Michael Richards

7 hours ago, Byron Dickens said:

No. The topic is the timeline for upcoming releases.

Okay, you can be right. Does it make you feel better?

The topic is the future of Cakewalk, so my concerns are considered hijacking to you?

I’ve been with Cakewalk since the early 1990s, the floppy disk years and hope I can stay with Cakewalk. I am very tempted to try my hand at scoring music for videos. I just can’t do it with Cakewalk. Not being able to move the video clip where I want it to go is a non-starter for me. It also feels sluggish.

Also, I wish there were more flexibility with the staff view. I’ve spent the last year working with piano roll, but it still isn’t a staff. If I write a complex chord sequence and work on fine tuning a melody or harmony I cannot look at a piano roll while it is moving and know what the heck it is going on.

I use about 6 Spitfire libraries and when I see their tutorials or other YouTube musicians using them they seem to have it easier accessing the multiple aspects of the libraries.

Lastly, my Korg nanokontrol is just a hunk of plastic. It works and then doesn’t work. People who use other daws don’t seem to have this issue.

All of these issues might just be me, but I don’t think so. I can’t seem to find any Cakewalk videos for advanced users. I feel a bit left out. This forum seems to be the only place for me to find answers. Seems like many pros use Cubase. Am I wrong? I appreciate the fact that Cakewalk is free and that there have been many updates, yet I don’t feel like Meng is aiming this product at pros, but is shooting for young users who are lured at the price of entry.

Well now, this is embarrassing. I always select All on Display on the bottom left, but my brain failed to compute the All on the top of the page.

22 hours ago, cldmrqs said:

Hey Lord Tim. Thanks for the follow up.

Nup, the Offset is off, there is no automation whatsoever on the master and yes the output of the master is going to the interface. The strange thing I realized taking the picture is that the True peak is .1. It is supposed to read -.9. I don't measure that in the session and the output is not clipped ever.

if I re-import the affected bounce, same result in the metering. It is not exactly 6dB as stated, because I am measuring LUFS but there is a noticeable difference. (see side by side pics). Does it help ?

Attached pictures.

Somebody help me. I don't have the cluster of 4 output and input gain and pan sliders, the stereo button, or the output 1+ button on my Master dialog box.

Also, my mixes are painfully low, but are peaking out in Cakewalk. What am I doing wrong.

Thank you, Michael

23 hours ago, bitflipper said:

Getting old sucks. Yeh, you have the benefit of experience and the ability to keep things in perspective. But damn, sometimes it hurts.

Earlier in the week I injured my back. I was taking a PA speaker down from a stand, packing up  for Saturday night's gig. Tripped. My only thought was "save the speaker". Which I did. It never hit the floor. But in making the save I performed a move that only a pro gymnast should ever attempt, a twist like a shot putter winding up, landing on the floor with the speaker on my chest. I felt a distinct ripping sensation in my back while I was going down. In breaking my fall I landed on my left hand, the one with the gimp finger that can't straighten without excruciating pain. Next morning, I couldn't walk.

I really didn't know if I'd be able to stand up and play, but I have never cancelled a gig. I have played with the flu. I have played the same week after having surgery. I have played on pain killers that made the room spin. But I've never not shown up for a gig.

Fortunately my bandmates helped me move the gear, and I set up close to a wall and was able to lean against it. Not the best posture for blazing solos, but it worked. We've been playing a lot of early gigs over the past year, like 6 to 9. I love getting to bed before midnight. But last night's gig was 9 to 12. The last song, a rocker that I sing,  took every ounce of energy I could muster and I was fully drained at the end. 

Fell into bed around 2:00 AM. Slept poorly. I dreamt I was in hospital after a car accident, woke up and thought "oh no, it wasn't a dream, it's real!" It wasn't, but it felt like it. Today I am shuffling around like I'm 100 years old and nodding off in a stupor from lack of sleep. It'll get better.

But how was the gig? I am reminded of the one-liner my Dad used to say: "Aside from that, Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play?"

