Cakewalk Pro Audio 8 User's Guide

Cakewalk Professional User’s Guide

Information in this document is subject to change without notice and does not represent a commitment on the part of Twelve Tone Systems, Inc. The software described in this document is furnished under a license agreement or nondisclosure agreement. The software may be used or copied only in accordance of the terms of the agreement. It is against the law to copy this software on any medium except as speciﬁcally allowed in the agreement. No part of this document may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, for any purpose without the express written permission of Twelve Tone Systems, Inc.

Cakewalk is a registered trademark of Twelve Tone Systems, Inc. Cakewalk Pro Audio, Cakewalk Professional, Cakewalk Home Studio, Cakewalk Guitar Studio, Cakewalk Audio FX, Cakewalk Metro, Virtual Jukebox, Virtual Piano, CFX, StudioWare, and the Cakewalk logo are trademarks of Twelve Tone Systems, Inc. Other company and product names are trademarks of their respective owners.

Table of Contents

Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xv

About This Book . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xv

Registering Professionalª . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .xvi

Getting Help . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .xvi

1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18

Make a Performance Sound Great . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

Improvise . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

Edit and Arrange . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

Orchestrate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Work Efficiently . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Share Your Music . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Record Demo Tapes or CD Masters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Coordinate with Other Media and Hardware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Produce Printed Scores and MIDI Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Professionalª Basics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Views . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Working on a Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

Other Types of Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

Computers, Sound, and Music . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

MIDI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

Digital Audio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

Installing Professionalª . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

Table of Contents

Starting Professionalª . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

Learning to Use Professionalª . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

2 Getting Started . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

Tutorial 1ÑPlaying a Song . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

Rehearsal Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

Opening a Project File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

Playing the Song . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

Restarting the Song Automatically . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

Changing the Tempo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

Muting and Soloing Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

Changing a Track's Instrument . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

Playing Music on a Keyboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

Transposing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

Tutorial 2ÑRecording MIDI and Digital Audio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

Rehearsal Time, Part 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

Opening the Project File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

Recording MIDI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54

Loop Recording . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58

Punch-In Recording . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60

Recording Digital Audio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61

Recording Multiple Channels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64

Tutorial 3ÑAudio Editing and Mixing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64

Audio Engineering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65

Opening the Project File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65

The Plan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65

Stretching the Music . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

Adding the Announcer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68

Trimming the Announcer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69

Editing the Announcer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72

Making It Fit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

Mixing the Radio Spot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74

Automating Your Mix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76

Saving the Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

3 Controlling Playback . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79

The ÒNow TimeÓ and How to Use It . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80

Displaying the Now Time in Large Print . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82

Other Ways to Set the Now Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83

Controlling Playback . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84

Handling Stuck Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85

Loops . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85

Track-by-Track Playback . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88

Silencing Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89

Soloing Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90

Changing Track Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91

Setting Up Output Devices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95

Assigning Tracks to Ports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97

Choosing the Instrument Sound (Bank and Patch) . . . . . . . . . 98

Adjusting Volume and Pan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101

Assigning a MIDI Channel (Chn) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102

Adjusting the Key/Transposing a Track (Key+) . . . . . . . . . . . 103

Adjusting the Note Velocity (Vel+) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104

Adjusting the Time Alignment of a Track (Time+) . . . . . . . . . 105

Other MIDI Playback Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106

Video Playback . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107

4 Recording a Performance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111

Creating a New Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112

Creating a New Project File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112

Setting the Time and Key Signatures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113

Setting the Metronome and Tempo Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114

Setting the Audio Sampling Rate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117

Setting the MIDI Timing Resolution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118

Preparing to Record . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119

Recording Modes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120

Choosing a Source . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120

Arming Tracks for Recording . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122

Auto Arming . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123

Recording Music from a MIDI Instrument . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123

Virtual Piano . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124

Recording Audio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125

Loop Recording . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128

Punch Recording . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130

Step Recording . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132

Step Pattern Recording . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135

Recording Channel by Channel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136

Importing Music and Sound . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138

Importing Wave (.wav) Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138

Importing Material from Another Cakewalk Project . . . . . . . 139

Importing MIDI Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140

Saving Your Work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140

Labeling Your Projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142

File Statistics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144

MIDI Input and Echo Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144

Table of Contents

Input Filtering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144

MIDI Echo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145

Local Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146

5 Arranging Tracks and Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149

Arranging Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150

Changing the Order of Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151

Copying Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152

Erasing Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153

Arranging Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153

Displaying Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154

Selecting Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156

Moving and Copying Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156

Working with Partial Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160

Markers and the Snap Grid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162

Showing Gridlines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163

Defining and Using the Snap Grid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163

Creating and Using Markers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165

Working with Linked Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169

Splitting and Combining Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172

Changing Tempos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174

Using the Tempo Toolbar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175

Using the Tempo Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176

Using the Tempo View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179

6 Editing Events and Controllers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183

The Piano Roll View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184

Opening the View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184

Selecting and Editing Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185

Percussion, Drum Notes, and Note Names . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189

Controllers Pane . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190

Selecting and Editing Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190

Transposing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190

Shifting Events in Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191

Inserting Measures into a Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192

Stretching and Shrinking Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194

Reversing Notes in a Clip . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196

Adding Crescendos and Decrescendos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197

Changing the Timing of a Recording . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197

Quantizing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198

Fit Improvisation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208

Searching for Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209

Event Filters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210

Controllers, RPNs, NRPNs, and Automation Data . . . . . . . . . . . 216

Using the Controllers Pane . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218

The Event List View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224

Event List Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225

Event List Display Filter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227

Editing Events and Event Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227

Additional Event Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229

MIDI Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230

Presets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231

Quantizing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232

Adding Echo/Delay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233

Filtering Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234

Adding Arpeggio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234

Analyzing Chords . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236

Changing Velocities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236

7 Editing Audio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239

Digital Audio Fundamentals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240

Basic Acoustics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240

ExampleÑA Guitar String . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240

Waveforms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242

Recording a Sound . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244

The Decibel Scale . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245

Audio Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246

Managing Audio Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247

The Audio View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 248

Basic Audio Editing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249

Editing Event Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250

Setting Volume and Pan Envelopes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 252

Moving, Copying, and Deleting Audio Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . 254

Splitting Audio Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 254

Combining Audio Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255

Applying Fades with the Draw Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 256

Scrubbing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 258

Basic Audio Processing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259

Increasing or Decreasing Volume . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 260

Reversing Audio Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262

Equalizing Audio Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262

Advanced Audio Processing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263

Parametric Equalization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263

Fades and Crossfades . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265

Audio Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267

Table of Contents

vii

Mixing Audio Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268

Adding Parametric Equalization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269

Adding Chorus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 270

Applying Delay and Echo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272

Adding Flanging . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272

Applying Reverb . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273

Shifting Pitch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 274

8 Working with Notation and Lyrics . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277

The Staff View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 278

Opening the Staff View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 278

Staff View Layout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279

Basic Musical Editing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 280

Inserting Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 280

Selecting Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 281

Moving, Copying, and Deleting Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 282

Changing Note Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283

Working with Triplets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 284

Beaming of Rests . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285

Changing the Way Notes Are Displayed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285

Using Enharmonic Spellings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 287

MIDI Channels and Voices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289

Chords and Marks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289

Adding Chord Symbols . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 290

Adding Expression Marks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293

Adding Hairpin Symbols . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295

Adding Pedal Marks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 296

Working with Percussion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 298

Setting Up a Percussion Track . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 298

Setting Up a Percussion Staff or Line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 299

Ghost Strokes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 301

Printing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 302

The Meter/Key View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 303

What Is Meter? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 303

What Is Key? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 304

Opening the Meter/Key View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 304

Adding and Editing Meter/Key Changes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 305

Working with Lyrics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 307

Adding and Editing Lyrics in the Staff View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 307

Opening the Lyrics View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 309

Adding and Editing Lyrics in the Lyrics View . . . . . . . . . . . . 309

viii

9 Mixing and Effects Patching . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 311

The Console View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 312

Configuring the Console . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 314

Mixing MIDI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 319

Routing and Mixing Digital Audio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 321

Audio Track Modules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 324

Aux Buses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 324

Audio Main Output Modules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 325

Using Real-Time Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 326

Using Control Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 329

Using Remote Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 333

Recording Automation Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 335

Mixing Down and Distributing Audio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 338

Preparing Audio for Distribution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 339

10 Using Instrument Definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 343

Assigning Instruments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 344

Importing Instrument Definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 346

Creating Instrument Definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 347

Creating Lists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 350

Copying Name Lists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 351

Assigning the Bank Select Method . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 351

Assigning Patch Names . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 352

Assigning Note Names . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 354

Assigning Controller, RPN, and NRPN Names . . . . . . . . . . . 355

11 Working with StudioWare . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 357

StudioWare Panels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 358

Using Panels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 359

Grouping Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 362

Recording Control Movements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 364

Control Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 368

StudioWare Panel Drawing Speed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 368

12 Using Layouts and Templates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 371

Layouts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 372

Templates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 375

Template Example: Three MIDI Instruments . . . . . . . . . . . . 376

Table of Contents

13 Improving Audio Performance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 379

Audio System Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 379

The Wave Profiler . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 379

Configuring Your Audio Hardware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 381

Digital Audio Data Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 383

Changing the Wavedata Folder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 385

Deleting Unused Audio Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 386

Compacting Audio Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 387

Backing Up Projects with Digital Audio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 387

Take Vault and Audio Data Handling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 388

Imported Audio Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 389

Improving Performance with Digital Audio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 389

14 Using System Exclusive Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 393

What Is System Exclusive? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 394

Sysx Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 394

Using the System Exclusive View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 395

Send . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 395

Send All . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 395

Receive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 395

More about Dump Request Macros . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 398

Name . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 398

Auto . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 398

Port . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 398

Edit Bytes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 398

Delete . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 399

Load Bank and Save Bank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 399

Transmitting Banks during Playback . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 399

Real-time Recording of System Exclusive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 400

Sysx Echo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 400

Saving MIDI Files Containing Sysx Banks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 401

Sysx . ini File Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 401

Troubleshooting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 402

15 Synchronizing Your Gear . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 405

Synchronization Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 405

Clock Sources with No External Devices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 407

MIDI Synchronization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 408

Professionalª as the Slave . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 409

Professionalª as the Master . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 410

Using MIDI Sync with Drum Machines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 411

Troubleshooting MIDI Sync . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 412

SMPTE/MIDI Time Code Synchronization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 412

Playing Digital Audio under SMPTE/MTC Sync . . . . . . . . . . 414

SMPTE/MTC Sync and Full Chase Lock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 415

Troubleshooting SMPTE/MTC Sync . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 416

MIDI Machine Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 417

16 Programming with Cal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 419

Creating and Running CAL Programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 420

Sample CAL Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 421

SPLIT NOTE TO TRACKS.CAL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 421

SPLIT CHANNEL TO TRACKS.CAL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 422

RANDOM TIME.CAL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 422

THIN CONTROLLER DATA.CAL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 422

THIN CHANNEL AFTERTOUCH.CAL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 422

THIN PITCH WHEEL.CAL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 423

MAJOR CHORD.CAL, MINOR CHORD.CAL . . . . . . . . . . . . 423

Writing CAL Programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 423

Recording CAL Programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 424

Table of Contents

Appendix A: Troubleshooting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 427

When I Play a File, I DonÕt Hear Anything . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 427

I CanÕt Record from My MIDI Instrument . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 428

When I Play a File Containing Audio, the Audio

Portion DoesnÕt Play . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 429

I CanÕt Record Any Audio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 430

The Music Is Playing Back with the Wrong

Instrument Sounds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 430

How Do I Use Professionalª to Access All the Sounds

on My MIDI Instrument? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 431

My Keyboard Doubles Every Note I Play . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 431

I DonÕt See the Clips Pane in the Track View . . . . . . . . . . . . . 432

Why CanÕt Professionalª Find My Audio Files? . . . . . . . . . . 432

Why Do I Get Errors from the Wave Profiler? . . . . . . . . . . . . 433

Appendix B: Tips & Tricks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 435

Video Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 436

Double-Clicking Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 436

Playing Files in Batch Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 436

The Play List View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 437

Virtual Jukebox . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 438

Key Bindings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 442

Windows Taskbar Indicators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 445

