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I've got a real hardware Roland JV-1080 rack synth with an excellent GM set, but I'm too lazy to hook it up nowadays... Whenever I need to open a GM file, I just rely on TTS-1 to get me started, then I replace all the tracks with modern samplers like SampleTank or Kontakt, and then delete TTS-1 from the project. 😁

Rules made to be broken! But this is just good advice. Use them if you want to, but if you have any trouble it's unlikely that you will receive any good help, other than a suggestion to look for replacements. Cakewalk most likely left them in there for legacy users with old Sonar projects that included them, so they would open in Cakewalk correctly. So it's probably not a really good idea to start any brand new projects with such outdated tools. IMHO.

EDIROL HyperCanvas VST appears to be have been released the same year as TTS-1, just with a different skin. And it's no longer officially available... The only thing that I am aware of still officially supported by Roland is "Sound Canvas VA", only available through Roland Cloud. Subscription, or lifetime license ($69) is available, but you must re-activate online either weekly or maybe monthly now. https://www.roland.com/us/products/rc_sound_canvas_va/ Their basic cloud membership is free, and entitles you to purchase a lifetime license for an instrument. I joined with the intent of picking up the virtual JV-1080, but decided not to because of their crazy Roland Cloud Manager licensing scheme... wish they would just do it like Korg did with their Korg Collection 3 and Software Pass installer... 😢

Thanks for the info! I'm not a guitar player, and only own AT4 MAX because IK decided to give it to me for free in the Total Studio MAX bundle last year. So I would only be using Amplitube to shape the tone of a virtual bass with a decent virtual amp and cabinet, which isn't that difficult compared to guitars and all the required effects and stomps. I have a real Fender P-Bass and a small Fender combo amp, so I have a modest idea of what to shoot for in the virtual bass domain. Much easier than trying to keep the real thing in tune, LOL. My AT4 MAX gear all came across to AT5 CS just fine, and I do like the new interface better! I have even tried some guitar amps on a few virtual guitars plugins, and they sound cool, but I have no idea how to play them like a real guitarist... 🤪

I have the Ampeg stuff in AT4 Max, plus the Gallien Kruger from Audiffex, that both work well, so show me the reason to upgrade, LOL!!!

AT5 MAX is priced to the extreme for someone who is interested in a bass only package. Sorry.

Yep. One user quitting should teach them the error of their ways! Like I ditched Netflix last year after over 10 years as a loyal subscriber, and have never received even a single email offer to re-subscribe!

Peter, I have AT4 MAX. And my AT4 collection runs fine in AT5 CS. Is there any advantage to AT5 vs AT4 regarding the bass amps (i.e. the Ampeg)?

$299... Loyalty offers... So if you figure a year of Groove 3 is worth $99, then I got the entire MPS 4 for $199.

I got a great deal direct from iZotope for an MPS 4 (crossgrade?) purchase, no subscription, that also included one year of Groove3. All I had previously was a collection of the various iZotope Elements products, and no MPS.

I think that EZD was intended for songwriting, not for detailed recording/mixing of drum kits. That's what Superior Drummer and others are for. But if you freeze the stereo audio output from the plugin, you will have an audio track with the EZD mixer "baked" in. So you will need to do your mixing in the plugin vs the Cakewalk console. Just saying, but for songwriting that is not a bad approach. Keep it simple and have fun!

Speaking of "hired guns", the "Wrecking Crew" is an awesome documentary film about the session musicians (unsung heroes) famed for having played on numerous hit recordings throughout the 1960s and early 1970s. https://www.imdb.com/video/vi801225241?playlistId=tt1185418&ref_=tt_ov_vi https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wrecking_Crew_(2008_film)

I already had BBCSO Discover, and the Unify BBCSO DiscoverStation/CoreStation library from PluginGuru, so I went for the upgrade to BBCSO Core. It's probably way more than I need at the moment, but it's a deal, so why not! Can grow into it without needing to buy more orchestral libraries. And Skippy & team at PluginGuru have built some nice Unified presets to use BBCSO with layers and macros, so it's awesome!

What a tribute!!!

And while the list of great drummers keeps growing, let's add Phil Collins (and Chester Thompson) of Genesis!

OK, for EZD 2 here's what I've been able to figure out so far. I went with stereo tracks as well, and things seems to line up better. It seems that the Cakewalk drum map for Session Drummer 2 matches up for the main EZD 2 kit pieces. I have not gone hunting for any unmapped items yet, but it seems workable. Clicking on the drum map labels in the piano roll will sound the respective kit pieces in EZD 2. Choosing different drum kits in EZD 2 changes a few items in the EZD 2 mixer. So for now I am sticking with the EZD 2 Vintage basic kit. It seems that only the kick and snare are individually "miked". The hats, cymbals, and toms only seem to come over on the "OH" (Overhead) and the "Amb" (ambient room) outputs, as well as the output labeled "Comp". That has some of the same sounds as the ambient output, but it's not clear to me yet what that is doing. Discovered this by alternately muting or soloing from the EZD 2 mixer while looping a MIDI drum pattern in Cakewalk to isolate what was routing to what. The operation manual is fairly basic, and doesn't go into much detail on the mixer section.

No, but it carries over if you have Sonar installed on the same machine.

I have EZDrummer 2 also, and noticed the same thing. Still tinkering with it... definitely different from AD2.

I think the cause of confusion is that a simple instrument track is a hybrid track made up of a combined MIDI track and Audio track. Simple is probably not the best name, because it's not entirely intuitive. It's handy for plug and play though. MIDI controller input (or a MIDI clip, piano roll, or step sequencer) triggers the instrument (soft synth), that then generates the audio output. If you want to record the MIDI from your controller, that can be done directly on the instrument track. It just needs an active MIDI input, must be armed for record, and the input echo should be enabled only for that track. If you want to access the audio track for your instrument, you may want to begin by inserting an instrument as separate audio and MIDI track types, using options for MIDI source, and synth audio outputs, rather than as a simple instrument track.

So my pseudo-scientific study tells me that the best rock drummers are from either Canada, or the UK. Pass the Molson, please!

Never touch the stuff! But you might catch me with a Bass Ale, or a Boddington's...

Or John Bonham!

Just that PROBABLY not everyone would agree with me. I mean for some, it might be John Bonham, or Ringo, LOL!

Then you are all set! By the way, I've seen 2 live Rush concerts with Neil. He was probably the best rock drummer ever! 😎

The short version is that getting dry pre-fader individual audio outs for each kit piece, from any drum plugin, over to the Cakewalk mixer gives you the flexibility to mix the kit directly in the console, as if you were miking a real drum kit. There are two important steps: 1. When you insert the drum plugin in Cakewalk, choose "instrument track per output", rather than "simple instrument track", and presto! You probably want to select mono for the kit pieces, although stereo is an option (that's really only good for the room, overhead, and busses). 2. Then go into the drum plugin and make adjustments as needed to assign what you want to send to Cakewalk on each output. Then there is a bit of housekeeping as far as labeling channels and stuff so you can tell what's what. All covered nicely in the video!