TIMECODE RECORDING AND PLAYBACK IN
CAKEWALK PRO AUDIO 8.01 DELUXE
Fig. 1 & 2- 16-channel 16-bit and 14-channel 24-bit audio recording, recorded from two ADAT XT20s.
Note the 'missing' waveforms - Cakewalk has a filter that will not draw a wave if audio remains at 0db. Silence will not be displayed.
This application note describes how we
recorded 16 channels in Cakewalk at 16 bit resolution and how we recorded
14 channels at 24 bit resolution, locked to two ADAT XT20 s (of
course, the 24 bit files had only 20 significant bits - the resolution
of the ADATs).
| Hardware | Software |
| Pentium-II 300MHz
SUPER P6SBS motherboard Matrox G200 AGP Powerdesk graphics card 128MB RAM Adaptec AHA-2940U/AHA-2940UW PCI SCSI controller 2.05GB Micropolis 4221W SCSI hard drive (system) 4.5GB Seagate Cheetah 4LP SCSI hard drive (audio) STUDI/O STUDI/O Sync Backplate (not used for this) 2x AUDI/O AD/24
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Windows 95 B
Cakewalk Pro Audio 8.01 Deluxe Sonorus 1.37 drivers Virtual Memory: Disabled Graphics Acceleration: Second notch from 'None' Matrox settings: PCI bus mastering ON, Device bitmaps caching ON, Filtering when scaling ON, Polygon accelleration ON
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Here are the pertinent setup screens in Cakewalk:
Fig. 3 & 4 - Audio Options - General.
Let's start with the Audio Options Window, found in the 'Tools' pull down menu. The first tab, 'General,' allows you to set the Sample Rate. This is very important! Make sure it matches the sample rate you are actually running at. If you're not sure, check the 'measured sample rate' in our Error/Status panel.
The Playback and Record Timing Masters are used to decide which sound card should control timing for your songs. Set them to any STUDI/O device.
The Default Bit Depth and Bits Per Sample must be set to the bit resolution that you want to playback and record with. In Figure 3, we are working at 16 bit resolution while in Figure 4 we are working at 24 bit resolution.
The Wave Profiler determines the proper
MIDI and Audio timings for your sound card and writes them to a file that
Pro Audio refers to when using the card. Cakewalk does this the first
time you run it after installing it, but if you're using a different soundcard
or if you added a new one, it's a good idea to run it again.
Fig. 5 - Audio Options - Advanced.
The third tab in the Audio Options menu is 'Advanced,' and there are some important settings to note. The Data Directory specifies where audio data will be stored. It's a good idea to make sure the audio files aren't being stored anywhere besides your audio drive - audio files saved on your non-audio drives can crashes and big headaches.
We recommend enabling Copy and Manage Imported Files. By checking this, importing a sound file (*.wav) into a different project will result in a new copy being made and saved with that project. If it's not checked, Cakewalk will try to 'share' the sound file with more than one project. While this saves space, this also means you only have one copy of a file - and deleting it will mean it's lost for good!
The Queue Buffers and Buffer Size are useful to 'tweek' your system to make it more efficient. If you're experiencing dropouts in playback or recording, you can try increasing the number of buffers, which are the blocks of memory set aside for playback and recording, or you can try increasing the size of the buffers.
'Enable Simultaneous Record/Playback' should be checked - this makes sure you can use STUDI/O in full-duplex mode for overdubbing and the like.
The DMA settings are critical to proper audio/MIDI synchronization. Usually the settings are automatically changed when you run the Wave Profiler, but if they don't change, you'll have to enter the appropriate values by hand.
Lastly, 'Trigger and Free-wheel' should
defintiely be checked. Since STUDI/O sample-locks to the ADAT machines
via the lightpipes, and the ADATs are the source of the timecode, the audio
is inherently locked to the timecode. There will be no drift.
Chaselock mode is useful if you are using an analog tape machine and traditional
LTC SMPTE reader -- in that case Cakewalk looks at the timecode timing,
and speeds up or slows down
the audio (interpolating samples) to try to
match it's speed variation. Thankfully, the all-digital studio does
away with this messiness.
Fig. 6 - Project Options - Clock.
