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Think I said this already, but just to reiterate - many thanks to Jesse, Noel, Mark and all the Staff for staying engaged and providing as much input/details as they can. Don't think you'll find that much direct / hands on involvement from many software companies.

I have a trunk full of full licenses ready. Only available on floppy disk ATM.

@Morten Saether is working on several video's for Next. We also may do new videos on Sonar.

Agreed that these should be native functions. At some point we also intend to replace CAL with a modern scripting language. We're a small team and as you might imaging juggling two full DAW's has been a challenge the last few years

I'm old so the CbB I do have is more DAW than I'll ever need. I hope the final CbB will have a complete installer we can download of the latest and last that we can squirrel away for offline reinstall on some future date.

$25 - no extra discount https://www.jrrshop.com/ds-audio-software-thorn

MAudioPlugins BETA 16.07a Download: https://www.meldaproduction.com/downloads

I'm literally working on a highly detailed video that showcases all the areas in which Cakewalk's workflow can be improved. I wish I could finish it a little sooner but I have a day job so I don't have as much time as I'd like to devote to it, but it should be ready by the middle of this week.

Something tells me that, despite we are all speculating about our beloved Sonar and its price, the real future of Cakewalk, the app intended to be one step ahead in the future DAW market, and the one that means the survival of Cakewalk for "next" 15 years, is Next. We should pay a bit more attention about what happens with Cakewalk Next::.

Vocals: Bapu, Daryl Greenway & Liz Greenway Guitars: Jamesg1213, SteveStrummerUK Other Stuff: Ed "Bapu" Kocol Special vocal appearance on the "Oh No" lines: Jan Eiken (Old55, RIP)

Some small fixes and a new tuner. 16.07a changes MGuitarArchitect Added a global tuner and polytuner to MGuitarArchitect. Fix MDrumStrip MDrumStrip was inducing latency in some devices. Fix AU GUI plugin size issues under macOS with multiple displays (Logic Pro, GarageBand). Fix Plugins could incorrectly store certain paths and text featuring some characters. Fix Mouse cursor behavior under macOS, when changing parameters (i.e dragging knobs). Fix MDrummer MDrummer could crash in Bitwig in some cases.

$42 each https://everyplugin.com/deals/shopby/manufacturer/mastering-the-mix.html

You are right about biases in the industry. It's not just with software, bias permeates the entire music industry! I'm sure you have seen Mac bias where not having a Mac version is deemed inferior or less professional. Hopefully us having a MacOS DAW now (Cakewalk Next) will alleviate that. CbB being free also was an issue with some vendors who don't test with "free daws" 🙄

Special flash giveaway of the White Bell - a hybrid-made instrument for Full Kontakt*. *The regular price is £5.46 (approx 6.86$). The offer is valid for limited time only so act fast! https://www.boyss-sound-e-scapes.com/white-bell.html

https://www.audiodeluxe.com/products/virtual-instruments/tracktion-collective Free IK Multimedia T-RackS Tape Machine 24 included, no additional discount

I asked AI to draw me

Here's a workflow issue I would like resolved. I'll be working on one track and then select a clip in a different track and go to ProChannel only to realize I never actually went to the new track. If I select the track on the track number it always does what it is supposed to do. I would like the ability to activate whichever track I am working on, even if I don't select it on the number.

Yeah. I use Ableton Live and Cakewalk frequently. Love both and find great use in both. There's about 40 things I absolutely hate about both...

I'd like to clarify that I think there's a difference between "seems clunky" and "lacks a valuable feature" and "doesn't work the way I want it to." "Clunky," to me, means things that are needlessly obscure or complex, things that require too many steps or switching back and forth between different views. Case in point regarding obscurity, the process for deleting a marker. Why not have markers be selectable, then just hit Delete to delete them? And how about a nice context menu with "delete" being a selection? I love Cakewalk's PRV, but when I'm working in it, in order to rename a track or replace a synth, something I do plenty often when working in PRV, I have to switch over to Track View and then back. That interrupts the flow.

