beginner.. Piano roll..instruments..drums on 10.. what next??

W

womoma

New member
Hey all
I am a relative beginner to cakewalk [6]. I am startin to get into making my own music having recently lost a piano :eek: and needing another creative output.

Anyways what I can do now is:
Make a tune with cheesy pads, naff bass, synthy lead etc.. :(
drums on channel 10 :p
insert a wav sample [which always goes out of sync :confused: ]
fuck around with the volume of a channel using the panel.. :o

so where do i go next?
what areas should i investigate to improve on?

and finally how is the best way to make an awefully MIDI sounding song into a more natural sound?? at present I am putting chorus and affects on some tracks [mostly pads] using soundforge....

T.I.A.

womoma
 
Welcome to the board.
Post your complete PC spec, including your soundcard, OS, etc. Which Cakewalk (did you say version 6 ? :confused: ). And what actualy do you need to achieve?

;)
Jaymz
 
hey

packard bell imedia 5109 pentium4, crappy onboard sound [sis650]

using cakewalk 6. also have soundforge and a few softsynths. Im mostly interested in making acid jazz and chillout but into all electronic music apart from hardhouse and cheesy.

specifically tho i want to learn more about cakewalk and how to make my cakewalk tunes "come to life" a little more..
also curious to know about any features i may not be aware of or taking full advantage of...

T.I.A.
womoma
 
me being relatively new to cakewalk myself (about 2 months Pro Audio 9) and just having made my first real banger beat (my other one is in the clinic, in which no one ever replies to me hint..hint..) i have made a few discoveries myself. i share my knowledge with u.

1. Groove Quantize is useless, unless i just don't know how to use it, which is problably the case.

2. sometimes automation just shows up in my projects, even though i never recorded it.

3. do not attempt to print sheet music with cakewalk, because U CAN'T!!

4. studioware is just about useless, its not worth it for the conveinence.

5. get a better soundcard, i'd say santa cruz (luv the volume presets). when u start working with professional music programs like cakewalk, the flaws really show.

that would be my best advice, and oh yeah, if u start to post here regularly, develop tough skin, we're very critical of each other, and don't be afraid to post because, trust me, we've heard dumber questions. c ya round'.
 
Good thought, Rock Star 87 :)

Anyway, I don't think Cakewalk 6 made any good use of softsynth. If you like the idea of softsynth, then I suggest you upgrade to (at least) Home Studio 2004. Believe me, you'll save your time and headache for that! It's not that Cake 6 is bad product, it's just somehow outdated, and you will be limited to work with it.

In general, there are five main factors to make great music with computer. First, your skill. Second, your skill. Third, your skill. Fourth, your skill. And the last one is your gears... :p :D

You can learn by trying. We'll be here for some help and recomendation.

;)
Jaymz
 
hey rock star, are you drawing any envelopes (e.g the track volume envelope in particular)? if so that will be where the automation is coming from.

Where did you get cakewalk 6? that must be like DOS program or somthing.... that's way before my time.
 
:D Cake 6 (It has an update to 6.02 actualy) is Win95 application. I didn't recall it had envelope thingee back then... :)

;)
Jaymz
 
Cake 6 (It has an update to 6.02 actualy) is Win95 application. I didn't recall it had envelope thingee back then...
Click to expand...

sorry, the cakewalk 6 comment was just a general comment but the enevlope comment was for rock star, who i assume is using sonar (or pro aduio 9 i think he siad). did p9 have envelopes? i never used it.
 
upgrading from cakewalk 6....but what to get???

Hey all,
Ive been using cakewalk 6.. yes ..6... for a couple of months now while getting into making music..
ANYWAY.. I will be getting a more updated version soon and it doesnt seem very straight forward..

These are the three options Ive been given:
CAKEWALK PRO AUDIO 9
CAKEWALK MUSIC CREATOR 2002
SONAR 3

Could somebody PLEEASE tell me which would be most reccommended, which is most powerfull, and importantly- WHAT ARE THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE 3 ??
Also I do not have a VST soundcard, I have crappy onboard sound [sis 7150 or summing] will they all work on my computer. Sorry if any of my queries seem dumb Im a relative noob...
Thank you in advance

womoma
 
if i were you i would choose.... none!

of the 3, sonar 3 is the most powerful, it is cakewalk's flagshit programs when it comes to audio recording. Music Creator is pretty stipped down and kindof lame. Cakewalk 9 is old.... old technology. the reason i don't vote for sonar 3 is that it is 500 bucks and may be a big investment for you if you do not need all the features. i would suggest home studio 2004 (or whatever model they are at now). it is a good price and has a lot of sonar's features.

