Newbie here, nothing happens when I try to add "distortion" to my guitar track :/ CWMC 6

Hello all, I'm actually not a 'total' n00b, been using Cakewalk since GuitarTracks 2.0 (also have Guitar Tracks Pro, and CWMC 3)... Total hours spent in Cakewalk messing around though -- only ~30 hours I'd guess...
 
Anyways, just picked up Music Creator 6, recorded a simple 10 second guitar test, right-click it, add effects, I see a long list and select "distortion" and nothing happens. Nothing at all.
 
I then poked around and selected to only display Cakewalk effects, couldn't figure out which is distortion, found a simulated 3rd part amp somewhere in the right click menu and it wants me to upgrade it but it has permissions problems I think when installing the upgrade... Apparently it has only 9 days left??? Not even sure what it is so I'd rather use a non-3rd party distortion effect (or one that works without special activation).
 
Any idea what's going on with the long list of effects (none of them do anything at all when I click them) or what Cakewalk's version of distortion is? I also want to add ambience to a vocal solo soon, any help would be appreciated!
 
Thanks guys!
W7 Ultimate 64bit, i7, 16GB RAM, Alesis Mixmaster4 USB, AISO4All, etc etc.

You need to insert the amp sim into the FX bin as an audio plug.  You may have already known that....
 
 
I have several amp sims. I don't particularly like any of them although a number of people here do.
 
A free amp sim that I have is ACME BAR GIG.... it has a free but slightly limited version on it's web site. One of the cakewalk users here is involved in the creation and tweeking of that amp sim. The others I have, about 3 total.... all came with my software and are the full featured registered versions. 
 
I much prefer using a POD 2 and running the signal straight in. That way I have NO latency. I tend to get the most latency when I use the amp sims. Barely noticeable but I'm very sensitive to pitch and timing issues in a song so I don't often try to use a sim.
 
Mic the amp or the guitar is also a very acceptable solution and easy to do. A standard SM-57/58 is a perfect mic to use to mike electric guitars. I prefer a condenser on the acoustic instruments.
 

Welcome to the forum.
To insert any VST or DX effect into an audio track, right-click in the track's FX bin, select the effect you want to try. Click the track's Input Echo button.

57Gregy
Welcome to the forum.
To insert any VST or DX effect into an audio track, right-click in the track's FX bin, select the effect you want to try. Click the track's Input Echo button.

and notice that while that will allow you to monitor the plugin during recording - it also adds an echo to the path because of the delay between the input of the guitar through the soundcard, through the computer and back out.  so what you play will be delayed by the time you hear it.
the delay is directly affected by the latency settings on your soundcard.  if you have a good soundcard wtih low latency, your delay will be very little - if not, it will be intolerable to use that way.

unclanrhino
 
   I read about reducing the latency with a buffer setting
   Anyone know where it is and what to set it at to try and reduce the latency?
   How does one "insert the amp sim into the FX bin as an audio plug"... lol

I think most of the answers you can find in the help files and tutorials. When there's something specific you don't understand, you'll get answers here, but it's no use we start copy pasting the manual for you here.

What other folks have their latency set at is irrelevant, unless they have the exact computer you have, with all the same programs and peripherals, all running exactly as you have yours set.
Click the P key on your computer keyboard to bring up MC 6's preferences. What are yours set to?
Latency around 10 ms is usually fast enough that the delay won't be noticable to folks with normal brains. Like me.

Unfortunately the Alesis USB Mixmaster uses the USB Audio CODEC as it's drivers and it does not have native ASIO drivers.  Native ASIO drivers would give you much lower latency availabililty.
 
on my website I have some soundcard recommendations (although I admit I've not updated the list in way too long), but I do not ever recommend the Alesis USB mixer as a viable option because of their non-ASIO drivers and high latency.

And thanks for the soundcard research. Unfortunately I'm on a laptop for now :/

I see... hmm. Hopefully I can live with it for now. I'll report back with how it went when I come back in range of the internet. *crosses fingers*