Audiotonix, a global market leader in the design, engineering and manufacture of professional audio mixing consoles and ancillary products, acquired sonible. sonible will join the growing Audiotonix brand portfolio of leading audio technology and solutions companies that includes Allen & Heath, Calrec, DiGiCo, DiGiGrid, Group One Limited, Harrison, KLANG:technologies, Slate Digital, Solid State Logic, and Sound Devices. https://www.sonible.com/blog/audiotonix/ Not sure if I feel lucky to have maxed out during their anniversary sale or if this means better days ahead. At least it wasn’t Francisco Partners or whatever they call themselves now.

With Arturia’s MINI V3, sounds like a square wave with a duty cycle of around 25 to 30% mixed with a sawtooth. Glide at 7.44. Mod Wheel mapped to the LFO AM and the LFO mapped the the VCO123FM - Amount 0.0002. LFO rate around 9 hz.

Despite CAL being deprecated long ago, we've no plans to change its existing behaviour for Sonar, so any CAL scripts that currently work in CbB will work without issue in Sonar.

I did. Still waiting for a serial

Use your ears. Considerably less gain than you might think. Considerably more midrange than you might think. WAY less effects than you might think.

I can't watch videos on my flip-phone. 🤪

imo, given macro trends such as streaming, covid, ubiquity of mobile apps, accessibility of low cost (and highly capable) creative tools, GoPro, etc, video has/is/and will be a major factor for promoting/distributing creative content. imagine there's a substantial number of legacy users who might not prioritize it, but i see it as a key capability in maintaining relevance and expanding the user base. many NLEs already support some form of audio production. Cakewalk would only need to consider the basics of import/export and audio integration on a timeline. the 80/20 rule should be more than fine. as it's more of a production feature than a creation feature, sounds like a focus for Cakewalk Sonar vs. Next.

Cool version, I like the way you changed it up.

I said the same thing several years back as well, but it was something along the lines of having a super multidock with moveable tabs where you could just stick whatever you wanted there including plugins and have them resize to fit etc . It would be a very fluid UI and highly customisable to suit different needs.

This is another oft mentioned request which I think would super helpful,. At the moment I normally copy / paste the midi to tracks of instruments I want to layer/double If we were able to select another midi track as the source from the input dropdown menu shown below ...that would do the trick I think ? Hopefully not to hard to implement and wouldn't impact on those who don't want to use it.

It’s a nice synth imho. I’d definitely prefer the activation method with activation codes as provided in this purchase outside PA

Fizzy Pickle are baaaaaaack! I like the sparse arrangement. Always excellent vocals from the Mrs. Fun bass line by Bapu. Really nice mix. Is there a cartoon-based YT video coming? 😉 On a side note: I run a Chrome plugin that disables HTML5 autoplay. It turns out that Soundcloud has one of the audio/video players that won't run if autoplay is not disabled for the site. Even clicking on the play arrow only gives you infinite buffering attempts. It never plays. Once autoplay is disabled, it works great. Just an FYI FWIW.

Strange to see it still being sold by DS, as it’s part of Plugin Alliance now.

At the moment it kinda 'skips' when it has play a section out of order - You can work around it by committing to the arrangement and auditioning it properly in the main track view which can then be undone if you don't like it. I think if you can make the playback of the alternative arrangements smoother it would be a noticable mprovement to an already good feature.

https://oscaudio.gumroad.com/l/caliKicks caliKicks is a collection of 20 FREE Analog Kicks made using modular synthesis, processed through an analog signal chain for warmth and punch. All sent if that juicy analog goodness recorded through mastering grade converters and sent to a convenient set of high quality .wav files.

I'm working on a Youtube video right now that showcases every workflow issue with Cakewalk and detailed explanations on what can be improved.