Undo, Redo, and the Undo History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 446

Screen Colors and Wallpaper . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 447

Music Notation for Nonconcert Key

Instruments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 450

Appendix C: Advanced Setup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 451

Step 1. Install Windows 95 or NT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 451

Step 2. Install Cakewalk Professionalª . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 452

Step 3. Read the README File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 453

Step 4. Install a MIDI Driver . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 454

Step 5. Connect Your MIDI Equipment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 457

Step 6. Configure Your Audio Hardware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 460

Step 7. Set Up to Record Digital Audio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 461

Step 8. Start Cakewalk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 464

Appendix D: MIDI Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 469

Timebases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 470

Supported MIDI File Meta-Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 470

Features Not Supported by MIDI Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 470

Other MIDI File Handling Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 471

Special Handling of GM, GS, and XG MIDI Files . . . . . . . . . . 471

If You Have Problems Playing MIDI Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 472

If You Plan to Publish Your Songs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 472

Appendix E: Initialization Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 475

Initialization Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 475

Initialization File Format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 476

CAKEWALK.INI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 476

TTSSEQ.INI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 478

Variables in the [Options] Section . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 478

Variables in the [MIDI Input Devices]

Section . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 480

Variables in the [MIDI Output Devices] Section . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 481

AUD.INI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 481

Variables in the [Aud] Section . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 481

Appendix F: Presets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 483

FX Stereo Reverb and CFX Reverb . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 484

FX Stereo Chorus and CFX Chorus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 485

FX Stereo Flanger and CFX Flanger . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 485

FX Stereo Delay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 486

xii

CFX Delay/Echo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 486

FX Pitch Shifter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 486

FX Stereo Parametric EQ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 488

CFX 2-Band EQ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 488

Appendix G: Summary of New Features . . . . . . . . . . . . 489

MIDI Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 489

Improved Audio Streaming . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 489

Pan and Volume Envelopes for Audio Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . 489

Adjustable Audition Duration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 490

Audio View Display Units . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 490

Video support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 490

Zoom Enhancements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 490

Event List Display Filter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 490

Metronome Enhancements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 490

Record Drop-down List in Record Toolbar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 490

Tempo List in Tempo View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 491

Patch Browser . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 491

Show/Hide Gradient Background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 491

Mixdown Audio Command Moved to Tools Menu . . . . . . . . . . 491

New Pop-up Menus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 491

Snap To or Move By Snap Resolution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 491

New Buttons in Markers and Meter/Key Views . . . . . . . . . . . 491

Loop and Punch Markers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 491

Go to Folder in File Open Dialog Box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 492

Double-Clicking on Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 492

Console View Enhancements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 492

MIDI System Exclusive Echo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 493

Table of Contents

Index. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 494

xiii

xiv

Preface

The Cakewalk Professionalª UserÕs Guide is designed to help you learn

and use Cakewalk Professionalª Version 8. In everyday language, this

Guide explains how Professionalª works and how to use it to create,

edit, produce, and perform. WeÕve made this and task-oriented, with lots of cross-references so that you can Þnd the information you need. The index that you can use to Þnd information on any speciÞc topic.

UserÕs Guide also includes a comprehensive

UserÕs Guide easy to read

About This Book

The UserÕs Guide is organized as follows:

Chapter 1, Introduction , provides an overview of Professionalª and instructions for installing the software and setting up your equipment.

Chapter 2, give you some practical experience with Professionalª and some exposure to many of its capabilities.

Chapters 3 through 9 cover all the basic skills you need to use Professionalª to play, record, edit, arrange, and mix your projects. By the time you complete these chapters, youÕll know all about the different ways you can work with your projects, and youÕll know about most of the tools you need to create music and sound using your computer.

Chapters 10 through 15 cover the advanced features of Professionalª. By the time you complete these chapters, youÕll know how to customize Professionalª both to make the best use of all the MIDI and audio equipment you have in your studio and to be more efÞcient and productive in your work.

The appendices contain additional information you can use for troubleshooting, advanced installation and setup, use of MIDI Þles, and some tips and tricks for using Professionalª. If youÕve used earlier

Getting Started , is a set of three hands-on tutorials that will

Preface

versions of Professionalª, be sure to turn to Appendix G to see a

summary of the new features in Professionalª Version 8.

Registering Professional™

Please be sure to complete and return the registration card in your

product package or to register your product on our World Wide Web site

(www.cakewalk.com). If you do not register, we cannot provide you with

technical support.

Getting Help

In addition to this UserÕs Guide , Professionalª includes on-line help

that can provide you with quick reference information whenever you

need it. Simply press F1 or click the Help button in any dialog box to Þnd

the information you need.

If you need more information than you can Þnd in the

the on-line help, here are two great places to look:

¥ Check the Support page of our World Wide Web site

(www.cakewalk.com) for updated technical information and answers to frequently asked questions

¥ Post messages to the Professionalª user community using one of

the Cakewalk newsgroups. For more information about the newsgroups, visit www.cakewalk.com.

You can also get technical support directly from Cakewalk. In order to

obtain technical support, you must submit the product registration card

that is included with your Cakewalk product, or register your product on

our World Wide Web site. You can obtain technical support for this

product in the following ways:

¥ E-mail your questions to support@cakewalk.com. Be sure to include

your serial number in your e-mail.

¥ Call Cakewalk Technical Support at (617) 441-7891 on weekdays,

10:00AM to 6:00PM, Eastern time. Be sure to have your serial number ready when you call.

Technical support hours, policies, and procedures are subject to change

at any time. Check our web site for the latest support information.

UserÕs Guide or

xvi

Introduction

Cakewalk Professionalª harnesses the power of your computer so you can produce great music fast. It has tools to make you productive and efÞcient so you can make the most of your creative ideas. YouÕll use Professionalª as your musical scratchpad from the start of a musical project right through to a polished Þnal result.

With Professionalª, you can work in any musical style. You can produce demo tapes, music for multimedia and games, sound effects and music for the computer or the World Wide Web, printed lead sheets and scores, or accompaniment tracks for performing and improvising. Your music can combine MIDI music with digital audio recordings of acoustic instruments and vocals. Professionalª is ßexible Ñ whatever your musical goals, Professionalª can take you there..

In This Chapter

Professional™ Basics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Computers, Sound, and Music . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

Installing Professional™. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

Starting Professional™. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

Learning to Use Professional™ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

Introduction

It doesnÕt matter whether you have a small home studio or a high-

powered, fully equipped professional recording studio. Professionalª

helps you make the most of the equipment you have. It acts like the

mixer, tape deck, and effects rack in a traditional recording studio. You

record tracks and adjust their levels. Your sound sources can be

synthesized sounds, or sounds you record yourself. Special control panels

let you control the other equipment in your studio. Any gear that accepts

MIDI commands can interface with Cakewalk, allowing you to

incorporate their settings into a mix.

Make a Performance Sound Great

With Professionalª, you can record a performance on a track and add it

to a musical composition. Once youÕve got the sounds into your computer,

you can apply advanced editing tools to turn it into the perfect recording.

You can process your recordings with EQ and sophisticated effects like

reverb and delay. You can apply fadeouts and cross-fades and you can

adjust volume to correct recordings that are too soft. You can Þx a

performerÕs mistakes by adjusting the pitch or change the musical

concept by adjusting the duration of a recording.

Professionalª provides plenty of visual and audio feedback so you can

work fast and accurately. You can see the audio waveforms and watch

audio meters. You can listen to single or multiple tracks in tiny segments

so that you can Þnd and Þx glitches and edit out unwanted sections.

Professionalª P

polishing your musical ideas without getting in your way.

ROFESSIONAL

provides the tools for capturing and

Improvise

Record your ideas a track at a time, building a composition even if you

donÕt have an ensemble to jam with. Professionalª can be your musical

sketchpad, holding onto ideas that you can edit later. You can record

MIDI tracks using your keyboard or any other MIDI controller, or you

can set up your microphone and record audio tracks.

Edit and Arrange

Apply ProfessionalÕsª editing tools to Þne-tune a performance. Fix

rhythmic problems or give a track a new rhythmic feel. Select and

rearrange phrases -- apply loops, adjust the timing between tracks by

dragging, double or repeat a phrase by cutting and pasting. Select and

edit the music note by note and event by event, or apply powerful editing

procedures to change any parameter of selected events.

1-18

Orchestrate

You have access to the full palette of sounds on your MIDI synthesizer. You can add patch changes and double notes and phrases on other tracks until the music sounds right. You can identify sounds by name instead of remembering sounds by number.

Work Efﬁciently

Professionalª has many views so you can see the music at any level of detail. You can see MIDI tracks and audio tracks side by side so you can align and edit them. You can work on individual notes or on phrases and tracks. You can apply Þlters to the musical data, letting you work on one type of information at a time. You can label musical phrases and insert markers, making editing and arranging easy.

Share Your Music

YouÕll want to share your music with other people, whether theyÕre your clients, your band members, or other composers. Your results can be recordings, computer Þles, or printed scores.

Record Demo Tapes or CD Masters

When the music sounds just the way you want it, you can hook up your cassette or DAT recorder to get a recording that you can share with your band or send to the CD mastering house. Or, if your studio doesnÕt have a high-end synthesizer with great sounds, you can take your Professionalª Þles into a bigger studio with more gear. If they have a PC running Cakewalk, you can make your master recordings there with great-sounding MIDI synthesizers.

Coordinate with Other Media and Hardware

Cakewalk synchronizes to other recorders with most popular SMPTE and MIDI time code formats. If you work on multimedia projects, you can use Professionalª as the master controller. Commands you insert in a track can trigger other multimedia applications such as animation and video.

Produce Printed Scores and MIDI Files

You can produce printed lead sheets and small scores with lyrics, or share the projects in digital form. Cakewalk will save your music in audio or MIDI formats that you can put on a web site or share with others.

Introduction

1-19

Professional™ Basics

Professionalª looks and acts like many other Microsoft Windows

programs. The

features of Professionalª. Some menu choices and tools display

boxes

that let you choose among various options or type in the values you want. If you click in most views, in time rulers, or on certain other items with the right mouse button, you see a pop-up menu that provides quick access to many common operations.

The

project is the center of your work in Professionalª. If youÕre a

musician, a project might contain a song, a jingle, or a movement of a symphony. If youÕre a post-production engineer, a project might contain a 30-second radio commercial or a lengthy soundtrack for a Þlm or videotape production. By default, every project is stored in a Þle (known as a

work Þle ). The normal Þle extension for aProfessionalª work Þle is

wrk .

menus and toolbars give you quick access to all the

dialog

Professionalª organizes the sound and music in your project into tracks, clips, and events.

Tracks are used to store the sound or music made by each instrument

or voice in a project. For example, a song that is arranged for four instruments and one vocalist would normally have 5 tracksÑone for each instrument and one for the vocals. Each project can have up to 256 tracks. Some of these tracks may be used in your Þnished project, while others can hold alternate takes, backup tracks, and variations that you might want to keep for future use.

Clips are the pieces of sound and music that make up your project. A

clip might contain a horn solo, a drum break, a bass or guitar riff, a voice-over, a sound effect like the hoot of an owl, or an entire keyboard performance. A track can contain a single clip or dozens of different clips, and you can easily move clips from one track to another.

Events are the individual bits of sound and music that make up a clip. A

note played on a piano or bass is an event, as is the pressing of a sustain pedal on a keyboard or the turn of a pitch wheel. Each continuous piece of digital audio in your project is an event.

Views

Professionalª displays your project in windows on the screen that are known as same project. When you edit a project in one view, the others are updated automatically.

views . You can have many views open at once, all showing the

1-20

The Track View

The Track view is the main window that you use to create, display, and work with a project. When you open a project Þle, Professionalª displays the Track view for the project. When you close the Track view for a project, Professionalª closes the Þle.The Track view is divided into two sections: the size of the two panes by dragging the vertical splitter bar that separates the two panes.

