Not able to do a song fade-out

Scale Velocity is for MIDI tracks. Process > Apply Effect > Audio Effects is for rendering FX in the track's FX bin.

You should have Process > Apply Effects > Fade/Envelope available, but that's a destructive edit. Rather then doing something destructive, and doing it to each track individually, it would be better to apply a non-destructive volume envelope to the Master Bus. Or you can bounce the mix to another track with no fade applied, solo it, and drag the clip fader handle back from the end of the clip to apply a fade out.

Scale Velocity is not all that great for a traditional fade effect. Lots of synths will actually change the character of their sound according to how hard the note is being hit, so it could give weird results.

An envelope on the Master Bus isn't really a "workaround"; it's basically the easiest and best way of doing a global fade.

Actually, I previously used Scale Velocity in 8.5 and it was so easy and did the job that I wanted, which was just to end the song at lower, or no, volume.
 
But, you are right that my main concern is that the function is not available.  Nor are any of the audio effects.  Nor are Edits after right clicking a clip.
 
Did not use any Step Sequencing.  Something about Selecting is not working, even though that portion of those clips became darker, as did that section of the time line.

dscoyne, those tracks haven't been frozen, have they?

By fading velocity you keep the overall noise level up while the note volumes go down, which could sound weird.

There are other potential problems with fading velocity, too:


1a. Not all synths have the same velocity-to-volume relationship, so the mix will almost certainly change across the fade. Some sounds may change radically with velocity switching, or not sound at all below a certain velocity.
1b. Depending on how you scale/offset the velocities, you may lose natural dynamics and/or have more problems with the mix changing due to offset being fixed rather than being a percentage.
2. Sustained notes will not fade; once the note-on hits at a given velocity, that's it, the volume will not change except according to the Amp envelope of the patch.
3. As already mentioned, many synths respond to velocity with more than just volume change; timbre, modulation, amp envelopes, built-in FX and other sound parameters may also change in unexpected/undesirable ways.

Why is it you don't use a Master Bus? Inserting a volume envelope in the Master Bus would be the most obvious way of doing a fade? Most any editing and FX works better and is easier to do when you do it on audio tracks. You propably have some good reason to struggle with the MIDI-clips?

There is the easy way to do a good fade, why are you struggling to make a poorer sounding fade the hard way?

IIRC you can not draw Clip Fade  in a MIDI-clip, but I'm not sure.
Doing a clip fade you must be careful which part of the clip you touch. IIRC for a fade you must touch the upper border/corner of the clip. Touching the end of the clip activates Slip Editing.

While it's good that everybody hints the OP at how he can do his fade (and I agree he should do that task on audio signal), I think that aspect has been beaten to death now. While the question why those MIDI processes are not available to him in the first place is still open. And personally I find that question a lot more interesting.
At some point there may come a task that does afford velocity scaling on a MIDI clip. For example when the purpose is indeed to mimic an instrument getting played softer and softer during the fade out.  I know that I have done that before and it sure is a valid thing to do with a song. So, once assumed that was what he wanted, what should he do then, if all appropriate processes are grayed out? Is there a velocity envelope (clip or track) he could use instead?

Have some new info to report after contacting Cakewalk Support.  In one of my posts, I said:
 
"I did test out dragging the clip fader handle from the end of a single clip.  But instead of getting a Red line and Triangle, I got a Blue line and Rectangle.  This would only shorten the clip, not cause a fade.  If I could change that to the red line and triangle, I could probably get this done."
 
I was told that the Red is only available for Audio clips.  So the clip fader handle will not work for fading MIDI clips, which is what I have been concerned with.
 
And I now think that the reason my choices in the Process menu, including Scale Velocity, were grayed out is because this project was started in 8.5, then opened and saved in X1.  Cakewalk Support did not think so, but I think they are wrong because that was not a problem in 8.5 with the original file, and also not a problem with a different new project started in X1.
 
I still don't understand this, as suggested, and I repeat:  Why it is necessary to route Audio tracks when the only tracks playing at that point in the song are MIDI tracks.  If I do  that, will it also fade the MIDI tracks?  And should that also include the Synth tracks?  So should I include ALL tracks sent to a Master Bus in order to get the MIDI tracks to fade?
 
Thanks for all the input.  Really appreciated by this newbie...........Don
 
 
 
  

All the tracks should already be sent to the master bus by default.  if you can hear your synths they are routed to the master.

A song fade is a song fade. Bounce to mix and fade the .wav.

I was told that the Red is only available for Audio clips.  So the clip fader handle will not work for fading MIDI clips, which is what I have been concerned with.

FWIW, you were told that in post #12 already, though perhaps not with sufficient conviction.


It does appear that you need to get a little bit better grip on the relationship between MIDI messages and audio signals.


As for Scale Velocity being grayed out, there may be other project/clip states that can cause this, but the only ones I know offhand are:


1. No MIDI events are selected.
2. The data are locked in clip properties.
3. The clip is a Step Sequencer clip.