This reminds of a discussion I was never part of and have no use for remembering, but here we are. In the Beatmaker community, Fruityloops (FL Studio) is basically king. And a lot of (well known, multi platinum etc.) producers use a particular older version which "sounds better", harder, snappier, etc. Turned out that version had a limiter on the master under the hood. One of the issues I have with Ableton (besides the current erratic CPU behaviour), is that sample previews are much louder and I believe compressed. Oh the continuous dissapointment when I drag a great sounding kick in my project to have it flop away somewhere in the distance of my lowend. When all I have to do is turn it up a bit. The 'same' goes for old MPC's, which have 'that mojo', but a lot of that magic was that they worked on 12 bit. You can watch hours of beatmaking tutorials but rarely do you see someone say "just use a bitreducer on the drumbus" as if it's some kind of secret. Clip your kick to mush, bitreduce the transient back to life and filter the high-end (or use a good tape emulation)...done. It sounds like doodoo on its own, but in a mix it's perceived as much louder and harder than a clean kick.

TL; DR VERSION Cory Pelazzari, IMO, is the most honest YouTube influencer doing sample library reviews that I know of. He's also pretty thorough. After he had a very negative experience with a well known sample developer that didn't like Cory's heavily critical reviews of their sample libraries -- and, according to Cory, threatened to sue him if he didn't take down critical video reviews of their libraries (they offered him suggestions to create more positive review videos of their libraries) -- to the point that he refers to as bullying --he's back and he's put up a couple of reviews in the last several days. The first review is for Acoustic Samples Vwinds Double Reeds library. The library is currently on intro pricing for $149 USD, and will go up to $219 USD after the intro period. You can skip below for the links or read on if you want to understand my experience with this influencer and why I think he's worth listening to and the realities of the pressures he's faced from sample developers for giving highly critical reviews. But if you're not into my mega posting, feel free to skip to the video and link below. THE LONG VERSION AND SOME "INSIDE BASEBALL" STUFF ON INFLUENCERS AND DEVELOPERS WHY CORY PELAZZARI IS PROBABLY THE MOST HONEST YOUTUBE "REVIEWER" OF SAMPLE LIBRARIES YOU'LL FIND AND SOME OF THE DETAILS BEHIND THE INFAMOUS VI-CONTROL THREAD THAT LEVERAGES HIS STORY TO LAUNCH AN ATTACK ON A SAMPLE DEVELOPER (BY CONTRACTORS OF THEIR COMPETITOR WHO DIDN"T DISCLOSE THAT RELATIONSHIP UNTIL THE DEVELOPER THEY WERE ATTACKING BROUGHT IT UP) Most people don't know how influencers doing "reviews" actually work and if they did, I'm sure that they would see the whole operation as shilling. To be very candid, most influencers can fairly be considered brand pitch people (or salespeople) -- often posing as unbiased reviewers when they are compensated by the developer being reviewed -- cashing in on the reach that they have to an audience that a brand wants to get their message to. While a brand can reach that audience with advertising, advertising doesn't come with the trust of an influencer with his or her audience and that is what influencers sell to brands, the value of the trust that they have with their audience and using that trust to pitch a brand's products to that audience. In modern marketing planning, virtually every product rollout plan for a consumer and many business products and services consider influencers an important part of of a new rollouts and on-going promotion. Even though a lot small developers commonly rely on influencers to reach their target markets. Even the less successful influencers -- those with a reach say, under 20,000 people -- will commonly ride a gravy train of free NFR product and sales commissions (AKA affiliate marketing), while the most successful influencers are often paid upfront for the products they "review" and the brands they review are commonly granted permission to see the videos the influencers make before they are released so that the brands -- in this market's case, the developers -- can discuss making edits, basically to remove opinions they don't like, such as comments they find unfavorable towards their "reviewed product." Just a little tip. You can easily spot influencers who are certainly not going to give you honest reviews. They don't say anything too critical about the products they review. Another easy way to spot a shill is that they do promo videos for the developers they review. Consider this basic giveaway clue on bias. If an influencer says something too