Newbie needing serious help.

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Free Beer
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2012/11/22 06:11:49 (permalink)

Newbie needing serious help.

Ive been playing an electric guitar for almost 20 years and I needed a microphone with a USB connection to upload my voice to my computer. I purchased a very nice mic and it had the Music Creator LE software in the package, but I had no idea of the broad range of recording properties included with this purchase. I have written a few songs and do all of my own recording on my laptop, but I am completely lost here as I know nothing even about the terminology of percussion instruments. I have tried to figure it out as I go, but I would rather drive into a solid concrete wall at high speed at this rate and Ive already started the car! I need some kind of basic direction and perhaps a little vocabulary to guide me through the drum section of my music and Im sure I will pick it up soon enough, but as for now Im thinking about blowing up a building somewhere because Im so frustrated with my ignorance. I didnt know this would be all I would need to write a fully composed song with out any physical instruments and I am very intrigued with the possibilities within the software. Im not really going to blow anything up but I sure could use some detailed advice about what to do first.
Thanks
Allen
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    Guitarhacker
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    Re:Newbie needing serious help. 2012/11/22 08:40:36 (permalink)
    Welcome Allen. 

    Cakewalk software is pretty cool stuff and it does take a bit of time to get it all working properly at times. Knowing what does what..... and the proper terminology, helps. 

    To aid in your understanding...... watch these videos on Music Creator 6 (MC6) since they are designed to take you from square one to knowing your way around the software.

    http://www.cakewalk.com/CakeTV/Music-Creator.aspx

    Second thing.... using a USB mic is not the best way to use this software. It creates many problems as you will likely find out as you attempt to use it with Cake products. The best way to record is to have a dedicated audio interface, which is also USB but trust me when I say the difference between a dedicated audio interface and a USB mic is like the difference between day and night. 

    A USB mic is an exercise in frustration when you try to record multiple tracks in sync and are playing back on the computer since you are using 2 different sound cards....one in the computer and the USB mic is a sound card.....and there is no sync between the clocks in the 2 different sound cards so syncing things is nearly impossible.  THis makes multitrack recording, which needs perfect sync, extremely frustrating.... since nothing lines up properly. 

    I'm not saying a USB mic doesn't have a useful purpose, just that using it with Cake is not the best thing to attempt. 

    Third, if you use a browser other than fire fox, you can actually do paragraphs and other kinds of formatting. 

    fourth... in the Sonar LE forum, at the very top you will find this thread. 

    HOW TO SET UP A USB MIC PROPERLY>>>>    http://forum.cakewalk.com/tm.aspx?m=1618556

    It was put there as a sticky so that folks wishing to use a USB mic would have the best chance to get it working properly. It was written by an experienced user and some folks find it very helpful. 

    Feel free to ask questions here if you run into issues.
    post edited by Guitarhacker - 2012/11/22 08:44:59

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    57Gregy
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    Re:Newbie needing serious help. 2012/11/23 00:50:34 (permalink)
    Welcome to the forum.
    I also had a problem with the terminology at first. But reading the Help files and doing the tutorials really helped me, long before all these videos were available.
    You can also check the glossary for many terms you're not familiar with.
    What terms do you need help with?

    Greg 
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