Kev999

ston
...precisely zero interest in CAL...

I had no interest in CAL either... until yesterday! After reading some instructions posted by Scook and D8, I created a pair of CAL files and bound keystrokes to each of them so that I can move the timeline back or forward by a single beat. I took me no longer than 5 minutes to set this up and I was really pleased with the new feature that I had just added. I'll certainly be looking out for more ways of using CAL in future.

On the other hand, I don't think that CAL editing will ever be carried out to such an extent by enough users to justify a new UI.

For me, the reason that I have no interest in it is that it's just too close to work; I have scripts coming out of my ears already (shell scripting, TCL, python, perl, vbscript...)  No more, please!
 
I should put up a 'script free zone' sign on my door at home ;-)
 
I feel the urge to invent a hypothetical scenario as a means to demonstrate...
 
So let's say you have a big MIDI file of drums that you import into a track in Sonar.  You plan to make the following changes:
 
o Split the file so that all instruments (note values) are on their own track.
o Transpose each note such that it plays the required/intended drum instrument.
o Make sure each instrument (note) is playing on its own MIDI channel.
o Apply partial quantisation to all notes (of certain values) that lie within|outside a certain distance from 8th note boundaries.
o Apply MIDI compression to all notes that lie outside of a range of velocity values
o Apply linear velocity adjustment to all instances of particular notes
o Apply swing to certain notes, which are within a certain distance to beats 2, 4 of each bar
o Insert some form of modulation (MIDI CC) for notes that conform to certain criteria (let's say panning for certain hihat hits, CC's to turn echoes on and off for particular snare hits, pitch-shift some cymbal hits, etc. etc.)
o Insert flange-hit notes for tom hits which occur at the start of a bar
o [insert your own ideas here]
 
How many user-edit operations, or CAL script invocations would be required to achieve the above?
 
This would be a one-button click operation in the Logical Editor of Cubase v2 for Atari (1990).

A good reason for using something like AutoHotkey, where you can enable a sequence of instructions that are already available in a program and bind them to a single/combination key press. Once you have it you don't have to repeat creating the script just press the keys.

Mind you I enjoy using the script editor in Sound Forge and it's simple UI. bUT

What would be the advantage of having an internal script language over something like AutoHotkey which is what I use in Sonar where I don't have or can't find a Cal script quickly enough. Despite having hundreds of Cals they each seem specific and I am not clever enough to tie them together as one script.

CAL is what has kept me working with Cakewalk from its early days. I use CAL a lot when no macro I know of could do what I want. Most recently, I used it to set a controller value that positions the steel on a virtual pedal steel guitar.It's as easy as clicking on a note in the track Event List, selecting it, running the CAL, entering the fret number, and the CAL "looks up" the proper value for the controller and inserts the event one tick before the note. Any other method is a real pain. I know because I hesitated to try to get CAL to work since many of the earlier CAL's no longer work without the help of a careful reading of the documentation that Glen Cardenas, Ton Valkenburgh and others have compiled.
 
Continuing CAL doesn't require Sonar users to create or use a script. It's invisible to newer users who don't happen upon it, wondering what the heck Process > Run CAL is. I think Cakewalk might be surprised how many users still use CAL
 
Dropping it in the future will certainly mean my workflow will suffer.
 
I think the reason that many users are turned off by CAL is that many of the old scripts are confusing and poorly documented. I know I'd have to include comments explaining how to use many of mine. And the ability to explain the use of a particular CAL script has really never been there. How many potential users know to open a CAL as a text file to read the comments?
 
As you can tell, I'm a +1 for continued support of CAL. If it was once again robust and allowed a simple method for explaining how to use a script, there would be many interesting scripts created that would draw people to Sonar. It's similar to game developers releasing map editors for games. More content attracts customers. The scripts could be curated by Cakewalk so they all work as documented.
 
I am definitely a hacker at CAL. Back in the day, I and several others won a little money from Greg in a CAL writing contest. Those old CAL's have been shipped with all versions of Cakewalk up to and including X3. I have to laugh every time I see them.
 
Best regards, Bobby

I use XL to write scripts. Some very complicated ones that built the project.
 
I use a bunch of quick scripts often.
 
At least twice the CW managers thwarted efforts to expand CAL's usefulness. Disappointing. I used a third party call extender with Sonar 4. Lots of quick interface adjustments. They told me the CW dudes changed the code for S5 and they would not share, so the program was abandoned.
 
Reaper's integration and manipulation via scripts is way cool.
 
A basic interface to record, save, and play macros would significantly increase Sonar's power. I mean not just for midi work.
 
 
 

The capability to write or use programming scripts seems to be relatively popular.  Reaper accepts two kinds of programming scripts, Pearl and JS ( javascript perhaps?).  Georgia Tech University has a 13 week onsite class and 6 week online class on writing scripts.
 
It is VERY difficult to obtain any information about CAL as I've tried.