Next we move on to the Project Options window, also located in the 'Tools' pull down menu. The first tab is 'Clock' and here you set the Clock source - in this case SMPTE/MTC. Note: To playback the audio without synchronizing to the ADATs, you must set the clock source to 'Internal' after recording.
We like to set the 'Ticks per quarter-note' as high as possible. This increases the resolution of the recording, so if you need to move a bit of audio just a smidgeon, you'll be more accurate and have a little more flexibility.
The SMPTE/MTC Format is the frame rate - we use 30 Frame Non-drop, but the rate changes depending upon the application of the audio and your synchronizer (the Backplate runs at 30 ndf).
The last item on this menu is the SMPTE/MTC
Offset. This corresponds to the start time of the song on the tape
- basically, when the audio you are recording begins. Note:
Because we're using the Sync Backplate, the offset time must have 1 hour
added to it, compared to the tape time indicated on the ADAT machine (this
is commonly done to avoid software crashes due to 'negative' timecode).
In our example, the offset point is 4 min 40sec, so we added 1 hour to
that.
Fig. 7 - Project Options - MIDI Out.
The 'MIDI Out' tab in the Project Options
window is where you can tell Cakewalk to control the ADAT with MIDI Machine
Control. Check 'Transmit MMC' to enable this, and Cakewalk will rewind/fast-forward
and play the tape for you (if you have a suitable MMC controller for your
ADAT). In other programs, you have to rewind the tape to a time just
before the SMPTE offset, hit Record in your program and hit Play on the
tape deck to record, so this is a great feature. We used the Steinberg
ACI to get this, but there's lots of other boxes out there, like the BRC.
Fig. 8 - Global Options - Folders.
The last window from the 'Tools' pull down
menu you need is 'Global Options,' particularly the Folders tab.
Here, you can tell Cakewalk where to save the various files the program
can generate. Since Cakewalk is usually put on your C drive
with other programs, it tends to save everything to the Cakewalk Pro Audio
Folder as a default. The important thing to note is where are the
Wave Files being stored? These are the audio files you record, and
they belong on the audio drive, which in our case is Drive D.
Fig. 9 - Track Properties Window.
We're almost ready to record, but first we have to tell Cakewalk where the audio is coming from and where to play it. Double-click on any track in the 'Source' column (as seen below in Figure 10) and you'll get the Track Properties Window.
The Source is where the audio to be recorded is coming from. Track 1 should have a source as seen above, Left STUDI/O #1 Stereo In(01). Track 2 should have this source: Right STUDI/O #1 Stereo In(01). Track 3's source should be Left STUDI/O #1 Stereo In(02), and so forth.
The 'Port' is the output, and you can have it correspond to the Source - audio coming in Stereo In(01) will play back on Stereo OUT(01), or you can have all the tracks playback out of the STUDI/O Monitor Out to monitor the mix while recording.
For each track you are using, the Volume
must equal 127! If the volume is not set to 127, you won't hear
anything since the default volume is -1. Naturally, you can
use this to set a track's volume lower in a mix if necessary, but we recommend
starting with 127.
Fig. 10 - Record Enabling Tracks.
Once you have set the Track Properties
for all the tracks you want to record (16 in our example), you must Record
Enable the tracks. After a track has a defined Source or Port, the
3 boxes to the left of 'Source' become available and are labeled M
(Mute), S (Solo) and R (Record). Clicking on the R
turns that box red and indicates that the track has been record enabled.
In Figure 10, Tracks 1 through 4 have been record enabled.
Fig. 11 - Info Line during Recording.
Now you're ready to record! After all the set ups have been completed, hit the R key to start recording. The Info Line at the bottom of the screen will show that Cakewalk is waiting for SMPTE timecode - the tape deck should be rewinding/fast-forwarding to just before the offset point. Once it plays, Cakewalk will start recording at the offset time.
By the way - the red box that says 'ARM' is nothing to worry about - it just means that there are tracks that have been record enabled. Next to that, Cakewalk lets you know how much disk space you have left on your audio drive.
To save your work, you can type Control-S or go the the 'File' pull down menu. Cakewalk will ask where to put the project - remember, you've already specified where to put the audio files, so you only need to decide where the project is going to go. Happy recording!
For more info and ideas about Cakewalk Pro Audio 8.01, check out these Cakewalk user sites:
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Keep in mind, that these are the settings that we used to get this setup working. Your mileage may vary.
