Tez

Creating a softlink with mklink is fairly straight forward e.g for Cakewalk on C-drive, linking to the relocated Cakewalk, say D:\Cakewalk it would be: mklink /D "C:\Program Files\Cakewalk" " D:\Cakewalk" and if no longer required simply delete the link, for other actions, “copy”, “cut” & “paste” requires more understanding as to the effects. As Mr. @scook said & I quote: On a new machine you should have no issue... However the BandLab Assistant locates in AppData\Local\Programs so I'm guessing it's not optional... In my case I've got prior Sonars installed on 224 GB ssd C-drive so that's where CbB also must live, but on reaching a storage crunch which is hardly imminent using the softlink mechanism outlined above I'd save about 5 GB. On a fresh install , "Cakewalk Projects", "Cakewalk Content" & other folders can be located where you want without worrying that other installations might need the reference to a C-drive location...

This is only a suggestion if there is no better way, that knowledgeable individuals such as @Noel Borthwick or @scook could suggest! Assuming the following: 1. You install bandlab-assistant-windows-latest.exe this will install to the folder %userprofile%\AppData\Local\Programs\bandlab-assistant. 2. Use BandLab Assistant to install “Cakewalk by Bandlab” this will install to the folder C:\Program Files\Cakewalk. If you move the folders “bandlab-assistant” and “Cakewalk” from their locations to a location on your data drive as an Administrator you could create softlinks as an Administrator with “mklink” as follows: 1. A softlink to the relocated bandlab-assistant in “%userprofile%\AppData\Local\Programs”, and 2. A softlink to the relocated Cakewalk in C:\Program Files. The BandLab Assistant is about 210 MB, maybe you’d want to leave that where it is... In my "C:\Cakewalk Projects" I use softlinks for "Audio Data" & "Picture Cache" the later can be 0.5 GB or more. So the above should work, assuming you know how to use “mklink” in a .bat file run as an Administrator. Other CbB folder locations such as for "Cakewalk Content" can be set via "Preferences>Folder Locations"...

Thanks for the info @pwalpwal, Already saw the 1st link a while ago, iZotope thinks 9_02 solved all or most of the 9_01 issues, but it didn't, they've got my CbB dump, this time around, guess they're slow on the uptake... Unfortunately the 2nd link, is what you said "generic", viz. the snail pace load time not apropos... But if you spot anything else do give a shout...

@earhears Final thought, do you have CbB installed & have you tried Oz9 in CbB??

Took a look, that's quick... Is that a separate module, or whole mastering vst?

Well, if you get a chance, and only if you feel like it, try the standalone, create a project, import an audio file, close the project and don't save it, and see if deletes the imported audio. The support rep I reported this to, said she couldn't make that happen, but it does, so wondering if there's a remote chance it's just me 😮.

Don't have anything that needs iLok, so never have used it, nor inclined to at this point. I did actually send a link for a CbB dump of test project with nothing but 2 Oz9 VSTs that took 30 secs to load and that was the last I heard. Another weirdness was with the standalone app, by the way I've got the Standard not the Advanced. If I launch the app, create a new project and import an audio file, but close the project and don't save the changes it should delete the imported audio, but it doesn't. Oz7s VST loads quick, and the app deletes unsaved project imports. Have you found any other glitches?

Must be iLok...

Your OS is the same as mine, there are multiple "Microsoft Visual C++ 2005 Redistributable (x64)" versions and each has a version number mine is 8.0.61000, you can find yours by looking in Control Panel>Programs>Programs and Features under Name "Microsoft Visual C++ 2005 Redistributable (x64)" the last column is the "Version". If yours differs from mine that may be significant, on the other hand authorization via iLok might improve load times... Who knows 😁?

Hmmm... I don't need a tool to uninstall my 2005 x64. Regardless there's no problem with multiple versions, but the question still remains... What's your version, as before you'll find it in "Control Panel\Programs\Programs and Features"?

Well it's a nice thought @earhears, but I'm not sure . I think if there's a significant difference for your 2005 x64 & my 2005 x64 then you might be onto something, otherwise... What is that screen print you show, coz it don't look quite like my Apps & Features in settings? Anyway my version is 8.0.61000 what's yours, you'll find it in "Control Panel\Programs\Programs and Features"?

