This place needs some lively discussion...What do you use MC for?

Discussion!
 
What version of MC do you use and what do you use it for?
 
I have versions MC5 & MC6.  But I also have Sonar X1 Producer.  however, I have MC on my laptop and it's great for just throwing together a stereo capture of a rehearsal just to use as a "practice tape."  I also use MC to help people mostly on these forums.  for true multitracking I use X1.

Thanks for sharing, Jame!  I hope all is well with you!

I hoped more people would chime in.  oh well.  Just trying to stir the board up a little.

I bought MC4 about 4 years ago, when MC5 came out I entered a Cake promo give away and won the second of six  copies they gave away. I continued to use MC4 most often. 

I recently crossgraded to X1e. I bounce between MC4 & X1 as needed. 

I use them to produce finished (in my opinion anyway) songs for film & TV and other commercial uses. Since MC will produce broadcast quality music ..... it serves the purpose so far.

I have both MC4 and MC5. I was using MC5 until it stopped allowing me to choose the output on synth or audio tracks - e.g. I couldn't send things to the Master Bus or an effects bus. I uninstalled it and tried again. It worked for a while, but then the same problem arose.

So, I went back to MC4, and it was like meeting an old friend! I really liked being able to reduce the height of the tracks - it provides a better overview of what's going on without scrolling up and down or opening and closing folders ... and I have access to the Sound Centre that came with MC5. So I'm happy with MC4 at the moment.

J

Spot on Beagle. I just checked and I missed an MC5 update. Under the enhancements with the update: 'New templates are available to address an issue where track/bus outputs could not be changed'. Problem solved! Many thanks Beagle for pointing that out.

J

absolutely!  but if you're talking about doing this live I"m not sure that's the way I'd go.  for practice, however, or for creating backing tracks to burn down to a CD this is completely the way to do it!

it's just as you said - create or import MIDI tracks, mute the ones you don't want to hear at the time and go!

electronic drums can trigger the softsynth SI drums from MC5 as well!  connect them via USB or MIDI cable to your soundcard (depending on what you have) and you might have to do some setup to get it to work right, but we can help you with that.

Great. This is something I hope to experiment with in the very near future, and the idea of hooking the drums up sounds good too.
I have thought about mixing down to cd or mp3 to reduce the risk of technical difficulties, but if a computer/software setup proved reliable it would be a real advantage to be able to adjust the individual tracks if necessary to suit the acoustics of the room.
So if I wanted to hook up 2 or 3 midi devices to control MC, what would be the best way to do it? Connect each device straight to the PC via USB or connect the first device via USB and then daisy chain with midi in/out/thru connections?

I use my computer for live performance, and it does a great job. I do not use cake though, i use a program called Real Band, i do this cause Rb picks up the lyrics and chords in the song, and i suffer from CRS badly, so i need to take a peek once in a while.

If you have one of those memories where you can remember all the chords and lyrics to 30, 40 songs for a night then a CD or MP3 backing is safer, and less worries. I have not yet had my system crash, but when it does i will dela with it with a joke or two.

"The band was out late last night and they fell asleep, let's wake them up with this number" or something!

You could always have a notebook in a stand with the songs notes for each in it, and go the simple route.

Another reason i like the computer version is i once played a private party where a couple of the guest joined me for a song or two. One played a bit of keyboards. another some electric guitar. I was able to mute those instruments on the fly and it went off without a hitch.
 
You can do all this with Sonar or MC, you jsut have to type in the lyrics, and chords and such.

Guitarhacker


I saw some guys... playing keys and sax in a rest home a few weeks ago where I was working.... they used Cake live. And large lyrics were scrolling to the song. 

there is a lyrics view.  I would never think of using cake for that - I would think a karaoke program would do better.

They were set up in the lobby area.... and directly in front of the door that I needed to work on. So while working on the door I got a good look at the lappy screen. 

They were finished with the gig a short time later so I spoke with them for a few minutes.  They were loading each song into some version of sonar..... no play list, just whatever they decided was next..... and they were in no hurry between songs... 

Alas, I no longer use MC except to help others who might have a question about it.
Even that is getting hard since there have been so many new versions since my last MC purchase. A lot of changes since 2004.

I know you can load up lyrics, but you have to enter them one word at a time in step with the melody. When i use Rb for live work, i start my songs with .kar files, they already have the lyrics embedded. Some are pretty bad, so i use RTs, and RDs, and Jamstix, Sampletank, and other things to fix them up. I play some of the tracks myself, and record that. When i get it to where i want, I save and store, then use the Jukebox feature to make play lists, with about 10 to 15 seconds between each song.

I name the playlist like Country 1 or Rock 1 or uptempo country, or Country Ballads. Easy Rock mix, what ever, and i can recall them, and the will start with one space bar click and keep loading one song after another, until the set is done.

You can do this in Sonar or MC with play lists, and if you want the lyrics just type them in abd place the chord letters in Caps at the change point.

Some folks use a note screen and open it over the song. There are literally a dozen ways to skin that cat.

I was working last night on two old tunes for the uptempo set, "from a Jack to a King", and "Travelin Band", fro CCR. I was able to add some very cool solo licks from the RTs collection that work pretty well. Great even mentioning it will make me have "seven thirty seven coming outta the sky.. " in my head the rest of the day!

Because I have VSTs.
MC Pro 24 and MC 2003 can't use them (without the VST adapter).
And I have SHS.