Strum session in Cakewalk

[molly townsend]

Hi, can anyone tell me how to change the time signature to 3/4 timing in this VST please ?

Many thanks

[John Vere]

Did you read the manual? 

https://www.applied-acoustics.com/strum-session-2/manual/

Just a guess but you probably sync to host and set Cakewalk on 3/4 time. Or you find 3/4 loops. 

[Byron Dickens]

You don't change the time signature in a VST. You change it in your project.

[molly townsend]

Hi and thanks for the responses. Yes the time signature is correct in the project as 6/8 but strum session is using 4/4 for some reason, even when synced to host.  Yes, I've had a very good look at the manual, and a lot of their online tutorials too, and though they say abut the time signature needing to be set at the beginning, there's no mention of how to actually set it. 

Edited July 1, 2021 by molly townsend

[Glenn Stanton]

if you're using a loop. it needs to be in 6/8 time or you could use delays to simulate it. otherwise, if you're using guitar mode and strumming is set to auto, it should follow the time signature. check which articulations (switches) you use as they also impact the strumming. note that the "loops" are midi files which have some specific note controls you need to use, so you can create your own to fine tune your strumming patterns.

[Starship Krupa]

On 6/30/2021 at 3:12 PM, bdickens said:

You don't change the time signature in a VST. You change it in your project.

The exception is VSTi's like Strum Session where sending it a note triggers it to play a pattern rather than a note. Break Tweaker and any number of other drum machines are similar. They play whichever of their internal or user patterns corresponds to the note. All the user is doing is sending it different notes to trigger different patterns. The notes can be sent in any "time signature," but the patterns that get played will still be whatever time signature they are in the VSTi.

[Starship Krupa]

The deal with Strum Session is that it has 3 different modes. The first, "Keyboard," you send it notes and it plays whatever note you sent it, as if it were any soft synth or sampler set to a "guitar patch." In that case, whatever time signature the notes are that you send it is what's going to come out.

The second, "Guitar," is where there are keys mapped to chords and articulations. You press a key with the left hand to select the chord, and then any number of articulations with the right hand to make notes or strums come out. Again, in this mode, you get out the time signature you put in.

In the third mode, "Loop," it acts as a MIDI loop player for either its own factory loops or ones you load into it. Then you trigger the loop(s) by sending the plug-in notes. This case is where you need to set a tempo and time signature so that the player knows how to play it back, but you don't do it anywhere in Strum Session, you do it in the MIDI loop files you create to use with it. The rules are as follows:

3.3.2 Creating MIDI Loops
Loops for Strum Session are easily created in your favorite sequencer by respecting the following
rules:
• All the events must be on MIDI channel 1.
• The loop must begin at the start of the file and finish at the end of the track. In other words,
if the track lasts for four bars but there are notes only in the first bar, Strum Session will still
loop over the four bars.
• The tempo and the time signature must be defined at the beginning of the loop and must not
change during the rest of the loop. Strum Session indeed ignores tempo changes occurring
in the middle of a loop.
• The loop must be recorded on disk on a file using MIDI format 0 or 1 and having a .mid
extension.

It's easy to create such files in Cakewalk.

[John Vere]

I have used Strum Sessions a lot over the years but only to play parts in download files. When I first say this question I opened it up and started playing with it and saw immediately what the op was up against. The factory pattern collection doesn’t have much variety. 
That when I figured I will have to read the manual. 
My conclusion was you would need to look for guitar midi loops that play the pattern you need or nothing will happen. Looking for loops is a huge task that can take forever and why I’m glad I don’t use them ?

Edited July 2, 2021 by John Vere

[Byron Dickens]

Same reason I don't bother with loops either.