Software Audio Workshop & Cakewalk Professional

A true understanding of any piece of studio gear only comes after using it for months, or even years. Last year's Reader Survey suggested that more features would be welcome from people with such 'long‑term' gear experiences, so, in the first part of this occasional series, JANET HARNIMAN COOK reveals the truth about her PC sequencing and digital recording setup...

Advances in chip and hard disk technologies now allow us to enjoy studio production techniques that only a few years ago were exclusive to the elite of the audio recording world. In the late '80s I visited AMS at Burnley, and had hands‑on experience of the AMS Audiofile 8‑track digital recording and non‑linear editing system for an afternoon. It used massive 720Mb Winchester hard drives and was tagged at around £40,000 — certainly way out of my league.

Today a starter system, using a DX2‑66 PC computer running Software Audio Workshop (SAW), can be put together for around £1,700. Such a system will open the door to professional‑quality tapeless 8‑track digital recording and fast non‑linear editing. It will allow you to master your DAT tracks, assemble them into a production master for CD or film soundtrack, record and synchronise live vocals and instruments to a MIDI sequencer, and also act as a an editor for your sampler.

Before Saw

My own recording and editing requirements are defined by video soundtrack production work, and include MIDI music composition, voice‑over and location sound. These elements are recorded to DAT, prior to assembly as a finished soundtrack. Audio quality must be as high as possible so that the soundtrack will still sound good when replayed through low‑fi TV and video.

Originally, I used an Amiga 500 computer with Music X sequencing software for music origination, and an ancient TEAC 3340 4‑track open‑reel tape recorder for assembly. Audio quality was quite good, but the production process was time‑consuming and inaccurate, and each bounce between open‑reel and DAT meant a reduction in audio quality.

Next, I tried two DAT machines, a sampler, and Cubase on an Atari ST. The voice‑over takes were auditioned off DAT and the best transferred to an Emu Emax II sampler equipped with 8Mb of RAM and an 80Mb hard drive. For each 8Mb bank, this yielded 107 seconds of 16‑bit mono sampling time at 39.1kHz, with eight banks needed for a 40‑minute soundtrack.

The required Edit Decision List (EDL), with sample play times and bank changes, was prepared in the Cubase grid editor. The audio quality of this system was far better than I had achieved using my previous setup, but the process was still cumbersome, and editing the voice‑over segments on the sampler's tiny 32‑character LCD and archiving each 8Mb sample bank took ages.

By mid‑1994, with three soundtracks behind me, I felt ready to invest in a full digital recording and editing system. The Alesis ADAT was appealing — cheap recording media and easy to operate — but it did not provide the big‑screen editing facilities I needed, or the 70+ minutes of recording time required for CD assembly and mastering. The Akai DR4D was similarly disqualified — and so I looked to computer‑based systems. My experiences using Ataris and Amigas had been, on the whole, positive and I was curious to know how a mid‑'90s system would perform. Sadly, I wasn't convinced that the Falcon could fly, and the Mac was still over‑priced, so I decided to look at the PC.

Today, the PC is the fastest‑growing computer music production platform. Its global domination of the business market means wide availability, competitive prices and a huge R&D base. PC hardware is also used in top‑end audio applications, such as the AMS Neve Capricorn desk, the DAR Soundstation, DAR Sabre and Lexicon Opus digital audio workstations. However, the deciding factor was the release in mid‑1994 of SAW.

The 486 DX4‑100 PC system which I use is quite modest by current standards. My IBM Spitfire hard drive is fast, but we're talking Ford, not Ferrari! I also use, and would recommend, a 17‑inch monitor. My soundcard — a Turtle Beach Multisound Classic — was chosen for its sweet‑sounding digital‑to‑analogue convertors (DACs) and built‑in Emu Proteus 1XR synth.

Software Audio Workstation

SAW operates as multitrack recorder, editor and assembler. I have used the system for eight months now, and I love it. The digital quality is superb, and analogue transfer equals the best open‑reel tape recorders I have heard. Although it lacks certain sophisticated features of more expensive systems, I found SAW easy to learn and reliable. Once I had worked out the necessary techniques, it quickly integrated into my existing setup — in fact, I found the entire production process faster. Clients are pleased by the cost savings made thanks to the reduced editing time, which has typically halved compared with that used with a tape‑based system. And, as the system is tapeless, multitrack tape machine maintenance costs are avoided.

On screen, SAW is generally well laid out, if a bit blocky. Screen redraws are very fast. Even when the hard drive is almost full, SAW runs without a sign of the sluggishness associated with data bottlenecks. Rock‑solid SMPTE and MTC synchronisation to tape and MIDI are painless using the Music Quest MQX‑32M card. Each SAW archive session prints its Soundfiles to DAT in real time and stores the EDL setup to disk. Valuable space on the hard drive is regained, with the option of later restoration.

