tecknot

Hello everyone, I know the answer is subjective, but I want to ask you all, "What do you think is the best software synthesizer?" I'm not looking for emulations or orchestra per se, just the most sources of synthesis, i.e. wavetable, sample, subtractive, additive, FM, virtual analog, etc. I've read a number of reviews, but with so many out there, I may have overlooked one or two. I have listened to some sound samples and hope to find something inspiring. Tell me what synth inspires you and what about the synth that stands out the most. Kind regards, tecknot P.S. Thanks in advance.

This is a matter of taste. You can use the preamp if say you want to go direct with a guitar or bass. You got your MIDI covered with the adapter, so it just depends on how many MIDI devices you want to incorporate into your setup. Most audio interfaces come with their own ASIO driver. Some drivers are written better than others. For instance, RME is known for its excellent drivers. ASIO4ALL is not the best fix for a lack of the proper ASIO driver. In most cases, your latency will be greater with ASIO4ALL verses a native ASIO driver. Looks like you have good specs. USB 3.2 gen 1 is also very good (that is the latest version of USB isn't it? I haven't seen any USB 4 ports on laptops). Thunderbolt is not absolutely necessary for low latency and there are more USB interfaces and TB. Anyhow, your laptop is a good centerpiece to your DAW. Kind regards, tecknot

Hi notato8 and welcome to the Cakewalk forums. If you are getting serious with recording into Cakewalk, then it is strongly advised to incorporate an audio interface. A preamp is not an audio interface. They are usually one or two channels; however, higher quality audio interfaces do have preamps. An audio interface can have a USB, firewire (obsolete) or thunderbolt interface. The words "interface" and "sound card" can be used interchangeably. You don't necessarily need an audio interface with MIDI since you can buy a controller or keyboard with MIDI over USB. However, consider an interface with MIDI if you have an older synth or keyboard/controller that has MIDI but not USB. I am not aware of any audio interface with Bluetooth, so most likely you will not be able to use BT headphones, nor your laptop's built-in speakers with an audio interface in any case. There are a few other factors that can affect latency, so having a "good" audio interface (with excellent ASIO drivers) will not guarantee low latency. First understand that you will always have some degree of latency, whether you can discern it or not. Other factors can be your CPU, HDD speed, memory, buffer settings and interface (USB, firewire or thunderbolt), not to mention any plugins you may use. So it is a bit complicated, but not impossible. I have used a gaming laptop for audio recording with good success. I believe you would be better off with an audio interface, but that also means speaker/monitors, more cords and power consumption. It is certainly worth considering how serious your hobby is/will be and your budget. Feel free to ask any further questions regarding your DAW setup. Kind regards, tecknot

Hi ikelly and welcome to the Cakewalk forums. Just a couple things to check. Is the output of the track going to the Master bus? Also, check the Master bus and make sure it is going to your Focusrite's outputs (speakers). If those two check out okay, get back to us and we will troubleshoot further, Kind regards, tecknot

Hi whistlekiller, Check under Display (Edit | Customization | Display | Other) for the checkbox next to "Show Start Screen". Kind regards, tecknot

Hi Pearlie and welcome to the Cakewalk forums. I would suggest that you open a new project and turn off the Metronome. Now save the template (I'm guessing you are using the Basic template to start) over writing the template file. You will have to dig a little to find the Basic template in the Templates folder, nonetheless, click on the Basic template and save. Cakewalk will ask you to confirm the overwrite, of course. That should do it. Kind regards, tecknot

I wonder if CbB and Bandlab can someday work this way for live collaboration. Perhaps a FR for shoot for. Kind regards, tecknot

Sorry, Jeremy, but there is no setting for a number of loops in playback (or recording for that matter) unless there is a CAL for it. Looks like another FR. Kind regards, tecknot

Hey Larry, It's showing up in mine. Check it out. Kind regards, tecknot

Hi sadicus, I'm just guessing here, but I think you should split the clip first and then convert it. Kind regards, tecknot

Hi Paulo, If this anomaly is reproducible, then I would certainly report it to the Bakers. That might save frustration for a lot of other users. Kind regards, tecknot

Sounds pretty cool. Congratulations, guys! Kind regards, tecknot

Hi Richard, In order to get your individual drum tracks to correspond to the drum kit pieces respectively, you have to go into SD3's Mixer and assign each channel strip output to a track (e.g. kick to track 1, snare to track 2, etc.) found at the bottom of each strip. See print screen below:

Hi Arthur, If you turn on Snap, you can set it to snap to any increment (measure, quarter note, eighth note, etc.). You can also use Aim Assist (press "x") and the will tell you exactly where you cursor is along the ruler. Kind regards, tecknot

Hi Gavin and welcome to the Cakewalk forums. You can edit a SS clip during playback. However, you cannot edit a MV clip on the fly. You must stop playback to edit/update the clip. Kind regards, tecknot