Chappel

Beat me to it. 😉 You can click the Save button and save the layout to any destination folder. I save mine to OneDrive.

Click the Track Icon to the right of the track number and drag it up or down to where you want.

My understanding is that 32 bit VST2 go in the C:\Program Files (x86) directory (C:\Program Files (x86)\Cakewalk\Vstplugins) 64 bit VST2 go in the C:\Program Files directory (C:\Program Files\Cakewalk\Vstplugins) and VST3 go in the C:\Program Files\Common Files\VST3 directory. And some plugins will install to the Steinberg directory in either C:\Program Files\ or C:\Program Files (x86) unless you change the destination folder during installation. Any sub-directory will do as long as it's added to the VST scan path. That's how I've been doing it and everything works fine. If I'm wrong I hope someone will correct me.

I usually install them in a folder with the company's name. Helps me keep track of them. Keep in mind that 32 bit, and 64 bit VST, and VST3 plugins go in different locations.

If there is no way to sort plugins by date in the program you can do it the old-fashioned way by opening the folder the plugins are actually installed in and sorting them by Date Modified.

Here's how I do it. Right-Click the CLIP and select either Insert Effect, which will put MIDI FX in the clip's FX Rack and will act non-destructively, or click Process Effect which will open the tool and destructively write the changes you make to the MIDI data.

I thought it might. Glad to hear it worked out. Guitar amp sims can be very useful for more than just guitars. Keep experimenting. Who knows, your go-to amp might be a bass amp.

Are you using any plugins that may have to be reauthorized? Some demo versions of plugins will exhibit that kind of behavior when the grace period is exceeded.

I suggest you take some time and look through some of the posts in the Tutorials section of this forum. You don't need to read everything but there is a lot of good advice and tips there that would allow you to have a better understanding of how Cakewalk works and what you can do with it. Focus on threads for beginners. One problem you may have on this thread is people offering you advice using terms that you won't understand. I also suggest you download a copy of the Cakewalk Reference File so you can look up things that other users may post here, to give you a better understanding of what they are referring to. Everybody here wants to help people get started, but the terminology involved is often a stumbling block to meaningful communication. https://discuss.cakewalk.com/index.php?/forum/35-tutorials/ https://bandlab.github.io/cakewalk/docs/Cakewalk Reference Guide.pdf

Go big or go home. 😉

If you want to make sure nothing is Write Enabled, there is a Clear all automation write enables button in the Mix Module in the Control Bar. If anything is Write Enabled it will turn red, as shown in the image below. Click it to turn off all write automation.

That seems like a pretty good guess.

If I want to randomize velocities for a track with chords, and sometimes drums, I like Cakewalk's Velocity MFX. It doesn't come with any useful presets but you can make your own pretty easily. Adjust the sliders, and this will take some trial and error before it becomes intuitive, to where you want then type in a name and then click the Save icon. The preset shown is one I made for more extreme variations in velocity for piano tracks I put together using the PRV. I have multiple presets for Piano (though they can be used with any MIDI instrument) with varying degrees of randomization. If I have a long piano track with multiple clips I will use different presets on different clips, increasing the 'humanizing' effect. Here is a preset with less extreme velocity changes for comparison.

You're welcome. I wish I had posted that sooner to save you the trouble.

Just removing the Automation Lane doesn't remove the Envelopes. Try this to remove the envelopes. To Delete ALL the envelopes or envelopes in individual Automation Lanes: To delete several or all envelopes 1. Select the data that contains the envelopes you want to delete—you can select parts of tracks, one or more whole tracks, or all tracks. Use the Edit > Delete Special command to open the Delete dialog box. 2. Select only Track/Bus Automation if it’s listed. 3. Click OK. Cakewalk deletes any track and clip envelopes that are in the data you selected. If you to keep some automation but delete others, open the Automation Lanes and select just the lanes that contain the envelopes you want to remove. To select a lane click the top left corner above the - sign. Press and hold the Ctrl key to select multiple lanes. Then use Edit/Delete Special to delete the unwanted envelopes, which will also remove those Automation Lanes.