Input driver list friendly names for each channel

[Steven White]

My interface has 8 inputs. Sonar lists them as 4 stereo pairs, with the option for "friendly names". I would like to give each input its own friendly name. For example, in preferences I have a checkbox for "1+2 UMC ASIO Driver In 1" and in each track in my project I can select either "UMC ASIO Driver In 1 L" or "UMC ASIO Driver In 1 R" or "UMC ASIO Driver In 1 S". So I have to remember which mic I have into the left and right channel, which kind of defeats the whole purpose of "friendly names".  It would be nice to be able to give each channel its own name in driver preferences.

[David Baay]

Put a pipe "|" symbol between left and right channel names, and they'll show up that way in the Input pick list and in the Input widget after you select one.

[Starship Krupa]

On 12/28/2024 at 11:25 AM, Steven White said:

It would be nice to be able to give each channel its own name in driver preferences.

I used to have a very similar issue with my PreSonus Firepods, only worse. Somehow their driver was telling Windows that what was marked Input 2 (the even inputs were all this way) on the unit was Input 1 R. I had more than one embarrassing episode of hassle in the studio when arming tracks, including an entire bad take where I accidentally used the vocal mic in place of the guitar amp mic.

There was no correlation between the even numbered inputs on the interface and the names of the inputs in Cakewalk. I kept pitching a fit about it for years and the devs finally implemented the syntax that @David Baay relates above. It's pretty slick.

[sjoens]

Preferences gives you 4 ways to display the drivers.  The 1 L, 2 R, 1+2 S, 3 L, 4 R, 3+4 S etc. with UNfriendly names helps a lot but I use friendly names which removes the channel numbers defeating the whole purpose of adding them. ← Edit (user error)

unfriendly                                                                                                                                       friendly
  

Edited December 30, 2024 by sjoens

[David Baay]

5 hours ago, sjoens said:

I use friendly names which removes the channel numbers defeating the whole purpose of adding them.

So put the channel numbers in the friendly names:

Onyx 1|Onyx 2

Onyx 3|Onyx 4

...

You can even define a 3rd name for the Stereo Input:

Onyx 1L| Onyx 2R|Onyx 1/2S

[sjoens]

I'm probably the only one who never got this, but you prompted me to read the manual (pg74).  I NOW know "|" delimits -or separates- the name you type.  Since they use "/" in the "condensed" Preferences description, I did too, so the separation never happened. 

So... Onyx 1|Onyx 2|Onyx 1/2 =

[User 905133]

32 minutes ago, sjoens said:

I'm probably the only one who never got this, but you prompted me to read the manual (pg74).  I NOW know "|" delimits -or separates- the name you type. 

I think the only reason why I knew about it a few years ago was because I was actively interested in a discussion taking place with regards to an early access change. IIRC the change affected the friendly names I was using at the time with my sound card / audio dock. If not for that, I doubt I would have noticed the discussion of the pipe delimiter.

Edited December 30, 2024 by User 905133
to add a link

[sjoens]

Thanks, so the friendly name # removal is a good thing especially now I know how to use them.

[Steven White]

On 12/30/2024 at 5:09 PM, sjoens said:

I'm probably the only one who never got this, but you prompted me to read the manual (pg74).  I NOW know "|" delimits -or separates- the name you type.  Since they use "/" in the "condensed" Preferences description, I did too, so the separation never happened. 

So... Onyx 1|Onyx 2|Onyx 1/2 =

Thanks, problem solved!

[Bass Guitar]

Looking at different Daw's I found Sonar has the most confusing input list of all with Mixcraft a close second.  I'd score Sonar at almost the bottom if you were doing a shoot out of input list features. This is especially nasty when you use an interface with a lot of inputs like a digital mixer. 

Studio one as example allows you to totally customize the list, rename, re order, mono, stereo etc. You can then save this set up. Very handy when you switch between interfaces a lot. 

[Starship Krupa]

On 3/8/2025 at 9:59 AM, Bass Guitar said:

I'd score Sonar at almost the bottom if you were doing a shoot out of input list features.

