Comping methods

There are three primary methods you can use to comp in Cakewalk:

Comping record mode. The default recording mode in Cakewalk is called Comping. When recording, previously recorded material on the track is not heard. When a recording is done, the newly recorded material is unmuted and all other takes are muted for the duration of the new material. Each take appears on its own Take lane, with the newest take on top. For details, see Comping record mode and Recording modes.

Manual comping. When Take lanes are visible on a track, you can use the Smart tool or Comping tool to isolate overlapping takes. Simply click or drag across a take, and all other overlapping takes in the same track are muted. For details, see Comping with the Smart tool and Comping tool.

Speed comping. After recording multiple takes, you can audition any individual take, use keyboard shortcut keys to audition other takes and then select which take you want to use. For details, see Speed comping.

Comping record mode

The default recording mode in Cakewalk is called Comping. When recording, previously recorded material on the track is not heard. When a recording is done, the newly recorded material is unmuted and all other takes are muted for the duration of the new material. Each take appears on its own Take lane, with the newest take on top.

1.	Go to Edit > Preferences > Project - Record, or right-click the Record button to access recording settings in the Preferences dialog box.

2.	Under Recording Mode, select Comping.

3.	If you want to loop record multiple alternative takes, select Store Takes in a Single Track under Loop Recording. Click OK to close the Preferences dialog box.

The Record button in the Control Bar’s Transport module looks like when Comping mode is enabled.

4.	Insert a new track or choose an existing track you want to record to.

5.	Click the target track’s Expand/collapse Take Lanes button so Take lanes are visible.

6.	Click the track’s Record button to arm the track for recording. Note: It is important that you arm the parent track, not an existing Take lane.

7.	If you are loop recording multiple takes:

a)	Drag in the Track view Time Ruler to select the desired loop boundaries.

b)	Right-click the Time Ruler and select Set Loop Points on the pop-up menu (or press SHIFT+L). You can also click the Set Loop Points to Selection button in the Control Bar’s Loop module.

8.	Click the Record button in Control Bar’s Transport module.

9.	When recording is complete, click the Stop button .

Each repetition appears in its own Take lane.

Take lanes are named automatically. The first lane is named T1, the next lane is named T2, etc. The newest (chronologically youngest) take is shown on top. The lane number always stays with a lane, even if you reorder, insert or delete lanes.

Figure 205. The most recent take is unmuted and on top.

The following table describes how the various record modes behave when recording new takes.

 

Table 14. Record modes 

Record mode	Record button	Hear existing material while recording?	Time-mute existing material?	Create new Take lane for each pass when loop recording?	How it works
Comping (default)		No	Yes	Yes	When recording, previously recorded material on the track is not heard. When a recording is done, the newly recorded material is heard and all other takes are time-muted for the duration of the new material. Comp record mode will record all takes as independent Take lanes. At the end of a recording pass, only the most recently recorded takes will be audible. This is achieved by automatically comping, isolating the clips in the recording and muting other clips in existing Take lanes. Splits are created in all lanes at the start and end record times. All clips within the recorded region are automatically "healed", removing any unnecessary splits from prior takes. All clips in Take lanes that are obscured by the latest record pass are muted. The comp splitting process follows the same logic as the Comping tool, and will mute all clips that are not part of the latest recording.
Overwrite		No	No (new material overwrites existing material)	No (unless global Store Takes in Separate Tracks option is enabled in Edit > Preferences > Project - Record)	The new material replaces (overwrites) any existing material. This means that portions of existing clips may be “wiped clean” to make room for newly recorded material. While recording, you will not be able to hear material from existing clips.
Sound on Sound		Yes   Note: When loop recording, you will not be able to hear the prior loop passes until you stop recording. This is because takes are only committed after recording is stopped.	No	Yes	The new material is merged with any existing material. This means that any existing clips on the track are left unchanged and all newly recorded material is stored in new clips. While recording, you will be able to hear material from existing clips.

You can use any combination of looping and Auto Punch in either Comping, Overwrite, or Sound on Sound mode.

 

See also:

Loop recording multiple takes to a single track.

Looping

Recording

Recording modes

Comping with the Smart tool and Comping tool

Cakewalk’s Smart tool or Comping tool have an isolate function that allows you to select a region on one Take lane and automatically mute the same region in all other Take lanes on the same track.

The mouse pointer looks like when comping operations are possible. Simply click a take to isolate the take, or drag to make a time selection, and Cakewalk automatically mutes all other overlapping takes in the same track. Clips are split, if necessary, in order to be isolated or muted.

Tip: When comping, enable Aim Assist (Edit > Aim Assist, or press X) so you can clearly see which clips overlap at the position you click. When you click or drag to isolate a take, any other takes on the same track that intersect the Aim Assist line will be muted.

