When working with MIDI Cakewalk Sound Center only plays one instrument for all the tracks?

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Cose
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2012/07/13 00:50:07 (permalink)

When working with MIDI Cakewalk Sound Center only plays one instrument for all the tracks?

I recently started to create projects and some notes using MIDI, and soft synths. I love to use Roland TTS-1 to quickly sketch things out. Also its level of customization is awesome. It's really great.
 
I coordinate it with Cakewalk Sound Center and SI-Drums, depending on what I need.
 
Everything sounds as planned... they are very powerful tools.
 
However, if I have multiple MIDI tracks; a track for a bass, a guitar, a flute, a piano, drums, strings..., for instance, then the problem with Cakewalk Sound Center I mentioned in the title of the thread appears. 
 
After I change the soft synth from Roland TTS-1 to Cakewalk Sound Center in a particular instrument, it sounds perfect for the first track I switched to Cakewalk Sound Center.
 
But if I want to use Cakewalk Sound Center in another track or more tracks than the first one I selected, then it's a different story. 
 
i.e. let's say I selected a Guitar instrument from CSC in the first track and then I want to use another Cakewalk Sound Center instrument in a second, 3rd or 4th tracks, all the tracks will use the last instrument I chose, not the patches I selected for each track individually.
 
Thus if I have a MIDI bass track, a guitar track, flute, piano, drums, strings, etc, and for instance the last instrument I selected within a single track under Cakewalk Sound Center control is the flute, then EVERY single track where I am using CSC, will only play flute notes!? So you can imagine....
 
I'd swear it worked fine the first time I tried.
 
I wonder if I am doing something wrong. My experience with Music Creator 6 is quite limited for now. But I LOVE the program so much.
 
Any help would be appreciated.
 
ps: I tried inserting Cakewalk Sound Center as a soft synth multiple times just in case it worked individually when it came to patches (Cakewalk Sound Center 1, Cakewalk Sound Center 2, Cakewalk Sound Center 3, 4.... etc etc) applying the instruments within the tracks to every instance separately. But this approach didn't change anything at all.
post edited by Cose - 2012/07/13 00:56:57
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    57Gregy
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    Re:When working with MIDI Cakewalk Sound Center only plays one instrument for all the trac 2012/07/13 01:31:12 (permalink)
    Make sure each MIDI track (going to the same synth) is using a different channel.
    One instance of TTS-1 can accept input from up to 16 different MIDI tracks, but CSC is not multi-timbral; you have to use a new instance of CSC for each MIDI track.

    Greg 
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    Cose
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    Re:When working with MIDI Cakewalk Sound Center only plays one instrument for all the trac 2012/07/13 02:46:04 (permalink)
    Thanks for your advice Greg! I will try what you told me. I am not going to use Music Creator 6 these days.., well, at least not much, because my brother is going to marry tomorrow, and I have to go to the church to learn some protocols and stuff.

    Learning this program is fun, especially experimenting with it. Another program I love and whose author I respect a lot is Synthfont. Very clever design. 

    I am listening to your music while writing, and have been listening for a while now. I am liking it a lot in general.

    My favourite for now is Leave it Alone -it sounds like one of those beautifun indie songs you are lucky to listen to from time to time- and Waiting for the Light to Change is equally fantastic.

    I finished listening to On the Beach, also a very nice song. Now listening to Never Going Home. Sounds pretty good so far... If only a bit sad, but it rains a lot where I live so I certainly know well what melancholy is.

    Again, many thanks for your help. Being unfamiliar with something is one of the biggest limitations when you start, but it's also a good thing when you find out what works, what doesn't, and you start making decent things.

    Take care of yourself. See yah' Greg Fields
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    Beagle
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    Re:When working with MIDI Cakewalk Sound Center only plays one instrument for all the trac 2012/07/13 08:34:32 (permalink)
    Cose


    I recently started to create projects and some notes using MIDI, and soft synths. I love to use Roland TTS-1 to quickly sketch things out. Also its level of customization is awesome. It's really great.
     
    I coordinate it with Cakewalk Sound Center and SI-Drums, depending on what I need.
     
    Everything sounds as planned... they are very powerful tools.
     
    However, if I have multiple MIDI tracks; a track for a bass, a guitar, a flute, a piano, drums, strings..., for instance, then the problem with Cakewalk Sound Center I mentioned in the title of the thread appears. 
     
    After I change the soft synth from Roland TTS-1 to Cakewalk Sound Center in a particular instrument, it sounds perfect for the first track I switched to Cakewalk Sound Center.
     
    But if I want to use Cakewalk Sound Center in another track or more tracks than the first one I selected, then it's a different story. 
     
    i.e. let's say I selected a Guitar instrument from CSC in the first track and then I want to use another Cakewalk Sound Center instrument in a second, 3rd or 4th tracks, all the tracks will use the last instrument I chose, not the patches I selected for each track individually.
     
    Thus if I have a MIDI bass track, a guitar track, flute, piano, drums, strings, etc, and for instance the last instrument I selected within a single track under Cakewalk Sound Center control is the flute, then EVERY single track where I am using CSC, will only play flute notes!? So you can imagine....
     
