Thanks Kenny for that helpful information on video. I plan to put music up on Youtube and want to see if I can take basic video loops and add them to the music instead of having a still static image up there. I will soon look into what Mixcraft can do there.
 
I put the software through some basic paces last night. It wasn't difficult to navigate through most of it. A few small things bugged me, like where is the keystroke for rewind on the transport? 
 
The method to insert effects and synths is easy and I have taken a liking to it. Recorded a basic classical compo of mine in less than an hour. I used their onboard piano synth which is ok once you set it up in the mix. I didn't have a lot of time. I spent less than an hour on this and I think it turned out decent. I didn't edit anything it is what it is.
 
I think I could grow to like this software and I wasn't sold on it even yesterday.
 
Here is the track in made in it in less than an hour. 
https://soundcloud.com/starise/journey-of-the-nymphs

No FaderPort support ... bummer

One thing I can say about Mixcraft is their people were here quick, they answered a PM ASAP, and they have hung around to see and answer people's questions.  Satifying.
 
And they claim they don't have an update schedule, so it might take a while, but I "feel" (always a word that needs to be understood carefully) they'll actually make progress in fixing any complaints/suggestions with the attention they've already shown.  But, I've made misjudgments before.  When my wife first moved to NYC many, many years ago, she was in a share w/ Madonna (she still has a pair of her jeans, but no way to prove to Sotheby's).  Later she pointed out Madonna's first MV on a local NY station.  Typical dance crap.  I listened, and stated, "A one-hit wonder." So much for my popular instincts :-(.  But the Mixcraft guys seem intelligent, passionate and eager and that is a judgment about them, not popular culture.

I apologize for implying that this wasn't serious software. I think it is plenty serious for the right user. I'm giving away the fact that I'm an old fart when I say the person on th cover from looks like a kid lol. To me he does. No bias towards younger people. I just decided in my own biased mind that it's for younger people who simply want to make loop based music( I had to change my spelling I almost typed "poop based music".
 
I can see you could go much deeper with this program. Like several others though, it ain't no Sonar when it comes to midi. There are lots of folks feeling a real loss at the prospect of loosing Sonar. There were many things it did that I took for granted. 
 
You could do much much worse than Mixcraft. I rather like it so far! Thanks to those who stepped up and offered crossgrade discounts to us here at Cakewalk.

There's no way I can buy Mixcraft until after the holidays. My kids Christmas presents come first. In the new year I'm investing in Mixcraft. It reminds me of what Cakewalk used to be, and I miss that. I want to support the little guys and watch them grow. I'll start off by shelving my old copy of Vegas and start making my short videos in Mixcraft. No more need of multiple programs.
I have also received very prompt responses from the Mixcraft crew when asking a question via their support system. That will be a huge thing. While I won't need a lot of support, it's great to know it's there, just in case. If all the DAWS have more or less the same features, the things like customer service become the most important.

BENT
Oh dear, looks like Mixcarft is VST only as I can't seem to load any Sonitus Plugs.
Can anyone confirm this please.
 
Maybe we need more than One lotto ticket just to make sure we crack a big cash win :)

Mixcraft can load VST2 and VST3 plugins only. Unless of course, you use a wrapper of some sort.

This post goes out to Starise and all the people here in" SONARLAND " that are interested in Mixcraft 8 's video implementation 
All one has to do is to look at the videos Acoustica has up on using Mixcraft for Video to see that there is a lot more here going on here than what appears on the surface concerning Mixcrafts Video implementation .
 
Some tutorials from their site 
https://www.acoustica.com/mixcraft/v7/help/video-editing-topics.htm
 
It is pretty obvious to me that a person who want's to create their own music w video can be pretty happy using Mixcraft 8 as a self contained Audio DAW & Video environment to work in  ...
The learning curve is somewhat Gentle and there are many features in Mixcraft 's video tool kit that one would have to spend some money elsewhere to get ...
With a little time in the woodshed using Mixcraft's Video tools one could conceivably come up with some really nice videos that incorporate , titles , smooth transitions, cool video filtering effects , slide shows and any other thing one may want to incorporate into to ones own creative expression . 
 
Heck , I look at my own u tube videos these days and I can admit that the playing is happening but the visual's are BORING 
 
So having said that I want to talk about something totally different today .
 
I want to talk about unlocking ones own creative potential while using or in some cases miss using Mixcraft's video tools ....
 
Who say's you have to make videos in Mixcraft in the first place ? Who the marketing ? The hoped for dream & desire you may hold in your heart ?
 
Please allow me to offer you an easier softer smother way ...
What we are gonna talk about here today is motivation & unlocking ones own creativity  Lets keep an eye and ear on unlocking ones own potential in a way where ones own workflow can feel unlimited  .if only even for a short time .
 
Where do we start ? Lets start with things we have heard over the course of our lives ..ones own concepts , principles and what ever you may hold dear to your heart .
 
Here are some of Kenny's mental tools ...
 
