To get started, go to Help-Help Topics, select the "Creating a Project" book, then click Open. Next, select the "Creating a Project" topic, and click Display.
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If you would like to order Cakewalk Home Studio, please visit our web site at http://www.cakewalk.com, or call 888-CAKEWALK.
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The Cakewalk Home Studio online Help contains many great tutorials, which will get you up and running in no time at all.
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You can instantly jump to any measure in a song.
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To do so, click the Now Time box in the Position or Transport (Large) toolbar, choose Go-Time, or simply press F5. Then, type the measure number and click OK/press enter.
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Want to create a new song with changing time signatures? Home Studio lets the time signature of your songs change any time you want.
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Choose Insert-Meter/Key Change to insert a change in time signature, or choose View-Meter/Key to see all the time signatures in your song.
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After zooming in or out in the Clips pane, Piano Roll view, Audio view, you can quickly revert to the previous zoom level.
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To do so, press the U key.
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Want to put music on your web site? You can create RealAudio and RealMedia files with Home Studio.
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Choose Tools-Export Audio to save audio data in RealMedia format, or to save an entire song in RealMedia Metafile (RTSL) format. Please note that file saving is disabled in this demo version.
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If you keep adding audio tracks, eventually the overall volume will get too high, causing clipping or distortion.
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One simple solution is to make use of the Vel+ velocity offset in each audio track. Enter a negative number to decrease the track's playback level.
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In the clips pane (right half) of the Track view, you can select tracks and regions of time -- regardless of clip boundaries.
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To do so, hold the ALT key while clicking and dragging to select.
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If your keyboard recording playing is a little loose in its timing, Home Studio can fix it up to be as precise as you'd like.
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Select the clip you want to modify, and then choose the Edit-Quantize command.
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Is the song in the wrong key for you to sing along? If all the tracks contain MIDI data, you can change the key in a few seconds!
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Choose Edit-Select-All to select all the clips in the song, and then choose Edit-Transpose to move it up or down as you like.
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You can use the Console view to alter the balance and stereo panning of your tracks while the song is playing.
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To do so, choose View-Console, then adjust the pan slider for the desired track.
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You can visit our web site, which includes news, technical information, free downloads, and lots more cool stuff.
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To do so, choose Help-Cakewalk Web Site. This will automatically launch most Internet browsers. If yours doesn't, then start it manually and go to "http://www.cakewalk.com".
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You can create Markers that label specific points in your song, and then use the Marker whenever you want to reference a particular time.
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To create a Marker, choose Insert-Marker, or press F11 while the song is playing. To use a marker, press F5 whenever you'd normally enter a time.
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When you record on an existing track, you can layer new notes on top of existing notes, or replace the existing material.
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To choose, click the Record Mode button in the control bar, or choose Realtime-Record Mode.
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Made a Mistake? You can undo virtually any change you've made to a Home Studio project.
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To do so, type Ctrl-Z, or choose Edit-Undo.
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It's easy to create accidentals (sharps or flats) in the Staff view.
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To do so, choose the Draw tool (pencil), and drag the note while holding down both mouse buttons.
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You can set the time signature for a new song before you start recording. You'll want to do this before recording a waltz or tarantella.
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First, choose File-New to create a new song. Then click on the Meter (time signature) area in the Transport (Large) toolbar, or choose Insert-Meter/Key Change.
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You can quickly zoom in to perform a detailed edit in the Clips pane/Piano Roll view/Audio view, then zoom back out to continue working on other areas of a project.
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To do so, hold down the Z key, and lasso select the region you want to zoom in on. You can then press the U key to revert to the previous zoom level.
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In any Home Studio dialog which has a time field, you can quickly enter the location of a Marker.
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To do so, press F5. This opens a list of Markers you can pick from. The list includes Markers you have created, plus various predefined Markers (Now, Beginning, End, From and Thru).
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You can quickly set up a time selection in any of the graphical views by dragging the mouse cursor over the horizontal Time ruler.
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If you first press the Snap button, the time selection will be evenly incremented by the Snap duration.
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You can graphically edit fades made in the StudioWare and Console views.
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To do so, open the Piano Roll View and edit the fade in the Controllers pane. If you are in the Console view, you can right-click a module, and select Edit Automation Data.
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You can change the scale that is used for meters in the Console view.
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To do so, right-click a meter, and select one of four scales: 24 dB Range, 42 dB Range, 60 dB Range, or 90 dB Range.
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You can make sample accurate cuts of your audio.
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To do so, right-click on the audio and select Split. You can enter the sample you wish to cut at.
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For persistent time selections, you can insert a pair of markers in any graphical view: one at the beginning time and another at the end time.
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Clicking between the markers (in the time ruler) will now select the time range.
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You can quickly find patches that contain specific text. For example, you can find all patches (in any bank) that contains the word "Piano".
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To do so, right-click a track in the Track view, and select Track Properties. Next, click the Patch Browser button that is located to the right of the Bank and Patch drop-down lists. You can then type a specific text string, and Home Studio will only display patches that contain that specific text string.
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You can jump to any Marker by pressing F5 twice.
