MP3 Encoding

Having an MP3 of a song is pretty useful for posting on websites, sending to friends, asking for advice on Cakewalk forums, etc. However, the trial version of the MP3 encoder in SHS doesn’t last very long. After searching a bit in the forums, the LAME encoder came up quite a bit, so I decided to try it.

Finding LAME, downloading it (http://sourceforge.net/projects/lame/), and getting it set up on my computer weren’t that hard. The problem was getting SHS6 to recognize it. The help file talked about the “Tools -> Cakewalk Ext Encoder Config” option on the menu, but for some weird reason, it didn’t appear on the menu bar for me. However, while searching for something else, I just happened to find a file titled “EncoderConfig.exe” in the Cakewalk\Shared Utilities folder. And sure enough, opening it brought up the window I needed for the LAME encoder.

Following the help file instructions for most of the process is straight forward, except for the command line. You can find all the settings on the LAME site, but here’s what I used for 160k mp3s:

lame %I -b 160 -m j -h -c -V 2 --tt "%T" --ta "%A" %O

For the rest of it, just click New, type a name and description, and browse to the path where you have the LAME encoder. When you’re finished, click Save. When you then reopen SHS6 and export the song, this should now be available.

Interestingly enough, once I’d done this, the menu option “magically” appeared.

Anyway, hopefully this walkthrough and command line example will be helpful to others facing this challenge.

Soft Synths: Session Drummer 2

I know that this will only be relevant to users of SHS6XL and Sonar Producer, but I wanted to share what limited knowledge I have about the Session Drummer 2 (SD2) soft synth.

To start, insert the SD2, clicking MIDI Source and First Synth Audio Output in the option dialog box. When the SD2 window opens, click on the triangle next to PROG, then Load Program... to load a suitable program, which includes the MIDI patterns and kit. Once that's done, click on each pattern (A, B, etc.) and the play button to hear what it sounds like.

Once you've found a kit and pattern that you like, you'll need to insert it into the song. To do so, find the eighth note symbol next to the name of the MIDI pattern (see below), and drag that to the point in the MIDI track where you'd like it inserted. This inserts the actual MIDI pattern in the track, where you can then further change and manipulate it as you like.



One cool thing about SD2 is the sensitivity to velocity. If you click on each drum's picture, you'll notice the change in velocity, from soft at the bottom to hard at the top. This is useful if you choose to record drum parts using a touch-sensitive keyboard. Right-clicking on the picture will show you which note is assigned to each drum; unfortunately for keyboard users, that doesn't correspond to a pitch on the keyboard - it's just a number. Still, it's not hard to figure it out with a little trial and error.

Another option: When inserting the SD2, instead of First Synth Audio Output, choose All Synth Audio Outputs: Mono. I usually choose to insert a Synth Track Folder as well, so that they're all organized in one place. What this does is open up 16 synth tracks that all refer to the SD2. There's a number under each drum's picture; click on the number, then use the up or down arrow keys to change the number. This changes the output of that particular drum to one of the tracks just created. (One weird thing: the number can only go to 8, despite there being 10 drums shown in the SD2 window. And when you click All Synth Audio Outputs: Mono when inserting the synth, it creates 16 tracks, despite only 8 being available.) Once you've routed a drum to a particular track, you can then add effects, such as huge reverb on the snare drum for an '80s sound, to each individual drum's track as you like.

So those are the basics. I still have some to learn about the SD2, but I've been able to get started with the above foundation. If you have any questions, leave a comment or shoot me an e-mail, and maybe we can figure it out together.

PS. One of my biggest complaints about SD2 and other parts of SHS has been the lack of quality documentation. Well, I just found out today that there is at least some minimal documentation included with SD2 in the form of a help file. To read it, find the VST plugins folder, and look for the "\Session Drummer 2\Documentation\sessiondrummer2.chm" file. Alternatively, click inside the SD2 window and press F1. It's not the biggest help file I've ever seen, but at least it covers the basics.

