Gary Edelman

Just wondering if it is still recommended to record on a different drive than the the drive that the program is installed on. HD speeds & memory used to be an issue so it was always recommended have a separate drive for audio to get better performance. Is it really necessary with the hardware today?

Thanks to all for helping me understand things a lot better. When I logged into bandlab.com the other day I thought that everything had changed & that there was no more stand alone CW by BL. I got nervous because the emphasis seemed to be on social media rather than recording music. Let's hope BL keeps things going because CW does all I need.

I've been an off & on user of CW since the days it came on a 5 1/4 floppy disk. I've been through numerous upgrades & I think my last one was to CW producer before Bandlab took over. I did upgrade to CW by Bandlab a while back but am just now starting to get back into recording. It seems that Bandlab is more of a social media outlet than a stand alone software to record with. I don't want to start getting involved in studio projects just to find out that they are all going to be obsolete & useless. I like the idea of having access to social media & online recording but I mainly want to be able to record offline & feel secure with the program itself. Also what happens if my computer crashes & I can't find my original program files to reinstall the CW software? Will I be able to download it somewhere off Bandlab's site? I'm just a little confused right now.

Thanks, Now I see what I was missing. If I understand it right I have to insert a soft synth track with the sound I want first, to route the output of an existing midi track to it.

That's a very good point. I've had problems in the past not getting the right feel out of the synth sound I like because of the way it was recorded using a different synth.

I know how to insert a soft synth track & how to copy the data from an existing midi track to the soft synth track. I'm assuming there is a better way to convert the midi track to a soft synth track & would appreciate any guidance in that matter. Right now I record & play back my plain midi tracks through my external synth( SC88) until I get the tracks the way I like them. Is there a way to play back a plain midi track through the soft synth?

Thanks, That worked like a charm.

I just did a clean install on my laptop. When I open CW/BL & try to open Dimension Pro 1.5 it tells me I have 30 days to register. I used the serial # & registration # that still show up on my products list on the Cakewalk site but they don't work. Anyone have any idea what I 'm missing?

I think I'm sold on sticking with CW/BL. Everything works fine & it does everything I need it to do so my only concern is not capability but keepability. I want to be sure if my HD crashes or if I want to build a new DAW that I will have no problems being able to reinstall the program with all my extras. Backing up CW bundles is easy but without the program to open them they wouldn't be of much use. I haven't figured out how to back up my vst's & Native Instrument stuff but I guess that's for another thread.

Thanks, The one Cal program I always used was the split notes to tracks for midi drums.

That's pretty much what I do except I dual boot between Linux & Windows. Most all of my computing is done on Linux with the exception of Cakewalk & one other Windows program. I just tried the newer CW/BL & it looks just like my older X1 so it might not be too hard to get things going again. I have to relearn how to use the soft synths but it's coming back to me little by little. It's great that BandLabs is keeping CW going. I probably should start another thread but does anyone know how to use a CAL program? There used to be an undocumented key combination that would let you access them.

The main reason I want to stay offline is because i don't want to have any anti-virus software running on my DAW. I'm still running Windows 7 professional & don't plan on updating to Windows 10 until I absolutely have to. For me connecting to the internet when necessary to activate would not be a problem but I hope if CW/BL does revert to demo mode it only does it on start up & doesn't surprise you in the middle of saving a session.

Thanks for the reply, When you say "get Cakewalk" I don't know what that means.

I'm just getting back into recording after a few years off & I'm trying to decide whether or not to stay with CW by BL & was hoping for a little insight. My last upgrade was Sonar Producer X1 & it did everything I needed without any problems. I've been using CW since it was just a midi only program & now I'm contemplating about whether or not to stay with Sonar. I've disconnected from the internet on my DAW so I don't use any anti-virus software that slows things down & I only use a desktop so my questions are: 1 - Should it still run OK & perform like it always had without having to re-register ? 2 - If my computer were to crash how would I ever reinstall & get a registration code? 3 - In my situation for simply recording myself is there any advantage to downloading the bandlab stuff & connecting to the internet on my desktop? Any answers to any of the questions or even recommendations are appreciated.