Craig Anderton

@gswitz - thanks for the name check The tip was originally about creating perfect pad loops, but it would apply here. I searched for the Sonar Friday Tip of the week that described this, but couldn't find it. However, I did "recycle" the tip for my Studio One blog, and I think it's obvious how this would apply to Cakewalk - it's just waveforms.

And let's give BandLab a round of applause for continuing to keep the servers accessible for those of us who've been loyal to the program.

Where you don't do a fast bounce. In other words, if a song takes 2:30, then the bounce process will take 2:30. and the song will play through (and you'll be able to hear the sound during the bounce if you want). Might be worth a try and see if you still have the same problem.

Are you doing a real-time or non-real-time bounce?

They may be getting into an argument about who's the master clock. If the 20x20 is the master, but the Joe Meek is feeding it, then maybe the 20x20 is expecting the Joe Meek to be the master. You say that the 20x20 doesn't receive SPDIF, but ADAT is working as expected. Does that mean that you are running ADAT in to the 20x20 as well as ADAT out to the Yamaha? And, you also have Word Clock connected, so you have three digital audio clocking protocols in play. I'm taking a guess here because I don't know all the details, but maybe simplifying the setup is the solution. Try using the Joe Meek SPDIF as the master, sync the 20 x 20 to it, sync the Yamaha to the 20 x 20 via ADAT, and see if that works.

Even if it's not 100% effective, smaller clips work much better - so then you only have to clean up some of it manually.

Just an FYI...if it misbehaves, try using smaller clips for synching.

I use both Cakewalk and Studio One. Which version of Studio One are you using? Version 5 added dedicated keyswitching and poly aftertouch editing, if your issues relate to those. I've yet to run across an instrument that won't play in Studio One if it can play in Cakewalk.

Based on data mining, for a couple months I was being pitched to as if I was a black person, living in Ghana, who buys mostly through zZsounds and needs cat food. I am also apparently interested in dating African-American single women...all because I spent a significant amount of time on Ghana-based forums while researching the country's possibilities as a good vacation place, bought some cat food for a neighbor while she was sick, and was looking up "street" prices for gear I was reviewing. I guess they also assume that being a "black person from Ghana" but apparently spending some time in the US, I therefore must be lonely, and sufficiently prejudiced that I'm interested in meeting only women who are black. (Never mind that I'm not single.) So I think their algorithms may need some work

The choice seems quite situational to me. With rock drums, I almost always use a convolution room because our ears are acclimated to hearing drums in a room. For acoustic projects, I'm more into algorithmic reverb (and I do like Breverb a lot) because its potential for delicacy works well with the delicacy of acoustic instruments.

One last comment: How many on this forum, or using Cakewalk, had heard of or used BandLab before the company acquired Cakewalk? Anyone? Now, look up the typical cost of customer acquisition. Divide what BandLab paid for Cakewalk by the number of people who now know about BandLab AND the associated companies. In the immortal words of the late Herman Cain, "I don't have facts to back this up," but I suspect that BandLab did very well on customer acquisition costs and publicity. It's not their fault if being smart benefits us.

Having more Acoustical reverb is a super-complex phenomenon. Back in the days of limited memory and crude algorithms, it was common to put two digital reverbs in series or parallel to smooth out the sound. Even though reverbs have gotten so much better, that's still an effective technique. As to convolution, I understand the "sterile" reference but you can also take advantage of that by taking it to an extreme, and creating hyper-perfect reverbs that are to reverb as CGI is to photographs. I've synthesized a bunch of impulses not in order to create realistic sounds, but to create spaces that don't exist in the physical world. They're what I use as go-to vocal and drum reverbs in my more electronic productions, because they fit in with the overall vibe well. Here's a demo video of what they sound like. In addition to the sounds at the intro, the sound of the different reverb characters starts at about 1:00.

Bingo. Ever hear of someone named Bob Dylan? He hardly made any money for Columbia, but I bet you've heard of him. He brought serious cachet to the label. I've met the guy who owns BandLab. He knows not just the price of things, but the value of things And bear in mind that since BandLab took over Cakewalk, the company has had nothing to do with me, other than telling me they have some new guitars (which frankly are pretty awesome). They don't support my Cakewalk books, and they didn't offer me a gig to write a column after Sound on Sound dropped it. I don't owe them anything, and they don't owe me anything. So when I say that I believe their motives are real, there's nothing in it for me. Who wouldn't want to spread the ability to make music to a wider number of people? Some of us still believe in the power of music. Maybe BandLab is just as naive as I am

I also use the Matrix for "storing" clips temporarily. Not quite what you're doing, but it's useful.

