Steev

It's perfectly OK to import .mp4 files into CbB. Infact CbB has a video player that supports multiple formats of video. You can't edit the video, but you can edit and add tracks to the audio. .mp4 is not just for video anymore and is commonly used for higher quality audio stream file compression & multi-channel audio such as surround sound mixes and such,will work & play without any video channel. In fact, I believe Bandlab.com streams all music in the .mp4 format as does many other music streaming websites, and of course YOUtube uses .mp4 whether it contains any video or not. I believe you have a corrupted or audio file that is not compatible to CbB's project audio settings? Does the .mp3 or .mp4 play in your media player? Remove/delete the .mp3 or .mp4 from the project, save, close, & reboot CbB project and see if that corrects the problem. If it does Go to Edit > Preferences > File - Audio Data. Under File Bit Depths, check to make sure Import Bit Depth field matches the bit dept and speed of the project. Unless you've previously changed it, it should be set to CbB's default settings of 16 bit 44.100 k/HZ Check to make sure the "Original" option to import the files at their current bit depth is DESELECTED and OFF. Your .mp3 or .mp4 sound file will be up sampled to match your project setting before importing it back into CbB.

Cakewalk is STILL ahead of everyone else! Way, way, WAY ahead of everything else and have managed to stay there since SONAR was released. I know, I was there, and when SONAR 4 Producer was released, I pretty much shut down my Mac ProTools rig because I could FINALLY do everything I wanted to do in one DAW on one computer running Windows 2k. Up until then I used Cakewalk for MIDI composing/editing and ACID Pro for loop composing ProTools for audio recording and synced both computers together with MIDI MTC protocol to interface Windows to Apple to send MIDI/ACID loop sequences to the Mac & record them to audio tracks in ProTools where I started doing the FUN part. Lay'in down the JAMS with vocals and guitar tracks. 😍 SONAR 4 not only supported the BEST most advanced MIDI editing/sequencing I had ever tried, it supported ACID™ Loop technology, I no longer needed to use ProTools or ACID Pro, but I still had to use Sonic Foundry's Sound Forge Pro to "make" my own ACID Loops. And when I got enough of them together to fill a CD's worth of "Loop Packs", as an ACIDplanet.com ProZone member, Sony would release my Loop Packs & give me 49% of the take. But those days are over. And while I found ACID Loop™ technology was a rock the world game changer, simply by giving users the ability to treat and manipulate audio clips as if they were MIDI sequences, or as Cakewalk called them "Groove Clips", what really impressed me the most about ACID software was it ability to faithfully and reliably record audio tracks from beginning to end without locking up or dropping out on my Windows 98SE mid grade Compaq laptop. I could only record one track at a time, but Cakewalk Pro Audio couldn't do that on my much bigger more powerful full tower custom built workstation. But, as it turned out years later, that wasn't Cakewalk's fault, It was Intel's Pentium chips could cut the mustard, but AMD Athlon's could & their Phenom CPU could ROCK IT LIKE A HURRICANE. A fact I learned almost by accident, as an early computer builder, when I decided to try out AMD configs for my next build, simply because they cost only 1/2 as much to build as would Intel configs. and clearly had more brute horsepower & muscle than any Windows or Apple computer I had experienced to date. And just like Cakewalk, I have found AMD still does today, as my aging AMD FX8370 STILL clearly manages to compete and hold it's own with today's Intel i9's. The only disadvantage, if ya even want to call it that, is the AMD FX series CPU's aren't supported with Win 11. But that doesn't bother me yet, because I don't really like Win 11, and I LOVE Win 10 so I'm good to at least another year, and maybe for a while longer. However, I'm getting ahead of the point, looking at it from the brighter side of 2018, right around the same time my FX series CPU became downgraded by AMD Rysen tech, the plug got pulled at ACIDplanet.com, Bandlab appropriated Cakewalk from Gibson and graciously "pointed me to this new and improved Forum and invited me to check out & join Bandlab.com. If I wanted to, there was no pressure to, they would still let me use CbB for FREE, and I was still free to continue to check out Presonus Studio ONE to replace a no longer supported SPLAT. However, there was no need to. Bandlab continued to provide EXCELLANT support for CbB, and I can't help but feel, truly & honestly feel that Bandlab has taken Bandlab.com REALLY stepped up the game of publishing & sharing to a universe that FAR EXCEEDS any universe that ACIDplanet.com ever could or would orbit in. And not only does Bandlab let me keep 100% of profits from anything I may sell, Bandlab offers free Album authoring from .mp3 to .wav, Mastering, and downloads can be distributed directly from Bandlab. And Bandlab Studio/Mix Editor is MIND BLOWING, SHOCKINGLY POWERFUL! 😵🤯😍 Not only did I not expect to live long enough to see the day that this could even happen, I find it quite stunning that it is in fact even possible. In fact, I am so grateful for Bandlab's continued support and innovations, I began to feel guilty for freely accepting it for so long I gladly joined and signed up paid membership just to give something back in return, and ended up getting EVEN MORE GOODIES AND SERVICES making my workflow & life SO MUCH EASIER for a REDICULOUSLY LOW PRICE! I would like to point out that I found Studio ONE to be alright, as in good and or OK, it. I wouldn't consider it lovable although it is a very reasonably priced DAW,... BUT it is nowhere near as stable, advanced, OR as reasonably priced as CbB. S-ONE also kinda innovative, but not as forward thinking as it 'can' do anything that SONAR ' can't' already do, just does it differently. What I didn't like about it at all is it's lack of support for Mackie MCU protochol, it only supported HUI, which knocks out the Master Buss Fader and renders it useless on my Behringer X-Touch DAW controller. 😒 S-ONE'S sound engine is rather harsh and tinny for monitoring with & thru both of my Focusrite & Universal Audio interfaces compared to SONAR/CbB's Double Precision x64 sound engine. Please understand that I am referring to actively "monitoring" with headcans during recording sessions, not a mixdown of the finished Mixing Session which I would use near field monitors, I personally found S-ONE offensive in a way that I can't quite put my finger on and as such causes early ear fatigue. Even at low volumes with closed back headcans like the very popular Sony 7506's & Sennheiser 280 Pro's which are DESIGNED for long periods of studio recording and tracking at any volume.. Will a Presonus audio interface rectify this annoying condition? I don't know, but I doubt it and I WON'T be stepping down or away from my Focusrite & Universal Audio interfaces to find out.. 🚫 They maybe gett'in on in years, but they DANG SHER ain't BROKEN. SONAR/CbB's Double Precision x64 sound engine was the first & ONLY x64 sound engine on WINDOWS computers that runs in the host, providing x64 processing power to a DAW running on an x32 OS, and sounds JUST as RICH & as GOOD as the rock-solid #1 Industry Standard ProTools, and Sound Forge Pro, which, does scores more than just make ACID Loops, combined with Ozone is still my #1 Mastering suite of choice fo mastering everything from skinny 'lil .wma, .mp3, up to 7.2 surround sound mixes and EVERYTHING in between. Only other sound editor I've ever found that can compete with Sound Forge Pro is BIAS PEAK which requires a Mac to run on.

