William W. Saunders, Jr.

Because it has been striving since the last century to be free and to get the respect it deserves.

It's finally free, and it will never be captured again.

Hi Dominic:

Welcome to the forum.  It always helps if you include you systems specs, including processor, motherboard,  RAM specs, etc.   Also, let us know what buffer settings you are using:   Under "Driver Settings" - Buffers in Playback Queue and Buffer Size; and under "Sync and Caching" - Playback and Recording I/O Buffer Size.  Those all may be factors but no one can help if they don't know how you have those parameters set.

Otherwise,

1.  First, I would suggest that you try turning off "Suspend Audio Engine When Cakewalk is Not In Focus."

2.  Do you have any other programs running in the background that use that audio interface?  If so, close them.

3.  Did you disable all USB power saving?  If not, do it in Control Panel > Power Options > Edit Plan Settings > Change Advanced Power Settings > USB Settings > USB Selective Suspend Settings:  Disabled

4.  Do you have another audio interface or soundcard enabled?  If so disable it.

5.  Did you download and install the latest driver and firmware from this website?  https://www.steinberg.net/en/support/downloads_hardware/downloads_ur242.html    If not, do it.

6.  Also, did you see the note on that website that says: 

"Yamaha Steinberg USB Driver

The TOOLS for UR come with a Yamaha Steinberg USB driver component included. However, a newer version of the driver for your USB audio interface might be available on this page ( https://www.steinberg.net/en/support/downloads_hardware/yamaha_steinberg_usb_driver.html ). The driver component can be updated separately in this case."

Good luck,

Bill

20 hours ago, Michael Fogarty said:

I use Nero Burning Rom. Never fails.

I agree.  I do too, largely because of the ease of inputting metadata and saving it for tracks within the Nero "compilation."   You can then update those tracks later with new versions of your wave files and still keep the metadata you entered for the earlier version, as long as the name of the file is the same..

Alors!

How are you getting your guitar signal into Cakewalk?  What are you plugging it into and what kind of input is it?  That is probably where the problem lies, not in Cakewalk.

CD Architect is controlled by MAGIX.  Unfortunately, my version 5.2 which came with Sound Forge no longer can be activated, although MAGIX will take you through the steps to do so.  At then end, however, it says my version is 5.4 and says my  serial number/product key don't match that version.  I have gotten no help from support.

But, yes, it is a good program.

Windows Media Player will do the job quite nicely.  Just  click on the "Burn" tab on the right and drag those wave files into the "Burn List."  Then click on "Start Burn."

19 minutes ago, kurt soderquist said:

I used to record with amps and mics and would spend days trying to get a good sound. I even built my own tube amps and effect pedals and Poo Poo'ed anything solid state. Now I use a plugin like Bias FX2 and it's so easy to get great recording tone.

I agree, but don't let DeeringAmps hear this sacrilege.

I agree that sending a clean guitar signal to Cakewalk to record and a separate guitar signal to your amp (using a splitter cable or some other means) will give you the monitoring grit you need for inspiration as well as a nice clean signal you can manipulate later.  You can even record the amp with a mic simultaneously on another track.

I also agree that setting relatively low gain levels going into Cakewalk gives you the best chance as getting the sound you want, especially if you are recording at 24-bits.

Brandon, you ask: "Do you find you get a lot of unwanted noise when you normalise from a low level of gain?"

No more so than if you have a lot of gain going in.  In digital recording at 24-bits you can increase volume significantly and the only noise you are going to notice is what your guitar, amp and background noise are producing.  You'll get that same relative noise level (plus possible problems with overload) if you try recording "hot" level going into Cakewalk. 

Years ago I was initially disappointed when recording  some of my outboard gear using SPDIF outs that levels were so low and that the waveform in Cakewalk track view was so tiny, but it has really never presented a problem, even after applying gain increase of 20 dB or more .  Better way too soft than even slightly too loud in my book.

Freezing and unfreezing tracks as you edit is really quite quick and easy

I've had this happen but if I scroll up I see them.

Slightly fluctuating levels (+/- 3 dB) while tracking shouldn't be a problem.  Like he said, freeze soft synth tracks and also commit external hardware synths tracks to audio as well.  Then the only fluctuations should be random and non-synchronous modulation from your FX, again likely no more than +/- 3 dB.

Slightly fluctuating levels (+/- 3 dB) while mixing down shouldn't be a problem either.  You can always use compressors and limiters to avoid more extreme volume fluctuations that mess with the relative levels you are seeking.

Finally,  as long as you have left good headroom, there shouldn't be any problems mastering your mix with 3rd party FX that have decent dynamic processors - or even the ones available in Cakewalk.

Good luck.

Try going into Preferences>Playback and Recording and checking the box near the top of the page that's labeled "Suspend Audio Engine When Cakewalk Is Not in Focus."

To quote the online help:   "This option allows other software to access device drivers. When this option is checked, other software can access device drivers when Cakewalk is not the focus of Windows."

If that doesn't work,  you might try downloading Audacity (free)  https://www.audacityteam.org/download/windows/  and using that to listen to mp3's,  *.wav files, etc. You might have more control over drivers that way. 

I just have to reiterate here what a great DAW we have in Cakewalk, what a great forum this is and what a great bunch of exceptionally knowledgeable users and Cakewalk staff who continue to offer wisdom and assistance .

Thank you, thank you, thank you

Hi Bob,  

Thanks for the tip.  I have the original Quantum 26x32 and just bought the 26x26 for another studio.  Still building my new DAW for that studio and waiting for the Thunderbolt 3 card so haven't tried the 26x26 yet.