critical about a developer's product, the gravy train will dry up and the NFRs and cash will no longer come their way. All of that amounts to an enormous pressure for an influencer to avoid saying anything too critical in a "review." So as a marketing pro, there are some things I look for that tell me that the influencer I am watching may be sincere and not merely shilling and heavily editing for a developer. One of those clues is whether the influencer says something so critical you can be certain that no developer would want to hear it. I can count on one hand the influencers in this space that do that. One of them, really the only one I know in this space that will be incredibly critical is Cory Pelzzari. I became a fan of his after watching a video for a drum sample library I was considering. Cory's review was thorough and super helpful -- and brutally honest. It was surprising how honest. I thought, this guy has guts, because there is no way the developer of the reviewed library Cory just explained is unredeemably poor will ever give him an NFR to review again. And the developer clearly didn't pre- approve that video. Cory's rock video saved me from buying that sample library. I immediately sent a link of the video to a sample developer friend of mine that I've consulted to in the past to tell him this was the most honest influencer I've ever witnessed in this space and I challenged my developer friend to send him his libraries for review. As I knew this developer makes the best libraries in his area of specialty plus he has the integrity and humility to respect an honest review and criticism. His reply? He's already in communication with Cory and feels the same way about him that I do. So those of you who spend time at VI Control may have seen a recent very controversial thread where the OP brought up Cory and his critical review of a sample developer and that developer's subsequent battle with Cory to take his video reviews down. FTR, that thread wasn't exactly as it appeared. But I'll focus on Cory's story. According to Cory, one of the partners of a well-known sample developer heavily objected to Cory's very critical review videos of their libraries and threatened to sue him of he didn't take them down. She also tried to persuade him to make new review videos that were more favorable to the developer, which she would pre approve before going live. Cory felt intimidated and dialogued with her, but didn't want to compromise his integrity. But the legal threats did worry him. Upon learning this story, I wanted to intervene to protect the independence/free speech that made this influencer so valuable. A decade prior the developer had called me for marketing and branding advice, so I thought I'd contact him to see if I could get help better the relationship between his company and Cory. We had a series of friendly chats, but I didn't feel my involvement made any difference and I suspect that his partner was the bigger part of the problem. I did recommend that threatening a slander lawsuit for a critical review is baseless and ridiculous and they really should not be engaged in putting that kind of pressure on this influencer, and with those tactics now being public, it would especially be a good idea to stop those actions. I advised Cory to ignore the threats of legal action, as slander is when someone tells damaging lies, not when you give a harsh critique of a company's products. So, why tell this story? Because I want the community to know how much pressure there is on an honest influencer doing honest reviews so that they realize how difficult it is to be honest in that line of work. I also want folks to understand the dishonesty of the system so that they don't get manipulated. Successful influencers can make a lot of money and developers will compensate them in various ways and I wish there was complete transparency on that for everyone to see, because influencers like to present that they're providing unbiased reviews and they're absolutely not doing that. But then you have an individual like Cory who is doing something completely different and I want to see him succeed and have an impact on the way influencer marketing works so that it's more honest than it presently is. It's been several months since I first started communicating with Cory, and his negative experience with that developer really shook him. But he's back and I think he's worthy of our support. I love to see the good guys win, and I very much believe that Cory is one of the true good guys, a person of integrity. I would love to see him grow his success as a YouTuber and hope that my fellow forum members will give his channel a look. LINK TO THE VWINDS LIBRARY: https://www.acousticsamples.net/vwindsdoublereeds