Thanks much @pwal, I am indeed having MUCH FUN! Just as some people have fun trying out new DAW's and various other types of software, I have fun jamming, making & producing music. As far as I'm concerned, a DAW is nothing more than a "box of tools" that helps me reach my goals of 'MAKING MUSIC", and if it ain't broken I see no reason to fix or replace it. Being I already pretty much KNOW what I can do & how far I can abuse my DAW before pushing it too hard it crashes & burns, I'll quickly get bored watching it happen over and over. 🥱 Besides that all being counterproductive to innovation and to the very main reasons why I grown with and continue to love Cakewalk DAW, which I'm intimately familiar with, as opposed to being "fickly" intimate with too many, aimlessly jump'in and runn'in around with several DAW's just to see 'if' & 'what' they can do better or even do what CbB and what I already have can do that I want and need and want it to do. And I've narrowed that down to a very short list, and Cubase, Mix Craft, Studio ONE, Ableton, Logic Pro, Larry, Moe, & Curly have all been checked off the list. The one and only DAW left on the list that can compete with to replace CbB that I look forward to is the new future release of SONAR! 🤣 And if we have some problems and glitches with it after release, which I'm fully aware can happen and even expect to, I can always revert back to my favorite tried, true, rock solid, trusty, STILL ALIVE & WELL 'backup' DAW, which is the last version release of SONAR Platinum 2018 so I'm not very worried. Being I don't abuse my tools, CbB has only given me critical problems ONCE. And that's only because, for any number of reasons an "Update" failed to complete installation. And when I rebooted my computer to complete installation, WINDOWS failed to boot, causing and forcing me into my "STEP AWAY FROM THE COMPUTER" Mode, which lasted a day. The next morning after I calmed down for a near miss emotional meltdown reaction, I booted Win 10 up in "Save Mode" went in my "Boot Records" Folder, selected and scheduled a systems rollback to one day before I updated CbB, and BAMB! In less than an hour later I was up & running like nothing ever happened.😅 And I decided to go into my; "Update? I don't NEED no STINK'in UPDATE!" MODE and stayed that way until Bandlab issued another newer update. I don't like to fall too far behind, but hey........ If it ain't broke, DON'T FIX IT!" And yes indeed there have been issues on the server side of Bandlab, but they are easily detectable because they come with a standard auto popup window/page stating, "Sorry we are having technical issues, please try again later." And the Bandlab Support team jumps to it and solves it issues in record time. But I can run & use Netgear's "Speed Test" software to measure bandwidth at my cable modem & have set my schedule for when my ISP throttles back on "peak hour" traffic bandwidth. VERY reliable 7-day averages, easy to forecast WHEN to do WHAT. Only subject to change with Holiday schedules, severe weather conditions, and maintenance of hardware/software updates and repair.

