Nigel Mackay

No access point inside a VST.  The only recourse is the Output Level knob.

There is only one instrument, so you can only have one kit. For different kits you need an instrument per track.

Logical, if you think about it. Bit unfair to expect one instrument to make different snare sounds at the same time. ?

If you select specific tracks it will export those.

Try uninstalling and reinstalling Cakewalk. Painless, just time-consuming.

Glad to hear you are succeeding.

You got TTS-1 working? Nobody else seems to manage it.

Space after .exe, no space between / and hibernate. Copy exactly     powercfg.exe /hibernate off

You say you haven't run Disk Cleanup. Do it, including System Files. You might be surprised.

Cakewalk installed is less than 2GB. Is your free space less than that?

Also, in your browser, set a folder on the hard-drive as your download folder.

If you can get 2GB free space, install Cakewalk, uninstall Cakewalk, use the downloaded installer to install it again, this time to the hard-drive.

The Sonar/Cakewalk bit is not all that big, so they can stay on the SSD. When you start downloading/installing VSTis and effects, put them on the hard-drive. Some can be very big.  Most installers will allow you to choose your install folder.

What I do is I have a folder VSTPlugins on my data drive. Then I have subfolders VSTi, Audio FX, Samplers. Some people have subfolders named after the manufacturer. You can also have sub-subfolders according to category. Whatever makes life easier for you.

The spec for VST3 says they must be in the folder C:\Program Files\Common Files\VST3, but as far as I know, at the moment, that doesn't seem to be necessary. Who knows in the future. You can always use

mklink /j "C:\Program Files\Common Files\VST3" "D:\Program Files\Common Files\VST3"

in a PowerShell to make Windows use the hard-drive for those VSTs. Will work fine.

Enjoy.

Have you actually tried running the installer and see if you get the option to choose between Basic and Advanced? When you do the install from Bandlab Assistant it actually downloads the installer and runs it. If I run my downloaded installer I get the option to choose between Basic and Advanced.

And also, please read the whole topic from top to bottom before adding your question. You are the 3rd person to ask the same question on this page. You are the 3rd person getting exactly the same answers. The very first answer on this page by @scook is the answer.

What @scook said.

To get started:

Have a MIDI track routed to the drums.

And then one of these:

1) Open the Piano Roll View  in the MIDI track, start recording, click on the correct note for each drum.

2) Select the MIDI track, open the PC keyboard as a MIDI input (Alt-0), start recording, press the correct keys on the keyboard for each drum.

3) In the MIDI track's PRV, write all the correct notes at the correct times to get the beat track you want.

Do one drum at a time - kick, snare, hihat, ... - which makes it easier to remember which note to use.

If you are going to record a few times to get all the drumbeats in, remember to set record mode to Sound on Sound.

Most types of music need drums, and unfortunately, doing a drum track is not a quick fix.

Also, go to the Tutorial section, do a search for beginner and watch all those YouTube videos. The great thing is you can run Cakewalk at the same time, pause the video, and do what you have just been shown. Just remember, it doesn't have to be the exact same instrument as the video, it is mostly concepts and techniques which are being taught.

Other synths. I added TTS-1 to a project I am working on, and it crashed. That's what started me experimenting. Does TTS-1 work if it is alone in a project. Does it work if there are only a few other synths. Does the order they are added make a difference. Will it work if the number of synths is reduced after adding it.

But even if I could get it to work saving closing and reopening a project cause it to crash.

If VLC player struggles, there is something wrong with the file. You say you experimented with different formats earlier. If you still have copies of them, see if you can find one that plays in WM. That will play in Cakewalk.

Thought I had something, but now I can't make it crash, no matter how I try. In a new, empty project.

But adding to existing project with other tracks, synths, it crashes. Except if I delete some of the instruments. Then it doesn't crash.

While TTS-1 is still there, I put those instruments back. Still doesn't crash.

Remove that instance of TTS-1 and add a new one, Still doesn't crash.

Save and close. Reopen. It crashes. At last some info for support.

What keyboard is it? Might help the guys who know about these things.

Cakewalk uses the codecs installed in Windows to play video files. Download and install K-Lite Codec Pack and Windows (and Cakewalk) will play almost anything. Video playing apps, such as VLC, have their own codecs, and that is why they can play the files.

If you install Cakewalk to the new drive, you lose the benefit of all the plugins from Sonar. Copying the folders before installing CbB might work, but personally, I'd delete the folders on the old drive, install Sonar on he new drive and then install CbB.

When you run the new Cakewalk it will find all the Sonar plugins.

Use Utilities -> Plugin Manager to see if it is listed as found. Also check if somehow in the excluded list.

If you click on any plugin you can see its install folder. This will help you remove the duplicate Reaktor 5 plugin.

@Luis Pedro CarreroHow are you "playing" the drums?

1) Do you have an interface and are using a keyboard or some other MIDI controller. Or your PC keyboard?

2) Or do you open the GUI and click on the drums with your mouse?

Uninstalled Windows update KB4551762 and problem is solved. This as a result of using Latency Monitor and a bit of investigation.

Uninstalled Windows update KB4551762 and problem is solved.

I ran Latency Monitor  as recommended by @slartabartfast  and it states unequivocally that my system is not suitable for real-time audio. In red. NVIDIA Windows Kernel Mode Driver has a unacceptably long execution time. Updated the driver (the new one is only a few days old) but it didn't help at all. 

The problem is not there until I run Cakewalk. Don't know if that is because only Cakewalk is accessing the driver. Or it could mean that there is a problem with the latest Cakewalk update. Or it could be a Windows update problem.

New info: Not Cakewalk. Left Latency Monitor running for a while with Cakewalk not running and the latency problem slowly gets worse and worse.

Try Latency Monitor   On my system it shows a serious execution time problem in NVIDIA Windows Kernel Mode Driver. Latency Monitor states unequivocally that my system is not suitable for handling realtime audio. Written in red. I updated my NVIDIA driver (a few days old) but it doesn't help.  Will backup my boot drive and rollback a few Windows updates and see if that helps.