John Vere

I keep W7 up to date for what it’s worth. I rarely enable the internet but when I do there always seems to be an update. I think the updates are just for software related things like MS Office. You don’t use the Bandlab Assistant anymore. You update from the help menu. And yes there’s a warning. The authorization process has been troublesome for many people and I found you need to be patient. The server seems slow to respond sometimes.

I have 2 laptops that are stuck in W7 due to age. I hate tossing out stuff that still works. And like others there’s also software, a CD printer and one audio interface stuck back there as well. I only use the one old Sony for music playback at gigs but I also put Cakewalk on it in an attempt to try using the playlist feature. I just updated to the latest and final version no problem. So Cakewalk still works on W7. Your best bet is to do the same so you’ll get more time. All older versions will time out real fast but the last version we are told will carry on until they decide we’ve had enough time to transition to Sonar.

Note to self :Optimizing Computer for audio tip number 102. Keep your desktop tidy. 103. Keep all large zip files on an external drive.

I’m big on deleting stuff. I always can do better! No muss no fuss. That’s why I don’t use take lanes or comping. Delete! Redo.

I made a video about this a year ago. You don't have to delete the audio, just convert it. And the audio needs to be one continuous track from start to finish. So we make stems. The Steps First Highlight the audio tracks you want to keep. Then you export all the audio tracks using " Tracks no effects or automation." choose 48/32 no dither If they are mono choose Mono. It they are both you have to do this once for each type. Use entire project for range and export. ( see screenshot for info) Now you can delete the audio, there has to be absolutely no audio in the project for this to work. Open "Project -Audio files" to check for hidden tracks. Change the project from 44.1 to 48 in preferences and using your audio interfaces control panel. Make sure this shows now in the transport module. Don't forget to click APPLY. Now just drag the exported audio back to it's original location. Done. You now have the choice of redoing them or keeping. Doubt if redoing will be worth it. I have done this to about 50 of my old 44.1 projects now, Takes a few minutes at most.

I caught that right away as I was reading. To elaborate on what Pro midi has said. All your hardware devices need to be selected in Preferences/Midi/ Devices/ Output From there I’m not sure as I sort of think that plug ins that send midi output do this only internally by default. Example Ample P bass will show as an available input to another midi track when output is enabled. So this is just internal to Cakewalk. I’m pretty sure it goes no where else. So it would seem you have to do as @Promidi has described to loop it back out.

I use T which opens the tool menu right where the mouse pointer is. This is pretty fast if you are good at both mouse and shortcuts

Few years ago during Covid a friend of mine who uses Pro Tools and Mac stuff asked me to record a bass track and put a copy of the project in Google drive. I had found this free version of Pro Tools First. It was pretty easy to do. I just was missing all his weird plug ins. Then I realized that I actually had a lot of them but was in the habit of unchecking the AXX box. I don’t understand the negative attitude towards Pro Tools often found here as I find it very user friendly and it’s pretty high on my list of a suitable DAW for my workflow. I also have Cubase and Mixbus which haven’t seen the light of day since the last big panic in 2016

This might explain why if you start from the beginning. https://youtu.be/MiDmgQaAN60?si=v8rOqQG0k_bJG1RS This might explain why you have no master bus and demo how to create one https://youtu.be/TEJ3IfBymXc?si=2wvEfyLcwxpDhIXR

I probably read it when it was published. I used to subscribe to SOS. There’s not much of a point. Just one personal opinion about pros and cons of using higher bit rate audio which is a topic that has been obviously been on going since the 90’s. So we can each make our own choice and for me that is based on my own personal experience over the last 30 years of digital audio being part of my recording process. I absolutely believe that 48/24 is the perfect choice for me. And when it becomes the standard I’ll bump it up to 48/32

Best way to manage views is to save a Workspace that is the way you want things to look. So you could create a workspace that only shows the channel strips and another that just shows the buses. For me I just drag it to the right so I only see the edge of the Master bus, Then I drag it back when I need only the buses. Pretty simple that way.

2008! probably back when audio interfaces ( sound cards?) were still mostly 16 bit as well as CD's were still your delivery medium.

