Cakewalk Sonar Platinum is now free!

[JoseC.]

Installed.
Couldn't add a midi clip with a double-click.
Uninstalled.

What do you mean by "midi clip" ?

Adding notes in a step sequencer ?

I never use a midi sequencer as I play in all my notes live with a guitar or keyboard. But,hey, even though I have only been using this daw for a week it took me all of 3 seconds to figure out how to open the step sequencer and double click to add notes and drag to stretch them to the note value I needed.

Is that what you meant ?

Not really. I mean adding a midi container to the main window. Just like in S3 or Bitwig.

You don't need to add a "midi container" in Cakewalk. You just input your notes in the Piano Roll, or click them in the Step Sequencer, or just record them with a midi controller, and a clip will appear in your track. That is one of my pet peeves with other apps. Why the hell do I need to create a "container" first?

[dellboy]

Another issue is that there are many different computer setups, with drivers and audio interfaces that all interact with DAW software and plugins in diverse ways. Some DAWs will work in some setups, and some won't. Sometimes, but not always, you can optimize your settings.

I was getting crackling, but a few tweaks here and there have eliminated them.I am now getting consistently good recordings.

In fact, after ten days of using this daw I have yet to have any form of crash, audio or other.

[zzz00m]

Another issue is that there are many different computer setups, with drivers and audio interfaces that all interact with DAW software and plugins in diverse ways. Some DAWs will work in some setups, and some won't. Sometimes, but not always, you can optimize your settings.

I was getting crackling, but a few tweaks here and there have eliminated them.I am now getting consistently good recordings.

In fact, after ten days of using this daw I have yet to have any form of crash, audio or other.

Sounds great! Best of luck to you!

[zzz00m]

You don't need to add a "midi container" in Cakewalk. You just input your notes in the Piano Roll, or click them in the Step Sequencer, or just record them with a midi controller, and a clip will appear in your track. That is one of my pet peeves with other apps. Why the hell do I need to create a "container" first?

I get that. I also use Tracktion Waveform, where a track is a track. In that you add specific container clips to the track which become containers for either MIDI, audio, or step sequences. Reaper is similar. Routing can be more flexible (and sometimes more confusing) with this universal track approach.

So there are pros and cons with both approaches. Cakewalk has always had strictly defined track types, audio or MIDI, and they cannot mix content. The Cakewalk instrument track is really one of each type combined, where the MIDI track controls the MIDI input and routing, and the audio track controls the output from the synth.

I have run across issues in Cakewalk where you cannot input an audio port to an instrument plugin such as a sampler to do live sampling directly. This is simple to do in Reaper, because of the routing flexibility.

[DeBro]

Check out this fun song for the new anthem: BandLabbed To The Bone.

[jinotsuh]

Pay $399 for Studio One, or download Cakewalk Bandlab for free.

And the old saying "You get what you pay for" has never been truer

Thinking about it, unless of course we are talking about bugs, idiosyncrasies, general flakiness, audio engine dropouts, crashes etc etc . . . in that case we are getting wwwaaayyy more than we pay for

[DeBro]

Hey jinotsuh, you are always jumping in every thread about Cakewalk with your negativity. I and lots of other people are quite content with Cakewalk and are creating good music. LONG LIVE CAKEWALK.

[Zexila]

Actually I appreciate honest feedback, but I don't like trashing, give good too when you give bad, so you don't look like hater, that's the good balance.

[THE INTRANCER]

Hey jinotsuh, you are always jumping in every thread about Cakewalk with your negativity. I and lots of other people are quite content with Cakewalk and are creating good music. LONG LIVE CAKEWALK.

I don't think it's negativity, more of providing a realistic and cautionary perspective that others may not be aware of or willing to invest their time in because they value their time. It's fanboyism which is able to misplace another's perspective which creates an illusionary view that isn't really true of reality.

Cakewalk isn't perfect, and there is worse software out there, but I can mirror his sentiments, even in the short time I have used it.

[Zexila]

I got more, would really appreciate it.

Is ti possible in Cakewalk to multi-slice a clip, for example if I multi-slice first 1/16th note of a clip, it will get sliced every 1/16th note. (not the best video, but you got the picture)

Maybe something like this is what you are looking for? Not sure about the 16th note thing, but it will detect beats.

SONAR: Go Deeper - AudioSnap 2.0 Slicing and Sampling

I mean general slicing, many times I slice the midi out, for example I import whole session in MIDI and every channel is one big MIDI file, all I want is to have it sliced every 8 bars for example, In Logic I do that with multi-slicing first 8 bar of the MIDI clip, huge time saver, opposed to going in and slicing every 8 bar of clip manually.

[VariKusBrainZ]

@whingers

just move on and STFU

[Zexila]

@whingers

just move on and STFU

Am I winger because i want to know how to do stuff in my potentially new DAW?

[JoseC.]

You don't need to add a "midi container" in Cakewalk. You just input your notes in the Piano Roll, or click them in the Step Sequencer, or just record them with a midi controller, and a clip will appear in your track. That is one of my pet peeves with other apps. Why the hell do I need to create a "container" first?

I get that. I also use Tracktion Waveform, where a track is a track. In that you add specific container clips to the track which become containers for either MIDI, audio, or step sequences. Reaper is similar. Routing can be more flexible (and sometimes more confusing) with this universal track approach.

So there are pros and cons with both approaches. Cakewalk has always had strictly defined track types, audio or MIDI, and they cannot mix content. The Cakewalk instrument track is really one of each type combined, where the MIDI track controls the MIDI input and routing, and the audio track controls the output from the synth.

I have run across issues in Cakewalk where you cannot input an audio port to an instrument plugin such as a sampler to do live sampling directly. This is simple to do in Reaper, because of the routing flexibility.

I am not really speaking about having different track types, but about the idea of having the extra step of creating a container first. It should happen automatically as soon as I place any midi in a track. I quit trying to use Reaper for midi some time ago due to the way it handles midi sync, but I seem to remember that in the past you also needed to expand the midi item to make room for extra notes as you added them in the piano roll. And though Live uses midi tracks, you need to create a clip first, too.

I like the Cakewalk way of doing things because it is more flexible if you are using both software and hardware synths. As you said, the instrument track is just the midi input and the audio output tracks combined, but the soft synth itself is in the synth rack, not in the track. This way, if you want to change the output to a hardware instrument you just need to split the track and change the output of the midi track to an external port, and the soft synth stays in the synth rack in case that you want to use it again later.

I see what you mean with doing live sampling in Cakewalk, but I am not that sure that you cannot do that. There are not many software samplers that actually sample, right now I just can think of one by TAL, but I used to sample with Geist in Sonar without problems using its capture plugin even before it was possible to route an audio track to another and record its output live. I don't see why it should be difficult to do it now, but I haven't tried.

[clintmartin]

I've been using Cakewalk crash free for several years now. Some people just don't want to learn new software...that's okay. I felt the same way about Reaper. I just didn't care to take the time to figure it all out. Cakewalk is a great daw, which will hopefully get the support it deserves.

[THE INTRANCER]

I've been using Cakewalk crash free for several years now. Some people just don't want to learn new software...that's okay. I felt the same way about Reaper. I just didn't care to take the time to figure it all out. Cakewalk is a great daw, which will hopefully get the support it deserves.

It's really not got anything to do with anyone not wanting to learn it... or something new for free that could possibly help them create music in a different way.

It might not crash, however it's got persistent bugs like this... which can't be gotten rid of without having to quit and restart the program..