Each row is a track

Track pane and the Clips pane . You can change the

The Clips paneThe Track pane

The Track pane lets you see and change the initial settings for each track. One trackÑthe current trackÑis always displayed in color or marked by a rectangle around one cell. To change the current track, move the highlight using the mouse or the keyboard as follows:

Key… What it does…

Arrow Moves one cell in any direction

Page Down Displays the next page of tracks

Page Up Displays the previous page of tracks

Home Moves the highlight to the ﬁrst track in

the project

Introduction

1-21

End Moves the highlight to the last track in

the project

The Clips pane shows the clips in your project on a timeline that helps you visualize how your project is organized. Clips contain markings that indicate their contents. The Clips pane lets you select, move, and copy clips from place to place to change the arrangement of music and sound in your project.

The Track view makes it easy to select tracks, clips, and ranges of time in a project. These are the most common selection methods:

To… Do this…

Select tracks Click on the track number, or drag over

several track numbers

Select clips Click on the clip, or drag a rectangle

around several clips

Select time ranges Drag in the time ruler, or click between

two markers

As with most other Windows programs, you can also use the Shift-click and Ctrl-click combinations when selecting tracks and clips. Holding the Shift key while you click adds tracks or clips to the current selection. Holding the Ctrl key while you click lets you toggle the selection status of tracks or clips.

1-22

The Console View

The Console view is the place where you mix the sounds on all the different tracks to create the Þnal version of your project. You use the Console view to adjust the levels of sound for the different tracks in your project, to change the stereo panning, and to apply real-time effects to an individual track, combinations of tracks, or the Þnal mix.

The mixing console contains several groups of controls. There is one module for each track in your project, and one module for each output

device. You can use auxiliary sends (or aux sends) to direct certain tracks to special modules that are known as submixes.

Audio module

MIDI module

Patch point for real-time effects

Aux Sends knobs and on/off buttons

Mute, Solo, and Track Arming buttons

Pan and volume fader for each track

As in the Track view, you can change track settings or record new music or sound in the Console view. You may choose to use one view or the other, or the choice you make may depend on which project you are working on.

Other Views

Professionalª has a number of other views you can use to display and work on your project. To display these views, select one or more tracks and:

Track settings

Master volume faders

Introduction

¥ Click the icon for the view

¥ Choose the view you want from the View menu

¥ Right-click on a selected track and choose the view you want from

the menu

1-23

The Piano Roll view shows the notes from a single track as they would appear on a player-piano roll. You can move the notes around, make them longer or shorter, and change their pitches by just dragging them with the mouse. You can also use the Piano Roll view to display and edit MIDI velocity, controllers, and other types of information.

1-24

The Staff view displays the notes from one or more tracks using standard music notation, similar to the way the notation would appear on a printed page. You can add, edit, or delete notes; create percussion

parts; add guitar chords and other notation markings; and print whole scores or individual parts to share with other musicians.

The Audio view displays the sound waves that make up one or more audio tracks of your project and provides tools to edit, arrange, and apply effects to audio events.

1-25

Introduction

The Event List view displays the events in a project individually, so that you can make changes at a very detailed level.

Professionalª has several other views that are used for very speciÞc purposes:

View… How you use it…

Meter/Key To change the meter (time signature) or

key signature or to insert changes in the meter or key signature at speciﬁc times in a project

1-26

Big Time To display the Now time in a large,

resizable font that you can read more easily

Markers To add, move, rename, or delete labels

for parts of your song that make it easier to move from one point to another

Lyrics To add and display lyrics for a track

Video To display a loaded video ﬁle

Sysx To create, display, store, and edit

System Exclusive MIDI messages used to control instruments and other gear that are MIDI capable

StudioWare To use custom software interfaces to

control your MIDI gear

Tempo To view and edit the project's tempo

changes

Zoom Controls

Many of the views contain Zoom tools that let you change the horizontal and vertical scale of the view:

Lasso zoom Vertical zoom fader Zoom out vertically Zoom in vertically

Horizontal zoom fader

Zoom in horizontally

Zoom out horizontally

The zoom tools are used as described in the following table:

Tool… How you use it…

Zoom out Click to zoom out incrementally, or press

Shift and click to zoom all the way out

Zoom in Click to zoom in incrementally, or press

Shift and click to zoom all the way in

Zoom fader Click and drag to zoom continuously

Lasso zoom Click to arm, then click and drag in the

view to select the zoom area

Lasso zoom is automatically disarmed after use. Double-click the lasso zoom button to make the selection stick.

You can also zoom with the keyboard:

Key… What it does…

I Zoom in vertically and horizontally

O Zoom out vertically and horizontally

G Go to (center) the Now time, without

zooming

Z Arm lasso zoom

U Undo the current zoom

Introduction

1-27

Layouts

You may spend a lot of time making sure that all the views are laid out on the screen just the way you want. When you save your work, you can save the screen layout along with it. You can also save the layout by itself and then use the layout with other projects.

Working on a Project

Much of your time in Professionalª is spent recording and listening to your project or song as it develops. The Transport toolbar, shown below, contains the most important tools and other pieces of information youÕll need to record and play back your project.

Every project has a current time, known as the Now time. As you record or play back a project, the Now time shows your current location in the project. When you open or create a project, the Now time is set to the beginning of the project.

You control recording and playback using tools on the Transport toolbar, which work a lot like the ones on your tape deck or CD player:

Play RecordGo to Beginning

Go to EndStop

Reset

1-28

Play RecordGo to Beginning

Go to EndStop

As you work with a project, you can use ProfessionalªÕs mute and solo features to choose which tracks are played, or you can create loops to play a particular section over and over again. You can also create markers, which are named time points you add to your project to make it easy to jump to a particular location.

Other Types of Files

Professionalª lets you create and work with several other types of Þles, in addition to the work Þles that store your songs and other projects:

File type… Purpose…

Playlist To play a series of Professional™

projects and standard MIDI ﬁles, one after another

CAL To write, edit, and run CAL programs

that extend the capabilities of Professional™

StudioWare To control external MIDI devices from

Professional™ Professional™

Computers, Sound, and Music

This section provides some background on the different ways that computers store and play sound and music. Computers work with sound and music in two different forms: MIDI and digital audio.

MIDI

MIDI (short for Musical Instrument Digital Interface) is the way computers communicate with most sound cards, keyboards, and other electronic instruments. MIDI refers to both the type of cables and plugs used to connect the computers and instruments, and to the language those computers and instruments use to talk to each other. The MIDI standard is accepted and used worldwide. Almost any electronic instrument you buy today will have MIDI connectors and can be used with other MIDI instruments and with your computerÕs MIDI interface.

The MIDI language conveys information and instructions, both from the computer to the instrument and from the instrument to the computer. For example, if your computer wants your keyboard to play a note, it sends a MIDI ÒNote OnÓ message and tells the keyboard which note to play. When your computer wants the keyboard to stop playing that note, it sends another message that stops the note from playing.

The MIDI language has many other instructions, such as messages to change the sound that is used to play the notes (the bank and patch), messages used to work the sustain pedal and the pitch-bend wheel, and others. By sending the right messages at the right times, your computer can control your electronic instrument and make it play music.

Introduction

1-29

MIDI information can be sent on 16 different channels. You can set up your MIDI equipment to listen for messages on all channels or on only a few.

MIDI Þles contain all the MIDI messages and timing information that are needed to play a song. MIDI Þles can be read and played by many different programs, including Cakewalk, and can even be played by programs on other types of computers. MIDI Þles have the extension .

MID.

There are several important advantages of the MIDI format:

¥ Large amounts of music can be stored in a very compact form

¥ Different parts of a piece can easily be assigned to any instrument

you can imagine

¥ The music contains information on notes, tempos, and key

signatures that makes it possible to display and edit the piece using standard musical notation

The primary disadvantage of MIDI is that the quality of the music a listener hears will vary depending on the MIDI equipment the listener is using. For example, MIDI usually sounds much better on an expensive synthesizer than it does on an inexpensive sound card.

Digital Audio

Digital audio is a simple way to record and play sounds of any type. It works like a tape recorderÑyou record something, then later play it back. Digital audio stores the sound as a long series of numbers.

1-30

Sound Waves

Sound waves are vibrations in the air. Sound waves are generated by anything that vibrates; a vibrating object causes the air next to it to vibrate, and the vibration is passed through the air in all directions. When the vibrating air enters your ear, it makes your eardrum vibrate, and you hear a sound. Likewise, if the vibrating air hits a microphone, it causes the microphone to vibrate and send electrical signals to whatever it's connected to.

These vibrations are very fast. The slowest vibration frequency you can hear is about 20 vibrations per second, and the fastest is around 16,000 to 20,000 vibrations per second.

Recording Digital Audio

To record digital audio, your computer monitors the electrical signal generated by a microphone, an electric guitar, or another source. At equal intervals of time (for CD-quality sound, this means 44,100 times a

second), the computer measures and saves the strength of the electrical signal from the microphone, on a scale from 0 to 65,535.

That's it. The digital audio data is just a long series of numbers. Later, the computer can send these numbers, in the form of electrical signals, to a speaker. The speaker then vibrates and generates the same sound that was recorded.

The primary advantage of digital audio is the quality of the sound. Unlike MIDI, a digital audio recording is very rich, capturing all the nuances, overtones, and other characteristics of the sound exactly as performed. The main drawback of digital audio is that it takes up a lot of disk space. If you record a 1-minute segment of stereo, CD-quality digital audio, you need about 10 megabytes of disk space to store the resulting Þle.

On the PC, digital audio is usually stored in wave Þles, with the extension . play, and edit these Þles. Professionalª reads, writes, and lets you edit wave Þles.

More information about digital audio can be found in Chapter 7, Editing Audio.

WAV. There are many programs available that let you create,

Installing Professional™

You can install Professionalª on any computer that runs Windows and has a sound card or built-in sound module. If you want to hook up other devices, like a MIDI keyboard, an electric guitar, or a microphone, you need the right cables, and you need to Þnd the right connectors on your computer.

Before you install ProfessionalªProfessionalª, take a minute to register the software so we can let you know when updates become available and provide you with technical support. To register your copy of Professionalª, Þll in the registration card in your product package and mail or FAX it back to us. Or, register at our web site: www.cakewalk.com.

To connect a MIDI keyboard to your computer, you need to have a MIDI adapter cable. One end of the cable should have two 5-pin DIN connectors that connect to your keyboard. At the other end, you need a

Introduction

1-31

15-pin connector to connect to a sound card through its MIDI/joystick port.

MIDI to 15 Pin Connector

5-pin DIN connector

15-pin connector (DB15)

If you have a dedicated MIDI interface, lots of electronic music gear, or work with many different music software packages, you should read Appendix C: Advanced Setup.

Before you attach or detach any cables from your computer, you should shut down your computer and turn off the power to all your equipment. This greatly reduces the chance of electrical damage to your equipment while plugging and unplugging cables.

To Connect a MIDI Keyboard to Your Computer…

1. One of the 5-pin connectors on the MIDI cable is labeled Out.

Plug this connector into the MIDI In jack on your electronic keyboard.

2. The other 5-pin connector on the MIDI cable is labeled In. Plug

this connector into the MIDI Out jack on your electronic keyboard.

3. Plug the 15-pin connector on the MIDI cable into the MIDI/

joystick port on your sound card. (If you have a joystick, unplug it, plug in the MIDI cable, and plug the joystick into the passthrough connector on the MIDI cable.)

1-32

To Connect an Electric Guitar to Your Computer…

1. Plug your 1/4” mono guitar cable into a 1/8” stereo adapter.

2. Plug the 1/8” jack into the microphone input or line input jack on your computer sound card.

To Connect a Microphone to Your Computer…

1. If your microphone does not have a 1/8” mono or stereo plug, plug the microphone into a 1/8” adapter.

2. Plug the 1/8” jack into the microphone input jack on your computer sound card.

That's it! Now that your instruments are all set to go, you can restart your computer and turn on your keyboard, guitar, and microphone.

To Install Professional™…

Professionalª is easy to install. All you need to do is choose the folder where the program and sample project Þles should be stored. Before you start, make sure you have your serial number and CD-KEY handy. Your serial number is located on your registration card. Your CD-KEY is located on the back of your CD case.