Hmmm, probably a dropout, no explicit cancel was done, in fact no manual activity at all during the render, maybe Noel knows??

1. Prior to CbB 2019.11 on a bounce to tracks, Fast Bounce off, the Now Time line would move with render time, now it stays at the start of the selection time interval, is this a specific 2019.11 change? 2. Occasionally on a bounce as per 1. above, I'll get the "Render operation was cancelled" popup even though it wasn't cancelled, why and what causes this annoying unexpected cancellation? Any answers welcome...

Thanks @Noel Borthwick, I am and I have... The support rep wanted a dump. First is there any objection to sending a dump of CbB and second, this would be after the fact, the load would have occurred, would there be any significant value to the exercise in your opinion?

@noynekker Supported Hosts: Logic Pro X, Ableton Live 9–10, Pro Tools 12.8-2019, FL Studio 20, Cubase 9–10, Nuendo 10, Wavelab 9, Sound Forge Pro 13, Sound Forge Mac 3, Studio One 4, REAPER 5, Reason 10, Audition CC 2019, Premiere Pro CC 2019, MASCHINE 2, Komplete Kontrol, Bitwig Studio 3, Final Cut Pro X. Guess we're not in there... But, Cubase from some forum I saw, had the same issue with v9_01, maybe Noel knows something??

In both the last Splat and current CbB, the latest Ozone 9 VSTs (2 & 3) have excessive load times, this is on W10 1903 latest update. For example a test project that had only 2 output buses each with an instance of Ozone 9 took 30 seconds plus to load. Is anyone else experiencing this with CbB??

Thanks Noel will see what is possible. FYI though 1. It is sporadic & not predictable, the error code is always 1. 2. It occurs most often when performing some activity in the tracks pane e.g. "opening or closing a folder" or "maximizing, minimizing or resizing a track". 3. It may not be specifically Aux track related, but the Aux tracks in this current project have a lot of FXs and it might be, I'm guessing, related to "Always Stream Audio Through FX" being checked which if I understand correctly continuously streams silence. And, as if on cue, just 5 minutes ago I launched CbB and opened the project and the dropout toast error code 1 immediately popped up just as the gui rendered... Further in this particular instance pressing play stalled, with another dropout error code 1, recurrently. Had to restart CbB & reopen the project 🙄... Just out of curiosity, no biggie, did you get a chance to glance at that crash dump? Many thanks...

Mr @Colin Nicholls, I just thought misery loves company... 😪 Meanwhile under Windows 1903 & CbB 2019.09 I'm getting the occasional dropout while doing some activity in the track pane, no audio (play stopped, no audio input), no midi input (keyboard off) and no midi editing and the reason code is so far (1) : "Audio processing took longer than the buffers allotted time slice", which is a puzzle, unless "Always Stream Audio Through FX" being checked has something to do with it and... Dum ta dum dum... Aux tracks, of which there are several, but only being fed by synth outputs that have no midi inputs assigned and echo off on those synth tracks. So my question to you is do you have Aux tracks in your projects that get or got the toast?? I'm sure you've been following forum "dropout saga" as I have 😴...

@Noel Borthwick Here's a link to the crash dump which just occurred, it's a "dropbox" link: https://www.dropbox.com/s/rjlngbt805afzj5/_09162019_214556.dmp?dl=0 I just wanted to get a handle on what was happening here, and hopefully using Rapture Pro doesn't have any negative effects in my projects, other than this random crash. Many thanks T...

@Noel Borthwick Thank you for looking into this, it might be my old O1/Wpro keyboard, that's the 1st suspect, hope it's not the Fastlane USB midi interface, I have the latest driver. When you yanked the USB cable did it cause an audio dropout? Oh and I found another "Windows 10 May 2019 Update version 1903" known issue, namely "Error Event 455, ESENT" errors occurring with high frequency for Logging, due to a missing folder, and there were a lot... Fixed it now, don't know what side effects this might have caused if any.

