Newbie and sorry about the test needs help

Hi again Kluson

First off, as GT3 isn’t supported in Vista, you may find it will run better in Compatibility mode and in Administrator mode. Right click on the program name and choose Properties then click on the Compatibility tab. Check the ‘Run this program in compatibility mode for:’ box and choose ‘Windows XP [Service Pack 2]’; at the bottom of the window in the Privilege Level, check the ‘Run this program as an administrator’ box.

Acid loops, or Groove Clips as they are often called in Cakewalk, are normally 1 measure [bar] of pre-recorded audio – what makes them so useful in GT3 is that these loops can be stretched to any project tempo, irrespective of what tempo they were recorded at. The important thing about acid loops is that they only stretch the tempo, the pitch of the drums remains the same, in other words, they don’t end up sounding like a tape being speeded up or slowed down.

GT3 comes with quite a good set of acid drum loops which are on the installation CD – put the CD into your CD/DVD drive and instead of Autorun, choose the ‘Open folder to view files…’ option. The ‘Audio Loops’ folder contains the drum loops as well as some guitar and bass loops. Copy the folder to your hard drive so you don’t have to insert the CD every time you need a new drum loop. I would suggest putting the folder straight onto your hard drive so it will be easy enough to navigate to later.

Before we go any further, are you planning to use the USB cable to input from your POD or are you going to use the line-in on your PC's soundcard? If you haven't made up your mind, I'd suggest using the USB method.

Steve




Edit - speeling mistake

You are on the right lines there Kluson.

We'll do the audio loops first - have you got them on your hard drive yet?

Hi Steve yes,
I have found my audio files and even laid down some drum pattern by stretching it across is that right. I've saved it as a bundled file and then it kept the audio again is that right,
This is great
cheers
Dave

Dave, what I would suggest is putting the Audio Loop folder on you hard drive on its own - call it something like 'Cakewalk Loops Folder' and it will line up next to your Cakewalk projects folder in Explorer view. It's nothing important, but I find it easier to work with if it's separate.

This is because you can set GT3 to always go to a 'default' folder whenever you use the File>Import Audio command. As I use import audio in GT3 almost exclusively for importing drum loops the default folder I've created contains all my acid loops, as well as those I make myself in another program.

It just seems a cleaner way to work with a separate folder.

If you want to do this, first drag the folder to your hard drive and rename it.

In GT3, from the menu bar, select Options>Global and click on the Folders tab.

The Project Files field should have defaulted to C:\Cakewalk Projects - this is correct.

The Wave Files field is where you need to have your loops folder - use the browse button to the right of the field and navigate to your folder, once you've found it, click on 'OK'

To check it's working, close the Global Options window and select File>Import Audio - GT3 should open the loops folder for you!

Let me know when you're done Dave.

Dave,

Strummy forgot to mention the loop explorer which can be used to search and automatically input the file to a desired location. You can access the loop explorer by pressing the Alt key and the the number 4 key at the same time. Using the suggestion that Strummy gave you for file location this will make it easy for you to find the files in the menu tree that appears to the left of the loop explorer window.

I think Steve you already took care of that. The best way to connect up the POD is via the USB port. You should have gotten a black USB cable just for this. First off put the Line 6 CD in your CD drive and run the installer. This will load the Line 6 Monkey and ASIO drivers.

Connect the Pod when the directions tell you to. Next open the Device Manager and disable the internal sound card. After that has been done open up GTP3 and go to Option > Audio. You will get a dialog box. Go to the Advanced tab and select ASIO from the driver mode drop down menu under Playback and Recording. Click Ok and then exit out of GTP3. Wait about 10 seconds and launch GTP3. Go back to Options >Audio and in the General Tab select a sampling rate of 44100 and a file Bit Depth of 16. In the Playback timing master and the Record timing master you should have the POD xt selected. In the ASIO Panel you will want the slider set to less computer for optimum playback while recording.

On the drivers tab you will want the POD selected for both the input and output drivers. Then Click OK. Attempt a pass at recording by arming a track, selecting a tone and then pressing record on the transport control.

Let us know how you make out.

here we go next question.
I can record, but I now have a problem that when I record the second track, I can't hear what I'm playing, It seems very faint is there a way of boosting the monitor track whilst listening to the already recorded stuff]
Hope that makes sense.
I am going from the guitar to the Pod to the PC via USB, internal sound card disabled
Many thanks
again

In GTP3 check that you have the backing track slider volume in the track view is set at 0.0. In GearBox next to the Tone selection drop down is the output monitor, make sure this is not muted and set the volume knob in the software all the way up.

Dave please let us know if it all works!


258 to go!

Hi Guys,

thanks for all your help.
Have been having a go on and off,
I would like to get some more drum patterns, can you give me any suggestions or should I use something like a Boss DR 880.
If I choose the Boss route what is the best way to get the signal in, should I go through the POD?
or is it better to get a software set of patterns, many thanks

Dave

Hi there, good to see you around again!

I would have thought waves would be the choice for loops, you want the best quality possible.

I used to use SmartLoops and they are .wav files - it might be worth checking out if the samples you get also include 'single hits' of the various parts of the kit, these are very handy for making your own fills and adding cymbal hits etc.

Steve

Dave, that should work OK - just start with the levels all the way down and bring them up till you get a good signal in GT3.