about viewing my notes in Cakewalk with a virtual keyboard viewer?

[neophyte warrior]

Hello, how I could view what notes are pressed down when I am playing back my saved records in Cakewalk ? Do I need some type of "piano viewer" or a plugin in for this job?

 Sorry about my ignorance , I am really a new fighter here xD!

[57Gregy]

Welcome to the forum.
Do you read music? You can use the Staff View.

[SirWillyDS12]

Try Piano Roll View

[neophyte warrior]

On 9/24/2023 at 8:17 PM, 57Gregy said:

Welcome to the forum.
Do you read music? You can use the Staff View.

Thank you 57Gregy ! 

Well no, I don't read notes. 

The staff view? Hmm let me search how this works! Well it only shows the notes, but not the pressed keys from my midi keyboard...

[neophyte warrior]

18 hours ago, SirWillyDS12 said:

Try Piano Roll View

Thank you for your answer! 

With the "Piano Roll View" actually you can see the pressed notes when you play from your midi keyboard in real time , but not when you playback your records and you want to see which keys are pressed when you was writing your tracks with your midi keyboard.

Is a good idea to search for some type of plug in ? And how could I search for it...?

Thank you for your time 

[Canopus]

Have a look at Synthesia. You can feed it with MIDI or you can play it yourself. Test it for free, unlock it for $29. All future upgrades are free once purchased, as far as I know.

Here’s an example from YouTube by the composer Johannes Bornlöf: Twinkle of the Lights

And another one by the same composer: Wolfpack

Edited September 25, 2023 by Canopus

[mettelus]

Can you expound on this a little bit please? When you say:

26 minutes ago, neophyte warrior said:

but not when you playback your records and you want to see which keys are pressed when you was writing your tracks with your midi keyboard.

do you mean audio that was recorded from your keyboard? MIDI data is only note information, so if you recorded audio from your keyboard that information is not captured (so cannot show up in the PRV). Most keyboards allow both audio and MIDI data to be recorded (highly preferred going forward), but if you have only recorded the audio, other solutions mentioned above are options. You can also try dragging/dropping your audio track onto a MIDI track (if you have Melodyne installed), which will also give you the MIDI notes, but realize that is not always 100% accurate. If that conversion does work, the PRV on that new MIDI track will now have note data for you to see.

 

 

[User 905133]

I believe the question is something like this:  "If I press the sequence of A-S-F-G-H-J-K on a virtual keyboard to record notes into Cakewalk, is there a virtual keyboard tool I can use to see the sequence of A-S-F-G-H-J-K light up when Cakewalk plays the sequence back?"

Edited September 25, 2023 by User 905133
fixed a typo

[User 905133]

4 minutes ago, User 905133 said:

I believe the question is something like this:  "If I press the sequence of A-S-F-G-H-J-K** on a virtual keyboard to record notes into Cakewalk, is there a virtual keyboard tool I can use to see the sequence of A-S-F-G-H-J-K** light up when Cakewalk plays the sequence back?"

1 hour ago, neophyte warrior said:

Well it only shows the notes, but not the pressed keys from my midi keyboard... [emphasis added]

**either that or a virtual keyboard that looks like a piano-style keyboard.

 

 

[57Gregy]

Using the included Studio Instruments Piano software synthesizer will do what you want.

[neophyte warrior]

Initially I would like  to thank all of you, for your time spending answering me! 

 

Now lets clarify some blank spots about my initial query.

 

I am using a synthesizer (WSA1)  as my main midi keyboard, connected to my pc, through a midi-usb adapter (doremi) and everything  works fine.

 

Now I am using Cakewalk as DAW and I have download from spitfire Audio, the BBC Symphony Orchestra and I have learned how to set and use the instruments and record tracks.

 

I have create some orchestra tracks, but because after some time while recording , I don't remember every note of every instrument and because I don't read notes , I need a visual keyboard  on the screen when playback... so I can add or remove or expand my musical parts.   

 

Basically I have learned to play visually and acoustically and it is very important to me, to visual inspect what I have played initially.

 

I hope I made clear my blank spots of initial query

 

[User 905133]

Thanks for the explanation.  Your workflow makes sense.  I am resisting the great temptation to suggest taking the time to learn staff notation. If your workflow works for you, maybe you'd prefer to make music than to learn notation.

I have seen many synth plugins that have a piano-style keyboard in the UI.  I haven't looked to see if they also display the notes when a track is played back.  If they did and you had them set to a non-sounding patch/preset, that might work.  On my older Audio PC I have a virtual controller that uses a piano-style keyboard. I am not sure, but that might also work.

MeldaProduction's MTuner (part of their MFreeFXBundle) might interest you for a couple of features it has.  I haven't tried this yet but possibly the audio from your library might be routed to MTuner so you can see the names of the notes from the audio played (ear training).  Just a thought.

 

Edited September 26, 2023 by User 905133
fixed typos

[mettelus]

Also, please consider taking a look at the Piano Roll View (PRV) mentioned above. When working with virtual instruments (VSTi), many focus their work in that view since it provides easy visual and editing access to the note information that is driving the VSTi. Recording (and editing) in that view will allowing you to capture, modify, and add performances (notes), especially with a mouse when you get into fine editing. Each time you run the transport (hit play/space), Cakewalk is using those notes to play the VSTi(s) you have set up. It is a very complex tool (many, many functions to it), so is something to get familiar with. There are some folks who compose exclusively in that view, and it can be set up to allow you to edit tracks while viewing data in others, which is efficient for building harmonies, etc.

[sjoens]

Cakewalk/Sonar only highlights keys in the Piano Roll view when they are being played or recorded thru input, but not when the project itself is playing them.  This feature has been requested in the past.

Staff view is just the opposite.

 

edited for corrections

Edited September 27, 2023 by sjoens

[John Vere]

If you guys would watch my videos possibly you'd learn this stuff. 

[OutrageProductions]

Better yet...

 

[neophyte warrior]

I have found this one https://4drx.com/plugins/product.php?p=VirtualKeyboard ,but I don't know if it is compatible with Cakewalk ? I have email them and waiting for an answer...

[John Vere]

No point in email just download the demo and try it. They even recommended that. It’s a  VST 2 so no reason it shouldn’t work. It looks like you would insert it in the FX bin of the midi track. 
 the price is reasonable but did you not see that the Piano Roll View can easily display the notes and that is free. 
You need to zoom vertically to make the blobs bigger before you see them. 

Edited September 27, 2023 by JohnnyV

[Glenn Stanton]

the SI-Piano or the free sforzando player will display the keys being pressed live or from the recorded MIDI content. 

[57Gregy]

3 hours ago, Glenn Stanton said:

the SI-Piano or the free sforzando player will display the keys being pressed live or from the recorded MIDI content. 

If the Spitfire Audio BBC Orchestra soft synth is able to send MIDI out, enable that and send it to the SI Keyboard to see the notes play. Don't select an output for SI Keyboard so you don't hear it playing over the BBCSO.