Recording in Cakewalk by Bandlab Mixing and Publishing in Bandlab Studio

Bandlab Studio 16 Audio/MIDI tracks + Mastering for the very affordable price of TOTALLY FREE, 32 tracks + Publishing + Distribution with paid membership. A Paid Membership Subscription is actually less expensive than a 30% off Cubase deal, and offers about, umm. maybe1000x more SUPPORT? 🤔 Maybe more. It runs on the cloud and on ANY computer, smartphone or device that supports Google's Chrome Browser and or any browsers, like Microsoft Edge that supports Google "Chromium" technology. 🤔Now how COOL & Innovative is THAT?💯 Although I wouldn't consider Bandlab Studio a full-fledged DAW yet, simply because it doesn't have a Buss section "yet" and I experience unpredictable latency problems & timeouts while try to record directly into it at certain times of the day.. I can only conclude & assume of these latency problems are caused by my local ISP's annoying habit of throttling back speeds anywhere from an "advertised" 300 mb/s, actual high-speeds topping out @ 125-225 mb/s to a low-end side of 80-90 mb/s (speed tested/measured & calculated from my Netgear Nighthawk router) when local Internet traffic is high here in Binghamton, NY. However, depending on where you live, these conditions are subject to change. Below is a screen shot of the Blowing Kisses in the Wind collaboration I recently published with dear sweet young lady in Japan name "abel" who had little to no troubles recording tracks in real time directly from her iPhone. In fact, the only problems I have collaborating with abel is language translation barriers between Japanese and English. She is learning and perfecting here English language skills by singing songs most publish by American artists. She getting better and better learning English, but she's not there yet. I NO skills for learning foreign languages, and when I use Google Translate to copy and paste these track names written in Japanese I get thrown into a tailspin or get nowhere slowly. But that's OK, because MUSIC itself is a defining universal language. 😍 And I can still work on "Recording Sessions" in my No Brainer #1 Choice of DAW's CbB... Due to all the truly mind-blowing technological INNOVATIONS of Bandlab achieving successes I never thought I'd live long enough to experience.... BL Studio it is my #1 1st choice for collaborations & a unified field of "Mixing Sessions" On the lower 3rd of the screen is BL Studio's Fx Effects Chains Presets section with LG SELECTION OF DOZENS of PRESETS which can all be reconfigured, rearranged, swapped out, automated and customized, saved & shared with any and all Bandlab users for further continued use and customization with a VERY large ever expanding in number & quality, & getting bigger selection of automatable FX, processors, and utilities like Auto Pitch, TIME STRETCHING, a new Drum Machine, a new Sampler, gazillions of samples, loops, one shots, and MORE. Although the appearance of the GUI and FX names change, If you look at BL's Studio's lower 1/3 Fx Effects window as you would CbB's ProChannel, you will see and hear STRIKING similarities to ProChannel modules and Sontius FX bundle. Does a BL 1176 sound vaguely familiar to you whilst looking for a nice familiar compressor/leveling amp? Howz about a BL-2A? Need a good familiar amp farm selections of American/British/Botique guitar Amps & rigs of STOMP BOXES? Oh & BTW, if any of this stuff breaks and or glitches on ya, don't worry, be patient, just drop back in later after someone from BL fixes it. I have NEVER had a lasting problem with Bandlab Studio running on my Windows or Mac computers. The biggest problem I have ever had with BL where I had to intervene to fix was with my iPhone not getting a proper update. But all I had to do was trash my current installation and go to the Apple App Store & reinstall it from there. In about 5 seconds after logging back into my Bandlab account, EVERYTHING was still there exactly how I left off.