Note: The Smart tool is powerful, but may produce unintended results in certain situations, such as inadvertently isolating clips in Take lanes when clicking the bottom half of clips. If you are not strictly using Take lanes for comping, you may want to disable the Smart tool’s comping behavior. To do so, long press or right-click the Smart tool button to open the Smart tool menu, then clear the Comp option. For details, see To customize the Smart tool.

Figure 206. Click the take you want to isolate.

When a clip is split, the two resulting clips contain identical data, but are cropped differently. Cakewalk will intelligently create as few clips as possible when comping. If a clip has been split, it can later be “healed” by removing the split. Cakewalk can heal split clips if two clips are abutting, and contain the identical audio data, as long as the clips have not been moved relative to each other.

When you use the Smart tool or Comping tool to isolate and mute/unmute, Cakewalk will automatically “heal” any split clips if possible in order to reduce the number of clips. You can simply focus on identifying the regions you want to hear (isolate), and Cakewalk will automatically split, mute/unmute, and heal clips.

Figure 207. Drag to select the region you want to isolate.

Figure 208. Cakewalk splits and mutes takes in order to define the isolate/mute regions.

Figure 209. Drag to isolate another region, and Cakewalk automatically heals previous splits, if necessary.

You can also manually heal abutting healable clips. To do so, select the clips, then hold down the CTRL key and click one of the selected clips.

 

Tip: You can mute/unmute individual clips if you want to have several overlapping takes unmuted. To do so, right-click and select Clip Mute/Unmute on the pop-up menu, or select the clip and press K.

Isolate gestures work on the surrounding “zone”, using the following order of priority:

Selection. If the clicked spot is within a selection region anywhere on that track, the entire selection is isolated.

Mute/Isolate regions. The boundaries of muted and unmuted regions are the zone boundaries. All mute/unmute regions across all Take lanes are used.

Clips. The cropped points of the clicked clip are the zone boundaries.

All comping gestures work across clips in clip selection groups, including isolating and healing.

The mouse pointer shows you which edit operation is available at the current mouse position.

 

Pointer	Edit operation	Smart tool	Comping tool
	Isolate a clip or region.	x	x
	Crossfade abutting clips (drag up/down).	x	x
	Crop clip start.	x	x
	Crop clip end.	x	x
	Crop abutting clips (drag left/right).	x	x
	Stretch clip (press CTRL+SHIFT).	x	x
	Move data within clip (press ALT+SHIFT).	x	x
	Select by time.	x
	Move.	x
	Fade in.	x
	Fade out.	x
	Split (press the ALT key)	x

 

Note: Only the Smart tool changes its functionality when editing in a Take lane. The other tools function in the exact same way as when Take lanes are hidden. The Comping tool only works when Take lanes are shown.

 

See also:

Clip muting and isolating (clip soloing)

Using the Smart tool in Take lanes

Using the Comping tool in Take lanes

Speed comping

You can quickly audition each take by itself and select only the takes you want to keep.

To do so:

1.	Select a take you want to audition.

 

 

2.	Press SHIFT+SPACEBAR to start audition playback. Audition will loop continuously. You will see temporary Loop markers in the Time Ruler.

3.	Press the UP ARROW or DOWN ARROW key to audition the next or previous take. Take lanes are numbered sequentially, with the most recent take on top.

4.	When you identify your favorite take, press the ENTER key to isolate the take and mute all other overlapping takes. Cakewalk will automatically split and mute other takes as necessary.

 

5.	Press the LEFT ARROW or RIGHT ARROW key to move to other takes along the timeline.

6.	Repeat steps 3-4 until you have completed the comping.

 

Tip: If you want to audition takes in context with other tracks, enable Dim Solo mode in the Control Bar’s Mix module. For details, see Dim Solo mode.

Tip: Before speed comping, you may first want to use the Smart tool or Comping tool to drag across each musical phrase in order to split the takes into smaller phrases. This makes it easier to quickly mute/unmute shorter phrases while comping. For details, see Comping with the Smart tool and Comping tool. Also see Split tool and Splitting and combining clips.

The following table shows speed comping keyboard shortcuts.

 

Table 15. Speed comping keyboard shortcuts  

Command	Shortcut
Audition the selected take	SHIFT+SPACEBAR
Audition the next or previous take	UP ARROW or DOWN ARROW
Isolate the currently auditioned take	ENTER
Audition the next or previous take along the timeline	RIGHT ARROW or LEFT ARROW

 

See:

Basic comping workflow

Recording takes

Auditioning takes

Adjusting crossfades

Comp clips

Finalizing the comp

Removing all unused takes and empty Take lanes

Comping

 

See also:

Take lanes

Clip muting and isolating (clip soloing)

Using the Smart tool in Take lanes

Using the Comping tool in Take lanes