When you hear the phrase " a picture is worth a thousand words " it is pretty much a given that most of us here would agree with that concept to a small or a large degree .
What would happen if I told you that a picture is worth a thousand notes ? or a new place to change and express your emotions ? or a even a safe place to explore your feelings about some of the things that may or may not of happened in your life
 
....Are you interested ? Are you interested in applying this concept to your music and creativity ?
 
A quick personal story ...when I started making vid's I didn't want to look at the freaking camera or the red light .
I felt all my creativity zoom out the front door and then I would Clam Up ..
 
One day I decided to place a picture of a real pretty woman that was so out of my league I should have been grateful she even allowed me to live and breath the same Air we all  have here on the Planet Earth
Then a funny thing happened after I placed the pic up , I totally forgot about the camera w the  red light and I started flirting with her image using my guitar and what I was playing ...
( since I'm single I can get away with that sort of thing at home )
Sounds simple right ?  for me it was a mini epiphany and I have decided to take it to the next level ...
 
OK for those of you that are still w me I'm gonna ask you to try out a little experiment ...
Mixcraft or not sit down w your instrument and start playing to a picture that evokes a feeling or a strong mental image ...See if that unlocks things in your playing or musical ideas ...
 
Now if you have Mixcraft place that picture in the time line and play music to the emotions you feel ...
Sounds simple right ? that is only the tip of the iceberg ....
We are talking about unlocking creativity while using a multi purpose DAW that can allow one to have multiple media objects in the video time line w out restriction .
For those of you that like to compose World Music or Ethnic music , you can benefit greatly from placing some inspirational pictures from the country's or genre's of music you are looking to express ....
Feel the terrain , smell the smells , use your playing to express what the picture /image invokes  ...
 
IMHO ,creating music for film especially when one does not have a specific film to compose to is very hard .
It is almost an exercise in how to fail because unless one is immersed deeply with the intended message of the film and all the people that are producing it ,one may always be second guessing the music ...
Now I have never played for film , yet I do know that all movies have what they call a story board where they map out all the scenes of the movie in sketches ...this is somewhat common knowledge . I also know this because I have watched one of the composers for Star Trek Voyager score an episode of the show at my brothers place in North Hollywood  My brother worked in film doing sound and he has worked with the best 
When the composer scored the episode  he worked w an assistant to the final cut of the shows edited episode while the assistant transcribed the score which was taken to a proper Studio the next day to be recorded by a full orchestra .
Having said that lets talk about a little musical / multi expressive content experiment ...
 
Using Mixcraft one could decide to put together a mock up story line of their choosing  VIA pics or video clips . Once they had a story that appealed to them they could then compose and learn how to adapt their musical creativity to this type of musical form of work and expression ....whats cool about that is I don't care if its 5 mins or 60 seconds , if you do that a few times you will be coming up with a bunch of musical keepers ...
The law of averages is in your favor . As you progress in this type of workflow you will have gained some new chops and a higher level of self esteem .
A cool thing also is as the music develops one could replace the placeholder visuals  with video content that matches their inner vision of their musical composition....
 
What ! you did that whole film using Lil  Ole Mixcraft ? Cool Right on ...
 
Next up , what about all the musicians that self produce themselves ? How can they gain the creative edge ?
IMHO , it has been my personal observation that it is very easy to fall victim to some of the things I have told my self . Oh I 'll never be able to do that or any other number of convenient avoidance techniques ...
The whole problem with that sort of thinking is an outright Lie can become the truth These types of inner personal dialogs can become a form of a self fulfilling prophesy ...( Human Nature Folks lets face it we all got it ) 
Just think for a second , when was the last time you saw a bumble bee sitting on a flower having a conversation with itself saying " OH your body is to fat , your wings are too small , you will never fly no matter how hard you try"
According to  Science , Science is confounded at the very fact that bumble be can fly  ......
 
Nature itself doesn't give 2 $hits What Science thinks  bumble bee's can fly 
 
So what does this all mean in the context of this post and topic ? How do we make this work ?
Science is right about lot's of things , one of them happens to be this .
It is a Scientific fact that humans beings process all physiologic neurological stimulus as a fact ...read that again  ...humans beings process all physiologic neurological stimulus as a fact ....
Now what do I mean by that ?
An easy way to grasp that concept is people pay good bucks to go to a movie , they suspend disbelief as a consensual choice ...
Why because they want to be entertained and they want to feel the impact of the full movie experience ...
It doesn't matter that we all know that there is no such thing as the boogieman  or that people can't fly w out wings or stop bullets just by throwing a stink eye in the direction of the shooter because once one enters that experience nature takes over Humans beings process all physiologic neurological stimulus as a fact ....
FWIW , it is possible to override that if you happen to be in a state of present moment awareness ...even the the things that are totally outside your control will still evoke a strong emotion ..
example,
I was driving in a heavy rain yesterday . At an intersection a car inched out way to far and I became scared because it looked like the car was  gonna t bone me ...
knowing that they were probably just looking to get a better view of traffic mentally did not over ride the emotional physiological reaction of fear I felt in that moment  the damage was done ...         
 
Advertising knows this and many other things along these lines.This is a big reason why that form of manipulation is very effective ...
Many people in the know deliberately know just the right buttons to push so they can  play a persons emotions like a violin .
Most writers know this , and even lil ole Kenny knows this
 
SO How do we make this work to our own advantage ? Are not some of us here self produced musicians & Artists ?
 
