Sanderxpander
Brconflict, if the record mode is set to comping, you will hear the previous take as long as you haven't actually hit "record". I usually press play a bit in advance for a good lead in and then hit R a second or so before the actual line for sort of a punch in. I'm pretty sure you could also use sound on sound mode if you go line by line, and you can simply create two lanes in the same track to work with.

Just giving options, if you're happy with your workflow ignore me please :)

Right. The problem being that, when a vocalist is connecting run-on lines together (which we do, typically to save the vocalist's breath), hearing the previous line while tracking is paramount. The only way I've found this possible is to toggle takes between two different tracks. I'd love to see a quick little toggle button to allow JUST the last recorded Lane play, but mute the rest. Would help tremendously with manual punch-ins.

Anderton
Unfortunately, it is the way a lot of songs are done now...

Not just now, apparently that's how Dave Gilmour did the famous comfortably numb solo.
 
 “I banged out five or six solos,” says Gilmour. “From there I just followed my usual procedure, which is to listen back to each solo and make a chart, noting which bits are good. Then, by following the chart, I create one great composite solo by whipping one fader up, then another fader, jumping from phrase to phrase until everything flows together. That’s the way we did it on ‘Comfortably Numb.’”

Take lanes are the way forwards, BUT in my view there are plenty of room for improvements that really need to be fed into X4/X3F to kill the "lanes are better" argument once and for all. It's not perfect and just needs some work on it.
 
I logged one or two enhancements with Cakewalk myself, for starters the signal path isn't indicated correctly when in take lane mode, and secondly you can't actually see what you are recording until you press stop when looping takes. If I get the time/energy I might throw them in the enhancement forums as well.
 
So I strongly look forward to enhancements/bug fixes in that area.
 
Some references:


http://forum.cakewalk.com/Nudging-note-events-in-take-lanes-doesnt-work-properly-Confirmed-by-CW-m3023030.aspx
http://forum.cakewalk.com/Take-Lanes-Clip-cant-be-copypasted-into-a-lane-of-different-T-number-Confirmed-by-CW-m2994675.aspx
http://forum.cakewalk.com/Take-Lanes-Undoing-clip-overlapping-leaves-empty-lanes-Confirmed-by-CW-m2997157.aspx
http://forum.cakewalk.com/Couple-of-trivial-take-lanes-bugs-m2956784.aspx#2956784
http://forum.cakewalk.com/Loop-recording-Bug-Still-in-X3d-Since-Sonar-85-m2955605.aspx#2955745
http://forum.cakewalk.com/When-auditioning-takelanes-SOLO-buttons-are-not-being-displayed-m2956846.aspx#2956846 
 
Cheers...

nzpaul
 “I banged out five or six solos,” says Gilmour. “From there I just followed my usual procedure, which is to listen back to each solo and make a chart, noting which bits are good. Then, by following the chart, I create one great composite solo by whipping one fader up, then another fader, jumping from phrase to phrase until everything flows together. That’s the way we did it on ‘Comfortably Numb.’”

And here I thought these guys were gods.
Thanks for opening my eyes and ears, I'll never hear music the same way again.
 
75 takes...  that's getting into monkey and typewriter territory.
 

Back in the day I worked with a well known goth band, and for each song on the album it was pretty much this:
 
1) Tape machine = 48 track analogue. 2 x 2" tapes 24 tracks each. Master and Slave.
2) Each song one master tape (24 track) and multiple slave reels (24 track) which would sync up with the master.
2) On one master tape Drums and bits/bobs, guides.
3) One slave reel of lead vocals to be bounced down to two tracks onto the master.
4) One slave reel of BV to be bounced down to a few BV tracks onto the master.
5) One slave reel of bass to be bounced down to one or two bass tracks onto the master.
 
etc... etc... You get the idea.
 
Each slave reel was listened to a few bars at a time and given a score and written down on a grid on a piece of paper. From that the best performances could be determined. If the best performance didn't gel with something then we went down to the second best performance etc. All ended up being bounced onto the master. We had other slaves that ended up on the final mix like large choirs etc.
 
