John Vere

I get e mails monthly from a lot of Plug in companies as that's usually the penalty for grabbing freebies. Generally I delete the email without opening. I love new plug ins, but find most of what I got with Sonar is still as good as it is going to get on my budget. But being Black Friday I thought I'd actually look and see. I'm a sucker for a cheapo deal or freebie. I set the filter at under $0-$99 and go. 

  Took 2 hours to look through the 1,000 or more VST plugs on the JRR site alone. And that' just the under $99,, :-

I was paid well for my time spent as there are many freebies that do not show in the JRR shop freebie listing page. Here is a few I think I might find useful. 

Audified MultiDrive Pedal LE Overdrive Pedal Plugin   https://www.jrrshop.com/audified-multidrive-pedal-le

Zotope Vocal Doubler - Free   https://www.jrrshop.com/izotope-vocal-doubler

Beatskillz MAX1 Intelligent Automatic Compressor Plugin  https://www.jrrshop.com/beatskillz-max1

zotope Ozone Imager Plugin   https://www.jrrshop.com/izotope-ozone-imager

And a few from Shattered Glass.  https://www.jrrshop.com/shattered-glass-audio-sga1566

https://www.jrrshop.com/beyer-dynamic-virtual-studio-monitoring-plug-in

Also check out Black Rooster site https://blackroosteraudio.com/en/products?utm_source=newsletter_bib&utm_medium=email_bra&utm_campaign=eoy2019

Some cool freebies there too. 

I was going to say that most 3rd party VST's default to the Steinberg folder and I didn't see that on your list. 

It's the first thing I do on a fresh install is include the 2 Steinberg vst folders where I keep all my 3rd party stuff.  There be one under "Program files" and another under "Program Files (x86) " 

I just spent last night looking over all the Black Friday deals, In the process I found a dozen very cool freebies. The JRR shop and Black Rooster as example.   The Ample P bass lite is my main bass now. Only limitation is it doesn't go below E. I also use the Guitar plug in if a midi track has something worthwhile , most don't. But that one seems a bit better than Strum Session to me. 

My computers were all put on ice while we moved last June. I did fire up my old W7 Laptop right away to use for email etc, but we were busy outside etc so no time for fun.

Just last week I unpacked our 2 desktop computers and fired them up on our nice new fiber optics network. 

When I turned on my DAW and opened Cakewalk it showed as being in Demo mode ( first time I've had this) OK fine. 

Before I did anything I immediately opened Windows Update and let it do it's thing. As you are aware there was a major update so it took quite a few re boots to finally stop updating. 

Then I opened and logged on to the Bandlab assistant and it updated and  finally then I updated Cakewalk. Took all of 4 minutes to complete. As said the system works flawlessly if you follow those 3 simple steps and in that order.  

I then logged on to all my various VST licensing apps and updated everything.

The Office computer is always on line but my DAW machine I often disable the internet while working but only out of habit. I actually notice no difference between being online these days and have often found my DAW has been working away happily with the wireless adaptor active. I was a huge believer in staying disconnected in the past but have slacked off on believing in that now,  As long as Windows is up to date all seems to work now as it should. 

It's free software and it is what it is as far as the way they choose to keep us connected. I just hope they keep this ship afloat. And free is great but I'm sure most of us would not be that upset if we had to start paying again. 

Yes this seems to be the way it is no matter what key signature you give the song ( I just tried) the E, D and B show as flats and the rest are #.  

For what it's worth when old VST don't work I move on to something newer that does.

A great Free Bass is Ample Lite -https://www.amplesound.net/en/download.asp

Only bummer is it does not go lower than E. For those songs I have tweaked SI Bass.  

But sounds like it might work if you simply re install and leave the samples at default location. 

Best to make sure your Audio interface is actually recognized and set up in preferences first. It's common to open transferred projects and get that message. 

I mostly get it when I've transferred to a different computer using a different interface but it even will show up when using the same interface if it doesn't like some setting. No big deal just make sure your Master is the default output for your tracks or in most cases it would be from sub busses. 

It's a simple matter of using the global effects bypass toggle  which is a box marked FX. Couldn't be more simple. 

It's "good practice" to learn to keep projects light on effects and bypass all mastering type effects while tracking. 