Disagree thoroughly. Before the devs introduced the renaming options described in this topic, I would have agreed with you, but as it is now, just the fact that it's possible to give them whatever name(s) you want puts them near the top of the list of DAW's (any audio programs) that I'm familiar with.

I even have my first two inputs named as Mic/Inst and the remaining six named Mic/Line to remind me that I shouldn't plug a guitar directly into inputs 3-9.

Or do you mean the way that Sonar presents the list of inputs if you don't use the renaming feature? 'cause yeah, I never had an issue with it until I started using CbB. The pushback I got from people on the forum when I inquired as to why it was so garbled was a sight to behold. Ranging from the usual "it's not a problem for me, therefore it's not a problem at all" to those who swore up and down that it wasn't even possible for it to be any different because Cakewalk was displaying the names the driver supplied.

Which of course raised the question for me: if it wasn't possible to take the set of text strings supplied by a driver, analyze it, and present it in a format that made more sense, then why did every other audio program I had ever used do it?

[Bass Guitar]

OK so you say you can rename inputs? where. I looked through all the preferences tabs.And in the case of the Zoom the Master gets called input 1/2 which is what Zoom chose to do. You normally never use the Master, As a result Channel 1 is called input 3. In Sonar if you are new to all this this list is totally confusing as all the even numbers are missing. ( Note that only Mixcraft has this same system) 

 

 

My best example of a very good preference audio input set up would be Studio one. Rename, re order, save the set up for later recall when you change interfaces. And each input is listed separately as Input 1, input 2 etc. It also remembers all my interfaces. It allows you to insert audio tracks that are sequenced from input 1 through all available. It even gives them different colours. 

Cubase not as good but still each input is on its own. 

And Waveform same thing as well as allowing sequential inserting of multiple tracks. 

 

Edited Saturday at 05:27 PM by Bass Guitar

[reginaldStjohn]

Here is a pointer to the friendly names for audio inputs. Though it doesn't tell you exactly where to name them.

http://legacy.cakewalk.com/Documentation?product=Cakewalk&language=3&help=Dialogs2.051.html

AI response

To make audio input/output device names more user-friendly in Cakewalk, enable "Use friendly names to represent audio drivers" in Edit > Preferences > Audio - Devices, then rename the devices in the Audio - Devices dialog. 

Here's a more detailed explanation: 

Access Audio Preferences: Go to Edit > Preferences > Audio - Devices.

Enable Friendly Names: Check the box labeled "Use friendly names to represent audio drivers".

Rename Devices:

Click the name of the audio driver in the list.

Type in your preferred, more descriptive name for the driver.

Press Enter to save the change.

Stereo Pair Names: Use the vertical bar symbol "|" to delimit channel names for stereo pairs (e.g., "Guitar|Voice" might show as 1: Guitar, 2: Voice, 1+2: Guitar + Voice in the menus).

Global Names: Friendly names are global, not per-project.

Re-mapping: Cakewalk can intelligently remap devices across different hardware configurations or driver models using your assigned friendly names, even if the hardware names do not match.

[sjoens]

10 hours ago, Bass Guitar said:

OK so you say you can rename inputs? where.

2nd line up from the bottom. put a check where it says Use Friendly Names to Represent Audio Drivers.

[msmcleod]

[msmcleod]

2 minutes ago, msmcleod said:

NOTE:   You don't have to use the "|" character if you only ever use stereo devices - in this case, just enter a single name, e.g.  "Overheads" or "Guitar VG88".
 

[Bass Guitar]

Ya I see what you are saying, But that doesn't really help much. No matter what you try and name them all inputs are paired together. And the default for inserting a new track will be stereo even though in my 20 years of recording I've never used stereo. And even though you know this every once in a while I accidentally end up recording a stereo track.  It's just my observation that Sonar and Mixcraft are the only Daw's that show your interface this way. And have no setting for a default choice of input. Thuss you use templates. 

[sjoens]

I was informed of using the "|" vertical bar above (aka pipe symbol, separator bar, etc.) so I now have this: (also shown above).