We even got into scoring mixes, not surprising it took forever, and artist had the habit of disappearing for days on end. At one stage record company came in to claim the master tapes (the costs must have been enormous) but we were one step ahead. Eventually we got there and artist got exactly what they wanted, and it was a big enough hit for the record company to get their money back I suspect.
 
All on analogue tape. Think what could have happened with takelanes in Sonar...
 
Rock and roll....

Some very interesting banter here, interesting to hear how other people work (or have worked back in the days of tape). The thought of doing this kind of editing on tape blows my mind, I can't even really conceive of it, although I guess I've always known about Zappa's legendary editing skills with a razor blade. I think I would get lost very quickly.
 
I don't think I would comp in every situation. In this case the sound I was looking for was very mechanical and perfect, and I was able to comp a perfect take from 15 semi-perfect takes. It worked perfectly in this instance. And I don't always go crazy with takes - I have guitar parts that I've set down with one take, mistakes be damned, I liked the sound of them. I think one of the ways in which comping is going to prove very useful for me is in the first couple of bars of a take, because sometimes my fingers just can't jump into the groove straight away. If I loop back and play the whole piece again, those first couple of bars are going to sound a lot better the second time around. 
 
Interesting to read about Gilmour splicing his solos together like that. It doesn't make me think any less of him to be honest - in fact I have a higher opinion of him now, since I always thought he composed them note for note beforehand. So in actual fact they're all sourced from improvised material. I wonder if he ever used phrases from the same set of takes on more than one song? I know Zappa would take entire solos from a live gig and shoehorn them into a studio recording later - his incredible solo on "Inca Roads" being a good example. 

brconflict

Sanderxpander
Brconflict, if the record mode is set to comping, you will hear the previous take as long as you haven't actually hit "record". I usually press play a bit in advance for a good lead in and then hit R a second or so before the actual line for sort of a punch in. I'm pretty sure you could also use sound on sound mode if you go line by line, and you can simply create two lanes in the same track to work with.

Just giving options, if you're happy with your workflow ignore me please :)

Right. The problem being that, when a vocalist is connecting run-on lines together (which we do, typically to save the vocalist's breath), hearing the previous line while tracking is paramount. The only way I've found this possible is to toggle takes between two different tracks. I'd love to see a quick little toggle button to allow JUST the last recorded Lane play, but mute the rest. Would help tremendously with manual punch-ins.

Unless I'm misunderstanding you, this is the way it works in comping mode. Only the last recorded lane plays. Although yes, it will make an automatic comping of sorts, taking the last recorded lane in any place. That could be take six in one spot and take three in another. But since hitting rec mutes all takes so you can only hear the current performance, that should work fine, I'd think...?

Paul P
 
But I kept asking myself, is this how songs are done now ?  Like each word or phrase can be from a separate take ?
I can't help but think that this is getting a bit far from performance, immediacy, risk, and all that.
 
Glad to see some people still create songs by singing them !
 

 
Just as guitar solos were spliced from different tkaes, so were vocals and these vocals were then "tuned" to correct pitch, all with tape!! What these people would do with tape would leave you with your jaw on the floor! It was an art unto itself.
 
So lets be clear: Great records of the past had tuning done to vocals before Autotune came along. Great records of the past had guitar and vocals leads that were comped long before digital recording came along.
 
Probably the last time a full on "Performance Committed to Medium" occurred when there was still records being recorded as you performed. Then some guy named Les Paul came along and messed it all up! : )

Gilmour had the right idea. Done this many, many times, myself. The creative part is the fade-ins/fade-out of each phrase.

Grem
So lets be clear: Great records of the past had tuning done to vocals before Autotune came along.

 
I used to sample off tape into an Emulator, use the pitch bend wheel to correct pitch, then record back on tape 
 

Great records of the past had guitar and vocals leads that were comped long before digital recording came along.

Punching was also a highly developed art. I've sort of re-discovered punching with Sonar, sometimes it's simpler/faster than setting up to do comping.