Cakewalk Sonar X2 Producer Portable

Cakewalk Sonar X2 Producer Portable

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For details on setting the click and checking its status, press INSERT+H to access CakeTalking's Quick Hotkey Help, press the letter P to focus on the entry for "Playback, Record, and Rewind", and press ENTER. Review the list of CT's hotkeys including those for toggling the click. Here are instructions for reviewing and changing other parameters of the metronomic click using SONAR's menus. To turn on metronome:In the Options menu, select Project Options, then the Metronome tab. Find the output combo box. This combo box sets the place where the audio metronome sound will be produced. More than likely, it is set to a physical output (one of the outputs on your audio interface). However, you can change it to output to any of the buses in your project. All of the AAA templates for CT are preconfigured with a Master bus, and, if you are using them, you should be able to select the Master bus as the output for the metronome. Now, when you save your project, the metronome click will be part of the mix.Be careful when working this way. You might run into some situations where you won't be able to hear the count-in if you don't already have audio tracks in the project, for example.Q: How do I change default metronome options?A: Metronome options are in the Options menu, in Project Options, on theMetronome tab. Change these to match however you'd like the metronome towork. Any changes you make are only valid for the current project. If youwant them to be the defaults, then you need to make the changes to themetronome options in the template that you use to start your projects.Q: How do I save my current project as the default template?A: To save current project as default template:Under SONAR's file menu choose the "Save AS" entry.Press ALT+G to move to the "goto" combo box, and select "projecttemplates".Press ALT+T to select the type combo box, and select "template". Tab to the list of templates, arrow to the one called "normal", and pressenter.SONAR will ask if you want to replace the file. Answer yes.Q: What key allows you to access the preset browsersinany synths where CakeTalking is capable of selecting presets?A: F4 is the key that will allow you to do this. However, youmust be in the softsynth's properties window when you press F4, or else youmight bring up a completely unrelated menu (such as track view options).Typically, a softsynth's properties window will appear when you first add itto a project. If you want to get back to that window, arrow to a track inthe track pane that is using a softsynth and press CONTROL+y.Remember that all softsynths are not supported by CakeTalking. For a list ofsupported synths, press Insert+h in SONAR to open the CakeTalking help,select the first choice in the menu to open the tutorial documents, andyou'll be presented with a menu that, among other information, includes adocument that lists the supported softsynths.Q: Can you have your very own channel strip plug-in in SONAR8.5?A: Should you wish, you can have your very own channel strip plug-in in SONAR8.5.To make your own strip plug-in Make a new project from the AAA 0 Blank template.Add an audio track. Go to the effects bin, and insert the VC64. Select the track created in step 2. From the track menu, select Clone. In the Clone dialog, enter the numberof audio tracks desired, less the one that you already have. For example, ifyou'd like 16 tracks total, enter 15. You'll now have a project full oftracks with channel strips. To be able to quickly recall this setup later, in the File menu, selectSave As. In the Save As dialog, tab to the Go To combo box, and selecttemplates. Next, go to the Type combo box, and select template. In the namebox, enter something like "16 audio track with channel strip plugs", orwhat-ever you like. Press OK.Now, in the future, when you select New from the File menu, you can selectyour template from the list when making a new project, instead of one of theAAA templates, and you'll start out with a project full of tracks, each witha channel strip plug-in.If you don't like having projects already populated with tracks, preferringto add them one at a time, then simply select one of the tracks that youcreated above, press JAWS Key+- to route the JAWS cursor to the left end ofthe track strip, and right click. This will open the track strip's contextmenu. Arrow down to Save as Template, and press enter. In the dialog thatappears, type a name, like "audio track with channel strip". In the future,when you want to add one of your audio tracks with a channel strippre-configured in to a project, instead of opening the Insert menu andselecting Audio track, open the Insert menu, select Track Templates, thenselect the name of the track template that you created.The X series of SONAR includes some useful features, but the channel strip is areal gimmick. Cakewalk isn't to blame, as all of the DAW manufacturers havebeen doing this, and Cakewalk is probably one of the last to go this route.It is very similar to the per-track EQ feature that was announced severalversions back. Perhaps you remember this new feature? It was the one thatautomatically gives you a 4 band EQ built in to each track, saving you theneed to constantly patch EQ effects in to your effects chains. This is theEQ that you see in the Track Inspector. However, if you've ever gone beyondthe simple settings in the inspector and pressed enter on the EQ graphic toopen the full interface, you'll discover that the EQ is actually the SonitusEQ that has been in SONAR for a long time. SONAR simply adds it to each newaudio track for you with some default settings. Of course, you could haveaccomplished this at any time with a track template.Again, don't be too upset with Cakewalk. They aren't as bad as Avid, afterall. Avid sells an expensive plug-in for Pro Tools called Heat that will addpower/punch and analog warmth to your mixes. HEAT stands for HarmonicEnhanced Analog Technology, because the marketing people told theprogrammers "HEAT sounds hardcore, and the promotional materials havealready been printed up, so think up something that works for that." Youknow it will be totally authentic and subtle because it has a retro lookinginterface with a big knob that you can use to turn up the heat (registeredtrademark). The poor people paying big bucks don't seem to get that it is acompressor that is setup to mimic the saturation curve of analog tape, andthat they could already do all that with the Tape Sim plug-ins that theyalready have. In fact, you can do it in SONAR. Follow the steps above, butinsert the Cakewalk Tape Sim plug-in instead of the VC64. Now SONAR has HEAT(registered trademark). I won't even charge you for the upgrade. Hahaha.Tell all your friends that now SONAR, too, can sound like an authentichissy, crunchy, junky old tape machine. Just be sure to record in 24-bit at192Khz, so you can capture every last subtle crackle and hiss of that oldmagic golden junk.Q: How do you set SONAR to use the QuadCapture for audio?A: To set SONAR to use the QuadCapture for audio, assuming that you've alreadyconnected it to the computer and installed the drivers: Go to SONAR's Options menu, and select Audio. In this dialog box, switchto the Advanced tab. Press your tab key until you reach the "driver mode"combo box. Set it to "ASIO". Tab to the OK button, and press it. SONAR mayshow messages about missing audio outputs. You should ignore these messages,and cancel out of the warnings. Before continuing, close SONAR, and re-openit. Back in SONAR, open the Options menu, and select Audio once more. Youshould start on the General tab. Make sure that the combo boxes for"playback timing master" and "record timing master" both show theQuadCapture. If they do, then you should be ready to go, and can skip aheadto my testing notes. If not, continue to step 3. Switch to the Advanced tab again, and press the tab key until you reachthe "device" combo box. Use your arrows to change the setting to theRoland QuadCapture. If you didn't see the QuadCapture selected as theplayback or record timing master in step 2, and you don't see it in the"device" combo box now, then SONAR can't find it on your system. SONAR canonly find/use the QuadCapture if it is connected, and the drivers arecorrectly installed.Testing SONAROnce your settings are correct, you can test SONAR a few ways. If you selected the default template during CakeTalking installation,SONAR will open to a blank project with 16 MIDI tracks, and a number ofaudio tracks. If all is well with your keyboard and QuadCapture, you shouldbe able to play notes on the keyboard and hear a piano sound.If you don't hear the piano sound, it is possible that the audio isworking correctly, but the keyboard is not. To test that, you can play oneof the demo projects that are shipped with SONAR. You can install the demoprojects by running the DVD titled "Additional Content" that was in yourSONAR package. The demo projects will be saved on your C drive in theCakewalk Projects folder, under SONAR Sample Content. You need to open oneof the files ending in CWP. Those are Cakewalk Projects.For help with setting up your system, or getting started with CakeTalking,start SONAR, and press Insert+h. When you do, a menu will appear that listsall of the available CakeTalking help. Most options on this menu open handylists of hotkeys, but the first choice leads to a second menu that will giveyou access to all of the CakeTalking reference and tutorial documents. Thesedocuments are also in your Documents folder, in a folder called CakeTalking.Q: How do I control the volume setting of each row in SONAR's Matrix View?A: It is possible to control the volume of the rows, but not easy.Each row has a setting that controls the track where its sound is sent.Therefore, you really want to control the volume of the track where aparticular row is sent.The easiest way to control track volumes is with a control surface. Theinexpensive Behringer BCF2000 can easily give you access to track levels inreal time.It is also possible to control track levels with a MIDI controller, but thesetup is more difficult than with a control surface. You'll need to set thecontroller up to work with SONAR's ACT feature, then use ACT Learn to assignthe volumes of the tracks that you'd like to control to your controller'ssliders. Both of these steps require a lot of work, even if you know theprocedure. Q: Can you give me a few pointers on which plugins to use to master some mix-downs? A: If your music is going to be released commercially, my advice would be to get someone who specializes in mastering to create your mixes.Usually mastering looks at the song as a whole. What processing gets applied, depends entirely on the material involved. Maybe one track sounds a little brighter than another, so needs some corrective EQ. Maybe one track has too much energy to the sides. Maybe all the tracks need a little multi-band compression to control the lows. Maybe the intro of track 4 needs to come up a dB or so to match the tracks around it on the album. Maybe you want track one's fade out to last ten seconds, but track four's to last fifteen, or maybe crossfade into the next track.It all depends on the material.Usually mastering engineers use linear-phaze plug-ins. You have two of those in SONAR Producer, the LP64 EQ and LP64 multiband compressor.You'll want a good limiter as well, something that doesn't produce audible artifacts at moderate levels. Sony's Oxford Limiter, Ozone 5's limiter, Slate Digital FG-X, are a few really good ones. A popular one from a few years ago was Waves L1 or L2, but that one does have a particular sound to it that it imparts to the material.Other advice: Use full-range monitors, not cheaper nearfields. Work in a room that has been acoustically treated, otherwise you may be trying to correct problems caused by resonances in your room that aren't present in the actual material.Compare your results to commercial product of the same kind of music and with similar instrumentation. Comparing to a commercial reference is probably the best approach if you've never done this before.-From customer ChrisQ: What is a good way to harmonize vocals in SONAR?A: To harmonize vocals, or anything that you want, I use the "VielKlang" harmonizer plugin.From experience, I can say that it is most accessible.Digital Audio Workstation, a USB audio interface is your best option. WhileUSB audio interfaces don't provide as low a level of latency as a FireWire audiointerface, and are not able to handle as many tracks of audio, theircompatibility with a wide variety of computers makes them a great option forpeople with moderate recording needs or small budgets.In general, if you plan to purchase a custom made audio workstationto use for recording, we suggest the use of a FireWire audio interface. Ifyou plan to use an existing desktop or laptop computer for recording, thenwe suggest a USB audio interface.For FireWire interfaces, we suggest the Mackie Onyx line. They all have similarfeatures, so list the 820I, and perhaps remark that the larger 1220I, 1620I,and 1640I models provide similar features with larger combinations of inputsand mixer features.For USB, we suggest the V-Studio 20, the Roland QuadCapture and the Roland Octa-Capture. Q: How do I setup the Evolution UC33 with SONAR and CakeTalking?A: It is a preset in the act controller list. Q: Can I have some details about differences between SONAR audio monitorsA: You know, the one thing I have always done is to take sample material with me when trying out monitors.If you take a record that you have worked on and know inside and out, you'llbe surprised how much difference you will/ can hear with each monitor...Mostly one isn't better than another, just different. I got used to the M Audio BX8A monitors, and still like them though I have owned monitors which were 5 times the price.The question you must ask about monitors is, what is "true"? Everyone says they make "true and balanced" monitors, but they all sound different. The best thing a person can do is to buy a pair which will last, that you like the sound of right out of the box, and learn to mix on them. Every room andevery set will be different. Getting a set which sounds good out of the boxto you, and doing some mixes on them is the only way to go. Some monitors Ihave worked on tend to over extend the highs, and when you take a mix to hear it on other systems, you won't hear the highs you thought you had. So you learn to compensate. That's what the audio production business is all about, how good you can compensate, and how good you know your setup.