Thanks much, good looking out for our fellow BbB community members. 👍👍 However, I myself am not looking for any ways to fix what is not broken or try anything new, as that actually takes away much needed time & energy from why I use DAW's and other related music/video content creation software. I actually stopped trying and comparing DAW's back when SONAR 4 was released. THAT was the definitive ULTIMATE game changer for DAW's running on Windows Computers. Winner of several seasons of MIPA Awards for workflow improvements, innovation and rock-solid stability! It freed me from being bound to the knee buckling pricy "Chains of ProTools" running on an aging Mac during Apple's crippling crossover from OS-9 to OS-X's introduction to core-audio drivers which turned my MOTU 8X8 into either a VERY PRICY pretty paperweight or use it running on a Windows PC. It was actually 1/2 the price to build a brand new Windows 2K Pro high end workstation then it was to upgrade ProTools & all my 3rd party FX plugins.. Which BTW, took about a year to catch up and stabilize to run smoothly on Core Audio drivers. Since then, Cakewalk has been my #1 choice in DAW's I still use, trust, and rely on today. Propellerhead Reason has always been my #2. But now due to modern technological advancements in ARA & VST 3, Reason the DAW can now run and be used as a VST 3 plugin called "Reason Rack" that can run in real-time as inside a host DAW with VERY LITTLE hit on computer resources and with mind-blowing extra LARGE HUGE IMPACT on your DAW's collection of instruments and utilities. In other words, now that anything and everything in Reason seamlessly & perfectly integrates into CbB, it BECOMES part of CbB as the "Synth Rack from Heaven, or Hell" depending on your personal preferences. So now Reason isn't my 2nd choice for back up DAW any more. Now, due to some major improvements, additions, & advancements in modern tech, and innovation, BANDLAB STUDIO, the world's FIRST & only 100% Cross Platform Music & Jam Factory is my #2 GO TO, #1 Mixing & Mastering Environment for collaboration, distribution, Mixing & Mastering HQ content for Internet streaming! 👍👍 and making🎶 with ANYONE🎹🎙 ANYWHERE💯ANY TIME 🕗🕘🕙🕚🕛 😍 For example, I collaborated with a sweet young lady "abel" who is learning how to speak and improve her English by singing. She's Japanese and all her recording on her iPhone. The most difficult part about doing collaboration with each other is communicating with each other, but thanks to Bandlab and the help of "Google Translate we managed to publish a new revision of Paula Abdul's Blowing Kisses in the Wind But ProTools running on a Mac is still my #3, and the ONLY reasons I continued to use ProTools at all is strictly for professional reasons. #1 It's the Industry Standard, which means if you want to survive and make a living in the music industry you HAVE TO USE ProTools or agree to be recorded in ProTools whether you want to or not. #2, I have probably made more money over the years teaching and tutoring others how to use ProTools in order to help them pass their BerkleeMusic.com Audio/MIDI courses than I did recording my own music, all other bands and clients, selling albums and playing live gigs, all together... Why is ProTools so important? Because once you know and understand how to use PT there is NO DAW, FX, or process beyond your comprehension, all you will need to do to get up and running in any other DAW figure out the GUI, .i.e. where all the buttons, knobs, faders, and FX folder bins are. And you will also get a crystal-clear image, ANSWER, and understanding of the meaning of "What is the BEST DAW OUT THERE FOR YOU?". Just in case you're wondering, the answer is really quite simple. "The Best DAW you can find is the DAW you are most familiar with." There is absolutely NOTHING wrong with Sound Forge Pro 15, other than the fact it takes time to load scanning all my VST folders, once it's up and running it does the SAME JOB as v10 and just as good. Only useful improvement I noticed in v15 and really is the duel VU meters showing measurements of DB and LUFS at the same time.

