it when I include a passage from a time later in the song. In general, I do this. I must say that I am pretty inefficient in the way I do videos, though I think they come out pretty well sync'ed. I do all the audio editing in Cakewalk, and then, bring that audio into my video editor. I do not bring any video in Cakewalk, but save it for my video editor. When I do my video, I DO lip sync and (play my instruments)-sync so that it will look like I'm playing live. I HAVE already played whatever I'm showing in the vido when I did the audio recording earlier, so I don't think that's disingenuous. I think it comes out pretty well, though, as I've said, these are not videos for prime time or money making. I'll include my latest here, since I just finished one a couple of weeks ago. In case anyone's interested. Thanks again for all your feedback. LNovik I guess I can't include this video, bc the file is too big.

When I create music videos aimed at friends and family, I find that it is very tricky/time consuming to sync the audio to the video. I'm not talking about just doing it once, but since I break up multiple video tracks to sync with the one audio track I have edited with CBL, I have to do it quite frequently. Though, as I shape this question in my mind, I realize that the place I really want to sync these two is in my video editing software (Adobe Premiere Elements.) However, I know I used to hear about some type of time code, that would--I assume-- make it much easier to pair the audio and multiple video tracks. Is this something that is used? And, if so, how can I access it? What I'm thinking is that thru CBL, I could label the audio with time code. And then match up the video in Adobe with the time code of the video segments. Thanks. LNovik

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