Why does everything have to be so complicated?

[Friv]

I'm just starting to use this, and I'm slowly but surely figuring it out, but sometimes I wanna smash my laptop off the wall. I remember the good old days with tape recorders and if you pressed record, guess what it did? It started recording then and there. With Cakewalk, nothing happens, at least not for me. Why do I have to go to preferences and be confronted with all sorts of terminology I have no clue about? When I hit play, I want it to play, when I hit stop, I want it to stop, when I hit record, I want it to record. So, to get around this I used the piano role thing and clicked on a note I wanted to play. Some sort of progress at last! I right clicked the note to copy it, and it just deleted it instead. So I figured out that I have to press 'edit', 'copy' and then 'paste', but instead of doing any of those things, it simply moved the note left a few spaces, turned it white (whatever that means)  and put that green loop thingy on that one note (that I can't seem to get rid of now)? Why would it do that? Maybe I'm not intelligent or patient enough, but I feel that it's more complex than it needs to be. 

Edited April 3, 2023 by Friv

[Lord Tim]

You shouldn't need to do any of those things you mentioned to "make it go" but remember, this is a complete recording studio you have here. You need to learn where everything is before you jump in and get frustrated.

Start here: https://discuss.cakewalk.com/index.php?/forum/35-tutorials/

There's some great tips to get you started, and this thread in particular has links to some excellent YouTube channels that take you from complete beginner to pro level:

 

[rfssongs]

Take a few deep breaths, walk away, come back later. It is well worth it. The flexibility is amazing.

I have tried a few other programs. Cakewalk is the best of the couple that  I have tried. But maybe that's because I have been using it for so many years,

It a combination of many simple tasks, take it one at a time. The manual is large. Just look at the things that are of immediate concern.

The people on this forum by the way are an incredible help.

[Glenn Stanton]

@Friv just like the game of Go, you can get started fairly quickly - in your preferences pick your audio IO and your MIDI keyboard. add a virtual instrument (piano, etc), press the arm track to record, press record. play your keyboard. hit stop when you're done. hit play to listen. or if you're doing a live instrument, add an audio track, arm the track for record, hit record, play your instrument, press stop to end it. press play to play it.

within, i'd say a few minutes, you'll be live. within a few months you'll have acquired a decent level of expertise to record and mix. within a few years, you'll be really good but still a novice. after about 125 years you'll have mastered all the features... ? 

 

[rfssongs]

1 hour ago, Glenn Stanton said:

@Friv just like the game of Go, you can get started fairly quickly - in your preferences pick your audio IO and your MIDI keyboard. add a virtual instrument (piano, etc), press the arm track to record, press record. play your keyboard. hit stop when you're done. hit play to listen. or if you're doing a live instrument, add an audio track, arm the track for record, hit record, play your instrument, press stop to end it. press play to play it.

within, i'd say a few minutes, you'll be live. within a few months you'll have acquired a decent level of expertise to record and mix. within a few years, you'll be really good but still a novice. after about 125 years you'll have mastered all the features... ? 

 

I've been using the program for many years - still have no interest in some of the features available.

[Byron Dickens]

3 hours ago, Friv said:

l remember the good old days with tape recorders and if you pressed record, guess what it did? It started recording then and there.

Yeah, right.

 

Typically, people who pine for the" simpler times" of analog tape and complain about how "complicated and difficult" DAWs are never actually operated an analog multitrack tape-based studio.

[OutrageProductions]

Ah yes, the days in a tape based studio. It only took 30 minutes of prep to load the tape machine, bias it, record align it, splice a leader, then record arm. Set up mics & headphones & chairs, set levels, buss everything through the console, then remember to hit record. It was sooo instantaneous. SMDH.

[Glenn Stanton]

i dunno. my 4-track cassette Fostex was fast - plop in a cassette, plug in my mic and guitar, tweak the input volume and hit record... 3-4 minutes max ? then each week some cleaning on the head and capstan and all was good ? 

Edited April 3, 2023 by Glenn Stanton

[rsinger]

5 hours ago, Friv said:

I'm just starting to use this, and I'm slowly but surely figuring it out, but sometimes I wanna smash my laptop off the wall. I remember the good old days with tape recorders and if you pressed record, guess what it did? It started recording then and there. 

I think you should use the right tool for the job. If all you want is a simple recorder this is the wrong app. You may be better served by voice/sound recorder or something similar. I'm sure there are very simple recording apps out there. CbB is not only a recording console it has some fx units and instruments as well. Kind of like having a recording studio.

[Sal Sorice]

7 hours ago, Friv said:

Maybe I'm not intelligent or patient enough, but I feel that it's more complex than it needs to be. 

I'm willing to bet you're intelligent enough. Patient enough? Probably not. I spent many years playing an "analog" Steinway piano while studying classical composition / performance. When I started using Cakewalk - many, many years ago (around 1991) - I got very frustrated as well. Walked away (dumb me).

I've recently come back to Cakewalk (my absolute favorite DAW!) and admitted to myself that there is a *steep* learning curve (as with any other DAW, any other instrument, ANYTHING that is a worthwhile, satisfying pursuit).

Take a breath. Take your time. Watch tutorials. And realize that it will take a lot of time and effort to even begin to understand (and appreciate) the amazing things you can do with Cakewalk. I guarantee you will find the journey very rewarding!

