Jim Fogle

One example, I want to record myself. Prior to recording I mentally do a count-in while tapping the requested "tap tempo" button. The tempo switches from the 120 bpm default to my "tapped" count-in tempo of 102.37 bpm. I'm now ready to record. The Transport Module has three metronome buttons just to the right of the tempo window. The buttons turn on the metronome during playback, metronome during record and opens the metronome settings window. Perhaps one of those buttons can perform double duty as a tap tempo button.

What an excellent production. Great vocals, great instrumentation, great arrangement, great mix. It "feels" right.

@pwalpwal. I get what you're saying and agree more than you might think. I get aggravated almost anytime someone evangelizes a thought and did not suggest that method of attracting new users, But perhaps you misunderstood my post . @Joe Dun restated my thought much better than I possibly can. @Francois van der Merwe's comment is very interesting. I wonder how many forum members have looked at the online DAW. I admit I haven't but not for the reason many suspect. The online DAW requires the user to install and use Google Chrome and I don't use Chrome. I've tried alternate browsers that rely on Chrome technology but the BandLab.com website rejects them. However, I've used the online mixer available on another website and was happily surprised at the ease of use.

Welcome to the forum! I recognize your name as I subscribe to Bedroom Producer. I hope you'll often visit the forum.

@Tezza, Excellent post. I didn't see anything you wrote that I disagree with. The key point for me is we (forum members, DAW users and music lovers) HAVE to come up with solutions that will attract new people to the business or hobby. @chuckebaby, We have disagreed, I just can't remember when the last time was.

The idea is simple, you're new to computer based audio production so how do you get started? I'm proposing this thread as the go to thread to help beginners get started in this hobby. If you've found a video, downloadable pdf file, online course or other content suitable for an absolute beginner with no prior experience in the field of audio production then please place your links here. I'll begin by placing links to some content I'm aware of. Website: Play With Your Music http://www.playwithyourmusic.org/ Online Classes: The Technology of Music Production https://www.coursera.org/learn/technology-of-music-production? The Art of Music Production https://www.coursera.org/learn/producing-music These two online classes can be audited for FREE. YouTube Video Series: Mixing Fundamentals https://youtu.be/ydbkZ1ZWQGM

@Cookie Jarvis, I agree with you 100%. Audio production is not easy, simple or easy to learn. However a beginner is going to need more than the will to learn. They will also need a roadmap to follow, some direction. If someone wants to have a successful learning experience the learning experience needs to have structure; a starting point, middle and end. That starting point will depend somewhat on where each beginners interest lies. For example someone interested in recording performances will have different needs than someone wanting to create using loops. Yet both will need to learn about mixing and distribution. The Morten Saether "Getting Started" thread with links to various videos is a good start assuming you are familiar with audio production or perhaps live sound but if you have no background in audio production even those videos are a deep dive because you see what Cakewalk by BandLab can do but you'll have little or no idea what needs to be done.

Depending on internet traffic and your internet connection the initial download can take an hour or even longer. As suggested by others your best bet is to start the download, turn around and walk away from your computer. Also make sure your computer doesn't go into selective power down, sleep or hibernate mode because of the lack of user activity. The good news is once the initial download is up and running, future updates are comparatively quick at five minutes or less with only new or modified files downloaded and installed.

Belated Merry Christmas to everyone with BandLab Technologies, fellow forum members and DAW users everywhere! May your 2020 be prosperous, healthy and bright.