1. Start Windows.

2. Place the Cakewalk Professional™ CD in your CD-ROM drive. The Cakewalk Professional™ CD Autorun screen displays automatically.

3. Click the Install Professional™ button to start Cakewalk Setup.

4. Follow the installation instructions displayed on the screen.

The setup program walks you through the installation process, making suggestions as you go. The setup program also adds a Cakewalk folder and program icon to your desktop.

You can also install Professional™ by choosing Start-Run and running the application named

SETUP.EXE from the CD.

To Uninstall Professional™…

When you installed Professionalª, the setup program placed an Uninstall icon in the Cakewalk folder. To uninstall Professionalª,

Introduction

1-33

simply click on this icon. You can also uninstall Professionalª from the Windows Control Panel as follows:

1. Click the Start button, and choose Control Panel.

2. Double-click on the Add/Remove Programs icon.

3. Choose Professional™, then click Add/Remove.

4. Click Yes to conﬁrm that you want to uninstall Professional™.

Starting Professional™

There are many different ways to start Professionalª. Here are a few:

¥ Click on the Professionalª icon on your desktop.

¥ Click on the Start button, and choose Cakewalk-Cakewalk

Professionalª from the Programs menu.

¥ Right-click on the desktop, and choose New-Cakewalk Song. When

the song icon appears, type a name for the song. Then double-click the icon to start Professionalª.

¥ Click the Start button, point to Documents, and choose a

Professionalª project from the menu.

1-34

¥ Double-click the Professionalª program or any

Professionalªdocument from the Windows Explorer or the Find menu.

When you start Professionalª, you see the Quick Start dialog box:

The Quick Start dialog box has several options:

Option… How to use it…

Open a Project Choose a project from the Open File

dialog box to open it

Open a Recent Project Select a project from the list, and click

this button to open it

Create a New Project Choose a template for the new project in

the New dialog box, and click OK to create the project

Find Out More about Cakewalk Click here to visit Cakewalk on the World

Wide Web

If you donÕt want to see the Quick Start dialog box in the future, uncheck the box at the bottom of the dialog box, and click Close. You can see the Quick Start dialog box later by choosing Help-Quick Start.

Learning to Use Professional™

This chapter has provided you with an overview of Professionalª and basic information on how to install the software and conÞgure your system. To get started with Professionalª, you can do two things:

¥ Try the tutorials that appear in Chapter 2.

¥ Watch the TECHniques tutorials to see some of ProfessionalªÕs

Introduction

1-35

1-36

Getting Started

Now that youÕve learned some of the basics, itÕs time to put that knowledge to work. The three tutorials in this chapter will give you some hands-on practice in playing, recording, and mixing your projects. If you want to learn more about any topic, youÕll Þnd references to the appropriate part of the UserÕs Guide.

In This Chapter

Tutorial 1—Playing a Song. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

Tutorial 2—Recording MIDI and Digital Audio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

Tutorial 3—Audio Editing and Mixing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64

Getting Started

Tutorial 1—Playing a Song

The Þrst tutorial teaches you the basics of playing MIDI with Professionalª. You'll learn how to:

¥ Open and play a project Þle

¥ Make the song repeat automatically

¥ Use markers

¥ Speed or slow the tempo

¥ Mute a track and play a track solo

¥ Change a track's instrument

¥ Play a track on a MIDI keyboard

¥ Transpose the song

If you have not already done so, please read Chapter 1, Introduction, for basic background information about projects, tracks, clips, the Track view, and the Console view.

Rehearsal Time

YouÕre a member of a garage band preparing to make a demo tape. The band practices three nights a week, but youÕd like a little extra time to work on a solo in one of your songs. Fortunately, one of your fellow performers is also a Professionalª owner and has created a project Þle containing a portion of the song. So, on your off nights, rather than practice your solo all by yourself, you can load the song into Professionalª and play with the other instruments.

2-38

So, itÕs rehearsal time. LetÕs go!

Opening a Project File

As you learned in Chapter 1, Professionalª stores MIDI and digital audio data in project Þles. The Þrst thing you need to do is load the project Þle containing your band's song.

1. If you haven't already done so, start Professional™.

2. Choose

3. In the Open dialog box, select the ﬁle Open button.

File-Open

tutorial1.wrk

. Click the

Professional™ loads the project and opens the Track and Console views. Feel free to move and resize these views to better ﬁt your screen; we'll be doing a little work in each of these views later in the tutorial. Right now, though, let's play the song!

Playing the Song

Buttons in the Large Transport toolbar, shown in the following picture, can control most of ProfessionalªÕs basic playback functions. If you donÕt see the Large Transport toolbar, then choose View-Toolbars and check Transport (Large).

Now time (MBT)

Now time (SMPTE)

Now time slider

Rewind

Stop

Play

Record

Go to End

Meter/Key

Reset

Starting Playback

1. To play the song, click the Play button , or press the space bar.

Do you hear music? Go ahead, get out your instrument and jam along! If you don't hear anything, see for some troubleshooting tips.

Appendix A: Troubleshooting

Restarting the Song

When Professional™ gets to the end of the song, it stops. To play the song again, do the following:

1. Click the Rewind button , or press W to go back to the ﬁrst measure.

2. Click the Play button, or press the space bar.

Getting Started

2-39

Pausing Playback

1. To temporarily pause playback, click the Play button or the Stop button , or press the space bar. Click the Play button

again to resume playback.

Certain Professional™ functions can only be used when the song is paused. If a function or command does not seem to work, try pausing the song.

The Now Time

The Now time is the current time in the song. In the Clips pane of the Track view, the Now time is indicated by a vertical line. The Now time is also shown in the Transport toolbar, both in MBT (measure/beat/tick) format and in time code format (hour/minute/second/frame). During playback, the Now time increases in accordance with the progress of the song.

You can set the Now time of the song by clicking in the ruler in the Clips pane or (when playback is paused) by dragging the Now slider in the Transport toolbar.

While you are playing with the song, you may want to keep an eye on the Now time. The Big Time view displays the Now time in a large font so you can more easily see it from a distance. To open this view, choose View-Big Time. You can change the time format displayed in the Big Time window by clicking on it. You can change its font by right-clicking on it.

2-40

Starting from a Marker

Markers make it easier to Þnd certain points within the song. You may want to set markers at the beginning of each section of your song or at times with which some event must be synchronized. The Markers toolbar lets you move the Now time to a marker, add a new marker at

the Now time, and edit the marker list. If you donÕt see the Marker toolbar, then choose View-Toolbars and check Markers.

View markers

Marker list Previous

marker

The current song contains several markers. LetÕs try starting playback from the marker labeled C:

1. If the song is playing, pause playback by clicking the Stop button .

2. In the drop-down list in the Markers toolbox, select the marker

labeled C. The Now time moves to the start of measure 17.

3. Click the Play button .

For more information about markers, see ÒCreating and Using MarkersÓ on page 5-165.

Insert marker

Next marker

Restarting the Song Automatically

WouldnÕt it be easier to practice your solo if you didn't have to rewind and restart the song each time it ended? Rather than manually rewinding and restarting the song, you can make Professionalª automatically jump back to the beginning and keep playing.

Looping Over the Entire Song

To control looping, use the tools in the Loop/Auto Shuttle toolbar. If you donÕt see this toolbar, choose View-Toolbars and check Loop.

Loop properties

Loop On/Off

From time

Thru time

Copy selection time

Getting Started

2-41

To loop over the entire song, do the following:

1. Click the Loop From time. The time display changes to an edit box with spin controls.

2. To loop over the entire song, the loop must start at 1:01:000. If the Loop From time is not already set to 1:01:000, use the keyboard or spin controls to enter this value.

3. Click the Loop Thru time.

4. Press F5 to open the Markers dialog box.

5. Select the marker named <End> and click OK. The Loop Thru time is set to the end of the song.

6. Click the Loop button to enable looping.

7. Click Play.

When looping is enabled, the time ruler displays special ßag markers that indicate the loop start and end times. You can drag these markers to change the loop start and end times.

Loop From Loop Thru

2-42

To turn looping off, click the Loop button again.

Looping Over a Section of the Song

Maybe you would like to practice one section of the song over and over. Or, maybe you'd like one section played repeatedly so you can practice an extended solo. In either case, you need to set the start and end times of the loop section. Let's have Professionalª loop over the section between markers C and D:

1. Click on the Loop From time.

2. Press F5 to open the Markers dialog box.

3. In the Markers dialog box, select marker C and click OK. The loop start time is set to the marker time.

4. Click on the Loop Thru time.

5. Press F5.

6. In the Markers dialog box, select marker D and click OK.

7. Click the Loop button to enable looping.

8. Click Rewind. The song rewinds to the Loop From time.

9. Click Play.

A quicker way of selecting the loop times in the preceding example would be to simply click in the area between the markers at the top of the Clips pane, then click to copy the selection start and end times to the Loop/Auto Shuttle toolbar.

Click here to select the portion of the song between markers C and D

Changing the Tempo

If the song is having trouble keeping up with you (or if you're having trouble keeping up with the song!), you can easily speed up or slow down the song. There are two ways to do this: you can change the tempo, or you can change the tempo ratio, which determines the tempo by multiplying it by a user-deÞned amount. The controls for either method

Getting Started

2-43

are found on the Tempo toolbar. If you donÕt see this toolbar, choose View-Toolbars and check Tempo.

Tempo ratio 3

Insert tempo

Tempo

Tempo ratio 2

Tempo ratio 1

Setting the Tempo

LetÕs pick up the pace a little. Do the following:

1. With the song playing, click on the tempo. The tempo will be highlighted and spin controls will appear.

2. Use the spin controls to increase the tempo to 100 beats per minute.

3. Press Enter. The song will play a little faster.

Changing the Tempo with the Tempo Ratio Buttons

By default, the Tempo Ratio buttons let you play the song at half or double tempo. Try this:

1. Click the ﬁrst button . The song slows to half its normal tempo. Note that the actual song tempo (100.00) has not changed.

2. Click the third button . The song speeds to twice its normal tempo.

2-44

3. Click the middle button . The song returns to its normal tempo.

Setting the Tempo Ratios

Tempo ratios can be changed by Shift-clicking on them and entering a new number in the dialog box. By default, tempo ratios are set to 0.50,

1.00, and 2.00, respectively.

Advanced Tempo Control

This song is a special case in that it has only one tempo for the entire song. If you need to vary the songÕs tempo, Professionalª lets you insert tempo changes. Tempo changes can be inserted individually so that

different sections can be played at different tempos, or they can be inserted graphically in the Tempo view. For more information, see ÒChanging TemposÓ on page 5-174.

Tempo ratios affect the entire song, even if there are tempo changes. Professionalª always multiplies the current tempo in the song by the tempo ratio to determine the playback tempo.

Muting and Soloing Tracks

Muting a Track

Frequently you will want to temporarily turn off one or more instruments in your ensemble. Professionalª makes it easy to mute the parts you donÕt want to hear.

For example, suppose that you are practicing the piano part for this song and want to hear only the other instruments. LetÕs mute the piano part. With the song playing, do the following:

1. In the Track pane, click on the Mute button in the Piano track (track 1). The button turns yellow, and the piano part drops out of the song.

2. To turn the piano back on, click the Mute button again.

Note that the yellow MUTE indicator lights up in the status bar whenever a track is muted. This can be very helpful if there are muted tracks that arenÕt visible.

Let's try using a different method to mute two tracks simultaneously:

1. In the Track pane, click the track number (the leftmost column) of the Piano track. The track is selected.

2. While pressing Ctrl, click the track number in the Sax track. The Piano and Sax tracks are selected.

3. Choose

You can also mute or unmute tracks by using the pop-up menu:

1. In the Track pane, click the track number of the Piano track.

2. While pressing Ctrl, click the track number of the Sax track. The piano and sax are selected.

Track-Mute

. Both tracks are muted.

