JoseC

Different tools for different tasks. CbB's Step Sequencer is like those sequencers found in synthesizers and drum boxes, it is not meant for complex midi writing. OTOH, you can get very interesting results with it if you use its probability  features to introduce variations in hi hat patterns, or in synth patterns for old styles like Berlin School, for example. I let the pattern play in the Matrix and record the output. 

20 hours ago, jackson_js22 said:

 

Is there a way to force Step Sequencer to "follow" the song progression ?

Hope this makes sense .....

 

 

I have not tried, but I think that step sequencer clips should follow pitch markers in the timeline if you decide to use them, but they would only transpose the sequence chromatically, not fit to a scale, AFAIK.

On 18 de agosto de 2019 at 12:48 PM, JoeGBradford said:

You can never have too many Finns 🙂

Said the shark. 

León, Northwest Spain.

The midi activity that you are seeing might be Active Sensing or even Midi Clock if the Z1 is sending any, or both types of messages. I don't believe that modern synths use Active Sensing anymore, but old digital synths did. 

5 minutes ago, Robert Bone said:

I, too, am a bit confused why this would be happening with your setup - it seems like a settings and/or a device issue, that is either not working right, or is not configured right.

I see you mention currently running Windows 10.  I looked at the RME site for any drivers for that interface, and maybe I am missing the boat, but is this interface even supported anymore?  If so, I don't seem able to select your interface on the drivers download page.  IF this link is the correct one, you please tell me what I need to do to pull up available drivers for your model of interface, for ANY version of Windows, let alone Windows 10. 

(https://www.rme-audio.de/en/downloads/driver_updates_readme_hdsp.php) 

When you have Cakewalk running, you should see a little keyboard icon in the Windows 10 System Tray (bottom right corner of your display monitor - you may need to expand the display of items in the System Tray, by clicking on the arrow that points up).  Anyways, when you trigger notes on the Z1, do you see any little tiny light turning on and off on that little music keyboard icon?  (the little music keyboard icon is supposed to show midi activity, so when notes are triggered, it should have a little red activity indicator light go on and off on that keyboard icon - a bit to the left of the center of the keyboard icon).  I see this turning on and off when I play notes on the Roland A-800 Pro midi controller I currently have hooked up to the computer using a USB cable - I do not know if connecting your Z1 through your RME card using a standard midi connector would also result in that midi activity indicator light go on and off - just because I do not know if that midi activity app in the system tray works for old-school midi cable connected devices, such as your Z1.

I had mentioned earlier a suggestion of designating Omni or None on the midi track's Input, and I am unsure of whether or not you have  tried running this way.  I saw where you indicated it is set to something other than Omni or None, so please try changing to one of those.   If set to Omni, the midi track should send ANY midi data received, to the Kontakt instance.  

In any case - it is a good thing you have a new controller/keyboard coming, so this issue shouldn't persist beyond when they new device arrives.

Bob Bone

 

My main controller is a twenty year old Kawai K5000S synth conected to an ancient usb MOTU MidiexpressXT interface and its activity shows in the Windows 10 system tray midi  activity icon. So does a usb midi cable connected to the DIN midi ports of my Tascam audio interface. I have currently six devices in total that send midi data to my computer and all show in the system tray with the latest W10, CbB and Komplete 12 updates, including Kontakt, Massive and FM8. I would bet that considering what he says, other controller won't make a difference. I could lose, though. 

10 hours ago, Christian Jones said:

Hi Robert, well in my very first post you can see exactly how I have everything set up, starting from the third paragraph. Pretty sure I have everything set up right; it's set up the same way it was for my M-Audio Oxygen except the input on the Midi track is now set to the midi interface input the Z1 is hooked up to for channel 1. The Z1 can trigger Kontakt in standalone mode through this midi interface so I know the midi interface works. 

Have you tried all the possible input ports in that track? I don't know how many input ports you have in your interface, maybe CbB doesn't assign numbers to them as expected. Did you try setting input channel to Omni or None in that track?

Have you tried with a new project and track? Maybe your project or project template is corrupted somehow.

Have you got any other program running at the same time that might use your midi driver? Close all apps, restart CbB and check.

At this point, if none of the above show any midi arriving into CbB, I would reinstall CbB. If the Z1 is working fine with standalone synths, while its input does not even show in any midi activity indicator in CbB, I don't think that any other controller will work, either. 

Yes, I am curious about that, too. If you had any other midi device you could test if this is actually a problem with just the Z1. Did you check what I told you about not being filtering notes in midi preferences? Does the Z1 mod wheel or any other controller data get recorded? 

Check that in Preferences/Midi/Playback and recording the Record Notes box is not unchecked.

He wrote that he can trigger Kontakt from the Piano Roll, so this is is between the synth and CbB. 

Maybe CbB is filtering out input data, for some reason?

That should be specified in the manual, then, because it states that Assignable Controls can be recalled every time the synth is inserted again, after being created once. Track templates are my preferred way of inserting synths, but that method is not supported. 

Remote Control assignments are also not saved with track templates, this should also be improved, because makes that feature incomplete, IMHO.

On 7/9/2019 at 8:05 PM, scook said:

Just a few comments before my test results.

