Cakewalk by Bandlab: Arranger Track Tutorial

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In this video we take a look at the new Arranger Track in Cakewalk by Bandlab! A great tool for testing alternate sequences of verse, chorus, bridge etc. New to cakewalk for 2020!
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[@Sbradyman]

Thank Mike, exactly what I was looking for. I figured out an easier way to arrange without using the left hand column. after you "create sections from markers", highlight a section by pressing the coloured header, then hold Ctrl & grab the coloured header, you can copy that whole section to a different part. easy peasy ;)

[@HouseMerlot]

I finally came across a project to use the Arranger Track. Very fantastic video. What's really nice is that when you finally "commit" to an arrangement, it automatically inserts cross fades on every track at every splice point. What a time saver that is!!

[@jimmysee1234]

Cakewalk just keeps getting better and better. This is going to be a huge benefit for me.

[@eggbass]

I think it would be a great idea to have the arranger show the list of tracks in each section, maybe in a drop down or by expanding it. Then you can create duplicate versions of that section and mute and unmute tracks in each version.

[@hitmanbluesband]

I only wish I saw this 2 years ago. I always do it the "old fashioned way" - dragging sections around in the track view. WHAT A TIME SAVER!

[@sandEffect]

Excellent tutorial, and with a dancing number too, that's even more priceless. 😊

[@alanc6857]

Mike please keep these coming you are a gifted teacher, making these tutorials is a real talent. Thank you. I hope BandLab hires you!

[@CounterRhythms]

Your videos are invaluable. I never would have figured this out on my own in a million years. Thanks!

[@Hive5ive]

the deselect is there already. check the track info menu on the left. there is a box that says exclude from arranger. Also, i think best use of this is to build broad sections, like instrumentation and backing vox. and then you can go in and finish things off with lead vocals, and embellishments. I see it as a workflow tool, something to speed up the monotonous parts of production. EDIT: I just checked, it's in the tracks properties pane on the left, right near the top, exclude arranger.

[@CreativeSauce]

I knew it was there somewhere! Thank you :)

[@Hive5ive]

@@CreativeSauce you're welcome 👍

[@aidanodr]

But Im not sure that will work PER arranger section? You cannot tell the exclude arranger to exclude per different section? Its all or nothing? A more recent comment I added above might be another way of ALT THINKING around it?

[@sridharan2k1]

Thank you for exploring these features and educating us

[@ruckman6563]

Well explained and demoed, Mike. This is a really, really useful feature that will save me so much time. Instead of the previous tedious cutting and pasting, the arranger track will almost automate that for me.

[@FabrizioCalderara76]

Mike, I'm following your Cakewalk tutorial since a few weeks and...man...I love the way you explain everything so clearly! I'm using Cakewalk since the lockdown due to the Coronavirus, it's a great software even if compared with Cubase, Logic, etc., and with the help of your precious tutorials I am learning to use it better and better every week. Thanks a lot! :-D

[@davidhilderman]

This fits really well into how I write songs. I will use this before laying down vocals

[@stevew2724]

Thanks for the step-by-step breakdown of the getting started process complete with helpful tips.

[@djanuarishak1248]

I've never realized there was such a feature on Arrangement in Cakewalk, even after having used it for so many years. Thanks. You made my blind eyes see.

[@omnipop4936]

Fantastic demonstration of this long-overdue feature, Mike. I've been clamoring for this for over 20 years. Finally, I can experiment with song structure ideas without the creativity-destroying _tedium_ of copy/paste, select, delete, undo, redo, yada yada, over and over and over. At 9:00 I was bracing myself when the play-head approached the end of the Chorus, fearing there'd be a noticeable gap in playback when it jumped back to the Verse. But NO, it was SEAMLESS (9:10). Wonderful! They've essentially combined the Track View with the Matrix View! But yeah, at 14:30 you mention the _exact_ thing I hoped you would: lead-in vocals (or lead-in instrumental phrases). If they can crack that issue, that's going to make the arrangement-experimenting / auditioning experience SO much better. Cheers!