-Shawn BrockTechnical SolutionsQ: While using CakeTalking for SONAR with SONAR Studio or Producer, Why do triple presses of the S key and M keys fail to un-solo and un-mute all as they should?A: It may be that you have your display settings incorrectly configured.Make certain that your Themes and Appearance settings are set to "Windows classic". See the multi-page dialog under Windows Start Menu | Settings | Control Panel | Display. It is a good practice to have your video display connected and powered on when making changes to video display settings even if you are a JAWS user who usually keeps the video monitor turned off. These commands work by clicking graphics on SONAR toolbars. Changes to the position or size of the SONAR toolbars will prevent these commands from operating. If you are using CakeTalking 8.8 or later, you can reset the position of your SONAR toolbars by opening the Start menu, selecting CakeTalking, and then selecting ResetSONARToolbars. If you are using a version of CakeTalking prior to 8.8, you can reset your SONAR toolbars by re-running the CakeTalking installation program.Q: How do you control the audio routing settings for WindowsA: To control audio routing settings for Windows:When you press the Start button, the Start Menu will pop up. In thesearchbox, type "sound". As you arrow through the results, there will be asectionnear the top called "Control Panel", and an item under it called simply"Sound". Press enter on "Sound".The dialog box that opens has several tabs, but the only one that wecareabout at the moment is the first one called "Playback". This tabcontains alist box. In that list are all of the audio devices that are known onyourcomputer. These aren't devices as a whole, but are the individual portsofeach device. You'll see an entry for each of the input channels on your high-end audio interface such as the Onyx, as well as several for the built-in sound device. One of the itemsshould be called "Speakers", or something similar, and should represent the internal laptop speakers, plus anything that you plug in to theheadphone jack on the laptop (one of the 3 holes). If you arrow to one of theitems inthis list, and then tab over through the buttons, you'll find one called"Set default". If you press that one, then the currently selected deviceinthe list box will become the default device from now on. If you don'tseethat button, then the item that you have selected in the list box isalreadythe default device. Make any changes as required, then tab to, andpress,OK.Changing the settings above determines where Windows sounds are sent, as well asthesounds of any programs that you haven't specifically directed to aparticular device.Q: SONAR with CakeTalking is quite slow even though my PC has ample RAM and processing speed. What can I do to improve performance?A: Visit this link for tips to improve performance of CakeTalking and SONAR.Q: If I try to toggle a record or playback click on using the SHIFT+M orCONTROL+M hotkeys, SONAR tells me that I do not have a usable MIDI device. How do I setup an audio click via my PC's soundcard?A: If you don't have a MIDI keyboard or a MIDI sound module to use with SONAR, you can still set up an audio click via your PC's soundcard. Try the following: Run SONAR and load your project or create a new one. Press ALT+O, P or click on Options | Projects Press CONTROL+TAB until you reach the "Metronome Page" Tab to the field that says: "use MIDI Note" and press the up arrow key until it says "Use Audio Metronome". Tab to OK and press ENTER. If the resulting metronome click is unsteady and erratic, you most likely need a higher-end soundcard known as an audio interface. Dancing Dots carries top quality audio interfaces at competitive prices which we know will work well with SONAR and JAWS. Q: When SONAR loads, I'm getting a message stating that no project isloaded and to press control plus N to load default template. How do I get my existingtemplate to load at startup?A: To get your existing template to load at startup:First, go to options>global in SONAR, and go to the audio data tab. Inthere, check the box that says load normal template at startup. Then, closeSONAR, go to your Cakewalk sample content folder, usually in your documentsfolder. In there, press n a few times to see if you find an existing"normal.cwt" file. If you do, rename it to normal2.cwt or something similar.Then, find the triple-A template that you'd like to use, it'll be a cwt filein that same folder. Rename that file to Normal.cwt. Alternatively, if youdon't want to mess something up, just make a copy of the triple a templatefile, in Windows Vista/7, you can just copy then paste right there, Windowswill name it with a 1 after or something to that effect. Take that file, andrename it to Normal.cwt. That way your original triple-A templates are stillintact.Q: Should I have the wave form preview on?A: No, you don't want it turned on. It causes the audio waveform to constantlybe drawn on the screen, which certainly takes up CPU resources and does nothing for us. Q: I am having a lot of issues with keyboard shortcuts in CT. For, instance I am not able to use the control and enter keys to select tracks, but I can select them with the comma key. How do I fix this problem?A: The comma key is a built-in SONAR command for selecting tracks. It soundslike none of the CakeTalking-specific commands are working. The most common cause for this problem is that CakeTalking isnot fully installed. Try running the CakeTalking installation program again.It is also possible that CakeTalking is installed, but is installed into adifferent version of SONAR than the one that you are using. For example, ifyou have installed both the 32-bit and 64-bit versions of SONAR, you mightonly have CakeTalking installed in one of them. If you have both the 32-bitand 64-bit versions of SONAR installed on your computer, the CakeTalkinginstallation program will ask you to specify the version of SONAR whereyou'd like it to install CakeTalking. Please be sure that you have selectedthe version in the CakeTalking installer that you are attempting to use.Q: What is the procedure to follow when SONAR crashes when I open Dimension Pro while using Octa-Capture?A: Sometimes, insituationswith strangely inexplicable errors, the cause ends up being some verysmallthing that has been overlooked or misunderstood.Be certain you know what edition of Windows you are using and how many bits it has.Also, be certain that you have the latest driver from the Roland site. The driver is at thefollowing link: Roland Support for Downloads for details.Believe it or not, the fact that SONAR is crashing in Dimension Pro is good with regard to solving your problem. The audio driver isnot reset when working in the Dimension Pro window, which leads meto think that the problem might have more to do with SONAR, a corruptedfile, or incorrect settings, than a bad driver.When SONAR crashes, you probably lose speech. However, there should be awindow open on the screen that announces that SONAR has crashed. Please makeSONAR crash, and have someone sighted look at the window. There is a lot oftechnical info in there that won't necessarily make much sense to you. Twoimportant items that will hopefully be listed, though, is the name of themodule that was active when SONAR crashed, as well as the type of crash.The type of crash will probably be called either an "illegal operation" oran "access violation". If SONAR was able to handle thecrash itself, then it will show an item in the window called "module", andthere will be a name of a file next to it. The file will typically be an EXEor a DLL file, such as program.dll or program.exe. If the error report comesfrom Windows, then you might need to scroll through a lot of cryptic infobut you still should find the name of the DLL or EXE that was active whenthe crash happened. HOPEFULLY, the crash happened in a specific module, andnot just SONARpdr.exe, which is the main SONAR program. If we know what codehad control when the crash happened, that will give us a better idea of whatsort of function isn't working. If the crashis very bad, then you won't get an error window, but, instead, the entirecomputer will reboot. This happens when things break/crash so badly thatWindows can't even keep things going long enough to report the error to you.If this happens, then the problem is most certainly in a driver or otherlow-level code.There are some other settings that you should check.Have you tried using the WDM driver mode? The ASIO mode will probably workbetter for you in the long run, but