Jim Fogle

At the MIDI Manufacturers Association (MMA) annual meeting during Winter NAMM 2020, MMA members unanimously adopted MIDI 2.0 specifications including: MIDI Capability Inquiry, Universal MIDI Packet (UMP) Format and MIDI 2.0 Protocol, MIDI CI Profiles Rules, MIDI-CI Property Exchange Rules, Property Exchange Foundational Resources and Basic Resources. Here's why that's big news for music technology. MIDI 2.0 Means Two-way MIDI Conversations MIDI 1.0 messages went in one direction: from a transmitter to a receiver. MIDI 2.0 is bi-directional and changes MIDI from a monologue to a dialog. For example, with the new MIDI-CI (Capability Inquiry) messages, MIDI 2.0 devices can talk to each other, and auto-configure themselves to work together. They can also exchange information on functionality. MIDI 2.0 gear can find out if a device doesn't support MIDI 2.0, and then simply communicate using MIDI 1.0. Higher Resolution, More Controllers and Better Timing MIDI 2.0 re-imagines the role of performance controllers, the aspect of MIDI that translates human performance gestures to computer data. Controllers (CC) are now easier to use, and there are more of them: over 32,000 controllers, including controls for individual notes. Enhanced, 32-bit resolution gives controls a smooth, continuous, "analog" feel. New Note-On options were added for articulation control and precise note pitch. In addition, dynamic response (velocity) has been upgraded. What's more, major timing improvements in MIDI 2.0 can apply to MIDI 1.0 devices. In fact, some MIDI 1.0 gear can even "retrofit" certain MIDI 2.0 features. Profile Configuration MIDI gear can now have Profiles that can dynamically configure a device for a particular use case. If a control surface queries a device with a "mixer" Profile, then the controls will map to faders, panpots, and other mixer parameters. But with a "drawbar organ" Profile, that same control surface can map its controls automatically to virtual drawbars and other keyboard parameters. A device can also map to dimmers if the profile is a lighting controller. This saves setup time, improves workflow, and eliminates tedious manual programming. Property Exchange While Profiles set up an entire device, Property Exchange messages provide specific, detailed information sharing. These messages can discover, retrieve, and set many properties like preset names, individual parameter settings, and unique functionalities. Basically, that means a MIDI 2.0 device will discover everything it needs to know about another MIDI 2.0 device. For example, Cakewalk by Bandlab could display everything you need to know about a synthesizer onscreen, effectively bringing hardware synths up to the same level of recallability as their software counterparts.

@Starship Krupa, Thanks for making the request so the idea could be announced, discussed and supported. @msmcleod, Ain't that sweet. WOW!

Both @Morten Saether and @msmcleod have a deep understanding of Cakewalk's features and limitations. At the same time they also are able to produce small, visual aids that simplify new or complicated uses and have published some aids in the forum to explain a feature or provide step-by-step instructions. Please see this or this post for excellent examples of what I'm so excited about. I would like to see these visual aids incorporated into the Cakewalk Help Module, Online Help Guide and Cakewalk Reference Guide. Please note I'm assuming the Cakewalk Reference Guide will be published in EPUB or another file format that supports animated GIFs. Please see this post.

The visuals @msmcleod creates make all the difference in the world. Same for the visuals @Morten Saether creates for the periodic feature overviews. There is some truth in the old saying that a picture is worth a thousand words. I'd love to see some of these visuals incorporated into the Cakewalk Reference Guide, online help or, best of all, into the Cakewalk Help Module. In fact, I appreciate the visuals so much I think I create a new thread to discuss the idea. I created the animated gif / video thread. If you like the gif and video content and want to see them in the Help module or Reference Guide please visit the thread and express your support.

Very nice to listen to. I think the score is well down. The instruments well chosen. The balance great. My only nit pick is the dynamics, particularly the cymbals swells and crashes as well as the tympani drums. The perceived volume increase doesn't push the song forward like it should. I can hear the volume change but I don't hear the dynamics of a volume change. Nicely done. You are talented.

Thank you for posting the update. We are all family (music, BandLab, human, whatever) here and it's nice to keep up with the family. 😁 I hope your recovery continues to go well and look forward to your renewed participation soon.

@Starise, I'm glad you got SampleTank 4 working. @Matthew Sorrels, I appreciate you taking time to provide your in depth explanations. One last comment about VST3s if I may. I've read several times that VST3 troubleshooting step one should be to try the equivalent VST2. I think there are multiple reasons but it boils down to three (1) the VST3 specification is imprecise, (2) developers have less experience creating VST3 and (3) plugin host developers have less experience interfacing VST3. There normally is no advantage to using a VST3 when a VST2 is available so my first choice is VST2.