Getting Started

2-45

3. Right-click on either track to bring up the pop-up menu.

4. Choose tracks are unmuted.

Mute

(which should have a check mark beside it). The

Playing a Track Solo

If you want to hear one track by itself, you could mute all other tracks. But thereÕs a quicker way to do itÑthe Solo button. For example, to play the drum part by itself, do the following:

1. Click the Solo button in the Drum track (track 5). Voila, a percussion solo!

2. To let the other instruments back into the song, click the Drum track's Solo button again.

Solo is not exclusiveÑyou can let as many instruments as you like into the solo. Note that the green SOLO indicator lights up in the status bar whenever a track is soloed.

LetÕs use a different method to solo all three percussion tracks:

1. In the Track pane, click the track number in the Drums track. The track is selected.

2. While pressing Shift, click the track numbers in the Shaker and Triangle tracks. All three percussion tracks are selected.

2-46

3. Choose

When you want to let the entire ensemble back into the song, click all the selected (green) Solo buttons again to turn them off, or select all soloed tracks and choose Track-Solo. As a third option, right-click, bring up the pop-up menu, and turn off the solo from there.

Note that Solo takes priority over Mute. If both buttons are selected in a track, the track will be played.

Track-Solo

Mute and Solo in the Console View

The Console view contains Mute and Solo buttons identical to those in the Track view. The two sets of buttons are synchronized. To see this, do the following:

1. In the Console view, mute the Bass, Sax, and Drums tracks.

2. Solo the Piano track.

3. In the Track view, check that the ﬁrst track is soloed and that tracks 2, 3, and 5 are muted. Click the selected Solo and Mute buttons to return the tracks to normal.

Changing a Track's Instrument

If your sound card is like most, its internal synthesizer is capable of producing at least 128 different instrument sounds, plus several dozen percussion sounds. Now you'll Þnd out how to get some of those other instruments into the act. LetÕs try changing the instrument playing the piano line.

Changing the Patch in the Track View

With the song playing, do the following:

1. Solo the Piano track so you can hear the piano part more clearly. To do this, click on the Solo button in the Piano track (track 1).

2. Right-click on any column in the Piano track to open the pop-up menu.

3. Choose

4. Find the Patch setting. This setting indicates which patch, or instrument, is used by this track. Right now, the Piano track uses the patch called Acoustic Grand Piano.

5. To change the patch, select a new patch from the drop-down list. Professional™ immediately starts playing the piano part with that new instrument.

Track Properties

to open the Track Properties dialog box.

Getting Started

2-47

6. Have fun trying all the different patches!

7. Click OK to keep the patch you have selected currently, or click Cancel to go back to the original patch.

8. Click the Solo button in track 1 again to unsolo the Piano track.

You can also change the patch by clicking in the Patch Þeld and using the + and Ð keys to increment through the different patches. To do so:

1. Solo the Piano track by clicking on the Solo button in track 1.

2. Click in the Patch ﬁeld in the Piano track, moving the highlight to that ﬁeld.

3. Press the + or – key on the numeric keypad.

4. Click the Solo button in track 1 again to unsolo the Piano track.

You may want to experiment with changing all the instruments used by the song. One thing you should know: Changing the instrument on a percussion track (such as the Drum, Shaker, and Triangle tracks in this song) may have no effect. Percussion instruments are played on MIDI channel 10, which in General MIDI is dedicated to percussion. The note determines the instrument, and the patch is irrelevant.

2-48

Changing the Patch in the Console View

ItÕs easier to change a trackÕs patch in the Console view. For example, to change the Piano trackÕs patch, click the Patch button in the Piano module and choose a new patch from the menu.

Playing Music on a Keyboard

If you've connected a MIDI keyboard (or another instrument) to your external MIDI interface or the MIDI interface of your sound card, you can play one or more parts of the song on the keyboard instead of the sound cardÕs internal synthesizer. For instructions on connecting a keyboard to your computer, see ÒTo Connect a MIDI Keyboard to Your ComputerÉÓ on page 1-32. For this tutorial, we assume that you want to connect the keyboard to the MIDI in and out of your sound card.

Checking Your MIDI Device Settings

First, letÕs make sure that Professionalª is set up to send MIDI output to your keyboard.

1. Choose

Tools-MIDI Devices

to open the MIDI Ports dialog box.

2. In the Output Ports column, two devices should be selected. The ﬁrst should be your sound card synthesizer device; the second should be your MIDI out device. The uppermost selected device will correspond to Port 1, the second device to Port 2, and so on. For help with these settings, see “Setting Up Output Devices” on page 3-95.

3. Click OK.

Routing MIDI Data to the Keyboard

LetÕs play the Piano track on the MIDI keyboard. First, turn your keyboard on and make sure it is set up to receive MIDI input on channel

1. Then, do the following:

1. In the Track view, right-click on any column in the Piano track (track 1) to open the pop-up menu.

2. Choose

3. For Port, select your MIDI out device.

4. Click OK.

Or, if you prefer, the procedure is a little easier in the Console view:

1. In the Console view, click the Port button in the Piano module.

2. Choose your MIDI out device from the menu.

If you donÕt hear anything on your keyboard, see Appendix A: Troubleshooting for some hints on troubleshooting.

Track Properties

to open the Track Properties dialog box.

Getting Started

2-49

Transposing

Sometimes itÕs useful to transpose, that is, to move the pitch of the song upward or downward. You may want to bring the song into someoneÕs vocal range, make the song easier to play along with on your instrument, or simply make an aesthetic adjustment.

LetÕs raise the pitch of the song by a Þfth. With the song playing, do the following:

1. In the Track pane, drag over the track numbers for tracks 1 through 4 to select them.

2. Choose

3. In the Transpose dialog box, enter 7 in the Amount box. You can type the number or use the spin controls.

4. Click OK.

Professional™ raises all the notes in the selected tracks by seven halfsteps (for example, C is raised to G, D is raised to A, and so on). The Transpose dialog box also has an option for transposing by diatonic steps; see “Transposing” on page 6-190 for more information.

To undo your transposition, choose

If you want to transpose to a lower key, do the same thing, except enter a negative number in the Transpose dialog’s Amount box. For example, to lower the pitch of the song by a ﬁfth, enter -7.

Note that you do not have to transpose entire tracks at one time; when you learn more about selecting smaller sections of music, you will be able to transpose individual clips, or parts of clips.

Edit-Transpose

Edit-Undo

, or press Ctrl-Z.

2-50

Transposing Percussion

You may be wondering why we did not transpose the percussion tracks. As mentioned earlier, in General MIDI each note in the percussion channel is mapped to a particular percussion instrument: a snare, a kick drum, a cymbal, a triangle, and so on. Transposing the percussion tracks will not change the pitch of each note but rather will change the instrument used to play each note! This is not usually the desired effect,

so in general you would not use the Transpose command on percussion tracks.

On the other hand, when a track contains events for only one percussion instrument (that is, all the notes are the same pitch), you can change the instrument by transposing the track. For example:

1. With the song playing, solo the Triangle track (track 7).

2. To hear the triangle more clearly, click in the Triangle track's Vel+ column and enter 127. This increases the velocities of the triangle notes, which increases their notes’ volume.

3. Press Enter.

4. Select the Triangle track by clicking on its track number.

5. Choose

6. In the Amount box, enter -25.

7. Click OK.

The triangle sound is replaced with the sound of a cow bell.

To undo your transposition, choose

Edit-Transpose

to open the Transpose dialog box.

Edit-Undo

, or press Ctrl-Z.

Transposing with Key+

Another way to transpose a track is to use the Key+ column in the Track view. For example, letÕs raise the Sax track by an octave:

1. Click in the Sax track’s Key+ column.

2. Enter 12. This raises all notes in the track by 12 half-steps, or an octave.

3. Press Enter.

Transposing with the Transpose MIDI Effect

One Þnal way to transpose a track is to use the Transpose MIDI plug-in effect. ProfessionalªÕs MIDI and audio effects let you modify notes and sounds on the ßy, as they are played, without making permanent changes to your music and sound data. (They can also be used to perform destructive, or permanent, editing.)

2-51

Getting Started

For example, letÕs raise the Bass track by an octave too. In the Console view, do the following:

1. Right-click in the Bass track effects patch point (the empty box below the track name) and choose The Transpose effect is added to the track.

2. Double-click the Transpose effect to open the Transpose dialog box.

3. In the Offset box, type 12. You can also use the pop-up slider below the box to set the offset value.

Transpose

from the menu.

2-52

If the song is playing, youÕll immediately hear the change. You can use this technique to adjust your effects in real time.

To delete the Transpose effect, click on it and press Delete.

That completes the Þrst tutorial. In the next tutorial, youÕll learn to record MIDI and digital audio tracks into Professionalª.

Tutorial 2—Recording MIDI and Digital Audio

This tutorial teaches you how to record with Professionalª. YouÕll learn how to:

¥ Set up the metronome

¥ Record MIDI tracks

¥ Use loop recording

¥ Use punch recording

¥ Record digital audio tracks

Rehearsal Time, Part 2

In Tutorial 1, you used Professionalª to help you rehearse a solo in one of your bandÕs songs. Professionalª played the backup parts of the song while you played your solo. Now that youÕve had some time to practice, youÕd like to record your solo with Professionalª so you can play it and hear how you sound.

Professionalª lets you record two different types of data: MIDI and digital audio. If you have a MIDI instrument connected to the MIDI In port of your sound card or an external MIDI interface, youÕll probably want to record your performance as MIDI. Otherwise, youÕll need to hook your instrument, preamp, effects rack, mixer, or microphone to the appropriate audio input of your sound card and record your performance as digital audio. For information on how to connect your instrument to the computer, see ÒInstalling ProfessionalªÓ on page 1-31.

Opening the Project File

If you havenÕt already done so, the Þrst thing you need to do is load the project Þle containing your bandÕs song.

1. Start Professional™.

2. Choose

3. In the Open dialog box, select the ﬁle

4. Click the Open button.

Professional™ loads the project and opens the Track and Console views.

File-Open

tutorial1.wrk

Getting Started

2-53

Recording MIDI

LetÕs record a new MIDI track in the song. If you have no MIDI device to connect to your computer, you can use CakewalkÕs Virtual Piano (included with Professionalª) as a MIDI source. For more information about this tool, see ÒVirtual PianoÓ on page 4-124.

Setting Up the Metronome

Musicians often use a metronome to keep track of the beat. ProfessionalªÕs metronome is more versatile than most real metronomes. You can conÞgure to sound on playback or recording; it can count off any number of lead-in measures or beats; it can use the PC speaker or a MIDI note; and it can accent the Þrst beat of each measure. It also quickly and accurately follows any tempo changes that happen in the song.

You can set up the metronome with the Metronome toolbar. If you donÕt see the Metronome toolbar, choose View-Toolbars and select Metronome.

Accent ﬁrst beat Use PC speaker

Metronome settings

2-54

Measures

Count-in

Beats

Metronome during record

Metronome during playback

Use MIDI note

LetÕs set up the metronome to play two count-in measures on the PC speaker when recording. Here's what to do:

1. In the Metronome toolbar, click in the Count-in box.

2. Use the spin control to set the count-in value to 2.

3. Select the Count-in Measures option .

4. Deselect the Metronome During Record option .

5. Select the Use PC Speaker option .

6. Deselect the Use MIDI Metronome option .

By disabling the Metronome During Record option, you cause the metronome to turn off after the count-in measures. If you would prefer to hear the metronome during the entire song while recording, enable this option instead. The metronome counts in for recording, not for playback.

Checking Your MIDI Device Settings

Let's make sure that Professionalª is set up to receive MIDI data from your instrument.

1. Choose

2. In the Input Ports column, select your sound card's MIDI In device or the MIDI In for your external MIDI interface. (If you will be using the Virtual Piano, select the Virtual Piano device as well.) For help with these settings, see “Setting Up the MIDI In and MIDI Out Devices” on page C-465.

3. Click OK.

Tools-MIDI Devices

to open the MIDI Ports dialog box.

Setting Up Playback

During recording, Professionalª will play the rest of the song as usual. Depending on what instrumental part of the song you are going to record, you may want to mute one or more tracks, or solo certain tracks. For example, if you are going to record a new piano part, you might want to mute track 1 so that you're not competing with the old piano part while recording. To mute any track, click the track's Mute button .

