mettelus

On 7/7/2025 at 6:46 PM, Mr No Name said:

try shorter , shielded cables.

In addition to this, not all consumer units have the same grade of shielding internal to the unit. Another thing to check is any wireless/electronic devices in the vicinity of the controller (even cell phones).

3 minutes ago, Mr No Name said:

that is a lot of money for a volume knob 😵

Consumer grade products vary with the shielding they have internally (some shielding designs are much more expensive). As you step up into "non-consumer" products that can get intense... imagine a piece of gear the size of a package of hot dogs that costs $50K.

Not sure if this affects anyone else, but it seems certain VST3 files cause Scaler 3 stand alone to either hang or crash. It is listed in the known issues for Scaler 3.1. For me the solution to this (I was getting an unresponsive GUI in stand alone mode) was to simply rename the "C:\Users[NAME]\AppData\Roaming\Scaler 3\ Scaler 3.settings" file. Although there are clean install instructions at the bottom of that known issues page, renaming that one file solved it (I assume that file records the VST scan, but not sure).

Below is a pretty good, quick overview video that is embedded at the top of this page. 

One thing that is not mentioned is that oversampling is by plugin (not the overall DAW), so it allows higher detail processing internally. In many cases this is not overly noticeable, but in situations with older, lower-quality samples going in this can have a very audible result. This also depends on what that plugin is actually processing/doing.

As mentioned, bear in mind that oversampling adds stress to the CPU. Since he showed Melda plugs in that video, I think that most of their plugins now support 1024x oversampling (which is crazy high). I don't think I have ever used anything over 8x, with 4x being the most common choice if used. Many plugin vendors have oversampling embedded into them, so it is certainly not required to put it on the DAW to achieve this.

1 hour ago, Notes_Norton said:

I'm glad I'm a live, gigging musician, because I don't think AI is going to replace me very soon. 

I think this is the real differentiator. Even before AI, I would typically bucket folks into "live" or "studio" (aka, post production) bins. DAWs just made post-production simpler and more accessible, and AI will streamline that process, but (good) live performance will always be at the top of the pecking order IMO.

Shifting gears a bit... back in the day, a student that turned in a paper that seemed out of character could be checked for plagiarism (Google helped with that). AI tools just make that checking harder, and is not "creativity" but sheer indolence. Even lawyers have been caught doing this; turning in court documents that reference non-existent case files. Paying someone to be lazy goes well beyond my level of tolerance, but some instances even cross the line into legal ramifications.

1 hour ago, Xoo said:

Double check the bus outputs haven't changed.  If they have, reset them; if they haven't, change them to None, then change them back to what they should be.

+1 to this, also check your Master Outputs are correct. There was a similar post recently where that was the issue. I am curious now if you run IKM TR5 in stand alone mode to different outputs (i.e., why would inserting a VST(i) cause the Master Outs to change)?

21 hours ago, warrickhale said:

which used the plugin TH3 for guitar amp effects but when I open one of those projects in the new SONAR the plug-ins are missing. Can anyone suggest how I can proceed with these old projects?

This was sort of mentioned above, but any registration associated with the TH line should be done through Overloud (support link here), not Cakewalk. Have you tried reaching out to them directly? Overloud was one of the few vendors who bent over backwards to support the SONAR refugees during the great Gibson debacle (even unlocking the Cakewalk-specific plugins for us). Their support team is top notch... I recommend reaching out to them directly and explaining your situation. You most likely have an account with them already if you registered TH3, but your situation is one I am sure they are aware of (the Cakewalk-specific versions "vanished"). Of the few times I have touched base with them, issues were resolved in less than a day with a single email.

20 hours ago, T Boog said:

This is an aftermarket strat body made out of white pine

Boy, I admit "white pine" stuck out to me initially, but then I thought, "Alder is one of the softer hardwoods, so is white pine really that far of a stretch??" I have played with enough unseasoned white pine over the years, that I tend to think of that rather than the times when I have pulled seasoned white pine out and realized how hard it had become. Thanks for posting that video (very nice)! If you hadn't posted that I might have blown off "white pine" without even thinking about it  

@Rain I am glad things averted disaster! When I saw the SG comment that just made me cringe!

10 hours ago, Chaps said:

1: No samples are loaded in Session Drummer until you open one at the bottom left corner where it says New Program. Click that and you should get a list of available kits. Or click PROG and load a kit from there. If that doesn't work then I would try steps 2&3.

