Cakewalk recording/mixdown questions

[meckanik]

Hello all,

I've had a few problems with Cakewalk and though I'd try here before I completely bag recording to a PC.

Basically I run my main stereo outs from my mixer to the aux in on my soundcard (AudioPCI, crap I know). From there I tried to lay down some tracks into Cakewalk.

My problem is that I get my levels set on my board so I'm below 0db, but I don't see a meter in Cakewalk (I must not have found it yet); after I lay the track down I can barely hear it upon play back (or not at all) but if I go to the folder that the .wav files are stored and play them back via MediaPlayer they are plenty loud and slightly distorted.

Also now when I try to mix a track down to a .WMA (for distribution) I get an error message saying it write the track because my audio disk is full, even though I have several gigs of free space on both my hard drivers.

All of this plus the fact that you have to boot the computer, launch Cakewalk, setup a track, set levels, start recording and then go to my instrument makes me not want to mess with computers.

I'm debating whether to get a better sound card just for dumping from DAT to CDR or to MP3, but a stand alone CDR is looking better all the time!

Thanks for any and all suggestions!

Jeff

 

[dachay2tnr]

I'll assume you are using CW PA9 - but the issues are probably the same regardless of the version of CW you are using.

First of all I'm not familiar with your sound card. Aux in is a strange input. Do you also have a line in connection? If so, use that rather than aux in.

It's been awhile since I've used PA9 (I'm using Sonar which has a completely different interface). From memory, to see the input level meters in CW you need to arm a track for recording, then open Console View. Once the track has been armed you should see your recording level meter. Adjust the output level from your mixer so that your loudest input does not exceed 0db on the Cakewalk meter. (Note, the faders in CW only affect playback, they do not control the input volume. That is done from your mixer.)

Lastly (or actually first), make sure that you have the correct input connection selected in the Windows Mixer. i.e., if you are plugged into the line in connection, make sure that connection is the one selected in the Windows Mixer.

When playing back the track adjust your playback level using either the faders in Console View, or the volume setting column in Track View. If I remember correctly, 127 setting in Track View is max volume.