@whoisp I enjoyed reading your post. It had a few points that related to my past experiences with the dawn of consumer digital gear. As I said earlier I was using 48 to master to a Sony DAT machine which had replaced my 10” reel to reel. I could definitely hear the improvement overall and mostly it was because I now had that nice clean and quiet sound. And a small item to mail in to replication people. Shortly after I bought the Yamaha o1v digital mixer and discovered it was set at 44.1 for SPDIF output. Dang. So I would mix both a 44.1 master via SPDIF and a 48 which involves D/A out to A/D in. Guess which one still sounded better. Later I got my first PC and soon was using Wave Lab and started transferring all my masters into Wave files. The Sound Blaster Audigy II card had optical inputs so I used that to transfer the DATs. I had already transferred my 10” tape to DAT at 48. I assumed they would be 48 but many years later I discovered that they are only 44.1. I have no clue why but no doubt the Sound Blaster is to blame. I later yet replaced that with a Interface that had SPDIF and used my O1v as the pre amps so a lot of stuff was recorded at 44.1.

Notice during recording there is a stereo track being created and the meter is showing as thus. On playback the waveform is mono and the left meter is active? So this is something you are doing weird in the routing. It should create the stereo track. This is possibly what you are hearing.

Thanks I couldn't find it. And that explains the mystery as the Zoom UAC 232 is listed as being 32 Bit Float. A rare beast. From that thread I guess I assumed that ALL Zoom interfaces where 32 bit. Bummer. It wasn't the reason I bought it but it might have been part of the Con list. If anyone does take the time to read that thread you will learn that @RexRed does strongly feel 32 bit recording is worth it. He makes some very good points and personal observations which I tend to respect and believe are possibly true. Sorry if some of you find the topic boring and over done but I'm still learning even after 60 years of music creation. And the Bottom line- What does it sound like! @Craig Anderton mentioned DAT machines. That was my first experience with 48 and even I could hear a difference between the masters I made back then as compared to when I was forced to use the 44.1 setting by the stupid CD replication factories. I mastered to 48 and then had a second machine to make the 44.1 copy which involved using the analog connections. Sony blocked copying your own creations! So I have my own reasons for liking 48 that go a long way back.

Yes using hardware takes dedication as it's actually a more advanced process than just using VST instruments. Some of us still use hardware because there are sounds in there that you don't have in a VST. I have a Korg 05r/w and a Sound Canvas plus a Roland 505 and a GR 50. The Sound Canvas and GR 50 are dust collectors because they don't have anything of interest to me the TTS-1 has that covered. But the Korg has some sounds that I have yet to replace and as far as I can see it was never emulated in a VST. It's a lifelong quest to collect sounds you really like and then you totally forget where you found them. At least with a VST it stays put in a project. The downside of hardware is if you later on need to make changes then it's a major hassle and if your like me I often forget to embed the bank and patch in the midi track because I just used the hardware's front panel to select the sound I wanted. I stopped doing that once I learn how to use the Instrument definitions. Lucky me the Korg was on the list.

Still waiting to hear back from Zoom. But I sort of know what the answer will be already. In the meantime I did a little digging and now realize that there's actually no mention of it being a 32 bit device anywhere. So now I am totally wondering where I was told this?? It might have been from another thread here a while ago where someone was wondering why their audio recorded with a Zoom R12?? was only 16 bit when they had been told it was 32 bit. I questioned that myself knowing what I new about the 24 bit max being standard. I remember the thread ended with you needed to select 32 bit in Audio Data settings. This is a setting I had never used in the past because since the beginning of time I assumed I was recording at 24 bit because that was the little greyed out box in Driver Settings. And of course I was not in the habit of looking at the Transport Module readings. Big mistake. Lucky for me since I bought the Scarlett 6i6 and later the Motu M4 all my new projects seems to have recorded at 24 bit. But older projects are a mix of 16 and 24? I think what can happen is, say I start a project using another interface ( my Tascam us1641) or even WASAPI mode then that project can default to 16 bit and you might not notice this. Bottom line is after all these years I now discover an important setting I was not really aware existed. ( my typical Cakewalk story) But, Hey, wait a minute, why is this setting sort of off the radar in an obscure place in preferences and not found with all the other audio settings?? And is this per project or global? So when I set up the Zoom I noticed right away that it was showing 48/16 in the transport Module. With my new found knowledge of the Audio Data settings box I knew what to do. The selection had 32 bit so what the heck, I checked it. Because of this thread and my attempt to get to the bottom of this I just now found that dialog box looks the same no matter what audio device you have connected. Even my Motu has the 32 bit option. So yes the Zoom Live Trak L8 is just another 24 bit Audio interface and now I need to go and remove the videos I made about it and change that setting back to 24. I will continue to leave dithering off like I most always have done. Thanks to everyone for pointing this out. Oh and also thanks to those would politely pointed out that there might be nothing wrong with using 44.1.

