mettelus

I am not familiar with SSD5 specifically, but most of that (if not all) can be done from inside the VSTi. Each kit piece should have its own EQ, pan, fader, etc., as well as overhead and room channels, and often their own built-in FX racks. The audio outputs of many VSTis also include multiple outputs (almost like their own mini-DAW) allowing you to record the audio to separate tracks or mixing entirely within the VSTi depending on your preference. When learning that aspect, you could focus on just learning SSD5 and use MIDI samples that either come with SSD5 or from the loop library (drag/drop into MIDI tracks) to learn the routing and functionality of SSD5 itself.

This is the MIDI versus audio again, but you also mentioned tracking versus mixing, so will hit those quick. For tracking (recording MIDI from the TD-17), you want buffers lower (may need to shut FX off globally with the "E" hotkey) so that latency is minimal. This is so you can capture your MIDI performance with kit pieces on separate tracks (preferred). For mixing (post production), you are now working with editing MIDI performance in Cakewalk, and tailoring the audio from SSD5 to fill the stage appropriately. During this part, you will want buffers higher (you will get latency and should not be tracking/recording during this stage) and be focused on the mix. If you do need to track again during this, the global FX bypass can be helpful, but mixing is more the relaxing, drinking coffee and focusing on post production part. Keep your tracking a post-production stages separate and realize that the buffer size varies between them as well.

MIDI can be a bit daunting when first learning, but a big advantage to MIDI is that if you capture a MIDI recording, you can modify the sample sounds after the performance during the editing phase. With a VSTi it is as simple as changing/modifying the kit piece in SSD5(swap snares, change the kick parameters, etc.). It is not until you record the audio output that you are "locked in" as it were. @Lord Tim is giving you a lot of good advice here, so I don't want to step on what he is doing. Just keep in mind that you are working with two distinct yet interrelated things: 1) recording your MIDI performance from the TD-17 and it being mapped correctly to fire SSD5 (you can edit the MIDI as you see fit after performing as well), and 2) the audio performance of SSD5 which is quite similar to what you have done to tailor your TD-17 kit.

I just looked at the other thread quickly. This thread title seems like you are trying to get SSD5 to play through the TD-17? I just wanted to clarify that (has its own editing issues), and be a more complex routing setup. Let's rewind a bit, since you are new... First, MIDI is only note information (no sound), and the TD kits (I am familiar with the TD-9) have a MIDI path and and audio one. I think this is why the VST Instruments (VSTi) got mentioned in the other thread. With MIDI, you can record each kit piece to its own track, but if you record the audio output (what you tailored), you get "everything" back as one combined audio track. Seems the hat was too loud so you wanted to be able to edit the individual pieces. Quick answer to the question is that if you are sending MIDI to the TD-17, you must also be receiving the audio output from the TD-17 back into a new audio track in Cakewalk with the input echo (speaker icon) enabled. MIDI will then go to the TD-17, get processed with your kit setup, and come back to Cakewalk as audio, but as one track rather than separate pieces. (This is a pain, since editing is simpler with the pieces on different tracks). If you record a performance as MIDI, you can record one piece per track, but would need to then record each track individually (solo each piece, MIDI to the TD-17, and record the audio from the TD-17 back to a new track in Cakewalk). Optionally, you could use the same routing, but record them all into one audio track, but that limits editing options for the audio at that point. Pay attention when setting up tracks for if it is MIDI or audio, and what the input/output is for each track. Any MIDI must be processed into audio (either by a VSTi or hardware) in order to then be recorded as audio on a new track. Setting up VSTis can be complex unto themselves, so trying not to bury you with information here.

Here is the link to the documentation on that, and the "2X" button at the top of the GUI is a global enable/bypass for it. Another option to consider is only to use for rendering, not for playback, which will lighten CPU load. For real world experience, it has more dependency on the quality of the samples being used rather than the plugin itself, so setting the up "across the board" may be overkill if working with quality samples. Where it does make a big difference is with using legacy products/samples, such as those with TTS-1.

That is far better than the alternative IMO. Typing the same answer to a dozen different people asking the same question over the years has gotten a bit old, but part of that was also because the search engine wasn't the greatest. There have been a lot of helpful posts over the years that have just faded into oblivion and are very difficult to find.

