Cakewalk Technical Support FAQ

Go to Start | Programs | Accessories | Entertainment | Volume Control.

The Windows Mixer controls the volume levels of your sound card inputs, and it also can mute any input or output.

To open the Windows Mixer, click the Open Windows Mixer button at the bottom of this dialog.
The Windows Mixer looks like this:

When you open the Windows Mixer it may be labeled Play Control or Recording Control. We want to see the Recording Controls.

To view the Recording Controls:

1. Click the Options menu and select Properties.
2. The Properties dialog appears.
3. In the Adjust Volume For section of the Properties dialog, select the Recording radio button.
4. In the Show the Following Volume Controls section, the Line-in and Microphone options should be checked. If they are not, check them.
5. Click OK.
6. The Recording Controls now appear in the Windows Mixer.
7. Check the Select box under the input you wish to use, typically Line-in or microphone.

The following video applies directly to SONAR Home Studio 6, but will also work for many other Cakewalk programs.

You can log-in to your Cakewalk account and find your serial number and registration code. You can also see your Cakewalk purchase history, set your preferences and more. After logging in, click "My Account" and then "My Registrations".

There are essentially two things to hear from Cakewalk software, audio and MIDI.

To hear MIDI playback, you will always need a MIDI instrument like a keyboard or built-in synthesizer to select under Options | MIDI devices. If you don't have a synth showing up under Options | MIDI devices, or if you only see “Microsoft MIDI mapper,” then you have 2 options:

1) Go to Options | Audio | Advanced. Put a check in the box that says "Always Use MME Interface" (or change the Driver Mode to MME-32bit) then press OK. Restart the program and let the Wave Profiler Test your hardware. Go back to Options | MIDI devices. You should now see “Microsoft GS Wavetable S/W synth” under outputs. Select this new device and click OK.

2) If your soundcard supports WDM or ASIO drivers, you can use a DXI as your synth. Go to View | Synth Rack and add one of the synths from the list.

For detailed instructions, see the tutorial called “Using SoftSynths” or “Using the Edirol VSC” under Help | Help Topics. These tutorials will be very helpful if you choose option 2.

First click Options | Audio and then click the general tab. If "Playback Timing Master" is set to "None", click the down arrow and choose a driver. If no drivers are available, go to the drivers tab and make sure you have drivers highlighted or checked under both inputs and outputs. After doing this you may need to restart the program and check the "Playback Timing Master" again.

If you are using an audio interface that connects via USB, Firewire, or has a breakout box, you will need to connect speakers or headphones to your interface’s outputs.

Now, visit our Soundcard Setup Page for instructions specific to your sound card.

You are probably recording a mono signal through a stereo input. Guitars and microphones produce mono signals. Try right-clicking on the track and choosing “Track Properties”. You can select the input here. Select the appropriate side of your stereo pair, either left or right as opposed to stereo.

Also make sure you don't have a mono adapter going into the Line-in and that you have the Left side of your sound card (mono) chosen for input in Cakewalk.

The MP3 Encoder included with SONAR and newer Cakewalk products is a 30-day trial version. If you have purchased a previous version of the MP3 Encoder or own Pro Audio 9, please click here: http://www.cakewalk.com/owners/mp3/default.asp

To purchase the unlimited MP3 Encoder, please click the link that matches your product below.

Go to Options | Audio | Advanced and change the Driver Mode to ASIO. Then close the program and re-open the program.

Before you export the WAV file, make sure you have the proper selection. Cakewalk programs need you to specify the part of the song that you want to bounce to a file. A good technique is to set your NowTime (the line that scrolls through your project during playback) to where you want your song export to end. Then go to Edit | Select |All and then Edit | Select | Thru Now. Now go to File | Export Audio.

If your audio FX are grayed out, it's because you need to select or highlight some audio first. Try right-clicking in the FX field on an Audio track and pick an effect from the list to use it in real time.