VST's instruments do not cause "more" latency. And only certain effects can be the offenders so with me if I need to re record something when I'm at the mastering stage, I just use that magic button "FX" and there is no latency. This same latency will also appear if you try and record midi with a controller. 

Huge time saver for me when making backing tracks. I have over 200 now and I need them all to be exactly the same mix. 

I get weird glitches where even though there is no volume controller data my Ample bass will jump to a louder level than the pre set. I will catch that right away by the level in the meter. 

To solve the issue of different VST's having this crazy all over the map outputs I use custom presets for the ones I use the most. I also have track templates saved where I've already tweaked them to my liking. The default levels are normally a bit loud. I think they do this because of the "Everything will sound better if it's louder" rule.  

I used to use my wireless keyboard but I now use a USB footswitch. I like to hold my lyric sheets in my hand so nice to use my foot to stop start or rewind. I have W-R and spacebar programed..  I have 4 or more different brands.

X Keys,   https://xkeys.com/xkeys/footpedals.html   solid as a rock, used for 16 years still works but I needed 1 more pedal so now use the stealth. 

A no name el cheapo   this one I use for Cakewalkb https://www.amazon.ca/DOLITY-Programmable-Triple-Control-Switch/dp/B07D14Y2NX/ref=sr_1_9?keywords=usb+foot+pedals&qid=1570597116&sr=8-9      

and one I control Power point for lyrics. https://www.amazon.ca/Homyl-Double-Control-FS2016_USB2-Computer/dp/B07G22QHWS/ref=sr_1_23?keywords=dual+usb+foot+pedals&qid=1570597716&sr=8-23

and best of them all is my  Stealth system.  https://stealthswitch.com/applications/stealthswitch3/

I use the Stealth for controlling my laptop at live gigs.  It has a 5 pedal inputs. Super easy to program.

They all work about the same and use software to program the macros. Anything is possible if it's a keyboard or mouse move. The Stealth has the best design as you can use better quality footswitches like you use for sustain or drum machines. The software is also better. The elcheapos software is kinda freeware stuff but you only have to suffer it once and the device retains those settings forever.

I have one of those Behringer USB interfaces. They used to ship free with there so called USB mixers. And ya they do not have real ASIO drivers, and asio4all is actually is a good driver to use with them,,,but,,, they have bad Latency specs no matter what driver you use. They are great for playback and I used mine for years for live performances playback without issue... but for recording seriously it's been stated here a million times--- You need a proper audio interface with good ASIO drivers . There's no point trying to use any other driver mode or on board sound cards unless you feel like fighting a loosing battle with your system.  

Your set up sort of worked because your USB/Midi devices had proper drivers.  The midi in/out would have used those and not your audio interface crummy drivers specs. 

Question from someone who has not paid much attention to PC development for a few years-- Do you need a newer MOBO to install these? My Mobo is a at least 5 years old now. 

Looking at your folder location I see nothing wrong or any mess. I myself have it very much the same but with Projects are directed to the root of my Data drive. I do this so I can then open one of the 4 category folders. Same difference as yours only you only have one folder,, fine.  Other difference is my Wave files go to the same data drive but a folder called "Masters" in that folder are categories as well. All the other locations are defaults.  

But if your missing data was stored originally in the dreaded "GlobalAudio" folder then ya,, things are doomed to be lost. I remember a long time ago when I learned that mistake ( Sonar 7) and have since stayed with per project files. I have never lost anything since. 

I never, ever delete anything on my computer without first backing up my data to external drives. Used to be I had huge C drives but SSD's are generally smaller, well mine are still, so I just don't store anything on them unless it's my laptop. 

32 minutes ago, John said:

Although Pentagon was a great synth in its day now there a million and 1 VSTi analog sounding synths that are far and away better.  

I totally agree with this.

I know simple instrument tracks save some space but I myself have had weird issues every time I tried to use one so I stay with keeping my tracks as Audio/ VST and Midi. 

Also agree with Pentagon is sort of boring.  But it will work fine for you as a VST and just use a midi track. 

You have me a little confused as to how your actually determining this issue now. Example

"notes are actually recorded before the beat, because if the midi offset that cakewalk has, but are played back on the beat". 

A few things are now in question. Are you just "hearing" a delay?? 

