mettelus

Quick FYI for folks... back when I got MPS 2, I had asked iZotope about the RX 7 Standard included with it, and if that qualified for the upgrade to RX 7 Advanced. They said that it did, and added the coupon to my account. This sale also applies to that coupon (same price sans discounts, if any) from the iZotope site, and wanted to let those with MPS 2/2.1 know in case they do not have that coupon in their account. That being said, I now have a question for the folks with RX 7 Advanced... after quick research on that I deflated my own GAS bubble (at no harm to anyone) by finding posts that say the only real advantage would be for video post-production, which I rarely do. iZotope's page isn't the greatest at a rough comparison between versions, so I am curious as to what the advantages are for RX 7 Advanced over Standard in the audio-only realm. Can anyone summarize this one? Although I have played with RX 7 a few times (stand-alone app), I still default to Adobe Audition 4 for Noise Reduction (which has been 90+% of my "need" in the past).

http://forum.cakewalk.com/m/tm.aspx?m=3392713&fp=1 Scroll down to "VSTInventory." That utility exports all installed VSTs to an Excel file. Edit: does text files too!

Just to clarify, the OP is seeking a limiter before the audio is committed to disk. Anything added after the A/D converter will not affect that.

They are the same. The LE is (Lite Edition), which was also offered as a Focusrite freebie a while back.

A great deal of the OP is managed through mic placement/technique more so than compressors/limiters. There is no reason to run input gain that hot (since it can easily be compensated for in the rest of the signal chain with enough S/N ratio, potentially with a noise gate at roughly -55 dB). As far as onboard DSP, which interface are you using? I know with Focusrite's the input has "FX (Anlg 1)" versus "Anlg In 1" for situations where you want to pass the FX through the unit to the DAW (without selecting the "FX" inputs, the signal is just what came into the unit). You might want to double-check the manual just to be sure.

Yes, info is here. "Note: When you enable Exclusive Solo mode, currently soloed tracks and buses are not affected until the next time you solo a track or bus."

The only potential concern with USB is phantom power if the interface is USB powered (some have noted this to be weak), but an interface also allowing external power seemed to rectify it. In all other respects, a USB interface can handle your needs and some include a software mixer with the unit, so the Mackie mixer shouldn't be necessary (as long as phantom power is good). I am still running FireWire so cannot speak to specific USB units, but for 4 preamps, there are several in your price range.

Try using Ripple Edit. Cakewalk invested a lot of time into that function for that specific purpose.

This was mentioned briefly earlier, but do not underestimate FX chains on things you already own. The original z3ta+ has two dlls (one can be used as an audio FX), amp sim chains, ProChannel FX chains, et. al. If running through a synth, cutoff and resonance parameters will do a lot to a sound, even without diving into the guts of the rest. A starting sound may be fairly generic, but you can often tailor it to something rather useful with the proper FX chain behind it.

This also requires a larger keyboard to use properly. I realized this (again) after downloading, since I also play guitar primarily and only leave a 32-key controller out full time. The program would be useful for composition, but most effective with a controller that spans all of the inputs (in addition to the comments above).

Some of the issues may lie in your Windows Sound Control Panel settings. As mentioned above, setting Windows to use the Realtek as the default device, will make it leave the Scarlett alone. The issue is that for ASIO, only one program can control it, and if it is at a different sample rate than another program wants to use, then it will not play back. On boot, *if* the Scarlett is the default device, Win10 will take control of it, and may assign it (lock it) to some internal playback, which can effectively can "lock it out" on you. The Realtek/Windows combo works well to playback just about everything, you just cannot record decent audio with it. This is an old post talking about how to set up the Realtek as the Windows default with another Audio Interface available (Saffire and Scarlett can be interchanged). *IF* you have the 1903 version of Win10, you need an extra step to drill into the sound control panel (Sound Settings->Sound Control Panel (in the upper right)). Prior to that "Sound Settings" alone opened the control panel right off.

I suspect this is your solution. In preferences, if you select ASIO as your driver mode, CbB can only see the Scarlett at that point (which is highly preferred). If you are getting playback through the onboard chip, you must have a different driver mode running. This is setup via CbB preferences... On a cell here, so can detail later if you cannot find that, but is in preferences, near the top left under the audio section.

It has been updated. First time ever I had "download shock" 😀 Would need another drive to store that much too!

FYI - there is a typo in the main header on the Deal 1 page that reads "820GB DOWNLOAD SIZE"... it should be 82GB. Edit: Has been updated.

This "deal" made me chuckle... Black Friday is just around the corner, a little patience is good this time of year...