@Lexi, Greetings! Welcome to the forum, to Cakewalk by BandLab and to audio production. Unfortunately, audio production and DAWs in general have a pretty steep learning curve in the beginning. It would help us help you if we had an idea of (1) what task or tasks you would like to accomplish, (2) your computer specifications, (3) what external hardware you have. I can give you some general suggestions that were useful to me when I was first beginning in audio production. Structure is very important in the beginning. Information needs to be presented in a structured manner, 1-2-3 not 3-1-2 for example, so there is a beginning, middle and end. There are several free, online classess that are good starting points. I'm partial to Coursera's Music Production classes: https://www.coursera.org/learn/technology-of-music-production#about & https://www.coursera.org/learn/producing-music#about The classes are free to audit; you just need to read close to find out how to audit. Don't purchase a specialization program unless you want to. Another great educational source is Groove3.com: https://www.groove3.com/all-access-pass . One year of access is currently $99 US or $15 for one month. I purchased video series for Sonar, which Cakewalk by BandLab is based on, and for another program I use, Band-in-a-Box. Both series are wonderful. Another free source is Play With Your Music: http://www.playwithyourmusic.org/ It is an experimental teaching website but has some REALLY good information. It's just not organized in a traditional manner. Finally. the Cakewalk Reference Guide is a pdf download available at the top of each webpage under the Cakewalk By BandLab tab.

Anything is possible but BandLab's focus seems to be on making the DAW the best it can be. The question of what will happen to the rest of the intellectual property has been asked multiple times and in multiple ways. The answer has been consistent, nothing has been decided beyond Cakewalk by BandLab will always be a "free to download and use" product. My guess is no one outside BandLab will have prior knowledge of any changes until changes are made. Why dampen or raise expectations by spreading rumors about upcoming actions beforehand?

@Jack Stoner, My suggestion to update was based in the Win 10 Pro build information (1901) in your original post. Good to read you're current. If you haven't tried clearing browser cookies or flushing the browser cache you may want to. Some information such as settings carry over even after an update and it could be as simple as a stuck data bit.

@Mr Snowman, Welcome to the forum and to Cakewalk by BandLab! If you like to read when you're offline there is the excellent Cakewalk by BandLab guide. At the top, left of each forum webpage is a "Cakewalk by BandLab" tab. Select the tab and then select "Reference Guide PDF" to download a manual that explains Cakewalk by BandLab in great detail but also has a bunch od generic information about digital audio workstations, or DAWS, in general as well as computer audio. I mainly mix audio created outside the box, play with audio and midi loops and create midi. I don't have an audio interface but have found a simple surface controller useful. The surface controller allows me to use regular knobs and faders to move faders and turn knobs inside the DAW

Here is a Wikipedia comparison chart that lists many popular software packages , what operating systems they use and has a feature comparison chart. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_digital_audio_editors

@John Nicholson, Hi. Welcome to the forum and to Cakewalk by BandLab or CbB. At the top left of each forum webpage is a "Cakewalk by BandLab" tab. Select the tab and then select the "Reference Guide PDF" link to download the "Cakewalk by BandLab Reference Guide". The Reference Guide is more than 1700 pages of information about CbB, digital audio workstations (DAWs) in general, midi, loops and computer audio. More than 1700 pages is a lot of information so an easy way to find specific information is to open the document in Adobe Acrobat and then press the Control + F keys at the same time on your computer keyboard. Ctrl + F opens a search window where you enter words. Adobe Acrobat will report how many times the word occurs in the document along with providing "previous" and "next" buttons to navigate to each time the word appears. As an example, in the Cakewalk by BandLab Reference Guide the word "glossary" appears 14 times. The first time you select "next" you discover there is a glossary which starts on page 1675. Select the "previous" button and you'll see the glossary ends on page 1686. A popular online glossary has been maintained by the online music store, Sweetwater since 1997. The online glossary is available here: https://www.sweetwater.com/insync/category/glossary/ Merry Christmas and have a happy, prosperous and healthy New Year!

@Noel Borthwick, Thanks for that answer. I thought the Melodyne plugin always retained the ara association. It's not clear to me where the Melodyne plugin is placed so the plugin is a region based effect. Please provide more detail.

@Jack Stoner, It's likely some kind of data is stuck in the Edge browser cache. I would try going through the browser settings to remove the site history, delete cookies and refresh the browser. The browser might also be refreshed by updating the operating system to V1909.

