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The best DAW is/are the one(s) you're using at the moment. Unless someone voting has tried ALL the DAWs in the list and done a major compare and contrast, any results are ill-informed at best. What's more, it all depends on what you want the DAW to do. Some DAWs are better for mixing. Some for songwriting. Some for loops. Etc. etc. etc. I think most popularity contests are about clicks to improve SEO for the site sponsoring the "poll." Sorry to sound like I'm in a "kids get off my lawn" mode, but polls like this are meaningless. That said - go ahead and vote for Cakewalk!!! It deserves credit for making it through some very trying times. Personally, I'm not happy about being kicked to the curb, but that's in the past...and for me, doesn't detract from the program, Noel's dedication, Meng's foresight, or the wonderful community that has coalesced around it.

Some good buys here...especially with voucher! https://www.plugin-alliance.com/en/products.html

No, but now I have one......thanks!! Just kidding

JRR Shop $9.99 US. Use discount code "GROUP" at checkout for additional discount. https://www.jrrshop.com/air-music-tech-xpand-2

In a fred titled "Playing with this now", it's best to keep your helmet out of it.

Just received an email from T&S with a voucher so check your email for yours. Don't know if voucher codes are different per email but suspect they may be. Looking to get a TH-U expansion for around 6 GBP combining voucher with my loyalty points if it's allowed.

https://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=290&t=529757&start=410

All offers end October 24, 23:59 California Time/PT.

Thanks to you, I was able to upgrade from MPS 2.0 at an unbeatable price! Smooth transaction and quick transfer from Izotope. They even sent a Melodyne serial.

Feel free to vote for Cakewalk here!

Could be a good opportunity to turn people onto trying cakewalk and letting them know it's alive and well, if they didn't know already. I was on the fence about upgrading from a very old cubase until i found out about cakewalk being free now... so i figured "why not" and tried it out. Needless to say i didn't need to buy cubase haha.

Hey folks! As some of you may be aware, I have been making some Cakewalk tutorial videos for YouTube recently. As an aside I have working on a video chronicling the history of Cakewalk, from its inception in 1987, until its latest incarnation as CbB. I am gradually piecing together a time line of releases, but am lacking in some eye candy for the video! It would be greatly appreciated if any of you could help at all. I am particularly looking for: * Any disk images of early DOS versions (the earliest I have is V4 running in my virtual machine) * Any scans or photos of disk covers and associated paperwork. * Any scans of posters or adverts/magazine articles about the product. * Any fond memories! I know this is a huge ask, but if anyone could help, it would be great for the community to learn the full history of this awesome DAW. You can email me at creative.sauce.tube@gmail.com Thank you!

there's 20% off at the moment in the steinberg shop

If children will be the primary users, then closed-back headphones will be a must. Same goes for kids' musical instruments and handheld devices. They want to explore and that should be encouraged. But no point in subjecting your own ears to their experiments. You can get those cheap $29 cans that studios buy in bulk for handing out to drummers and bass players.

A 2.1 multimedia speaker system with a subwoofer will work well with the on-board audio just for playback. I use one for my laptop when I have it running at home, with a copy of my DAW software. I do use headphones when traveling, of course. I have an older version of the 2.1 multimedia system from Creative. It's definitely not studio quality, but as a consumer audio system, it gets the job done. This appears to be the latest offering... https://www.amazon.com/Creative-A250-Multimedia-Speaker-System/dp/B00CDJJZV6 https://us.creative.com/p/speakers/sbs-a250 https://www.pcgamer.com/best-computer-speakers/

Additionally MTurboDelayMB, a multiband version of the mighty MTurboDelay, has been released and is free for MTurboDelay users. A multiband version MTurboDelayMB is now included! How about using multiple of these super-powerful delays and process each part of the spectrum with a different one? Or perhaps one delay processing the transients and another processing the sustain? And well, nearly anything you can imagine!

