importing tracks: Pro Tools --> Cakewalk

[woody777]

I wasn't sure which forum this should go in...

My band is in the process of recording a demo. We tracked drums using a Firepod into Cakewalk. We started tracking guitars the same way, but really didn't like the sound of the Firepod preamps. So, we mixed the drums down to a stereo wav file and imported that file into Pro Tools and tracked guitars using an M-Box. This sounded much better.

Now, we need to move all of the guitar tracks (many, many, many tracks) back into the Cakewalk sessions. The guy doing the mixing is most comfortable in Cakewalk, plus he has a ton of plugins and the Pro Tools software we have is the LE version. Also, the rest of the tracking will be done with the Firepod (bass and vocals).

So, what is the best way to move tracks from Pro Tools to Cakewalk?

Thanks!

[Track Rat]

If the individual wave files all start at the same time (not little punch ins or sniglets suspended out along the tune somewhere) just open them one at a time in Cakewalk and it'll all sync. If they're NOT all the same length you should be able to "fill" that space with a blank wave and splice it to the sniglet (that's a technical term). I've never done that in Protools but have MANY times in Cakewlk so I'm sure it's possible. Of course any evelope automation that was done in Protools would be lost but that shouldn't be an issue as you're wanting to do that in Cakewalk anyways.

[bennychico11]

the above way works....or if you want to keep any volume/pan/plugin automation, select the entire length of the session and solo each track, then go to File-->Bounce to Disk and bounce each track one by one. Might take awhile though....but there's no need to rush things.


A quicker way if you don't have any effects/automation to render:
select the entire session making sure you include all regions. Press Alt+Shift+3 or Edit-->Consolidate selection to make sure each track is consolidated. Then go to Regions bin-->Export Selected as Files...then choose the appropriate sample rate/bit depth/file type.

[woody777]

I should have been more specific...

Track Rat - none of the wav files start at the beginning. That's the problem. We have a piece here, a piece there... the occasional punch... basically a lot of tracks that are very scattered throughout the session.

bennychico11 - what little automation we did, we don't want to keep. Would the method you described work for our situation?

thanks guys - I really appreciate it!