How to record multiple Synths to a single track?

[sadicus]

I would like to record live (not freeze or bounce MIDI) All the Synths to one track.
How to setup multiple simple instruments to output to a single track?

The Record input can be set to listen to only one Synth at a time, so how to set this up? *i think* patch point, or AUX is how this is done?

 

[David Baay]

Yes, an Aux track will do it, but you still need a separate audio track (or audio side of an Instrument track) to host each instrument's output. Not sure if you were hoping to eliminate multiple tracks...?

Ad a send to a new Aux track from one of the instrument tracks, and then add sends from all the other tracks to the same Aux track, disable input echo and arm that track to record. The sends will all be Post-fader by default so they will follow mixing moves you make on each track, but they'll be dry. In order to have track FX included, you would need to temporarily output all the tracks to the Aux (leaving input echo enabled), or to a bus that sends to the Aux and outputs to Master

Edited March 28, 2020 by David Baay

[Lynn Wilson]

Route everything to the same  auxiliary track or bus and record the output of that track.  Or, assign the same MIDI track to each synth and repeat, using one keyboard as the controller.  Or, assign each synth to the same "New Patch Point".  You'll get it

[sadicus]

I keep forgetting about "Send" to send audio, I've only ever used SENDS to Effects, things like delay or reverb.
@Lynn and @David Baay

...so all my Synths currently go to a BUS, will a Record armed Track see a BUS as an input?
I'm guessing BUSes don't work like the AUX, or else AUX would not be necessary.

Quote

Ad a send to a new Aux track from one of the instrument tracks, and then add sends from all the other tracks to the same Aux track,

 

Edited March 28, 2020 by sadicus

[David Baay]

Yes, as mentioned, you can send from the bus to an Aux track as well. That will give you all the track FX (but not the bus FX unless you output it to the Aux track). If the track you want to use already exists, send the bus to a new Patch Point, and then set the input of that track to the same Patch Point.

Edited March 28, 2020 by David Baay

[slartabartfast]

You should probably ask yourself what is to be gained by this action, which sort of defeats the progress made over the last sixty years in multi-track recording. Recording everything to the same track was more or less the only way to record when wax cylinders or disks were the medium, and was rapidly abandoned when the limited multi-track tape came on the scene. Keeping everything on a separate track  lets you easily adjust each instrument in the mix, edit the performances individually, and even delete or replace one instrument with another seamlessly. You can always mix the individual tracks at a later stage, including intermediate stages before the final mix.

[Mark Morgon-Shaw]

4 minutes ago, slartabartfast said:

You should probably ask yourself what is to be gained by this action, which sort of defeats the progress made over the last sixty years in multi-track recording.

Layering sounds is a must if you want your productions to sound any good.

 

[Mark Morgon-Shaw]

2 hours ago, sadicus said:

I would like to record live (not freeze or bounce MIDI) All the Synths to one track.

If they are all  Kontakt instruments then you can stack them and play them simultaneously.

Or there are some plugins that can host multiple VSTi's inside a wrapper and you can play them all at once ( as well as add effects ) 

Chainer by Xlutop is one ,  I think Bluecats make something similar and I use Akai's VIP which I got free with my M-Audio Keyboard but that can stack 8 instruments and also FX with send/return

[slartabartfast]

On 3/28/2020 at 11:50 AM, Mark Morgon-Shaw said:

Layering sounds is a must if you want your productions to sound any good.

 

OK. so how does "layering" require that you put all the sounds on the same track in the first instance. In effect Cakewalk can be used as a highly configurable additive synthesizer with almost unlimited voices playing identical MIDI input to control different synths or samples by setting up separate tracks that all sound simultaneously.  There is nothing magical about having all of the sound components recorded to a single track. Even in the case where a given synth is producing an uncontrolled/randomized output, that synth can be reproducibly captured in a parallel track. In fact a multi-track configuration will give you more options to select the takes that you prefer. At any point you can merge the data from multiple tracks if you need to, or just wait until the final mix to combine them. 

[Mark Morgon-Shaw]

17 hours ago, slartabartfast said:

 There is nothing magical about having all of the sound components recorded to a single track. 

I don't know what your level of music production is but you misunderstand my point

The magic comes in playing sounds that due to the process of stacking and layering  of different instruments and FX are more harmonically rich , complex and therefore sonically interesting than any discrete single VSTi patch. 

The ability to easily stack them in one of the hosts mentioned above makes a huge difference not only to how easy it is in terms of routing, but also how we play them. Most musicians will naturally play sympathetically to the sounds being created in a way they would not were the multi patch created after the fact.

That's why these multi VST host plugins are on the market and have been for many years.   

[slartabartfast]

I did misunderstand your point to the extent that you want to live play multiple VST's, each serving as a layer in your output simultaneously and find the usual routing in Cakewalk frustrating. I still do not agree that putting all of the layers on a single track is a best practice, although I can see how it would make the mechanics of routing that single track simpler albeit at a sacrifice of some flexibility. The logical solution to your most significant problem would be for Cakewalk to allow a one to many MIDI to instrument track simple routing, or a MIDI send from a single MIDI track. In the SONAR days people were solving this issue with a virtual MIDI cable or virtual MIDI patch bay application that would intercept the keyboard input and distribute it to the different MIDI tracks simultaneously. That may still be the simplest method.

http://forum.cakewalk.com/MIDI-to-Multiple-Tracks-One-Working-Solution-m1573767.aspx

Lets agree that we probably both know what "layering" means.

[razor7music]

Or record each synth to its own track and then bounce them all down to one track.

[rjn]

This is why I favored an external audio mixer for capturing a live (and multi-synth layered) performance.  If you're into the "live" part you won't mind recording the layered performance as audio.