I think this is the most important part of your question. Unless you have a grotesque workflow gap, another DAW (any DAW) may throw a learning curve at you that will impact production (for a period). SOP includes instruments and plugins that are useful, but not necessarily useful for everyone, and I think the proficiency with whichever DAW can benefit more (sometimes with 3rd party stuff thrown in). Bottom line is really your personal preference. With Artist you can certainly judge if you like the workflow or not, then go from there. I bought SOP the Christmas before the "Great Debacle of 2017" (best deals for cross grades are typically the holidays), and use that more these days; but I do swap back to CbB for "sheer speed" at times, yet there are niggles in both. I have found if you spread proficiency too thin, you will start to lose it everywhere, so that is something to keep in mind as well. Unless there is a "must have" in there someplace, sticking with what works for you isn't necessarily a bad thing.

To my knowledge, the cwp file structure has never been published (and probably never will be), but I assume that the class structure is consistent over time with the only "break point" being when Patch Points/Aux Tracks were introduced. CWPs with those included will not open in older versions of SONAR, but everything else will (with the warning that the cwp was created in a newer version of SONAR). I misspelled @azslow3's user ID so just corrected it in the post above. He had drilled into the cwp structure enough to make a conversion tool for projects to another DAW, so if I was going to bank on anyone who would know the class breakdown, it would be him.

Some of that work was done in a utility called Project Scope a few years ago. The author might be available if you want to add on to it. Azslow3 is another member who did similar work towards translating cwp files to another format and might be another resource for you.

The generic smart phone ear buds would just need an adapter (3.5mm to 1/4") to use with an interface. Foam buds are roughly $5 and the adapter should be around $3.

Iris 2 is a bit more powerful than it appears at first glance. It is worth downloading the content for and learning. The front end (sample space) alone will let you import samples/captures, define regions to use, tailor the spectral content, and define the root note on the keyboard (which adjusts global playback speed). You can independently do 4 layers this way, and that is all before you get to the rest of the synth. If you isolate/pull samples you want to use, you have most leads you would want already in Iris 2.

MDrummer Small was the free version of Melda's MDrummer... last updated for version 6, but still available to use. If you get that, be sure to download the "Essentials" pack under "MDrummer Packs" on the left. I am not sure if the Studio Packs will play in MDrummer small (I assume they do not); but if they do, there is a lot of extra material there. It has a pretty nifty "Generate" button for both kits and grooves that is useful to jam with.

It would also help if the OP could shed some light on your expectations and what exactly you are trying to achieve. Notion is essentially a stand-alone DAW, but is not MIDI as much as it is a scoring tool. I want to clarify that point, since you cannot dig into the MIDI information like you can in Studio One or CbB. Depending on what you want to achieve, it can be convenient in that you can score to VSTs (Notion is a DAW host) then port that information into Studio One (for MIDI editing), and it will also port in the VSTs/presets as it does. If you are hoping to drill into MIDI information on a staff view, you will probably be disappointed. When you said "MIDI scoring" I just wanted to clarify the above for you. If your purpose is to compose via staff view, it is worth doing a trial of both Studio One and Notion to understand it better. You can also download the user manuals prior to the trial, so you can maximize the trial period for evaluation (both can be complex, so this will allow you to focus your trial time without fumbling around too much). Also, if you have SONAR X2 or better, there is a standing cross-grade to Studio One, and that goes on sale during the holidays (sometimes with Notion included), so can "usually" pick them both up for somewhere around $200-225ish if you wait for that sale. Quick Edit: Notion is also hard-coded to tap into Garritan Personal Orchestra, but was done for version 4, if you have GPO5, you need to actually insert the ARIA Player to score with it (same VST addition you need to make for everything else). BUT... Notion actually has a very robust stock set of sounds native to it that you can quickly score with (no VST addition required)... you can do this, port to Studio One, then feed those MIDI tracks into other soft synths within Studio One. If you trial Notion, there are some demo (classical) scores you can download that rely on the stock sound bank.

Here is a nice post bitflipper made 6 years ago. Nicely written, and still applicable. The old forum has a lot of nice insight which you can still search in Google by preceding a search with "site:forum.cakewalk.com" (no quotes), which will lock the search to a given site (can do it for any site that way).

Much is personal preference, but the advantage of 3rd party (especially the ones that will internally chain and save the preset) can be used in any DAW. Not that the chains are better, but portability options are if you have that scenario.

This link would be worth looking at, as well as other comparisons. You would not be getting much "real-world" improvement (+1%) for the cost, and they are both listed as "2nd of 1182" for speed (I found that odd, but may be a typo). More real-world feedback... I upgraded from a 2600K to an 8700K last year and the improvement in the machine was not so much the CPU as the system architecture. Neither CPU was really taxed unless doing video or encryption (two processes that will fully max out a CPU to its limits). For DAW purposes, you wouldn't see much benefit if any from that extra money spent. As you noted, audio processing is linear, so you can run smaller buffer sizes with certain plugins, but the ones that are heavy on the CPU may not get any improvement from threading since they are going to govern the whole buffer queue. Bottom line, a lot of computer "limitations" can be countered with efficient workflows, and the heaviest CPU hits will most often come from synths. If they come from FX, I would be a bit leery about them. DAWs are not that stressful to a computer system.