[@markmcleod2247]

Great video! - Just a few things you may not be aware of: - If you're doing a bunch of section edits and you don't want the sections to include your events, un-check "Select Events with Sections" in the Track View "Options" menu. - To exclude a track from the arranger, go to Track properties tab in the inspector and check the "Arranger Exclude" checkbox. Unfortunately you can't do this at a section by section basis though. - For clips that have lead ins... When the arrangement has been committed, the clips that have been copied have actually been copied in full, and have just been cropped to the size of the section. If you find that vocals etc have been cut off, you can extend the crop out to the left to include the missing audio.

[@shader26]

Great, helpful tips! Thanks! The second one I was actually wondering about already. The first one, just to be sure I get it, you mean if you are editing ONE instance of an arranger section (in this videos case, say it was the second verse which is just a copy of the first) and make changes you do that? Third tip is also fantastic to know! Nice of you to share these!

[@markmcleod2247]

@@shader26 When "Select Events with Sections" is turned off, all it means is you can move the sections about without changing any of your events. You would use this when you are first marking out your sections, or you want to make corrections to the section placement - i.e. you just want to change the sections themselves and not move any events. BTW - this is now a toggle button in the "Select" control bar module to make it easier... just set the "Select" module size to large. As an addendum to the third tip... as of Cakewalk 2021.01, there is now an "Arranger Section Event Overlap Threshold". If you set this to say 1/16 note, then any MIDI notes that overlap the beginning or end of a section that are less than a 1/16th note will automatically be seen as part of the section and moved/copied/deleted along with it. This is useful when dealing with unquantized MIDI parts (e.g. piano, hi-hats), or synth pads that are played slightly early due to them having a slow attack.

[@johntammaro]

So glad I watched this when I did. This will help accelerate basic track layout. Great video

[@royvdboorn]

Thank you again Mike. Your cakewalk video's are fantastic.

[@lucasrocfer]

Hey Mike! As always you give us the best explanation I've ever seen

[@ManInTheAttic57]

Brilliant Mike! Great new feature! Thanks so much. Imagine multiple arranger tracks!

[@NathanEllery]

It can't be too bad if it makes you dance. Realise when a competent artist makes derogatory remarks about their own work when it's reasonably decent, it reflects on the listeners view and outlook on their own work. Thanks again for your videos. Learning lots.

[@darrenoak7187]

Fantastic tutorial, I will be using the Arranger from now on, thanks

[@rn369]

Excellent feature overview! This is an awesome fast track feature for song writers. You've inspired me to invest the time into learning this tool and add it to my workflow. Thank you for your Cakewalk tutorials! 🎵👍

[@Guarnere010]

Thanks for all the video's! Keep up the great work mate!

[@beachcomberbob3496]

My Cakewalk guru! I learn more from you than from the forums, which tend to wander off the OP within a couple of responses.

[@makaras]

You are so thorough without repetition - I would never have figured out how to show the Arranger view - many thanks from London, England!

[@crox_rox]

Very good video Mike, all clearly explained. Thank you

[@borisvolbeda2195]

I needed to move a segment of a tag to the end of the tag. This is a great way to do it. The tips you gave was exactly what I was looking for.

[@chrisstringer375]

Another great video Mike. Good point about having the capability to omit tracks, or even sections of tracks from a particular arrangement.

[@danilomayer]

Great feature, greatly explained. Thanks Mike!

[@timothyreynolds6255]

Mike, thanks again for a super video. I watched this when you first made it, but just re-watched to refresh my memory. Arranger is cool.

[@ToreHansen]

Another day, two new functions learned, this program is getting better and better and very cool videos as always! This is something im gonna use, perfect testing out what parts to use, order and perhaps remixes and alternativ versions.

[@clownpocket]

Man I love this feature, been dreaming about it forever. I never would have learned it as well or quickly without this excellent tutorial.

[@afos9233]

Just wanted to say what a pleasure it is to learn from all your videos. You make everything so easy to understand and know pretty much there is to know about the subject in hand. Totally professional but in a welcoming way. Great teacher and I always look forward to your next video

[@mikescofield]

I just learned about this feature and I'm definitely going to use it. I've started already. Thanks for this video.

