"Selected midi outputs" like "Selected Audio outputs"

[Rob Bolling]

I've been around since Cakewalk was invented, so I have archived Pro Audio/Sonar projects as far back as the mid-1990s that still work with Cake by BL.

In that last 25+ years, obviously I have gone through different hardware.  I have a lot of projects that were mapped to various multi-output interfaces and digital consoles that I mixed using hardware and recorded through the mixer to stereo. 

I now mix "in the box" using a control surface to augment and if I open an old project, I can easily reset all the audio outputs of tracks to a single stereo output by selecting them all and using the "selected track outputs" dialog.

That is the functionality I would love to see with midi.

As it is now, if I open a multi-track midi file, I must change each output one at a time as it routes all midi to whatever midi port is at the top of the list, in my case, my launchkey.  A launchkey generates no sound, so it is useless as an audition device.

If I want to insert a softsynth like TTS 1 to audition, I have to select each midi output one at a time and reroute from the launchkey.

I know I could use the GS wavetable synth as default and it would route there for audition, but it is too slow with a buffered start and a PITA to line up with audio.  If I want to reroute usable midi to a better softsynth that is fast enough to stay in sync with the audio files, I still must reset each output one at a time.

Is this possible functionality?

[David Baay]

19 minutes ago, Rob Bolling said:

If I want to insert a softsynth like TTS 1 to audition, I have to select each midi output one at a time and reroute from the launchkey.

You can change all Outputs of multiple MIDI tracks to the same port by Quick Grouping just as you do for audio track ouputs (i.e. select all track and hold Ctrl while changing the ouput of one), but you have to use the control in the track pane; last time I checked, quick-grouping the Outputs of MIDI tracks via the Inspector doesn't work.

Incidentally, for various reasons I recommend dragging old projects into a new template and then dragging clips from original tracks to new tracks as necessary. AMong other things, this ensures that your project has all your preferred preferences and bus routings and avoids potential problems with old projects, especially if they date to the pre-audio era of Cakewalk. (I started with Cakewalk for DOS in 1988).

[msmcleod]

You could use a CAL script I guess:

(do 
    (do
        (int startTrack 0)
        (int endTrack 0)
        (getInt startTrack "Start Track: " 1 255)
        (getInt endTrack "End Track: " 1 255)
        (int currentTrack startTrack)
        (int chan 0)
        (while (<= currentTrack endTrack) 
            (do
                ( TrackChannel chan currentTrack )
                ( ++ chan )
                ( if ( > chan 15 )
                    (do 
                        ( = chan 0 )
                    )
                )
                ( ++ currentTrack )
            )
        )
    )
)

The above will prompt you for a start track and end track, then will set the track MIDI channels starting at channel 1.  If there are more than 16 channels, it'll go back to channel 1 again.

Attached is the CAL file. 

Save it to C:\Cakewalk Content\Cakewalk Core\CAL Scripts

You can then run it by selecting Process->Run CAL  from the main menu.

You could also assign a keyboard shortcut to run it if required.

ReChannel.CAL