Dave Maffris

Someone gave me a free Mackie Control Universal, it's the old model without a usb port, just MIDI in/out. I connected it to my current version of Cbb and for the first time tried to use an external control surface. I put the Mackie unit into Mackie Control mode. The faders responded automatically, as do the arming of tracks, etc. But I cannot use it, because when opening any virtual instrument I cannot get either of my attached controller keyboards to communicate with Cakewalk.  That is, press a keyboard key and no sound and the instrument's virtual keyboard doesn't respond. It's as if it's not on the right channel, but I typically set my tracks for "all inputs/midi omni" which always works, but not now. I have connected the Mackie unit not to a keyboard, but to my Presonus Quantum Midi in/out and everything looks good in settings, etc. Another problem is I cannot seem to load my previous projects, they just hang while loading. If I disconnect the Mackie unit and reboot my computer, Cakewalk resumes functioning normally in all ways. If someone has any advice for me so I can actually use this Mackie Universal Control unit, I'd greatly appreciate it. Thanks!

I'm also taking a wait and see approach to this. I'm intrigued about the Next being cross platform, as I do have a Macbook Air that I have configured for live use via GigPerformer, and it would be cool if one could transfer Cakewalk by BandLab and or the new Sonar projects into Next and have at least some type of access  on a MAC, too. As far as price, that is a sticky issue. I also purchased Studio One when Gibson bailed out, and have sporadically tried to use it, even upgraded it once or twice, but I still am very limited in how to use it and not comfortable with a lot of it (I have used their Mastering feature, though and that I do like). Now that Cakewalk has Arranger sections there has not been any need for me to migrate to Studio One--as I also hae scores of unfinished projects along with "finished" ones that I occasionally revisit and rework. If the price is reasonable (not sure what that will be) I would pay, but it is hard to accept having to pay after several years of free updates, etc. Subscription model doesn't appeal to me, even though I'm using that for my Izotope software, so I remain in the "maybe" camp for all of this new stuff. I have applied to be a beta tester for NEXT, doubt I'll get in this round, but my curiousity is there. Hoping that Sonar will have some new and powerful features, although I don't really have a definite wishlist for it right now, it does what I need pretty darn well already. 

Does one need to have Symphobia to use this product? Very interested, but I don't own anything by PS except the free orchestra.

Ok, slightly off topic, but my man Jim Roseberry, who built and sold me a great studio computer a few years ago, just spent over an hour on the phone with me when my computer decided to do some not so funny things, like not booting up, not recognizing my audio card, etc. although I could get it to boot, it was thru a painful tweak of BIOS SETTINGS, and after reboot my thunderbolt interface stopped working. I am lucky to have an alternate audio interface, but for over a  week it was both painful and frustrating. Jim correctly diagnosed the problem via email (dead CMOS battery), and today he walked me thru replacing it, adding the BIOS tweaks from his original co figuration, and after a struggle where I was a bit challenged, we got thru it and it’s all fixed again! I’m sure many of you know, Jim’s computer builds are as good or better than anyone in the business, but what really stands apart is his commitment to his customers and service before, during and after the sale. Thank you, Jim, and to all of you looking to purchase a new DAW machine, you could not do better than working with Jim Roseberry. He is one bad mofo’ and that is the highest compliment I can give. Plus he’s a quality human being. Thanks, Jim. Now, back to work for me…

PS. Go here! https://www.studiocat.com/
oh, and visit my YouTube channel, too! All music created with Cakewalk, and video and audio created on a DAW from Jim.

https://www.youtube.com/user/midiexpert

On 9/6/2022 at 1:55 PM, Bapu said:

With my Evolution Complete Bundle upgrade and Orange Slices, I got it for $71.61.

 

Downloading now.

for me, 67 bucks, def want this one to complete the collection!

On 4/12/2022 at 6:35 PM, Peter - IK Multimedia said:

Thanks!  At this time the 149.99 upgrade pricing minus up to an additional 30% off using JamPoints is the best price we have to offer.  Thanks for considering MODO BASS 2, much obliged.

Oh, I forgot about the jam points, that could be the deal-maker...thanks for the reminder, Peter.

I'm very interested, as MODO bass has become a go-to staple for me, but with the addition of Fretless and upright models, it could take it next level, indeed. However, I'm looking for a better price at some point, until then I can cover these other models with other brands...plus, it's not out yet, so pre-ordering is not quite as compelling. I'm sure at some point I will upgrade, it because I like MODO bass very much, indeed. 

14 hours ago, Starship Krupa said:

A great deal on a really nice mic. I have a pair of them I use for drum overheads.

That is a very nice price, and I think I will pick this up, simply because of that...I checked everywhere, no one else comes close to this price, and I could always use another good mic for the studio and rehearsals, etc. 

2 hours ago, Olong Johnson said:

The Floyd 1 & 2 Tributes are exceptional. These are the best Floyd emulations I have ever heard.

Yes. I'm thinking about getting some of the Tributes, including Floyd, Toto, etc. Didn't really realize these were out there, even though I have had the Arturia suite for years...guess I was under-utilizing it.

i like it, ill use it some.

damn demo video got me. just ordered. Did I need it? Of course not. Want it? Absolutely.

When I try to load this now (recently) Cakewalk simply crashes and no matter what I try, it just won't load this instrument anymore. I have tried a repair using Spitfire's audio tool and I'm up to date with CBB. I will contact them, but I wonder if anyone else is having this issue. I think it's also crashing with BBC Orchestra, but I didn't get to test that one again, too busy at the moment. 