[@jmalpartidajimenez]

Very useful! Thanks from Lima, Peru.

[@timcable]

powerful feature - thankyou for explaining

[@davidsinclair699]

Thanks for the walk-through Mike. As you said the ability to include/exclude tracks from specific instance of a section would be fantastic.

[@nigelbarnes818]

That's exactly what I needed. Thanks Mike!

[@spookbones]

Another brilliant tutorial. Informative and precise. Thank you Creative Sauce.

[@CreativeSauce]

My pleasure!

[@lazzahind3333]

Keep up The good work Mike, I'm trying to learn Cakewalk and you are the best teacher on the you tube.

[@CreativeSauce]

Thank you :)

[@RFAmadeus1]

Thanks you so much for this info. I've been wrestling with copy and pasting for hours and this let me get the job done in minutes. Brilliant!

[@jahe995]

Thank you. Nice feature ! I will use it for varying my "hear and play" congas training sequences !

[@andymeginniss6564]

Very nice video, Mike. You explained it and demonstrated it well. I will use this feature daily. Thanks!.

[@andrecarcara8692]

Hey Mike you are the best teacher I could wish. Thnx a lot!

[@malcolmhargreaves2354]

As always a very good tutorial, i've been recording for years the good old fashioned way with amps, 16 track recorder etc. and was always reluctant to switch over to computer. However, having subscribed to your channel i was convinced to download the Bandlab/Cakewalk software and "have a go" i must admit i find it all fascinating. I'm not at the midi stage just yet but just playing around with the software importing previously recorded tracks then adding the salt 'n' pepper with Cakewalk. I'd just like to say a big thank you for the tutorials without which i would have just given up and not had a clue...

[@fdefede]

Mike, excellent tutorial! You're an excellent teacher. I am working on 22 songs, almost ready to release them. I may try to go back and rearrange them. Thank You

[@StevenDiLeo]

Very helpful video! definitely going to make use of this feature.

[@shadowsoflife000]

Very longtime Cakewalk and Sonar user here, just started to migrate to Cakewalk by Bandlab. I saw you mention this video in a KVR forum where I've been helping other Sonar users, and I'm glad I checked it out! I've been looking for a feature like this since they took something similar to it out of Sonar. I needed this feature in a new project I started tweaking last night! Thanks for the video on this, I'll be checking out the rest of your videos over the weekend!

[@johnhill762]

This is EXCELLENT. I can’t believe my first DAW is still being developed so well! Just need a chord track and a few extra things and it’s up to date!

[@SonicVisualGR]

Brilliant explanation ! Thank you for mentioning the missing feature, - indeed it would be very useful !

[@rogercarter3569]

I have been doing music for over 25 years and I loved this video. I have been using Sonar from their start. Great Video again and I hope that cake walk takes your advice. I just went to each track and muted areas in just that track.

[@kpwebdes]

Great. Will use this feature. Thank you!!!

[@kiethyrich]

downloaded cakewalk a week ago because of your videos. thank you so much. I have subbed

[@CreativeSauce]

Thanks man!

[@FlockofAngels]

This saves me a few days work having to try and figure this feature out from scratch! Very helpful indeed! Thanks!

[@ClintonAshworth]

I was about to start a project where I'd need to split and copy and paste and all that crazy confusing stuff. Now I don't have to! This is great!

[@CreativeSauce]

Awesome!

[@martynroach182]

Thanks Mike, as always, an excellent tutorial. I'm away to experiment!

[@glenvilleleader1795]

Excellent video. Cakewalk Rocks!

[@iblametheparents1025]

Very useful and as always Mike you have produced a clear video easy to follow and nicely paced - I was working on a test piece I had produced for learning and the arranger option came up for some reason - looked useful and now I should be able to shunt sections around into order.

[@keith-marvk-harrisii8666]

I'll definitely make use of it. It's almost a scene based feature, which cakewalk needs.

[@adamkaktusmusic]

Thank you for all these lessons !!!!

[@lupiyorro]

Amazing... I didn't know what is about Arranger Track.. now I know it. It's a kind of seccion's administrator of a song...

