abacab

I have a Dropbox icon on my quick launch bar, ready for any ad-hoc needs. I always shutdown the Dropbox task when I am finished syncing, and it never starts with Windows boot.

Except by default, a 32-bit user mode process can only access 2GB. https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/desktop/Memory/memory-limits-for-windows-releases So the limitation per application be be even more limited than the physical memory of a 32-bit machine.

Also dropped 32-bit versions (64-bit only now): PreSonus Studio One v4 Ableton Live v10 Tracktion Waveform v9 Propellerhead Reason v10 Avid Pro Tools 2018

I like this approach. It keeps things simple. VST plugins are relatively small, so keeping them on the OS drive is reasonable. If the plugin has additional sample content, the installer will usually allow you to specify a secondary path for the content only. I put that content stuff on my D: drive, while keeping the plugin .dll file in "C: > Program Files > VSTplugins". Moving plugins, and/or their content after installation can sometimes break things. Using Windows directory junctions is the safest way to move things that cannot be moved via the installer or the Cakewalk preferences. http://forum.cakewalk.com/Hello-BandlabNO-custom-install-options-Is-this-True-m3744203.aspx

Fixed it for ya!

That's exactly the reason I have disabled One Drive, and never sign in to my Microsoft Account. I use a local machine user account only. I have also blocked as many Windows processes as practical in my network firewall, without breaking Windows. Now I love my Window 10. Out of the box, she was a bit too chatty for my taste, LOL! And I have disabled Defender as much as Windows 10 Pro will allow, and only use 3rd party security software. Running Windows with the user in control, as it should be!

Might be prime time for an edition of "CbB Power" for the newcomers!

Here are a few links to songs submitted to KVR's One Synth Challenge. Many of these contests were dedicated to free synths, and the requirements are to use only the one designated synth to generate all sounds (including percussion) used in the songs entered for that challenge. Multiple instances and tracks are allowed. Check the rules for details and restrictions. Note: some of these synths have had repeat appearances in additional challenges. There is some excellent work here by the participants. I am amazed at what can be done with just one (FREE) instrument in creative hands! Synth1: https://sites.google.com/site/kvrosc/osc-94-synth1 OB-Xd: https://sites.google.com/site/kvrosc/osc-93-obxd Tyrell N6: https://sites.google.com/site/kvrosc/osc-91-tyrell-n6 Dexed: https://sites.google.com/site/kvrosc/osc-74-dexed Zebralette: https://sites.google.com/site/kvrosc/osc-32

I agree, those free or nearly free AIR synths are a no-brainer. They may have dated GUIs, but still make some excellent sounds. There are also lists of excellent free VST instruments all over the place, as well as lots of opinions on which are the best. Some are very, very good, and worth hunting down and trying. For free, I would start with: u-he Zebralette (free version of Zebra) u-he Tyrell N6 (analog modeled subtractive synth, inspired by Roland Juno, many community preset banks available) Synth1 (a Nord Lead clone, with a bazillion free presets available, amazing sounds) OB-Xd (an Oberheim OB-X emulation, with many community preset banks available) Dexed (a Yamaha DX-7 FM synth clone, with another bazillion free presets available) Ample Sound Ample Bass P Lite II ( a sampled fingered Fender P-Bass) Ample Sound Guitar M II Lite (a sampled Martin acoustic 6-string) Native Instruments Kontakt 6 Player (free factory library with 50 sampled instruments included) IK Multimedia Sample Tank CS (Custom Shop edition, with 30 free factory sounds included) Sennheiser DrumMic'A (a sampled drum kit for Kontakt Player, requires registration on a German website, but Google translate can get you through that!) MT Power Drum Kit (a sampled drum library with groove library) In my opinion, that is the cream of the free crop, and all found a permanent home on my hard drive!

It wold make sense for BandLab to re-issue Rapture Session as part of the CbB bundle, while offering the full Rapture Pro as a paid upgrade. Rapture Session doesn't offer much in the way of instrument editing, but it comes with a nice collection of sounds. including basses, guitars, pianos & keyboards, synths, strings, etc. That would make a nice addition to the package for first timers.

Everything should run on a 64-bit Windows. If you are referring to 32-bit plugins, your options are more limited, but you can still run a 32-bit DAW on 64-bit Windows. I have Cakewalk Project 5 (32-bit only) running on a current release of Windows 10 64-bit. It runs my 32-bit plugins just fine. And with Cakewalk by BandLab (64-bit), running here on 64-bit Windows I can still load 32-bit plugins, thanks to the built-in bit bridge in CbB.

I don't see many new versions of applications being released in 32-bit these days. It seems that many developers have decided to focus their development resources on the 64-bit model. You could acquire a 64-bit computer to try out newer software on. Many 32-bit DAW applications and plugins will still run fine on 64-bit Windows, so you can install your trusted apps side by side with the new versions and still continue to use the 32-bit DAW apps that you are comfortable with. Then gradually migrate your workflow to the newer 64-bit apps when you are ready. On the Windows 7 topic, I can understand the desire to retain older apps that still work, but Windows 7 will lose support next year. Moving to a supported OS would be recommended at that point, unless you plan to be completely self supported. and intend to maintain a "legacy" computing environment. But as mentioned earlier, the older apps should be fine on a modern 64-bit OS, at least for now. At some point, app developers will discontinue support for unsupported OS.

Sure! Right after the Mac port...