knowing if you have the same problems inWDM mode might provide some clues that could help us.Next, you should check the settings for the Octa-Capture itself.First, you need to get into the control panel software for the Octa-Capture.There are several ways to do this, but the easiest is from SONAR's AudioOptions dialog. If you are set to use the ASIO driver mode in SONAR, thenwhen you open SONAR's Options menu and select Audio Options, the window willhave a button on the General tab called "ASIO panel". If you press thisbutton, the Octa-Capture's control panel software will open.There aren't too many settings in the Octa-Capture's control panel, but theones that are there must be set correctly.1. The sample rate should be set to 44Khz. The control panel might list thisas 44.1Khz, which will also work fine. Other sample rates are possible, butyou'd need to change settings in SONAR for them to work correctly. We shouldmake sure that 44Khz works before trying others.2. I believe that the Octa-Capture has a configurable clock source. Youshould see a setting that will be called "clock" or "clock source". Makesure that it is set to "internal".3. There should be a slider that will be either called "buffer" or"latency". When set to small values, SONAR will work to render audio asquickly as possible. This results in great responsive performance when usingsoftware instruments, but places a very high processing load on thecomputer. If the computer can't keep up, crashes can occasionally result,and some SONAR projects won't play. With large values, SONAR uses littleprocessing power, but there are long delays for audio processing. In yourcase, set this slider to the middle until we've tracked down the source ofthe problem.Note that most Roland control panel software uses a slider to set thebuffer/latency, but a few use a combo box that specifies the size of theprocessing buffer numerically. If your Octa-Capture shows the buffer sizenumerically, set it to 512.Q: When I press Control F12 to get the CakeTalking Control Surface running, CakeTalking keeps saying "you cannot initialize the JAWS control surface yet. you must open a project in the track pain". However, I have opened a new project and it still says this. I have checked the window settings, and everything seems correct. What can I do? A: If you have changed your screen resolution, color depth, theme, etc. after installing CakeTalking, then SONAR has probably reset the windows and toolbar positions to their default locations, which are not suitable for working with CakeTalking. To fix this problem in versions of CakeTalking earlier than version 8.8, you must reinstall CakeTalking. No need to enter your CT authorization code or to request new authorization. For CakeTalking 8.8: Be certain that SONAR is closed. In your Start Menu, find All Programs, then CakeTalking 8.8. In the CakeTalking 8.8 program group, there will be an item called ResetSONARToolbars. Select this item. Now, start SONAR again. Press CTRL+n to be certain that a new project is open. Finally, press CONTROL+F12 to open the CakeTalking setup menu, and select the first option, to install the CakeTalking control surface plug in. Q: What causes the screen to go completely blue in SONAR?A: When the computer blue screens, or reboots at a seemingly random time, thecause must be a particularly low level problem. Only a few areas of thesystem can cause these sorts of problems. In these situations, eitherthe core files needed to run Windows itself are corrupted, or else a drivercrashed.If the crash happens when you start SONAR, then it may be caused by SONARattempting to connect to devices that are experiencing problems with theirdrivers. For example, if your audio interface had a corrupted driver,starting SONAR could crash the computer (blue screen or reboot). In thatcase, the problem isn't SONAR, but something that happens indirectly due toSONAR starting up.There are ways to track these problems down specifically, but they requirelots of time. A faster way to find the cause would be to try starting SONARwith equipment disconnected to see if you still experience the problem. If you have MIDI keyboards connectedover USB, MIDI interfaces, control surfaces, etc., try starting SONAR withthose disconnected. If SONAR starts normally, close it, reconnect one device, andtry starting SONAR again. Eventually, SONAR won't start, and you'll knowthat the cause was the last device that you connected.Unfortunately, these problems are sometimes caused by odd issues likeproblems with video or network card drivers. If that is happening in yourcase, then it will be quite difficult to track down.Q: What do I do if I lose JAWS speech after attaching my audio interface such as the Quad-Capture?A: You will need to change a JAWS setting to resolve this problem. As soon asWindows finds your high-end Quad-Capture or other audio interface attached to your laptop, it decidesthat it knows what's best for you and sends JAWS speech through that device.To fix:Boot up without the Quad-Capture being attached. JAWS should work as usual.Press INSERT+J to move focus to JAWS.ALT+U to open UtilitiesType the letter o to select the Soundcard entry or arrow down to Soundcardand press ENTERYou will find a list of all devices on your system that JAWS can talkthrough. It is probably now set to something like Default WindowsSoundcard. Change it to explicitly go to your integrated soundcard.Description of that driver may use the word "Speakers" or something likethat. A popular one is by Real Tech.Press ENTER to select that driver.Now, shut down your PC and attach your Quad-Capture or other audio interface.Restart your PC.Q: In SONAR what should I do when I get an error screen displaying "The file 'C:\Program Files(x86)\DancingDots\CakeTalking8.5 for SONAR8.5\UNWISE.EXE' could not beopened..."? A: This error occasionally appears when installing from CD, or if UAC isenabled.If you were installing from CD, use the web installer instead. You can get the most recent CT 8.5 installer from a link in the E-mail message sent to you when you ordered CakeTalking. Contact Dancing Dots if you have misplaced that information.If that does not help, be sure that UAC (User Account Control) is disabled.To disable it, press the Start button, type "user", arrow down to "ChangeUser Account Control settings," and press enter. In the dialog that appears,set the slider to 0%, then click OK and restart your computer.Q: I unfortunately am experiencing a rather annoying high-pitched hum whenrecording into my audio interface. What could be causing this backgroundnoise? A: Factors that can cause background noise: Bad/cheap Firewire cable picking up EMI from motherboard, card or anotherpiece of equipment. Cheap power supply (low-end ones, or those that come with computers thatwere bought off the shelf as we say). These don't provide good cableinsulation and sometimes don't include filters of any sort, leaving it up toyour motherboard to disperse all that bad power all around and the wirestransferring all the EMI. Some low-end power supplies don't have good (orsometimes none at all) grounding either, which leads to all kinds oftroubles. I've even seen companies like EMachines, Compaq and HP use 20-pinmain power leads on a 24-pin motherboard. While this is not industriallyincorrect because the 4 extra pins provide extra power rails, it can lead toissues and make the mb perform abnormally; if the motherboard needs theextra power, say to run a graphics adapter, a PCI/PCIE card etc., the boardcan fry due to it being underpowered! Bad grounding from wires or bad ground on your wall outlets; it mightnot show up as a 60hz hum, but it can cause EMI to be picked up by items onyour motherboard for various reasons. Other equipment such as synths or units that are connected to thecomputer via USB, Firewire or other way and have bad ground can transfersignals or noises to the motherboard (since they don't have a goodground/connection) and your audio interface maybe picking it up. A poorly made computer is a factor; I've seen some low-end (again,mostly on off the shelf systems) motherboards that are implemented horriblywhen it comes to power and distribution, and that use cheap or bad capacitorson the PWM zone (power/voltage regulators and controllers for the CPU andother items), causing EMI and other noises to be introduced to certain itemslike speakers and monitors (if using analog connections and sometimes evendigital, depending on the type of connection and where the problem lies).In some newer i7 motherboards, there was even an issue where using them withc1e enabled caused noise issues that were even audible on the board itself,but those have since then been fixed for the most part.Q: What do I do when SONAR displays the prompt "Silent buses detected , the following tracks and buses arecurrently assigned to a silent a hardware output."