Soft Synths: TTS-1

Soft synths are an integral part of music creation for many modern artists. Cakewalk's Sonar Home Studio includes several soft synths, including TTS-1. This synth is the General MIDI workhorse, and includes all the sounds needed to pl

ay those MIDI files you might download from websites. As I think I've mentioned before, I don't use Microsoft's General MIDI Mapper, so I'll assign the MIDI file's outputs to the TTS-1 instead.

To use the TTS-1, click Insert -> Soft Synths and choose the Cakewalk TTS-1.

(By the way, SHS6 has a nifty little feature called the Synth Rack. Either click Views -> Synth Rack, or press Alt-8. Then, you can click the plus symbol in the upper left of the synth rack to add a synth. I've set my default template to display the synth rack upon opening.)

Next, you'll see a Insert Soft Synth Options dialog box, which should look something like this:



These are my default settings, and they work fine for the TTS-1.

Once you insert the synth, you'll see two tracks: the synth track and the MIDI track. Both of these are necessary for sound. Make sure that the synth track's Input is set to Cakewalk TTS-1 1 Output 1: Stereo, and the Output is set to the audio output (such as a summary bus or the sound card). And make sure that the MIDI track's Output is set to 1-Cakewalk TTS-1 1.

When you insert the synth with the above settings, TTS-1 will open. Each channel is displayed from left to right, and the patch for each is shown at the bottom. Clicking on the patch name allows you to choose a different pitch. You'll notice that channel 10 shows Standard Set; channel 10 is always used as the percussion channel for General MIDI.

One good thing about the TTS-1 that's not true for all soft synths is that you can use the same synth for several MIDI tracks. This means that you can assign one track to the first channel and assign a patch, assign a second track to the second channel and assign a different patch, and so on.

One more thing: While playing around today, I wanted to play a single part on my MIDI keyboard and hear the part on the TTS-1 and Dimension LE simultaneously. It's easy to do; just have a MIDI track for each synth, and set the inputs for both those MIDI tracks to the source (my keyboard, in this case). Then, make sure that you've clicked the Input Echo button - the one one with three curves to the right of the Mute, Solo, and Record buttons on the track - to turn it on for both tracks.

Audio vs. MIDI

One question that seems to come up a lot is the difference between an audio file and a MIDI file. While they both produce sound, they go about it in a completely different way.

An audio file is a digital representation of the sound's actual waveform. No matter what system you play it on, it's going to sound basically the same - assuming you don't do any extra processing on it.

A MIDI file is more like a set of instructions. "Turn this note on, using this voice, at this volume, etc." This makes the files really small, which is good for really slow connections. However, when you send a MIDI file to a different computer, software, or MIDI device, the sound is dependent on how that device interprets it, which makes consistency a problem.

In Sonar Home Studio, using an audio file is as simple as inserting an audio track and either recording or importing an audio file. Using a MIDI file is just a little bit more complicated, because you also have to specify how the MIDI instructions should be interpreted. Most Windows computers seem to have the Microsoft GS Wavetable SW Synth, so you could just choose that as the output, assuming you've enabled that as a MIDI device. But, the sound and performance haven't been great in my experience. With SHS6, a better option is the TTS-1, which is a software sythesizer included in SHS.

To use the TTS-1, click Insert -> Soft Synths... and choose the Cakewalk TTS-1. Here are my default settings for a new synth:



You'll have two tracks for every MIDI file: one for the MIDI file itself, and one for the soft synth. Depending on the soft synth, though you could have more than one MIDI track making use of the synth.

Using Templates

I think templates are under-appreciated. That might be because they're so easy to set up, once you figure out who to do it. But for me, I wanted to the default template to reflect my preferences for buses, colors, etc.

To create a template:

• Open a new project.
• Change everything to the way you'd like it.
• Save the project as a template (see the dialog box below). Make sure Save as Type is set to template, and that you choose the template files folder.

Easy, right? But saving my default configuration as a template has saved tons of time for me with a really small time investment up front.

