Music theory in cakewalk

[gargonknight]

Most daws nowadays have music theory tools built in,has cakewalk got any? I remember the call files back in the day will call files be developed with this in mind?

[scook]

The CAL engine is still part of the DAW but its development stopped almost 20 years ago. The old scripts are installed. Several of the functions provided by the scripts have been replaced with MFX plug-ins or built into the DAW.

[Robert Bone]

3 hours ago, gargonknight said:

Most daws nowadays have music theory tools built in,has cakewalk got any? I remember the call files back in the day will call files be developed with this in mind?

Can you please elaborate on what music theory tools you are referring to?  There may be multiple options out there, depending on what it is you seek to be able to do.

Bob Bone

[Robert Bone]

Also, you can still create and modify CAL scripts - however it really is as scook described, unsupported and orphaned many many years ago.  If you really want to work with CAL, I think I have some of the programming documentation and possibly even an editor that might still work.

Bob Bone

[gargonknight]

Thanks guys, sort of thing I'm talking about is like chord progression, scaling I understand that studio 1 waveform and even to studio has these built in. Yes I could it scaler instachords etc but would be cool in cakewalk.

Cal was really cool in cakewalk back in the day shame it was dropped as there was useful scripts in them. Isn't there script to get off the forum or wasn't someone building extra ones?

[Robert Bone]

G:\Cakewalk Content\Cakewalk Core\CAL Scripts (I relocated to G: drive, so wherever your Cakewalk Core folder is, the CAL Scripts sub-folder should be there, and will have a bunch of CAL scripts in it).

You can launch these from within Cakewalk, under the Process tab - Run CAL.  PRIOR to running any of them, go look at them outside of Cakewalk, by opening them into Notepad, or a CAL editor (there may still be links out there for CAL editors you could find on the web).  You can modify existing ones, either in an editor, or in Notepad, or create new ones.

Again, though, many of the kinds of things doable in CAL were simply incorporated into Sonar/Cakewalk functionality, so not sure what you are trying to do with CAL.

Here is one link to an editor - I have not reviewed this one or used it: https://www.softpedia.com/get/Office-tools/Text-editors/CAL-Editor.shtml 

And, here is a link to an old Sonar Forums thread, with some CAL links to various resources, if you are intent on pursuing using CAL:

http://forum.cakewalk.com/FindPost/2677768 

Bob Bone

 

[gargonknight]

Thanks Bob, no just thought the daw had or would be incorporating chord progression stuff like instachords or something like what waveform has where it would generate diferent inversions of chords played. cal has some stuff that does that but not to the degree of studio one and waveform. please not not a big issue so guys reading dont go mad lol

 

[Robert Bone]

Why would anybody get mad at a question?  No sweat.

For the record, if you take a chord, say C major, that would be C-E-G, in the root position.  To invert the chord, you take the lowest note - currently the C, and move it up one octave, so the notes become E-G-C.  (lowest note on left moving to the highest note on the right).  E-G-C is a C major chord, in the 1st inversion.  Take the E, and move THAT up an octave, and you get G-C-E, and this is a C major chord in the 2nd inversion.  That's all there is to that.  If you look at the notes on a piano keyboard, in the different inversions, and also play them, so you can both see and hear how they sound, they will all sound like C major chords, because that is what they are, but you will also eventually be able to hear a major chord, and be able to visualize its shape (meaning which inversion it is in, or if it is in the root position of 1-3-5, or C-E-G for our example).  Visualizing the shapes of chords will make your compositions better, as in more interesting, because you will learn to create inner voice movement from one chord to the next, that will vary in its sound, because of the inversions or root combinations you use.

I hope that helps - it's off to eat my gumbo soup, yum yum.

Bob Bone

[gargonknight]

It has music theory tool in the midi inspector it has snap to scale function so if you input notes manually in piano roll it will only allow notes in that scale, which is great but if it could give 100s of inversions and ability to use single not to do chord inversion it would be great. Even fl studio have this