@Starship Krupa, May I humbly suggest you share your discovery with @Morten Saether by personal message? I've communicated with Mr. Saether by personal message several times to offer observations and suggestions about the Cakewalk Reference Guide (CRG). Each time I've been pleasantly surprised at the quick response and positive reception I've received in return. One observation I'll share here. The last revision of the Sonar Reference Guide was more than 2200 pages in size while the first release of the Cakewalk Reference Guide was around 1700 pages. So about 500 pages were culled. I believe, but don't know as fact, that Mr. Saether is a documentation department of one.

@Freyja Grimaude-Valens thank you for your clarification. Does the new "Display Muted Takes" feature introduced in the 2019.11 update work similar to the way you desire?

@Starship Krupa My history with Cakewalk is using Music Creator 2, 3, 4 and 6 (I also have 6 Touch but never installed it since I don't have a Windows compatible touchscreen device). The Sonar Reference Guide (SRG) was not included with any of the Music Creator products or as a downloadable file since Music Creator was a consumer product and not part of the Sonar family. I discovered SRG when it was included as part of the free download of Sonar Home Studio I acquired through a magazine. So the Cakewalk Reference Guide (CRG) is as new to me as the DAW itself. Like you I am elated the Cakewalk by BandLab Reference Guide is available as a download and is revised with each update. As much as gets changed from update to update, @Morten Saether has his hands full keeping up with the updates. Kudos to him and the developers! Unfortunately, in my eyes it is a much better reference manual than reference guide. The short GIF videos @Morten Saether creates for the forum release announcements provide much more how to use guidance than the guide. The guide provides much detail but little how to.

I strongly disagree with this statement, especially if applied to audio production beginners and hobbyists. One issue is terminology. The 1,712 page Cakewalk Reference Manual has a 14 page glossary! The glossary is filled with gems like "xRPN = RPN and NRPN". Who has ever heard of a groove clip outside the world of Sonar or Cakewalk by BandLab? Of course that's even if you know the DAW has a pdf reference manual. The Cakewalk Reference Manual is NOT part of the Cakewalk by BandLab download and is not available through the BandLab Assistant; not even as a checkbox selection on the add-ons screen. You don't think 16 pages of pc keyboard shortcuts is a little too much, a little intimidating? If that doesn't indicate the complexity of the software, nothing I can say will. Having said all that I will say I am extremely grateful to creators that provide a guided tour of the software with video tutorials. Each and every video has been very informative. However the issue soon will be one of organization with some videos providing an overview, some feature specific and the quantity increasing everyday until it will soon get to the point where newbies won't know where to start. I think the Groove3.com videos are worth purchasing just because of how well they are organized and how the series was planned from beginning to end. I very much believe the Groove3.com videos offer the perfect organizational template for anyone making Cakewalk by BandLab videos to follow.

Happy Holidays back at you Jesse!

With the DAW pulling the load of supporting NKS then you would not be restricted to using only hardware with NKS support built-in to obtain use of the features NKS offers. Per the link I provided above, One example is plug-ins that follow the NKS standard will automatically map their controls in a consistent manner no matter what hardware controller you use.

Jesse, I think I get what you're shooting for but it's not my cup of tea. I think the lyrics have a good story to tell but the song format doesn't hold my interest. Even though you CLEARLY state this is an experimental song I hope you'll try again with a more traditional song format.

Ah the power of television! I wonder if the story would have ended differently without the presence of the camera. While I was in the military I stored my music equipment with my brother. All my equipment was stolen while stationed outside the US. I came back on leave and tracked down the shells of my drum kit in a pawn shop. Even though I was able to recite shell serial numbers by memory my drums were not returned because my brother did not list the serial numbers on the original police report. I was awakened about 3 AM by the sound of metal on metal bashing into each other. I look out my bedroom window to see a big wheels 4 X 4 pick up truck spinning wheels in my front yard. The truck drove OVER my car to get into my front yard. I turn on the porch light , run outside with a camera in hand and take pictures. I took pictures of the truck, the license tag and the (drunken) driver hanging out the window giving me the finger. Police never found the truck or driver. Because of "privacy" concerns would not tell me where or to who the license tag was registered to. When I pushed the issue with the police I received three moving violations in three months. Went to court and beat all three. I'm not a fan of the police and the power they wield.