You can also set other playback options, such as the Tempo ratio, to make your recording session easier.

Getting Started

2-55

Recording MIDI

Now you'll record a new track in the song. Do the following:

1. Make sure your instrument is turned on and set up to transmit MIDI data.

2. Double-click the Name column in track 8 and type a name for your new track.

3. Make sure the Source column in track 8 is MIDI Omni. If it isn’t, double-click the Source column and set the Source in the Track Properties dialog box to MIDI Omni.

4. In track 8, click the Arm button .

5. On the Transport toolbar, click Record , or press R.

You'll hear two measures counted in by the metronome, then playback and recording will begin. Go ahead and start playing!

When you ﬁnish recording, click the Stop button , or press the space bar. If you've played any notes, a new clip will appear in the Clips pane in track 8. If no new clip appears, see “I Can’t Record from My MIDI Instrument” on page A-428 for some troubleshooting hints.

Listening to the Recording

LetÕs play back your performance on your sound card. For an added dimension, weÕll open a few other views in the process. Do the following:

2-56

1. Double-click in the Source, Port, Channel, or Patch column in track 8 to open the Track Properties dialog box.

2. For Port, select your sound card’s MIDI synthesizer.

3. For Channel, select an unused channel, such as 7.

4. For Patch, select any instrument.

5. Click OK.

6. Choose

7. Choose

8. Choose

9. Choose

10. To return to the start of the song, click the Rewind button .

View-Piano Roll

View-Staff

View-Event List

to open the Piano Roll view.

to open the Staff view.

to open the Event List view.

Window-Tile in Rows

to tile the views.

11. Click Play .

ItÕs almost as easy to listen to your performance on your MIDI instrument. For instructions on how to play a track on a MIDI keyboard, refer to tutorial 1.

The Piano Roll, Staff, and Event List views all show the same basic informationÑthe notes in track 8. The Piano Roll view displays the track as a player-piano roll. The Staff view shows notes in traditional music notation. The Event List view lists all MIDI events for the track. When you need to edit a track, you can work in any of these views. On different occasions you may have reason to use different views. More information about the Piano Roll, Staff, and Event List views can be found in later chapters of the UserÕs Guide.

When you're ready to continue, close the Piano Roll, Staff, and Event List views.

Recording Another Take

Maybe your Þrst attempt at recording resulted in a perfect performance, but maybe not. If you'd like to remove your Þrst take and try again, do the following:

1. Choose recording.

2. Click Rewind , or press W. The track is still armed for recording, so you don't need to re-arm it.

3. Click Record , or press R.

Alternatively, you could record your next attempt on a new track. That way you can keep all the takes and select the best one later (or combine the best parts of each!). If you record on a new track, be sure to arm the new track for recording and to disarm the previous track.

Edit-Undo Recording

or press Ctrl-Z to undo your

Fine Tuning

After you've recorded a MIDI track, you can use Professionalª to make automatic adjustments to the timing of notes. For example, the Quantize command rounds off the start times and durations of notes to evenly spaced note boundaries (quarter notes, eighth notes, sixteenth notes, and so on). Quantize lets you select full or partial rounding, and it even lets you distort the timing into a ÒswingÓ beat. For more information on Quantize and other related commands, see ÒChanging the Timing of a RecordingÓ on page 6-197.

Getting Started

2-57

Saving Your Work

When you have something youÕd like to keep, you can save the project by doing the following:

1. Choose

2. In the File Name box, type a new ﬁle name, such as

3. Click OK. The project is saved under the new name. From now on, you can click

the Save button to save your work.

File-Save As

my project

Loop Recording

If you'd like to record several takes successively, you can set up Professionalª to loop over the entire song, or just some section of it. Professionalª will record a new take during each loop, storing that take in a new clip. You can set Professionalª to place each clip in a new track or to pile all clips in one track.

Let's try recording a few takes of the section between markers A and B, placing each take in a new track.

Setting Up Looping

First, let's set up Professionalª to loop over the section between markers A and B:

1. In the Clips pane, click in the ruler between markers A and B. This selects the range of time from marker A to marker B.

2-58

2. In the Loop/Auto Shuttle toolbar, click to set the Loop From and Loop Thru times.

When you click , looping is turned on automatically.

Setting Up the Tracks

Now let's set up the Þrst of the tracks where the takes will be stored:

1. In track 9 (or the ﬁrst available empty track), double-click the Name column and name the track.

2. Click the Arm button.

3. Double-click in the Source, Port, Channel, or Patch column to open the Track Properties dialog box.

4. Set the Source to MIDI Omni.

5. Set the Port to your sound card's MIDI synthesizer.

6. Set the Channel to an unused channel or to the channel you used for your earlier take(s).

7. For Patch, select any patch.

8. Click OK.

As usual, you could set the tracks to play back on your MIDI instrument instead by specifying the appropriate port and channel.

Loop Recording

Finally, let's record our takes:

1. Choose dialog box.

2. Choose the Store Takes in Separate Tracks option to store each new take in a separate track. Each time a new take starts, the settings from the ﬁrst track will be copied to the new track.

3. Click OK.

4. Click Rewind .

5. Click Record .

Realtime-Record Options

to display the Record Options

2-59

Getting Started

Professional™ loops over the designated section and records your takes to successive tracks. If you want to erase the most recent take during loop recording, choose Ctrl-space bar.

To stop recording, click Stop , or press the space bar.

Realtime-Reject Loop Take

, or press

Punch-In Recording

Imagine that one of your takes was close to ideal, except for one or two notes in one measure. Rather than recording another full take, you'd prefer to keep the take but replace that measure.

Punch-in recording lets you replace a section of a track. The way it works is this: First, you set the start and end times of the punch to the section you want to replace and turn on punch recording. Then, you arm the track and start recording. You can play along with the original take to get the rhythm and feeling. However, nothing will be recorded until the punch start time. During the punch, the material already in the track will be replaced with what you record. When the punch ends, the song will continue to play, but recording will stop.

Let's try it. Suppose you want to replace measures 5 and 6 in the take in track 8.

1. In the Record toolbar, click on the Punch In Time.

2-60

2. Type 5 and press Enter.

3. Click on the Punch Out Time.

4. Type 7 and press Enter.

5. Select Auto Punch from the Record Mode drop-down list.

6. Arm track 8 and disarm any other tracks that are armed.

7. If you like, you can mute the tracks containing your other takes, or even solo track 8.

8. If looping is still on, click the Loop button to turn it off.

9. Click Rewind .

10. Click Record .

Play along until you are past the punch end time, then click Stop . Replay your take to hear the difference. If it's still not right, try again!

An alternative method is to select measures 5 and 7 by dragging in the time ruler. Then right-click the time ruler and choose

Points

You can combine loop recording with punch recording; see “Punch Recording” on page 4-130 for details.

When Auto Punch is enabled, the time ruler displays special markers that indicate the punch in and punch out times. You can drag these markers to change the punch in and punch out times.

Punch In Punch Out

Set Punch

Recording Digital Audio

If your instrument is not MIDI-compatible, you must record your solo as digital audio data. To record digital audio, you need some sort of device hooked up to your sound card's line or mic inputÑan electric guitar, a preamp, a mixer, and so on. If nothing else, try playing or singing into a microphone!

Setting the Sampling Rate

Each Professionalª project has a parameter that speciÞes the sampling resolution for all digital audio data in the project. You should set this rate before recording any digital audio.

1. Choose

2. Click the General tab.

3. Select a Default Sampling Rate. For CD-quality sound, use 44100 Hz.

4. Click OK.

Lower sampling rates will save disk space but will result in lowerquality audio. Before embarking on any major project, try sampling at different rates to determine which one best suits your needs.

Tools-Audio Options

Getting Started

2-61

Setting Up an Audio Track

LetÕs set up a track for digital audio.

1. In the Track pane, in the ﬁrst available empty track, double-click the Name column and enter a name for your new track.

2. Double-click in the Source column and set the Source in the Track Properties dialog box to your sound card’s audio input.

Checking the Input Levels

Here's how to check the audio input levels:

1. Open the Console view and click the Arm button in your new audio track. An audio meter will appear next to the track's volume fader.

2. Perform as you would during recording. Watch the meters respond to the sounds you produce.

3. If the meters never come even close to the maximum, increase the input level using the Windows 95 mixer or your sound card’s software mixer.

2-62

4. If the meters even occasionally reach the maximum, decrease the input level using the Windows 95 mixer or your sound card’s software mixer.

The idea is to try to get the input level to rise as high as possible, but without ever reaching the maximum. That way, you get the strongest possible signal without distortion.

If you don't see any movement of the audio meters, you may have an audio input problem. Refer to “I Can’t Record Any Audio” on page A430 for troubleshooting hints.

Recording Digital Audio

It's time to record!

1. If you haven’t already set up the metronome, follow the directions in the “Setting Up the Metronome” section earlier in this tutorial to set the metronome for a two-measure count-in.

2. Mute any tracks you don't want to hear while recording, or solo the tracks you do want to hear.

3. The track is already armed for recording.

4. In the Transport toolbar, click Record .

You’ll hear two measures counted in by the metronome, then playback and recording will begin. Go ahead and perform!

When you ﬁnish recording, click the Stop button , or press the space bar. A new clip will appear in the Clips pane. If no new clip appears, see “I Can’t Record Any Audio” on page A-430 for some troubleshooting hints.

Listening to the Recording

Let's play back your performance. Do the following:

1. Double-click in the Source, Port, Channel, or Patch column in the new track to open the Track Properties dialog box.

2. For Port, select your sound card's audio output device.

3. Click OK.

4. To return to the start of the song, click the Rewind button .

5. Click Play .

Recording Another Take

If you'd like to delete your performance and try again, do the following:

1. Choose Ctrl-Z (Undo).

2. Click Rewind .

3. The track is still armed for recording, so you don't need to rearm it.

Edit-Undo Recording

to undo your recording, or press

Getting Started

2-63

4. Click Record .

Alternatively, you could record your next attempt on a new track.

Loop and Punch-In Recording

Loop and Punch-in work the same for digital audio recording as they did for MIDI recording. For more information, refer to the relevant sections preceding, or to ÒLoop RecordingÓ on page 4-128 or ÒPunch RecordingÓ on page 4-130.

Recording Multiple Channels

If you can gather the entire band around your computer, and if you have the proper equipment, you can record a full performance all at once. If you have several MIDI instruments, you can route their input into your sound card through a MIDI merger; data that arrives on different MIDI channels can be routed to different tracks. Likewise, a typical sound card can record audio on both right and left channels; each can be recorded on a different track. Multiple sound cards can expand the number of possible inputs. For more information, see ÒConÞguring Your Audio HardwareÓ on page 13-421.

That completes the second tutorial. Now youÕve learned the basics of playing and recording material for your projects. In the next tutorial you'll learn about basic audio editing techniques, audio effects, and mixing with the Console view.

2-64

Tutorial 3—Audio Editing and Mixing

The third tutorial teaches you how to edit digital audio and apply audio effects. You'll learn how to:

¥ Stretch or compress music to Þt a certain period of time

¥ Edit and rearrange audio data

¥ Apply effects to audio data

¥ Apply real-time effects in the Console view

¥ Control the mix during playback

¥ Save a project as a Professionalª Bundle Þle

¥ Export a project as a RealMedia Þle

Audio Engineering

YouÕre an audio engineer. One of your clients has an idea for a 20-second radio spot and has sent you a script and a project containing some raw material from which to start. Your task is to Þnish the radio spot.

Opening the Project File

First, letÕs load and play the project Þle from your client. Do the following:

1. Start Professional™.

2. Choose

3. In the Open dialog box, select the ﬁle

4. Click the Open button.

5. Click Play .

The project contains several tracks. Tracks 1 through 6 are MIDI tracks that have an edited version of ÒBoston Rain,Ó which weÕll use as background music for the radio spot.

File-Open

radiospot.bun

The Plan

LetÕs talk about what you need to do to transform this into a 20-second radio spot.