Thanks much, good looking out for our fellow BbB community members. 👍👍 However, I myself am not looking for any ways to fix what is not broken or try anything new, as that actually takes away much needed time & energy from why I use DAW's and other related music/video content creation software. I actually stopped trying and comparing DAW's back when SONAR 4 was released. THAT was the definitive ULTIMATE game changer for DAW's running on Windows Computers. Winner of several seasons of MIPA Awards for workflow improvements, innovation and rock-solid stability! It freed me from being bound to the knee buckling pricy "Chains of ProTools" running on an aging Mac during Apple's crippling crossover from OS-9 to OS-X's introduction to core-audio drivers which turned my MOTU 8X8 into either a VERY PRICY pretty paperweight or use it running on a Windows PC. It was actually 1/2 the price to build a brand new Windows 2K Pro high end workstation then it was to upgrade ProTools & all my 3rd party FX plugins.. Which BTW, took about a year to catch up and stabilize to run smoothly on Core Audio drivers. Since then, Cakewalk has been my #1 choice in DAW's I still use, trust, and rely on today. Propellerhead Reason has always been my #2. But now due to modern technological advancements in ARA & VST 3, Reason the DAW can now run and be used as a VST 3 plugin called "Reason Rack" that can run in real-time as inside a host DAW with VERY LITTLE hit on computer resources and with mind-blowing extra LARGE HUGE IMPACT on your DAW's collection of instruments and utilities. In other words, now that anything and everything in Reason seamlessly & perfectly integrates into CbB, it BECOMES part of CbB as the "Synth Rack from Heaven, or Hell" depending on your personal preferences. So now Reason isn't my 2nd choice for back up DAW any more. Now, due to some major improvements, additions, & advancements in modern tech, and innovation, BANDLAB STUDIO, the world's FIRST & only 100% Cross Platform Music & Jam Factory is my #2 GO TO, #1 Mixing & Mastering Environment for collaboration, distribution, Mixing & Mastering HQ content for Internet streaming! 👍👍 and making🎶 with ANYONE🎹🎙 ANYWHERE💯ANY TIME 🕗🕘🕙🕚🕛 😍 For example, I collaborated with a sweet young lady "abel" who is learning how to speak and improve her English by singing. She's Japanese and all her recording on her iPhone. The most difficult part about doing collaboration with each other is communicating with each other, but thanks to Bandlab and the help of "Google Translate we managed to publish a new revision of Paula Abdul's Blowing Kisses in the Wind But ProTools running on a Mac is still my #3, and the ONLY reasons I continued to use ProTools at all is strictly for professional reasons. #1 It's the Industry Standard, which means if you want to survive and make a living in the music industry you HAVE TO USE ProTools or agree to be recorded in ProTools whether you want to or not. #2, I have probably made more money over the years teaching and tutoring others how to use ProTools in order to help them pass their BerkleeMusic.com Audio/MIDI courses than I did recording my own music, all other bands and clients, selling albums and playing live gigs, all together... Why is ProTools so important? Because once you know and understand how to use PT there is NO DAW, FX, or process beyond your comprehension, all you will need to do to get up and running in any other DAW figure out the GUI, .i.e. where all the buttons, knobs, faders, and FX folder bins are. And you will also get a crystal-clear image, ANSWER, and understanding of the meaning of "What is the BEST DAW OUT THERE FOR YOU?". Just in case you're wondering, the answer is really quite simple. "The Best DAW you can find is the DAW you are most familiar with." There is absolutely NOTHING wrong with Sound Forge Pro 15, other than the fact it takes time to load scanning all my VST folders, once it's up and running it does the SAME JOB as v10 and just as good. Only useful improvement I noticed in v15 and really is the duel VU meters showing measurements of DB and LUFS at the same time.

