By Carl Jacobson, Cakewalk

Many of users have asked Cakewalk to support quantize resolutions of 64th notes and higher.  Quantization resolutions this high are useful for creating drum and bass and other styles of electronic music, and for creating dramatic effects. The good news is you can already Quantize any note value you desire, and this tip explains how.  The steps in this tip apply to SONAR, Cakewalk Pro Audio, Cakewalk Home Studio, Cakewalk Music Creator, Cakewalk Plasma, Cakewalk Guitar Studio, and Cakewalk Professional.

Tighten Up

Edit | Quantize can be a powerful tool when used to tighten up the rhythmic values of a performance.  In the Quantize dialog box, the Resolution parameter presets allow you to select rhythmic values ranging from whole notes to 32nd note triplets in standard increments.  In some cases, for instance when programming fill accents or when dealing with a particularly fast or syncopated run, you might need to quantize to a finer resolution than 32nd note triplets or to a rhythm like a dotted 8th note.

Here's how to get those rhythmic resolutions when quantizing.

In addition to selecting the preset Resolutions in the Quantize dialog box, you can also define your own resolution by typing a MIDI Tick value in the Resolution field.  Depending on the Timebase setting of your project (i.e. Parts Per Quarter Note or PPQN), this number will vary.  We have prepared a handy table for you with the numeric values of common rhythmic resolutions not already preset in Quantize. 

Note: If you are using a low PPQN setting for your project, certain Quantize resolutions will not be possible. There are instances across almost all PPQN settings (192 and 384 are the exceptions) where certain rhythmic values do not divide into a whole number of ticks. In those instances where an exact rhythmic resolution would require a fractional tick value we have presented choices or approximations (indicated by italics).  Choose the lower choice if you would like to have a pushing feel, or the higher resolution if you would like to have a more laidback feel.  In cases where that exact rhythmic value will be a common pulse throughout your piece, we recommend working at a different PPQN setting.

Now all you have to do is type these values into the Quantize Resolution field, set your other Quantize settings and hit OK.  Once you take the time to do this, don't forget to save the setting as a preset by typing in a name (i.e. Dotted 8th - 960 PPQN) in the preset field at the top of the dialog box, and hitting the save preset button (the icon that looks like a small floppy).  That way you can call up these resolutions  any time you like.