Using Buses in SHS

One of the more useful recent features in Cakewalk is the use of buses. You can route all audio to as many different buses as needed before sending it to the soundcard. Again, this is very subjective, but here's how I use it.

I have three buses set up. The first is labeled Sum Bus; the outputs from all audio tracks are sent to this bus. The remaining buses are named Master Bus and Headphone Bus, and the output from these buses is assigned to the 0404's analog out (which goes to the mixer for the monitor mix) and the 0404's digital out (which goes to the UA-30 for the headphone mix), respectively. I then choose one of these two buses as the output for the Sum Bus, depending on what I need. Although this might seem a little complicated to start out with, it makes the whole monitoring situation a lot easier once you get more than one or two tracks. Plus, I've saved this whole setup as a template, which sounds like a good topic for my next post.

Sonar Home Studio Setup

For me, getting the hardware and the 0404's PatchMix DSP Mixer software set up correctly was the hard part, so now we're finally getting to the fun part: Setting up SHS.

First, I'm using SHS6XL, so if you're using a different version, you might see something different than what I describe. Hopefully, though, this will be useful to you.

My MIDI setup was pretty easy. Clicking on Options -> MIDI Devices brings up the MIDI setup dialog. I chose the 0404's MIDI in for the input, which is connected to my Yamaha MIDI keyboard. I could run the MIDI out to my keyboard, as well, but there really wouldn't be any point, since I wouldn't be able to record that to CD.

For the audio setup I chose a sampling rate of 48000, the ASIO driver, and the inputs and outputs. To access these options, click on the tabs in the audio setup dialog (Options -> Audio...). Pictures are worth a thousand words, so:



Notice that to change the Mixing Latency, you need to click the ASIO Panel... button and use the soundcard's driver.





I had changed the Driver Names in the PatchMix DSP Mixer, so that's why it's a little different. To change the Friendly Names, just make sure the box at the bottom is checked and double click on whichever name you want to change.

Next up: Using Buses.

Software Setup

Now the fun begins. While the E-MU0404 is a great soundcard, it's really not known for ease-of-use. After quite a bit of struggling, though, it's finally working like it's supposed to for me.

Here's what the 0404's PatchMix DSP Mixer looks like for me (click on the picture to enlarge):

As I've mentioned before, a big issue for me was being able to listen to the mix through headphones while recording. At first, I used one of the default templates that came with the 0404. However, what I noticed was that, while using the audio metronome in SHS, the metronome's output, along with whatever else I could hear in the mix, would get added to the track as I was recording due to the way my mixer is set up. Obviously, I wasn't happy with the result.

Taking care of this took some research on how the PatchMix DSP mixer can be configured. If you look at the picture above, I’ve added the pre-fader ASIO OUT 3/4 strip with a send on AUX 1, which goes to the S/PDIF out. That way, I can send the signal to the S/PDIF (which goes to the UA-30), but lower the fader so that the signal doesn’t go to the main mix (which goes to the computer speakers). Notice that the Return knob on AUX 1 has to be all the way down so that the signal doesn’t get back to the main mix.

Next up: Setting up SHS.

More on Drivers

In my last post on my hardware setup, I mentioned the ASIO driver. This might need some clarification.

The most basic driver - which every computer seems to have - is the MME driver. This driver is fine for just listening to music, videos, etc. The problem is that when you try using MIDI to record, you get a lot of latency, which is the difference in time between when you play a note and when you hear it. I've read different opinions, but for me, a latency greater than about 12 ms. makes it hard to play.

Next is the WDM driver. High latency isn't a problem with this driver, and I've read about lots of people being quite happy using it. Plus, you can use several audio interfaces at the same time with this driver... sometimes. Unfortunately, when I tried using the Edirol UA-30 and the E-MU0404 together with the WDM drivers, they didn't play well. The sound would drop out and I'd have to restart the computer. Frustrating.

