Larry Jones

I can confirm this has been happening recently. Complete without warning crash to desktop, and no subsequent error message. In my case, I tracked it down to one offending audio track in one project. But as pwalpwal shows above, a lot of people have had a lot of this problem.

This has come up recently. You might look at this thread for a possible solution. Kontakt is involved in the other case as well.

15:18?

I don't have time to watch the entire video rebuttal. It's an hour long. I could read fifty posts in that time, many of which would have solutions that would further my own understanding of the software, some of which would apply directly to issues I've had. Maybe it's just me but I prefer a well-written post outlining a problem, or a response to someone else's request for help. Meanwhile, the perfect place for Scott's helpful tutorials is on his YouTube channel. If it's OK with Bandlab it's OK with me, but I don't think these long videos are the best way for forum members to report bugs or assist each other. [EDIT} I just saw that the rebuttal video was not posted here by Scott himself. So Scott if you read this, please don't see it as a critical of you personally. Just my thoughts on how to run the forum.

When I engineered live orchestral sessions in the 1980s (for movies), I remember one frustrated producer noting "...the string cues are arriving by bus," his way of saying the string section seems late. So the problem goes back to the days before samplers, I guess. 🙃 That said, in the very few times I have used string in CbB I have noticed them coming in late, and I have compensated manually by increasing MIDI velocity or adjusting attack time. Easy for me to say, I guess, since I rarely used strings.

Yeah. You can automate the "mute" function, which means some people surely do mute/unmute as part of their mixing process. I feel ya. As a former studio owner I learned to be up front with clients about just what was possible and what was not. I tried to accommodate their every wish, but I told them they can't have everything (this was in the 24-track tape recorder days), and I made sure to warn them that one more guitar solo was going to erase something, take yer pick of things you can do without. When I had the chance to be in charge of a project, I tried to have a clear idea of where it was going, and kept only the keepers. I wasn't always right, but often enough. With modern digital recording, it feels as if you really can have everything, but as you've discovered, you can't. Now I work only on my own projects, at home, and part of the challenge is managing all the choices. I'm a very understanding client, though, so it's not too bad to work with me.

Sometimes it really is a hardware failure...

But you'd still have to buy a new PC every so often, to keep up with new technology.

You could bounce your comp to a new track, archive the comped track (which would archive the lanes, of course) and use the Track Manager to hide it.

Seems like if anyone has standing to ask about this it would be you. 🙃

This had me confused. Scott has used more than one name on this and the old forum, so I thought maybe "Jaime" was another psuedonym. I was further led astray by the Mexican beer Scott was drinking. 🙃

Gap between tracks?

Sorry, Noel. I have tried the Export to Bandlab feature, but a.) You can't export much to Bandlab; b.) We have always been able to export the tracks and stems we want to export and share them in various ways; and c.) When I tried to export five buses to Bandlab, the only thing that made it was the project title. All the data got lost in the endless loop of "still processing." I'm sure you'll get this working, but it doesn't seem like it's something I will ever need. Since the big DAW is available at no charge, it seems to me more likely that I'll just talk potential collaborators into downloading and installing it, and send them my tracks via Dropbox. Please show me why it would be better to go through Bandlab. I really do want to know.

Even with Cakewalk by Bandlab still might need to get access to old versions, in case plugins....

+1 to @abacab and @Brian Walton. If you just want to get started fast (and have LOUD mixes), buy iZotope Ozone Elements for $129 and use it. In time you'll want to be more sophisticated in your mastering, but this plugin will get you going right away, with almost no thinking (not that there's anything wrong with thinking).

If you can't log in to the old Cakewalk site to get your registration information, you'll have to check with support@cakewalk.com to update your login or create a new one. But while we're at it, may I suggest you download and install Cakewalk by Bandlab? It's free, and unlike SONAR 8.5, it is supported and still under development.

All the features you currently own will be accessible in CbB. None are lost, including Pro Channel stuff. In my opinion, CbB has already surpassed SONAR Platinum, due to a year of bug fixes and refinements done mostly by the same guys who were developing SONAR. If you're familiar with SONAR Platinum there will be no learning curve for CbB. The only time you will lose is an hour downloading the program and installing it. It will read your existing preferences, so the transition should be easy, although you might have to tell the new program where all your plugins are located. You're right Bandlab and Cakewalk are two completely different things. You can use them both, or you can just continue using Cakewalk by Bandlab as you've been using SONAR: As a full-featured DAW, easily competitive with anything else currently on the market. If you're interested in other DAWs, by all means check 'em out. But as of now I see no urgent reason to switch.

Welcome! Maybe you could say what steps you took to get to "no sound." Are you playing back audio? MIDI? Or are you not hearing audio during recording? What are your PC specs? What kind of sound card or audio interface are you using? The more info the better chance someone will be able to help you.

Something like this happened to me the other day. I did a project-wide tempo change and after that I could not mix down the project. Cakewalk would simply crash to the desktop. I narrowed down the culprit to just one of the audio tracks -- it couldn't be bounced or duplicated, and as long as it was in the project I couldn't mix down at all. My workaround was to send it to an aux track and record it there in real time. After that I deleted the original track and all was good. Hope this helps.

I've used them both and I might have gotten mixed up about the "D" command. Either way I think it's not as good as Groove Clips.

If you're ready to mix you might want to increase the buffer settings for your audio interface, which should smooth things out for you. If you're still tracking and you need super low latency, press "E" on your keyboard. That will disable all effects. If this lets you hear the project you probably have a plugin -- most likely a comp/limiter -- that is "looking ahead" on your timeline and so is causing the whole project to stutter. You'll need to use trial and error to find which one(s), and don't use it while tracking.

Right, I know you said it first, Andy. Just wanted to stress the advantages of this looping function over Samplitude's "D" command, which really is kind of clunky.

In CbB, "D" opens and closes the Multidock, but I'm guessing you already know that. If I recall you're asking about Addictive Drum clips. Really, the Cakewalk method is easier and more flexible. Select any clip (just click on it once), press Ctrl+L to convert it to a "Groove Clip," and drag the right end of the clip as far as you want. The clip will repeat on the timeline, with the added benefit that it stops wherever you stop dragging. For example, if you have a 4-bar clip and your musical section is ten measures you won't find yourself with 12 measures of Addictive Drums and have to cut one of them in half to fit your space. Just stop dragging at ten measures. If you are concerned about having to "move" or "nudge" your clip to position it correctly, just set the snap-to-grid value to what you want: quarter notes, whole notes, whole measures, etc., and your clips will follow that setting. Easy peasey!

I didn't get on board with Duckbar the first time around -- too busy just learning the many "official" controls.😀 But thank you for this! I'm looking forward to the release.

Hey Mike! I meant my comment as a joke, but I guess it was an "insider" joke for those of us who watched or took part in this thread (and others) on the old SONAR forum. It started on an angry note and continued for 40 pages. I don't write notation, so none of it ever mattered to me, but a lot of users were deeply immersed in it. They probably still are, which was kind of what my joke was about: Don't get those people riled up again! Welcome back to Cakewalk, and best of luck to you!