The way to test for latency is to do a loopback test. You re record the midi track as an audio track using the audio output of a soft synth or as in your case, a hardware synth. You can then zoom in and "see" if the tracks line up. Possibly the way you are monitoring is causing you to hear your interfaces latency. 

And to test, stick with a midi track where you only quantized to a higher value like 1/8 notes. Do not use input auto quantize. Use the processed version after you record. 

Always my first guess is you might have auto punch in enabled later in the song. 

An odd one for sure

I'll try a few idea's on you

So if you playback any midi track and send it to the Korg it play's back late as in comparison to playing the same track through a VST instrument. In other words if you played them both at the same time the VST would be on time and the Korg a bit behind. You could prove this but connecting the audio output of the Korg and recording it as analog and compare the note placement. 

Is this a Midi DIN connector or USB? Was there a midi driver?  

Is this a fresh project with no weird other settings other than default? 

I do believe per project is the default now. I think they removed the option to toggle the feature on/off and just set it as the default which is what everyone was using anyhow. 

A person still has the option to do a "save as" and not copy the audio. 

The Track view and the tracks themselves are all re-sizable and you can zoom to any resolution. I often stare at the kick drum midi note pattern while recording bass.  

Also for hits on say an ending ,,I use a lot of the screens visual feedback for cues as I'm recording. Just learn your way around the track view main screen. A second monitor is invaluable for this. 

I use the free One Drive that is built into Windows. It's not very big at 0nly 5 GB  but because of how I use it I still have lots of room. ( 2.4 GB ) 

I have over 200 backing tracks stored but they are 100% midi so take very little room. I just looked and these are using 112 MB.  Until you actually record audio you can have just CWP files and there will be no other folders, just the icon.  I put a lot of work into the midi tracks of my songs so these files are more dear to me than the audio which I can always do again. 

The system is brilliant as I work between 2 workstations and the files are always up to date. I also have these backed up in a dated folder in 3 other Back up Hard drive locations.  So that's 5 Hard drives and the cloud. 

Note : I also back these up as midi files too.  Those can be used by any DAW.  Probably for a long time yet. 

To record audio I then open a backing track file, then "save as " to a new One drive folder and start recording.  Cakewalk will automatically create an audio folder.  

I could not do this ( audio) at my last house which had pour internet. I'm on super fast unlimited now so this is working fine. I will keep an eye on One Drive storage and move finished songs elsewhere to clean up if I start getting full.  

I use Wave Lab Elements which I paid $100 Can for years ago. I've used Wave Lab since 2001 so I'm super fast with it. Downside is the E Licence dongle or software. I bought the dongle so I could run it on both my workstation. 

I have a few other Wave editors which are all very good but Wave Lab is the only one I use that has one important ( to me) feature. When you open a tool, it stays open and available until closed. Most editors including Cakewalk make you re-open a tool each time you use it. Example Gain or Normalize. So if I'm running through a file killing Plosives I can open the EQ set it up to cut the low end, and then all I do is process the tiny parts that needed as I run through the file with 2 mouse moves. Highlight/ process Super fast. 

The best free editor I've played with is Acoustica by Acon Digital. You have to dig on the website but there is a freebie of the older Version 6. 

On 9/21/2019 at 7:09 AM, Mandolin Picker said:

Question - what is it about these wave editors that makes it easier/quicker to edit the spoken voice files?

As the man said above. A Wave editor was designed from the ground up just to edit a stereo wave file so it is optimized for working with that sort of material. And once you learn your way around which ever version you choose you could never use something like a DAW to edit a stereo file..  DAW's are for multi track and a Wave editor is for your 2 track. 

As said you can see and zoom in on unwanted material and delete it all with out letting go of the mouse. 

A method of working with audio books or spoken word is to have the narrator stop cold if they make an error, wait a few seconds and start over. The pause in the dialog is very visible when editing.  You then listen to the pick up words and quickly scroll back find them and delete. All can be done in seconds especially if you have a script.   

For this sort of recording I much prefer a Wave Editor like Wave Lab. There are also many free editors that can do the job but my workflow with stereo recordings is definitely way faster and more precise  using Wave Lab. And yes you can add markers on the fly. 

No. But you really do need to abandon Splat and get up to speed. There's soooo much that has been improved and one of those improvements is way better integration with W10. Put your DAW on line, update to CbB and go back off line when done. You just need to go on line from time to time to update. 

Southern Interior of BC Canada