Cakewalk Pro Audio 9

At last! The multitrack piano‑roll view — note that Cakewalk intelligently handles both drums and normal instruments in the same view.

If Cakewalk was a cat, it'd be on its last life by now — but, as Kevin Perry discovers, the long‑established PC sequencing package shows no sign of turning up its paws just yet...

The history of the Cakewalk family of sequencers on the PC goes back all the way to the dim and distant days of DOS. Recent versions have seen some notable features and firsts: version 6 was the first Windows sequencer to support real‑time DirectX plug‑ins, version 7 introduced an enhanced, floating‑point mix engine which massively improves mixing headroom and a 'proper' mixing console (of which more later), while version 8 came with real‑time MIDI plug‑ins and mixing envelopes (aka vectors). So, is there anything new that version 9 can offer our jaded, pre‑millenial tastes? Oh yes...

Installation

Tab and fretboard views will win friends among the guitarists out there.

One of the best things about version 9 is that, refreshingly, Cakewalk seem to have listened to their existing customers. This is clear even at installation: pop in the CD, run the installation routine, type in a CD key and serial number when prompted, choose which options to install and sit back and relax. There is no floppy‑disk key to lose, nor dongle for the dog to eat, so you can rest assured that when you need to reinstall the software (which will almost inevitably happen at some stage — this is Windows, after all!), you won't be left out in the cold.

Along with a version of DirectX Media (formerly known as Quartz, DMSS, ActiveMovie, and so on) and an update to a common Windows library (which is not installed if you already have a later version), you also get the obligatory demo files (does anyone actually use these with any software?), templates, Studioware panels and the like. De‑installation is painless, but files and registry entries created after Cakewalk is installed are left behind: this is a limitation of InstallShield rather than of Cakewalk.

On running version 9 for the first time, you will be prompted whether to search for a previous version on your hard disk (if this is the case, most of your settings are migrated, which is a nice touch), to profile your audio hardware, and to select which MIDI ports you will be using. Profiles for some common soundcards already exist, and you can choose to use such a profile if you desire: it's probably best to profile anew anyway (just in case!) to ensure that your soundcard is correctly configured, especially since it takes such a short time.

A Quick Tour

The new AudioX view, in this case for the Yamaha DSP Factory

Once past the annoying splash screen and the tip of the day, you're into Cakewalk proper, and the familiar track view appears. In this review I'll concentrate on the new features in version 9; those unfamiliar with the basic Cakewalk interface might like to refer back to previous SOS reviews — the most recent of which, in September 1998's issue, covered version 7. The track view in Cakewalk shows the structure of the project you're currently working on, with track parameters on the left, and colour‑coded clips of MIDI and audio sequence data on the right. An enhancement in this version is the ability to patch and edit insert effects from the left‑hand side of the track view, though unfortunately this doesn't extend to effects on Aux busses or the main outputs, so you will probably still need to use the console view. Clips can be edited in a variety of ways: traditional drag‑and‑drop works as you would expect, and there are the usual detailed views that can be opened, including a piano roll, a staff view, audio view and event list. New in version 9 is a multitrack piano‑roll editor (with the ability to intelligently control which tracks to hide and select — see screenshot, left) and the enhanced staff view which should keep sequencing guitarists relatively happy!

The AudioX view is new: this allows the DSP facilities on soundcards to be accessed from within Cakewalk using a consistent interface. At present, only the Yamaha DSP Factory is supported, but Sonorus are apparently about to release drivers for their new MEDI/O and existing STUDI/O cards imminently, and support has been promised by other companies. AudioX should address one of the main concerns with soundcards that support onboard routing, mixing and effects, namely that the availability of any particular card's facilities within a sequencer currently depends on the manufacturers of that sequencer providing dedicated support for that card. Providing a generic sequencer interface instead, as here, pushes the requirement for supporting such cards' enhanced functionality back to the hardware manufacturers, which may help to resolve this problem.

The normal console view is still provided, though almost everything in it can also be edited from the track view (the exceptions being the Aux busses and master section). Both MIDI and audio channels are visible at the same time in the console view, as well as sections for the Aux busses and master output(s): it has undergone a slight makeover, but it's very refreshing to see an emphasis on clarity rather than hardware mimickry. Thankfully, almost all of the knobs have disappeared, to be replaced with far more usable sliders.

The audio view has been much updated since the last review of Cakewalk in Sound On Sound. Cakewalk 8 introduced pan and volume envelopes, also known as vectors. I don't think enough good things can be said about envelopes. They offer a way of working which, to my mind, is much more flexible than 'virtual console' approaches, and is better able to play to the strengths of software‑based mixing. Mute, solo and record buttons have been added to the audio view to increase ease of use and minimise view switching, and the scrubbing tool has been much improved (the less said about previous implementations of audio scrubbing, the better).

Cakewalk 9 introduces stereo track support, which provides a number of benefits. Recording a stereo signal now produces interleaved stereo WAV files, which is more efficient in terms of disk overheads than two mono files. More importantly, though, stereo tracks are far easier to manage: rather than having to manually synchronise two envelopes, only a single envelope is required; panning using envelopes similarly becomes quicker to implement; stereo dynamics processing now becomes practical; finally, they take up less vertical screen space! It's possible to mix both mono and stereo clips on a single track for maximum flexibility; mono clips are panned to the centre by default, and you can use an envelope to control the individual mono clip's stereo positioning. The only real annoyance to Cakewalk 9's handling of stereo tracks is the way that you turn two mono tracks into a single stereo one or vice versa: this is treated as audio bouncing and it's all too easy to inadvertently destructively apply effects while doing this.