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Press F5 the first time to open the GoTo Time dialog box. Press F5 again to choose from a list of Markers. The list includes all your own Markers, plus various predefined Markers (Now, Beginning, End, From and Thru).
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You can also jump to any marker by selecting the marker from the drop-down list in the Markers toolbar.
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If you want to enter a track name in the Track view that starts with the letter "R" or "W", press Enter or F2 first before you type the name.
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The reason is because "R" is the hotkey for Record, and "W" is the hotkey for Rewind. Other characters are not special, and will automatically start inserting text.
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Confused about which MIDI port is assigned to which MIDI device? Home Studio lets you see which one is which.
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Choose Tools-MIDI Devices. The first selected output device is assigned to Port 1, the second to Port 2, and so on.
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Like to have your windows arranged a certain way? You can create and save your own custom screen layouts, and call them up any time you want.
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Choose View-Layouts to save your current screen layout or to load a layout you have already saved.
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You can now easily record on multiple tracks simultaneously.
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To do so, simply assign a Source and press the Arm button for each track you wish to record on.
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You can add real-time effects to your audio tracks.
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To do so, open the Console view and right-click in the Track Inserts, Aux buses, or Master section.
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You can quickly create a Marker during playback or recording, even if
you're not in the Markers view.
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To do so, press F11. This is a shortcut for the Insert-Marker command.
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You can tell Home Studio where to look for certain types of files.
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To do so, go to Tools-Global Options, and click the Folders tab. This file determine the default directory when inserting wave files, choosing File-Open, File-Save As, etc.
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You can change the properties of any note in the Staff view or Piano Roll view.
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To do so, click on the note with the right mouse button.
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When recording audio, you can check the input level to ensure that you are recording at an optimal level.
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To do so, open the Console View and click the (record) Arm button in the track you want to record on. Make sure the Record Meters button is pressed.
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You can choose to enable or disable the display of vertical lines in the Clips pane of the Track view.
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To do so, click the right mouse button, and choose View Options. Then check or uncheck Display Vertical Rules as desired.
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You can ensure that you never lose an audio take again.
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To do so, Choose Tools-Audio Options, click the Advanced tab, and enable the Take Vault. Please note that this demo version does not save any files.
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You can quickly apply the From and Thru times of a selection as a loop.
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To do so, select the section and then press the Copy From/Thru button in the Loop toolbar. Make sure the Loop button is pressed.
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You can Scrub on multiple tracks of Audio at the same time.
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To do so, open the Audio view with the tracks you want to hear. Next, select the Scrub tool, and drag the mouse cursor across the Time Ruler while holding the left mouse button.
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You can quickly Zoom in and out to the minimum and maximum settings in any view.
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To do so, hold down SHIFT while clicking on the magnifying glass.
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In addition, if you keep one of the zoom buttons pressed for a short moment, the view will continue to zoom in/out.
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You can free up your CPU by archiving muted tracks.
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To do so, select the track and then choose Track-Archive, or right-click the track and select Archive from the inspector menu.
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You can change the number of Ticks Per Quarter Note.
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To do this, choose Tools-Project Options, then select the Clock tab.
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The ReadMe file has tons of great information in it.
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You can view it by choosing Help-View README.RTF.
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You can move toolbars to different locations.
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To do this, click and drag the top left corner of the toolbar you wish to move.
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You can maximize your CPU performance when running DirectX plug-ins in real-time. To improve playback performance, you can apply the effects as offline commands instead.
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To do so, save the current effect settings as a preset. Delete the real-time effect, then apply the same effect from the Audio view Plug-in inspector menu. By selecting the preset you created, you can quickly apply the same effect settings. The track will sound the same, but the CPU won't have to work as hard.
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You can change the Tempo of MIDI and Audio at the same time.
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To do so, go to Insert-Tempo Change. Then adjust the Tempo and enable Stretch Audio.
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In the console view, you can patch effects in any order you want; if the effects are out of order, or you want to change the order.
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To do so, simply use drag and drop to move the effects.
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You can add new tracks in the Console view.
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To do so, simply right click in the Console view, and choose Add Track. You can specify whether you want to add a MIDI or audio track.
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If you use real-time MIDI plug-ins and want to save as a Standard MIDI file, use the "Apply MIDI Effects" button in the Console view to apply the MIDI effects to the tracks themselves (Note: files saving is disabled in this demo version)..
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To do so, select the tracks (in the Track view) that contain real-time MIDI plug-ins, then open the Console view and click the "Apply MIDI Effects" button. This will ensure that the tracks sound the same as they do when using real-time MIDI effects.
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You can specify the number of seconds that should be used when auditioning effects.
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To do so, select Tools-Global Options-General, and specify a number for 'Audition Commands for [<integer>] Seconds'.
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In the File Open dialog, you can automatically jump to a specific directory that you have specified in Tools-Global Options-Folders.
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To do so, go to File-Open, and select a file type from the "Go to Folder" drop-down list.
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You can specify which editing view Home Studio should open when double-clicking a MIDI or audio clip in the Clips pane.
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To do so, right-click in the Clips pane, and select View Options.