• Whether assignable controls are added to the synth depends on the "Recall Assignable Controls" setting in the Insert Soft Synth Options dialog.
• The Add Track does not use the Insert Soft Synth Options settings and it does not recall assignable controls. It probably should have this option in the advanced settings or the synth rack should have an option to recall assignments.

 

So I started tested earlier today using SI-Bass and CbB 2019-05. I believe it failed like this

Ultimately, I saved the project with a control assigned to the Master volume.

I repeated the test with Platinum 2017-10 with the same results (I think) and ultimately overwrote the project saved with CbB.

Then tested in X3e. It does not have the Add Track menu but all other methods worked OK and then I overwrote the project again.

Retested in Platinum. It was working OK.

Retested in CbB. It was working correctly.

 

Just fired up CbB again, used different synths and controls are recalled using every method except Add Track (which is expected).

IOW, after the tests I ran this morning I am no longer able to reproduce the problem.

Thanks for your reply, scook.

So, it is confirmed that Add Track does not recall Assignable Controls.

I tested again with a Track template saved with all assignable Controls created, and that method does not recall them either, as I stated in my  original post.

6 hours ago, Lee D said:

I think you captured part of it.  After giving it some thought, my hypothesis is that the free services provided by Bandlab have the goal of collecting and running analytics on an increasing number of users for the purposes of:

1) Creating brand recognition and loyalty

2) Marketing other products in the Bandlab portfolio

3) Assisting with product development

4) Selling this data to 3rd party partners and services

I think that Cakewalk will be modified in the future to collect user data and to more tightly integrate with the Bandlab ecosystem.  This might even allow them to collect data on the usage of the other equipment such as the audio interfaces, guitars, etc which would give a big step up in terms of product development and marketing.

So, yours is the Big Brother theory. Cakewalk as a big marketing Trojan. Around here we call that "conspiranoid"

Nobody?

 Assignable Controls created  for a synth in the Synth Rack should be recalled every time the synth is inserted again. This is true when inserted again from the Synth Rack, but when inserting the synth either from the Add Track button in the top left corner of the Track View, or a Track Template with that synth and the Assignable Controls already created, no controls show. 

I also find annoying that Remote Control setup for the Assignable Controls created is lost even when they are recalled properly, but I believe that this  has been so for ages, i.e. this is a non feature rather than a bug. It would be great that Remote Control data could be saved with Track Templates.

I found out this when trying to find a way to control the  macro knobs of the new NI  Massive X from my master keyboard. It is already clunky from Native Instruments side, since actual midi learn for the synth has not been implemented yet, but also having to assign them to the 16 knobs in my master keyboard every time I insert the synth is a real pain.  I tried with Z3TA+2, too, just to be sure, same results.

Ok, so what you actually need is muting the midi data in Track View while you audition your loops in Matrix View. If you use a single Instrument track you cannot mute it because you also mute the Matrix View output. You would need to split the Instrument track and mute just the midi track that contains the Track View data. Create another midi track pointing to the same instrument and set it up as output for the Matrix View. That way you have two midi tracks that output to your Instrument, and its single (or multiple if needed) audio output track . You just mute the Track view track when you want to audition your loops.

Then I don't understand you. You say that you want to mute the Matrix View clip so it does not sound at the same time as notes in the midi track that is assigned to the same Matrix View row.  If you mute it you are not using it.

Edit:  Nevermind, I get it now. Why don't you just stop the Matrix View clip? 

I use hardware synths, too, so my template includes a number of midi only tracks. This is why I tend to split single instrument tracks as soon as the project has reached a certain size and keep midi and audio tracks separate. 

18 minutes ago, SquireBum said:

This behavior can be reproduced in Cakewalk by BandLab 2019.01 Build 27 and SONAR Platinum 2017.10 Build 14 using the following steps:

1.  Create New Empty project.

2.  Drag a Track Template from the Media tab of the Browser.

3.  Close the Project.

4.  Attempt to open a new project using either the File > Open... menu or the Existing Projects option from the Start Screen.

Results:  The files explorer opens in the Track Template directory last selected in step 2.

 

Hope this helps,

Ron

Yep, that's it. Thanks for checking.

9 hours ago, Twisted Fingers said:

That seems like an improvement to me. My Cakewalk Projects folder has lots of layers and I usually start where I left off. 

Maybe I did not explain it well. When I first open Cakewalk, if I go to Open Existing Project it does open the right directory, but if I close a project after, fox example, dragging a track template into it from the Browser and try to open a new project, it then shows the directory where the track templates are, not the Projects directory.

I have noticed that the Open Project command now opens the explorer in the last directory used in the browser, instead of in the Projects directory. Just reselecting the Project directory tab at the bottom goes back to the right place, so this is not a big deal, but it is a bit annoying. Does this happen to anyone else?

Mooer Radar with Acoustic Guitar IR

The above video shows the Mooer Radar, that is a guitar pedal for loading Cab IR, loaded with several acoustic guitar body IR and its sound with a piezo.

On 19 de enero de 2019 at 1:28 AM, Craig Anderton said:

Okay, but let's not get carried away. I've always said if people read manuals, I'd be out of a job

But you have written your share of manuals, too, haven't you? Have you decided that NOT writing manuals is better for the business?