Michael Richards

Honestly, do people have to jump on one another. This isn't a barroom, yet some people come for a fight. It is absolutely ridiculous that posts get hijacked by some who only know how to bully other members' thoughts. This recently took place in the post about the new Next and Sonar products. I use Cakewalk to produce music. I use the forum to help me make this music. Usually, bullies aren't very good at anything except being bullies, so I am taking a leap that they aren't very good musicians. Bring down someone else since you can't bring much to the table. I don't want to shame these people, but maybe (very discretely) they need to be put in a time out for a couple of months. There are some people here who I think are quite brilliant, fine thinkers, technology experts, and superb musicians. I'd rather hear from them.

Still on the workflows topic, I would really like you guys to produce some of your own videos on tips, tricks, and better ways to streamline the workflow process. As it is I am sure there are many ways of doing things that I don't do because I am writing music and (for me) writing music consumes all my brain power. I learn almost everything I know from this forum, but videos speak in volumes.

Here's a workflow issue I would like resolved. I'll be working on one track and then select a clip in a different track and go to ProChannel only to realize I never actually went to the new track. If I select the track on the track number it always does what it is supposed to do. I would like the ability to activate whichever track I am working on, even if I don't select it on the number.

If you add Repeat, I will buy it. I’ll probably buy it anyway, but so many times I would like to repeat many things that I wonder why we don’t have that function. It would make my workflow much quicker. A quick example would be lowering or raising the pitch of a midi file in one instrument and then selecting any other midi clip and selecting Repeat without having to go into Transpose. Same thing wit an audio clip. Same thing with quantizing. Say you apply a specific delay for a guitar track and want to apply that very specific delay to a piano track. Repeat can do this.

I like the Next logo quite a bit. The Sonar logo needs help. It has no flare and makes me think my music will turn out rigid, not flowing. Also, look how cool the blue of Next is compared to Sonar's orange that looks like all the color was drained out of it.

I agree. As much as I like free and paid for a lifetime of Cakewalk, I am sure I will purchase Sonar. As a side note, I always felt Cakewalk sounded like a grade school program and Sonar had the sound of some hip high-tech professional program only the hip could people use. I use 2 monitors, one being 4K, and can’t wait to really see what Sonar in 4K will look like, especially since I use orchestral programs that add up and I’m constantly scrolling up and down the page. Also, I am a big Noel fan and have great trust in him. He’s a smart man and plays a mean guitar. Michael

Okay, I like this method the best, even though it took a good amount of my brain power to understand it. So, thank you Mark and Xoo for coming in 2nd place in this confusing process. Can you streamline this by combining steps 2 and 4 and then follow with steps 3, 5, and 6? Michael

I'm away from my little studio, but I will give this a try. I think this will solve my problem. Unfortunately, it is not a snap-your-fingers process. My tracks are always a combination of midi instruments and wave files and sometimes the wave files are guitars that utilize a guitar vst like neuraldsp. I don't want to freeze all these tracks before combining. Thank you, Michael

I need to combine tracks of one project with another project. I’ve done this in the past, but I don’t think it was the best method possible. Any thoughts on this? michael

If I have a vocalist come in and record I always run those tracks through Melodyne. Sometimes it really doesn't need it except for the fact that every song seems to be Auto-tuned. I then take that singer's track and either copy it to a new lane (this seems the most efficient method) or copy it to another track and mute both. My computer is fairly powerful so I don't have a problem putting a 4 minute track into Melodyne. I select the Correct Pitch Macro and slide both pitch and drift to 100% and give it a good listen before I keep it. I didn't do this for many years, but for some reason it works wonderfully. If it doesn't work I just grab notes in Melodyne and start making adjustments, that's when I get lost in the whole thing and realize the sun is rising again. I am always open to better ways of working with Melodyne. So, I am all ears.

I think I had the Roland SC-55. I had it in my Gateway 486 computer. That is how I started with Cakewalk. I thought it sounded great and filled me with dreams of glory. If I could only go back 30 years with the equipment and knowledge I have today. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work that way.