9) My Cakewalk software doesn’t show the sounds on my keyboard; I need an Instrument Definition.

If you don’t see it then we do not have the definition for your instrument. You can try searching for one on the web, just type Cakewalk instrument definition and the name of your synth.

You may have to create the definition yourself. We do offer step-by-step instructions on how to do so on our web site at http://www.cakewalk.com/support/docs/instrumentdef.asp
You might also consider posting a request for the definition on our Forum, which you can access from http://www.cakewalk.com/forum/. Often, another Cakewalk user has already created the definition, and will email it to you.

You most likely need to adjust the latency settings. Under Options | Audio | General move the Mixing Latency Slider all the way to “Safe” and set the “Buffers in playback queue” to 2.

If you’re using the soundcard that came with your computer you should go to Options | Audio | Advanced and set you driver mode to “MME 32bit” (or check the box “Always use MME interface, even when WDM drivers are available.”) Now re-launch the program and try again.

Double click on the audio clip and press the Enable Stretching button that opens in the Loop Construction window. Next, change the Pitch at the top, click out of the control and hit the Preview button to hear the change.

SONAR 6 & 7 Producer Edition offers much more powerful tools for manipulating audio in this way. See the AudioSnap and V-Vocal videos on the SONAR product page.

You can change this behavior under Options | Global | General by unchecking On Stop Rewind to Now Marker. Otherwise, uncheck the option to rewind to start under Transport | Loop and Auto Shuttle.

It’s best to record with a normal mic with an XLR connection through your soundcard. You can try using your USB mic in MME-32bit mode but there is no guarantee that it will work properly. You're still using your soundcards output for playback, and using two different audio clocks simultaneously almost always causes problems such as timing anomolies. Under Options | Audio | Advanced check the option to always use MME drivers (or MME-32bit Driver Mode) and then press Ok and re-launch the Cakewalk software. Next, select only your USB Mic Drivers under Options | Audio | Drivers | Input. Then, try it again.

15) I can’t print from the Staff View. The File | Print option is grayed-out.

The print feature is not available when the Staff View is floating or tabbed. You can disable floating by clicking the icon on the top-left corner of the Staff View window and choosing “Disable Floating” from the menu.

You can disable tabbing by going to the View menu and un-checking “Enable Tabbing For Open Views”.

After following these steps the print option should be available.

16) Previously recorded tracks are mixed into my new recordings. Other tracks bleed into new ones.

This can happen when your soundcard is set to record everything that comes out of your computer speakers.

Click on the Windows "Start" button, select "All Programs" > "Accessories" > "Entertainment" > "Volume Control". This will bring up the windows volume control.

Next, in the "Play Control" select "Options" then "Properties". Place a dot in where it says "Recording" (under "Playback"), and click "OK".

This will bring up the "Record Control" panel. To remove the check in "select" under "What You Hear" or "Stereo Mix" (varies depending on the manufacturer) you will need to check the appropriate input, most likely "Line In" or "Mic".

This problem can also occur when you are using an analog mixer in your setup. Carefully follow all of your signal paths to ensure that your sound cards audio output is not being looped back into itself.

You should also consider the possibility of your microphone picking up the signal from your speakers or headphones.

17) My exported projects are not as loud/hot as commercially released CDs.

CDs released on major record labels are always “mastered”. This is the final step before publishing. It involves applying equalization and dynamic processing (compressors/limiters/expanders) to your final mix to add an even volume and “punch”. You can certainly accomplish this in Cakewalk products, but bear in mind that it is a technique that is just as advanced as mixing.

If you are looking for a quick solution, consider exporting your project to a single stereo wave file, importing it into a new project and applying a limiter. If you are using a Cakewalk application that supports VSTs, there is a free (and very simple and effective) VST master limiter available here: http://www.kjaerhusaudio.com/classic-master-limiter.php

Doing this will increase the over-all volume of your mix.

The video below will show you how to use Boost 11, the limiter that comes with SONAR Home Studio 6 XL.

