Hi, I am new to this software, how do I create my own drum tracks? Is it possible? It was advertised that I could! Not finding this a very easy software to use, maybe I will get used to it with a little help, Please help!!

Thanks, Phill.

Welcome Phill, 

Have you watched and worked along with the videos and tutorials? 

MC6 has all sorts of loops and samples and synths to allow you to create music or simply drag and drop pre-made loops into the tracks. Watch the videos and they will help you get started. Come back here afterwards with questions.

Watch them here>>  http://www.cakewalk.com/CakeTV/Music-Creator.aspx

Start at Part 1 and go through them while working along in MC6.

Thanks for your quick reply, I watched the videos and read all the help on drum maps etc but they do not tell you how to create the music using your computer, only on how to drag MC6's own beats into a track. I was after instructions on how to create a drum track ie put your own hit hat, kick drum etc patterns together and then add that to a track! Was wondering if someone has done this and advise me on where to get started. This was the whole reason I bought the software, it was advertised that you could create your own drum tracks and add them to a recorded song etc, but this is not the most user friendly software I have ever used!

Thanks Phill. 

you don't really need drum maps for creating new drums.  just use the drag and drop method from the SI drums audtionoing window and se up the MIDI loops to trigger SI drums from the MIDI track.

MC is actually more user friendly than any of the other recording softwares I've tried, there's ALWAYS going to be a learning curve and you really can't believe marketing at face value.  nothing is really a "cakewalk"

but if you work at it some it really isn't that difficult, it just takes some time.  watch this video from cakewalk about SI drums
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UquKaN5Ruio


also, he doesn't show you in that video (and I don't know why not) but you can just clicik and drag those MIDI loop names onto a MIDI track.  if you inserted the SI drums from the synth rack or the browser then just click and drag the MIDI loop name from the SI Drums onto the track that was created when you inserted SI Drums.  that will send the output of the MIDI track with that loop to SI drums when you play the project.  then you can build your drum beat base from those MIDI loop patterns as you drag them to the MIDI track.

Tell us more about what you do as a musician. 

If you have a midi keyboard (99.9% of all keyboards these days are midi)  you can easily record the midi data into the midi tracks and assign a synth to play it as whatever instrument you wish. Editing is easy in midi. 

Understand there is a learning curve. You will likely spend anywhere from a few days to a few months just getting a handle on the capabilities of MC6...depending on your existing skill level. 

As far as user friendly and making tracks... yes it does make tracks, but you have to learn how it all works.... that's the learning curve part. I probably spent several months just messing around, working on simple tunes and learning how it all worked. 

Do not let the Cakewalk propaganda fool you. While MC6 is classified as a "Beginners package" that is technically correct , however, MC6 is quite advanced and very capable of producing high quality recording output. I used MC4 for more than 3 years with excellent results before cross grading to X1 a few months back. 

Once you get the hang of it, you will not even really need to think about the details.... you just turn it on and start recording your music.

So yes, it can do what you want, you just gotta take the time to learn it......and once you do..... then, it will be a "Cakewalk" to use it.   

Cheers guys for all your replies, I guess Ive got some serious learning to do, will watch the videos a few times over and see if it all makes any more sense! 

Thanks beagle, great video, something to get me started cheers! 

Ok I watched the videos and im still not getting anywhere! I have the si drums open and I can drag and drop the different beats into a track, turn down the volume of individual pieces of the kit etc etc etc and thats great but I want to make my own beat/loop ie put the kick on 1&3 snare on 2&4 etc (basic example!), I thought music creator would involve creating not dragging and dropping someone else's studio recordings into my song?!? Can this be done? Does anyone know if I can simply make my own drum beat in music creator 6 and how? Please help! 

Thanks, Phill.

Yes it can be done.
Select a MIDI track. Set it's output to your drum synth. Open the Piano Roll view (PRV). Right-click on the piano keys if that is what is on the left and change it to GM Drums to show the drum names. Click the drum names to hear what samples are played when they're clicked. Some notes won't make any sound since they're not mapped for the particular synth you're using.
Set the note duration. Click the Draw tool. Click notes in the grid. Once you have a measure with hat, kick, snare, go back to the Track view and right-click the clip. Select Groove Clip Looping. The corners of the clip will become bevelled to show it's now a groove clip.
Drag out the clip and it will repeat for as far as you drag it. Maybe 4 measures. go back to PRV and mouse in some hits for the break, a measure or two. Right-click the first clip and select Copy. Go to the end of the break clip and paste in the groove clip you just copied. It will only be the original 1 measure, so drag it out again as far as you want. Repeat as necessary for a song-length drum track.
That's just the basics. Note durations play an important part in this as do the Snap-to settings. If the groove clip isn't a precise length, it won't always start/end at the right place. The first note in the clip should start exactly on the beat and the last note should end exactly on the beat for the groove clip to always be in time.
Of course, you can always mouse in every drum hit in the song, a long, tedious process which I have done a few times. Copy/paste/groove-clip looping makes it much easier.

I don;t work with the drag and drop clips but I've always thought that you can edit them ...adding and deleting notes as needed in them.