[@c-jotakintana1587]

Thank You Mike !!!!! . I've never use this feature before . Great improvement will be part of my workflow 4 ever .

[@myrio1]

Thanks Mike! Dito on the "well explained". Last night I did a major cut-up of one of my songs in order to come up with a better arrangement. I have seen this arrangment track on and off. Mainly by inadvertently hitting the "a" key! I decided to look up "how to use" the arranger on KZbin. Glad I found your site. Subscribed!

[@BDWoodruffmusic]

Thanks for this video, Mike. I think this feature will be of great use to me when I'm using loops to build a backdrop for my main instrument(s) and want to experiment with different arrangements.

[@mcinen67]

It makes composing new songs easier and much faster.

[@ctmcollins4160]

Love your informative and down to earth videos. Guess it's that accent that lures me in...keep up the good work!!

[@nealclark]

Great walk through Mike. I have been trying this out myself for the last few days. I'm pretty impressed with it overall. I agree that having the ability to include or exclude various instruments would be a great additional option. Through doing some additional testing I have realised that once you "Commit Arrangement to Project" it slices up the tracks into individual sections that you can easily mute or un-mute, using the K key, to have those instruments playing or not. This gives ability to do what you were discussing in the video afterwards. To have this feature in Cakewalk is a great thing though and it's a credit to the development guys that we are still getting additional features added to a "Free" product. Keep up the great Cakewalk content and help spread the word on how capable a DAW it is to a wider audience.

[@philippequenin6656]

Very nice feature. And well done... I am more used to Reaper where there is something similar, but the more I discover Cakewalk, the more I realise that what I love in Reaper come from Cakewalk....

[@Azfun6]

This is bad ass Mike.....very cool feature, thanks so much for showing us this feature.

[@KevinGomeskvz1990]

Amazing Mike, This feature is amazing for Movie & film scoring as I need different export arrangements !! Thank you !!

[@harleymcneil4809]

Thanks so much for this Mike. We use Cakewalk as backing tracks for our 3pce band ( tracks are Drums - always and keys, horns etc where required ). We had considered changing to Reaper as they had this nice feature called 'Sections' which you could colour up and it was a great visual aid to navigation when playing live ( I manage the CbB back tracks on a laptop which sits low on a music stand. We decided to stay with CbB but always wondered what we could do regards having the Reaper-like Sections. There it was already in CbB, just waiting to be unearthed and your video make a HUGE difference to our work-flow. I have learned SO much watching your videos, thanks once again. Harley

[@alancollins2782]

I wish I had known of this feature sooner! It would have saved me a whole lot of cutting and pasting of sections of multiple tracks (and hours of time) when I decided on one of my projects to move the solo from after the bridge to before it.

[@chubidoo69]

Great video. Very useful tool and you are a great dancer too...

[@micwarren21]

Very similar to Sound Forge play list set up. I used that feature quite a bit to speed up workflow. Saves copy and pasting of sections, or cutting and moving sections. Great feature in Bandlab. I missed it until now.

[@petgod1]

A great help. Thanks so much mate.

[@jonieevangelista]

thank you for creating videos of new features...most of the time i don't really know "what's new" with all these updates...but i know i should read...but it also helps if someone can demonstrate them, thank you! more power! i am subscribed to this channel :)

[@999beat]

Hi Mike, I hope Bandlab is paying you for these great Video's very helpful... I love the fact that they are adding these new features but I do wish they would fix a couple of the other annoying glitches that they have .. thanks. I lost a couple of changes etc that took hours and even with the back up copy that they have still could not recover.

[@percyplumlight1854]

Soooo Cooool! Can't wait to try it. Thanks.......

[@CreativeSauce]

It’s fun!

[@ezgoen3882]

I've only just now searched for how to use the arranger track thinking that I'm about ready to tackle a larger project, thanks for this. Most importantly .... Love the eyebrow dance man! - Cracked me up - I bet you're a riot in elevators with cheesy elevator musac.