Another free, modeled guitar VST2 is Spicy Guitar. The Spicy Guitar website appears to be down but a good description of the VST along with a video link is available here: http://www.vst4you.com/pages/vst instruments/spicy guitar.html Here is a link to the rar archive file which includes both 32 and 64 bit versions of the plugin: Spicy Guitar.rar

When I look at the Casio Privia website I see Casio has 9 Privia models and 8 Privia manuals. Let us know which Privia model you have and we can download the manual that is specific to your model to better answer your questions. https://www.casiomusicgear.com/products/privia-series

@Alan K, I don't see a link to your song.

Realitone's Acoustic Lite is presently on sale for $24.95. Here are some free downloads from Indiginus as well as their $59 US nylon string acoustic , $45 US jangly steel string acoustic and another $59 US steel string acoustic . Each guitar sounds different and the user interface differs from plain to great. @jude77, please forgive me for threading on your post.

Google Translate:

@pigstoe, please check for a private message.

The add on here is the same as the trial version on the Celemony website. Plus there is no uninstaller.

@Steve Harder, Thanks for the post. I plan on trying it out. You may want to post a cross post in the Freeware Instruments Thread another forum member started some time back. That way your suggestion will be easier to find as the forum fills up with posts as people will search for the post with the most freebies!

The exception message states the VST3 version of SampleTank 4 experienced the issue. That is why I suggested using a VST2. However, I don't know if SampleTank 4 is available as a VST2 effect. The IKMultimedia site does not say and I don't have the product

No. I don't have a favorite sampler at this time. Your post is actually fairly timely. A few weeks ago there was an interesting thread started by forum user Eve Ripper suggesting Cakewalk by BandLab add sampler capability. The thread generated five pages of posts. That tells me forum users have plenty of sampler interest.

The Gigabyte website has a webpage for the motherboard. The webpage indicates the motherboard can accept up to 128 GB of ram. There is also a picture on the motherboard webpage that shows how the sockets are grouped. If you want 100 percent certainty the two sets of DIMMs are compatible, install a hardware identification program like CPU-Z that can tell you everything there is to know about the DIMMs. First run the program with the original set of DIMMs. Swap out the DIMM sets and run the program a second time and then compare the results.

How did you know to look for it? There are other samplers out there. The website indicates the beta 2 VST was just released December 19, 2019.

Is this the website? If so, here is a link to the website: https://decomposer.de/sitala/

It says the SampleTank 4 VST3 has an issue. I have a couple of thoughts. First the exception message indicates SampleTank 4 experiences the issue so you need to get IKMultimedia support involved. Collect the crash dump file and either provide a link to the file (if it's stored online) or attach the file to your IKMultimedia support support email. Look in my signature for the link pointing to a really good thread about how to collect a crash file. Second, VST3s seem to be more likely to crash than their VST counterparts. Try using a SampleTank 4 VST if one is available instead of the VST3. This might keep you going until the VST3 issue is addressed by IKMultimedia. Third, since the VST3 crashes in Cakewalk by BandLab I would also open a support ticket with Cakewalk by BandLab support. Cakewalk by BandLab developer Noel Borthwick has stated multiple times the development team will work with software developers to resolve issues.

Silly question perhaps but did you use the IKMultimedia Authorization Manager to register and activate the program? https://www.ikmultimedia.com/products/authorizationmanager//

Office supply stores and vendors use to have locking tube sleeves for ring binders and hole fortifiers for the pages. A locking tube sleeve was placed onto one of the two rings while the rings were open. So a three ring binder would need three locking sleeves. To work properly the tube length was almost the same length as half a ring. When the rings were closed the user slid the sleeve over the ring joint covering the exposed top half of the ring preventing the pages from getting caught in the ring gap. Over time page holes deteriorate. When that happens, or to prevent it from happening in the first place, you attached vinyl or cloth hole fortifiers with an adhesive back to the paper around the hole. If a page hole was in really bad shape you placed a fortifier on both sides of the page. After a few years the glue dried out and the fortifier separated from the page. I still have a three hole punch capable of easily punching through 50 sheets. It can punch 100 sheets but I don't think I have the strength to press that hard on the handle. I love manuals as I made my living either using or writing them.

I remember Meng mentioning BandLab Technology has a new-in-box VS-700 remaining from the days his music store was a Cakewalk distributor. I believe Meng said then he hoped the driver can be updated for Windows 10. However, I would be surprised to know he initiated a conversation with Roland to get it done as I assume such a conversation would be low on a "nice to do" list.

Back in the seventies the US Air Force handled manual changes with change pages. Manuals were stored in manual binders. The binders had three circular tubes on the bottom cover, rods with a sliding lock mechanism on the top cover and a hard back connecting the top and bottom. Pages were three hole. The top sheet was always a revision sheet listing every revision made to a manual since the initial publication. Revisions were dated and labeled "A", "B", "C" and so forth. Pages were numeric with revision data added as needed. Pages were removed and replaced as they were revised. If a page needed to be inserted between two pages the new page was assigned the preceding page number with a small "a", "b", "c" and so on. The system worked real well as the pages were unbound and every change was transparent to the end user but it did require diligence and time to remain effective. While great in the "old days" I can't envision a similar system working now as the old system was labor intensive.