18) What are the best settings for the audio card I'm using?

Please visit the Cakewalk Audio Hardware Setup Guide. See if your audio card's manufacturer is listed there.

19) I can’t export WMA files. I get the following error: “No Windows Media Audio Codecs are installed which can encode your current format.”

Please ensure that when you export you are selecting a bit depth of 16 and sample rate of 44.1kHz. These are the only settings supported by the MP3 or WMA format.

20) I have installed SONAR on Windows Vista. When I try to enter my Registration Code, the field says “Not Logged In As Administrator”.

You will need to manually launch the program as an administrator. This is done by right-clicking on either the Desktop shortcut or the program executable and selecting “Run As Administrator”. You will then be able to enter your Registration Code.

21) I can only find SONAR Tutorials 1, 4, 5 & 8. Where are the others?

What you may be looking at are project files that are referenced by the tutorials. Many of the tutorials are text-based. They can be found in the HELP|HELP TOPICS menu. The text in Help Topics will direct you to one of those files when necessary, but in most cases you are shown how to create your own new project.

We also have quite a few tutorial videos on youtube.com.

22) I can’t record. I arm a track, hit the record button and the NowTime scrolls, but nothing records. I don’t even get a silent clip.

This will happen when you have “Punch-in points” later in your project. Go to TRANSPORT|RECORD OPTIONS and make sure that the “Auto Punch” option is not checked.

23) My new plug-in(s) don’t show up in SONAR.

SONAR supports both VST and Direct-X plug-ins. You will first need to determine which of these two types of plug-ins you have. Most third-party plug-ins are VST.

For VST Plug-ins:

When installing your new VST, be mindful of the directory where it is installed. Common default locations include:

C:\Program Files\Cakewalk\VstPlugins (recommended location)
C:\Program Files\Steinberg\VstPlugins
C:\Program Files\VstPlugins

VSTs appear in SONAR via its integrated VST scanner. If you’ve installed your VST to a common location like the ones above, you may not need to take any additional steps. If the new plug still does not appear however, you will need to point SONAR’s VST scanner to the exact directory where your new VST is installed.
To do so:

Click Options | Global | VST Plug-ins. In versions prior to SONAR 6, use the VST adapter which is usually found from Start | All Programs | Cakewalk.
Click the Add button and browse to the folder where the new plug-in is installed. Specifically, VST scanner looks for dll files. So for example, the file PerfectSpace.dll is found under C:\Program Files\Cakewalk\VstPlugins. You will probably notice that this directory has already been added by default and thus Perfect Space appears automatically. Once you have located the folder containing your new plug-in’s dll file, click OK.
Now click Scan VST Folders. Click OK to exit Global Options. Your new VST should now appear in your plug-in menus.

For Direct-X Plug-ins:

Usually, no additional setup is needed for Direct-X plug-ins. Direct-X plug-ins install globally into Windows and are seen by any program that hosts them. If your new Direct-X plug-in is not appearing in SONAR, first check to make sure it is installed properly. If you are confident it is properly installed, then the plug-in may be excluded from your plug-in lists. To check:

Click Tools | SONAR Plug-in Manager.
Click “Excluded” or “Show excluded” in the lower left.
Highlight the type of plug in the “Plug-in Categories” list on the left. If your plug-in is excluded, you should see it in the right column. Highlight it and click “Enable Plug-in.”

24) I’ve installed Dimension Pro or Rapture, but I can't find any shortcut to launch the program. Only Help and Release notes.

Dimension Pro requires a host DAW like, SONAR, Pro Tools, Cubase, Logic, etc.

Rapture can be launched as a stand-alone instrument after applying the Rapture 1.1 Update.

You can download the SONAR 7 Web Trial, which can temporarily host the instruments.

25) My view no longer scrolls through the project following the cursor/NowTime during playback.

You can enable or disable this functionality by typing the scroll lock key [SCRLK] on your computer keyboard.


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