[@ernestdaniels1671]

This is a great use of use arranger window, which has been part of Cakewalk Sonar for years, but never uses in such a capacity as this. It was for viewing imported video into Sonar to sync music with the video. Cakewalk by BandLab has made remarkable strides with CbB where the Saw is much better than it's ever been. I love this new feature for creating my arrangements with out having to save each version of the new one.

[@joegrint6280]

Great video again Mike - especially the dad dancing ;-)

[@reevant2215]

Thanks again a Mike. I must have a look at this. I’ve been a bit busy learning to script Kontakt. Scripting Kontakt is a whole new world to me. Beats the hell out of creating SFZ files. Next week I’ll look at the tracking feature. Thanks again Tony.

[@wesleywsm]

Love the feature, but if subsequent revision allows it to loop the section for jamming and improvisation purposes that will be handy too.

[@phildoyle879]

Nice tutorial, bro... got all the key points across quite clearly. I've been using the Arranger feature in Studio One, but this looks (1st impression) like it may well be a cleaner implementation. I'm off to play with it right now.

[@BarrySeymour]

Brilliant, thanks for that!

[@beachcomberbob3496]

This new feature has already come in useful. Now I can make long and/or short edits of arrangements without a load of individual track cropping. Still some bugs in it, but I'm sure Bandlab will address them. Thanks for highlighting it !

[@SuperNashwanPower]

Great - so inspiring!

[@miguelallarena]

Muchas gracias por estos tutoriales, son muy útiles...

[@CreativeSauce]

My pleasure!

[@martymodus7205]

Thanks for another brilliant tutorial! One thought: Since the Arranger Track completely shatters the need for linear continuity in the normal track view, I believe it will result in more interesting musical choices if musicians actually DO copy/paste sections in track view for use in non-linear ways all to be used as arranger sections later. The musical usefulness of this is that you can go well beyond just muting/unmuting tracks and, instead, edit any parameters of each section to avoid boring, repetitive arrangements. Making that kind of varied arrangement in the traditional track view has always been a bit of a pain for me since I then need to move the rest of the song sections around, sometimes problematically. This Arranger Track allows me to mostly ignore where I place sections in the traditional view, giving me immense flexibility in making a more interesting arrangement with varied sections. It's just strange to break out of the expectation of what a song should "look like" in the traditional Track view. Edited to add: The arranger does not always make large jumps smoothly in large, complicated tracks. In fact, it comes to a full pause for some jumps, which is unfortunate. Still, I find it very useful for arranging. I can move sections in the sections window which moves them in the track view, but I prefer to keep my source file non-linear, then save my preferred arrangements as new Cakewalk documents where I can then commit to specific arrangements and polish them off around the edges in the traditional track view.

[@mikezart1]

Great video...thanks. Since cutting and pasting and rearranging is a disaster for me. This feature is huge! It helps me to organize my bigger projects.

[@agentcalm]

Great vid as always Mike. I don't so different versions of my songs as I pitch to publishers with the aim of getting a cut so I would most likely use this as you suggested as a great way to see your markers. I wonder if you can loop a section. Handy for practicing a guitar solo etc.

[@striverfor7628]

Brillant, thanks!

[@johncostopoulos7741]

PROFUSE THANKS AS ALWAYS!!

[@danishbeats3942]

Nice tutorial sir have a great day and keep safe

[@bzolsen]

More great info, Mike, thanks. If you hover over a section, a "Play" triangle appears. Click on that and the section is played once, then stops. I find that useful when I'm writing parts, so I can hear the change in the context of the entire section, not just a few notes before and after.

[@mrlionel1965]

This is really cool. Thanks so much for this vid.

[@kalebyoung4098]

I love Markers! They make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside! :) I def like this feature and will begin to use it from now on! I feel even more warm and fuzzy inside than I did using Markers! :)

[@totaltwit]

This is exactly what I was wanting. I set my DAW/track to record, press record and dash over to the other side of my room where I have my instrument (Hammond organ) I play and can see from a distance where I am in the song by using this Arrange method. Before that I would have to peer across the room at the screen to work out where I was in the song. The usual Markers are just too small to be useful for this, I need something BIG and VISIBLE from 20 paces :)