^^^^ Being new this step probably tripped you up (it does for many). Like a few other drum instruments, Session Drummer comes up with no default kit loaded... sure the GUI is there, but the kit is actually empty (no sounds). Just to reiterate the obvious, MIDI itself is simply note data (cannot hear anything without a virtual instrument to play those notes). Most virtual instruments let you click on the GUI (either virtual keyboard, kit pieces, or even a play/preview button), so you can test the instrument before you get into composing.

4 hours ago, T Boog said:

But ironically, I think it may add a little life to the track in those places. I think it creates a very, very subtle chorusing effect in those areas.

It does  Because of the fuller sound a piano produces (multiple strings per note), this "trick" can be used to fill out otherwise thin VSTis. Same notes on a piano (essentially layered), but at a significantly lower volume (and maybe tweak the attack to match the instrument you are embellishing, or just use a "soft" piano). Pianos are very versatile to add frequency content without being obvious when desired.

+1 to the end product is what matters. Frequency masking is your friend in that case, as the louder (original) piano track will get more focus by the listener. Another thing you can try in a track bleed scenario is make a copy of that piano track, phase invert it, and knock the gain down to match the bleed part on the vocal track. That should cancel out most of the bleed (may need to adjust timing on it a smidge), then you can bounce both those 2 tracks to a new one and use Melodyne as previously.

On 6/20/2025 at 6:44 AM, Matthew W said:

Capture the volume/intensity changes from my guitar track

Apply those dynamic changes to control my MIDI drum track in real-time

Can you explain this a little more, please? At first read this came across as "audio ducking" to me, where one audio source is compressed to allow the other to be heard. If this is the case, that is not controlling the MIDI on the other track but rather the audio via a side-chained compressor on the audio output (the input to that side-chain is the controlling track, which is your case is the guitar).

The main difference is that the Aux Track gives you the ability to record (and other track functionality). The Aux Tracks (and Patch Points) came into being for a few reasons, but the most noteworthy for me was that a synth with multiple oscillators that are not synchronized internally to each other can create a vastly different performance each pass from the same MIDI input. The Aux Tracks gave the ability to capture that performance as a wav file so you have a permanent copy of that specific run. There is also functionality embedded into Aux Tracks to prevent feedback loops, so unless you specifically need track functionality with something, busses are often preferred for FX processing.

5 hours ago, Mr No Name said:

maybe if I split the audio in a a sampler first, then convert the separate hits to midi.

This may be simpler, and you don't need to separate the track (slightly different approach here), but would need multiple copies (one for each piece you want to break out). Since you will be feeding transients into the drum machine, they don't need to sound good, but be accurately timed (for the trigger). Example... if you run a narrow/high Q EQ on a copy of the audio drums to isolate the snare hits, you can bounce that and do the audio-to-MIDI conversion to get only the snare. Repeat for the other pieces you want to use. You can even save that as a track template to do this and then would only need to copy the audio and tweak each piece's EQ frequency once you get the EQ initially set up.

13 hours ago, Mr No Name said:

I think the main problem is splitting the midi drum kit into it's constituent parts before swapping them on the drum machine.

The quickest way to split apart an assembled MIDI drum track is to select each piece by clicking the MIDI note on the left edge of the PRV. Once selected, you can shift-drag those to the appropriate drum machine track. If you can feed the drum machine the assembled track, the same selection technique helps with moving MIDI notes to the proper row; select them all on the left, then drag them to where they need to be.

3 minutes ago, Bristol_Jonesey said:

We prefer the term Quick Groups

Yeah, sorry. Here is also the documentation page that gives more detail on how it can be used.

4 minutes ago, Max Arwood said:

The trick is to hold the control key down

The term you are seeking in the OP is "Control Group."

Or... do a performance with studio musicians (e.g., Toto) then decline the award in person when presented, similar to what Marlon Brando did in 1973. Nothing puts the "powers that be" on the spot more than a highly publicized face-to-face put down. They cannot hide that with social media white wash, and it would last forever.

There can be a lot of variables at play that can cause this (other apps, plugins, driver settings, audio buffers, graphics, system settings, etc.). The best place to start is to download and run LatencyMon, which will give insight into the processes running on your machine (tab on the top of LatencyMon). Run that in tandem with CbB, and if you are getting crashes while recording, you can also try simple playback of the project to see what the results are. Run LatencyMon for a few minutes, then stop it and look through the tabs at the top (specifically "Stats" and "Processes"). You can order the columns when reading that by clicking on the very top of each column, and you specifically want to find what processes have the highest values.

