StudioNSFW

I am told and have read that a Windows 7 CD key can be used to install Win10 to this day. So long as you have your old CoA sticker on your system that number should still work. 

Installer available here: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10ISO

Is the drive external? And how is it formatted?

Bruce Springsteen - Thunder Road

The singular best engineered album ever. Clarence Clemmon's sax brings me to my knees...

BOUNCE THAT SUCKER.

Sample rate is sample rate, and this is digital, no generation loss in making a copy so long as resolution remains constant.  If it ends up on a CD it will eventually be transcoded down to 44.1/16, and much lower for web friendly formats. 

And yes, less CPU load and storage load.  Once it is one big .wav it is a "a Large file contiguous read" from the storage (those are the best kind)  and will be smoother, and the CPU isn't having to keep track of X number of things.

The VS-100 has its own ASIO drivers, and midi ports .- absolutely no need for ASIO4ALL here. And as an Audio interface, it is super capable.  I used mine for years before the big upgrade, still love the little beast for "Live to 2 track" nights. I am going to assume that the VS-100 is installed correctly, and that it is NOT in .wav recorder mode. Transport lights and fader should all be working if it is installed correctly.

Make sure ASIO Driver is selected, and input/output device is the VS-100 . Just enable all I/O ports, my VS-100 is dead silent if nothing is plugged in on all channels. 

Assuming 5 pin cables going from VS-100 to keyboard, It *should* just require selecting the VS-100 as an available input, and the keyboard as an input and output in the Midi devices section.  I know that works with my Ghettofabulous M-Audio Keystation that way anyways except the M has no need for input. 

Next is routing the midi signal to the VS instrument. That ought to be just setting the right channels or turning everything to Omni if you don't need to break out parts on the input of your midi track (you need minimum of 2 tracks - one midi, one audio).   Outputfor midi will go to your VST installed in the synth rack. Then you need an associated Audio track, input is that same synth, output is whatever buss you need it to land on.

Thunderstruck - Steve 'n' Seagulls

Because the world needs more Finnish Acoustic ACDC covers. 

20 hours ago, Kurre said:

The reason i'm negative to win 10 is multitude.

Expand your thinking.

With CakewalkbyBandlab, which i like. is this movement towards an extremely small niche for a daw.

A daw that is to be not solely windows only, but windows with the version 10 only.

PS. To give back something positive i propose to the developers:

Fork the software.

Release todays version of CbB as free software. Remove the update and authentication from it and give it a slightly other name. Copy Reapers way with a notification in the center when started. But have it to be manually exited so people can take their own time to read it carefully.

The notification should state that it is released as is and are never going to be updated or supported. If they want updates and support they have to use CbB instead.

In that way you can continue to develop CbB as usual and still have win 7 and 8.1 users contribute to the community.

PPS. Music hardware seems to be of good quality. Folks take them out from their storage and fire them up without a problem 30 years later. People like that nowadays, reuse things and not throwing them away. But you need the old software to still be around to be able to use lot of the old hardware.

A big +1 here! 

I've been chewing on the upgrade to Win 10 but, in the middle of a big project is not time to change horses.  Even upgrading to the new release adds a new major feature (arranger) which means that there is a greater risk in upgrading in that projects will no longer open in my safety net, my paid for and damned expensive X3 install. I would be happy as a clam with a perpetual and frozen version of the software.  All software eventually suffers from scope creep as new features get bolted on and backward compatibility suffers.

Will I be forced to accept an upgrade eventually to re-activate?  

I just looked at the Creative Labs site -and the old software is there for the Live! and Audigy cards. Maybe possible to extract the sounds from either Wavstudio or the driver installer itself?

https://support.creative.com/Products/ProductDetails.aspx?catID=1&subCatID=205&prodID=149&prodName=Audigy 2&subCatName=Audigy&CatName=

The Audigy was such a great device for the price!

Am I a weirdo that I really, really prefer a trackball? Takes up less room on a desktop than a mousepad, is always in the same spot when I reach for it, 4 buttons so "copy" and "paste" get their own... And back when I played games on a PeeCee - better accuracy for fragging.

I recommend the Kensingtom Expert Mouse trackball:

https://www.kensington.com/p/products/control/trackballs/expert-mouse-wired-trackball/

You can find them for around $60-$70 typically. 

Big Bottom - Spinal Tap

Saw them live in 1984 at the Stone in San Francisco. I remember them doing the band intro during this song:

On the Bass- Derek Smalls!

On the Bass - Nigel Tufnel!

On the Bass - David St Hubbins!

On the Bass Synthesizer - Viv Savage!