That actually would please me to no end. 🤣 🤣Ever hear the expression "Karma Always Finds a Way to Ballance Things Out?" 🤣🤣 I've never been one to hold a grudge, if it can be avoided, it isn't necessary, but I guess maybe I'm still bitter that Magix shut down ACIDplanet.com. For no reason, no explanation, and with a very quiet and VERY SHORT very fine print announcement warning. I lost hundreds of tunes and dozens of videos I published there, many of which I have no backups for. I had about 70k+ fans, 1000's of tunes by other artists I really liked that I can no longer get access to, lost contact with many friends and collaborators, and MAGIX Poofed it all out of existence with a simple flick of the switch, NUKING the Planet of ACID. Well in MAGIX's defense they did give us 2 weeks' notice to download and salvage everything we could, but due to very high traffic causing bottlenecks and crashes to their web servers, I for one didn't salvage much, and refused to purchase or upgrade any Sony Software from them. However, after a few years, I did in fact break down and upgrade Sound Forge Pro v10 to v15 and SpectraLayers Pro v4 to v7 both for $100 (us) flash sale. And upgrade Vegas Pro v7 to v18 for $150 (us) I figured I should drop the grudge on that considering I was also upgrading these apps from x32 bit to x64 bit should be an advantage all in itself, better performance, right? Well a RIGHT with Vegas Pro got several updated video codacs added & a noticeable performance boost with x64 version, and better more detailed enhanced acceleration and support for my AMD FirePro graphics card. which curiously, very curiously isn't branded as "Magix" Vegas Pro? 🤔 But with Sound Forge Pro? WRONG! Other than a face change with fancy new GUI grills, several useless bundles of Magix FX I don't want or like added, there are NO IMPROVEMENTS! In fact Sound Forge Pro 10 loads 2x as fast as v15, finds and REMEMBERS where all 3rd party FX plugins all by itself, & v15 DOES NOT! I still have Sony's ACID Pro 7 for access to archived projects and CD & DVD Architect 5 up and running on my computer. Contrary to popular beliefs, I sell quite a significant bit more CD's at live concerts then download cards or USB drives. Why? Because we typically make more money selling "Merch" playing live venues then we will get from a bar, cafe, or outdoor festivals or whatever. CD's and Tee-shirts sell, download cards or USB drives DON'T. Only the Kiddies want them, but the kiddies have an unusually warped sense of entitlement. Kiddies don't believe in having to be paying for the quality, or for paying for anything or supporting their favorite artists, the kiddies want muzac to come out of their cellphones, and they want everything for free. And even curiouser And even curiouser SpectraLayers Pro 7 was branded Steinberg, and no significant improvements or differences in performance than Sony's v4 x32 version. 🤯 7 was branded Steinberg, That was a "Surprise", guess I missed the press release if there even was one, but no significant improvements or differences in performance than Sony's v4 x32 version. However, I don't think Steinberg is very concerned about improving upon that. I'm thinking they are throwing up their hands to all these new free A.I. apps doing the same things all to easily in seconds that takes hours of detailed work to achieve with SpectraLayers Pro 7.