One question:  Doesn't disabling C-States in the BIOS take care of this or do those Windows updates ignore/disable that setting?  I have always done that and haven't had any trouble with click and pops.  Then again, I don't run my 26x32 at 32 samples!

Thanks,

Bill

On 5/22/2020 at 5:15 PM, Robert Bone said:

Glad the crashes seem to be on vacation, or quietly resolved.  When you DO see a crash, where there is any kind of displayed error message, please please please make sure to either write down, save, or take a picture of whatever error message detail is presented, because that helps the rest of us help you figure out what happened and why.

I have a friend, musician, who does music production on his desktop using Cakewalk, and he used to use Sonar.  He used to drive me crazy, telling me of some crash, and when I would press him for details, he would literally tell me stuff like: "Well, it some kind of error" when there had been an actual message with crash details in it, that I could have used to help solve his issue - but could not help him, because he did not bother to write any of the error message down, or even just take a phone pic of the screen and the error message.

3 years later, I FINALLY have him trying to capture that information for me - was like pulling teeth, but hs is finally giving me that information - been a while since he crashed, but when he does now, I get that info.

SO - if you have any additional crashes, please also post whatever error message and any associated detail as was presented to you in the message, so we can better help you to get it fixed, if possible.  

THANKS!     

Bob Bone

Thanks, Bob.  I will keep this in mind for future reference.  In this case I got a blue scree with a VR code and an Microsoft error message that when, I looked it up on Microsoft's website as directed, said something to the effect of "You are overclocking"!  LOL.  Barely, I'm running my i7 7820X at 4300, max Turbo speed.

The problem is that, without some kind of sync, your pre-fab keyboard accompaniment is running oblivious to the clock/tempo/measures/beats of CW.    Maybe you can sync CW to the keyboard which must have some kind of internal MIDI sync that  can send out with its MIDI data.  However, if you are just recording the audio of the accompaniment, that wont work.

In other words, some folks above were suggesting you sync your keyboard to CW.  Instead maybe you can sync CW to your keyboard's internal clock.  Its obviously got one if it can sync to itself.  The question is whether it can output its clock info with MIDI from the accompaniment.

Maybe tell us the type and model of keyboard you are using (I assume its a Casio 3000 - but which model?) and the other details of your setup.

I play jazz, world, fusion and some singer-songwriter ballads ala Jackson Browne, Van Morrison, etc.  I mix my tracks to about -6dB, normalize so the peaks are at -.5 db and then master using Ozone 9 with EQ to taste, compressor (settings vary according to the dynamics in the mix), dynamic EQ (to smooth things out) and the "Maximizer" limiter.  I try to end up with about -14 dB RMS with peaks limited to -.3 dB. 

Bottom line, most of my mastered tracks are right around -14 dB RMS and their loudness is comparable to other similar music on CD or MP3.   The track profile looks like this (its a 7.5 min. song so its a bit squeezed in this window).

On 5/16/2020 at 9:21 AM, slartabartfast said:

To be clear are you saying that Cakewalk program crashes or that you get a "blue screen" aka Windows Stop Error and have to restart Windows?

My crashes (which aren't happening anymore) occured when I tried to do anything with Kontakt 6 inside CW and went straight to a blue screen telling me a fatal error had occurred and checking for info to send Microsoft.

Thanks, Bob.  After spending way too much time trying to diagnose, I decided to restore from a 6 month old Acronis Backup.  Things seem to be working so far.

Thanks, Bob.  I too have used Kontakt, including Kontakt 6, for a long time with no issues.  Not sure why this suddenly started happening.  I have installed and applied all WIN 10 and NI updates and uninstalled and reinstalled latest versions of Kontakt 6 (using Native Access) and Cakewalk.  Just seems to be a strange glitch in my system.  All my other VST's work fine

Every time I open a Cakewalk project with Kontakt 6 in it, I get a crash/ bluescreen.  This strange behavior started happening a couple of months ago when I was editing an instrument in Kontakt 6.  Initially I could open projects,  I just couldn't mess with the Kontakt 6 settings.  I got so frustrated that I uninstalled Kontakt 6 and reverted to Kontakt 5.  Everything worked fine.

Today I figured CW has been updated, there have been a couple of WIN 10 updates, so maybe it will work now. No luck.  Now the projects won't even open.  So  I had to uninstall it again and now everything is fine.

I tried checking out the NI website support for help but they are overwhelmed and have closed down most support options.

Does anyone have any idea as to how I might fix this?

Thanks,

Bill

PS:  I tried this in both CW and SONAR - same result.

You always need to tell us at least your computer setup (MOBO, CPU, RAM, OS,) your sound device, etc.  Otherwise no one will have a clue as to how to help you.

BTW: Asio4all is not a recommended option and is likely the cause of your problem but unless you tell us more, no one will be able to help.

FYI - I have a "Texas Instruments OHCI Compliant" Firewire card that works fine.  The driver is an old one from Microsoft: 

Driver Date:  6/21/2006. 

Driver version:   10.0.18362.1

I guess yours is VIA using a different driver ?  Good luck.

=2    The trick is to NOT uninstall your existing SPLAT.

ASRock Taichi MOBOs have three M.2 slots.  Thunderbolt too.

I have an X299 and a Z390, one at home and one in my studio.   I have M.2 NVME SSDs for OS, Audio and Samples in both.

Both boards and all 6 SSD's are working great for me.