mettelus

There was a weird news article recently that both Baltimore and Delaware police are offering FREE steering wheel locks for Hyundai and Kia owners since they are the most frequently stolen vehicles (and keeps going up). Left me sort of baffled since 1) that implies Hyundai and Kia have no GPS built into the vehicle (??), and 2) steering wheel locks take all of 15 seconds to bypass.

I hit that forum bug the other day myself. Editing out an errant "s" in a reply with quotes turned my entire reply into a quote and deleted the quoted material to boot

Cakewalk is only concerned about the vst files, not the presets or samples (those are opened by whichever vst you load into Cakewalk).

A few things here:

1. The two entries you made with "Spitfire Audio" in them in Cakewalk Preferences for "VST Scan Paths" can be removed. The others mirror what you have in the Spitfire Audio app, so if installed, Cakewalk will find them.
2. In the Spitfire Audio app, if you click on the "LABS" tab at the top, be sure you have installed the instrument(s) you want to use. Also be sure that the "Default content path" (on the left in your screenshots above in preferences for that app) are valid paths... those are where Spitfire Audio app is putting the samples.
3. When inserting a VST Instrument (VSTi), Cakewalk is only opening the instrument itself, and letting the instrument "do its thing" at that point. The simplest method to insert a VSTi is to drag/drop from the Browser on the right edge of Cakewalk (hotkey B opens and closes that). In Cakewalk's Browser you need to first click on "Plugins" at the very top, then "Instruments" directly below that. The Browser will then show which instruments you have installed. Scroll down to "Spitfire Audio" and there should be an entry in that folder for "LABS." Drag and Drop "LABS" to the left side of the Track View into an empty area and you will get the pop up to insert the instrument. To be simpler, select "Simple Instrument Track" in the top left, and then "OK." The LABS instrument should then pop up for you, and you select the instrument/presets from the top of that window.

Re-run the Spitfire Audio app and let that rebuild instruments as needed. That error implies the samples are not present. If you moved the sample libraries to save space, be sure to set where you moved them to in the Spitfire Audio app preferences (the gear icon).

If you have never installed it before, Passmark let's you run their benchmarking software free for 30 days IIRC. The reason I mention that is because the only thing that degraded in my old i7-2600K was the graphics card (580 originally and got hot, and I forget what I replaced it with now). Passmark's software will give you good insight on choke points and what is struggling. The graphics card won't help specifically with Cakewalk, but is good to check how things stand in your machine now.

The 8700K had a nice article about "finally getting the die hard 2600K users to upgrade" when it was released. That model is almost 6 years old now, but what I use. Be sure to consider the costs of options, and if you go with 2600K upgrades, that they will carry forward into a new machine later. Things with a few years under their belt are valid (and cheaper) options in some cases.

OCing the 2600K helps for mild adjustments, but if you go to extremes with it, it begins to throw page faults and actually performs worse.

No problem. I can be pretty terse if typing on my phone (I hate typing on a phone). CWP files save the location of child windows when they are saved, so if a second monitor was being used for child windows during that save, they will be out of view if opened on only one monitor. I think someone posted a quick trick to reset those to the main monitor a long time ago, but I forget what it was! I have always had to resort to turning the other monitor on as well.

C'mon, shake your body baby do the conga
I know you can't control yourself any longer!

+1, watch the teaser for it at a minimum. MPhatik is more for processing transient material (drums) with the internal FX, but can also restore the dynamic range of that processing (where most FX chains cannot). Of course you can apply it to anything for fun, but transient material is the target use.

Try cycling ALT-Tab (hold the alt key) and see if there is a plugin window in that pop up. You may have it hidden behind the app or out of view if you used multiple screen monitors at some point.

2 hours ago, Nick Blanc said:

Analog you say? Here's hoping that Roland will create an ACB version of the Nokia 3310.

