I hope that someone with experience and a little time will metaphorically hold my hand and guide me through what I am trying to do. Firstly a little background - I used to work semi-pro as a "folk" musician and barn dance caller, until 2002 when a stroke stopped most of my activities. I was recently asked to organise a couple of hours country dancing in a local village hall which I did using music which had been recorded in the past by the bands that I used to work with. It went well and I have been asked to do another similar session, so I need some more music, which I was hoping to create using Music Creator 5, in a similar style and arrangement to the bands that I worked with in the past.
I have been given some help by numerous people on this forum, ( for which I thank you all) which has got me over a number of hurdles, but I still keep hitting problems. I have also watched lots of on-line video tutorials, but none seem to handle all the basic setting-up which I seem to be having difficulties with.
May I explain exactly what Io am hoping to achieve:
I need to create an arrangement of a tune, simulating perhaps four or five instruments plus a drum kit. A typical line-up would be - violin, accordion, flute, piano, drums. Having set up a basic instrument line-up, and input the music (using the piano roll view) I want to be able to change the instrument on one track to hear the difference, eg changing the violin to clarinet. Once I have the sound I want, I need to save the audio output as a mp3 file (or other format audio file).
So far, I have been able to create a new project, add a number of tracks (should these be "midi" or "instrument" tracks?) input a melody on one of these tracks (using the piano roll view) and play this through my computer's sound system (which is adequate for my needs). I do not seem able to change the instrument sounds (although I have found my way to lists of available instruments, I do not seem to be able to change the sound which is being produced)
I used a very early version of cakewalk many years ago, producing simple backing tracks for school productions, although then I was using an external midi keyboard. Thus I thought this would be easy. I now seem to be wasting hours and getting nowhere and keep wondering if there is a simpler program that I should be using.
Thanks in advance for any contribution to aid my sanity!

hi
........that very early version of cakewalk : can you give more info??
I am using cakewalk since  window 95 ( at that time 12 tone system) .
Mostly I use also the basic instruments but for'the input I use the staf instead of the pianorol.
Maybe I can help you starting even from  the first step.
Info that I need is the name (version of your cakewalk and what kind of pc keyboard and so on.
It is not too basic for MC and your experience ( too old come on) is an advantage.
get up and make music
mo.
 

Hi Mo,
I don't really believe I am getting too old, but being realistic, even some everyday things take more effort to figure out.Thanks for your offer of help.
I am using Music Creator 5 on Windows 7, on a Dell Optiplex GX620 computerwith a Dell usb keyboard (hardwired). It has an onboard Soundmax digital integrated sound card, which for these music purposes I output to headphones (via a front panel connector). If you need any more info please let me know.
Thanks again
Peter

To change instruments in a MIDI track, make sure each track is using a different channel, then change the Patch (Pch).
When the MIDI track pane is expanded, do you see all of the track's Properties, like In/Out, Ch Bank and Pch? If not, go to the bottom and click the All tab.
An Instrument Track is supposed to make things easier. It's a combined MIDI/Software Synthesizer track instead of having separate MIDI and soft synth tracks. I find it easier to use the separate tracks, but I use an external MIDI keyboard when recording, not soft synths.
When using the sound card's synthesizer, you will not be able to easily convert it to audio or mp3, despite the fact that you're hearing it.  You would need to use soft synths, which take the MIDI data and renders it to audio. Those audio tracks are what you would select and bounce/mix down/export/convert.
The included soft synth TTS-1 is a good choice for beginners to learn with. It can accept input from up to 16 MIDI tracks and will sound much better than the Microsoft GS Wavetable synth in your sound card.
 

Hi pete4
.....some everyday things.....(got the feeling) but lets start.
You have all you need to start so ( I installed MC 5 on a pc Windows 7 in order to follow you)
1) Open MC5 and create a new project
2) Look in template where NORMAL is now in blue
3Click on Blank (no tracks or busses)
4) you must give it a name  ex (peter test mo)and click ok
5 now you see an empty page with the name  upper left
6)click on the + and add a MIDI track
7)the empty page changed in track 1
8)press the down arrow to expand the track view
Attention: under INPUT/OUTPUT you will find :
OMNI let'it'for'the moment (unless your keuboard is connected)
Under OMNI : this is your sound card for ex 1-Microsoft GS wavetab
Right of it : PATCH none : click on the rectangle to see all of your instruments make your choice
Now we have an instrument go to VIEW and select STAFF or PIANO ROLL 
you are now ready to make to make your first accompaniment oR solo
If you want to make another instrument go to point 6 and so on
this means + then insert miditrack......
give it a run and let me know
success
mo
 
 
 

It's easy to do that once you use and understand how channels work with TTS.
 
