Bounce to Track(s) dialog

Click the Track view Tracks menu and choose Bounce to Track(s) to open the Bounce to Track(s) dialog box.

This command lets you process the effects and/or automation together with the audio data in tracks to create one or several new tracks in order to lighten the load on your computer. Once you’ve bounced the tracks, you can backup or delete the source tracks to free up your computer’s resources.

Note 1: If you select any data in your project, only that data is included when you choose to bounce tracks. Alternatively, you can mute tracks you don’t want to include in the mixdown, and then check Track Mute/Solo under Mix and Render so that Cakewalk uses that information as a guide when picking what tracks to include in the bounce. If a project is using any effects that add a “tail” to the end of an audio track, such as reverb or delay, then you should make sure that you select extra time in the Time Ruler (duration needed to hear the tail) at the end of the current selection before using the Tracks > Bounce to Track(s) command. This ensures that the “tail” is included in the audio mixdown.

Note 2: You control the bit depth of all rendering operations (bouncing, freezing, applying effects) in Edit > Preferences > File - Audio Data in the Render Bit Depth field. The default value for render bit depth is 32. 64 can be selected to preserve the greater mixing and rendering precision that the 64 bit double precision mix engine provides. Values of 16 and 24 can also be selected. See Bit depths for rendering audio for more information.

The dialog box has the following fields:

Preset

Preset. You can create presets of bounce/export settings.

To recall a preset, select it from the drop-down menu.

To save a preset, give your preset a new name, then press ENTER or click the Create Preset button .

To update an existing preset, select the preset and make the required changes, then click the Create Preset button .

To delete the selected preset, click the Delete Preset button .

A preset stores the following settings:

Format settings (except Bounce Buffer Size)

What to Bounce source category

Mix and Render settings

Destination

Assign the track to which you want to mixdown. If you are creating more than one track of audio, the destination track must be the first of consecutive blank or unwanted tracks.

Format

Channel Format. Specify whether to create stereo or mono tracks. Select from one of the following options:

Mono. Creates a separate mono track for each track or bus selected in the Sources list.

Stereo. Creates a separate stereo track for each track or bus selected in the Sources list.

Split Mono. Creates separate mono track for each track or bus selected in the Sources list. Stereo tracks/buses are split into separate tracks for the left and right channels. If the selected bus is a surround bus, the selected bus produces as many mono tracks as the bus has channels.

Dithering. Choose which dithering algorithm to use when bouncing. Whenever an audio signal is converted from a higher-bit resolution to a lower resolution, it is necessary to apply dither to avoid introducing undesirable quantization noise or harmonic distortion into the signal. For more information see Dithering. Cakewalk offers five kinds of dithering:

None. No dithering is applied.

Rectangular. Essentially white noise, no noise shaping. Advantages: least CPU-intensive, lowest signal-to-noise ratio, preferable to shaped dither when successive dithering can occur (e.g. bouncing, freezing). Disadvantages: suffers from intermodulation distortion, higher perceived loudness than Pow-r dither.

Triangular. Higher level than rectangular, no noise shaping. Advantages: low CPU-intensive dither, superior to Rectangular as it does not suffer from modulation noise effects. Preferable to shaped (Pow-r) dither when successive dithering can occur (e.g. bouncing, freezing). Disadvantages: higher perceived loudness than Pow-r dither.

Pow-r 1. Noise-shaped dither. Advantages: less CPU-intensive than Pow-r types 2 and 3, lower perceived loudness than Rectangular or Triangular. Disadvantages: less noise shaping than Pow-r types 2 and 3, not recommended for operations where dither will be applied successively (e.g. bounce and freeze).

Pow-r 2. Noise-shaped dither. Advantages: lowest perceived loudness, highest quality settings, recommended for audio export. Disadvantages: highest CPU-intensive settings, not recommended for operations where dither will be applied successively (e.g. bounce and freeze).

Pow-r 3. Same as Pow-r 2 except most CPU-intensive and transparent of all choices.

Bounce Buffer Size (ms). Controls the buffer size for mixdown independently of the playback latency buffer size when Render in Real-time is disabled. The default settings uses the current playback buffer size (max size is 200 msec). A larger buffer size can speed up the mixdown process in large projects by allowing the CPU to process data more efficiently, but will use more memory. The playback latency buffer size is used when Render in Real-time is enabled.

What to Bounce

Source Category. Specify which audio sources to bounce:

Tracks. Creates a separate track (or group of tracks if Split Mono is selected under Channel Format) for each track that you select in the Sources list. The audio is captured at each of the selected track outputs, before it reaches any buses.

Note: When the Source Category is Tracks, the project selection has a special meaning: 4 Having a project selection means that there is a time selection. If tracks are selected in the project, then all the tracks selected in the Sources list will be bounced at exactly the length of the selection. All bounced tracks will be the same duration. 4 If there is no selection, then no specific mixdown time range has been set, and the duration will be the length of each individual track.

Buses. Creates a separate track (or group of tracks if Split Mono is selected under Channel Format) for each bus that you select in the Sources list. The audio is captured at each of the selected bus outputs.

Hardware Outputs. Creates a separate track (or group of tracks if Split Mono is selected under Channel Format) for each hardware output that you select in the Sources list. The audio is captured at each of the selected hardware outputs.