As I said before in that instance "The only way to clear these greyed keys was to reboot CbB." It may be on that on some occasions this occurs one could clear the keys without restarting CbB by some other method, but most times no, pressing play doesn't do the trick... Thanks for looking into this! And once again pretty please can you shed some light on Rapture Pro sporadically crashing CbB with an access violation, if you have any knowledge on it, it would much appreciated... Yes indeed I have... The worst consequence of doing this is, if the project wasn't saved before doing a "Reset MIDI", some synths which have specific parameters set either arbitrarily or precautiously via a preset can get zeroed out and also doesn't do the trick... 😵

@Noel Borthwick Hi, This is an image of the random piano keys that became greyed out: g#6, c5, g#4, c0... The thing to note is "c0", no note scored in the PRV was c0 and my midi keyboard doesn't have a c0, the lowest note is e2. I was editing the volume automation in the track view on an aux track when the audio dropout toast popped up, the audio engine icon was indicating 'stopped' that is not blue. I then checked the PRV and found the greyed keys, at the time 2 of the midi tracks were assigned to a midi input, but only one had input echo on and the keyboard was switched on but not being used. The only way to clear these greyed keys was to reboot CbB. The only way I'm aware of, that a PRV piano key turns grey is if there is a midi track assigned to an input source and has received a "midi note on" and it will stay that way until a "midi note off" is received... So how is it that these keys became irreversibly grey? It's a mystery! Mysterious or not it's become irritating as the project has be saved and CbB has to be restarted. There's question on which you might be able to shed some light. On opening this project which has an instance or Rapture Pro, it sporadically crashes CbB with an access violation caused by the plugin, I'd say about 1 in 10 times. Is this a known issue with Rapture Pro, since it also occurs with Splat?

Play a chord of random notes say on a midi keyboard and the PRV piano keys corresponding to the notes turn grey until a "midi note off" occurs for each key and then it reverts to its key color... In the case where the random chord was heard as I described in the above post, the corresponding keys for the notes heard turned grey and stayed that way and only rebooting CbB would clear them back to their initial key color. So it feels like some midi buffer spewed out a bunch of random "midi notes on" and no "midi notes off" & that got the PRV piano keys stuck, as I mentioned above the the random chord continued sounding until it decayed, that is no "midi notes off". When this happens, and with any luck it won't since fixing the cpu spike, it's sporadic & not reproducible, but if it happens I'll take a screenshot! If I recall after the dropout the audio engine icon remained blue...

I don't know if this has any bearing but here goes... In my project in the tracks view I've got 3 synths (primary output & midi tracks) , 2 with midi input set, 1 with input echo on. 3 aux tracks associated with 1 synth that has no midi input set.. and a bunch of FX plugins. In the PRV I was editiing the midi track for the synth set with input echo on, which was shown selected in the PRV & the track view. On switching from the PRV to the track view the dreaded audio dropout toast popped up which I ignored... Now this is the weird part, at this point I stepped away from the DAW to briefly take care of something else, after a few minutes I heard a chord of random notes from the selected synth with input echo on. I returned to the DAW stopped the audio engine and on restarting it heard the decaying chord notes and in the PRV a random set of piano roll keys were greyed out and could not be reset! Fortunately I could save my changes & rebooted the DAW to clear the greyed out keys. This feels like something strange is going on in the output stream, quite what I've no idea.. Any suggestions?? Monday FYI just found out the latest w10 monthly update "August 30, 2019—KB4512941 (OS Build 18362.329)" did do something! It caused a 20% cpu spike due to a cortana bug, because I had searching the web from Windows Desktop Search disabled. It's enabled now & the cpu is back to normal, will see if this bug was affecting the dropout frequency, who knows what was behind the spike & what, if any, side effects were caused...

Very interesting Mr @Colin Nicholls ... Unfortunately it's not a viable solution pour moi, and the idle dropout suggests something else is going on. I'm wondering, have you tried a project with audio only, that is no synths or FXs? In the past the only time I'd get one of these recurrent sporadic dropouts with splat, as I recall, was a project using "Rapture Pro". I mention this because on loading a Rapture Pro project sometimes Splat and now CbB will instantly crash with an "Access Violation" C0000005, caused by Rapture Pro, which I imagine is some pointer holding a bad address, and on a restart the project loads fine, which suggest an issue with the synth plugin, also sporadic. The current project that's giving me the toasts grief also has an instance of Rapture Pro, so is it possible a wayward synth is the root cause? Just a thought... Oh and with all due respects to Mr @Noel Borthwick, as for "I wouldnt worry too much about that toast", when it does happen on several occasions the PRV shows a random selection of greyed out piano keys, which sometimes can only be reset by closing and restarting CbB...