Starship Krupa

If you're using a Stratocaster, make sure your hand isn't hitting that damn volume control!

IMO, best practice is to bounce to a lossless file, then use a converter to create whatever other formats you wish to use for distribution.

Not on my systems. If the VST or VSTi is installed on both systems, it will load automatically on both. Cakewalk projects don't care about what folder the VST is installed in; this is different on all 3 of my systems and works seamlessly. Where things CAN go out of whack is when I've accidentally used the VST2 version of a plug-in on system A when only the VST3 version is installed on system B. This doesn't happen often because I'm diligent about only installing the VST3 version of plug-ins when they are available, but some manufacturers don't allow the user to omit the VST2 version from installation. Vienna may be one of those that doesn't allow the user to select on install, so both versions end up on there unless you delete the VST2 manually after installation. Cakewalk should substitute them automatically if both are installed, but this doesn't always work correctly. This situation can also happen when a company switches from supplying VST2 versions of a product to only supplying VST3. What to do in your case? On the first system, check to see what version of the plug-in is installed. How to do this? You can click on the name of the instrument in the Browser, then look down at the bottom. You can see this in your screen cap. In your case, you have clicked on a plug-in that says it's a VST3. Do this on both systems. If it's different, you can run the installer again and try to select both VST2 and VST3. Otherwise, you're stuck with the procedure outlined earlier in this topic.

I, too get the list of "buy with credit" FX. Probably because I have taken advantage of their freebies in the past.

Actually, Mixcraft has this feature, that's where I got the idea. I don't like to approach the devs with "can Cakewalk have (feature X) just like (DAW X)?" So I have used the feature, it is incredibly handy. The "Mute" button changes with the clip's mute status, which adds a stronger visual cue as to which clips are muted. Cakewalk only has them change shade, which works but isn't as immediately apparent to me (it is in comparison to non-muted clips, but not as much all by itself). Cakewalk has a tendency to relegate some functions to keystroke-only. I think of Cakewalk as being "keyboard-y," which isn't surprising given that the OS the program ran on for its first 5 years of existence was DOS. Mouse? What mouse? Mixcraft, on the other hand, leans toward the mouse (to a fault, IMO). There are so many commands and things that can't be accessed with keystrokes....being able to do things with keystrokes is, I think, considered a luxury or afterthought. When I first started using the program, they had, in the latest release, removed the keystroke command for setting a marker! You set markers by double-clicking in the timeline. I hadn't noticed it when I was demoing the product, because it's so basic. Ever try to comp where you are or have recorded someone else's band and had to either stop the transport to set a marker or hope that your double-click hit the right spot? I found a workaround by the skin of my teeth: it was a command they allowed to be assigned to a MIDI note. So I just set the highest key on my controller to be "set marker." Due to the fuss I raised, they put it back in the next version, but jeez. Their markers are great, though, they have "tails" that run the full height of the track view. It is SO great for lining up clips and note events. What I believe is that with new users, the more stuff that can be in well-organized menus, context menus, and front-facing, the better. Otherwise, they have to look up basic operations, within 5 minutes of starting the program they will be stalled, staring at the screen, maybe rage quitting. I also think DAW and NLE users eventually head in the direction of the keyboard, bringing in more keystrokes as they memorize them. So older, "power" users need powerful keyboard command support, which Cakewalk has, and it has big time. Adding more elements to what is immediately visible can just seem like clutter to someone who already knows that Shift+Space is the command to audition a clip (not exactly the most intuitive key combo). Where keystroke-only commands really fail the new user is that there are only so many letters and numbers on the keyboard, so some of them are going to be pretty counterintuitive. Muste, for instance. If I were new, and someone told me that muting clips was done with a key, the first one I would hit would be "M" for "mute." And then I'd get this funny flag-looking thing in the ruler (which would initially seem to be non-delete-able due to there being no right click context menu for markers; instead, Cakewalk users must click on a marker, hold the mouse button down, then reach across the keyboard with their left hand to the "delete" key over on the right hand side of the keyboard. There is certainly a difference in viewpoint: a veteran user can't imagine why someone would want to go to all the trouble of right-clicking on something, scanning through the resulting context menu, then clicking again when they find the command they want when they could just use a keystroke. They may be forgetting weeks or months it took them to discover and then reliably memorize all those keystrokes. Yeah, RTF 1700-page M. But new users often don't know the nomenclature well enough to even look something up. Even basic terms like "clip" vs. "region," "export" rather than "render" or "mix down," etc. are different from one DAW to the next.