? A: That message indicates that SONAR is not finding your audio interface. Youwill want to connect a dedicated audio interface to your PC for recordingand playing back audio in SONAR. We recommend the Roland QuadCapture or something comparable. If you like, you can order from our Sound Cards page Q: What slows down CakeTalking? Where is the bottle neck in the system? Is it JAWS examining the screen? Is it CakeTalking looking for things?A: To some extent, certain parts of CT will just beslow, and there isn't anything to do about themat the moment. In this message, I want to talk alittle about why CT is unavoidably slow in somecases.Jumping directly to columns requires a hugeamount of work behind the scenes, even though itseems like it should be a simple process. SONARdoesn't include any sort of way to skip directlyto a column. If CT wants to move you to aspecific column, it can't ask SONAR to move youthere. It also can't look at the screen with theJAWS cursor and know where to click, as manycolumns contain controls that don't placeanything on the screen that JAWS can see.The way that CT moves to a column is by firstplacing the focus on a column that it canidentify by looking at the screen, such as thename column, and then arrowing to the rightacross the track strip until it finds the columnthat you requested. Again, CT can't look at thecontents of most of these columns on the screen,so it must depend on information that it receivesfrom what is called the accessibility string. Theaccessibility string is a hack that Cakewalk putin a long time ago that lets SONAR sendinformation to a screen reader about the lastitem to gain focus. So, as CT arrows across thetrack, it has to wait for information about eachcell to come back in the accessibility string.Based on what comes back, it knows that it hasfound the right column, or else that it needs to keep going.Complicating this is that the accessibilitystring isn't always reliable. Sometimes it givesthe wrong information. Sometimes it gives theright information, but only if CT first arrowsaway from a column and then arrows back.Sometimes CT must pause a bit, either the firsttime landing on a column, or else when arrowingback, before it receives the correct info from the accessibility string.In some older versions of CT, we tried to movefocus to a column as quickly as possible, but,lots of the time, we'd run in to bad problems.Sometimes, we'd get bad info along the way, sothe jump keys would occasionally fail, and you'dhear those "Please press F6 messages", in thehopes that refreshing the screen would help theaccessibility string to work correctly. Othertimes, we'd reach the correct column, but theaccessibility string would report incorrect info.The effects bin is notorious for these problems.You can arrow to it, and the access string willsay that no effects are there, arrow away, arrowback, and now it will report that you have effects.All of these bugs are reported to Cakewalk. Blindpeople are well represented on the SONAR betatest group. For one reason or another, many ofthese problems go unresolved, so we have twooptions. First, we can make the jump keys work asquickly as possible to try to place you on thecolumn that you requested, knowing that the jumpmight fail, or that, when you reach the column,you might hear incorrect information. Thatsometimes happens with the other SONAR scripts,and some power users just try to remain aware ofthe cases in which SONAR might report incorrectinformation. The other way is that we can programworkarounds in to the column jump keys that workaround the SONAR bugs, but, of course, all of thechecks slow down the keys. There are advantagesto both approaches, but we felt that it was moreimportant for the keys to report correct info,rather than for them to be faster, and requirethat everyone learn when and how to work around the bugs.This is also part of why there is a customCakeTalking controls tab in the track pane. Theorganization of the custom CT tab is designed toallow us to run checks for the bugs with as little overhead as possible.Unfortunately, there are lots of areas like this in SONAR, andbeyond SONAR problems, there are quirks with howJAWS changes from version to version. Forinstance, a small bug might prevent JAWS fromseeing a particular graphic on the screen that isneeded to orient CT. We report such bugs toFreedom Scientific, but we can't wait for them torelease the next version of JAWS, so we mightcome up with a slower workaround that can stillaccomplish the same thing. When the new versionof JAWS is released, with the fix for the bug, weno longer need our workaround. However, when thatparticular part of CT runs, it must check to seewhich version of JAWS is being used. If the newversion is being used, one method can be used,but, if not, CT will need to know to use theolder workaround. That is why CT usually supportsjust the 1 or 2 previous versions of JAWS. For CT8.5, if we had to create workarounds for littlegotchas in JAWS 6, 5, etc. then we'd be working on it forever.When you press CONTROL+I, there is a delay whileCT checks the contents of your project. Dependingon the contents, the choices in the CONTROL+Imenu are different. CT needs to know if you're inthe track or buses pane, so it can offer choicesfor tracks or buses, respectively. If you're inthe tracks pane, for example, are any tracks inthe project? If so, then you need to see deleteoptions, but, if not, those should be omitted.Are any tracks in the project at all? If so, thenyou should see options for adding tracks that letyou create audio or MIDI tracks before thecurrent track, but, if not, simple add audio or MIDI options will be fine.There really is a lot that goes on behind thescenes to help SONAR behave consistently, in spite of bugs and problems.Some people dislike the CT sounds, and turn themoff. CT doesn't include sounds to be cute. Asyou've observed, some commands can't respondright away. For those, it isn't obvious that when youpress a key the command is working. CT issupposed to play a sound, as soon as you press akey, so that you have some confirmation that thecommand was received. CT 8.5 doesn't do this withthe column skip keys, but it should.Q: Can CT be made to work faster?A: CT can be adjusted to work a bit faster.First, the display settings are absolutely key.If they aren't perfectly set, then CT can stillwork in some situations, but additionalworkarounds must be used that slow down CT. Besure that you're using the correct theme, colordepth, and screen resolution for your version ofWindows, or else CT will have lots of problemswhen it looks for controls at specific positionson the