So that left me with ASIO. The ASIO driver only works with one audio interface at a time, but has really low latency. I leave mine set at about 10 ms., which seems to be a good compromise for my somewhat average computer. With my setup, though, and my needs, I'm doing okay with only using the UA-30 for headphone monitoring.

Hardware Setup

My hardware setup has been quite a pain to set up, and it’s evolved over the years, until now I’m finally satisfied with it.

To start with, I bought an Edirol UA-30 USB audio interface almost a decade ago. If I’d waited another couple years, I probably would have bought the more capable UA-100, but I didn’t. Although the UA-30 is perfectly fine in most respects, it lacked a couple key things. First, there was no MIDI capability, which is unfortunate since MIDI is used in a lot of modern music. And second, it didn’t come with a driver for ASIO.

More recently, I was able to get an E-MU0404 audio interface. It’s an upgrade over the UA-30, because it has a MIDI input and output, as well as the ASIO driver. It also has a digital input and output; this is what I use to connect it to the UA-30, which I plug the headphone into for monitoring while recording.

The 0404 also comes with analog inputs and outputs (right and left, both). I use these to connect to my mixer. Here’s a picture:

• Starting from the left, I plug my mixer and my DI box (for electric guitar or bass) into the first two inputs.
• Next, since I'm using computer speakers to monitor, I plug the 1/8" jack into the phone jack. (Now you see why I still need to use the UA-30; the mixer only has the one 1/4" output. If I had "real" monitors, I could use the Control Room out jacks for the monitors and the Phone out for monitoring while recording. I'm sure I'll get real monitors... in a couple years...)
• I connect the Main Out jacks to the the 0404's analog ins; this takes the sound from the mic / DI box to the 0404.
• I connect the Tape In jacks to the 0404's analog outs. This is what allows me to listen to the computer's sound, since I have the computer speakers connected to the Phone jack. I have to make sure the Tape to Mix button isn't depressed, though; that would give me a feedback loop - not a happy sound. The Tape to Control Room button is depressed, though, so that I can actually hear through the Phone jack.

Finally, I connect the 0404's MIDI In to my keyboard's MIDI Out.

I know this seems fairly complex, but that was actually the easy part. Next up: Software Setup.

Intro

My hope is that my experiences will be useful to others who are trying to make music using Cakewalk’s Sonar Home Studio (SHS). I realize that I have a rather unique set of hardware (see below) and circumstances, but fellow novice music-makers might be able to gather some insights from my writing, or at least see a different way of doing things.

Here’s the equipment I’m using:

• SHS6XL, which has the basic capabilities needed to make some pretty decent music
• A basic Dell computer with 512 Megs of RAM
• Altec-Lansing computer speakers for monitoring
• E-MU0404 PCI audio interface
• Roland/Edirol UA-30 USB audio interface
• Behringer UB802 mixer
• Boss DI box
• No-name mic
• Yamaha PSR 225-GM MIDI keyboard
  

As you can see, all of my equipment is very low-budget, and it’s been acquired over a period of about a decade, now. In fact, the UA-30 isn’t even supported by Roland/Edirol any more. So I can relate with anybody who doesn’t have the time or budget to set up a full professional studio, and has to make do with what they have.

Once I've described my hardware setup, I'll be delving into some of the functionalities of Sonar Home Studio, and trying to highlight things that were not clear in the documentation. In the meantime, here are some useful sources of information:

• The help files. Obviously. It's useful to go through the tutorials, although a) they sometimes aren't very clear, and b) they often refer to functions that were included in either Sonar Studio and Sonar Producer editions or in previous versions of SHS, but not in SHS6.
• The Cakewalk forums. The people in these forums, especially the Home Studio forum, are really helpful, but I'd recommend going through the tutorials first to avoid annoying people.
• YouTube. There's a Cakewalk channel on YouTube, and some of the functionalities are shown, although again, they ofter refer to functions not included in SHS6.

If you ever have questions or need clarification on something I've written about, please leave a comment or send me an e-mail. I'd love to hear from you!

-Zane