Think about why they made it free for a few years. I find Cakewalk is now on more lists of supported and tested DAWs with plug in vendors.

You can use Bluetooth for that because you are not performing so latency doesn't matter. My Computer has Bluetooth and possibly so does yours. Bluetooth won't work with Cakewalk I have to export the mix and play it in Media Player. Then I use both a small Bluetooth speaker or my Bluetooth headphones. There's also a cool free app called Sonobus. It is both an app for Cell phones/ computers and a VST plug in. https://sonobus.net/ You put it on your master bus in Cakewalk and it sends the audio over your network to anywhere in the world. You can listen in the studio to what your mix sounds like on a cell phone or play your latest mix to a client or band mate. You have to mess with the settings a little bit to improve the audio quality but for me in my house it works great. . It's yet another tool to use for proofing mixes in the real world. Possibly 90% or the world listens to music now on their cell phones. And you could use the built in speakers, ear buds or Bluetooth with your cell phone. I still prefer to upload to a music sites like Sound Click but Sonobus is for real time mixing in Cakewalk. The Big studio people proof mixes on different playback systems for good reasons. Ear buds is just one of many. The Guitar wireless is probably only mono so not ideal. Proofing your Mix Video - https://youtu.be/eHpO4rolwiU

@reginaldStjohn The Zoom L8 is a bit confusing because it is 3 different devices. The manual is not exactly great and I had to test things myself to get answers. I will send an Email to the company and ask just that because you have presented a good question. It wasn’t that long ago when I read that most consumer A/D converters are all 24 bit and therefore the reason most Audio Interfaces are only just that. To me it would be very misleading to say you are recording at 32 bit via a 24 bit A/D. ( or even16!!!) Zoom was never the top of my list. So it wouldn’t surprise me. If all it ever does is be my live mixer it was still the best option for that . Not to mention being able to record in multi track with out a computer. As an audio interface so far it’s outperforming my Motu M4. I am totally aware of the limitations of using gear in these lower price ranges. I simply have never had the budget for the real stuff. But the bang for the buck factor has improved ten fold or more since my first set up in the 80’s. Long live the bottom of the gear food chain. Edit Oct 29th. I now see that nowhere does Zoom claim that it is a 32 Bit device. A visit to the web site and looking at the specs for all of their Audio interfaces I saw only the UAC 232 ( see next post ) is listed as 32 bit floating.

VST instruments are audio tracks. So same thing. Lots of people upsample and claim it makes a huge difference.

Like I was saying you can do this for free as Cakewalk by Bandlad is still free but that might end with in the next year. All you need is any PC running W7 or higher and install Cakewalk. Has anyone ever opened a Wrk file by changing the extension to mid. ?? I could do that with DrT All files from my Atari.

Open the Workspace manager found in the drop down. You can check what will show for the selected Workspace. Workspaces are global to all projects. If you make changes to your layout and don’t save it to the Workspace or create and save a new workspace then those changes will revert next time you open a project. So if your opening a new project and your layout changes then you did not save the workspace. Project templates only load project stuff. They don’t save workspaces

Ok it’s more about being compatible on my system. I haven’t tried it yet with the Zoom but my Motu would simply crash when changing clock rates. So 48 solved the problem. When creating Tutorials I have to be able to have Cakewalk running and producing audio. Then Win Amp also playing Audio. Then the screen capture OBS recording both sources. As well as I might often have to use the internet to quickly grab a picture or web page screen shot. At 44.1 this is a train wreck. At 48 it all works. Back to the OP. I do all bouncing and stem exports at 32 with no dithering. Most audio interfaces are set at 24 and can’t be changed. For most people the majority of audio is recorded at 24. My new Zoom L8 can record at 32 which is a new thing in consumer gear as far as I can tell. I’m going to be using it from now on for my own original music because it will mean no dithering will be required at any step. If you read up on dithering it is yet another rabbit hole and you can obsess about it just like clock rate and bit depth. It is only required when reducing bit depth so 32 solves this little issue. As far as resources, storage is dirt cheap now. It’s the last thing I worry about , but that said I would never take the jump to 96/64.? This is not only for resources , but it is definitely outside the scope of reasoning in my work. I feel 48 is a happy balance in this day and age. I’ll leave 96 for those who think it matters.

Are you importing the video to Cakewalk to score your music?