I guess I would prefer one knob wetter to one bed wetter, but looks like a title from a raunchy personal ad... "Wanted: One Knob Wetter"

The primary reason for normalizing audio to some standard is when using a universal FX chain (from a buss) you want the first compressor in that chain to see relatively the same signal (so the knee is consistent for each track). Many FX have thresholds to them, so that first compressor makes the rest of the FX chain yield a consistent output. You can (and often do) use another compressor/limiter/maximizer on the final result, but there is an audible difference between tracks that were processed properly and those that were not (i.e., if that first compressor did nothing because the knee wasn't triggered and affected the rest of the chain) and just had the volume raised at the end. There is no right or wrong for what you are doing, and using a buss has the benefit that you can adjust only one processing chain rather than copying adjustments between tracks. That can be burdensome when the material you are working with is essentially the same anyway and you decide late in the game that you want to change settings. Max's advice on consistent levels is what makes that possible. With a consistent recording setup, you should be able to get away with normalizing a bounced track (once your edits are completed); I habitually will normalize to -3dB since I already set up compressors expecting that signal level, which makes tweaking them simpler. Another trick you may not be aware of is Patch Points/Aux Tracks, which let you record the output of your chains to a new track (similar to exporting, but recorded to a new track). It can be quicker than exporting and you can drag/drop those tracks out of Cakewalk into a Windows folder. Depending on your workflow, this may or may not be beneficial, but something to keep in mind should you need it.

First question is does the audio engine at the top go off and you cannot restart it manually? Second is does the bit rate for your device in Windows Sound Settings match the project? You also want "give applications exclusive control" unchecked in properties in Windows. If you open another app that uses the same device it may have hijacked the device on you (especially if Cakewalk is back in focus and the audio engine is still off). There are settings in both Windows and Cakewalk audio devices that will causes issues if more than one app sees the device. Sleep/hibernate can also cause this and should never be used when in DAW mode.

A few quick things with narration and long tracks in addition to the above: Keep your setup and narration as consistent as possible so that variations between sessions are as minimal as possible. Doing a chapter per track is a good way to keep things organized, and you can copy FX chains between them (or run them through a buss), so you can tailor FX as you work and only apply (render) them in a final export when they are set and consistent. Be sure to always select things properly before editing. This one is important to any workflow, since edits take to what you have selected. When working with long narration tracks, using something that will insert a visual transient into the wav file (similar to a clap) will make edit locations easy to visually find when editing. I typically bounce each track into a single wav file after level across it is consistent. Pick a standard to work to for all tracks, then the FX chain will also be consistent for them all with minimal tweaking required for final exports. Another general item is that Cakewalk does not delete audio, so inadvertent destructive edits will still leave the original / prior version in your audio folder. Use track names to define chapters (best habit is to do immediately when creating a new track), then the audio files are also easier to find in case you want to use another wav editor program. This is also why I bounce tracks, so that I will end up with only one wav file per chapter with a proper name. To clean up these audio folder afterwards (they are prone to filling with multiple wavs during editing), it is easiest to do a "file->save as..." to a new folder and select "copy all audio with project." What this does is copies only the audio in use by the project to the new folder, which can help with cleanup when you finish. The original folder will still be there, so can either archive or remove that project folder to your preference.

Another COTS aspect to be wary of is that some of them even have hardware that is proprietary. For users that just use them for "what they are" (target market), they can be okay; but folks who need to tailor a machine, they can become problematic. A lot of machines sold in bulk to companies fall into this category, and are cycled out after 5 years. I got a weird call from the IT department 20 years ago saying "We are evaluating workstations and want to see it you can crash it." After the "Um, okay," I went over and it took about 30 seconds, but I told them when you put a stessing algorythm on a computer that has run programs with known memory leaks it will go down. Unfortunately the programs I did that with were commonly used by all engineers at that location, but those issues have since been resolved.

I loaded the 10 trial on 9/9 so the ticker is running on that. Not had a lot of time to test yet, but did with some tracks I know well. Using "best" to extract stems is far slower that previous versions, and it was actually worse for bleed between guitar and vocal stems than 9 was (so much so that the lead guitar ended up in the vocal track completely in areas). Definitely waiting for a sale on 10 anyway, but need to check out the settings in 10 in more detail before the trail expires (note to self).

If new, another trick specific to the TTS-1/Cakewalk to be aware of is that with no output MIDI device enabled (in Cakewalk preferences), if you open a MIDI file with Cakewalk (right click and "open with" or have Cakewalk set to the default player); Cakewalk will open, add TTS1, and assign the "best match" to each of the tracks (from the normal presets). This is very useful if picking MIDI parts from compositions and/or assigning those to other virtual instruments (can simply reassign the track output from TTS-1 to another instrument available in the project). The drop down at the top of the left side of the Track View defaults to "Custom" and needs to be set to "All" to expose the Channel, Bank, and Preset used (for any instrument). Modifications to those are saved with the project (good for default presets), but as mentioned above will not load TTS-1 User Banks automatically.

Is it possible Cakewalk was opened on both machines? There are network sharing hurdles that sites handle differently, but the most common is the first to get a file locks it to everyone else. This can remain locked until the application that opened it is closed sometimes (not sure if Google Drive itself can cause this though).

For me is like reading a newspaper. Thread titles of interest get read, the rest get marked as read. Most just trickle off into oblivion, but if bumped enough times I may go back and read those.