I see a few of us are in the same age bracket and have similar Cakewalk and tape deck experiences. My 3340S sits proudly in my studio, but it doesn't work. I had to put it in storage for 4 years because I moved from state to state to state (and almost London and Sydney) and when I finally settled down it just refused to work. I read that not using it for years is a major cause for this. I also read that repairs are expensive. I also have a Pioneer reel to reel that sadly doesn't get used much. I also started with Cakewalk with Windows 3.1 and have been recording with Cakewalk for 30 years. Unfortunately, I have weak electronic and programming skills, but I can write music which is what it is all about for me.

Did you apply clip automation (volume or pan) to that track or lane? If so, you have to change the clip automation back to clips.

Mark, I did create a new user account and Cakewalk did not open in that account, either. Strange that it opened in the admin account considering that I witnessed with my own eyes (in Windebug) that the ACT controller was clearly crashing it. I never knew of Windebug, before. What a hip little program. Michael

Noel is a class act. Smart guy and a fine jazz guitarist. That alone would have put him in my high regard. I know my wishes for Cakewalk are a bit "pie in the sky" but I still wish for better video implementation and staff editing. A guy can dream. I am on several forums and none have a Noel. If you ever join a beta team and your app is dead in the water and nobody responds to the problem you quickly learn the value of a Noel. Michael

I spent the last 2 days totally confused as to why Cakewalk would not start. Many of you gave great instructions to solve the problem, but nothing worked. Finally, I had to call on Noel. He got under the hood and discovered the ACT controller was corrupt and would not let Cakewalk open. He pulled a rabbit out of his hat and now my world is a much better place. I owe him a great deal of thanks. Cheers to Noel! Michael

Who can I go to with this problem? Cakewalk will not start. With Win 11 opened in Admin, Cakewalk will open With Windows opened in my account, Cakewalk screen will come on and then Cakewalk closes My account, by every measure I can tell, operates as administrator I need Cakewalk to work, I need it for my job. Michael

Mark, thank you for that very detailed response. I followed you directions and all looks good. The system did not restart when I pressed the Check button. I used Microsoft Defender and the system is clean. Scannow did not find any issues. But, I ran a Scannow earlier today and it did find an issue (I forget what it was) and then fixed the problem. Scannow does not find a problem. Cakewalk still doesn't start. Thank you, Michael

Awhile back Noel had a thread about a redistributable installer. I installed that,cleaned the registry, and restarted the computer. It didn’t work. I went into regedit and deleted more than 30 remaining bits of the Korg nanoKontrol. That didn’t work, either. If I uninstall Cakewalk can I save any of my settings and/or plugins? I have to get this to work.

Also, I am no longer getting Create Process failed; code 740.

Right now I don't care about the nanoKontrol, I just need to use Cakewalk.

User and Mark, if I change to the admin account on my computer I can start Cakewalk. Unfortunately, other programs like RME TotalMix are nowhere to be found. I went back to my regular account and still can't open Cakewalk. I have removed all the Korg software and unplugged the USB. Am I missing something? Michael

Okay, I tried everything I could find. Most of the items to change were already there. Nothing worked. I have disabled anti-virus, deleted all Korg nanoKontrol items, changed Cakewalk folder properties to Full, user account all set up as administrator. It was already setup as open as administrator. I have restarted the computer many times. Why did this happen after I restarted windows after setting up the Korg software? BTW, I have had that software installed several times before without it causing this problem.

User, thank you. I was so frustrated that I forgot to Google the problem.

Installed Korg nanoKONTROL2 software now Cakewalk will not install. I even reinstalled December's Cakewalk and tried to open as administrator and it will not open. I received this error code: Create Process failed; code 740. The requested operation requires elevation. I had been using Cakewalk for 2 hours without a problem but I needed to see if nanoKontrol2 would work. I'm using Spitfire Solo Strings and I need to control attack and vibrato. What should I do? Thank you, Michael