scook

Why would you post this information here and not in your own thread?

Pretty hard to quess what is going on with interpreted messages and no idea how the software is actually configured. You may want to start posting images of any errors and the three Preference > Audio screens I identified above. That said my best guess is ASIO4All is still installed.

AFAIK that particular message does not automatically clear. The regular scan toast honors the timeout, the image above of the "generate scan log" option toast remains displayed. IOW, this is normal.

OK, if the drivers are properly installed then try changing the driver mode to ASIO in CbB Preferences > Audio > Playback and Recording selecting the focusrite device in Preferences > Audio > Devices and verifying the entries in Preferense > Audio > Driver Settings

Did you install the focusrite ASIO driver?

This may be a clue. If I had to guess, this DAW does not use a purpose-built audio interface with a manufacturer supplied ASIO driver and as a result is having communication issues with the driver. If this is the case and while there may be some OS/DAW tweaks that may improve the situation, the best first step is acquire an appropriate audio interface.

The short answer is...no Uninstall ASIO4All One of the WASAPI modes may be suitable for now. Try all the modes before dismissing them. The ultimate solution is acquiring a purpose-built audio interface with a manufacturer supplied ASIO driver. This is especially true for VI users.

I asked https://magic-8ball.com/ UVI Shade vs Shaperbox by the Cableguys, which one is better? and got Better not tell you now sorry

Rapture is an old Cakewalk product. Please create a new thread for your NI problem.

If that is all you do with the master bus and it's gain and volume are set at unity along with the reference track, then playing the reference track through the bus is OK. If, on the other hand, the reference track is altered any way by the DAW, it kinda changes what the reference is...right?

That option has always been a part of the Insert Soft Synth Options dialog. As @User 905133 indicated, consider using one of the method that employs this dialog. IIRC, every method EXCEPT the Add Track menu options uses the insert Soft Synth dialog.

Those are not peak indicators; they are MIDI activity indicators.

Could try temporarily setting ExceptionHandlingSeverity=7 in Preferences > File > Initialization File For more info on ExceptionHandlingSeverity see http://www.cakewalk.com/Documentation?product=Cakewalk&language=3&help=INI_Files.4.html

Just because you've been doing it wrong for 20 years doesn't make it right. There is nothing wrong with the workflow. Assuming a single bundle is not the sole archival copy (and the project needs archiving), it may be the most efficient way to get the data onto the target machine. I was trying to explain how project files are a core component of the DAW and the bundle format is a convenience. The DAW cannot directly read and write the files contained a bundle. The DAW can create a bundle from an existing project or create a project from a bundle, that is all. I suppose one could create a feature request to directly work with bundles. Here is a link to the dedicated feature request area.

It's not just the audio. The DAW can't run without a project file. That file has to go somewhere. A bundle file is created from the project file and any associated audio files. Without the project file there is no DAW project. If it helps, think of a bundle as a zip file with compression turned off.

Project files are not optional bundles are. If you wish to use any Cakewalk DAW developed in this century, you will use project files. It does not matter how the files are created, copied onto the computer or extracted from a bundle, the DAW won't work without a project file.

To have "Insert Audio FX" to look like "Insert Soft Synth" either delete some of the FX plug-ins add some synth plug-ins The menu handler changes when the plug-in count crosses a certain threshold. I don't recall the count that triggers the menu change. Regardless, the audio FX plug-ins are still listed in the menu albeit in a slightly different display. Click the menu option to see the submenu.

Review the Recycle Plug-In Windows section near the bottom of the help for Preferences > File > VST Settings.

Have a look at the transpose MFX. Like all MFX plug-ins, it is non-destructive but may be destructively applied to clips after recording.

In addition to the take lane notes field, there is a Description area in the track properties inspector "I" in the image below

To record audio with effect plug-ins applied either create a send or route the track output to an aux track and record the aux track. Consider recording the original track too just in case. To record virtual synth audio in real time see Soft Synth Audio Recording

Glad you figured out a way even if a little convoluted. The published Z3ta+ 2 offline activation instructions still work AFAIK I have not bothered to test recently as CCC still remains the easiest way for me to install and activate products with CCC aware installers.

These 3rd party installers are reading VSTPluginsPath in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\VST Cakewalk updates this registry value during install. Of course, VSTPluginsPath is not Cakewalk specific. Any program can update the value.

It mostly does not matter but here are some things to consider. The Cakewalk VST scanner will look for plug-in binaries under the paths supplied in Preferences > File > VST Settings These paths and all the folders under them are scanned based on the frequency drop down in the Scan Options settings in preferences (the same link as above). As much as possible scan path entries should contain only VST plug-in binaries. Non-VST plug-in binaries with a dll extension can cause problems for the VST scanner. The VST3 specification discusses where to store VST3 binaries but the VST2 was silent on the subject which resulted in several "standards" and confusion on where to store plug-ins. As a result, in the past most plug-in manufacturers strictly adhered to the VST3 recommendations, installing VST3 binaries in C:\Program Files\Common Files\VST3. Recently the spec was changed to include %appdata%\programs\common\vst3. I have not seen a plug-in install in this folder yet, but I have not been buying a lot of stuff recently. Here are a few strategies for VST2 installs: always forcing the plug-ins into the default CbB scan path, add manufacture specific folders to the existing scan path if they don't exist (my favorite), forcing the plug-ins to a folder not under "C:\Program Files" letting the plug-ins go wherever the installer wants to put them adding to the CbB VST scan path as needed. Regardless of the method used, DO NOT install VST2 in the VST3 scan paths. CbB skips all files with a dll extension in the VST3 paths because they are by definition not VST3 plug-ins; they are treated as support files. Also, do not add DX plug-ins paths to the scan path. DX plug-in binaries like any other non-VST plug-in dll, may cause the Cakewalk VST scanner to misbehave. FWIW, this includes the "Shared Dxi" folder @Patrick Wichrowski

There are two WASAPI driver modes in CbB. WASAPI Shared relies on Windows to set the audio buffer size to share among all the software using the driver. CbB does not control this setting. WASAPI Exclusive uses the Mixing Latency Buffer Size slider in CbB preferences.