Seems like a great excuse to bump that topic too. ?

In the classic form, as recommended by the Cakewalk QA staff: User reports issue with no step by step repro instructions Read "BR: Theme Editor Copy & Paste Broken" topic on Feedback forum Request step by step procedure to reproduce the issue Observe that user says issue occurs "50% of the time" Observe that user does not supply step by step procedure to duplicate error Actual behavior: user's report of issue is too vague to allow others to attempt to reproduce it Expected behavior: user will list what steps others must take in order to observe the issue (Seriously, I promise to try it if you tell me exactly what steps to take. Be as specific as possible, because it helps minimize the personal differences in how we use the software like launching TE from the Preferences dialog rather than Start Menu, etc.).

I was wondering, I know that you tested various driver models, including WASAPI Shared, but did you ever get around to testing the sync performance of WASAPI Exclusive? They are very different animals. Shared goes through the Windows mixer, which adds a lot of processing and resampling steps to the process. WASAPI Exclusive should sync a lot better than Shared. The Blue Yeti (and most other USB mics) comes with a built-in headphone amp for monitoring, so that should be taken care of. In any case, the OP's stated issue is that when they record this mic in Cakewalk, it sounds muffled, whereas using the BandLab DAW, it sounds fine. Subsequently, almost everyone jumped on the "your mic's not suitable for music production!" train when the OP didn't even say that they're trying to produce music. Cakewalk is used for VO work and podcasts as well as music, maybe this person is just trying to record speech. They didn't mention anything about overdubs or any of that. They've been using the BandLab DAW (presumably to their satisfaction, audio wise) and it would seem they want to graduate to Cakewalk. Guessing from their avatar and handle, good chance that they're doing hip hop or reggae style production, which may be less sensitive to the kind of sync issues that you describe. Probably everything but the vocal is going to be in the box. Whatever else is going on, recording a Blue Yeti mic into Cakewalk shouldn't sound "muffled." Blue Yeti is a Logitech product that sells for about $90. It's not a "turd," it's a decent quality mic aimed at VO work. It comes with its own drivers (although probably not ASIO). And yes, it can be used to lay down vocal or instrument tracks. It's not the ideal tool for making music, but it should be able to perform the task with a bit more effort to set it up. The person has been using a DAW that operates inside a web browser, and people are lecturing them on driver modes. I'll take a wild guess that the browser-based BandLab DAW doesn't sync perfectly. Thank you. As I said, the Blue Yeti is not a "crap mic." And it's the mic that the OP has. If someone doesn't want to help them get it to work with Cakewalk, fine. Me, I'd rather not have a potential Cakewalk user walk away with the conclusion that in order to use the program, you need to fork out $150 more just to be able to lay down a vocal. Then the word goes out that "Cakewalk isn't compatible with USB mics," which isn't true and is detrimental to the program's rep. So, to @Jahrika!: since you mention background noise and level issues, it sounds like maybe you're not getting a hot enough signal from the Yeti for some reason. I don't think you need a plug-in or any special trick, just a good hot level. My hunch is that your signal might be going through the Windows mixer, and the Windows mixer might be attenuating it. In order to help you straighten this out, can you give us more information about your setup? In Cakewalk's Preferences/Audio/Playback and Recording settings, what is your Driver Mode set to? Ideally, it should be ASIO, but if that's not an option, then WASAPI Exclusive. Have you installed the Blue Yeti drivers from Logitech's site? It's s good idea to do so, but supposedly it comes with software that lets you add "broadcast effects," so make sure any Logitech mixer or control panel isn't screwing with your signal. All effects and processing should be switched off. What hardware are you using to listen to your playback? Probably your computer's on-board sound chip? Look in Preferences/Audio/Devices and see what it says about your input and output devices.

AFAIK, GoldWave and Sound Forge are not free, if by free you mean freeware licensed.

The only ones I can think of are Cubasis, Garage Band and BandLab. They're not up to snuff?

