Bill Phillips

Thanks Jim. What about USB audio interfaces with a Thunderbolt hub?

You can do that, but it can't be the system drive as is. Starting with the operating system, Windows, then drivers, then applications (Cakewallk, plugins, etc), all software must be installed on the system drive of the computer. A system drive from one computer can not be installed, as is, and become the system drive of another computer.

Anyone using the CalDigit TS4 or other hub to allow them to use their laptop as a desktop DAW replacement? I read an article by a ProTools Expert describing how he's now able to use his Macbook Pro in clam shell mode and a CalDigit TS3 as his in studio DAW workstation and wondered how practical that would be. According to another post, it might even allow me to plug in my MOTU 828 mk2 firewire using an Apple TB2 to FW converter. All too good to be true? What are the limitations of a powerful laptop when compared to a desktop as a DAW? I also took a quick look at the Dell XPS13 which cost $2,400 tricked out and noticed that it has (2) TB4 ports and supports NVMe, OpenGL 3.0 & 4.6 and has 20 threads which seems impressive. On the down side. It has 20 PCIe lanes whereas my existing i7 6850k has 40. Don't know how important that is.

Plugins that don't have an installer (.dll, ,vst3 file extensions) can probably be copied from and pasted into the proper folders on different computers. The download files (.zip, .exe, .msi, etc. extensions) can probably be copied from and pasted into install folders on different computers, but the installers must be run on the receiving computer but that's not what I would do. I like to keep plugins up to date. So, even for the dlls and vst3s, I'd visit the source website and download the plugin or installer file from there to get the latest version on the new computer.

I used to do that but found that I'd randomly and inadvertently move input gain knobs without noticing until later causing a lot of consternation. So I began hiding the track input gain controls and using gain plugins as well and have the same problem as @Victor Flores particularly on duplicated tracks. But this discussion has got me rethinking that. Maybe I can keep the input gain controls hidden in all workspaces except for a gain-staging workspace that I use solely for gain staging. And for duplicated tracks I can use the assignable controls Groups suggestion from @msmcleod for input gain controls and other controls I tweak on duplicated tracks.

Thanks Jorge.

It's good to know that there's one expert user out there who has all the answers. Consider starting your own DAW company to fully share that expertise. 😄

Thank you very much. I must be missing something. I'm going to dig into it further using your suggestions. Thanks again.

Thanks for the perspective Mark. My reason for wanting to get the Firewire working is to to use my MOTU 828 mkII to have 26 inputs available in case I need it on occasion. My Focusrite Scarlett 18i8 is limited to 18 inputs. But I admit that Firewire's days are numbered; but so are mine.🤔 That said, the last time I was able to use my Firewire 828 mkII for mixing (no inputs and only the main outputs) it seemed to work smoothly with the sample buffer at 256 samples. When it quit working, probably due to an update, I switched the same project over to the 18i8 gen1 with the sample buffer maxed out at 1024 and was still getting dropouts. I know that Focusrite was having USB ASIO problems with the Scarlett early on. I wonder if the gen 1 Scarlett line may have some inherent problems that couldn't be solved with firmware or software updates but were were solved for gen 2 & 3 units.

Is this article any help? I had my firewire stuff working fine maybe 6 months ago then it stopped. I haven't gotten back around to troubleshooting it, but the last time I did I think the article at the link above was useful. Also, I remember some guidance on a blog from a musician that worked for Microsoft being useful, but I can't find that. I have a SYBA SY-PEX30016 firewire card. Unlike @bitflipper I've gone through a number of firewire cards, but sounds like that may have been a waste of money.

I'm using a 3840x1600 37" curved display and really like it. I chose 37" because that's what fits between my monitors. Now that I have it, I'm thinking it's a good fit for me. I usually have my Cakewalk window at about 2/3 of the screen horizontally and nearly 100% vertically leaving about 1/3 of horizontal space for plugin popups and other apps. I'd probably need to move my head around to use all the space on a larger display.

Thanks. I just did that then looked at the CBS log which shows some activity in addition to the beginning/ending messages. Looks like it also ran last evening with a lot more activity starting with Initializing Trusted Installer and a lot of TiWorker activities. Could be from updates installed yesterday. I think I was done with PC for the day when this all happened. Looks like this activity picked up again when I booted the PC this morning and continued for about 15 minutes probably in the background. I don't think I noticed it.

Bye. 👋

Not so. You may be making assumptions based on your experience with another DAW. Like Will said, all DAWs have their own vocabulary. There are good tutorials showing you how to create a new project in Cakewalk and avoid the problems you're describing.

How do you find ASIO drivers? I have two I know of Focusrite and MOTU but neither are identified under Control Panel > Programs and Features. I searched Programs and Features for ASIO and found none. I have 390 programs installed.

Don't forget ASIO.😂

Sorry, I haven't used SPAN for a while but I'll guess based on my memory (almost always a bad idea): Inputs 1&2 are the stereo input to the track the that SPAN is plugged into, in your case I'd suggest the MY MIX or REFERENCE tracks. You don't need a SPAN bus, but, if you want to create a SPAN stereo bus, route the send from either your REFERENCE or MY MIX tracks to the input of the SPAN bus. Yes, that should work if you keep the STEREO BUS. See 2 above. Yes, either that or 3. Only one should be available. SPAN I didn't use factory presets but recall that they worked pretty well Internal SPAN routing was always confusing (trial and error) for me, but in the end it worked. Ditto group assignments. Sounds like you were happy with the results. So call it done.

I'd suggest you search YouTube. I've seen a couple of really good YouTube videos showing how to setup span for mixing and mastering but it's been a while.

I use both the PDF & ofline HTML versions a lot. I seldom use the website because of the (cumbersome to me) Google search tool. The offline HTML is the easiest for me to navigate and the PDF is the easiest to search.

PC (ProChannel) is also visible in Console View and has a couple of nice compressors. PC also has a bunch of presents to audition if you choose to use them.

I definitely considered that but decided it's not the problem. It hasn't stuck with any other keyboard shortcuts. I use Windows keyboard shortcuts frequently. So I think I'd be seeing other examples.

What did I do to, apparently, activate Windows Speech Recognition? Starting a couple of days ago while working in Cakewalk the "Welcome to Speech Recognition" dialog shown in the screenshot popped up when I used the CTRL + S attempting to save the project I was working on. I may have preceded the CTRL + S with another keyboard shortcut my mistake. The Spacebar Play/Stop keyboard shortcut quit working at the same time. For a while I couldn't use either CTRL + S to save or Spacebar to Play/Stop. Since then it happens nearly every time I'm using Cakewalk. The keyboard shortcuts CTRL + S and Spacebar work as they should for a while until the "Welcome to Speech Recognition" dialog opens for CTRL +S. I'm positive that I'm not pressing Win + CTRL + S when this happens. Also, the Spacebar Play/Stop shortcut doesn't always stop working. Eventually both commands begin working again. It's as if Cakewalk has lost the focus and clicking on it or in it doesn't restore the focus for some time. Things I've done that haven't solved the problem I've verified that "Run Speech Recognition at startup" is not ticked. I'll open Task Manager and cancel Speech Recognition which has sometimes seemed to persist after I've closed the "Welcome to Speech Recognition" dialog is closed.

Have you tried 100% scaling? I have a 38" 3840x1600. I use it at 100% scaling and have no trouble with legibility or blurriness in Cakewalk or anything else. I'm guessing that the text size would be a little smaller on a 32" but it may not be noticeable.

Thanks for clarifying. I needed that:)

No. Thank you that's what I needed. I somehow went to a Project5 Technotes site instead. I don't even know how I did that. Thanks again.