Glenn Stanton

i give it a song name as the main project folder, then create individual projects as needed - record, vocals, solos, mix, master, etc. if you're creating parts of a song with your naming convention, that can work although i would tend to think of those more as tracks in my record / mix projects. for my record and mix templates i use a numbering track name scheme "I01 KICK" "I02 SNARE" "I20 BASS" etc so a) i can easily sort to my "normal" ordering of things, and b) space to insert additional tracks in similar order - "I21 BASS2" etc. then when i export to tracks, then import into my mix template, the tracks are all pre-named and ready to go. in your case, i might label the tracks (in my system) "I30 GUITAR C DRP CLS" "I34 GUITAR D DRP ES PCK" etc etc so if i use the track sort command all my tracks get orderd as i would expect + additionally by Key and then type. a number could be inserted into the mix tro further refine ordering.

it's something i bought a while back in the SONAR days - but many "trial" versions of things often do noises, beeps, or blanking to remind you to buy the license ? of course with the proper attitude and some work, you might combine a bunch of those into modern music ?

i updated my laptop and forgot to re-apply my CA-2 license and was getting blanks and clicks. until i opened the settings and got the message about the license and that the audio would be disrupted periodically.

if the app isn't saving the last used folder - maybe create a directory junction in your documents folder (e.g. 0-PSpresets - the 0- forces it to the top when sorting in name order) so it's the first folder when you are in the documents folder. e.g. mklink /J "C:\Users\USERNAME\Documents\0-PSPresets" "C:\Cakewalk Content\Common\Perfect Space Presets". doing this allows you to alias the target folder -- shortcuts don't support aliasing per se although you can rename them, the sort ordering doesn't always work as expected...

maybe copy all the step sequencer into a MIDI track and then edit directly as MIDI the parts you want to change, or a separate MIDI track (feeding the same drums) with the additional bits. then if you want to make changes in the overall pattern you edit the step sequencer and your other parts are still intact... either way i think a second MIDI track would be beneficial. for me i just create MIDI & generate the track for each individual instrument so i can alter them however i like ?

are the clip automation set on the take lanes or the primary track? it may be one reason why it works consistently wih "flatten comp" applied versus the take lanes. even so, i would expect the take lanes clip automation to work correctly ?

yes, the VoS plugins are primarily designed to add character all the "leveling amps" "compressors" etc i like density on certain mixes as it does add a bit of high freq harmonics. doesn't work for all materials. there is a web site (can't remember off the top) that did a bunch of detailed technical assessments on VST / AAX compressors vs their actual hardware version - one of the things i remember is that the CW CA-2 got really good ratings as it's harmonics (levels, types, range) were more consistent with the HW products than many others. in general the Waves and Slate did really well on their models as well (all of them) but not surprising as they do model their stuff pretty closely when its mimicking HW... but if you're looking for clean w/o character (ala transparent) those are harder to find in free versions.

any thoughts on the variety of sound plugins? Density mkIII Thrillseeker etc?

i use tracks grouped into a buss - drums, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, pianos, synths, vocals, etc. these busses become my main mix, and then if something in the group needs to be tweaked at a track level, easy enough to adjust the balance within the buss grouping. for soloing then i just solo the buss, or the stem (low, drum, vox, instruments, solo), or worst case back to the individual track(s) - but usually i don't solo both a track and a buss since it can create weird routing situations. e.g. drums buss + pdrums + kick feed into the drums stem. so if i'm going to tweak the drums parts (kick, snare, hh, toms etc) i'll solo the drums stem (a stereo buss feeding the master). all the vibes, reverbs, etc associated to the drums are there now. and i can solo the tracks or mute some to tweak the track levels. but i wouldn't try to solo the bass track or buss unless i soloed the low stem as well. edit: one quick note -- you could do all this with aux tracks in lieu of busses. this is handy when you want to keep the group track next to the associated tracks. for example: you might create a "drums" aux track which has a mix of the drum parts, and perhaps more than one which has various tracks so you can set the levels via automation, and then these feed the drums "stem" buss (where you might do other processing)

