William W. Saunders, Jr.

Have you tried cleaning the USB cable at both end with some 90+% alcohol, contact cleaner  and/or some DeoxIT?  Also leave the cord connectors wet with the cleaner/Detoxify and plug and unplug them a few times to clean out the port contacts.

NEVERMIND.  Found it.

PS  Where is the "Lens Dropdown Menu" referred to in the help documentation"?

I'm having the folders not staying where I drag them - the order keeps reverting to an earlier version.  I don't use lenses but I'll look around and see if there might be a hidden default I wasn't aware of, like this one from Startrouper Krupa:

 "I just tried setting the global lens to none, and the issue went away."

and this one from msmcleod:

"Track View Control Order"

Thanks guys

I have the same sort of questions as Krupa.  What in your old system setup for Sonar 2.2 was so unique that the backwards compatibility of later versions wont handle?

What is your price range? 

ZOOM UAC-8 (USB 3.0) has worked great for me - around $600. 

I just got a PreSonus Quantum (around $1k) that is reportedly the lowest latency interface anywhere (probably so in my estimation) but you need Thunderbolt 2.  I run the ZOOM's  ADAT out into the Quantum for extra inputs now.

Lots of great options out there, its just a question of price, # of ins/outs, connection mode and what is important to you.

PS - I really miss my old girlfriends -  Gina, Layla and Mona.  Great interfaces.

I understand the issue now, bayoubill.  You just need another pad of post-its.

This also happens if you change or deselect or forget to initialize hardware MIDI outputs.  For instance, I have a USB keyboard that is one of my usual selected MIDI devices, but I don't always turn it on.  If Cakewalk doesn't see it, it often reorders the other MIDI devices AND soft synth VSTs in my project and scrambles the input assignments.  So that could be causing it too.

I never have.  Is the bin itself gone or are you saying the FX in the bin have disappeared?

If it's the latter, does the same thing happen if you create an FX Chain in the ProChannel and put the effect in their?

On 4/13/2019 at 5:31 AM, Oscar Myer said:

Funny thing is, the cost for catching up with the times has cost me WAY less than the money I put out years ago for all the gear I thought I needed to make music.  Also, factor in the money I put out back then in "today's dollars."  I could have bought a house with it.

Exactly.  And the quality level of what we can produce now with far less gear is just amazing.  And like Cakewalk, pretty soon all the great stuff will be FREE!

13 hours ago, Oscar Myer said:

I can't believe that I spent a fortune in the beginning just to get myself able to work strictly in MIDI.

I don't even want to think about all my investments in music and computer gear that had to be replaced every year or two as technology progressed.  Glad I had a day job.

19 hours ago, James Argo said:

I did. Voyetra's Master Track Pro was bundled with some thick Computer Music book I got on close out back in 93 in bay area. Since I started MIDI sequencing with Voyetra's Sequencer Plus for DOS, Master Track Pro was my first Windows sequencer. The book has it's own chapter about Cakewalk 2.0 for Windows. Then I switched to Cakey when Greg released Cakewalk Pro 3.0 for Windows.
 

Very cool.  That was my first Windows sequencer too - about 1991, I think.  I ran it on a 286 with a full MB of RAM and a limitless 20 MB hard drive.  I don't remember the manual.  Wonder why it mentioned Cakewalk?  I started with Cakewalk 3.0 around '93 or '94 when I got my 75Mhz AST computer from Costco with color monitor and Windows 3.  I was in heaven.  Time flies when you're having fun.

<So I don't understand why ASIO buffer size increases are required to accommodate plugin processing delay?>>

I agree. I don't think the ASIO buffer increase recommendation has much to do with the inherent processing delay of the plug-ins.

I am no expert, but my own little understanding (and experience) is that increasing the ASIO buffer gives the computer a bit more time to process all those CPU-intensive plug-ins,  etc. that may strain it and interfere with its job of turning ones and zeros into analog sound.  i.e. playing back the audio stream itself.  If it is strained and doesn't have that extra time to crunch all the digits, it just has to skip some samples and out come the pops and clicks. 

Occasionally, my projects will get to a size and complexity (with Neutron on many tracks, Ozone in the buses, various convolution reverbs in the FX bins, lots of soft synths, and multiple audio tracks) where they just start popping and clicking on playback.  At that point I push up the ASIO buffer from 64 to 128 or 256 (or, very rarely, 512) and the problem will go away.

Of course, there are other things to do that can lighten the load, as recommended above, but its all about giving you system a bit of breathing room to handle everything smoothly.  But I don't know why you are still having problems at your max 1024 setting.

<J.L. Cooper SMPTE to MIDI clock adapter>>

Simeon, is that the PPS-1?  I used one to sync up my Tascam DA-88 to Cakewalk before it added ProAudio

Did anyone else ever use MasterTracks Pro?  That was my first Windows PC sequencer, before I discovered Cakewalk.

Oscar!  That really brings back the memories.  I think my first version was 3.5.  How fun was it when MS-DOS transformed unto Windows and we started having these cool programs that actually had graphics - just like those snooty Apple nerds.