Smart-aleck question: if they are EXACTLY the same in every way, why are you trying to copy and paste? If you are trying to paste over an element, doesn't that suggest that they are NOT exactly the same? I have many, many hours of using Cakewalk Theme Editor (you know this) and the only time a paste has ever failed me is when it turned out I either had the the wrong thing in the clipboard or was trying to paste into the wrong element. It may have happened when I tried to paste BMP into PNG, although I'm less sure about that. I would be filing bug reports if I ever found anything wrong with it and I've never filed a report on Theme Editor's itself's behavior. Multiple ones on how Cakewalk renders certain theme elements, but never the editor. I know from reading your topics in the Themes forum that you like to push the edge (so to speak) with shrinking and enlarging screen elements, transparency, etc. Also, after the hours of repetitive work that theming entails, you're absolutely sure you didn't forget to hold ctrl when you hit c or you didn't have the wrong icon highlighted when you copied? In any case, as with reporting any other bug, the developers need to see a 100% (or close) repeatable case before they can do anything about it. If this situation is one that fixes itself when you go back and copy the same exactly alike image again and then try to paste it again, then they won't be able to do anything, but if you can demonstrate that copying from element X in theme editor instance A always results in not being able to paste it into instance B's version of element X, then you'll be able to submit the themes you're editing in instance A and instance B and they should be able to nail it. I'd guess what it involves is the target app knowing what datatypes it's able to accept in a given circumstance, and maybe that can get scrambled somehow.

Also, don't forget to renew your (always free) subscription to TapeOp.

The PITA I am running into with Kontakt is how I need to keep every version of it that I've ever used installed if I want to be able to open it in older projects.

RIP Mr. Brown and thank you for the great music. When I read the topic title, I was afraid that it was Pete Brown, the Microsoft engineer, champion of DAW's in the Windows environment and longtime Cakewalk ally.

A few of those sound like oblique strategies. A four bar loop by itself is not a song, but if you do something over that four bar loop, like play saxophone or rap, it can turn into one. I've started multiple songs (even finished a couple) that started as beats and/or bass lines. I don't think I've ever started a song with an outline. Taking piano lessons with a teacher who is sympathetic to your goals and teaches theory along with it is definitely something I'd recommend to anyone wanting to learn more about how music works. By "sympathetic to your goals" I mean someone who is willing to teach you popular idioms rather than preparing you to become a concert pianist (assuming you're interested in popular music rather than becoming a concert pianist). And speaking of learning how to play, setting the DAW part aside, I would tell my teenage self that in order to play bass in a rock band, you can get by just playing the root note of whatever chord the rhythm guitar player is playing. Then go from there. That would have been very valuable information. Also as a guitarist, if you want to play power chords, just play the top 3 strings and go through a distortion box. The other 3 strings will just clutter up the sound and the distortion will fill in the harmonics. Also: when playing barre chords, you don't need to barre across the strings where your other 3 fingers are playing notes. I mean, duh, but it takes beginners a long time to figure that one out. Your index finger doesn't need to be a friggin' capo.

I can see that. And I GET that even though you said "you" that you're talking about your own process, not making a statement about how anyone else should work. Obviously, there are many, many very talented and successful composers who work entirely in the box. When I read what you wrote it reminds me of how some fiction writers still prefer to use typewriters. You have to have the idea in your head and be confident with it before you commit it to paper, whereas with computer tools, your mind can wander and you can always cut, copy, and paste stuff around. There are just too damn many possibilities when creating with a computer, which is one reason there are so many YouTube videos about how to actually COMPLETE songs. It seems like you fell into a rabbit hole and found a way out. And the visual language of real music notation vs. colored blocks on a grid, there's no contest. Visually, the piano roll is just sideways Tetris. If you can read, you can look at sheet music and hum the tune, and that's not going to happen with the piano roll (you'd just insert "Hum-a-nizer.vst3" on the track and hit Play anyway). For me, I don't even know what "voice leading" is (I'm sure that as with music theory in general, I already use it but don't know what it's called), and I think the DAW is great for motifs because I can copy phrases and just sprinkle 'em around. ? Also, my notation reading and writing skills are....underdeveloped to put it kindly. Forget sight reading, I usually need to write some note letters down next to the notes in the 1st couple of bars before I can work my way through sheet music. I suppose I'm coming at scoring from the opposite direction: although I've wanted for decades to be able to compose orchestral music (and I have done it several times in my head while lucid dreaming, so the data must be up there somewhere ?), it would be impossible for me without using a DAW. I didn't even start trying until I got the (don't laugh) Orchestral Companions from Sonivox to use as backgrounds and then started to think I could compose something with just orchestral sounds. You mention timbre, and that's another area where I think composing with a DAW can actually give an advantage, and it's sort of the other side of the coin that you mention. Timbres do greatly influence the musical choices I make, be they synthetic or orchestral samples. I'm coming at it from a naive direction. Never formally studied orchestral composition, just took a couple of years of piano (with some good basic theory mixed in). Timbre is as much of an element that I "write" with as melody, rhythm, harmony, and the rest. Most of my favorite ideas (including "Sensation") have come from browsing presets in my synths until I find a sound that triggers me emotionally. Then letting my mind come up with a way to use that sound. Sometimes the sound happens in my head first, then I figure out how to make that sound, but very often, it is the instrument that is the starting point. I understand that I'm talking about a different thing, electronic music vs. orchestral, but the same thing can go for orchestral music: I find a good cello sound or harpsichord or whatever and it sparks something. This is especially true for arpeggio patches. I struggled with the idea that building a song around an arp patch is "cheating" or "unoriginal," but some of my favorite songs are built around arpeggiated synths ("Blue Monday," "Little Fluffy Clouds") and ostinatos were around for a looooonnnnnng time before the first sequencer came along ("Linus and Lucy" is the one that always comes to mind). So the hell with it. I'll leave it to someone else to diss my music, I don't need to do it myself. I've written songs that started with lyrics, chord progressions (piano or guitar), bass lines, melodies (usually suggested by a lyric), and definitely timbres. I'll take anything, basically. If it's a good idea, other ideas will flow from it and fill out the song. Thanks for replying, it's cool to hear about these things are from the perspective of a trained composer.