Least we forget that Bandlab has been giving us SONAR Rebranded with EXCELLANT support and very useful and thought-out workflow improvements since they took over back in 2018 FOR FREE. I don't see them taking advantage of us to be much of a problem.. 🤔 Especially considering that CbB will continue to work on your computer unsupported, just like SONAR still continues works on your computer unsupported. SONAR Platinum still works great & extremely STABLE on my computer even though it hasn't been updated since Bandlab took over. I still use SPLAT frequently to open & work on older projects, before saving them to updated revisions in CbB. I have to keep SPLAT on my computer anyway because I have LOTS of GREAT 3rd party plugins registered to it, I PAID for LOTS of extra ProChannel modules & plugins that aren't included in CbB that I really wouldn't want to live without. 👍👍 Rapture Pro is much more stable running in SPLAT, not so much in CbB, but unfortunately it has been discontinued, but that's not too much of a problem because I still have Dimension Pro & Rapture installed and everything else does in fact work great in CbB. That would be a MAJOR PROBLEM for Cubase because they drop support for older software, and no longer support VST2.😵 So if you are a fan of Cubase and Waves™ plugins, you better be keeping an eye out for Waves plugin update/support deals. They are very reasonable and ultimately affordable, more so for us peeps using a free version of CbB.. However, even though I highly recommend doing so, if ya use CbB, you DON'T HAVE TO UPGRADE your Waves™ plugins because just because Waves will no longer support and improve functionality of their FX plugins without paying a nominal service charge, they still guarantee that they will WORK. But they can't guarantee that Steinberg won't allow them to. That being said, I found to be true over and under the course of 30 years or so that Cakewalk has always been approx. at least 30% cheaper than Cubase.... And approximately 50% more stable & POWERFUL, least we forget much more user friendly, what with being backwards compatible, TIMELY SUPPORT, and those little things like being forced to upgrade all your VST, VST2 FX plugins for the new latest & greatest Cubase version release. 😒 Another thing I've curiously observed over the decades is that's always given me fits of the "chuckles" is, Cubase users can always come to the Cakewalk Forums & HERE to the CbB Forums to discuss and find working solutions for Cubase, or any other software for that matter, FASTER and in a very courteous and timely manner from some of the friendliest, knowledgeable Cakewalk power users in any and all tech forums you can find anywhere. OK sure, to be fair, our CbB user forum gets invaded by it's fair ***** clowns who can't tell the difference between a tech site built upon empirical & scientific Audio/MIDI facts and truths are greatly appreciated, compared to a social media website where 'opinions' & 'beliefs' rule the house for 'winning' some kind of 'competition' normal honest peeps never even wanted to get involved in, and facts and truths get so buried under the blur of the sheer numbers of likes & thumbs ups by likeminded 'fans' &'friends' whom most likely don't even, nor ever will, know their real names, personally meet, or actually, in the real world, really like or know each other. 😜 And just so you know, I am NOT a Steinberg or Cubase hater. I still use their SpectraLayers Pro. But I've been using it before they appropriated it from MAGIX who appropriated it from SONY Software Division who actually created it. And I'm a fairly big fan of using Cubasis in my iPhone. It's a lot of fun for about an hour with 2 dynamic mics, about a 1/2 hour using 1 condenser mic requiring phantom power, wired to a battery powered IK Multimedia iRig Pro Duo audio/MIDI interface with it. 😉 👍👍 10-15 minutes using a Universal Audio Volt 476.👎