Music

Your client likes the edited version of ÒBoston RainÓ as background music, but it is too long for the 20-second spot. There are two choices: You could fade the volume as you approach the 20-second mark, or you could speed the music to stretch it. In this tutorial, we'll use the second option.

Script

Your client has supplied the following script:

Music... Announcer...

Getting Started

2-65

Edited “Boston Rain” From Cakewalk, makers of the world’s

number-one-selling music and sound software, comes Professional™ Version 8— the most powerful release yet for Windows 95 and NT.

(Pause) With Professional™, you can produce

complete music and audio projects in one integrated system.

(Pause) Professional™ is available at ﬁner music

and computer stores worldwide or by calling 1-888-CAKEWALK.

2-66

Stretching the Music

First, letÕs speed the music to Þt within 20 seconds.

There are two ways the music can be made to Þt: by increasing the tempo or by keeping the tempo and changing the note start times and durations. It is usually advantageous when compressing or stretching music to change the tempo rather than the notes, because this will keep the relationship of notes to measures intact and let you edit the music more easily later. In the present case we'll change the tempo

Do the following:

1. In the Track view, select the area between the markers labeled Start and End.

2. Select all the MIDI tracks (1 through 6), by dragging over the track numbers.

3. Choose

4. For New Thru, enter 00:00:20:00. If this ﬁeld is displayed as Measures:Beats:Ticks, click the Format button.

5. For Modify by Changing, select Tempo Map.

6. Click OK.

Play the project again and note the difference. You'll see that the tempo in the Tempo toolbar has changed from the original 90.00 beats per minute to 95.97. You could have entered this number directly, bypassing the Fit to Time dialog box, but you probably would have had to experiment with different numbers until the MIDI tracks ended up at just the right length. Fit to Time calculated the correct tempo value for you.

Edit-Fit to Time

to open the Fit to Time dialog box.

2-67

Getting Started

Saving Your Work

Because we are going to do some serious editing later in the tutorial, you may want to save your work as you go along:

1. Choose

2. In the File Name box, type an unused ﬁle name, such as My RadioSpot.

3. For Save as Type, select Normal.

4. Click OK.

The project is saved under the new name. From now on, you can click the Save button to save your work.

File-Save As

Adding the Announcer

Your next task is to record the announcer track. The procedure is similar to the one we used in the last tutorial, but you don't need to set the sampling rate (because it is already set) and you don't need to turn on the metronome (the music will give you timing cues for the beginning and ending of the spot).

To record the announcer track, you'll need a microphone. For help with connecting a microphone to your computer, see ÒTo Connect a Microphone to Your ComputerÉÓ on page 1-33.

Setting Up the Announcer Track

LetÕs create a new track for the announcer.

2-68

1. In the Track view, select track 1 by clicking the track number.

2. Right-click the track number and choose pop-up menu to insert a new track.

3. Double-click the Name column and type Announcer for the name of the new track.

4. Double-click in the Source column to open the Track Properties dialog box.

5. Set the Source to your sound card's audio input.

6. For Port, select your sound card's audio output.

7. Click OK.

Insert Track

from the

Checking the Input Levels

Before trying to record, you need to check and adjust the audio input levels. If your audio input is too low, it will be lost in the background noise. If it is too high, it will overload the input channel and be distorted/ clipped. You can do this by using the Console view, as we did in the previous tutorial. Please refer to that section if you need to know how to do this.

Recording

Let's record the announcer track.

1. Make sure that the Announcer track is armed for recording.

2. In the Transport toolbar, click Rewind , then click Record .

3. Read the script, with feeling.

When you ﬁnish recording, click the Stop button , or press the space bar. A new clip will appear in track 1 in the Clips pane.

Play back what you’ve recorded and see how it sounds! If you don’t like the results, choose again. It’s okay if the announcer’s voice over doesn’t ﬁt exactly… because we will be editing it to make it shorter soon.

When you have a recording you like, remember to disarm track 1 and save your work.

Edit-Undo Recording

(or press Ctrl-Z) and try

Trimming the Announcer

Our next task is to edit the announcer segment to make it Þt within the 20 seconds. There are two parts to this. First, we'll trim the beginning of the audio and move the entire voice-over so that it starts at the beginning. Then, we'll remove the pauses or breaths and slide the segments around in time until they Þt.

Opening the Audio View

We'll perform our editing work in the Audio view. To set up the Audio view, do the following:

1. Solo the Announcer track, so you don’t hear the music while you edit.

2. Select the Announcer track by clicking on the track number (track 1).

Getting Started

2-69

3. Choose track 1 is displayed.

4. If selected, deselect the snap grid .

5. Select the Snap to Zero Crossing option . With this option, any selections we make will snap to the nearest zero crossing in the audio waveform. This prevents unwanted pops and clicks resulting from any edits.

6. Click the H:M:S:F button to display the ruler in SMPTE time.

7. Use the horizontal and vertical zoom buttons as necessary to zoom out and in on the waveform.

View-Audio

to open the Audio view. The audio data in

2-70

Trimming the Beginning of the Announcer

Now weÕll see how to trim the beginning of the announcerÕs read. This will eliminate any unwanted silence at the beginning. Do the following:

1. In the Audio view, select the Scrub tool .

2. Use the horizontal zoom buttons until you can see enough of the audio event to identify the three separate sections.

3. Click on the event to hear the audio near the beginning of the voice-over. Let go when you have reached the point directly before the ﬁrst word.

4. Right-click on the event and choose

5. Click OK in the dialog box that appears.

The event has now been split into two events, each of which has the same name. The ﬁrst portion, which should only be silence, is currently selected.

Split

from the pop-up menu.

1. Right-click on the ﬁrst portion of the audio event (the one that is only silence) and choose

2. In the dialog box that appears, make sure that only Events in Tracks is selected. This means that other items, such as tempo changes and markers, will not be deleted.

3. Click OK.

The silence that existed before the announcer is now gone, and now we can move the remaining piece of voice-over so that it begins right at the start of the spot.

1. Select the Selection tool and then click on the announcer’s audio event.

2. While holding down the mouse button, drag the event so that it starts closer to the beginning of the music. Let go of the mouse button.

3. In the dialog box that opens, choose the Replace Old with New option and click OK.

4. Rewind to the beginning of the project and hit play. Listen to where the voice-over begins. If you need to move it earlier, follow steps 1 through 3 again.

Delete

from the pop-up menu.

Renaming Audio Events

Now that weÕve got the announcer starting in the right place, letÕs rename that audio event:

1. Right-click on the announcer audio event.

2. Choose

Event Properties

from the pop-up menu.

Getting Started

2-71

3. In the Name ﬁeld, enter the name Edited V/O.

4. Click OK.

Now our audio event bears the name Edited V/O, which is more descriptive. Next, we will remove the pauses between sections of the script. You may want to save your work before continuing.

Editing the Announcer

Now that the announcerÕs read begins at the correct time, we will remove any pauses or breaths. This will allow us to Þt the entire read into the allotted time. To do so, we will split the audio and delete the silence in the same way that we trimmed the preceding event.

2-72

1. In the Audio view, choose the Scrub tool .

2. Find the beginning of the silence.

3. Right-click and choose

4. Click OK in the dialog box.

5. Find the end of the silence.

6. Right-click and choose

7. Click OK in the dialog box.

8. Right-click on the newly deﬁned event, which is comprised entirely of silence.

9. Choose Events in tracks is selected.

10. Click OK.

Delete

from the pop-up menu and make sure that only

Split

11. Repeat this procedure so that all silence has been deleted.

The silence has been deleted, so now we should move the audio that followed it.

1. Click on the middle section of voice-over and drag it earlier in the track so that a more natural pause exists between the two sections.

2. Release the mouse button.

3. In the dialog box that appears, choose Blend Old with New or Replace Old with New, then click OK.

4. Listen to the read. If the pause seems natural, do the same to the last section. If not, try moving the middle section until the pause is correct.

Combining Audio Events

After you have moved the audio around and Þnished tightening pauses, you may want to have a single, continuous audio event instead of three separate ones. To do this:

1. Select all the events by holding Shift while clicking on each.

2. Right-click on any of the events and select pop-up menu. The events will combine into a single audio event.

If you overlapped any of the events when you moved them, you will be presented with a dialog box asking how to treat the overlapping parts. For more on this, see “Moving and Copying Clips” on page 5-

156.

Combine

from the

Making It Fit

Now that weÕve edited the announcer clip, letÕs see if it Þts in our allotted time. Unsolo the announcer track and press Play. Does it Þt? If so, move to the next section. If not, youÕll have to use the Fit to Time edit on the audio. To do so:

1. From the Track view, select the announcer clip by clicking on it.

2. Choose

Edit-Fit to Time

Getting Started

2-73

3. In the dialog box that appears, set the New Thru time to 00:00:20:00 and make sure that the box next to Stretch Audio is checked.

4. Click OK. Professional™ processes the audio so that it runs faster while keeping the same pitch (also known as time compression).

5. Click Play and listen to the spot. The announcer should now ﬁt in the 20 seconds of the music.

If the announcer’s clip still doesn’t ﬁt, you could remove the middle section, but that’s cheating.

You should save your ﬁle again now.

Mixing the Radio Spot

Now letÕs go to the Console view and Þnish the project. WeÕll apply realtime audio effects to the announcer track, then automate the faders in real time.

Preparing the Console

Before starting, let's make sure that the Console view is set up correctly.

2-74

1. If the Console view is not open, choose

2. Click the Module Manager button to open the Module Manager dialog box.

3. Make sure all options are selected and click OK.

View-Console

Applying Real-Time Audio Effects

It's quite simple to apply real-time effects to a track. Let's add a small amount of equalization to the announcer track.

1. In the announcer track’s effects patch point, right-click and choose

2. Double-click the effect to display the settings.

3. Choose Unplugged from the preset list.

Play the project to hear what it sounds like. You can continue to adjust the effect while the project plays; there is a slight delay before your adjustments are audible.

At this point, we are nearly Þnished; all that's left is to balance the mix.

Cakewalk-FX

Reverb. The effect is added to the track.

Real-Time Mixing Control

The Console view is a live mixer. During playback, you can control the main volume and the volume and panning of each track. You can mute and solo tracks. You can turn routing to aux buses on and off and change the send levels. And, on MIDI tracks, you can control the Chorus and Reverb and change patches Òon the ßy.Ó Try it now! To learn more about how to use the controls in the Console view, see Chapter 9, Mixing and Effects Patching.

Getting Started

2-75

Grouping Controls

To assist in manipulating the controls, you can tie faders to one another. For example, if you want to increase the volume level on three tracks, you can assign them to a group. Then, when you move one volume fader, you move them all. You can even have the controls move in opposite directions For example, you can fade one track in and another out.

To group faders:

1. Right-click on the fader for track 2 (Piano).

2. In the pop-up menu, choose down list. This assigns the fader to group A.

3. Repeat this for all the MIDI tracks.

Now you’ve grouped all the MIDI track faders. When you move one fader, all of the others follow. If you want to move a single fader independently of the others, hold the Ctrl key while moving the fader. For more on creating and using control groups, see “Using Control Groups” on page 9-329.

Group

and select A from the drop-

Automating Your Mix

Finally, you can record the movements and settings of the mix or automate them. To do so:

1. Rewind to the beginning of the project.

2. Move the faders, pans, and any other controls to the initial settings you desire. You should set up a good balance between voice and music.

3. Enable automation recording by clicking on the Record Automation button .

4. Begin playback, and move the faders as needed so that the balance between voice-over and music is maintained throughout the spot. If you want, adjust the pan controls, too.

2-76

Near the end of the spot, you may want to fade the music out. To do this:

1. Grab any of the faders for the MIDI tracks and pull it down. Because the faders are grouped, all will lower.

YouÕve now automated your radio spot. Now letÕs listen to it again and watch the faders move automatically:

1. Rewind to the beginning.

2. To make sure the faders always show their current value, select the Update option .

3. Press Play.

You’ll see the faders move just the way they moved when you recorded their movements. When you’re done tweaking the mix, disable the Record Automation button.

