[ddots-l] GET WITH IT! GET AT IT! GET ON IT! Announcing the Latest CakeTalking for SONAR from Dancing Dots

  • From: "Dancing Dots" <billlist1@xxxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: <ddots-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Sat, 19 Sep 2009 13:06:30 -0400

Dancing Dots proudly announces that CakeTalking for SONAR 8.5 is here,
bringing an amazingly high level of initial support for SONAR 8.5 which
cakewalk Music Software released only days ago as well as unmatched support
for SONAR version 8.3.  CakeTalking's creator, David Pinto, has once again
outdone himself with his magical mix of scripting prowess supported by
informative yet entertaining tutorials.  Everyone from passionate hobbyist
to seasoned professional will find lots of reasons to get at, with and on
this latest version of CT.

This announcement will give you details on new and improved features as well
as upgrade policy and pricing.  Dancing Dots will be shipping this new
version of CakeTalking by the end of September and should have the
downloadable version ready even sooner.  

New Features 

All of the following features are supported in both CakeTalking for SONAR
8.5 and in CakeTalking 8.3 for SONAR 8.3.  It's up to you which version of
SONAR you want to use.  As in the past, Dancing Dots has negotiated an
arrangement with our friends at cakewalk Music Software whereby our
customers can continue to use what is now the previous shipping version of
SONAR, 8.3, while we perfect our support for their new version.  But what's
different with this particular release is that we already have an extremely
robust set of scripts working with the 8.5 brand-new version.

So, if you like to live on the edge a bit and you want to get to use some of
the cool new features of SONAR 8.5 which are already accessible, including a
bunch of lovely new audio effects, then install that version of CakeTalking.
We will give you a short list of things that we will improve and give you
free downloadable updates as those improvements are made.  If you would
rather happily enjoy the benefits of the past 8 months of development and
testing with the 8.3 version of CakeTalking for SONAR 8.3, you can install
that version and wait for a more seasoned version of CT 8.5 to become
available.  You will receive the same no-cost upgrades when you are ready to
move up to SONAR 8.5.

If you are already prepared to order this new version, see the Upgrade
pricing at the close of this announcement.  Call us at 610-783-6692 to place
your order and we will ship it out or provide download instructions as soon
as we can.

Now, about those new CakeTalking features:

CakeTalking HELP.
The 400 page CakeTalking Tutorial has been thoroughly updated and greatly
expanded. There are new lessons on setting up your workstation, working with
soft synths, and using the many new features of SONAR. There are also easy
to follow supporting documents that describe how to configure your computer
for optimum performance with JAWS, and how to download and install SONAR
updates.

V Vocal
V Vocal is now completely accessible. V Vocal is an editor that is perfect
for correcting pitch and vibrato in vocal tracks, creating backup vocals
from a lead vocal track, and for shifting the rhythmic placement of words
and syllables within a melodic phrase. It also works just as well with any
monophonic instrument, like a sax or trumpet. V Vocal can also change the
dynamics and formant of the audio. Formant is the overtone series of audio
that makes it possible to distinguish, for instance, a man singing a note,
and a woman singing the same note. So by adjusting the formant, you can
transpose audio while still retaining the sound signature of the vocalist.
This makes it possible to create harmonizing backup vocals from a lead vocal
track. 

Loop Construction
CakeTalking now fully supports the Loop Construction View. In this view,
rhythmic audio clips can be converted to groove clips that contains tempo,
beat and pitch information. This allows SONAR to stretch the groove clip so
that it conforms to the tempo and key of any project you import the groove
clip into.

REORDERING MULTIPLE TRACKS.
Ever wanted to put your tracks in a different order. Well, you not only can
move one track at a time to a different position, you can also re order
multiple tracks in one fell swoop. Just type the new numerical order you
wish your tracks to be in, wait a second or 2, and you've got a totally new
track order.

Enhanced Clips Editing
CakeTalking now fully supports SONAR'S new set of features called Enhanced
Clip Editing.  Enhanced Clip Editing allows the user to use simple
keystrokes to manipulate audio clips quickly and efficiently. You can do 3
basic things with Enhanced Clips editing. You can select, fade, and crop any
audio clip.
Cropping, means to trim or expand a selected clip. Cropping is useful when
you want to eliminate some of the audio at the start or end of the clip, or
when you want to expand a clip and restore some of the audio that has been
previously truncated from the clip.  You can crop an audio clip
instantaneously with a simple hotkey, and then immediately audition the
results. 
Fading means to gradually increase the start of a clips, or decrease the
volume of the end of a clip. For instance, perhaps a punch in needs to be
faded out a little in order to soften a noisy breath. With Enhanced clips
editing, you can fade out the end of the clip with a hotkey, and then
immediately audition the results. And if you aren't satisfied with the
amount of fade, you can continue to press the hotkey, and once again
immediately audition the results.

Nudge Mode.
SONAR'S Nudge mode is now fully supported. With simple hotkeys, you can now
nudge audio clips a little later or earlier in time, thus correcting timing
mistakes. You can also move clips from one track to another, thus making it
easy to assemble a composite track from several other tracks. 

SOFT SYNTHS' AND AAA TEMPLATES.
CakeTalking now installs SONAR templates that are designed to get new users
up and going as quickly as possible. The 9 Soft Synth templates allow you to
use your MIDI keyboard to trigger Soft ware synthesizers that reside in your
computer, rather than external MIDI synthesizers. By using software
synthesizers, instead of external synthesizers, the process of configuring
SONAR is simplified. Instead of having to first mess with external MIDI
synths and their connections, with these new templates, the user can
immediately begin recording MIDI tracks in SONAR.
Tracks that are devoted to soft synths are now fully supported and
recognized. And you can easily open a soft synth's window by pressing
CONTROL Y while on any column of a track that's assigned to a soft synth.