Doesn't look like a power problem to me. Looks more like your "High Performance 900 hp HEMI Hell Cat" of a computer is stuck in traffic. Doesn't matter how much horsepower you have if there's too many other vehicles ahead of you all trying to get off the same exit ramp from the superhighway. BOTTLENECKS occur when you try to stream 32 lanes of traffic into 2. Freezing MIDI SYNTHS you aren't currently working with as in recording/sequencing/performing tracks. There is absolutely NO reason to keep them online, i.e. reperforming already sequenced parts & constantly sending 100's to 1000'S of MIDI Note, CC (control changes) and PC (program changes) thru the MIDI buss. By adding more MIDI synths to an already congested MIDI buss, you are creating more high traffic "bottlenecks" which causes the DAW to stop the sound engine and simply wait for all the messages to get thru.

Instead of disabling all plugins I would simply freeze tracks. One at a time and see what happens on the meters. It's always a great idea to freeze tracks you're not working on and safeguard against accidental destructive editing as well as free up unnecessary computer processing, as a very simple logical way to pinpoint which plugins on what track and what fx plugin is causing the problems. IF IN FACT it's even an FX problem. Who knows what Windows is doing, what services are running, or virus scanning is going on in the background that could be hogging resources, bloating the Registry and serial buss and making your DAW work harder than it has to?

That usually happens when your "Buffer Size" under "Mixing Latency" pictured below is set too low and or your audio drivers need an update. Don't pay too much attention to the number values in msec the pic below, these are specific to a Focusrite Scarlett 18i20 gen 2. All sound card/interfaces are different, and many work very well and sound fine with no audible artifacts up to around 20-25 msec. Press "P" on your computer keyboard to open the "Preferences" dialog box & select "Driver Settings" (orange) and increase the "Buffer Size" by incrementally a little at a time by clicking on slider (blue) handle and moving it to the right. Then hit the "Apply" button on the bottom and close the dialog box, then hit play & check to see if CPU meter goes down & if clicking & popping goes away. If yes, and you're satisfied and comfortable with recording latency, you're done. If recording latency is too high for comfort, repeat the above process by sliding the Buffer Size as far to the left as you can get without hearing clicks & pops. Sometimes it takes a few tries to get it right.

Oh you have NO problems at all. I love Sony CD Architect v5.2 and v6 👌. They claimed v6 converted/ rendered to .cda faster than v5.2. Maybe is does being measured in a bench test, but there is actually no humanly detectable difference between the two. You can adjust timeline for silence or fade ins/outs between songs, tweak gain & compression per song. You can even right click on any single song, choose "Open in Sound Editor" and it opens it in Sound Forge Pro for editing without even closing & reopening CD-A. Doesn't matter what audio format you drop in that. It will analyze and warn you if there is any problems or inconsistencies before you burn or save an ISO. You can audition and listen to what the .cda file sounds like before you do, so WILL get exact, precise results for what to be expected, and it doesn't get any easier than that. I had always maintained a 100% Burn Rate with CD-A. Even more amazing is a 100% ISO mastering acceptance rate from Disc Makers Inc. 😵 Only reason I didn't mention it is because it's a x32 bit app and I didn't think it was available anymore. But it DOES run on Win 10 Pro, but I'm not sure about Win 11?

Nero Software CD Burner & DVD Burner Software by Roxio

Yes, to ensure your CD with play in a standard CD player it must be formatted for "music" (not "data") & authored 16-bit 44.1 k/Hz. I believe VLC Media Player can be used for authoring CD's. It's free and can read just about any audio/video file & will automatically do all bit depth & sample rate conversions for you. But if you want to customize and get fancy, it'll cost ya. I highly recommend using "Nero" for burning & authoring CD's. It also covers DVD & Blueray discs and eye pop'in artwork insert/sleave design.