Reference Guide

1562 Beginner’s guide to Cakewalk software
Audio
To record with SONAR and the Windows Mixer
1. Open the Windows Mixer—double-click the Speaker icon that’s on your Windows taskbar to
open the Play Control dialog box. If you don’t see the Speaker icon on your taskbar, you can
open the Windows Mixer by using the following command:
• Windows 7: Start > Control Panel > Hardware and Sound > Volume Control
2. In the Play Control dialog box, use the Options > Properties command, and select Recording
(under Adjust Volume For).
3. Under Adjust Volume For, make sure Line-In and Microphone are checked, and click OK.
The Record Control dialog box appears.
4. If you’re recording through the Line input, click the Select check box that’s at the bottom of the
Line-In column, and make sure that the volume slider in that column is in the upper half of its
range (if you’re recording through the Mic input, do the same actions in the Microphone
column). Minimize the Windows Mixer window.
5. In SONAR’s Track view, use the In field in a track you want to record in to select the input you’re
using—select either the Left input of your sound card to record in mono or the Stereo input to
record in stereo.
6. Arm the track for recording (click its R button so that it’s red), and play your instrument. You
should see the Record Meter at the bottom of the track’s property fields light up. If the meter
doesn’t move, see the table immediately following this procedure.
7. Adjust your instrument’s volume, and/or the volume slider in the Record Control dialog box so
that the level in the Record meter almost reaches the red zone when you play your loudest
notes.
8. Record some sound by pressing r to start recording, and pressing the SPACEBAR when you’re
finished. You can rewind by pressing w.
After you stop recording, you should see a picture of your audio data in the Clips pane of the track
you’re recording in. Don’t forget to disarm the track and save your project if you want to keep what
you recorded.
If you don’t see any movement in the track’s record meter when you play your instrument, try some
of the following:
Possible problem Solution
You have chosen a Right input of your sound card as
an input, but your instrument is plugged into a Left
input.
Click the armed track’s Input button and choose the
opposite input from the currently selected one. If that
doesn’t help, try selecting the Stereo input.
Your instrument is plugged into a different-numbered
input from the one you selected as an input.
Try choosing different-numbered Inputs until the meter
starts to move.
Table 259.