Interesting. There are a lot of people who consider their digital audio workstations to be composition tools. I'm one of them. Were you using yours as a compositional tool and had bad things happen as a result? I'm curious as to what you consider the pitfall(s) to be.

Numero uno is that I would have warned myself about the audible effect of jitter and staying away from interfaces from before the JetPLL era. And I would have only purchased a single 8-input interface rather than springing for a pair of them that I could chain together. I think there was one single occasion where I used 10 of my 16 inputs, and very few where I used more than 4 (I track drums using a 4-mic setup). I'd probably warn myself away from mixing plug-ins that combine multiple functions (compression, expansion, EQ, saturation whatever) under the hood with only 2 or 3 controls (Trackspacer is the NOTABLE exception). The tracks in my earliest mixes have too many of those pulling each one in different directions. Really, though, I don't look back and see big missteps or long detours, only a learning process that continues to this day. It takes time to learn mix engineering, and part of that time is discovering things that don't work. I sought out good advice, both from friends and from what was around on the web. Still do. I will say, though, that there is some cliche "wisdom" that I was subjected to that I would never throw at a n00b. And more than one "rule" that I consistently break.

It depends on what one considers "best," I'd say. If someone watched a product introduced a year or two ago, wanted it, but couldn't justify the purchase, then saw it go on sale at a deep discount, then yes. That's a common scenario. Glitchmachines' Tactic and iZotope Neoverb were like that for me. But if someone has been waiting for their favorite company to release a new product and said product is released at a deep intro discount, that could be a "best" deal as well. Also not an uncommon scenario. MeldaProduction MTurboAmp was like that for me.

Unfairly dismissed. ?

I've been a fan of both the visuals and music for the French cinema company Studio Canal's intro logo. They own a lot of catalog films, so their logo comes up a lot when watching streaming services. The prismatic effect reminds me of the kaleidoscopic slit scan effects used toward the end of the 60's in 2001: A Space Odyssey and ABC's Movie of the Week intro. Tonight I decided to see if I could find out more about the theme. Turns out it was written by Alexandre Desplat, who among other accomplishments, bagged a Best Original Score Oscar for The Shape of Water. Turns out there's a video of him conducting the orchestra at the recording: I've been messing around with writing music that could be played by a small orchestra and I'm in awe of the beauty and feeling that this guy manages to evoke in 20 seconds.

We could ask Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Tich....

As far as virtual instruments, Break Tweaker definitely changed my game. Xpand!2 put a ton of great sounds at my fingertips. Hybrid 3 with its crazy dual arpeggiators has patches that I've built songs around. MSoundFactory's Meldway Grand is so good that I don't feel bad about having to get rid of my baby grand.

I would like to see this video. Is it on YouTube?

This is an appropriate question for the Feedback forum. My guess is that The Coffee House is the least read forum for anyone with the ability to make that change. I would like a "Love" reaction. As for a shrug, I think "Meh" already takes care of "I'm so indifferent to what you said that I must let you and the world know." A thing I like about this forum is how little I feel like using any reaction but "Like," "Thanks, and "Good Idea," so I'd prefer adding more positive reactions than negative ones.