For more information about automation and the Console view, see “Recording Automation Data” on page 9-335.

Saving the Project

If youÕve been good, you've been saving your work all along. So far, though, youÕve been saving the project as a normal Professionalª project Þle (with the extension .wrk). The normal Professionalª Þle contains all the projectÕs musical data, as well as screen layout and other project information. However, this Þle does not contain the projectÕs digital audio data, which is managed automatically by Professionalª and stored in a different location. By managing the digital audio data, Professionalª is able to store the data more efÞciently and save disk space. If you work with large samples, this can be quite signiÞcant.

If you would like to send your Professionalª project to other people, though, you need to create a Þle containing all the projectÕs data, including the digital audio data. Here are two ways to do it.

Saving the Project as a Bundle File

A Bundle Þle (with the extension .bun) is similar to a normal project Þle, but it also contains the project's digital audio data. Bundle Þles must be opened and played with Professionalª. To save the project as a Bundle Þle, do the following:

1. Choose

2. Choose Cakewalk Bundle from the Save as Type list.

3. Enter a ﬁle name in the File Name box.

4. Click Save.

File-Save As

Saving the Project as a RealMedia Metaﬁle

Getting Started

2-77

2-78

Controlling Playback

Controlling playback is simple with Professionalª. When you play your song, you have full control over the tempo or speed of playback, which tracks are played, which sound cards or other devices are used to produce the sound, and what the tracks sound like.

Playback

In This Chapter

The “Now Time” and How to Use It . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80

Controlling Playback . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84

Track-by-Track Playback . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88

Changing Track Settings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91

Video Playback . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107

The current time in hours, minutes, seconds, and frames

The “Now Time” and How to Use It

Every project has a current time, known as the Now time, which keeps track of where you are in a project. The Now time is displayed in both the large Transport toolbar and the Position toolbar, in two formats:

The current measure, beat, and tick

The measure, beat, and tick number (MBT) identiÞes the Now time in musical time units. Ticks are subdivisions of quarter notes and indicate the timebase of the song. For more information about the timebase, see ÒSetting the MIDI Timing ResolutionÓ on page 4-118.

Here are some examples of times expressed in measure, beat, and tick (MBT) format:

Time... What it means...

3-80

1:01:000 First beat of the ﬁrst measure

9:04:000 Fourth beat of the ninth measure

4:02:060 The 60th tick of the second beat of the

fourth measure

The second time format is commonly referred to as the SMPTE time. SMPTE is the acronym for the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers. In this format, time is measured in hours, minutes, seconds, and frames. ItÕs not necessary for a project to begin at time zero in this formatÑany arbitrary time can be used to represent the start of a project. For more information, Chapter 15, Synchronizing Your Gear.

Here are some examples of times expressed in this format (assuming that zero is the start time):

Time... What it means...

00:00:00:00 The beginning of the project

00:05:10:00 Five minutes and ten seconds from the

beginning of the project

01:30:00:00 One hour and thirty minutes into the

project

00:00:00:05 Five frames into the project

Professionalª provides many ways to set the Now time. Here are just a few:

To Change the Now Time…

• Click the desired time on the time ruler in the Track, Piano Roll, Staff, or Audio view

• Click on the Now time in the large Transport toolbar, enter the desired time, and press Enter

Playback

• Choose

Go-Time

or press F5, enter the desired time, and click

• Click on an event in the Event List view

When entering a time in MBT format, the beat and tick values are optional. You can use a colon, space, or vertical bar to separate the parts of the Now time:

You enter… The Now time is set to…

2 2:00:000

2|1 2:01:000

4 2 0 4:02:000

9:1 9:01:000

5|1:30 5:01:030

3-81

When entering a time in SMPTE format, you can enter a single number (hour), two numbers (hour and minutes), three numbers (hour, minutes, and seconds), or all four numbers.

If you click in the time ruler while the snap grid is enabled, the Now time will be snapped to the nearest point in the grid. By setting the grid size to a whole note or quarter note, you can easily set the Now time to a measure or beat boundary.

You can also use the buttons and the scroll bar in the Transport toolbar to adjust the time, as shown here:

Click to back up one measure

Click to jump to

Click to jump to the beginning

the beginning

Drag to any desired position

Click to jump to the end

Click to move ahead one measure

Displaying the Now Time in Large Print

Professionalª can display the Now time in large print so that itÕs easier to see when you are far from your monitor (for example, when youÕre at your keyboard or another MIDI instrument) or when several people need to read the Now time from a distance. HereÕs how:

To Display the Big Time View…

1. Choose

View-Big Time

to display the Big Time view.

3-82

2. Change the settings according to the table:

To do this… Do this…

Switch time format Click on the view to toggle between

MBT and SMPTE time

Change font or color Right-click on the view, choose the

font and color you want, and click OK

Change the size of the view Drag any corner of the view to

change its size

Note that Professionalª ignores font styles and effects such as strikeout and underline.

Other Ways to Set the Now Time

There are a variety of commands and keyboard shortcuts you can use to set the Now time:

Command... Shortcut... What it does...

Playback

Go-Time

Go-From

Go-Thru

Go-Beginning

Go-End

Go-Previous Measure

Go-Next Measure

F5 Lets you enter the Now time in

the toolbar or in a dialog box

F7 Sets the Now time to the From

time (the start time of the current selection)

F8 Sets the Now time to the Thru

time (the end time of the current selection)

Ctrl-Home Sets the Now time to the

beginning of the project

Ctrl-End Sets the Now time to the end of

the project

Ctrl-PgUp Sets the Now time to the start of

the previous measure

Ctrl-PgDn Sets the Now time to the start of

the next measure

3-83

If your project has markers, you can use the Marker toolbar to set the Now time:

To do this… Do this…

Skip to the next marker Click on the Marker toolbar (or press

Ctrl-Shift-PgDn)

Skip to the previous marker Click on the Marker toolbar (or press

Ctrl-Shift-PgUp)

Jump to any marker Choose the marker name from the list in

the Marker toolbar, or press F5 when typing a Now time in the Transport toolbar

For more information about markers, see ÒCreating and Using MarkersÓ on page 5-165.

Controlling Playback

Controlling playback is very simple, and you have your choice of tools, menu commands, and shortcut keys for most common operations.

3-84

When you start playback, the Now time updates continuously to show the current time. When you stop playback, the Now time stops at the time you stopped. When you start playback again, it continues from the same point.

If the Now time is advancing but you donÕt hear any sound, see Appendix A: Troubleshooting. If you are using MIDI sync or MIDI time code sync, Professionalªwaits to receive external timing data before it begins playing. For more information, see Chapter 15, Synchronizing Your Gear.

To Start and Stop Playback…

To do this… Do this…

Start playback Press the spacebar, click , or

choose

Realtime-Play

Stop playback Press the spacebar, click , or

choose

Realtime-Stop

Rewind to the start of the project

Skip to the end of the project Click

Click , press the W key, or choose

Realtime-Rewind

Handling Stuck Notes

Under MIDI, the events that turn notes on are separate from the events that stop notes from playing. Normally, when you stop playback, Professionalª attempts to turn off all notes that are still playing. Depending on how your equipment is conÞgured, itÕs possible for notes to get stuck in the ÒonÓ position. The Realtime-Reset command is used to stop all notes from playing.

Note:

You can control the MIDI messages that are sent by the RealtimeReset command. See Appendix E: Initialization Files for more

information.

To Clear Stuck Notes…

Playback

1. Choose

Realtime-Reset

, or click on the toolbar.

Loops

Sometimes you want to listen to one portion of a project over and over, either so you can play along and rehearse or because you want to edit that section of the project while it is playing and hear the results as you make changes. Professionalª has a playback loop feature that makes this simple.

3-85

Loops are deÞned in the Loop/Auto Shuttle toolbar, as shown here:

Click to copy the selection (From and Thru) times

Click to turn looping on or off

Loop Thru time

Loop From time

Click to open the Loop/Auto Shuttle dialog box

To set up a loop, you do three things:

¥ Set the start time of the loop

¥ Set the end time of the loop

¥ Enable looping

ThatÕs all there is to it. From then on, Professionalª will automatically jump back to the start of the loop when it reaches the end.

When looping is enabled, the loop times are indicated by special markers in the time ruler.

3-86

Loop From Loop Thru

The Loop/Auto Shuttle dialog box contains three additional settings that affect the details of how looping operates:

Option... How it works...

Rewind to start time on stop Whenever you stop playback for any

reason, Professional™ rewinds immediately to the start of the loop (this option is off by default)

Stop at the end time Playback does not proceed beyond the

end of the loop

Loop continuously When playback reaches the end of the

loop and rewinds to the start, playback continues automatically (this option is on by default)

With the default option settings, Professionalª will play the loop over and over again, continuously. You can stop and resume playback at any point during the loop.

If you start playback before the loop start time, Professionalª will play until the loop end time is reached, then jump back to the loop start time. If you start playback after the loop end time, the loop is ignored.

The Rewind command operates slightly differently when looping is in effect. The Þrst time you rewind, the Now time is set to the start of the loop. If the Now time is already at the start of the loop, Rewind takes you to the beginning of the project. From then on, Rewind switches back and forth between the loop start time and the start of measure 1.

To Set Up a Playback Loop…

1. Set the loop start and end times in one of the following ways:

• Drag the mouse between two points in the time ruler of the

Track, Piano Roll, Staff, or Audio view to select a range of times, then click in the Loop/Auto Shuttle toolbar to copy the selection time to the loop time

• Click between two markers in the Track, Piano Roll, Staff, or

Audio view to select a range of times, then click in the Loop/Auto Shuttle toolbar to copy the selection time to the loop time

Playback

• Type the loop start and end times directly into the toolbar

• Select a range of times, then right-click in the time ruler and

choose unnecessary)

2. Click to turn looping on.

Set Loop Points

(this method makes step 2

To Change the Loop Settings…

1. Click , or choose the Loop/Auto Shuttle dialog box.

2. Check the options you want to use.

3. Click OK.

Realtime-Loop and Auto Shuttle

To Cancel a Playback Loop…

1. Click on the toolbar to disable looping.

to display

3-87

Track-by-Track Playback

Professionalª lets you play back any combination of tracks at one time by changing each trackÕs status. There are four different status settings for each track:

Status... What it means...

Normal The track is played as usual

Mute The track is not played, but you can turn

it on while playback is in progress

Archive The track is not played, and you must

stop playback to re-enable it

Solo Only those tracks that are designated as

solo tracks are played; all others are muted

While playback is in progress, you can mute and unmute tracks in any combination, which means you can hear only the tracks that you want. You can change the status of a track in the Track view or in the Console view or by using commands on the Track menu.

3-88

The status of each track is shown in the Track and Console views:

Archived track

Normal track

Muted track

Solo track

Normal track

Muted track

Playback

Solo trackArchived track

The track status is saved with the Professionalª project Þle. If you save a Professionalª project as a standard MIDI Þle, however, all tracks are saved without mute, solo, or archive indicators.

Silencing Tracks

When a track is muted, Professionalª processes the track while playback is in progress so that you can unmute the track without stopping playback. If you have lots of muted tracks, this can place a

3-89

heavy load on your computer. Archived tracks, on the other hand, donÕt place any load on your computer. Therefore, if there are tracks you want to keep but donÕt need to play, you should archive them instead. Archived tracks are indicated by the letter A in the Mute button that is displayed in the Track and Console views.

When you mute or unmute a track while playback is in progress, there may be a slight delay before you hear the effect of the change. This is to be expected and does not indicate a hardware or software problem.

To Mute or Unmute Tracks…

• To mute or unmute a track, click the Mute button in the Track or Console view

• To mute or unmute several tracks at once, select the tracks and choose

Mute

Track-Mute

, or select the tracks, right-click, and choose

To Archive or Unarchive Tracks…

1. Select one or more tracks in the Track view.

2. Choose menu to toggle the archive status of the selected tracks.

Track-Archive

, or right-click and choose

Cakewalk Pro Audio 8 User's Guide

Specifications and Main Features

Frequently Asked Questions

User Manual