Latency through the audio interface. You're probably monitoring through Cakewalk now, whereas before, you were monitoring directly from an interface output. scook is right, there's no way to get things to feed back inside Cakewalk. However, if you're using Windows drivers, that can happen if the "What You Hear" slider is up along with an output slider. I'd investigate what's going on with your Windows sound, but bear in mind that the JOGG would probably not be considered a "pro-level" interface, which means there will be limitations. Interfaces drop in value very fast. You might be able to pick up an inexpensive interface that supports ASIO on reverb.com for cheap. Just out of curiosity, have you downloaded the latest firmware and drivers?

Link?

I had no problem running the VS-700 under Windows 10 after doing the hack. I'd focus on other elements that might not have made the transition elegantly from 8 to 10.

I'm glad to hear that, especially after the salmonella scare involving [competing software whose name I won't mention].

I've had the same experience, on both Mac and Windows. I've had to start a project in one DAW but finish it in a different one more than once.

BTW Ken yes I know you were probably referring to creating code for EPROMs that needed to be soldered into circuit board...but that didn't seem as funny as the idea of writing code with a soldering iron

I sympathize, it's been so hard to write software since the EU mandated removing the lead from solder. I could get into real trouble for saying this, but there is an underground network of people on the dark web who have obtained the last remaining stockpiles of 60/40 rosin-core solder that is not lead-free. It's used only by the very wealthiest programmers at Apple and Microsoft to write their software. They do have issues sometimes, though, with jamming the tips of the Weller soldering stations into their LCD monitors. This never happened with CRTs. But enough levity Yes, installing software used to be easier. You had a CD, a serial number, done. If your computer crashed, you got out the CD, hoped you saved the serial number, and re-installed. Most computers these days do not come with CD drives, and supplying/shipping/warehousing/handling returns of software on USB thumb drives is cost-prohibitive. So, now it's all about downloading and installing. I'm trying to think of a company that doesn't require you to download the software via an account. There's Native Access, iZotope Product Portal, Waves Central, Arturia...for PreSonus and other companies, you need to have an account. Basically, no company is just going to let you download stuff. They want to know who's using their software...and why your activation code or serial number is the same as 279 users in Estonia. You're right to be suspicious, but in this case, a quick search of the forums indicates this issue was settled a long time ago. Descriptions of all the add-ons are the top hit on google searches of "[add-on name] Cakewalk." The installer even includes instructions about how to uninstall add-ons if you decide you don't want them after all. Can any installation process be improved? Of course it can. But BandLab is part of a company with multiple successful businesses to run. I'm sure they're not getting a lot of return from Cakewalk. BandLab even pays licensing fees in order to include some features that are given away in a free program! Go figure. Download, learn, enjoy. I'm pretty cynical too, but at least this is one place where you're not going to get screwed over.

What kind of audio interface are you using? It may include a mixer applet that is mixing your input into the audio stream to do zero-latency monitoring. If there is a mixer applet, go in there and turn all the input faders down. This will allow Cakewalk to take control of what does and does not get monitored through the program.

It's common practice for many software companies to make add-ons as separate installers. For example one DAW has around 20 GB of content. But maybe you already have Kontakt, SampleTank, and a ton of loops. I think it's considerate that you're not forced to download 20 GB of stuff when all you really want is the 180 MB DAW. In return for using an installer that checks whether your version is up to date and gives the option to download optional plug-ins, you get a highly capable DAW for free. I just don't see how anyone can have a problem with that.

Yes! It's soooo much more fun to put a 2020 Porsche engine in a 1968 VW. Just be careful going around curves

Yesterday's project was to remix an old song done in Sonar, and I was dismayed that many plug-ins wouldn't load. However, when I inserted current plug-ins to replace the missing ones, the song sounded so much better. So while it's inconvenient having to spend 30 minutes inserting and tweaking plug-ins, at least for me, the effort was worth it.