Music Creator 6 newbie questions #2!

I would like to say thanks to certain people who answered a set of questions I had in a previous thread. I am new to Music Creator 6, and although I frequently consult the necessary documentation to find answers to my questions, sometimes the documentation simply doesn't provide the kinds of answers I need.
 
It's been a month or so since I started using the software. Here is my follow-up list of new questions. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!
 
1) I cannot move the Cakewalk Projects folder from root. If I do, it recreates itself and asks me to create an Audio file on load. Can I force Cakewalk into organizing my projects in a more clean and efficient manner?
 
2) General MIDI playback is a half beat delay compared to Synth playback. Is this normal?
 
3) Is there any way to force the PRV Grid Resolution to 1/8th view (let alone 1/4th)?
 
4) MC6 will export to MP3, but the file doesn't play because nothing happens in Windows Media Player. EDIT: A few weeks later, when I tried this, I encounterd a message saying that "the 30-day MP3 Activator trial has ended". Are you kidding? I have to purchase this separately now?
 
5) How can I achieve a heavier bass from my Drum Kits (rather than increasing velocity or layering the bass drum?)
 
6) MC6 confuses me with several different methods of doing the same thing. For example:
........Changing volume: Track volume change vs. synth instrument volume change...same result?
........Do I need the Inspector window to perform similar tasks elsewhere in the interface?
........Adding controller effects: Track Automation lanes vs. Controller lanes...is there a difference?
 
7) What's the point of adding FX to a track's FX window? Is this just a different selection of special effects (vs. the Controllers?)
 
8) I've noticed some complications with simple tasks such as copying note events from one measure to the next. Is there a precise way of copying and pasting that works the best?
 
8) Imported MIDI files show the text in the Notes view right beside the actual notes. How can I delete that? (Specifically, when I hover over that, the cursor changes to an I-Beam but doesn't seem to offer text editing of any method.
 
9) When I save a Cakewalk project as MIDI, all synth tracks convert to different instruments (non-synth?). Can I save a Cakewalk project as MIDI or is the only available raw format Cakewalk format? And what is Cakewalk Bundle format?
 
10) Am I correct in understanding that every SoundCenter track needs its own synth instance, and every TTS-1 track can use one TTS-1 instance? How do I route several TTS-1 tracks to that synth while still addressing different channel numbers?
 
11) I still haven't figured out how to split the automation lanes from the Tracks in the Browser... (+/- buttons?)
 
12) What would you say is a SoundCenter equivalent of General MIDI patch "Lead 7: Fifths"? I really love this instrument!
 
13) What exactly is the Master Bus and what is it for?
 

Lots of questions...here goes....
 
1. Don't move the folder. Simply create a new personalized folder elsewhere. I then move the song project folders out of the cake folder to my storage folders. Much simpler and easy to keep organized.
 
2. Check settings, and soundcard. if it's a factory card and the default MME driver....I recommend upgrading to a dedicated USB musical interface running ASIO.
 
3. Yes, I'm sure, but I don't work in PRV so I don't know what to tell you.
 
4. I suggest getting either the Audacity/LAME or the WAVEPAD mp3 player converter. Both are free.
 
5. EQ and compression. I use Ozone as a plug since it does this very well.
 
6. All paths generally lead to the same place. Yes, there is more than one way to do something. My recommendation...... find one way to do this every time. It will lessen the confusion and give you more consistency in your results.
 
7. FX in a track window effect only that track. Use them in a bus to effect everything in the bus. Put them in the MASTER to effect the entire project.
 
8a. In STAFF view.... you can click on the note using the RIGHT click. A note property window opens and there are many options there for copy and paste with surgical precision. In the general staff or PRV, the notes will paste in to the new position based on the grid setting and resolution. It might not be as precise as you want.
 
8b. ? I don't know.
 
9. I don't work in 100% midi files.... and the projects I do have midi in tend to save the synths and patches and samples just fine.   A bundle file is all of the information, the audio, the midi, the settings, in a bundled format. I have used this to send a project across the net as one HUGE file. I do it differently now.
 
10. Yes.... CSC is one instance per midi input.  TTS, on the other hand, will allow 16 unique midi tracks send to that one instance of TTS, using one midi track per TTS channel. On my web site, I have a page with the exact information required to set up TTS in this manner, using 3 midi tracks as an example. It's here> http://www.herbhartley.com/hh2_edited_slimmer_005.htm  if you have questions, just ask.
 
11. IDK
 
12. IDK  I don't use GM anymore.... CSC sounds much better so experiment and see what you like.
 
13. The Master is where everything ends up before going to the sound card/ interface and the speakers. I place the "mastering FX" into this bus's FX bin. Final compression, EQ, reverb, etc go here. (In my system anyway)
Tracks can be sent direct to the master or they can go to a sub-bus, in which case the sub-bus goes to the master...all by default.
 
You can place the FX in any of the bins. Either the track, the bus, or the master. I keep the master bin exclusively for FX that I want to effect the entire project.... light compression, light reverb, EQ settings. Mastering stuff only.
 
In the tracks, I try to keep the FX bins open and dry... nothing in them especially if they are going to a bus. The ones headed to the busses are empty and the FX is found in the bus FX bin. Especially vocals. Until the vox are pitch corrected and bounced, they remain 100% empty.
 
FX will be placed where they are most efficient. There is no difference (to my ears) whether the reverb is in the track or the bus. But if I only want the reverb on the voice and the guitar, and everything else dry, the reverb will end up in the track bin. If I have 3 guitars and I want them all to have a similar reverb, the reverb goes in the guitar sub-bus bin. In this case the tracks are dry. This kind of goes back to #6 in that there are many ways to do it, just find the way that works best for you so you can do it that way every time.
 