Using Mixcraft's video time line it is possible to drop in the type of motivational messages that will help un-stick ones own blocked creativity  ...
Most of us here have  had tunes we are writing and in plenty of places within the song we may have felt stuck ...
I know I have for sure ...I didn't have anybody  standing over my shoulder giving me a Pep Talk or an encouraging word 
 
Lets try this  , Why not place a motivational text message that flashes VIA the video monitor  in Mixcraft during those sections of the song where you feel stuck ?...    Simple right ? this may & can solve a lot of the problems that have kept some of us stuck ...
For me I may need to place a message that says keep working on it , don't give up you are getting there , it is so much better now than what you were doing  before ...Keep at it it is coming along very nicely ...
For a singer they may need the lyrics as a reminder , or even  a message as to what type of vocal treatment and style to sing in during that section of the song. 
Why not place a chord chart up there if you are having a hard time remembering all the chord to a section of the tune ...
For tender musical moments you can place a picture of somebody you love ...for angry moments and music one could even place a pic of someone they they have bad feelings about ....
You can even go comic and play around with things you find funny .
Yesterday I had a video clip of my dog Duke .
Duke is a gigantic American Bulldog and he loves to play fetch w a ball ...I took one section of a video clip where Duke jumped a few feet in the air and nabbed the ball in his mouth  while he was still airborne ...
I combined video clip in Mixcraft w a looped section of a section of one of my tunes and laughed my a$$ off until I was in tears ...
 
Anyway  , I'm gonna cut it short from this point on , I feel I have said a mouthful as it is 
I just wanted to put a few alternative ideas out there on having ways of using Mixcrafts video integration that can be very usefull.
 
As I mentioned before Mixcraft does have the ability to produce very decent videos in the traditional sense of what is currently popular in most social  media forms of expression at places such as u tube ...
Most of us here are blessed to be creators of content ,,,not just consumers of content    
 
Anyway , my thing is I also enjoy all the little footsteps my creative journey may take me on ...
 
thank you , all the best ,
 
Kenny         
 

kennywtelejazz
 
So having said that I want to talk about something totally different today .
 
I want to talk about unlocking ones own creative potential while using or in some cases miss using Mixcraft's video tools ....

Da Professor is in da house!!! 
 
Professor Kenny, that was inspirational and informative!!!
 
Thanks for sharing!

yes, the kid on the front is pretty hep.  I wasn't impressed, but then, what do I care that they are trying to attract young people.  They can help pay the freight. ;-)

Starise
Thanks Kenny for that helpful information on video. I plan to put music up on Youtube and want to see if I can take basic video loops and add them to the music instead of having a still static image up there. I will soon look into what Mixcraft can do there.
 
I put the software through some basic paces last night. It wasn't difficult to navigate through most of it. A few small things bugged me, like where is the keystroke for rewind on the transport? 
 
The method to insert effects and synths is easy and I have taken a liking to it. Recorded a basic classical compo of mine in less than an hour. I used their onboard piano synth which is ok once you set it up in the mix. I didn't have a lot of time. I spent less than an hour on this and I think it turned out decent. I didn't edit anything it is what it is.
 
I think I could grow to like this software and I wasn't sold on it even yesterday.
 
Here is the track in made in it in less than an hour. 
https://soundcloud.com/starise/journey-of-the-nymphs

Hi Starise ,
 
In my earlier post  I kind of went off on a "large tangent" w the still pics thing ....sorry I missed the vid loop thing you were talking about .
Yes , using video loops or editing larger clips down to smaller video loops in Mixcraft is something I appreciate about the programs ability to do somewhat easy. I'm still feeling my around the fine tune editing for getting them just right .
 
I just listened to your track on Soundcloud ...hey man wow , it is very very good considering less than an hour
The few loose places in your song certainly aren't such a big deal , I'm sure when you want to you will be able to dial them in .
 
When you say Piano , are you using the Painissimo ? I like that one a lot and I'm glad to have it ...
To me it is sort of a sleeper plug ...Like a lot of folks here I have a bunch of Pianos , stuff like Addictive Keys and many others ... The Painissimo does sound good.  It is very light on my CPU ...I've used it to mock up parts and then after having what I want as far as the midi goes , I have auditioned the heavy guns and decided to stick w the Painissimo ...
 
Oh, I liked the strings you added as support in your tune ...were you using all Mixcraft instruments ? or did you go outside the program for some of your sounds ?
 
You know I'm wondering ...when I got Mixcraft 7 there was a tune included called Sword of Fianna
I flipped out when I heard it ...all done in Mixcraft using only what comes w Mixcraft ..
When I heard the tune , that's what sealed the deal for me ...
Not sure if the song came w Mixcraft  8 ...it did cme w MC 7 as a demo
I'm posting the u tube video of the song for you because I wish I could write like this and I feel it may be up your alley ...
The song has a real nice Celtic Vibe and sound ....

 
nice talking w you
all the best ,
 
Kenny
 
PS , if Acoustica wants me to shut up ...I will