DAW Software Struggles

[CCKeys]

Thank you, Jim - and all - for encouraging me "on"... I had to get away from it and take a breather, which consisted of me returning to my pre-DAW state of just having fun doing tracks on the R8!
> Jim, now that I've rebooted myself and regained some semblance of comprehension, I've now re-read your last post - and understand it enough to try when I leap once more into the fray tomorrow. <
At the advice of my tech Guru buddy, I've now acquired a Steinberg UR22 Audio Interface MKII; he thinks that the UR22 will circumvent the issue with audio drivers.
The A.I. comes with a CD/DVD containing the drivers to install onto the laptop.
Of course(!) my new laptop doesn't have a drive, so I've also purchased an outboard optical drive (which I wanted to get, anyways), assuming that I can install into the laptop from there.

I'll report from the trenches again soon; thank you for your kindness to this newbie!

[Jim_Fogle]

I'm looking forward to reading your update(s).

[CCKeys]

While I have yet to get operational with Cubase, there is a question that's been nagging at me…
On all of the many “Projects” I've created using just the R8, I've simply selected and assigned to a track one of the “canned” Rhythms for the drum part.

Upon copy + pasting the tracks from the R8 into a folder on my laptop (using the “Card Reader” function), I've realized that the aforementioned drum track doesn't appear in either folder.
I've scoured the R8 User Manual, the Audio Interface Manual, and this Forum - but have yet to find anything addressing this…
Is there a way to do this?

[Wulfraed]

BOUNCE

(Hypothesis -- I've not tried since the R16 doesn't have a rhythm feature, and the HD16 [and BOSS units] have drum machine vs sampler/sequencer systems)

Mute all your recorded tracks so only the rhythm is playing, and bounce that to a regular track. Then import that track into the DAW with the others.

[CCKeys]

(Thanks very much, Wulfraed - *that's* a relief! )

Progress Report: I have audio!!
The Steinberg UR22 A.I. (MKII) did the trick...
My amateur guess is that the Steinberg UR22 driver probably had something to do with it.
Whatever the case, there is light at the end of the tunnel.

Now - on to learning how to actually use Cubase!

[Jim_Fogle]

Suggestion,

Go to Mixing Secrets For The Small Studio website. http://www.cambridge-mt.com/ms-mtk.htm, and find some audio tracks to play with and learn on. This way you don't have any vested interest in the audio tracks so you don't care if you trash them or not.

A lot of using a DAW is file management. You want to create a file management system that works for you. That you can open a song project 10 years from now and remember what you're seeing and doing. Most DAWs allow you to group and color code tracks so create a color system you like. Learn to give tracks a name that will make sense later on.

Most DAWs give you the option of storing audio files withing a project folder or pointing to a location. I think it is better to keep a copy of the audio files with each song project.

You'll likely use some virtual instrument to playback audio created by a midi track or instrument. Once you get the midi correct and the virtual instrument to play what you want, record the virtual instrument audio. Why? Because ten years from now you may not have access to the virtual instrument to recreate the audio.

DAWs typically do not alter the original audio tracks. Make sure yours is set up to work that way. They copy each audio track and then change the copy or, more likely, step through instructions about what to do in real time with the copied audio.

After a song project is finished, store the song project folder in at least two places. After losing projects more times than I'd like to admit to, I got smart and started sending a copy of the project folder to cloud storage for backup.

[Wulfraed]

{Correction: I also have Cakewalk Sonar LE, which is a DAW, not just a WAV editor}

Considering the recent post by Mr. Fogle viewtopic.php?f=4&t=24931#p212839 it may be time to upgrade (another "free" account for the spam)

[Jim_Fogle]

{Correction: I also have Cakewalk Sonar LE, which is a DAW, not just a WAV editor}

Considering the recent post by Mr. Fogle viewtopic.php?f=4&t=24931#p212839 it may be time to upgrade (another "free" account for the spam)

I'm very interested in reading your comments concerning Cakewalk by Bandlab. I've gotten as far as downloading and installing the software but not much beyond that.

I feel a little overwhelmed and intimidated by the quantity of built-in tools and how busy the GUI interface is. First thing I need to learn how to do is "hide" much of what is available. Second is build some song project templates that will allow me to use what little I do know about Cakewalk. It's funny because I thought I had a good feel for Cakewalk software as I didn't realize just how scaled down and minimal my existing software is.

Most of the time all I need is something that can work with a few MIDI and audio tracks. Cakewalk by Bandlab feels like a pair of roller skates powered by a V8 engine.

[Wulfraed]

Unfortunately -- I have a bad habit of forgetting that I have a copy of Cakewalk Sonar LE (think it came with the BOSS BR-800). So should I find time to pull down the new version, I will probably find myself just as overwhelmed.

I've done more audio work in (Sony) Vegas Pro to level out the sound from video recordings (there is a big difference between a taiko drum performance being picked up on the MID element of an M/S microphone and an announcer on a moderated PA system).

For MIDI -- I'd probably have to study details of Finale, but that's what I suspect I'd be using.

[Jim_Fogle]

I've been "investigating" Cakewalk by BandLab and found a couple of things that will ease my learning experience. Cakewalk has screensets. A screenset is a GUI window where you can strip out unwanted items and layout the window however you desire. Cakewalk has 10 screensets. Cakewalk has lenses. Lenses extends the screenset idea to the whole DAW. Cakewalk has multiple windows such as a mix console, loop matrix and so on. So where screensets lets you set up 10 windows, lenses lets you configure the complete DAW to support how you want to perform specific tasks. Finally there are song project and track templates you can save and recall as needed, for instance to record the same band over and over.

I appreciate everyone letting me describe what I'm finding out because it helps me to understand and retain what I'm discovering. I'm eager to read more about the further DAW adventures of CCKeys and Wulfraed.

[CCKeys]

I've been making incremental progress learning to use Cubase; I find, imho, that it is *not* at all intuitive, and it's - to me, anyways - very complicated; it's going to take me a while (to put it mildly) to get the hang of it!
The 600+ page manual, the several hours of videos on YouTube, and the many posts in this Forum all help... but what I think I really need is something like “Cubase for Idiots”.

Though I do consult all of those resources (and toggle back and forth to them from my project page), I find myself most often just using trial and error - which I believe works best for me (“learning by doing”, etc.)

For example, I'm working at being able to copy and paste - and perusing all the resources tells me that there is at least two ways to do this...
One is to use the range selection tool; another is to use “ creating an event”. By the time I'm knee-deep into it on the project page, I resort to “trial and error”.

Jim, I found your advice about file management very worthwhile; and Wulfraed’s posts have likewise proven to be very helpful.

As Jim said: "I appreciate everyone letting me describe what I'm finding out because it helps me to understand and retain what I'm discovering!”