As far as VST, i think the ability to use it woudl depend on the program, not your sound card. sonar can use VST but cakewalk 6 cannot. Maybe you mean that your soundcard does not support ASIO, in which case using a VSTi would be pointless due to massive latency.
 
I would echo minofifa's comments, I think HS2004 would be best for you. Sonar 3 will kill you in terms of learning curve and functionality. Unless you are so serious with your music, start out slowly and build your experience. It also allows you cheaper upgrades due to Cakewalks very generous loyalty pricing.
Your choice then is HS2004 or 2004XL. Xl includes some fx and other goodies which I think are worth it if you are starting from scratch. I have a full set of other VST fx including Waves gold bundle together with Wavelab 4.0 mastering software so didn't need all the XL content.

I have just upgraded from HS2002 to HS2004 having started with Cakewalk Express 8.0 and just love the simplicity of the program but it still allows me to incorporate midi, unlimited audio tracks, softsynths, VSTi's, FX etc.

And you definitely need a better soundcard, check out the M-audio range or the EMU range. After that a decent set of monitor speakers.

Welcome to the world of perpetual upgrades ;)
 
Cake Pro 9 used to be Cakewalk's flagship. It's a bit outdated now, since they've released Sonar 1, 2, and currently Sonar 3. Once, it's a great product for you doing your recording demand. Kinda one stop audio application.

Homestudio 2002 is "lite" version of Sonar. It has almost all features of Sonar, without ring and whistles of it's big brother. They targeted homey users.

Sonar is... you know... the best of all. It supports ASIO, VST plugins, came with various plugins, has advanced bus routing, etc.

I agree with Paul, either HS2004 or HS2004XL would be cool for you :)

For detalied info, refer to www.cakewalk.com

;)
Jaymz
 
cheers

Hey all, Thanks for the advice, I sourced a few demos of the 3 mentioned applications.
Music creator is quite basic, but great value.

Pro Audio [to me at least] seems great and a natural progression from 6.

[by the way, Ive had loads of people ask, and, yes, I am running cakewalk 6 on WXP]

Sonar looks very complex, but seems to have EVERYTHING.
Only problem is, the bugger isnt making sound on my computer, Ive adjusted all the audio settings and updated my SIS7012 driver, and still no fcuking sound :( Its drivin me crazy, so, I reckon Ill get my hands on a copy of CW9 until I get a decent soundcard.

Im kicking myself for not considering sound cards when I purchased my computer 18 months ago. I HATE PACKARD BELL! It seems DELLs are more generous with sound and graphics cards for the extra couple of bux.
 
Why are you getting Pro Audio 9 when it is Cakewalks "old" product? As posted by myself and others, you would be far better off with HS2004 or 2004XL which are both based on the same "new" product (Sonar) with all the same "look and feel". You could then learn everything you need to and then decide to upgrade to the full Sonar...or not.

I use HS 2004 to produce music both for myself and for company presentations using audio and midi and it works fine for me. Just don't see the point in you learning and investing in an outdated product at this stage ;)
 
cheers

yeah Ill probably have a look at Home Studio but Ill have to sort out some demos first to make sure I can get sound. I gotta sort out a decent sound card for myself some time
 
sorry it took so long to reply, I was at Otakon and omfg, it was fuckin' awesome. anyways, i like sonar, don't get me wrong, but i'll upgrade once i learn more about professional music programs, using PA 9 of course.

and minofifa, PA9 has volume and pan envelopes, i think. i doubt that's where the automation came from though, seeing as how i don't know how to use them, so i never did. can anyone explain how they work. thanks.

DO YOU EAT BANANAS, WE EAT BANANAS!
 
another question

ok lets see,
Im making most of my tracks in MIDI using cakewalk and inserting a few wavs... but.. 2 things

1- is this a relativly normal way of doint things?
and
2- why dont the buggers sync?? i always seem to have to put the wav like .040 seconds later/.... surely this has nothing to do with latency?

oh and one more thing- why the hell cant i save my pro audio 9 tunes as a wav or mp3?? seems ridiculous to me.. and now soundforge isnt recording off cakewalk for some fcuking reason

TIA
 
i'm pretty sure it is a latency problem, it's always a bitch to sync MIDI and audio. and u can't save it as WAV or Mp3 because there is MIDI in it. record the MIDI to digital audio and then mix it down.
 
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