Lee D

Not sure what you're doing wrong.  But if you highlight the clip and then hit Ctrl + L, it will turn it into a Groove Clip.  Then you can just drag the right edge to extend it over and over again.

2 minutes ago, smoddelm said:

About 95% MIDI / VST.  Synthpop and post-punk mostly.  It has worked well for me since the first version called "Sonar."  I have a ProTools license but don't even have it installed currently and have never finished a project in it.

How are you handling drums?  I have always kind of hated the Drum Maps. Do you use them?

Yeah sorry man but I'd say you are in the extreme minority with that kind of problem...

I know a lot of people use Cakewalk for heavy audio work.  

I wanted to get a pulse of how many people are using Cakewalk nowadays as their main DAW for Heavy VST instrument / MIDI use?

What type of music are you doing in it?  How has your experience been since Sonar X series?

1 minute ago, msmcleod said:

I guess strictly speaking, you're correct as far as the privacy part of GDPR. 

But for data breaches though, any EU based company needs to report it (or a non-EU based company if it involves EU citizens). Even in the unlikely event that the breach at an EU based company only affected non-EU citizens, I think they'd be on dubious grounds legally should it come to light.

 

Yeah you're probably right.  I know the fines for not complying with GDPR are outrageously high, so they'd probably err on the side of giving too much information.  

3 minutes ago, msmcleod said:

Steinberg is a EU based company so it definitely does apply, regardless of where the user is based.

Also any company that does business with the EU or EU citizens has to comply with GDPR.  I work for an American company, and it was clearly explained to us.

I've seen quite a few American websites that refuse to work if your IP address is based in the EU, to avoid having to comply with the regulations.

I don't think that's correct.  I am not an expert, but I have had training also.  My understanding is that the GDPR regulations only apply to data about European citizens, regardless whether they are at home or abroad.  GDPR regulations would not apply to a non-European citizen, regardless of where the servicing company is based.  

I think cclarry is an American so it doesn't apply though 

Just now, Monomox said:

Holy smokes! falcon is $350! Sheesh 

Yeah it's expensive.  But it's badass.  But they do have sales once or twice a year where you get like 100 bucks off.

Maybe they missed April Fools by a day?

That video they made is one of the worst promo videos I've ever seen lol. . . the "corn factor" is turned up to 11

@cclarry the good news is that if you go Pro and have the eLicenser dongle, they really can't steal it without the physical dongle.  So maybe that's actually an argument in favor of the dongle?

Thanks for the heads-up!  I just changed my password to a stronger one.  

5 minutes ago, TerraSin said:

I honestly think they realized they can't keep up with the competition. Toontrack has been burying them on both the core engine and the expanded content. You could tell they were losing interest when the past few years the time between releases of single drum paks got longer and longer. Meanwhile, Toontrack seems to put out new content for SD constantly and it's all really good.

I dunno, I haven't used Toontrack.  There is a lot of competition in the market though.  But I feel like the differentiator is the platform workflow and features.  I mean all of the vendors have good-sounding drum kits available.   It should be easier to build a drum track with fills and variations than it is in AD2 and they've never improved this.   Also there is only one electronic expansion pack available. . . WTF???  

26 minutes ago, TerraSin said:

Had a feeling it wasn't going to be AD3. They have all but given up on Addictive Drums. Someone else was working on something very similar to this recently, I remember but I can't for the life of me remember who or what it was called.

It's a shame that they haven't expanded on the feature set at all of Addictive Drums 2.  I mean it's a nice program and all, but it's been out for years and they haven't added anything to the base package which is kind of unusual for a software instrument.  I don't really understand their mentality on that...

It's a new beatmaking tool.  XLN XO

Addictive Crack

2 hours ago, scook said:

Interesting solution. Project sample rate is not stored in project or project template files.

 

There are two ways the sample rate is set for a project.

If the project does not contain any audio the sample rate is read from the "Sample Rate" in the "Default Sample Rate for New Projects" section in preferences.

If the project contains audio, the sample rate is read from the first audio clip header.