I hope this helps.

You can look on youtube since many folks make and post videos there as tutorials on various topics related to MC6. Just a search for "music creator 6 tutorials" turned up a bunch of videos..... some by cake and some by other users.
 
Glad to be helpful.

Are you talking about the envelope used for the event?  If so.... you can add curves, straight lines, and more nodes to the envelope.
 
If you have a control envelope that looks like a stair case from the side, you can delete the nodes in the middle and this should give you a gradual increase or decrease over that time. It can be straight-line linear, or curved.
 
I use these ones below for volume and in the top track the drop is pretty quick whereas the rest are more gradual. Some principle can be applied to wheel events because it is an envelope too.
 
I draw the envelope d nodes manually so there are very few of them. Had I done an automation write event, each of the volume changes would be filled with dozens of nodes and they would not be as "surgical".
 

That picture has audio envelopes controlling the volume (the yellow lines)
 
Insert the envelope into the track. I add nodes manually by clicking on the envelope....then drag the nodes right, left, up and down.
 
You can insert the nodes and envelope into the synth track which is audio. The midi works the same way but I always put them into audio tracks.
 
This is another example on how I use them to bring certain parts of instrument tracks in and out in the mix..... the pic is the piano fills in the song The Best Christmas on my music site. I added the envelope, then placed my nodes... 4 nodes to an event..... for a faded ending, as in the first pic, 2 nodes work. Don't grab the node however..... grab the line after the node and the volume will remain at the level set by the node. if you grab the node, you will only move that one node. play with it and you will see.
 

Try turning snap settings off when drawing.
 
Hard to say why you are having trouble with copy and paste.
 
A take lane can be added in the Track view by expanding the take lanes (the blue button circled in red in A below from http://www.cakewalk.com/D...nging.31.html#1776695) for a track and clicking the + in the bottom left-hand corner of a take lane.
 
The timeline in the track view and PRV are independent.

Okay -- the copy/paste issue I'm referring to. It just won't copy and paste.
 
In the PRV view, I drag the mouse over a selection of notes. CTRL-C. Click the destination...CTRL-V. Doesn't work.
 
It's a simple copy and paste. Am I missing something? I've been told copy/paste is quite finicky at times. Why doesn't it work sometimes?

Hi Grundberg.  Herb told me you could use some help.  Actually, I'm not sure why the simply copy and paste isn't working for you.  Are you sure it's pasting into the correct track?  I think the finicky part would be it not putting exactly where you want it, and that's probably a quantize issue or something.  I'm sorry I don't have any more answers now.  Herb, maybe Reece could help?  
 
But it gives me the shivers seeing all your questions, cause that's exactly where I was about 6 years ago...this stuff was like rocket science to me!  :\  The guys on this forum are the only reason I ever got anything recorded!  I'm still no pro, but that's because of my own limitations.  I also would second the idea to check on youtube.  There might be some great tutorials there too.  

A comment to a part of #6:
The volume in the VST UI and the track volume don't always lead to same result. 
Synths and FX may actually change their sound when you increase the internal volume. They may have input and output level separately adjustable, which at first may look like just a volume setting, but the relative settings have huge effect on the sound. The track volume just makes the VST louder without changing it's internal settings.
 
The same goes with MIDI note velocity and volume. Velocity defines which velocity layer of a sample is played, but volume sets the output level. Like when you hit a VST snare very gently (low velocity layer), no matter how loud you play it, it doesn't sound like a snare that's hit hard.

I always use volume envelopes in the tracks for pure volume changes.
 
Adjusting the levels in the synth can at times affect the sound's timbre.
 
Generally, I find that I leave the tracks at a specific level..... depending on what I need. Sometimes they are 100% out of the mix. I rarely let something just play..... (with exceptions like acoustic guitar, piano, bass & drums) at the same level all the way through..... in my music you will notice things coming and going throughout the song. Fills, solo's parts to increase the energy and feel are all enveloped in and out as needed.
 
see this example..... notice everything is surgical in nature. precise edits.... no multi-node movements.
Track 10 B3 is low but the same level
Track 11 Piano is all the way down.
12&13 are playing the fills by edits.
 
The song: http://soundclick.com/share.cfm?id=11971116    and you are looking at the first verse of the song, and the edits are the piano fills you hear.
 

I'm back with another selection of questions...well, a few, anyway.
 
When I create a new Track, notes from another Track are visible in that track's PRV. Is this a "transparency" thing, and how to disable it? (I don't remember this being a default setting.) I only want to see the notes of THAT track's PRV.
 
Sometimes, when I apply a controller (Reverb, Pan, etc.) to a TTS Track menu, but then delete the controller...it "sticks". The effect remains, although I've confirmed (even in the Event screen) that the controller no longer exists. How do I "reset" the controller?
 
This also happened while applying a CC1: Modulation controller to a SoundCenter instrument. I changed the SoundCenter instrument to something else, and I could hear the Modulation while sampling in the Synth Properties window. But when I played notes in the PRV for the new instrument, the effect disappeared. What happened here?
 
In reference to the above passage, I was able to apply a CC1: Modulation controller to a SoundCenter instrument. I thought MIDI controllers were only usable on the TTS synth? In the same sense, is this the correct way to use modulation only per note, rather than through the FX Bin (per track)? I just want note modulation, not track modulation.