Accessible Audio EFFECTS

In addition to almost the entire suite of Sonitus and lexicon Effects, the
following new effects are fully supported.

Vintage Channel 64. VC64 is a multi-function audio processor that includes a
noise gate, de-esser, two compressors and two equalizers.  The noise gate
allows you to gate out noise, and tighten up percussive sounds. The de-esser
can remove prominent s's from vocals, tame over-prominent hi-hats in dance
music drum loops, as well as reduce the 'buzziness' of distorted signals
with lots of highs.

TL 64 Tube leveler. Digital audio recordings can sometimes sound sterile and
lifeless. The TL-64 Tube Leveler plug-in is a preamp/processor that uses
vacuum-tube modeling,  so you can add just the right amount of warm tube
saturation to individual tracks or full mixes.

LP 64 EQ. Cakewalk's LP 64 E Q provides highly accurate control of tonal
balance while maintaining a linear-phase shift at all frequencies,
regardless of the gain settings. With LP 64 E Q  EQ linear-phase processing,
the integrity of your audio is maintained for all frequencies, at all
times--no unintended coloration, cancellations, comb filtering, or muddy
transients. LP 64 EQ is well suited for critical mastering projects 

Cakewalk's LP-64 Multiband Compressor. This is a transparent linear phase
multiband compressor plug-in for mixing and mastering purposes. The LP-64
provides five bands of smooth, highly accurate, linear-phase compression and
equalization of audio, with each of the four compressors operating on a
single adjustable frequency band. 

TS 64 Transient Shaper. The TS 64 Transient Shaper plug-in provides powerful
control over the dynamics of audio tracks and mixes. TS 64 Transient Shaper
is primarily designed for drums and percussion, but can also be useful on
other percussive sounds, such as guitar and electric piano. Transient refers
to a sudden increase in sound output that occurs for a short period of time.
For example, the attack portion of a drum hit is a transient. Unlike a
typical compressor, TS 64 Transient Shaper lets you shape the audio signal's
attack phase independently of the decay/sustain phase.   

Boost 11
The Boost 11 Peak Limiter is a transparent peak limiting and volume
maximizing plug-in for mixing and mastering purposes; it is designed to
reduce peak levels without coloring the sound.

Note that in effects and soft synth dialogs that require you to lock the
mouse on a control before you can change its value, CakeTalking will now
report the current setting of the control, as soon as you lock the mouse.
This is better than the way CT previously acted, where you had to change the
initial value before you could hear a value. So You could never could hear
the initial value. 

All reported bugs in the previous version of SONAR 8 have been fixed.

New Features in CakeTalking 8.5 for SONAR 8.5.

In addition to all of the above, you will have access to the following new
features when you install CakeTalking for SONAR 8.5.  Remember, certain
features are still under construction.  You will be eligible for maintenance
releases as they become available.  Some new features may not be documented
thoroughly yet in the accompanying tutorial documents although CT's online
help has been enhanced to support you as you learn.

Arpeggiator
Each MIDI and Instrument track in SONAR now has a built-in Arpeggiator which
allows you to turn even the simplest chord progression into exciting new
sound textures. The SONAR Arpeggiator is a perfect tool for adding variety
to any Instrument or MIDI track that repeats a number of times in a song, or
for creating complimentary parts using other instrument sounds that follow
your chord progression. The SONAR Arpeggiator includes hundreds of presets,
patterns, and classic algorithms. 

The new AudioSnap palette allows you to fix timing problems in audio and
align audio with the project tempo. Compared to its previous incarnation, it
is simpler and more reliable.
MOVE to Next or Prior Transient. You can use the TAB and SHIFT+TAB keys to
jump to audio transients, and MIDI Note events. In SONAR 8.5, TAB to
transients is always available when the transport is idle, and is no longer
dependent on AudioSnap. TAB to transients is now selection-based, which
means tabbing will go to the next/previous transient amongst all selected
clips. If there is no selection, tabbing operates on the current track. 

9 NEW EFFECTS Supported. Alias Factor , Classic Phaser,  HF Exciter, Mod
Filter, Multi-voice Chorus/Flanger, Para-Q, Stereo Compressor/Gate, Stereo
Delay, StudioBerb2

N.B.  The new Matrix feature in SONAR 8.5 is not accessible.  We will
continue to consult with the developers of SONAR on ways they might be able
to make it a feature that JAWS can access.  In its present form, access is
not possible.

Upgrade Policy and Pricing for CakeTalking Customers

Anyone who has purchased a new unit of CakeTalking after June 30, 2009, will
receive a no-cost upgrade to CakeTalking 8.5.  
Remember, along with your upgrade for CakeTalking, you can order your SONAR
upgrade from Dancing Dots.  It's the most affordable SONAR upgrade we can
remember.  The CakeTalking upgrades are also quite economically priced
especially considering the vastly improved access to existing and new
features like the V Vocal pitch correction and so much more.  This new
release of CakeTalking will authorize you to run with SONAR 8.5 and with
SONAR 8.3 as well.

$69     From CT 8.0

$99     From CT 7

$149    From CT 6

$199    From CT 4 or 5

$229 from all earlier versions

Call us at 610-783-6692 to register your order and we will ship it out or
provide download instructions as soon as we can.

As always, Dancing Dots thanks you for your business and strong support.

Bill McCann
Founder and President of Dancing Dots since 1992 www.DancingDots.com
Tel: [001] 610-783-6692

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