this is similar to this question on separating the monitoring volume from the master. @Lord Tim has it correct. also:

yeah, i've been re-doing a few old (like 2003 old) projects where i liked the overall feel and basically i just kept only the audio and midi. then re-do all the instruments and effects (and perhaps some performance updates ? )

i installed SD 2 and SD 3 on my CbB - along with a number of older apps for old project compatibility. as far as i know, the SD 3 program files are different and not compatible. the sound files should be ok -- however you probably need to re-map them. but even with those projects that used the SD 2, as long as my project has the MIDI, i just use my AD 2 setup -- much nicer drum VI.

you could set your H/W output to something other than 0 but another way is simply create a monitoring buss, use a pre-fader send to it from your master, then set the master output to none, and the monitoring buss to your h/w. now you can independently control the master level and your monitoring level. if you don't have a monitor controller - you can create a "minus12" buss which is set 12db lower than your monitoring buss - also fed from a prefader send on the master and most times muted - then mute the monitor and unmute the minus12 when you want "whisper quiet"...

using the time delays across sources can create a nice chorus effect by design...

create an export task and give it a meaningful name. for my i have a "default export" which is all tracks in my template + the PRINT buss. for my recording template there is a separate task called "Tracks" which export the tracks as individual files for later use in mixing. if i need to tweak, i do a recall settings, update, and then update the task (or create a new one - like "stems" etc)

technically you could use a plain old delay plugin and turn off the dry signal. most like if i was trying to align tracks i'd start by moving the clip(s)

for tremolo, i would want to control rate as well as on/off and depth. i tend to switch on/off the distortion for various sections - so on/off and level are good. and reverb - on/off, time, and level. if i need more variations i would likely create a second synth and related bits -- like chorus, phase, etc etc. presumably though i can use the automation envelopes for the rate changes.

the "Render Region FX" is the 4th one down from the create one... ? one other cool thing -- you can make a copy of the notes as MIDI on the upper right of the clip, you can left-click on the rfx icon and select Copy Notes to MIDI... and then paste those into a MIDI track. can be handy for augmenting pads, solos, etc...

so now when i want the FET compressor I just add the VST version to the FX module (like i do for other VST) in PC (I generally don't use the FX section in tracks - just keep everything in the PC side)

do you have a audio output selected in your preferences? are you routing the audio track outputs to the selected audio output? if you're routing the audio tracks to a master buss -- was the plugin on the buss which is muted? or the buss muted? i usually follow the meters - if the midi track meter is moving and the audio track is not, then i figure out if the synth output is enabled on that audio track. if the audio track meter is moving but the output (h/w) is not - then i check that my audio track is set to use the h/w output or a buss. etc etc.

i found a similar issue with the FET compressor -- works fine as VST but crashes in PC. based on the debug info it seems to be a UI sizing / ratio issue -- the VST UI is ratio is differernt -- quite large and wide whereas a PC version of a UI (for other VST / PC plugin without an issue) the size may be different, but the ratio is the mostly same. so, there may be an issue with resizing or there is no PC UI in the plugin -- or both...

might be the iota mini has problems... i see a number of different users using different daws having issues including simply changing a preset causing crashes... might need to wait until a stable version is released.

yeah or use expansion and compression then apply effects. ? probably easy to cook up a two knob PC FX with the Sonitus compressor...

it would be nice to have global as well as project settings for this. so by default my tracks open to z-height+y-zoom, but if in my project i was them to open further and/or zoom then that is retained in the project level settings.

+1 i have an M-Audio USB MIDI hub (4x4) and all my keyboards show up as distinct names: Keystation 49, SP-88, Q49 etc. even my Proteus rack unit shows up. and for USB specific units like my Casio LK which has its own driver show up as well.