I have to agree; I have also been using Cubase Pro 12. If I need to record a VSTi drum kit, instead of routing the output of each drum piece directly to an audio track, I have to create a group for each piece and, after creating the group, create audio tracks to receive the output from these groups. In Cakewalk, on the other hand, I can simply insert an audio track and select one of the VSTi outputs as the input. Indeed, what you gain in one DAW, you lose in another, and so on. The key is to learn to deal with the limitations of each one and see which one suits the musical style we produce best.

finally?! the topic that should be -so- much more interesting than all the subscription/gibson/etc angst. imagine it's a bit too early to get into it but intrigued by the potential, wondering about the roadmap, perhaps a new thread makes sense?

I only need an decent preview of video in daw, and leave editing to PowerDirector. To move video in timeline in Sonar, I render a video in PD where I put clip 8s into timeline. - this is just for preview That create 8s black video as a start, and I get video start 5 bars into timeline in Sonar. Zoom in so each frame can be seen, and assign measure 5 to start exactly at first frame. Audio export I put into original video in PD as last operation. All video editing and rendering done in PD. Just thinking about priority what Bakers should be spending time on - a daw or video editor. it can quickly become a can of worms if doing half baked stuff regarding video. - if to get audio and video perfectly synced you would need full rendering video in new Sonar too - this means lots of limitations for audio formats, video formats already in a video editor - there is one bug though to fix, if using count in, video stalls in a strange way when transport starting recording. (reported then, and maybe fixed, not sure) As I learned here on forum 3 years ago, you can change to use DirectShow or similar in Sonar/CbB to move clip directly with offset. Just felt this idea generating 8s black video at start worked really well. Video feels solid otherwise. You hardly notice it is there running the project. - reason I left Cubase 2018 was the horrific cpu hungry new video engine, as quicktime was deprecated - I'd hate to see similar things in new Sonar - so I ran vidplayvst instead for a bit with fraction of Cubase cpu use if using built in engine https://vidplayvst.com/downloads.htm It works well if getting an updated video and some scenes are shorter/longer to run beside previous video. You can run many different videos too. But has to be edited elsewhere as final operation. - or use the vidrendervst which is placed on masterbus to render it all I think more music related stuff like updated Staff View is more useful for the many.

I am vary wary of plugins that claim to be the all in one and only plugin you'll ever need scenario. You've heard it all before. I also enjoy using different plugins per song. Having a all in one kinda defeats the purpose of creation. So... My laundry list of vocal plugins... Off the top of my head.. I've got all these plugins at really great discounts (or before they became known starting prices very very low). I have to always search for the best deals as doing this as a hobby can get expensive! *Melodyne Studio 5 by Celemony Audio modern GateLab JMG Sound Expanse 3D *JMG Sound Transmutator (Mutation from one voice to the next is unbeatable!) JMG Sound Mirror *JMG Sound Hyperspace (reverb and delay) Waves Audio F6 Floating-Band Dynamic EQ Waves Audio Renaissance Maxx *Waves Audio Sibilance (Haven't found anything that can beat this yet and be affordable). Waves Audio Smack Attack (works wonders on vocals, but I use it only when needed) *Waves Audio StudioRack Waves Audio Vitamin Sonic Enhancer *Waves Audio Vocal Bender (I know I could use Melodyne, but this is so much quicker, virtually no wait, just turn a knob) Waves Audio Waves Harmony (Harmonies sound too robotic) Waves Audio Clarity Vx *Waves Audio Brauer Motion (manipulating vocal space with this... Especially if you've got multiple vocals moving at the same time!) Waves Audio Vocal Rider (got it, can't really find a use for it) Waves Audio Greg Wells Voice Centric *Waves MV2 (keeps vocals level by bringing up the low volume while lowering the high volume) Sonible Smart Reverb (crashes on me so much, I switched to Hyperspace instead) *Sonible Smart EQ *Sonible Smart Limiter HorNet Total EQ *HorNet The Normalizer (used in multiple tracks in every song) (gain staging) HorNet AutoGain Pro MK2 *Acon Acoustica Premium Edition *iZotope Vocal Doubler iZotope RX Standard (CPU Intensive, rarely use) I probably have many other plugins not listed, but these are the ones I can remember. * = My Favorites I try really hard to avoid iZotope plugins as they all tend to be CPU hogs. If I do use them, I'm end up having to freeze the track or render the track to reduce CPU load. I used to use "Waves Audio F6 Floating-Band Dynamic EQ" to have vocals poke thru the mix, but when Sonible Smart EQ came along, I stopped using it. Out of all the plugins, HorNet plugins use the least amount of CPU cycles. If I need to save CPU cycles, I usually replace a plugin with a HorNet plugin. I've got over 20 HorNet plugins, but can't recall them all as the naming scheme doesn't help make them rememberable. ...

ENCORE!!!!! ENCORE!!!!!!!