Entire Mix. Creates a single track (or group of tracks if Split Mono is selected under Channel Format) as heard through the main output.

Sources. Select the audio source(s) that you want to bounce, based on the Source Category.

Note: Selection within the Sources list is there only to help you check or uncheck multiple items at once. It has no bearing on what will be bounced. Only the checked source items will be bounced. 4 To quickly select all/none in the Sources list, hold down CTRL+SHIFT and click any checkbox. 4 To select all, press CTRL+A. 4 To check/uncheck the selected sources, press SPACEBAR.

Search. The search filter lets you search for a particular source should you have a large number of sources to search through. The search filter is available for all source categories except Hardware Outputs, Entire Mix, and Clips.

Show/Hide Project Selection / . Show/hide the current project selection.

Tracks/Buses in Project. Mixdown works on the current project selection. The Tracks/Buses in Project list allows you to modify the current track selection and the mute and solo status of each track and bus, without exiting the Bounce to Tracks(s) dialog box. Note:

A track that is checked means it is included in the selection. If all tracks are unchecked, it means there is no selection, and all tracks are available.

Changing the project selection changes which Sources items are available.

Mix and Render

When all Mix and Render options are selected, the mixdown will sound the same as playback. You can check or uncheck each of the following items to include or exclude them from the mix:

Track Mute/Solo. When enabled, tracks that are currently muted are not mixed down, and if any tracks are soloed, only those tracks are included in the mixdown.

Track Automation. Include track automation in the mixdown, When disabled, any volume and pan automation, including initial volume and pan settings, is ignored when creating the new track(s). The amplitude of the raw data in the tracks is used, and the pan is C, or centered.

Track FX. Include track effects in the mixdown. When disabled, any effects patched into various tracks’ patch points, including any plug-in synthesizers patched into track fx patch points, are ignored when creating the new track(s).

Bus Mute/Solo. When enabled, buses that are currently muted are not mixed down, and if any buses are soloed, only those buses are included in the mixdown.

Bus Automation. Include bus automation in the mixdown, When disabled, any bus automation is ignored when creating the new track(s).

Bus FX. Include bus effects in the mixdown. When disabled, any effects patched into buses, including any plug-in synthesizers patched into bus fx patch points, are ignored when creating the new track(s).

Clip Automation. Include clip automation in the mixdown, When disabled, any clip automation, including any trim settings, is ignored when creating the new track(s).

Synth/FX Automation. Include synth/FX automation in the mixdown, When disabled, any synth and effect automation is ignored when creating the new track(s).

64-bit Engine. Enable the 64-bit mix engine temporarily during mixdown if you don’t have 64-bit Double Precision Engine selected in Edit > Preferences > Audio - Driver Settings. This produces a higher-quality mixdown without taxing your CPU during the rest of your session. Disable if you use plug-ins that do not support 64-bit processing.

Render in Real-time. When enabled, mixdown is performed in real-time by actually playing back the project in similar fashion to standard playback. All audio hardware inputs and outputs are active in order to allow I/O to external hardware inserts. Enable if you use effects or synths that only work in real-time. When disabled, all hardware outputs are temporarily disabled and the mixdown is performed silently as fast as your computer allows. There is no sonic degradation by performing a fast mixdown since it uses the same operation that is performed during normal playback.

Note: You must enable Render in Real-time if you use the External Insert plug-in. Since the External Insert plug-in is typically used to receive audio from external hardware, Cakewalk’s audio output must be sent to the external hardware in real-time. Certain software instruments, such as samplers, cannot process audio faster than real-time and will produce glitches when operated faster than real-time. Some hardware-based DSP effects have trouble with faster than real-time mixdown.

Audible Bounce. When Render in Real-time is enabled, the real-time render operation can be performed either silently or audibly. When Audible Bounce is enabled, you can hear the output of the mixdown. When disabled, no audio output will be heard during the mixdown process.

Caution: Depending on the gainstages used in the project and the mixdown options selected–such as bouncing with Source Category assigned to Tracks, or with mute/solo or automation disabled under Mix and Render, –the output may be louder or softer than during normal playback. Please be sure to turn down the master output level before using real-time audible bounce under these scenarios to avoid the possibility of speaker damage.

Live Input. When Render in Real-time is enabled, enable Live Input to include any live audio input in the mixdown. For details, see Real-time bounce.

Range

Range. Specify the time range to be bounced:

Entire Project. The entire length of the project.

Time Selection. A specified time selection. The Start and End edit boxes allow you to manually enter the start and end times of the bounce range. Click the / button to toggle between musical (Measures:Beats:Ticks) and absolute (Hours:Minutes:Seconds:Frames) time. Click the buttons to choose a time based on defined project landmarks, such as the beginning of the project, the now time, or marker locations.

Set Time Selection to Loop Range. Set the selection start and end times to the Loop From and Loop Thru times.

Set Time Selection to Punch Range. Set the selection start and end times to the Punch In and Punch Out times.

 

For more information, see:

To mix down (bounce) audio tracks

To convert your soft synth tracks to new audio tracks

Plug-in upsampling on bounce/freeze/export