Depending on your interface, consider giving a couple of tracks to a guitar and using a simple line level DI box to split the signal- first side from your instrument going straight to the interface with nothing in between, will let you get a clean signal for later experimentation, and the other side going to all yer stomp boxes,  effects rack, small kitchen appliances, etc and then on to the amp for monitoring and eardrum busting, with a proper mic and placement to capture  the kidney quiverin' tone emitting from it.  Much more flexible and frankly easier way to go than  re-amping which is more like using your AMP in the effects loop (sorta...).  Use two tracks, one DI, one a miced amp, and go to town.  In the mix you can now blend the level of the effect up and down in relation to the DI track and keep the fundementals , or you can push the DI track through whatever digital effects you want.  

I do keys (I mike the room) and bass the same way.  Especially Bass.  

You can run Windows OS inside a Mac as a virtual machine. On my (several) Macs, there are a couple of tools that are strictly windows only and so I have a special VM named "Toolbelt"

VMWare Fusion is the best platform for this. 

I haven't tried virtualizing a Windows machine for CbB, but come to think of it, it would be a good way to test fly the VS-700 driver hack for Windows 10 without committing my rock-solid Win7 system irreversibly.  I would think the virtualization layer would introduce just enough additional latency to make it wonky for day to day use in live tracking, but for a file conversion that does not matter. 

Keep in mind your Mac needs to have enough Oomph to run both OSX and Win-doze at the same time.   An old Mac Book Air just weeps uncontrollably when I try to use Fusion in it.

Be aware of the legal ramifications of such software...

He's smiling and looking up from the fingerboard?

That is a even  better answer - My workflow is how I work from scratch, but if a project already exists, that sounds way easier.  

So that's what *I* learned today. Going to bed now.

build a template with your preferred settings/  I/O etc. I usually will take the first session for a given project ,  do a "Save As" to clone it, then delete the audio data and envelopes.  

Save it AS A TEMPLATE.

Rather than starting a new project, start from that template.  All projects for a given album typically will start with that same template, and each Album or EP ends up with a template associated with it. 

Yup, there it is. I'd expect it to me more consistent but if the keyboard can only produce 12 voices at a time..including any notes that should be sustaining - eventually overtones and etc will just disappear.

I don't think you are doomed...but might look for a software synth and learn to drive that from your keyboard instead of using the built in synth (use your keyboard as a controller) . Or, alternately, use this as the reason to upgrade to that new workstation/synth you've been lusting after.

Rhiannon - Fleetwood Mac

"A song about a Welsh Witch"

What level of Polyphony does your keyboard have?  Some older stuff is limited. My ancient Bass synth has ONE voice, so a second note will cancel the first.  Max polyphony I have seen is 128 voices, which you'd think would be  plenty if just using one instrument, but can be an issue once drums, strings etc all start being asked to play too.

look for a pop up window behind the main window...you're almost there...

As a last gasp if you REALLY want/need  Sonar 7, you might take a look on ebay - some old copies float around for about $20.00 more than the new freeware.  Obvioulsy make sure your virus scanner is up to date and scan thouroughly before kicking off the installer .exe

There is a difference between "Does it work?" and "Is it supported?".  

The newest version DOES still work in Win 7, but Bandlab is not doing any QA or support against a vendor obsoleted and vendor unsupportted  OS.  So, someday it probably  really won't work.

Someone recently posted a great article on gain staging. I'd read this thing through a couple times as it underscores the differences in working in Digital Audio in general...

https://www.soundonsound.com/techniques/gain-staging-your-daw-software

The good news is that your incoming tracks look to be just fine.

If you just want to increase volume, grab the gain knob for that track and crank 'er up. 

What is the difference between a drum machine and a live drummer?

You only have to punch the tempo into a drum machine one time...

For the hardware, unless it is something special/sought after just donate it or throw it in the e-waste bin at the dump. If there are any hard drives in the pile, Destroy them and throw them in e-waste. I use a 2 lb ball peen hammer which is very satisfying and effective.  Computer hardware and peripherals lose value so fast it's stupid. If those LAN cards are not 1GbE minimum, no one wants them, and a shiny new one is ten bucks. 

For the software, personally, I'm the kind of guy that would archive all the serial numbers and make images of all the disk images and store them against the day I or anyone else ever needed that software again.  I have a whole directory of "Abandonware" where the software vendor suddenly went foom and the software was no longer available.  I personally wouldn't worry about the games unless there is a real favorite, but I still use and can reinstall stuff from software vendors that have long since went TITSUP.  In fact, just last week I installed Cakewalk Sonar X3...

Clever and that makes sense.