Wdf01000.sys is also linked to automatic network discovery. Even with wifi disabled I am not sure if that is still cycling every 4 seconds or so, but worth shutting off anyway. There are a truckload of processes set to "automatic" on startup. It can be a grueling task to go through all of those, but a fair portion can be either disabled outright, or set to "manual" so they only start when a program using them is run. Some of those reset themselves to automatic again, so those tend to be pests. With a stock Dell, going through the process list would help but is not a quick endeavor.

It seems that this automatically pops up when a thread reaches 3+ pages in length. Fortunately on a phone it pops up in-line and collapsed below the first post on each page, rather than in a right-side pane.

If working with a single track, you can ctrl-drag the right edge of a clip to compress/expand the audio. Not ideal, and gets more difficult with more tracks involved. There was an old program called "Riffstation" that was paid for a while, then made free around May, 2018 (there was an unlocked version of v1.6.3.0 posted as a freebie when it was discontinued). I just tried looking for valid links for it, but didn't find one right off. If you are working with one audio track, that has a simple "tempo" knob, along with other goodies to dissect music tracks so you can play along with them. This old post has a link in it that seems to still be valid.

Did you check out the link in the log? https://spitfireaudio.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/360005196074 There is a video on that site walking through the repair on Windows (I inserted the video below). This error message describes exactly what you are seeing... "Error #1 usually occurs when the plugin is unable to load the patches and presets in a library. It may be caused by missing patches and presets, or whenever a library is moved to a new machine and hasn't been repaired." That link in your error log is a sub-section of the support page I mentioned above, and focuses on repairing the LABS libraries. If you click on "YouTube" in the lower right of the video above, it will take you to the YT video page... he has a link in the comments section about repairing all the LABS libraries (at once).

^^ This is probably the easiest solution for you. IIRC, there was a hiccup with the Spitfire Audio app where one older version didn't automatically prompt an update for itself, so be sure to get the most recent app from Spitfire (in case you kept an older version). To test that re-installation is working properly, I would recommend only downloading one of the LABS libraries, then open Cakewalk and seeing if LABS will insert properly. If it works as expected, you can simply go back and get any other libraries you want from the Spitfire Audio app. There is also a list of support topics on Spitfire's Support page for various issues that might be relevant, but try the uninstall/reinstall first.

It is a bit more complex than this, and as soon as you mention "synth" it raises concerns. Each track/instrument should only have its relevant frequency material passed into FX chains. Frequency collisions are commonly countered with slight EQ boosts to instruments that use those, and complementary EQ cuts to everything else (mirror EQ). Another trick is to push colliding frequencies to the sides and leave the focused instrument more center. The goal is to keep frequencies that only add to overall power out of the mix (kills your headroom drastically). With synths in particular... presets are often for demo purposes, cover a WIDE frequency range, and are processed internally to no end (so they sound cool solo). As soon as you are mixing a synth, 3-6dB cuts/shelves to anything conflicting with another instrument is advised. Automation can be your friend to bring things in and out of focus as well, but knocking down "extraneous frequencies" (they do add up quickly) gives you a lot more headroom to work with for the overall mix. The "wall of sound" is achieved by filling the audio stage with relevant frequencies that each have their own place so they can be heard. Synths often "take up everything" so be wary of them (especially presets).

So every three months you can cancel and "return" until they figure it out?

Can't you pull monitor feeds from the PA system itself? Having to deal with all the environmentals is a nuisance, especially those, "Oh crap, sorry I spilled my drink on you! The keyboardist's head flash blinded me there!"

This is the issue. That is where the Spitfire Audio app is telling Cakewalk that it installed the LABS settings. Your issue is with LABS at this point (Cakewalk settings are accurate). A couple things: Verify the path " C:\Users\Admin2\AppData\Roaming\Spitfire Audio\Settings" in both Windows Explorer and in the "Default Content Path" in the Spitfire Audio app. If the Spitfire Audio app cannot "just install" anything from LABS (at the top), then that path is invalid. Be sure to use a valid path in the "Default Content Path" in the Spitfire Audio app, and reinstall any LABS instruments you wish to use. When you open Cakewalk after doing this, it should scan automatically and be fine, but just in case do a "Manual Scan" and "Rescan failed plugins" in the Cakewalk preferences window. Cakewalk is running fine, and it only cares about the vst (dll) or vst3 file path. Those are correct from your images above. The issue is in the Spitfire Audio app and that path it is throwing as an error when you try to insert it in Cakewalk (C:\Users\Admin2\AppData\Roaming\Spitfire Audio\Settings). That is the path that LABS is looking for to load its presets/samples. Quick Edit: AppData is a hidden folder and may be invisible with Windows Explorer default settings. To make it visible, in Windows Explorer, go to "View->Options->Change Folder and View Options." In that pop up on the "View" tab at the top, check "Show hidden files, folders, and drives" under "Hidden file and folders" and then click OK.