2 hours ago, giant ll said:

When i've tried to download Monster Drum from that page it redirected me to a page with a message: Maintenance mode is on. I couldn't download or make nothing at the moment. Could it work for me?

Not sure, that could very well be a defunct plugin. When I first saw it I clicked on the  "Home Page" button and it went no where. The people who made it may no longer exist or maintain it. The date on that maintenance page is 2022, so that doesn't bode well  Sorry about that.

Actually... specifically searching for Monster Drum revealed a version 2 at this site. I just downloaded the VST3 version to be sure it was there, but did not install it. The installation instructions are on that page. The last comment on that page is from a month ago, so that is a good sign.

1 hour ago, Annabelle said:

Wouldn't that be amazing if someone made an app that could tell what parts are what, such as individual instruments like guitar, without changing the "format" of the audio? I think that's what it's called. Or is it "formant"? I'm confused on that one!

Noise removal/stem separation tools are rarely something that are "fire and forget" unfortunately. Pretty much all instruments overlap the midrange, so the timbre is often what differentiates them. Even with advances in AI algorithms, many instruments (voice included) have frequency ranges that get separated into the wrong bucket, so there can be a lot of surgical manipulation/recombination required to get the actual instrument isolated. The higher end tools (e.g., iZotope RX, Steinberg SpectraLayers, etc.) actually have drawing tools for the spectrogram to assist in that surgery. My ultimate concern is that most audio apps deal with visual representations of audio, so unless it is a "fire and forget" operation, you could be delving into something you weren't anticipating.

Again, if you are willing to post that audio for others to look at (either here or via private messages), I think you might be surprised by those willing to help you out. It also gives folks an immediate understanding of the complexity of your undertaking, or even alternative methods to achieve your goals.

It seems most cajon sounds either require a full version of Kontakt, or are included as a kit piece for another drum VST. Ironically, Monster Drum came up with a typo in my Google search (but disappeared when I corrected it) and it has a a cajon bank included with it.

5 minutes ago, treesha said:

If you upload it somewhere and post a link maybe someone here with newer capabilities could try to clean it up for you. With both screeching and roaring it seems like it could be challenging. Simple stems can separate out different parts but the results aren’t always very clean. Like you say bells and voices are similar too.  Anyways maybe someone here could help you out. 

@treesha beat me to it, but this sounds like a one-off scenario. In addition to a Noise Print Capture/Removal, it sounds like you also have transient material issues with that file. Both of these are more visually focused with the spectrogram, so even having such an app may cause you more grief than good. If you are willing to post a link (or even send that link in a PM so it is not public), folks here including myself can take a look at that for you and send the results back to you. I typically only sit still in late evening hours, but being able to actually process that file for you would be significantly faster than you trying to learn a new app and do it yourself.

I am not sure which Overloud VSTs you are referring to specifically, but the TH series (used to) default to "Stereo" in the Master Controls ("Master" button at the top). If your input source is truly mono (via the interface), be sure to select the appropriate input source. Having that set to Stereo for a Mono input caused some issues in the past. If that issue persists, you might have better luck reaching out to both vendors to get them to talk to each other directly.

On 6/17/2025 at 5:54 PM, gmp said:

I have a client that's sending me BUN files and when I open it [...]

Couple quick questions for this. 1) Is the other person using the a controller also, and if so, on which tracks? 2) Are the presets you see changing coming up as if they were "default" inserts (i.e., if you were creating a track from scratch)?

When multiple people are accessing the same file, Cakewalk tries to keep track of things; but if what it expects to see is not there, it will do its "best guess." If that file was created (or modified) with another controller (or VSTs, or even software version), there may be mismatches in how that is interpreted on each system. If you change those back to what you expect, save the project, then close and reopen it are your changes preserved? When you send that back to them, are they seeing the same issue?

This may not have anything to do with your system or setup, but the fact that another has touched that file before you got it back.

One thing you can try that will duplicate a track (with that data included) between projects is to drag the cwp file (from the Cakewalk Browser) that you want to replicate the track from into the new project (the sample rates must match for this to work, OR the new project needs to be blank so the imported project will set the sample rate). What this does is import ALL the tracks from the imported cwp into the new project, so may require cleanup. From a "template" perspective, you can speed this process up by saving only the tracks you want to transfer as a new cwp, so that it only contains the tracks you need that data from (delete the unneeded tracks, and save with a new project name). As far as the clip contents themselves, that may require (a lot) more tweaking depending on how big the differences are between the new and imported projects.