Robert McClellan

Am I correct in that I can no longer use Cakewalk unless I pay for it now? I tried the last release and cannot access projects that i am in the middle of finishing for clients without activating.

My Ultimate Cakewalk Course (featured on the Pro Mix Academy) is now free on the YouTube channel as well as Mixing A Song In Cakewalk!

My whole Ultimate Cakewalk Course is now free on the YouTube channel as well!

First off, I would say (as has already been stated), check your buffers and slide it closer to safe mode. Secondly, I have a pretty fast high-end computer and even with higher track counts I will freeze things for two different reasons. The obvious reason is to save on CPU usage, the not so obvious reason is to innocent mark those tracks as tracks that I have got to a point where they sound like I want them in context with the mix. This keeps me from going back to them later and kind of check them off as done. There are some negative side effects to this as well. But not anything major, just keep this in mind. if a track has been frozen any adjustments that you make to that track from that point forward if you were to unfreeze that track would be reversed. so if you’re going to make any adjustments to a frozen track, unfreeze it first and then make your adjustments and refreeze. That helps!

The new SongStarter feature in BandLab may just be an awesome way to kick that writers block to the curb! It may take a few tries, but at the least you'll have an idea to go off of. The main thing is that it gets the creative juices flowing and allows for new and fresh sounds to be produced instead of reaching for the same chords or samples again. Have you used it? Let me know what you think? Have you made a song with it? Then share it with me and I'll feature it on the channel! Here's to staying creative and getting out of writers rut! Robert DREAM-CREATE-ACHIEVE

Sign Up to get reminded about this event on March 20th! Sign Up Here! We will be having a giveaway, as well as revealing the winner of the Studio Without Walls Song Contest. A big thank you to our guest judges Matthew Weiss, Ady Parzentny, Kris Bradley, and David Glenn! Likewise, a big thanks to our sponsors, IK Multimedia and BandLab.

Recently, I had the privilege of doing a review for IK Multimedia’s “SampleTron 2” an awesome VSTi with all of the feel of the 60’s and 70’s under the hood. I shared the review with my audience and tagged IK Multimedia in the social posts. To my surprise they made a front page article about the review and gave Cakewalk some love in the process! Check out the link below to see their write up about it all: https://www.ikmultimedia.com/news/?item_id=11665 Viva La Cakewalk!

BandLab is quickly becoming one of the top online music platforms, and with good reason! Due to their business model, you can make music anytime, anywhere. Connect with millions of other users around the world, and release your tracks right from this platform. The social features built in under the hood also allow you to engage with fans and keep 100% of their support. Today we're going to cover the Mix Editor on both the PC (Windows 10) and an iOS device. This will be a great tutorial to kick start your journey into the world on online collaboration with BandLab. Want to download it and use it for yourself? Head over here on your PC: ?https://www.bandlab.com/ Head over here on your phone: ?Android and iOS: https://www.bandlab.com/download - Instagram @BandLab - Facebook @BandLab - Twitter @BandLab - TikTok @BandLab

Benefits? The fact that BandLab is finally recognizing people within its sphere certainly feels good. We have already spoke about doing some giveaways (cash prizes as well as some other goodies). Likewise, we get to help shape the direction that the company is going based off of what I report from the community. As with most creator based ventures, the benefits are reciprocal, and so long as the creator with whom they’ve partnered with has the best interests of their preexisting audience… then everyone should benefit in some way. I assure you, I want to help as many people as I possibly can. This has been evident by the amount of work I put into my channel and the plethora of things I have been giving away for years now. Hope this helps!

No sir. This is with the actual developers. I have been in direct contact with them and have signed agreements with the BandLab company. Thanks for the heads up though. It’s sad that this type of thing is happening. Just when myself and others start changing minds about Cakewalk.

Updating this list often and many more to come! I am now officially a “BandLab partner” as well. I give my thanks and respect to Meng and his crew for the reaching out and recognizing my efforts over the years. Thank you all as well! Looking forward to helping as many people as I can!

In this video, we will compare the BandLab mastering algorithm to that of a Mastering Engineer. I have to say, I was impressed by the results! Here’s the video!

Great answers given as well as some clarification on my answers from @scook! This is the kind of support that this group has always been known for! Love it!

A good rule of thumb is to backup to at least two other places (3 total). The easiest way to do this is to follow the path that your projects are currently being saved in and then open both windows at once, then simply selecting the files you’d like to backup and dragging them into the open window of your new SSD. This will create a copy by default. Most DAW’s nowadays allow you to create a backup of your project without continually needing to copy and paste files and folders. Some also automatically remove any unused audio in the project such as recorded audio that has been deleted, which helps minimize the file size. While there’s no hard and fast rule as to how often you should back up your project files, the more frequent, the better, especially when you’re near completion. Cakewalk has an awesome way to do this! (Of course, because it’s the best DAW out there) It has the option to save things as .BUN files or Bundles. This saves all of your audio and session information in one convenient file and allows you to open your project on any PC using Cakewalk exactly where you saved it. (If you freeze the tracks it will even retain the same plugin moves and VSTi information on a PC that doesn’t have them installed) Another thought on this, most plugin companies offer installers. These provide an easy way to keep things up to date as well as reinstall plugins when doing a fresh install. Personally, with iLok accounts and online installers, I don’t even bother backing up VST’s anymore. I do however keep a list in the notes app of the products I own and their respective websites along with the most current sign in information for that site.

I actually just talked about folder allocation during a consultation call last week! The general rule of thumb is to have all of your larger files (sample libraries, old projects, etc.) on a separate drive from the main drive of your PC. The main drive should be free’d up to handle the audio program, plugins, and current projects. BTW - Cakewalk has a list of folder allocations in the Preferences Menu. That said, if your PC has to search on a separate drive every time you’re using a plugin and then read from that drive in real time to use it, now it’s doing twice the work. Most plugins are relatively small in file size anyway. The main thing is to not overthink your options and never move plugins around to different folders unless you’re doing a full/fresh install and you’ve backed everything up. The greatest step you can take to improve your PC’s speed and stability is to switch to an SSD (solid state drive) versus an HDD (hard disk drive). Not only is it a major speed boost but it’s also a more sustainable way of data storage that doesn’t rely on moving parts. Hope this helps!