• RECORDING

Architecturally, SAW has much in common with Digidesign's Sound Designer. Audio is recorded to the hard disk as stereo Soundfiles (.snd), portions of which can defined as Regions. These can be of any length — a single word, a complete chorus, or a whole track, and are non‑destructively spliced in sequence to form a playlist. The only limit is the amount of free space on your hard disk.

Recording is simple. After routing your source to the PC soundcard, you select 'Record Soundfile' and give it a name. The SAW Record Control Panel appears, and you click on Record. When recording is complete, the take can be transferred directly to SAW Multitrack or added to the Regions list in the EDL view. It is possible to record whilst simultaneously playing back tracks, and SAW will snap the new audio to Multitrack whilst maintaining the relative timings.

SAW can only work at a single sample rate for each session. As my soundcard outputs at 44.1kHz and many of my DAT recordings are at 48kHz, I have to convert the sample rate. This is done in faster than real time from the Regions menu and, like many other SAW edits, is non‑destructive, as a new Soundfile is created and the data of the original remains unaltered. SAW can also import and convert .wav files to .snd and vice versa.

• EDITING

In SAW most editing takes place at Region level, and is usually non‑destructive. The audio data is shown on screen as an amplitude waveform graphic of the soundfile, and editing can be performed with sample‑level accuracy — within a 25‑millionth of a second at 48kHz!

Audio can be cut, pasted, reversed, and changed in pitch and volume, fades can be added, sample rates converted, and tempos matched — all without adding noise. SAW lacks Pan control, but individual Left‑Right levels can be adjusted.

SAW Utilities includes a set of digital audio processing tools that can produce stunning results. In all modules, parameter settings can be saved and recalled. Horizontal guidelines are displayed superimposed on each channel in the Soundfile view, to help set the range of the more important parameters. SAW Utilities is only let down by tacky graphics and the absence of numeric calibration on some parameter adjustments. Having said this, let me emphasise that the effects themselves are marvellous and great fun to use.

The Equaliser module is a 7‑band paragraphic with high‑ and low‑pass filters (18dB/octave). Each band has boost and cut, definable centre frequency (Q) and bandwidth control. This is a very powerful and useful processor — camera sound with motor and wind noise can be salvaged, cleaned up and made useable, and completed tracks can have their EQ tweaked to remove rumble and hiss.

The Compressor/Limiter module also contains a Gate and a Normaliser. Though the Compressor certainly doesn't have the character of its analogue counterparts, it does the job, and the Gate performs well, being most useful for quickly removing unwanted background noise during quiet parts of Soundfiles.

Normalising may be a concept unfamiliar to the digitally uninitiated. Simply put, it is a form of automatic volume processing that adjusts peak volume levels so that they fall within a desired margin below digital clipping. Normalisation can be used to optimise the overall volume level of audio recorded too low, or to re‑balance uneven stereo.

The Echo Generator has discrete control on both channels for Delay time, Feedback and Strength. The sound quality is remarkable: the delayed signal is clear, undistorted and truly transparent, and all it misses is an oscillator for chorus and flanging.

• ASSEMBLER/MULTITRACK

For simultaneous playback of more than one Region, and to create a playback sequence made up of multiple Regions, SAW Multitrack is used. Multitrack graphically displays each stereo Track and the sequence of the Regions within it, which may be positioned with sample accuracy. The 'feel' of the music can be changed by offsetting the start times of recorded parts.

The list of Regions in the Play Sequence EDL determines the playback order in each of the four stereo tracks. To re‑order the list, you simply change the order of the events in the EDL. Comparing takes is easy — just click on the relevant entry in the Regions list in the EDL, and the take is instantly cued and replayed. Track bouncing to stereo on analogue multitrack requires two channels as destinations, but in HD systems, recorded tracks and playback channels are distinct. Consequently, SAW allows 8:2 rather than 6:2, and does not add noise or distortion.

Cakewalk Pro

Cubase was a hard act to follow, but the Atari's processing was slow, and I was attracted by the prospect of an integrated system combining digital audio from SAW with multiport MIDI recording. The MQX‑32 card acts as the main MIDI interface, providing two discrete MIDI Out ports. The PC links externally with my Korg 05R/W and at board level with the Proteus 1XR on the Multisound Classic soundcard, to provide a MIDI port for each synth — a total of 64 MIDI channels.

This type of modern multi‑port handling requires a powerful MIDI sequencer, and until Cakewalk Pro was released, MIDI software on the PC was pretty much a non‑starter for me. With Cakewalk Professional for Windows, Twelve Tone Systems demonstrated that the PC could reliably run powerful modern sequencing software. This was no mean feat, and the many awards that followed reflect this. But for me it has been a love‑hate relationship, and I feel Cakewalk Pro is only "nearly fantastic". Its fast, colourful, multi‑screen, multi‑port, multimedia working is wonderful, but it suffers badly from the absence of some features expected in a professional mid‑'90s MIDI recorder. In addition to a host of lesser omissions, there is no Song Arrange page, only minimal drag and drop editing throughout and, most unforgivably, no MIDI activity indicators.