Plug‑ins

A sample selection of the styles and patterns available from Cakewalk's Session Drummer: even heavy metal gets a few entries! The results are eminently usable as they are or as the basis for your own drum tracks.

Cakewalk is almost certainly unique in offering real‑time, non‑destructive plug‑ins for both MIDI and audio. Audio effects support conforms to the DirectX standard; VST plug‑ins are not supported, though you can use the Amulet VST/DirectX adaptor, available from surf.to/amulet/. A number of plug‑ins come with the package, all of which are perfectly usable although not necessarily the best examples of their kind. The stereo EQ has been optimised for very low CPU usage, and there is now an option to automatically insert one of these onto every new audio track; Amp Sim Lite, a guitar amp simulator, is not only an unusual plug‑in to see included, but also one of the best‑sounding plug‑ins I've heard, even though it's just a taster for the full version. I have been using it on rhythm tracks and bass tracks (where it makes virtually any bass line sound like Lemmy!) as well as using it 'properly' on guitar lines.

Unlike the competition, Cakewalk have chosen not to implement a dynamics and/or equalisation section for each audio track, perhaps feeling that since there are excellent plug‑ins on the market to perform these audio processes already, there is no need to re‑invent the wheel and waste valuable development time. It would, however, have been nice to see Cakewalk bundling at least their own dynamics processing effects with the product, for those people who haven't already invested in something like Waves' Native Power Pack.

MIDI plug‑ins were first introduced in version 8, and some interesting new ones ship with version 9, including Cakewalk's own Session Drummer and a 'lite' version of Ntonyx's Style Enhancer (reviewed in its stand‑alone incarnation last month). Session Drummer comes with a wide range of styles and patterns that can act as the basis for a rhythm track or, if you're feeling exceptionally lazy, can actually be the rhythm track. Although many will criticise it as a further dumbing‑down of computer‑based music, it is a fantastic compositional aid, and there's nothing to stop you from editing and customising what's generated. It is also possible to configure your own drum kit for use within Session Drummer if you're not using a General MIDI mapping. The interface is slightly cumbersome if you wish to generate MIDI data rather than use the plug‑in in real‑time (you need to have a time or event selection made before you can destructively apply the effect), but that is offset by the power of the tool and the sheer number of styles and patterns provided.

Style Enhancer takes the compositional tool one step further and allows you to apply a particular style to a MIDI track. The results range from the truly awful to the awe‑inspiring: I achieved the most interesting results by deliberately applying the 'wrong' style to a MIDI track. Be aware that running this plug‑in in real time is as computationally expensive as many audio effects, so don't just think that because it's MIDI, it's light work for the PC.

It's a great shame that there's been such a poor take‑up of support for the MIDI plug‑in standard: Ntonyx, a Russian company(!), is the only third party that has developed any. Compared to audio effects, basic MIDI effects should be very easy to write (no knowledge of DSP required) but the market is curiously devoid of freeware and shareware offerings.

It's now possible to destructively apply an existing real‑time effect, whether MIDI or audio, with a couple of mouse clicks. This can be invaluable when you're running out of processor power. Unfortunately, there's no way of copying effects from one track to another using drag and drop, although it is possible to move them, and to save a plug‑in's settings as a preset, and load them into a new instance of the plug‑in.

Final Opinion

Cakewalk 9 in use can be summed up in two words: it works. It doesn't crash, it works logically and it does what it says it does. I don't think you can ask for more than that. With latencies of around 40mS, I've been achieving playback of (all 16‑bit 44.1kHz) 20 stereo tracks, each with a parametric EQ, and 7 mono tracks (each with a Waves C1 compressor, parametric EQ and simple delay) with a Waves Trueverb and Stereoimager on the master output. The system was definitely straining at that point, but I could have increased latency or played with disk buffer sizes if I had wanted to run more: the system is flexible enough to allow that.

I've used Cakewalk since version 4 and have never been tempted to change to one of the other popular PC sequencers. Why? I suppose there are two main reasons. The first is that Cakewalk is just so damn stable: compared to European software houses, the Americans seem to spend more time on the heart of the application and less on gratuitous window candy and 'featuritis'. Yes, the audio may stutter or stop if I push the PC too much, but I honestly can't remember the last time Cakewalk crashed on me (since version 5 or 6). Secondly, it's incredibly easy to use: there is no complex environment to navigate (I've tried, believe me, I've tried!) nor is there any reliance on floating toolboxes or illogical mouse clicks. Cakewalk operates logically and sticks to the functional Windows standards, making it easy for the novice to learn, but at the same time fast for the expert user.

Version 9 takes the solid foundation of previous versions and builds on that with improved performance and functionality where it matters, without sacrificing the stability or usability, and adds in just enough extra features to look good in adverts (cynic!). If you're sequencing on Windows, then you ought to think about Cakewalk‑ing.