Nigel Mackay

Open the automation lane on an audio track.
Add a few nodes to Volume.
Right-click on the line between 2 nodes.
You get options for Jump, Linear, Fast Curve, Slow Curve.
You can't really expect any more/better than that.

Assuming you are correct when you say you imported a MIDI file. MIDI has no sound. It is only a set of instructions. You need to send those MIDI instructions to a drum synth, which will make the sound.
You can use the SI-Drum kit.
But watch this tutorial about MIDI first.
Start watching from time 2:53.
At time 5:02, insert the SI-Drum Kit, NOT the TTS-1. Stop watching.
Paste your drum MIDI file onto the track. Press Play.
You should hear the drums playing.
Right-click on the track and select Split Instrument Track.
You now have 2 tracks - track 1 is the drum synth audio, track 2 is the MIDI track.
Go Views -> Inspector and then look at the section that opens up to the left of the tracks.
Click on the MIDI track.
The extreme left of the screen shows the MIDI track from a different view point. Look at the very bottom.
There where it says In/Out.
O for Out says 1SIDrumKt1.
So the MIDI data is being fed to the SI Drum Kit synth.
In the track pane click on track 1, the synth.
Now look at the left, then bottom.
It shows input is SDrumKt1.....
That track is receiving the audio that is coming out of the Drum synth.
The output is to the Master fader.
Ask questions at this point if you need to.
Go back to your tutorial, see what you missed, what went wrong.


 

Check Edit -> Preferences -> Audio -> Playback and Recording.
If Driver mode is WAAPI Exclusive, change it to WASAPI shared.

See if this helps.

Thanks.
You have 2 audio outputs selected. I suspect that audio is being routed through the one that has no speakers attached.
You have FaceRig listed as an option, RealTek Digital, RealTek Speakers, and 2 CABLE options.
Where are your speakers actually connected? Select only that option.
If plugged into the headphone jack, select RealTek Speakers.
Also, until your projects get resource heavy, change Playback and Recording - Driver Mode to WASAPI Shared. That way you will still get Windows notifications and the like.
Now give it another test for sound output.
If not lucky:
Start a new project, selecting the Basic template.
Arm the MIDI track for recording - the red circle button.
On the control bar, next to the time display, above the symbol of a metronome are the Metronome During Playback and Metronome During Record buttons.
Enable Metronme During Record.
Press Record, the button with the red dot in the transport controls.
You should hear the metronome. (It can be quite soft depending on your volume settings.)
If you don't hear the metronome, give us a screenshot of Inspector. Views -> Inspector.
Also, press d tom open the Console view, press Shift-d to make it full-screen.
Give us screenshots of the 2 faders on the left and the 3 faders on the right.
If you can't see the faders on the right (Master, Metronome and Preview) in the screenshot below, click and drag to the left the left-most of the thin vertical strip.
Once you have done that, there is still one more thin strip. If you click and drag that you will see a final fader that controls the output to the selected output device.
 

It seems Bandlab Assistant thinks Cakewalk is installed, and so won't download the installer.
Have you done a complete uninstall of Cakewalk, as shown here.?

Hi
Support says the crash dump shows the VST3 version of Iota Mini caused the crash. VST3s often give problems, and can work with some people and not others. Windows. 🙄
If you haven't done it already, install the VST2 version of Iota Mini:
Double-click on Iota Min (PC).zip
Double-click on Iota Mini (PC)
Double-click on PC Files
Double-click on x64
Double-click on IOTA MINI WIN64 VST
Click on Iota Mini.instruments
Hold in the Ctrl-key and click on Iota Mini.dll
(The .DS_Store file shouldn't be there)
Ctrl-C to copy the file and the folder.
Navigate to C:\Program Files\VstPlugIns\Iota Min (PC)
Click on the Iota Min (PC) folder to select it.
Ctrl-V to paste.
You should see the instruments folder and the dll file in the Iota Min (PC) folder.
Then disable the VST3 version:
Run a VST scan. Then:
Utilities -> Cakewalk Plug-in Manager
In the left pane click on VST3 Instruments (VST3i)
In the middle pane click on Iota Mini
Below the left pane, click on Exclude Plugin
In the left pane click on VST Instruments (VSTi)
You probably won't see Iota Mini in the middle pane, so:
       Below the left pane select show excluded
       In the middle pane you should see Iota Mini
       Click on it
       Below the left pane click on Enable Plugin
       Iota Mini will disappear from the middle pane. Click on Show Enabled and you should see it in the middle pane.
Close the Plug-in Manager
Make sure you have a backup up of your projects.
They will all have lost their Iota Mins because they were all the VST3 version
Create new projects, add Iota Minis (they will be the VST2 versions)
Do the copy and paste thing from the old projects
Hold thumbs, you should be OK now. A good chance that the LABS was just incidental.
Support ask that you contact them. Cakewalk Support
Tell them you are Nicole with the Iota Mini VST3 problem, referred to them by Nigel.