But Cakewalk Pro has lots of goodies. Tempo, Note and Controller data can be edited graphically. The Tempo Analyser will read mouse clicks (but, oddly, not MIDI Note Ons), and user‑definable Key Binds are available for computer and MIDI keyboard control of the program's functions — I was able to carry over the keybinds I had used in Cubase. Cakewalk Pro also has a Timebase of a maximum 480ppqn, on‑line Help, Fit to Time or Improvisation, and CAL — a powerful event programming language that enables the creation of custom editing commands.

Unfortunately, Cakewalk Pro creates a poor first impression on boot, as it presents the Track/Measure page. There's the expected track list, with common MIDI controller settings, and an excellent user‑definable display of instrument voice bank lists. Cakewalk also contains lists of most common synths' factory voice and drum allocations.

However, the Measures display is a lot of space doing very little, and consists of a grid full of ugly, minimally informative blobs that indicate the presence of MIDI events within each bar. The blobs cannot be grouped together to offer part‑based editing, as on the excellent Cubase Arrange page. Total chaos is held at bay only by Markers that can be inserted above the measure pane to enable the naming of cue points, and so provide some overall view of song structure. There is no View Magnification and you can only mute a whole track. Sections of the track cannot be muted to, for example, temporarily turn off a phrase or a program change. Lack of drag and drop makes track list ordering a bit of a bother, and there are no Locator memories to facilitate looping and cueing. A Bar One Offset setting would be helpful, and would allow time for system configuration, such as hard disk voice bank loading. The music could then start at bar one. All Notes Off is a grotesque icon of Edvard Munch's 'The Scream' — rather too close to the truth at times, I felt!

In general, the editors are well laid out. Cakewalk Pro is designed to work with multiple screens displayed, so Markers, for example, are not carried through to the editor pages. This is not a real problem, however, as you can view Track/Measure at the same time as the editors you require. Similarly, some note information is only partially presented in the Key editor; to view the full note parameters, you must run the Event editor alongside. Sadly, Cakewalk does not save its editor views or icons on exit, so they are not recalled on reload. Nor is there a 'Delete Doubles' command to allow you to strip out duplicated MIDI events that slow the MIDI data flow and reduce polyphony.

The heart of Cakewalk Pro editing is the Event Filter. This is used to define which MIDI events are included or excluded from the edit move. It is essential learning, and although it may at first sight appear complex, it is well laid out and straightforward to use.

I found the lack of drag and drop in the Piano Roll Editor very strange — the selection is time‑based and selects all notes within a time area unless you are able to exclude them using Event Filter. This is all rather long‑winded, but the program is saved by the speed of the 486. Curiously, when you're using the Event Filter, the Key editor blanks out its note display.

But for every way in which Cakewalk Pro seems slow, there are 10 ways in which it runs like lightning. It will save a whole song from within its editors — just hit 'Control‑S' and it's done — the only downside being that you must stop playback first. I like the Drum Editor, but I miss having individual level control for each drum voice. Oddly, the editor file bars and the minimised icon titles display only the track name and omit the patch name. Velocity scaling is available, but to add, say, a fixed value of 20 to note velocity requires a trip through the Event Filter via the Interpolate command.

Conclusion

The SAW/PC setup is very much an entry‑level system, with a price tag to match, but its performance is outstanding in terms of audio quality and stability. The lack of drag and drop handling, fully tabulated EDL, scrub function, BPM calculator, poor parameter control in Utilities, and only one stereo output distinguish SAW from more expensive options. However, SAW Plus, due in the next year, runs 16 mono channels with multiple soundcards and full multitrack drag and drop editing.

After working for years with open‑reel recorders, and later triggering audio from a sampler, I find SAW a delight to use. I recommend it wholeheartedly to the engineer in small studio post‑production, for use in radio program assembly, jingles, video/film soundtrack, ad creation, or simply in overdubbing live instruments, effects and vocals to MIDI song demos. SAW is an unmissable bargain.

Cakewalk Pro is more of a mixed bag but overall is still a very good package. The forthcoming Cakewalk Audio will feature a Cubase‑like Arrange page and integrate MIDI with sophisticated direct‑to‑disk audio. Cakewalk will need all the whistles and bells it can muster to face competition from Emagic's Logic/Logic Audio and the arrival on the PC of Mac‑originated heavyweights Performer and Studio Vision from Mark of the Unicorn.

With practice and patience, I have found ways around most of the shortcomings of SAW and Cakewalk Pro, and the package has been reliable and cost‑effective. Does it make better music and recordings faster? You bet! But of course the better the system, the more we demand of it...

Many thanks to Michael Shackleton, Paul Mahoney, Simon O'Donnell and Paul Wilkinson at Digital Music for helping me wade through PC arcana.