Hey @Ron Harrell . When you select Lyrics view as Chuck described above, it will by default open in the multidock. Be aware that lyric view is track selection dependent. You need to make sure you have the track selected that contains the notes that will trigger the lyrics as the song plays - a single midi note for each word. Heres the process I use: 1. Write your song lyrics in a text file 2. Create an empty midi track. This will be used to trigger your lyrics. It does not matter what instrument it is assigned to (if any) as it will be muted. It does not matter what notes you play. Just the timing is used to scroll through the lyrics. 3. Record enable the track and start recording, and as the song plays, play a midi note for each word (exactly as they are written in your text file). Once done, this track can be muted. 4. With the midi track you just recorded selected, choose Views> Lyric View. A window filled with dashes (one for each note you played) will appear in the multi dock. Drag its tab out of the multidock so that the window is free floating. 5. Select all of the lyrics in your text document and copy them (Ctl>C) 6. Now select all of the dashes in your lyric view window and paste the lyrics in (Ctl>V). The dashes will be replaced with your lyrics. 7. Play back the song back and make sure that the highlighted lyrics are in time with your backing. You can now set the font and resize the window to suit your screen layout. You can have a larger font and smaller window, as the lyrics will be highlighted and scroll with the song on playback. I generally like to have 4 lines visible the full width of the screen, but this is entirely up to you. Arrange all of the project windows as you would like them to appear upon opening. MAKE SURE THAT YOUR LYRIC TRACK IS SELECTED. Lock the current screenset, then save the song. Hope that helps:)

Vocal Enhancer, G8 or Zip for $5 on top of the “everyman” voucher, not bad indeed.

I checked it out and it's a good alternative. It's worthwhile to see the walk-through video. I have 50 points and that translates to about $5, you must have like 600 points?!

@Noel Borthwick If last activated date is displayed in About Cakewalk window, we may be relieved. Like this... "Free- Activated by BandLab Assistant (2019/10/11)"

Nevermind... Seems formatting is a more apt discussion here, so I'll let someone else create a thread about that, and contribute to it ?

My DAW desktop has Win 10 Pro 1903 (with all current updates). The laptop, a Dell Inspiron 15, 5577 has Win 10 Home 1903 (with all current updates). The DAW desktop is an ASUS ROG Maximus VIII Hero Z170 motherboard with an i7 6700K (no overclocking) and 16GB of Corsair RAM. A Samsung EVO SSD. Resplendence Latency Mon shows no problems. I can run recording interfaces, reliably, at 64 samples. I use Windows Defender and Malwarebytes (paid version). There is no "garbage" in startup, only what is needed. Very "vanilla" system.

my best DAW is cakewalk by bandlab all the way......

I logged in. Filled out the info. They emailed a confirmation code within 10 seconds. I confirmed, and instantly got serials for all these, which were also emailed: VendorProductSerial# EP1093-2PreSonusStudio One 2 Producer EP1036-18CakewalkCA-2ACA2A EP1035-96Image LineGroove Machine EP1035-279Image LineDeckadance EPLLTPPLoop LoftThe Producer Pack (I emailed them. Dead link on the usb drive too.) EP1035-240Ohm ForceSynthohm EP1035-242Ohm ForceOhmboyz EP1035-283EisenbergEinklang EP1099-2Groove31-Year Pass EP1049-23IK MultimediaAmpliTube Metal (love them jam points) EP1049-18IK MultimediaT-RackS 3 Deluxe (whew, even more jam points) EP1068-6PSP AudiowareBusPressor EP1054-1Smithson MartinEmulator Pro 10 seconds later I got an email from Sonnox for TransMod. Entire process took less time than it took me to post this.

Sure - minidump is attached. _10162019_124406.dmp

There is nothing wrong with normalizing. However, in Cakewalk there is a trim control for each track, with it one has the option to adjust the input signal as one wishes. Keep in mind that each track adds volume to the mix. Lowering the faders so that the cumulative volume is not clipping may be the best way to get a good sound without distortion. I have routinely placed my faders at infinity and raise one at a time readjusting as more tracks come on line for a preliminary mix. Also if you did not record the project it may be useful to raise and then lower each track to see what it has in it. On occasion I have found tracks that were so low in a mix that they were unheard. When brought up they added greatly to the overall sound. I guess I'm saying use the luxury of a real multi-track DAW to its fullest. It beats a four track hands down.

Hey Wookie, I have struggled with the low end “girth” on this tune it seems almost endlessly. I finally had to move on. I have other tunes with the exact same instrumentation that just feel “fuller”. I guess this is what separates the hobbyist from the Mix Engineer. Thanks for using your furry paws to play my tune ? Tom

I agree this is a good pop tune. I listened in the car and found myself whistling the melody going back in the house. I do feel you need a little space transitioning from chorus one into verse two. But not the breakdowns you use later. Just a bar or two. Like you (and probably most CbB users) I rely heavily on midi to carry the tune; “humanizing” midi tracks is a huge challenge, and is what keeps many of our efforts at the “demo” level. I thought Hidden suggesting that this tune was “ready for the next level” was a big compliment. Tom

I tend to save presets for plugins, where I set the output volume low enough to then not require me to massively drop gain for its audio track(s). I typically name such modified presets with a prefix that identifies they are set for recording levels, as opposed to those I would use live. Simply adding '00-DAW ' at the front of any saved preset, makes them all group up at the top of the list of presets, and thus easy to find. It doesn't need to be precise, but since I tend to set gain for tracks at -18 dB, I will set preset volumes for those to be used in Cakewalk, to be down around -18 to -15 dB, and then I can fine tune it with the Cakewalk track gain knob. Bob Bone

This is impressive, appreciate the way every new feature is explained.

