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Reference Guide PDF now available [Updated 4-Jan-2022]


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Tip for those who want to have their newly downloaded Cakewalk Reference Guide but a menu click away:

I added a link to the Utilities menu in my installation that launches the Guide using @scook's ToolsEditor utility.

The utility has far more uses than just launching a PDF, but it does that without even breathing hard.

To find out how to add the new Reference Guide to your Utilities Menu go here:

http://forum.cakewalk.com/Adding-programs-to-the-SONAR-Utilities-Menu-a-new-tool-Updated-for-CbB-m3237117.aspx

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The Cakewalk Reference has been a great resource to me so far.   It's easy to tell that a lot of thought, attention to detail and work has gone into it.   Great job @Morten Saether and all involved in compiling, editing, proofing and layout of the big book of Cakewalk by BandLab.

One additional request BandLab:  Please consider also publishing The Cakewalk by BandLab Reference Manual in the EPUB format.  https://www.w3.org/publishing/groups/epub3-cg/

EPUB is an e-book file format with the extension.epub that can be downloaded and read on devices like smartphones, tablets, computers, or e-readers. It is a technical standard published by the International Digital Publishing Forum.

EPUB has been widely adopted as the format for digital books.  The format's capabilities supports a wide range of publication requirements, including complex layouts, rich media and interactivity, and global typography features.  From a reader's standpoint the format automatically resizes to automatically accommodate display screens of various types, resolutions and sizes.  EPUB is a format designed primarily for viewing interactive content on a display and secondarily for the printed page.

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7 hours ago, fogle622 said:

Please consider also publishing The Cakewalk by BandLab Reference Manual in the EPUB format.

Jim, I've never compared the two formats, but I know that there are various free services and converters like Zamzar.com that claim to convert .PDF to EPub.

I don't know how good a job they do.

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1 hour ago, Starship Krupa said:

Jim, I've never compared the two formats, but I know that there are various free services and converters like Zamzar.com that claim to convert .PDF to EPub.

I don't know how good a job they do.

The PDF format is incredibly flexible. Some PDF's consist of only scanned images, others are formatted text, some a combination of both. So any conversion would be totally dependent on how the .PDF was constructed.

I suspect in the case of the Cakewalk manual however, it would do a fairly good job.

I must say though, in my experience, I found e-readers to be great for novels, but pretty useless for reference manuals. For a start, page numbers go out the window as they vary with text size. Also, page navigation is pretty poor in general (apart from next & previous page). 

I guess it's best to give it a try. 

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4 hours ago, Starship Krupa said:

Jim, I've never compared the two formats, but I know that there are various free services and converters like Zamzar.com that claim to convert .PDF to EPub.

I don't know how good a job they do.

Starship Krupa,

Excellent suggestion and thanks for think of it and sharing the idea in the forum.   It's a great suggestion.

I found several free, online conversion utility websites as well as free utility programs available for download using the search term, "pdf to epub convertor".   One interesting website is https://www.online-convert.com/    They offer many different file conversion tools with both online and downloadable tools available for use.  They also offer browser extensions.  Here is the direct link to convert between pdf to epub:  https://ebook.online-convert.com/convert-to-epub 

2 hours ago, msmcleod said:

The PDF format is incredibly flexible. Some PDF's consist of only scanned images, others are formatted text, some a combination of both. So any conversion would be totally dependent on how the .PDF was constructed.

I suspect in the case of the Cakewalk manual however, it would do a fairly good job.

I must say though, in my experience, I found e-readers to be great for novels, but pretty useless for reference manuals. For a start, page numbers go out the window as they vary with text size. Also, page navigation is pretty poor in general (apart from next & previous page). 

I guess it's best to give it a try. 

msmcloud,

Unfortunately, the conversion did not go well.  The conversions either stalled during the conversion process or presented an error code.  I suspect there is either a problem handling a file that is so large or, since both the file and program are copyrighted, that the file is locked through digital rights management (DRM).

If other users try to convert the file I hope they will report their success or failure as the feedback will help BandLab Technologies know how much interest there is in the file as well as having the file available in the EPUB format.

I've experienced the issues you describe using e-readers to read reference manuals.  For the most part you are correct but the issues just highlight the problem with relying on proprietary file formats instead of open standards.  Only Kindle, Nook or Fire e-readers have native viewers built-in for each of those respective file formats.  Generic e-readers use file conversion programs that are not as flexible and accurate as a native viewer.  Plus you have the built-in limitation of looking at a file through a viewer with a gui scrren that includes the program controls and file content.  EPUB eliminates all that overhead.

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9 hours ago, fogle622 said:

Unfortunately, the conversion did not go well.  The conversions either stalled during the conversion process or presented an error code.

Shoot. Did you try Zamzar? Just curious, because when I was researching it, their file size limits indicated that our beloved Ref. Guide came in juuuust under the limit.

I suspect, though, that with something like the Ref. Guide that has so many static images, it may be tough for a converter to handle.

I'm curious as to whether anyone else has used ToolsEditor to put a link on the Utilities menu. I've been using it multiple times a session since I added it. I need that extra detail.

For anyone having trouble figuring it out, the recipe is that you make the link to your PDF reader, in my case Sumatra.exe (but it could be acrobat.exe or whatever), then add an "argument" that points to wherever you keep your Ref. Guide, in my case Downloads\Cakewalk.

So whenever Morten revises it, I can just drop the new one in there and my link will still work.

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Starship Krupa,

I'm trying Zamzar as I write this.  It is an online conversion tool.  The link is https://www.zamzar.com/  for anyone else that wishes to give it a try.

Well, the Zamzar conversion did not work out.  This error message was displayed:

Quote

Please check that your source file is not corrupt, password-protected or restricted by DRM (Digital Rights Management).

That's two out of two failed conversions.  Since the pdf file is copyrighted I suspect the problem is the file is DRM restricted.

By the way, I am super impressed with the reference manual.  I am so glad BandLab Technologies believed the time, effort and required resources was worthwhile .

Edited by fogle622
Added conversion failure information.
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  • Morten Saether changed the title to Reference Guide PDF now available [Updated 4-Jan-2022]

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