    I'd swear it worked fine the first time I tried.
     
    I wonder if I am doing something wrong. My experience with Music Creator 6 is quite limited for now. But I LOVE the program so much.
     
    Any help would be appreciated.
     
    ps: I tried inserting Cakewalk Sound Center as a soft synth multiple times just in case it worked individually when it came to patches (Cakewalk Sound Center 1, Cakewalk Sound Center 2, Cakewalk Sound Center 3, 4.... etc etc) applying the instruments within the tracks to every instance separately. But this approach didn't change anything at all.

    Soundcenter is not multitimbral - in other words only ONE MIDI track and ONE instrument per instance of soundcenter.  so what you tried doing by entering several instances of soundcenter WILL work if you have it set up correctly.  you have to set up the OUTPUT of each MIDI track to correspond to a separate instance of soundcenter.
     
    for example;  track 1 is MIDI bass, track 2 is MIDI guitar, track 3 is MIDI flute
    enter 3 instances of Soundcenter, they will be Cakewalk Sound Center 1, Cakewalk SoundCenter 2 and Cakewalk Soundcenter 3
     
    on the MIDI track properties, set the OUTPUT of the Bass track to Cakewalk Soundcenter 1, then the guitar MIDI track 2 set it's output to Cakewalk Soundcenter 2, and finally MIDI track 3 set it's output to Cakewalk soundcenter 3. 
    then open the corresponding patches in each instances of soundcenter.  for soundcenter 1, open a bass patch, for soundcenter 2, open a guitar patch, for soundcenter 3 open a flute patch.
     
    NOW you should have each of the 3 instruments playing their respective sounds.
     
    the reason TTS-1 worked is because it IS mult-timbral.  you can input up to 16 different MIDI tracks to 1 instances of TTS-1 using 16 different channels for input.

    http://soundcloud.com/beaglesound/sets/featured-songs-1
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    Guitarhacker
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    Re:When working with MIDI Cakewalk Sound Center only plays one instrument for all the trac 2012/07/13 08:50:14 (permalink)
    In Sound center, which I like and use..... it is a bit different from TTS.   As has already been pointed out.... Sound center is one sound per inserted instance. 

    Be sure you are selecting a new and unique sound for each instance..... if you do not choose a different sound, it will remain on the defaulted sound. 

    If you are loading the tracks manually, be sure you are sending the midi data to the PROPER AND CORRECT instance of Sound center in the synth rack.  When you choose the midi source track output....ALL the available synths in the project will show up.... selecting the correct one is important. 

    Lets assume you have 3 instances of Sound center. Bass, piano, strings.  If you select the first instance of Sound Center for the 3rd midi source it will play the sample for the first one (bass) as opposed to strings, that you expect to hear.  

    Channels are useful if you are directing the midi input from a keyboard synth to a specific track and synth. Once the midi source is recorded, the midi channel is not as important.... but the output destination (the synth) is.  And again, be sure the samples (patches) are set properly so you hear strings and not bass...or whatever you want to hear. 




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    57Gregy
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    Re:When working with MIDI Cakewalk Sound Center only plays one instrument for all the trac 2012/07/13 11:57:45 (permalink)
    Thanks for listening!

    Greg 
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    Cose
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    Re:When working with MIDI Cakewalk Sound Center only plays one instrument for all the trac 2012/07/17 03:18:01 (permalink)
    Thanks Beagle and Guitarhacker for your kindness and your advice. It's so nice being here with people like you around, and the help people get from you.

    Yes, following your guidelines definitely worked for me. Too bad I surpassed the limit number of simultaneous instruments allowed in Music Creator 6, but other than that everything is working smoothly now.

    I am thankful, it's effin nice of you. Cheers, take care of yourself and good luck.  
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    Beagle
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    Re:When working with MIDI Cakewalk Sound Center only plays one instrument for all the trac 2012/07/17 06:06:00 (permalink)
    in that case what you can do is bounce to audio.

    after you've set up 5 or 6 instances of soundcenter, highlight the MIDI track and the soundcenter OUTPUT tracks for one instrument.  then go to TRACKS>BOUNCE TO TRACKS

    Select MONO or STEREO and click OK.

    this will create a new track with the AUDIO WAVE of the MIDI track from that instance of soundcenter.  Now archive your MIDI track and delete your soundcenter instance and track.  now move to the next MIDI/OUTPUT track and repeat. 

    note: you could also just use that same instance of soundcenter to do the bouncing for ALL of your MIDI tracks just by changing the patch each time before you bounce.

    but even if you don't, just keep bouncing until you do all of the MIDI tracks, or until you've done enough of them to allow you to have enough more instances of soundcetner to finish the project.

    http://soundcloud.com/beaglesound/sets/featured-songs-1
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    Guitarhacker
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    Re:When working with MIDI Cakewalk Sound Center only plays one instrument for all the trac 2012/07/17 08:31:10 (permalink)
    you know.... I use the process of adding one track at a time. So I rarely have a full synth rack. I add a track...... insert the synths and get the track right, bounce the music to audio and delete that synth, and move on to the next one. 

    Having a synth rack full of synths takes processing power and I want it all for my mixing


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