screen. Be sure that the optimize forperformance choice in Advanced System settings isselected, or the animations will slow down CT.In SONAR itself, some appearance settings canconfuse CT. These are much easier to fix. The CTinstaller is able to set all of the needed SONARappearance settings. If you ever suspect thatyour toolbars are positioned or sizedincorrectly, if X-ray becomes active, or ifyou're concerned about the SONAR appearancesettings in any way, just run the CT installeragain. It isn't necessary to uninstall CT first.Also, running the installer doesn't change anySONAR settings that aren't related to appearance,such as your audio or MIDI interfaceconfiguration, your instrument definitions, and so on.Finally, there are a few options in CT that youcan set to speed it up a bit. These are all inUser Options (press CONTROL+u). The mostimportant one is the setting for multi-presshotkeys. Change it to user presses quickly. Thisaffects any hotkey that can be pressed more thanonce. The obvious examples are s, m, and a, butthe column skip keys fall in to that category, also.You can also gain a little speed by turning offsome of the tutor and informational messages, butyou shouldn't simply turn off all of them. If youare familiar with the track pane controls, thenyou can change the verbosity setting fornavigating in the track pane so that CT announcesneither the type of control, nor how to use it.You can also disable the check that tells you ifthe current control is armed for automation.Unless you're an extremely experienced user, Idon't suggest that you turn off any of the tutormessages for the effects and synths dialogs. Manyof them require different tricks to work. Forexample, in some of the Sonitus plug ins, simplytabbing to a parameter and using the value changekeys is enough. For some parameters, though, youmust left click before using the value changekeys. In other synths, like Dimension Pro, youmust first lock the left mouse button beforeusing the value change keys. I've been using CTfor a long time, and even I forget the specificlittle workarounds that are required forparticular screens. This is why we let youdisable different types of tutorial messages.Fairly experienced users can disable the generalmessages, or make CT speak with less verbosity,but can still leave on some of the tutor messages for tricky parts of SONAR.Finally, you can gain just a bit of speed by turning off the sounds.I hope that this info helps. Particularly in 8.5,we tried as hard as we could to make CT run asfast as possible while still working around theaccessibility string gotchas. Without fixes tothe accessibility string bugs, this is as fast as CT can be.Q: What are some techniques that allow you to record quickly in SONAR?A: CakeTalking has some support for working with multiple clips on a track. Towork with those, you must be in the clips pane (CONTROL+DOWN ARROW). You should review the chapters in the CakeTalking tutorialregarding the Clips Pane and Enhanced Clips Editing mode.In general, though, you won't want to work with clips. There is support forediting them, but the scripts must perform the edits by manually driving themouse, and the keyboard commands are consequently slow. The support existsbecause some SONAR functions, such as V-Vocal require a minimum amount ofaccess to individual clips, and you might need to have control of specificclips when working with SONAR projects that were created by sighted users.If you'd like to work quickly, then you're much better off working as ifSONAR is a multi-track recorder, rather than trying to edit on the cliplevel. Don't worry that this will place you at a heavy disadvantage. Thereare some techniques that can help you out that you may have not consideredWhen recording, you should mostly ignore the fact that SONAR supports clips.Make a new track for each take. If you've made a track for take 1, and needanother for take 2, 3, etc., use the Clone command in the Tracks menu tocreate a new track with the same settings, effects, and so on, as the trackyou used for take 1.To create a composite take, create a new track, and copy segments from theindividual takes to this comp track. It is like working with a multitrackrecorder, where you'd create a comp track by bouncing different takes to adestination track. Using copy/paste to comp a vocal is much faster thantrying to mute/unmute, adjust start/end times, and other tweaking of cliplayers on a single track.For punching, you can set the record mode to auto-punch, and SONAR willautomatically punch in and out at times that you set. For a quicker way topunch, though, you can connect a pedal to most control surfaces that will goin to punch record as long as you hold it down. Using a pedal to punch ishow most people will fix vocal or instrument parts. It is quick: move beforethe area to fix, press play, play along with your track, press the pedal tojump in, and let go to jump back out.There are certain situations when you will need to access individual clips,and so you should review the sections in the tutorial. Besides V-Vocal, Iaccess individual clips for a few big reasons. Opening a clip's propertiesallows you to set the clip's time base and lock its position, which isimportant when working with audio in projects that aren't primarily focusedon music. A clip's properties gives you access to the real-time time andpitch stretching features (Groove Clips and AudioSnap). These are needed ifyou're trying to use pre-made loops in your project, create your own loops,force clips to always start or end at specific times (auto-stretch to fit),and others. I don't, however, access clips for editing. You can give it ago, but, after you spend a little time with the editing commands, you'llquickly see how slow they are. Unfortunately, that's just how it is. Theonly way to manipulate clip layers and boundaries is via the mouse, andscripts that manipulate the mouse aren't able to operate quickly fortechnical reasons.When working with a client, you'll need to get setup quickly to record lotsof takes. The key to working quickly is templates. With project templates,you can call up an empty project full of pre-configured tracks, ready torecord. With track templates, you can add groups of pre-configured templatesto an existing project. For example, if you normally use specific inputs onyour interface for drum mics, guitars, vocal mics, etc., you can build aproject template with the I/O already set. When a group comes in, you onlyneed to make sure that the mics are setup and plugged in to the correctinputs. You can then call up your template and press record. If you normallyrecord 5 takes for a vocal, you can make a track template with 5 take tracksand a comp track. When someone is ready to record their vocal, you can loadthis track template, and those 6 pre-configured tracks will be dropped in toyour current project, ready to record.Q: How do you avoid accidentally recording over tracks in SONAR?A: You can avoid accidentally recording over tracks by making use of thekeys that unarm all tracks (either triple A, or SHIFT+z). It is a good ideato clear all track arm switches before arming any new tracks.If you notice that you've accidentally recorded over something important,you can always use the un-do command. SONAR maintains an un-do history thatcan step back through hundreds of edit actions.Another way to guard against accidentally losing data is by using theAuto-save feature. With this feature, SONAR will automatically save aversion of your project at regular intervals. If you really get thingstwisted up, you can go back to a version from 10 minutes ago, 2 hours ago,etc. This is also a good guard against crashes. Saving multiple versionsdoesn't eat up lots of hard drive space, by the way.Q: What causes