 
 

You won't hear anything if you do not have Input Echo enabled. What looks like a radiation pattern, next to the red record arm button.

Open Synth Rack View.
The 4 icons at the top are Add, Remove, Synth Properties and Add Synth Options.

1) Use WASAPI Shared.
2) The bit rates and bit depths must match Windows' settings:
Windows: Right-click the speaker icon -> Open Sound Settings -> Sound -> Output -> Device Properties -> Additional Device Properties -> Advanced.
Make a note of the values in the dropdown.

Cakewalk: Edit -> Preferences -> Audio -> Driver Settings: Audio Driver Bit Depth and Sampling Rate. Set them the same as Windows.
 
If that doesn't help, let us know and we can explore further.
If it does help, then:
3) You only have a MIDI track. MIDI is instructions such as Start playing Middle C, start playing the E above Middle C, stop playing the E above Middle C, stop playing Middle-C.
But you still need an instrument to play the notes. You need to add a synth.
Above the list of HipHop beats is a tab Plugins. Click on it and then Sort by Manufacturer. Under that click on Instruments.
Open the Cakewalk folder and drag and drop TTS-1 under the MIDI track. In the dialog box make sure MIDI Source and First Synth Audio Output are selected.
Track 2 will be Cakewalk TTS-1 audio, track 3 will be Cakewalk TTS-1 MIDI.
Cakewalk has routed the output of MIDI track 3 to the synthesiser TTS-1 in track 2.
Cakewalk has routed the audio coming out of TTS-1 to the speakers, via the Master fader.
Click on the number 3, then Views -> Piano Roll View.
Click on the keys on the keyboard. You will hear a piano.
If you don't let us know.
Then go through the first few of these tutorials.
 

👍
Now, if you click Play you should get sound. The Es will be wrong, but you will have sound.
Save the project.
Track 1 is selected.  We will use that for all the notes except E.
From the menu select Views -> Piano Roll View.
Scroll up and down until you see your MIDI notes.
On the piano keyboard on the left click on the E key.
You will see something like this (Note the right notes, but you get the idea 😀)

All the Es are selected. Press Delete key.  All the Es are removed.
Save.
Click on track 2 to select it.
In the PRV (piano roll view) you will see the notes in track 2. Which is everything.
One at a time: click on the keyboard for a note which is NOT an E. Delete. Next note.
Now you only have the Es in Track 2.
Save.
Let me know you have managed this.

In the Track Pane menu, not main menu: View -> Display -> Vertical Grid Lines -> In Front of Clips

Got to Edit -> Preferences-> Audio -> Playback and Recording. If Driver Mode is WASAPI Exclusive it means Cakewalk reserves the PCs audio system for itself. Change it to WASPI Shared.

Have a look at this about installing VSTs.
Here is a list of beginner tutorials.
Play around with Cakewalk's built in instruments (SI drums, piano, strings, bass) to get an idea before you look for VSTs to download and install. That being said, this is a list of free effects and this is a list of free instruments.
Good luck.
 

Try saving the Workspace.

I did put them in a special folder now, but that is not the main problem. The problem is that BitBridge is set to run as administrator in Compatibilty. So you mus use Run as administrator to make it scan the VST once identified. That is why the registry is short of entries for them.
Remove the Run as administrator from BitBridge and it all works properly.
Seeing as they used to work, somewhere along the line BitBridge got changed..
@msmcleod Didn't you just have a post saying try setting BitBridge to run as admin that you deleted? Because that is what inspired me to look.

Screensets are only applicable to that project. Open a different project and they are gone.
Screensets are meant to be a quick-fix. You find you are swapping back and forth between 2 views while doing a particular task? And in 30 minutes when you are finished with that task the views become redundant? Use screensets.
To save a screenset switch to another one. So, select Screenset 1. Set up your view. Click Screenset 2. Screenset 1 gets saved. Set up Screenset 2. Select Screenset 1. Screenset 2 gets saved. Now you can switch back and forth between the 2 views to your heart's content.
And when you have finished that task you will never use those screensets again. Like strangers you bump into at the pub. While chatting you remember their names and which one has just taken his fog to the vet. The moment you walk out the door on your way home you forget them. You will never see them again. Screensets.
But... While tracking do you ALWAYS want the Track Inspector closed, the Browser open? Define a Workspace called Tracking that is set up that way. Workspaces apply to all projects. Define Workspaces for Recording, Tracking, Mixing, Automating, Mastering. Set them up the way you like things to look. Then they are always there for you, with every project that you work on.
Like old Fred and John that you join up with every Thursday night at the pub. Every Thursday you go through the same greeting rituals, the same taking turns in paying for rounds, play the same 3 games of darts. Workspaces.
While with Fred and john you might start chatting to some guy who is in town for 3 days on a business trip. The 3 of you chat to him, he plays a game of darts with you. But after that you never see him again. He is a Screenshot. But next Thursday Fred and John will be there, same as usual, because they are Workspaces. And some other guy in town for the night joins you for the evening. But gone tomorrow. He was just a Screenshot.