There is a nice Harvard Business Review on the downfall of Motorola and the analog engineer who pushed not going digital. Nice quote even from the middle of this article:

"But Motorola was about to fall off a cliff. Because Finnish rival Nokia had wisely retooled for digital, by the time Gary Tooker’s four-year run as CEO ended in 1997, Nokia had surpassed Motorola as the world’s largest mobile phone maker. It had become a newly powerful competitor in building networks, too. Nokia would remain the world’s largest maker of mobile phones by volume—if not by revenue—for the next 15 years."

Everything in the early 90s was analog.

12 minutes ago, Bapu said:

I've never lost or broken any of my cell phones since my first on in the early 90s

The analog cell phones from the early 90s were the size of a shoe! Come to think of it, I have never lost a shoe either....

The Freeware Instruments Thread gets bumped to the top every so often, but is also a nice resource for VST instruments out there and recommendations. There are a lot of VSTis out and about, so often a detailed Google search will give you some options for specific instruments. As Promidi mentioned, for instruments that are not mainstream, the free (or even 3rd party) route is often preferred for the simple reason that you can use them in any DAW. VTSis that come with many DAWs are often locked to that DAW, which can be problematic; e.g., if you are composing a song that requires 3 instruments locked to 3 different DAWs. You are then forced to render and import tracks from one DAW to another in that situation.

Or could just put something like Tru-Oil on them. The beauty of that stuff is when it gets worn, dinged, or scratched, you can just clean and rough it and apply another coat. I slathered two coats with my hand (very thick coats) on a piece of red oak that was the top step to the basement 12 years ago and never needed another coat. A lot of heavy traffic has used that step (heaviest thing was a new furnace), and I doubt anyone will be walking/dancing on your subs, but you never know! Most surfaces are only a few mils thick, so you definitely do not want the original finish taking the abuse.

2 hours ago, treesha said:

I think he had been using cakewalk for all the others but moved to reaper so this one is created in reaper that i know nothing about.  So I just wanted to get ideas for the best easiest way to get his reaper work into my cakewalk.

Thanks for the response. If you have common plugins between both of you, you would also be able to work in Cakewalk and send the project file and audio folder back and forth as well (keep that folder clean before sending by doing a "Save As..." and saving to a new folder and copy the audio over in the save dialog box). This would take "reaper" out of the loop for the mixing phase, but may be simpler as he has used Cakewalk before. If the focus is helping him learn, this will also let him view mixing stages a little better.

Also to the "teaching" end of things, some video conferencing software (Zoom and the like) allow for screen sharing which would enable him to see and interact with you while you are working. There is lag associated with this and often a significant bandwidth usage jump (may be a limiting factor), but keep that in mind as well. When on the final stages of things, this can also expedite the back and forth with what is being done.

A lot of the new pedal boards are pretty self-contained so they need nothing else. One bit of advice a guy mentioned (for a similar board) was that he basically forced himself to learn the functionality (going so far as to take only that pedal board to gigs without a backup). His approach was hard core, but the newer boards pretty much allow you to just carry a guitar and the board with you if there is a sound system available. You only learn all of the features by using it.

Quick rewind to the OP again... It seems you did use stems for the collaboration, but can you expound on the "some challenges" part of your OP?

Unfortunately, the tempo map and broadcast wav file stems is the only "sure fire" way to pass things between (any) DAWs, but azslow3 would be the best bet to try to convert Reaper->Cakewalk.

Also bear in mind... there is no guarantee that each user has the same plugins available/used for projects, so even though it sounds cool on paper to collaborate projects with all the nuts and bolts included (even two Cakewalk users), this may not be practical at all (why broadcast wavs are often used anyway). Time-based FX (delays, reverbs, etc.) are the ones you may want not to bake into stems, but if you both have the same plugins an option there is to pass FX preset files back and forth as well as the stems. Save those presets from the plugin GUIs (not the DAW).

I forget the specifics on what causes this, but there have been threads on this over the years. One of the workarounds when this occurs is to start and stop the transport, and then it will allow you to save.