What you said about putting them in the the Help module is a good one. It might even get me to turn my Help Module on. I'm rather fond of tooltips myself. The confusing business about slip editing modifier keys, there could be a tooltip saying "hold Shift to edit single clip" when you click on a clip edge to do some slip editing and the edge either butts up against or lines up to another clip. When dragging a clip, "hold Ctrl to copy," that sort of thing. I know I've beaten the drum for consistency before, and I don't think it's ever had much attention paid to it, but I really do think that having more consistency in operation between the various views would make the program seem more polished and less whacked-together. Also stuff like being able to rename tracks and replace synths and the like in the PRV's track pane. Having to switch between views for common operations like those also leads to a perception of clumsiness. Double-clicking on a track's name to rename it should work everywhere you find a track name. If I'm working in the PRV, why have me open Track View to rename a track or replace a synth? It just wastes time.

"Mac bias" is very apt. As much as you hear people moaning about CW being Windows only, you never hear people whining about Logic being Mac only.

Just to throw my hat into the ring here, a few quick things that come to mind right away for me are: Consistency - some views work a certain way, others don't. I get the reasoning behind the *why* we might want to have a left-mouse lasso to grab things in the PRV as opposed to a right-mouse one in the Track View, or different double click options, etc. but for a new user, imagine getting used to the standard conventions of most operating systems and then finding "oh that works when I enter in MIDI notes, but how come I can't grab a bunch of clips using that method?" when you try it. Again, I understand exactly why we have it like this and it works really well once you get used to it, but I can see that as a clunk for someone who just dives in. FWIW, REAPER did this first and I remember hating it when I first tried it out. To me it feels more natural in CbB, but it's still a "well that's odd" thing if you're used to selecting things in Windows in general. Consistency (part 2: The Revenge): Some views have been switched over to the Tracks / Inspector paradigm (eg: Tempo Track, Arranger Track, Articulation, etc). Fully onboard with that - these are GREAT enhancements rather than fiddling around opening up different views to do things, thus removing clunk. What about Meter/Key? Markers? If this was expanded to offer stuff like DDP creation, would this stuff live in here? From what I've seen from Cubase, that's how they have the top of their main track view and it's very elegant. Additionally to that, this goes back to my "Shell Game" thing - unless you hit the hotkey to toggle Tempo View, where is it? You can actually drag down on the blank space above the track headers and it magically appears. Again, I get why this is, but why am I even guessing about it? There needs to be something obvious for new users especially. Additionally with Markers, why do we have to delete them by clicking on them with your left-mouse, and while holding it down, pressing the delete key, or changing into the Markers View? Nothing else does that, and it's a big hold over from the CWPA days. It's little things like that which confuse and frustrate people, despite not really being a slower workflow at all. It's just unnecessary stuff to remember. Shell Games: I saw it mentioned in a thread that adding new VSTs can be confusing. I'll admit, I've been burnt by this one. So you install a new Reverb plugin. CbB scans for it and says "hey there it is, great stuff" and then you look in your Plugins Browser and... where the hell is it? If it's a VST3, there's a good chance it's been added into the right category for manufacturer or effect type, but a lot of the time it gets dumped into Uncategorised. There should be a Newly Installed category and a chance to adjust where that new effects subsequently appears from there. No more guessing or hunting, much like I mentioned for hidden tracks like the Tempo track earlier. UI/UX: Workspaces are fantastic, and are a real timesaver once you learn them. Screensets too. But how many people here can really tell the difference between Workspaces and Screensets? Yes, *I* know, but there's been SO MANY questions about this stuff over the years. Workspaces can also really bite people badly when stuff isn't where they expect it to be. How many times have we seen "Cakewalk is crap, they took out X feature!!11!! SONAR used to have this, I'm moving to Bitwig!!!!" and then they're told to change to a different Workspace that reveals that item they were ranting was removed, but really wasn't. There's got to be a better way (besides the new installation onboarding dialog) that helps you choose and understand what Workspaces do, and then after you're already established, helps you understand why things are missing or different. I have no good suggestions