dropouts in SONAR and what can I do to prevent them?A: Drop-outs are usually caused by either the hard drive being too slow, otherrunning programs taking too many resources away from the CPU (processor), orthe hard drive being too full of old files. Please try all of the followingin order. It isn't necessary to do them all if one of them clears up thedrop-outs. Defragment (defrag) all of the hard drives in the computer. Keep in mindthat audio workstations usually have more than one hard drive, and youshould defrag them all.A. Double-click My Computer, either on the desktop or start menu.B. Locate the main (C:) hard drive, right-click it, and select Propertiesfrom the pop-up menu that will appear.C. In the properties window, click the Tools tab, then click Defragment. TheDefrag tool will open.D. Press the Analyze button. After the computer checks your drive, it maysuggest you defrag it. Let it, it if it requests.E. After the computer finishes, repeat the process for any other harddrives. It is important that other programs not compete for resources on an audioworkstation. Always close programs other than SONAR when recording. However,be aware of other programs that still draw resources when seemingly closed,such as Skype, instant messaging clients (MSN, Yahoo Messenger, etc.), andfile sharing programs (DropBox, UTorrent). It is also important to not usereal-time virus and spyware protection, as such software frequentlyconflicts with low-latency recording. Please go through the Programs, anduninstall anything like this.A. Click Start, then Control Panel. If you are using the classic theme, youmay need to click the Start button, then Settings, and finally ControlPanel.B. In the Control Panel, find Add/Remove Programs, and open it.C. When the list of programs appears, click a program to install, then clickthe Remove or the Change/Remove button. If all of the above fails, then try the steps below. Do not try these stepsfirst, as, while they can fix drop-outs, they can create new, and difficult,problems to resolve if used unnecessarily. You can increase SONAR's disk buffers to help avoid drop-outs. However,increasing the size of the buffers will cause SONAR to respond slower whenyou press play, record, or when you move around in a project duringplayback.A. In SONAR, open the Options menu, then select Audio.B. In the Audio Options window, select the Advanced tab.C. Enter new values in to the read and write buffer settings, then click OK.It is important to use only powers of 2 as values for the read and writebuffers for best performance. The default value for both is 256. Tryincreasing both to 384. If that doesn't help, increase both to 512. Valuesbeyond 512 will make SONAR too sluggish to be worth it, and won't helpperformance. You can increase the audio interface's buffer size. Save this forabsolute last. There are a lot of settings for the audio interface that aredifficult to calibrate, and can make problems much worse if set incorrectly.The instructions are different depending on the audio interface that isbeing used. Be certain that SONAR is closed before trying the following.A. Return to the Control Panel, using the instructions above. Instead ofopening Add/Remove Programs, open the M-Audio control panel.B. In the M-Audio window, switch to the Hardware tab.C. Locate the buffer size. It will probably be one of the following: 128,256, 384, 512. Select the next highest number as the new value. For example,if 128 had been selected, select 256.D. Close the window.Again, be sure to try these solutions in order. If one fixes the problem,stop at that point without trying the others.Q: I changed from an m-audio interface to a Roland Quad-Capture and SONAR has stopped working. I keep getting a message saying "No master" from SONAR on my Windows PC.What do I need to do to get SONAR working?A: The error message about the Master bus appears if SONAR can't find youraudio interface, or if the type of interface has changed since the last timeyou were using SONAR. Now, I know that your interface was connected, butthere are reasons why SONAR still might not see it.Audio interfaces connect to programs like SONAR through a few differentprotocols, or what SONAR calls "driver modes". If you simply plug in theQuadCapture, Windows knows how to talk to it using a basic mode called MME.That basic mode isn't good enough for SONAR. SONAR needs WDM or ASIO. Theonly way that Windows can talk to your interface using those modes/protocolsis for you to install the interface's drivers.There was probably a CD in the box with the QuadCapture. That disk shouldhave drivers. You may have installed those, but they might be out of date,particularly if you're using Windows Vista or Windows 7. To be safe, youshould download and install the most recent drivers for the QuadCapture. Youcan get them from the support area of RolandUS.com. The dealer that sold youthe QuadCapture might also be able to help you find the new drivers.Once you install the new drivers, SONAR should be able to see theQuadCapture. If it still doesn't, it may be that you will need to tell SONARwhat driver mode to use. To change the driver mode, in SONAR, go to theOptions menu, select Audio, and switch to the Advanced tab. There is a combobox called "Driver Mode". Change to the mode that you'd like to use, thenclick OK, then close and re-open SONAR. The Driver Mode combo box will onlyshow entries for modes that are available at the moment. For example, if youdon't have any devices connected that have ASIO drivers installed, then ASIOwon't appear in the combo box. My guess is that your combo box is probablyempty.Please make sure that you have the most recent drivers, and that the drivermode is set correctly in SONAR.Q: Why am I experiencing audio dropouts? Should I be using a Firewire audio interface?A: Unfortunately, I don't have a clear solution for you. As you may know, getting low latency audio interfaces to operate correctly is a tricky process, and that situation is even more complicated than usual when you're using Firewire audio interfaces. Using a dedicated Firewire card is no guaranty of success, but is a start. Hopefully, your Firewire card uses a Texas Instruments chipset, as most others rarely are compatible with audio interfaces. Even if the Firewire card uses a TI chipset, you still may be unable to use it. Many motherboard chipsets manipulate DPC latencies to do things like improve power efficiency or improve graphics performance. Since low latency audio interfaces use very small data buffers that must be constantly filled, any momentary inability of the computer to fill the buffer can result in a drop out or a crash. Additionally, processor power conservation techniques like Speed Step and others can cause fluctuations and delays in providing processing resources to SONAR or your Tascam's driver that can result in drop out and crashes. You may be able to tweak your BIOS to improve the way that your motherboard handles DPC/PCI latency, but I can't offer you any specific tips on how to do this, as the process is different for each motherboard. Also be aware that many BIOSes do not even provide access to these features: typical brand machines like Dell or Lenovo don't. You should also be able to disable Speed Step and other power management functions in your BIOS, and that should help. If you are unable to disable power management in your BIOS, you might try using the "Always On" power plan in XP's power options, but that plan will only prevent the computer from changing your processor's speed to save power, not disable other power saving functions that apply to PCI and USB devices in your system. As the problem happens when JAWS is loaded, it may be associated with either an audio or video issue. Old built-in