It was a great gig. Packed house, enthusiastic audience, got as much in tips as the paycheck. The band was firing on all cylinders, tight and punchy. I was reminded of why I keep doing it.

I was a 5 night a week musician for years. I used to run a stereo guitar rig that included a Fender Dual Showman Reverb amp with a 2x15 cabinet. My back is shot and I need multiple epidurals every year and still can't walk around a NYC block. Two years ago I had 3 disks in my neck replaced. A god awful surgery. Don't have it unless it is life or death, as it was in my case. I still need another one, my left hand can't get around a guitar neck. What a mess. Yet, I write and record much more. Good at the music writing, still bad at the mixing and mastering.

I once played for a week with pneumonia. I was young and stupid, but the music was good.

Michael

On 1/12/2023 at 3:26 PM, bitflipper said:

MMCSS is a feature of the Task Scheduler, the part of Windows that decides what the CPU should be doing right this millisecond. Windows is constantly juggling multiple tasks, and it's up to scheduler to make sure that tasks that need handling right away get their shot while low-priority tasks don't get ignored. It's a tricky business, and entire books have been written about the subject (which I have read so you don't have to).

By default Cakewalk uses an MMCSS profile that favors audio. This could reduce dropouts and/or allow smaller buffers if you're pushing the CPU hard. You would only disable it if some non-audio issue cropped up as a result. For example, it can hurt network performance, but that's not going to be an issue for most DAW users.

Apparently, some ASIO drivers like to tweak thread scheduling themselves, which is why applying MMCSS to ASIO is optional.

 

I understand the task scheduling, but I ignorantly never looked up what MMCSS does. I'm going to spend some time with it unchecked to see if it interferes with ASIO and my RME interface with is quite nice for USB2. Just goes to show the value of good programming.

Michael

I've become a minor dpc latency internet legend. I have been hit hard by this annoyance. Every couple of weeks I make a change or 2 and have not had any stutters this new year. I've had a motherboard change and have used every NVIDIA graphics driver that was made for the 3060ti card. I've settled on the scenario that LatencyMon may detect a dpc latency but it does not seem to cause a stutter in recording and playback. That is great progress. I don't need Cakewalk running to experience my problems.

The most recent discovery was to go into Device Manager and go to USB controllers and then into Properties and Power Management. Uncheck Allow this computer to turn off this device to save power. I did this for all the USB items listed. It was a small help, but it did help. I wish there was a universal check box to completely turn off all power management and throttling. I'm still dealing with an issue concerning nvlddmkm.sys, thanks to the NVIDIA card problem. Sad to say I have contacted NVIDIA support several times and they never answered.

Michael

4 hours ago, scook said:

yes, see http://www.cakewalk.com/Documentation?product=Cakewalk&language=3&help=Arranging.48.html

Scook, thank you. I thought I knew a lot about take lanes. I am happy there is a solution to my problem.

Michael 

Is there a way to delete empty take lanes? I seem to collect them like the bad habit they are.

39 minutes ago, msmcleod said:

If you're using Melodyne as a RegionFX, then you're using ARA.  If you've got Melodyne in an effects bin, you're not.

Good, I use it as a RegionFX.

This is interesting. I use Melodyne everyday. How do I know if I’m in ARA mode? I thought it was automatically in ARA mode in Cakewalk.

Thank you, Will. I’m on my iPad right now. I will look over the plugins I am using. It might be several of the Neural DSP guitar plugins I am using.

I am using an RME UCX II, which has been very stable. I also disabled my anti-virus with no luck. It is a cat and mouse situation.

I have a relatively fast computer, 12th gen i7 chip, 32gb ram and several SSDs, yet after 30 seconds or 3 minutes (the times are not specific) I run into issues that usually occur when you try to run the latency very low. For many months I was running something like 4.4 ms, round trip. For some reason, the last month has been the computer has the hiccups. 

I have upped the round trip to 22 ms without any change, I have disabled the wireless adapter, and I have utilized that throttle app to make sure the CPUs run at full speed.

latency monitor keeps reporting issues, and for the most part they keep changing. Sometimes it has to do with the video card. I updated the video driver with no change.

does anybody have an idea what is going on?