But, like Razor7,  my favorite is still the yellow walking feet.  I was just wearing my Cakewalk shirt today: 

I totally agree with Bob.  If you're just mixing, keep setting the ASIO buffer higher until the bacon stops frying.  If it never does, it must be something else terrible wrong with your setup.

Hmm.  Thanks, guys.  I don't use lenses or screensets.  This happens on existing projects that I've been working on and off for months (sometimes years) so I am not starting with a new template, although that's a great idea for new projects. 

How would I "quick group" the changes?  These are global settings within each project, not per track or per bus.  Nothing needs to be selected to change them or apply them.

Thank you,

Bill

My dear Bakers, whom I have loved dearly for so many years, and whom I continue to love,

One of my pet peeves over the years is that the meter options I set for a project are rarely if ever retained for very long.  It seem like every few days or weeks I have to go in and reset them all to my preferred settings.  What makes it particularly bothersome is that there are so many different things I have to repeatedly change and for each change you have to do multiple clicks  because the menu doesn't stay open after each change.  

For instance - I ALWAYS want the bus, track and record meters to "Show", "Hold" and "Lock" peaks and to show "Peak and RMS" levels.  So that is 4 options I have to check for each of the 3 types of meters and each of those choices requires me to first go through the 3-click "Options>Meter Option> (types of meter)" menu and then reopen it each time for each selection.   That is a total of 36 different clicks.  And that doesn't even count having to also go through  the 2-click ""Options>Meter Option" sequence to also set "Show Numeric peak", "Show Bus Peak" and "Show Track Peak."  That is 9 more clicks.  So just to get things back to the way I want them, I have to make 45 different clicks.   And sometimes I also have to change back to horizontal meters from vertical - but that only requires 3 more clicks.

Anyway, sorry for the rant but having to do this repeatedly on the same project is crazy making.  And it happens on every project!

Is there possibly a software fix for this?  Or some kind of solution or workaround?  Is there a trick in Windows 10 to keep the menus open so I can make all my changes without having to repeatedly go through the same sequences of clicks to reopen for every option change?   (My carpal tunnel is bad enough with all my obsessive cutting, pasting and dragging of clips.)

Thanks,  Bill

Thank you.  

Is all this great stuff really free?

This happened to me once today (but never previously) while working on some intensive Melodyne vocal track editing.  I re-saved under a different name after deleting all tracks not essential to the current editing work and then re-imported the edited track into the original project and it never happened again all day.

Sweetwater is usually my  online source if my local music store doesn't have it.  They even ship free to me in Hawaii if it's a decent- sized purchase, $50.00 or more.   I've been buying from them since I got my my first multichannel soundcard, an Echo Layla circa 1996-97.  Never had a bad experience  though, like others, I've only had 2 sales engineers in all that time.  But you used to have to watch out for the candy included in the shipping box-- bad for the teeth.

Your question is kind of like asking if you should fly the Boeing before or after the software fix.  In this case, the fix is already applied in CWBL and it works very very well.

Fly on, Brother!

I was having a bad hum on all my guitars, acoustic plug-in and electrics, single and double coil and humbuckers, but only in one room in my house..  Turning 90 degrees and keeping the guitar exactly perpendicular to the ground helped somewhat but it was always there - regardless if I was plugged into an amp, FX pedals, a DI to my interface or directly into my interface.  But nothing else hummed.  I never thought "premium" cables did much good but I invested in some short (6 ft.) Mogami gold cables and ran them wherever the guitar signal went (to and from FX units, pre-amp, amp, interface, etc.)  Voila NO HUM. 

I finally realized it was because the room is over the garage and the garage door opener is creating some kind of electrical field (even when the mechanism is not running) that the guitar signal was picking up through the cheaper cables, even though they were decent shielded Fender and similar cords.   But absolutely no hum with those Mogami Golds.

Not sure this will help you if everything has noise and static.

Try not to use ASIO4ALL if you can help it.  It ain't the greatest.  Better to buy a cheap USB interface (if you can afford it) and use it's native drivers than using your onboard sound chip with ASIO4ALL,    Mackie Big Knob series is inexpensive, sounds fine and doubles as a speaker controller right on your desk.

Archive (don't just mute) any other unnecessary tracks while you are recording, especially those with a lot of effects.  I do a rough reference mix to play/record along with and archive everything else.  That avoids the built-in latency imparted by many effects (except the ones you want to monitor through) and frees up your processor so you can dial down to the lowest ASIO buffer setting without getting clicks and pops.

You can go on Jim's website and educate yourself about what he's offering, pick the things you want and then place an order.  Alternatively, you can pay for a consultation and have Jim email you to schedule it.  Its well worth it.  I would have him build mine (like I have about 4 or 5 times before) but shipping to Hawaii adds several hundred $ to the cost.  So I paid him for a half hour consultation and picked his brain and built my own.  It was WELL worth it.

Best thing is to be efficient and use your time well.  Beforehand  write down what you are trying to do and any questions you might have, familiarize yourself with the various component options that are out there and let Jim steer you in the right direction.