Plug in another screen and mirror them.

I generally resist the urge to comment on posts here, but sometimes the rest of the forum is so quiet, it's hard to resist. ;^) Ultimately these suggestions are intended primarily for the Bakers' eyes, but that doesn't mean other users aren't welcome to weigh in with their opinions about the value, necessity or implementation details of a suggested feature/change. It can happen (and has happened) that a suggestion gets accepted and implemented in a way that really screws up the workflow of long-time users, so they have right to register their concerns in advance. And, as you say, there appear to be many cases where a user isn't aware of an existing feature that offers most or all of what they want.

edit- It's more complicated. The cpu hit on Master Rebalance can be very high on certain projects but not on some. Plus sometimes disabling it (VST3) the cpu usage remains, even when it's not processing audio. I'll have to investigate further.

"Ugh, it's smelly, slimy, leathery skin is quite revolting" ... said the alligator?

I guess if you're a new user, you're not inclined to RTFM...LOL

Well, I certainly don't need to spend $149 - I can do that on my own!! ? @Marshall thanks for the sound reasoning.

Can't have too much Stan Getz either:

Of all the ways to deal with software, this strikes me as one of the least intrusive. No dongle, no freakouts if your hard drive changes, no having to keep track of how many computers you've authorized. If all I need to do is let BandLab know from time to time that I still exist, that's okay with me.

very nice oh furry one. Love it when the drums come in - oooooh that arp....

I tried this out before when it was on offer, but didn't buy in the end. I was really keen to demo it, because I had read great reviews, notably from Paul White at Sound on Sound. I found I could get better results from Ozone 8 Advanced, which I already owned, without much more effort. Granted, I have invested time learning Ozone, although I am a long way from being any kind of expert. I would say that Zynaptic will give you good results, and it's very easy to use but if you have tools such as Ozone already, then it won't give you anything you don't already have at your disposal.

Oops, almost forgot. Yarrr...

Not sure why it isn't working for you all but the sale still seems available. Add to your cart and then enter group into the "Discount Code" box at checkout. This jus a moment ago:

Many wish there was an offline option. My studio has no internet access, so I bring the Cat in occasionally, and update everything at once. I’ve not had the BandLad Assistant issue that you experienced, but it pops up on the forum now and then. All in all, CbB is my DAW of choice, jumping through a few hoops; no big deal.

And there's also this https://vstbuzz.com/the-vault/shimmer-shake/ and with my reward points I can have it for less than half it's price! Maybe not as awesome as the SSS but if you cannot stress out hundreds for a shaker, there is an alternative .

Hey, let's stay on topic, guys. Sarcasm is the theme. Kenny, you're only as old as you feel.

Hi guys, Yes the Basic lens was updated so if you were using the stock one it would have changed. The theme being forced with the Basic lens was an oversight. That has been fixed in the latest hotfix.

Totally get that. I just think it is good practice to run all signal to a single bus before you hit the hardware outputs. If done correctly, there should be no difference between the hardware output and the final summing bus, whatever you call it. Dan

This is the kind of stuff I love and the way we all used to record our gems. Have to say it has overtones of early John Lennon and the guitar playing reminds me of 'Dear Prudence' .. I was a Tascam man myself from a two track reel to reel to a 4 track but still remember the day I purchased my ultimate recorder Tascam Midi studio 8track running at twice the speed of a normal cassette recorder ... I've rebuilt and repaired twice over the years 'cause it's so dam' good and I still have and use it ! This song cries out to be remixed ... thanks for the post really enjoyed the trip down mems street Steve

Well in studio one a chord track can a) be detected from audio (where the chords are unknown) b) be used to change the MIDI and Audio c) be used by collaborators to track to "project you give them)" In the case of b) you can enable all tracks (non-percussive of course) to all react to changes in the chord track. Is that slick or what?