Dupe

5 hours ago, pseudopop said:

There are only so many Mission Impossible movies Tom Cruise is able to make before age catches up with him.

LOL, quite true! Tom would be on the short list. But this has already been done several times in the newer Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Terminator, and even Gladiator to either "youthify" actors or outright use dead ones in scene. I am sort of CGI'd-out with movies and seems the general public is swaying that way as well. Flashy effects for lack of acting/script is a terrible trade off IMO. There are so many classic movies I have never seen and is interesting to be pulled into the story/acting rather than outrageous visuals (maybe why they are "classics" 🙂).

5 hours ago, pseudopop said:

I can't remember the article, but I recall someone telling how they put a unique technical gadget up for sale on Amazon, and after only a few weeks, cheap Chinese copies started to pop up.

This one actually strikes a nerve for me, as I consult people often on how to protect IP. Could write a book on this one alone (and then have it stolen, of course), but an interesting anecdote: I once asked someone who works for the US Patent and Trademark Office, "How many cases do you have filed for patent infringements from China?" She replied, "That number is significant." So I said, "Now the punchline... What are you able to do about them?" I got the blank stare back and, "Pretty much nothing." The IP game shifts dramatically when certain players adhere to rules but others do not (and cannot be held accountable).

46 minutes ago, Flubb said:

I've spent most of the day dreading having to try and recreate this project so I'm very happy that is no longer necessary.

Just FYI, you are not going to lose the project data in a situation like this. If you are concerned about a project potentially becoming corrupted, you can still save it with a new name to keep them both (keep the original, and save with a new name after a glitch).

The Edit->Preferences->Audio->Playback and Recording is good to visit any time you are changing the hardware you are working with. This forces the application to look for what you are trying to use and will let you know if it is available or not. The ASIO mode will only allow one device to be active at a time, so if you disconnect that, Cakewalk has nothing to talk to until you shift modes/select another available device.

8 hours ago, pseudopop said:

Of course, you can't duplicate someone's voice and pass it off as the actual person performing, but if you clearly state that the voice is "Michael Jackson's AI sound-alike"

I think this is the real issue, as this is the intent of some. Essentially stealing someone's brand and profiting off that is a clear-cut no-no. I knew an engineer who almost bankrupted himself monitoring his patent (IP) to make sure no one stole it... the time/cost of monitoring a brand can be massive unless you are so popular the general public does it for you. Even that article I posted above bothers me because the very first line said "under her name," which made me assume it was her account (no idea). Such things for publicity stunts are not uncommon either.

Ironically, there was an old movie called "Looker" that had the premise of models/actors who looked GOOD, but couldn't model/act for crap. The "solution" was to get them to sign over rights to their "appearance" (often by being drugged), 3D capture them, then kill them off. Very eerie how  "far-fetched sci-fi" suddenly is falling into the realm of possibility (or already being done).

An interesting article was posted today about Jane Friedman finding fake books "written" by her being sold on Amazon (of all places). It will be interesting to see in the coming years how many artistic fakes get pedaled, and how that will be countered.

Has a new installer been posted? What caught me off guard was 16.08 installed and VST scanned, but I didn't open any projects because I was updating loads of crap in the process (the DAW had removed all Melda stuff in the background). Doing the clean up when re-installing 16.07 was funny because it said "Nothing to remove" at that stage.

I have to backpedal on this one, my apologies! 16.08 installed and scanned with the DAW, but I didn't dig into that deeper. Although all the registry entries took (why the scanner ran fine), the files installed for 16.08 did not. The actual files are, in fact, DOA so not sure if this is a cleanup glitch with the installer. I had to back out to 16.07 as well.

I didn't think about the update part. For things that are individually listed in the CCC, I would just run those installers and not the ones included with SONAR versions. The ones in the CCC are the "final" builds of software that evolved over the Platinum era and self-contained (if listed there).

Quick edit: I am "pretty sure" that the converse is also true... if you install DP 1.5, DP 1.2 will stop the installation and say a newer version is already installed.