Yeah I'm not sure why I was getting that behavior when loading the "Basic" default template.  I definitely had the default sample rate for new projects set at 48kHz.  Anyway, no big deal. . . just something that had me scratching my head.

1 hour ago, msmcleod said:

Both Hybrid 3 & Xpand! 2 are fantastic synths. With either one of them, you're also eligible for an upgrade to the AIR Instrument Expansion Pack 3 Complete package for $76, which is basically all their VSTi's.  This is the VSTi pack normally shipped with ProTools and is a steal at this price. 

I'd also recommend the AIR Creative FX bundle, which are the stock ProTools VST effects, which are on sale for $28 at pluginboutique. Although the effects with CbB cover most of the types of effects included in this bundle, they do sound different, and again are a bargain at $28.

+1 on this.  AIR constantly is having sales where you can pick these up super cheap.  Hybrid 3, Vacuum Pro, and Xpand!2 can many times be gotten for a buck and are great.  I also agree that the AIR Instrument Expansion Pack 3 Complete is a great value but the only thing is that AIR isn't maintaining them really anymore, so you may want to invest in something else such as Komplete Select.

That makes sense.  It's a good "intro" synth in my opinion because it covers a lot of bases.  

Maybe they'll eventually release Rapture Pro. . . that would be a good option because it had a ton of content of all sorts.

2 hours ago, scook said:

There is a  VST opcode (eff GetMidiKeyName) used by CbB, implemented by Fxpansion in the BSD series and the old Cakewalk Session Drummer which automatically displays note names instead of the keyboard in the PRV note pane. Unfortunately, they are the only plug-ins I know of that implement this feature.

Fortunately, CbB has a way to display text instead of the keyboard in the PRV note pane using the Note Names dialog. Right-click the keyboard in the note pane to open the dialog, select "Use these Note Names Instead" in the Note Names dialog and select the appropriate entry from the drop down.

The drop down may  by extended by editing the master.ins file. In fact, the image above shows "AD2 Standard" which I created some time ago. The master.ins is a text file in %appdata%\Cakewalk\Cakewalk Core

To modify the master.ins open the file in a text editor and
1) create an entry in in ".Note Names" such as
[My Drums]
35=Acoustic Bass Drum
36=Bass Drum 1
37=Oink
38=Rooster Crow
....
81=Open Triangle
 
2) create an entry in ".Instrument Definitions" like this
[My Drums]
Patch=1..128
Key[*,*]=My Drums
Drum[*,*]=1

This will add a "My Drums" option to the Note Names "Use these Note Names Instead" drop down. The only downside to  this approach is the assignment is not persistent. Every session and every time a new PRV is opened the alternate note names must be selected. It would be a nice feature is this were persistent like the drum map assignment.

 

The issue for me is I'm frequently changing drum instruments and so it's not really practical to go and type in a MIDI map.  Much preferable would be to load a kit, figure out which sounds I will be using, name them in the drum view, and hide the rest of the notes not being used.  Also then you can save the note names and load them later again.  This was one thing that Reaper has that I really like.

2 hours ago, scook said:

Hah, I misread the OP.  Aside from the drum map functions isn't the only difference between the drum grid and notes panes the ability to suppress note duration in the drum grid pane?

Differences would be showing the MIDI notes as diamonds or triangles, showing the kit piece names instead of the piano keys, ability to mute and solo each kit piece, and maybe some "fill every 2 beats" type functionality.   The step sequencer does some of this already but it would be nice to have this drum view in the PRV as well.

This seems like a good area where Bandlab could sell this as an additional feature and where people would be happy to pay.

I'd like to the ability to use the "drum notes" view in the Piano Roll without having to set up a drum map.  Also the ability to edit the note names and save for future reference.  See the way Reaper handles this as an example.  I've always found the drum maps in Sonar clunky and way too complicated for my needs.

Welcome Bob.  Thanks for the intro, always interesting to see what other musicians are up to.  Cakewalk is a great DAW so you made a good choice.  I'd recommend you watch a few videos on Youtube, either for Cakewalk by Bandlab or Sonar Platinum (what is used to be called).   Those should help get you up to speed a little quicker.   Cakewalk in particular has a great community forum when you have questions.