Recording MIDI with a simple MIDI cable: Its a Cakewalk!

I installed Cakewalk 9! When the world is using SX and Sonar and Logic and all that jazz, I installed Cakewalk! No VST, no mastering plugins, no hardcore reverb…nothing! Still Cakewalk 9! About 6 years ago, when I was still a noob when it came to the computer and the internet, I used to have a walkman which could record. I had a keyboard that could allow me to record 2 tracks. I used to hanker for more tracks. I used to create a song using the 2 tracks and while playing them back, I used to play yet another track over it and record it on my walkman on a cassette. I made an entire album out of it and the only friend who heard it and appreciated it, suggested that I should call it ‘The Empty Boat’.

Then Computers happened and then something called Audio Architect happened. Unlimited tracks! I was spellbound and didnt know head or tail of using it. Then Cakewalk 7 happened. Still clueless! Rebirth followed but it had 4 tracks! I used to record many ‘four’ tracks from Rebirth and import it into Cakewalk as audio and then mixdown a track.

After some more time, I saw that a guy had a cable that connected from the musical keyboard to the computer and record MIDI in Cakewalk! I was going to kill myself for this technological advancement. I got this cable for 2000 bucks(roughly $40)! I was cheated as that cable was faulty and I thought it isnt working because I dont understand MIDI connectivity! Some more time went by and then Fruity Loops 3 happened. It was easier and created better sounding stuff. Then of course Reason and Cubase and then SX.

I bought the same MIDI cable again and this time for 300 bucks(roughly $6) and it connected with no problems. But every solution gives birth to a new problem. This one led to LATENCY. Some more years went by in fruitless thoughts of ‘how I am not supposed to be a musician’ and all the rest of it.

Day before yesterday I found the Cakewalk 9 CD and I installed it. Played it using my MIDI cable and WOAH…. no latency! Not even a bit! I quickly recorded some melody and exported it as a MIDI file and imported it in FL Studio 6. I pasted it on a Sytrus track and there was a masterpiece! Finally!

Backseat

Work wise this week was more or less wasted due to the hospitalization of my grandmother in law, the trip to Ro and of course because of my wife’s last week of mandatory vacation. I spent a night in Girgao in a chawl room after being present in the hospital for the whole day. I also managed to find a watering hole nearby which was the prime reason for my volunteering to stay back for the night. I had done that once when my dad was hospitalized too.

Ro was not like always primarily because we were not alone. A few hours with outsiders is OK with me, but anything beyond that is misery! The Ro trip cost us almost 8 k and everytime I notice a particular amount of money gone to waste, I think about something that I could ve bought instead with that money. The most common thing to fall in this less than 10 k bracket is a Midi Fastlane to reduce latency. Ironically I was gifted one and I left it in a rick as I was too drunk to take care of my belongings while getting off. The revelation next morning was absolutely disheartening and I realized for the umpteenth time that ‘I can never be a musician’.

The music bit has taken a backseat but it is right there. In the ‘backseat’ and the distance between the backseat and the front seat is never too much.