Despite all the hardships, financial, health, etc, that so many have suffered, there is always something to be appreciated and enjoyed, and this group and community are on the short list of things I have thankful for. Plus, I'm doing a flurry of purchases at year's end (Spitfire, NI) to add to a needed tax deduction list, as I made a bit more money than expected earlier in the year (good for me), and then the newer Variant comes along and just rains on our parade. Still playing tonight, still writing and making music and videos, but looking forward to 2022 as well. Talk to y'all next year.

On 12/27/2021 at 2:48 PM, cclarry said:

No worries there...I couldn't get hired when I was in my 50's...and have multiple degrees and Certifications...
so I'm good!  I've been living on $180 a month for 5 years...so this will be like being RICH LOL!

I hear ya...man, that is unbelievable how you survived on that income--no wonder you are the King of the bargains....

On 12/27/2021 at 2:15 PM, cclarry said:

As of today, I can OFFICIALLY draw Social Security, the pre-requisite to being OLD!
First check arrives on February 23rd, and it can't come soon enough!  The past few
years have been REALLY ROUGH!  So...YAY!

Congrats! I passed that milestone several years ago, waiting until I was 66 so I could continue to work if/when needed. All I can say is...it is a good thing, and you will appreciate it, whatever the size of the monthly check, because we paid into it all these years. Now go do what you wanna do....

2 hours ago, Nick Blanc said:

I have tried to give it a go and got some, well eh, results? Most of my experience was me yelling at my (now ex) girlfriend why the button they clicked in the tutorial is not where they say it is. 

Somehow the concept of nodes goes over my head. I do get the logic when I watch a tutorial. "Well off course I have to plug a gradient node into the background node with a diffuser node in between and mix the colours in a node to get spots, duh".  But I can NEVER come up with these things myself. Same goes for Davince Resolve Fusion page. I get around with cut and edit and basic effects, no problem. But Fusion, that thing and its nodes scares me.

Sounds like we are in the same place with that....one of these days I'm going to get over that hump and figure it out, but I'm lazy and I, too have many workarounds that accomplish a fair amount without having to master the dreaded "nodes." 

1 hour ago, abacab said:

It is, as Larry said a 3D program.

As the artist, you are working inside a virtual box, or room, similar to a photo studio with x, y, and z coordinates. There are two main phases, modeling and rendering/animating.

While modeling the scene in there, you can place objects, control lighting and camera angles, and pan and zoom to get a camera angle from any point.

You can render a scene as either a still frame, or as a motion sequence along a timeline. To render a motion sequence requires multiple frames per second to be rendered, at your required movie specs. That motion sequence can then be exported and used as a movie clip within a movie editing application.

I tried some 3D programs 15-20 years ago, when I first became a Photoshop user and was fascinated with the new digital darkroom capabilities. But unfortunately, my Pentium 3 and 4 class computers at the time were barely up to the task of showing real-time 3D previews, much less animated renderings. Still renderings was as far as I ever got, and even those took several minutes each.

This latest generation of 3D software, combined with a strong multicore CPU and GPU, looks like it should kick *****!

What is daunting for me is that while I seem to have a knack for video editing software, I have NEVER been able to use photo editors adequately--some part of my brain doesn't understand how to do it...oh well, I'm gonna give this a spin at some point.

30 minutes ago, cclarry said:

Yes, you can learn to use it for film.  It's a "3D" Program...and it's quite nice...especially for FREE,
so what's to lose?

Nothing to lose, but the notion of a 3D rendering program is kind of arcane to me--but what the heck...I learned how to use DaVinci Resolve and that's a fairly complex program, but then again, I'm not doing any graphic design, just putting clips, fx, and music together. We will download and see.

26 minutes ago, arnoldoo said:

Is a tool for 3d artists.
If you want to make films with real footage, you might wanna try  Htfilm or DaVinci Resolve. those are free
I am a working musician but moved to 3d to get more freelance work

I have used DaVinci Resolve Studio (paid version) for quite some time now. Although I'm proficient at the basic functions, the Fusion engine process is a mystery that I have no patience for. And so I wondered if this tool would be different or add some functionality to my toolkit. And since it's free I truly could try it and see.

21 hours ago, arnoldoo said:

Love Blender, this is huge ❤️

Is this a tool for a graphic artist, or can a musician with aspirations to make films learn to use this?

Nice stuff! Bluegrass! wow.

5 hours ago, jesse g said:

Did you have upgrade selected instead of Full version?

I have to ask.

Yes--well, at first it took me to the regular version (priced at $199), I switched the drop down to "upgrade" and then get the message that I'm supposedly not registered as owning the two products that I definitely own )and paid for). Very annoying, but frankly I think even the upgrade price is a bit too high--I already own two of three of them, so $149 for the 3rd one seems ridiculous. Just sayin'

3 hours ago, Steve Madden said:

If it makes a difference, the whole collection price is only discounted by $10, and they've vowed to never put them on sale. Provided they stick by that, it allows you to buy what you need and what most piques your interest at your own pace. 

 

*Edited a word. 

Good advice, really. Thanks. 

So I was looking at upgrading my Pharlight/Straylight to the trilogy (includes Ashlight), and when I log in, it says I don't have any qualifying products to get it at the upgrade price (which is still way too high at $149). I sent NI a note about it. But this is kind of irritating, because if I wasn't a registered user of those products, how am I able to use the full versions and see them installed on Native Access? (I have Komplete 13 Ultimate). Weird.

17 hours ago, PavlovsCat said:

I am looking for a good deep sampled, well scripted KONTAKT cello library for mostly acoustic rock accompanying piano and this dev's Trio Broz: Solo Cello demos sound really nice. Does anyone here own this? I'm comparing it to libraries from 8Dio and Tina Guo. I'd love to hear anyone's input if they have one of those or another deep sampled cello library they love and would recommend. 

 

I have the cello, and it's quite good. But I don't have the Tina Guo. I do not have the other cello instruments for comparison.