Here's some info from my website ... perhaps this will clarify it a bit. Once you understand this principle, you can apply it to not only TTS, but to every synth on the market as well.  It's just that TTS comes with MC5 and you already have it available.
 
Tips for Music Creator 4 & 5


Soft Synth set up for TTS & MC4/5 ( in my system)

Open a new NORMAL project with 1 audio track and 1 midi track.

INSERT > SOFT SYNTH > CAKEWALK TTS-1

put a check in Midi source, first synth audio output, synth property page and synth rack view.


Click OK….your synth pops up and the synth rack pops up. You can minimize both since you don’t need them.

You will now see 2 new tracks in the project. Both are labeled Cakewalk TTS1-1…this indicates that “first instance” of TTS in the project. One is audio & one is midi. ( in this demo…we will not use the midi track for anything at all)
Expand your view by dragging the bottom of the tracks down.
AT this point I have :
Track 1 audio empty ( not used in this demo)
Track 2 midi empty ( we will set this up as a keyboard track later)
Track 3 Audio TTS1-1 ( this is where TTS lives)
Track 4 midi TTS1-1 (we are not going to use this track)

(NOTE: my keyboard is currently set to transmit on midi channel 6 & my interface is a Focusrite saffire your interface/soundcard should show..so use it)

In Track 2 midi: Input: Focusrite Saffire Channel 6 Output: select cakewalk TTS
Channel 6 ( use omni or what ever channel you are transmitting) bank & patch select piano for this demo. CLICK OK.

Play the keyboard and you should now hear a piano. The meters on the Cakewalk TTS track should be indicating audio as well.






How to enter a drum track in MC4/5

open MC4/5 choose new project...call it midi drums. choose a normal project... this gives you an audio & midi track. MC5 only shows one track when you insert a synth.

click on the midi track & select VIEW >STAFF to get the staff view. click on the draw tool and insert a few notes in a few measures...it doesn't matterwhat notes...we just want something to be triggering the midi.


NOW.. highlight the audio track by clicking on it. Right click in the FX bin select soft synths and select Cakewalk-TTS..minimize the synth window.

SO FAR>>>SO GOOD>

Just one more step and you should have sound!!!!!

Now...double click in the midi track control area....and the track properties window will open.

Select INPUT=none..... OUTPUT= Cakewalk-TTS.....CHANNEL =10


Hit Play...you should now hear sound.

If you don't hear anything at this point...double check to be sure the rig is working properly








ADVANCED TTS set up and operation.

You only need one instance of TTS to be able to play 16 different midi tracks as 16 different instruments. In this demo I will explain just how you accomplish this by starting with 3 midi tracks and one instance of TTS.

So…open a new project ( I opened a normal project and deleted the audio track and then inserted the midi tracks needed and then inserted the soft synth) and insert 3 midi tracks and one instance of TTS. I have:
 Track 1 midi piano
 Track 2 midi bass
 Track 3 midi strings
 Track 4 Cakewalk TTS1-1 (audio track this is where TTS lives in this project)

Use the track icons…it makes it ease to know what track you are working on.


Understand that this is just a basic setup of TTS to show you how to setup multiple instruments in one instance of TTS and get it all working.

Set Track 1 (piano)

Input FR channel 6
Output 2-Cakewalk TTS1-1
Channel 1
Key 0
Bank & patch = piano

Set track 2 (bass)

Input FR channel 6
Output 2-Cakewalk TTS1-1
Channel 2
Key -12
Bank & patch = bass

Set track 3 (strings)

Input FR channel 6
Output 2 Cakewalk TTS1-1
Channel 3
Key 0
Bank & patch = strings


A NOTE about my set up..... Notice that all 3 tracks are using the same input....FR channel 6. (Focusrite=FR) This allows all three channels to “hear” the midi keyboard which I have set to transmit on channel 6.
I could set each channel input to a different channel. By doing so I have to change the midi keyboard to transmit on that channel....none of the other channels will hear it, and that can be very useful in recording as you will see shortly.

By setting all 3 channels to the same midi input channel (channel 6) I am able to play all the parts into the three channels with out changing the midi transmit channel on my DX27S. I arm track 1 and record my parts doing the same for the next two tracks. Since the outputs are set to different channels they are sending their midi data to different channels in the TTS synth. The synth looks at the channel number, and routs that data to that channel and applied the patch & bank info you assigned to it and it carries out those instructions. The result is that you hear 3 different instruments playing from your speakers.

Nice thorough job there Hacker ....good stuff