Have you disabled your Wi-Fi adapter in Device Manager. It may not help in your situation but it definitely helps in reducing and even eliminating glitches and skips. I have what I believe a robust and fast computer, but when I use the Wi-Fi my computer is brought to its knees and I cannot go more than 20 seconds without the sound cutting out.

I worked hard to fix issues that Latency Monitor said was causing my issues. Have you used Latency Monitor? That said my problem was not identified with that program.

I noticed you have Melodyne open. That can slow down your project. One issue I found was that you can accidentally leave Melodyne clips open and you may not know about it. Make sure you render or remove the Melodyne clip when you are finished with it.

I'm about to give up. I get everything working. I put the computer to sleep. Nothing works. Then I get the Spitfire app to work, but Kontakt does nothing. I turn the computer off and nothing works. I then disconnect the nanoKontrol2, connect with cycle and set Marker pressed for 10 or so seconds and absolutely nothing works. When I open the Korg Kontrol Editor, the icon for the nanoKontrol2 appears and I connect with it. Still, nothing works

Just so you know the nanoKontrol's light is on and the Kontrol Editor recognizes it. When it was working, I was able to configure it to do almost everything I wanted it to do with multiple programs. Put the computer to sleep or turn it off and now nothing.

Am I missing something very basic. Even though I am able to control external synthesizers midi is a black hole for me. Any help is appreciated.

Spiffo, thank you.

So, with all your help I have things running.  Actually, for the first time I can remember, a Windows update didn’t cause issue but solved some of mine.

I kept restarting the computer without successful results and then a Win 11 update gave me control of the nanoKontrol.

something that bothers me in Kontakt is that when I stop the engine and it returns to my starting position the dynamics volume is set to 0. When I hit play the volume returns. Is there a way to stop this?

I deleted the Korg nanoKontrol in Device Manager. That helped. Now I move the sliders and things work.

What I still can’t figure out is Slider 2. It has a mind of its own. When I’m in Kontakt/Spitfire Solo Strings I want the second slider to control the vibrato. It is controlled by the 3rd slider. Slider 2 controls close and far mics. Shouldn’t I be to control that?

Thank you, msmcleod. Still not working, but there is slight progress.

I finally see the nanoKontrol in the ACT Midi controller. I have been holding down the Cycle Set buttons for 10 seconds. This time I did it for 20 seconds and it worked.

In the Utilities do I select default or Korg MicroKontrol, since there isn't a nanoKontrol?

I can't get any of the faders or rotary knobs to work in any midi programs. I followed your directions many times and still nothing is working. I tried midi learn and I tried without midi learn without success.

Reg, I read this page and it confused me.  I only want to use it as a midi CC controller.

BTW, I am using Win 11 Pro if that matters.  

When it comes to midi I either understand it right away or can never seem to figure it out. I just might be a MIDIdiot.

I have tried every possible method I can find in forums and in videos. Nothing is working. I don't even know if I'm in CC Mode. I need help right from the beginning. I've tried Mackie Control, MMcL Mackie Control #1, ACT, Generic surface. My goal is to control volume, expression and vibrato in various Spitfire programs. Some use Kontakt and other use Spitfire's own interface. That is probably not as important as just understanding the very basic step by step procedures.

If some people can help me, I would very much appreciate it.

Let me add one more issue. I use 2 monitors. The second one is for the staff, piano roll, or when melodyne opens. Well, that screen never changes to the new program.

Michael

I have a new computer running Win 11 for the last 6 or so weeks. I like to sometimes open a previous project while I am working on a new one. There are no issues opening them, but most of the time I see one project while the other is playing. In Win 7 it struggled to open 2 projects, but it always correctly displayed the playing  project.

I am using an RME UCX II at 4 ms roundtrip. If I reduce it to 12 ms things are a little better and I can changesto the correct project, but the cursor doesn't move.

Are any other people experiencing this issue and does it have something to do with latency? My hope was to be able to open multiple projects since I have 32 gb of ram with a 12th generation Intel i7 cpu.

Michael