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Cakewalk Dimension Pro Interface

A Forum to Discuss NOTION

Cakewalk Dimension Pro Interface

Postby bill139 » Sat Feb 13, 2010 9:43 am

Has anyone here had success with using Dimension Pro in Notion? I can add instruments via the interface but only a small section in the upper left hand side is visible, the rest is white. Now here's the funny thing, I can actually mouse over the obscured portions and generate tool tips and activate controls!

I've implemented all the updates that Cakewalk has to offer and the interface is fully functional in Garage Band.

Using one of the new iMacs with Snow Leopard 3.6.2
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Re: Cakewalk Dimension Pro Interface

Postby digitaleagle » Mon Feb 15, 2010 2:42 pm

I've used it in a Windows environment but not MAC. It works fine with windows. Might be a MAC related problem. I have other issues with other VST's with Notion but not with Dimension Pro. Go figure. :cry:
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Re: Cakewalk Dimension Pro Interface

Postby nimaranjbar » Mon Mar 24, 2014 11:53 am

Hello,

I have purchased Notion 4 few days ago. I quickly went on and bought all expansion sounds. Still what I miss is a general purpose library to replace GM banks and provide some electronic sounds, synth, etc.
I am having my eye on dimension pro. Did any of you make it work with Notion 4 (mac)?
Otherwise you may have other suggestions regarding general purpose sound libraries/synths? Please advise.

Thanks you,
Nima
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Re: Cakewalk Dimension Pro Interface

Postby Surfwhammy » Thu Mar 27, 2014 3:49 pm

nimaranjbar wrote:Hello,

I have purchased Notion 4 few days ago. I quickly went on and bought all expansion sounds. Still what I miss is a general purpose library to replace GM banks and provide some electronic sounds, synth, etc.
I am having my eye on dimension pro. Did any of you make it work with Notion 4 (mac)?
Otherwise you may have other suggestions regarding general purpose sound libraries/synths? Please advise.

Thanks you,
Nima


This is the relevant information for Dimension Pro for Mac folks:

Please Note OS System Requirements:
Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7,
Mac OS X 10.5 - OS X 10.6.8
(OS X Lion and Mountain Lion is [sic] not supported)


[SOURCE: Cakewalk Dimension Pro 1.5 (Download) ]

I use and recommend Kontakt 5, Twin 2, and MachFive 3, where for reference Kontakt 5 and MachFive 3 are virtual instrument engines that come with large sampled sound libraries, but they also support third-party sampled sound libraries, hence are dual purpose, while Twin 2 is a pure synthesizer . . .

Kontakt 5 (Native Instruments) is nice, and they have had a 50 percent discount sale at least once a year during Thanksgiving holiday week, but last year they had a 50 percent discount sale in early summer and Thanksgiving holiday week . . .

Kontakt 5 (Native Instruments)

FabFilter Software Instruments has a surprisingly nice synthesizer (Twin 2) . . .

[NOTE: You can download the free demo and try it. FabFilter Software Instruments has a discount sale once or twice a year . . . ]

Twin 2 (FabFilter Software Instruments)

I also use MachFive 3 (MOTU), and I like it, but it is important to note that it has high-resolution samples for some of the instruments, and this requires a lot of computing resources . . .

[NOTE: MOTU does not have discount sales, usually . . . ]

MachFive 3 (MOTU)

These are 64-bit mode products, but they also run in 32-bit mode . . .

When I use MachFive 3 and its heavily sampled instruments, which sound very good, I limit the number of instruments in the NOTION 4 score, where this is an example basic rhythm section with drumkit, electric bass, and a Kontakt 4 tremolo string section . . .

[NOTE: There is an occasional short skip in the YouTube music video, which is caused by the screen and audio capture program, Screenflow (Telestream), overwhelming the 2.8-GHz 8-core Mac Pro (Early 2008) with 20GB of memory running Mac OS X 10.9.2 (Mavericks), since the NOTION 4 score (64-bits) and the high-resolution virtual instruments already were pushing the limit, but so what. The audio is smooth and precise when I record it in Digital Performer 8 (MOTU) as soundbites in a ReWire 2 session. For reference, it is the MachFive 3 Jazz Bass and Star Drumkit that are highly sampled, not the MachFive 3 Latin Percussion Shaker . . . ]

"Dance Baby Dance" (The Surf Whammys) ~ Basic Rhythm Section ~ YouTube music video

Since I record the NOTION 4 generated audio as soundbites in Digital Performer 8 via ReWIre 2, I can have as many synchronized NOTION 4 scores as I desire; and I usually limit each NOTION 4 score to 20 or perhaps 25 instruments but keep perhaps 5 instruments common to all the NOTION 4 scores for purposes of navigating and identifying the various sections of a song by the way the common instruments sound. This leaves 15 to 20 open staves for new virtual instruments, and I do it this way because everything is configured for high resolution, which in turn requires more intensive computing. I compose songs in layers, and I keep all the NOTION 4 scores for a song in a common folder and add something like "PT 1", "PT 2", and so forth to the end of the NOTION 4 score filename to identify to which layer it belongs . . .

It is not difficult to compose songs this way, but it helps to establish the basic structure early, since while you can add or delete measures later, it is easiest to get it right from the beginning . . .

To be clear, I do not run multiple NOTION 4 scores at the same time, because this does not work and is not supported. Instead, I work on 15 to 20 instruments at a time in a single NOTION 4 score (with perhaps 5 more as common "We are here!" cue instruments). When those instruments are completed and recorded as soundbites in the Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) application via ReWire 2, I clone the NOTION 4 score and give it a new part number and then start working on another 15 to 20 instruments by replacing the existing instruments, and so forth and so on, where when necessary I consolidate the soundbites and other tracks in the DAW application project to keep it around 50 tracks at any given time. This way, I can have 500 to 1,000 virtual instruments for a song if it needs that many, and this maps to perhaps 50 synchronized NOTION 4 scores, which are named "Song-PT-1.notion" through "Song-PT-50.notion" . . .

The first time you do a song this way in layers with multiple NOTION 4 scores, as well as real instruments and singing, it might take a few months, but the next time is faster; and after a while it does not take so long, depending on the number of virtual instruments, real instruments, and singing, because you have developed a finely-tuned system for composing and producing songs in layers, which is fabulous . . .

Fabulous! :)

P. S. I mention discount sales, because digital music production software is expensive, and with a bit of planning and patience you can save money, which you then can use to get more digital music production stuff when there is another discount sale . . .

P. P. S. Reason 7 (Propellerhead Software) is another outstanding product to add to your suite of digital music production software, and since Reason 7 works as a ReWire 2 slave, NOTION 4 and most DAW applications can control it, where on the Mac you can have a ReWire 2 session where the DAW application is the ReWire 2 host controller and both NOTION 4 and Reason 7 are ReWire 2 slaves, and additionally you can play Reason 7 synthesizers via music notation on NOTION 4 External MIDI staves, which is a bit mind-boggling, really . . .

[NOTE: The Propellerheads have discount promotions every so often, and the new Rack Extensions are stellar . . . ]

Reason 7 (Propellerhead Software)

Rack Extensions (Propellerhead Software)

DP8 N4 R7 ReWire2 MIDI ~ YouTube music video

Really! :ugeek:
The Surf Whammys

Sinkhorn's Dilemma: Every paradox has at least one non-trivial solution!
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