[John Vere]

I was still using my Yamaha MD 8 track in 2005. I only used Cakewalk to play my midi sequences I composed on an Atari. I couldn't get used to the Piano roll after 15 years of using an event list midi editor in Dr T, I hated the whole thing.   And all the audio was out of sync whenever I tried that feature,, It took until around 2010 before I was sort of getting Cakewalk to do something. 

But all software is like that. There's no escape. You either take the time to read the instructions or sit there being stupid and mad that nothing works the way YOU think it should work. Software is made by Geeks, you have to be a Geek to get it to work. If you are not a Geek, find something else to do with music. like play in a band or busk in the subway. 

The people who get things going faster take the time to learn using the widely available instructions. There's no way you will learn how Cakewalk works by jumping in blind.  

[abacab]

12 hours ago, John Vere said:

But all software is like that. There's no escape. You either take the time to read the instructions or sit there being stupid and mad that nothing works the way YOU think it should work. Software is made by Geeks, you have to be a Geek to get it to work. If you are not a Geek, find something else to do with music. like play in a band or busk in the subway. 

I have been using Cakewalk on and off for 25 years. And I'm still learning new things about it. And I'm a geek!

Yes, there is a huge learning curve, but I suspect there are very few others like John that know every nook and cranny...

Most users probably never need to know everything about Cakewalk to make music with it. Just define what you want it to do for you now, and focus on learning those tools.

[Lord Tim]

Yep. agree. I think I'm pretty knowledgeable when it comes to Cakewalk, but there's still parts that I don't use much (or at all) that I'd still fumble around with, and even the stuff that I'm very familiar with, it's amazing how many times someone on here has come along with a new way to use it, or some feature of it that I didn't know about and taken me to school - and I'm always grateful for that!

It's a big app, but if you start at the basics, you can learn as you go.

[Wayne]

I agree.  I've used several versions of cakewalk and sonar since 1994. It MAY be more versatile now but they way over complicated this program. Ctrl+C and Ctrl+V used to bring up a dialogue box about replacing, blending or sliding existing material. Now if there is existing material you have to add  "Alt" to the mix of key commands (because it's "special").  Whatever.  I'm still running into situations where cakewalk refuses to paste! My work around is deleting the section where I'm trying to paste BEFORE I can paste.  And why do I have to bounce the clips all the time to get the notes all together so when I do copy a section OF ONE TRACK , all of it gets copied?  It's ridiculously redundant, and has become so clunky, that work flow seems to be a thing of the past.

Edited April 6, 2023 by Wayne
clarification

[rfssongs]

I just kind of go with the flow I'm tired of wasting my time on technical issues - whatever works...works. Yea things do change from time to time. I'm not gonna lose sleep over it. My interest is in making music.

[Wayne]

Okay, so I don't know how (when I went to paste) the box for what to paste "events/clips" got unchecked.  But I guess that's why it wouldn't paste.  Funny, I copy and paste all afternoon without a problem and suddenly a box gets randomly unchecked.  IDK

There's always another little box somewhere.  Sometimes not even visible.

Edited April 6, 2023 by Wayne
There's always another little box somewhere.

[Bill Conway]

Friv,

I can appreciate your initial frustration but given you took the initiative and diving in and trying says a lot.   If you haven’t tried it yet the user guides, short and long version are extremely helpful.  And the app help system is amazing.

Maybe to cut down on steps I might encourage you to read about how to create and save a Project Template (e. g.  Eight Track Project). Once you have a project template configured, with all the tracks, names, groupings, track effects,busses, views, routing, audio and midi connections, etc then save the Project Template. Even set your metronome preference and count-in.  I believe the initial install includes example templates.  Then dial it in for your studio and save template. 

Then next time you want to record start by  selecting your new project template and assuming your audio/midi sources are plugged then enable the R on each tracks you want to record (you will see track audio meter) .

next  type R (Record) on keyboard (computer) which begins Recording (and template metronome preference) .
When finished recording hit spacebar (Stop).

Type W (Rewind) and hit Spacebar ( play)

I started using Cakewalk products in 1996 beginning with Professional 3.   I have used other DAWs just for comparison and I still prefer Cakewalk.  It is better today than ever.  and rock solid.  I used it through the painful early computer and early windows OS years. But like you I kept jumping back in. Now it’s second nature. I use it nearly every day in my home studio.

 

 

[Byron Dickens]

You're talking to the air.

Friv hasn't been back.

[John Vere]

It funny how the longer threads are Usually the ones were the OP never comes back. The must be some sort of  logarithm that causes this. 

[user 905133]

19 minutes ago, John Vere said:

It funny how the longer threads are Usually the ones were the OP never comes back. The must be some sort of  logarithm that causes this. 

If this is true (not sure that it is), I suspect in many cases either the question was answered (in whole or in part) or there was a request for more information (maybe both) and well-intentioned CbB do-gooders wanted either to add their own thoughts for the benefit of others who might read the thread or to comment on the OP's failure to return (or maybe to lambaste the OP for some reason) or to get into a discussion about why threads like that should be automatically closed which in turn generates even more discussion.

It might be a "fun" research project to assess how conversations shift focus after someone comments about the OP having been long gone.

Edited May 29, 2023 by User 905133
to close a parenthetical expression