here, honestly. But there's got to be some solution to make this better. Following that idea (and this was alluded to earlier in this thread) why can't we drag things around to the different docked areas, eg: like in Adobe products? In Audition, I can make any one of those areas show whatever I want, so for example, docking an ARA view on a side tab rather than the Multidock would be handy, or putting Big Time above the Synth Rack View, or Markers View in a side dock rather than down in the Multidock, or that kind of thing. Ideally for me (and I've mentioned this before), I'd like the "everything is a multidock" idea where rather than specific areas like Inspector/Browser/Multidock, we have "area 1" "area 2" "area 3" etc and in each area we can add whatever view we want to see. Then, to keep consistency with how CbB is now, have a "classic" Workspace that puts things like Media/Plugins/Notes in the area where the Browser is, Arranger/Tempo/Clip and Track Properties, etc. in the area where the Inspector is, and that kind of thing. And then allow us to split those views or add tabs as we see fit. Both of those things stop confusion and stops a bit of the Shell Game with where stuff is going to appear, if someone can set it up to suit their workflow better. Bonus UI thought: How many people here know we can rearrange the Track Header widgets (ie: the volume control, pan control, R/W/A/* buttons etc, by holding down ALT + dragging them around with the left-mouse button? Really powerful stuff for getting things how you like them (it'd be even better to be able to remove them entirely this way, or move them to the Track Inspector to show/clean up the Track Headers). Menu Diving: And this is slightly related to the previous point: How deep do you go with menus before it's too much? How much do you simplify them before power users get angry and go to REAPER to get their endless menus fix? (Sorry REAPER fans, but the default config of REAPER before you clean up anything is absolutely NUTS!) For people using interfaces with a lot of I/O, this is bad enough trying to add a track or assign inputs or outputs, etc. because the list is crazy long. Got a bunch of plugins that expose sidechain? Welcome to Menu Hell. There's got to be some kind of submenu thing going on there (although that takes us back to the menu diving problem again) or have common tasks at level 1 of the menu and then a submenu for other things. Eg: Level 1 could have a simple INPUT > entry and at the top of the list that pops out of there have SIDECHAIN >, but all of the regular interface I/O right underneath it. That way it's really only barely past 1 level of menu to get to the obvious stuff, but any more advanced things need to go down another level. Kind of related to that, and also calling back to consistency, has anyone here tried to add an Aux track? It's easy to do, just go to an existing track and then choose the output to go to New Aux Track or New Patch Point from a send or the Output. Great. Now try to add one without doing that, like you'd do for an Audio or MIDI track with the context menu. What's that? You can't? How about from the Tracks menu? Nope. OK fine, how about we create it using the way I mentioned before and then change all of the outputs of every other track to this new Aux track. Select them all and go to the Tracks menu and... where is my Aux? I only see busses and hardware outs. Huh??? So what I'd have to do is open up the other tracks, shift+select them all, find the Output of one of them, hold down CTRL and then change the output of that so the multiselect works on all of the other selected tracks. THIS is a great example of unnecessary clunk. It's all certainly possible but there's hoops you need to jump through to do it. I have a bunch more stuff I could probably mention but this is a good start. I will say too that I'm purposely avoiding talking about new features here, but like I mentioned earlier about Ripple Editing and the Arranger, sometimes a couple of new features can entirely remove some of these problem areas just simply by making them redundant. The switch to in-app updates rather than dealing with the weirdness of Bandlab Assistant for updates is another good example there. A new feature was added that entirely took the old problem out of the equation. I'm *very* familiar with CbB and work very fast in it, so a lot of these things don't affect me personally much on a day to day basis, but if I was looking at this with fresh eyes, or was new to the app, I could see how this would trip a lot of people up. But going back to my OP, in the day to day driving of CbB, I personally find it just as smooth or as few operations to complete a task as any other app I've used for the most part, and not finding it overly clunky myself, but there are most certainly areas that could do with some attention.

If this would include having a single MIDI track being able to drive two different VSTi's, that's something I'd love to be able to do.

There will be another final CbB release with bug fixes. We're wrapping up the details on that...