audio using SigmaTel chipsets had an issue where all other audio devices would temporarily freeze while they're playing audio. The solution was to install an older version of the driver, but I have no idea where to find that driver for XP any longer. If you have a built-in Sigmatel-based audio device, perhaps you can Google for forum posts about this. In general, if you are going to use a system that you've built yourself, I'd never suggest that you use a Firewire based audio interface unless you're a highly technical person that doesn't mind lots of reading, experimentation, and possibly swapping out many components until you find a combination that works. USB audio interfaces don't provide as low of latency, and they drain computer processing resources away from your recording software, but they are highly compatible. If you're set on using a Firewire audio interface, you really should be purchasing a system from a PC builder that specializes in digital audio workstations, and will guarantee compatibility with your audio interface. We at Dancing Dots would be glad to build a custom made audio workstation and can save a lot of money and time that workstations built by dealers who do not understand accessibility would take away from you. Converting, creating and exporting files Q: I am interested in recording myself singing with mp3 or CD karaoke files,then saving the recording as an mp3 and burning it onto a CD. Would I bebetter off using SONAR or sound forge to accomplish this? A: You would be much better off using SONAR to do this. Sound Forge is reallya stereo mastering program, you can't overdub on an existing track like youcan in SONAR. In addition, since you can have nearly limitless tracks inSONAR, you will be able to sing multiple takes, saving each on a separatetrack so that you can then pick the best verses, choruses, bridges, etc. andcobble together that seamless perfect performance you are striving to get. Add to that the ability to includejust the right effect on your voice, and you'll be well on your way. CakeTalking simplifies the process of performing with karaoke files. Several SONAR project templates are included that automatically configure many SONAR settings for various recording situations, including performing with karaoke recordings.Q: When exporting files and converting to MP3 format, I receive an error message that my MP3 encoder is locked. What do I need to do?A: The mp3 encoder unlock is an additional $19 and can be downloaded from the Cakewalk website.Q: How do I make a CD or audio file from my SONAR project files?A: To make a CD or audio file from my SONAR project files: Once you have finished preparing all necessary tracks in SONAR, press ALT+F | E | A to open the Export Audio dialog. Type the name of the audio file. Then tab once and choose the output format you desire. Before you can create a CD or mp3 file from your audio projects, you will need to record any midi tracks that are using hardwaresynthesizers as audio tracks. Make sure the midi hardware you want to record, e.g. keyboard, drum machine, etc. is connected to your sound card's inputs either directly or through your mixer. Refer to all Lessons on setting up your audio and MIDI hardware to ascertain that your system is capable of successfully accomplishing the mix-down process. One option for converting MIDI to audio tracks is to solo the midi track, arm an empty audio track, and record it. When you are done, un-solo and then mute the midi track, and unarm the audio track. Repeat this process for all of your hardware midi tracks. Note that if you want to create an mp3 file you may have to license a third-party mp3 encoder application to do so.For important information on techniques for preparing your final mix for export, see the Lesson entitled "MIXING DOWN. DISTRIBUTING YOUR PROJECT" in the CakeTalking tutorial document. Also use the find command to read references to "Bounce To Tracks" for more information on converting MIDI tracks to audio tracks and applying audio effects before exporting your project. If you are looking for an easy-to-use and economical CD burning software program, you may want to consider winamp pro. You can purchase winamp pro by going to winamp.com and clicking on the "gopro" link. It costs only $20, and has a very straight-forward user interface When you install SONAR, you will have a trial version of cakewalk's mp3 encoder on your computer which will allow you to convert a limited number of projects to mp3 format. You can get the full version from Cakewalk.Q: How do I load mp4 files into SONAR?A: You need Quicktime for SONAR to load mp4 videos. Since it's onlyavailablein a 32 bit form, you need to run the SONAR 32 bit version, which willworkeven on the 64 bit versions of Windows.Then when you go to import the video, under the "Files of type" dropdownlist, choose "All Files (*.*)" and your mp4 video will be visible.However, Avi files work so much better in SONAR than anything else. Soit'sbetter to convert MP4s to Avi. Avi's play beautifully in SONAR, while .wmvs and MP4s glitch out, comeinupside down, make SONAR sluggish etc.Q: When I export files from sonar, there are three options for bit depth: 16, 24 and 32 bit depth. What are the differences between them?A: Other than 24-16 = 8 and that 32-24 = 8, it relates to the overall dynamic range of the musical content. However if you're going to burn a commercial CD you'll probably want to stick with 16-bit. The higher the bit depth, the more dynamic range is available, at least in theory.Audio intended for CD must be 16-bit, with a sampling rate of 44.1KHZ. DVD is usually 24-bit 48KHZ.Older versions Q: I've been getting these:"sorry this function failed to find sonar's status bar" error messageswhenever I use the s 3 times to unsolo all tracks in SONAR 6.2. What should I do to correct it?A: Well, we are really trying to make it more and more possible for sighted andblind folks to work side by side while using CT, but if your task bar got moved it by a sighted person, it could be causing a problem. Also, make sure your display settings haven't changed, e.g. 32 bit color and 1024x768 resolution.Q: I've had to reinstall SONAR 3 and CakeTalking on a different pc and am experiencing a problem with the graphics labeler.When I try labeling the graphics I'm getting a message sayingthat the .cwt files in the sample content folder aren't installed, what should I do?A: I would strongly suggest that you upgrade your SONAR and CT if you can justify it. SONAR 3 is many years old now, and the whole architecture of the scripts and how they work under the hood has changed, making them much more stable and reliable. In addition, it would be very difficult to continue to provide support for the older software. Q: I am running SONAR 6 with CakeTalking. Whenever I insert an instance of Dimension Pro into my project, (and press enter to load a program bank) I receive the message that says: "External VST Window" and I am unable to use any of the Dimension Pro sounds. How can I correct this problem? A: Dancing Dots has learned that, at least on some systems, the Check Windows Settings utility available from CakeTalking's submenu on the Start Menu, reports that all Windows settings have been configured correctly even though the DPI setting is actually still incorrect. Refer to the document entitled "1SettingsXP.rtf" found in the Setup folder of the CakeTalking for SONAR 6 folder in your My Documents folder for all details of required Windows configuration for optimal use of CakeTalking. All of these settings should be manually reviewed and changed if necessary. Here's an excerpt from the current version of that document that refers to configuring the Display setting found in the Windows Control Panel: 2b1af7f3a8