Reference Guide

1221

MIDI

Beginner’s Guide to Cakewalk Software

In Cakewalk programs, the file that you use to store usually a single song’s data is called a project.

This is the file you use to record, play back, and edit your song. The file extension for a project is

.wrk in older Cakewalk programs and .cwp in newer ones. Projects that use only the MIDI format (no

digital audio) can be saved in a format called a Standard MIDI File, and can then be played back in

any program or machine that plays MIDI files. These files have the extension .mid.

The MIDI messages within a project are usually separated into smaller containers called tracks, and

even smaller containers called clips, which are sections of a track. You usually use tracks to

separate the MIDI messages that are intended to play one kind of sound from the MIDI messages

that play other sounds. You usually assign each track to its own MIDI channel. A typical MIDI project

might have separate tracks for drums, bass, and piano. In this example, you might assign the bass

track to Channel 2, and the piano track to Channel 5. Then you would set your MIDI sound module

to play a bass sound on Channel 2, and a piano sound on Channel 5. Instead of manually setting

your MIDI modules to play these sounds, you can send Program Change messages to tell your

sound module what sounds to play on what channels (see Controlling Which Sounds You Hear). You

usually assign drum tracks to Channel 10. Because you stored the MIDI messages that are

assigned to each sound on separate tracks, you can then control and edit the stored MIDI messages

that go to one sound without changing the messages that are sent to other sounds.

Figure 263. Cakewalk Track view

A. Tracks 1 through 6 B. Buses C. Track pane D. Show//Hide Bus pane button E. MIDI messages recorded in

Tracks 3,4, and 5 F. Clips pane G. Vertical Zoom fader—drag to change track height

Notice that when you record any data into a track, that Cakewalk displays a visual representation of

the track’s data in the Clips pane. In the above picture, Tracks 1, 2, and 6 are still empty, while

Tracks 3, 4, and 5 contain recorded data. Also notice that Track 3 is a different color from the other

tracks, meaning that it has the focus, and will make the bass sound when you play your MIDI