Windows Defender seems to have gotten a bit more aggressive in recent versions of Windows 10. Even with Defender effectively disabled by installing a 3rd party AV, and turning off scheduled scans, you still cannot fully disable Smartscreen. https://www.howtogeek.com/123938/htg-explains-how-the-smartscreen-filter-works-in-windows-8/ https://www.howtogeek.com/75356/how-to-turn-off-or-disable-the-smartscreen-filter-in-windows-8/ I followed these instructions, and SmartScreen will still scan certain files, until I kill the task in Task manager. Then it starts up again whenever it wants to. Defender was upgraded for Windows 10 Creators edition: https://www.howtogeek.com/220232/how-to-use-the-built-in-windows-defender-antivirus-on-windows-10/

LOL, the NEW upstairs/downstairs. Or the sewer...

"Online BandBlah thing"? If you are referring to BandLab's online social music creation platform, you do realize that BandLab version is an optional online community feature that is completely separate? For example, this is not the Cakewalk DAW: > https://www.bandlab.com/ Cakewalk by Bandlab, is actually just an updated version of Sonar found here: > https://www.bandlab.com/products/cakewalk Cakewalk by BandLab is a DAW that runs locally on your PC and has the core features of Sonar Platinum, plus all the updates added last year. But if you were referring to the online BandLab Assistant to get the software download. Yes you will have to use that to download Cakewalk. It works sort of like Cakewalk Command Center did for the Sonar Platinum installers. But once you have Cakewalk by BandLab (CbB) installed on your PC you don't have to go online unless you want to.

LOL, maybe they are afraid of that riff-raff making the pilgrimage over here when they are cutoff. Just let 'em be, and all that! Uh-oh, there goes the new neighborhood!

This comment from scook above clarifies what I was trying to say earlier: So the plug-in must be configured by the developer as an FX version in order to receive audio in Cakewalk, and instantiated as scook says. Cakewalk will not route audio to an instrument in an instrument track. The looper in TH3 works fine and records audio, but that complies with being an FX plugin inserted into the audio FX bin. I don't know of any samplers capable of live audio recording to test with in CbB that are not locked to the DAW they are bundled with, the exception being TX16Wx. And Cakewalk sees that plugin as an instrument only, so no luck there.

If you already have SynthMaster 2, your regular crossgrade price to SM One is $29. http://kv331audio.com/synthmasterone.aspx But $31 is a no-brainer price if you have neither.

I have found that unplugging my audio interface sometimes lets my DAW exit completely following a crash caused by a bad plugin. I assume that is because my audio driver gets hung up when the DAW goes "poof", and isn't shut down clean. Resetting the interface seems to allow the process to exit fully. Good to go again without rebooting the machine.

Conclusion: If you are running Windows 10, you need an SSD.

I am only going to comment with my observations and opinions on Windows 10 disk usage vs. earlier versions. DAW and audio tuning are already well covered here, but I suspect there may be a difference in the way Windows uses hard disk for internal processes. I also agree with earlier comments about clean OS installing vs. upgrading, as that is the biggest way to avoid carrying over any pre-existing issues from an earlier installation. Plus you get to start with a clean slate. If that is practical for your situation, I would say go for it. I have a desktop that I use for my main DAW with Windows 10 Pro. This system uses a Samsung SSD for the OS drive, and the overall performance of Windows and other applications, including DAW software and plugins is very responsive. My secondary PC is a laptop that came with Windows 8.1 Home, but only a spinning HDD. It is not intended to be a DAW, but I load my DAW and virtual instruments on it to play with when traveling. Since I upgraded it to Windows 10, everything, not just audio performance seems sluggish. I only use the integrated Intel HD graphics on both machines, which are adequate for non gaming use. I am familiar with Process Explorer, Autoruns, and the Windows Task Scheduler, and I have tried weed whacking my way through Windows 10, but every time I start noticing slow performance on the laptop I see my HDD pegging at 100% usage. Windows 10 seems to have a mind of it's own, and I did not notice this behavior under Windows 8.1. Just the expected slower performance of a spinning drive. I have been mulling over whether to clean install, or upgrade the existing HDD to SSD. The advantage to swapping drives is that wouldn't require a complete rebuild of the OS and applications in the laptop. One thing I can observe is that Windows 10 service and task related disk activity that may only take seconds to complete on my desktop with SSD, may take minutes to complete on the laptop with an HDD. Would a clean install change that? I dunno, but my bet would probably be on a new SSD. Bottom line, have Windows developers started assuming that the average baseline PC is now sporting a SSD for the OS drive, and developing the OS accordingly? If so that would seem to follow along the evolutionary path of system requirements for multi-core CPU's, RAM capacity, etc.

Archiving your projects on an external drive is an excellent idea, as that will free up space on your internal drive. However, if you are going to be working with any of those projects again, you should first copy it back to an internal drive. The reason is that external drives are generally slow 5400 RPM USB drives, that are OK for backups but not audio production. For audio drives always use at least an internal 7200 RPM SATA HDD for good audio track throughput.

I make daily images with an automatic schedule, to an attached USB3 drive. Then weekly I take another image to an external drive that gets stored elsewhere. No problems with out of date software that way. If I do major software updates, then I run a new image directly afterwards. And if I update important documents I zip up a copy of them into a folder and sync just that folder, not my entire system, to Dropbox. If I ever run into serious problems, I just drop back to the last known good image. I never have to worry about backups that way.

I installed ASIO4ALL on my laptop for use with my Realtek audio chip. It gives me acceptable latency with virtual instruments using any DAW I wish to use. https://www.sweetwater.com/sweetcare/articles/installing-and-using-asio4all-for-windows/ My laptop is a low end unit not intended for serious audio use, but I find it a handy to have scratchpad for playing virtual instruments when I am traveling. Note: using the Realtek audio chip gives acceptable audio playback over headphones or external speakers, but I would never intend to record external instruments with this. I would say that use would definitely require an external audio interface.