Why are my Instrument Track Templates broken?

[Jeremy Murray-Wakefield]

Often I find when I drag a track template into my project - one with a MIDI instrument in it - that it is broken and doesn't make any sound.

When I execute "Split Instrument Track" it turns out that input to the Audio Track part of it, has been re-assigned to my soundcard, rather than the output of the VST synth that was loaded. I have to re-select the relevant synth as the audio track input, and then execute "Make Instrument Track" to put the instrument track back together again.

Am I doing something in Cakewalk which is breaking these Track Templates of mine?

Rgds,

Jeremy.

[John Vere]

Some things you are saying are contrary to how Cakewalk works so possibly this is the issue. 
 

A split instrument track contains a instrument track with a VST or Dx instrument and a associated midi track.
The Instrument track is an audio track and it’s output should be assigned to a sub buss or the master bus, not your sound card. 

Use a factory template first to avoid this happening 

The midi track will be output to the instrument track. 

I should be releasing my tutorial on midi tracks tonight but this one touches on the topic a bit  

 

[scook]

28 minutes ago, John Vere said:

A split instrument track contains a instrument track with a VST or Dx instrument and a associated midi track.
The Instrument track is an audio track

An instrument track is not an audio track. How does an audio track record MIDI data?

An instrument track is a presentation layer above an audio+MIDI track pair. IOW, an instrument track is not a basic track type. It is neither an audio nor a MIDI track. It is a term used to describe a wrapper around a pair of tracks.

Splitting an instrument track removes the instrument track wrapper to reveal the audio and MIDI tracks that make up the instrument track.

 

[Jeremy Murray-Wakefield]

Hi John,

I think you misread my post 🙂

My personal Track Templates are my go-to sounds, exported from perfectly working Instrument Tracks on existing projects.

However, I find these often do not work when I drag them into a new project.  When I split them to see what has gone wrong, I find that the Audio Track of the pair has had its input re-assigned from a soundcard input instead of the VST. I fix it (naturally) by simply changing the input to come from the VST output (as it was on the original template, as saved) and then re-pairing the tracks using "Make Instrument Track".

My question is basically "Why does this keep happening to my templates?" It's all a bit random. Some are completely fine. Others seem fine for a while and then one day stop working.

It's a nightmare if I want to quickly audition my go-to sounds for suitability for a particular project.

I'm wondering if some kind of configuration change that one makes in new projects can break existing templates somehow?

Edited December 7, 2021 by Jeremy Murray-Wakefield

[John Vere]

Ok sorry I didn’t read  your post carefully enough but re reading it I now follow what you were doing. So forget what I said. 
 

Myself over time have had weird issues with templates and especially old ones made in Sonar. Possibly like other things reported they break tiny little details that don’t get reported. 
So a few things come to mind. Are these brand new templates or older? 
What happens if you make a template as a split instrument track? Does it also loose the connection? 

[Jack Cat]

I'll second that observation. One thing that happens to me is some track templates will add a new master bus?  And because I  used a different audio interface a few years ago  they are not set to the correct input even though both interfaces were Focusrites and set to either channel 1 or 2. Still a lot less work than starting from scratch. 

Oh and I new exactly what John was talking about when he called a split instrument tack an audio track. That's how I've always thought of them.  Split or Simple, they to me are treated as audio tracks, they have Pro channel and audio effects. When recorded to, the Simple Instrument track records midi and the Split Instrument records audio. 

  I think the confusion is they should have called a simple instrument tracks a Combi Track and the Split Instrument a just an instrument track period.  I find the icons are arze backwards too. 

  

[Jeremy Murray-Wakefield]

> Are these brand new templates or older? 
Relatively new

> What happens if you make a template as a split instrument track?
Ha! I did not know that was possible! Interesting: save either one of the pair as a template and on loading, *both* tracks (and synth) get recreated! I've learnt something new today! Thank-you.

> Does it also loose the connection? 
Only time will tell. It never happens straight away, normally on a future session.

[Jeremy Murray-Wakefield]

> Oh and I new exactly what John was talking about when he called a split instrument tack an audio track. That's how I've always thought of them.

I think they literally *are* audio tracks - just in a special "mode". If you create a regular audio track and set its input to come from a synth, the track icon changes, the monitor button turns into a Wave Preview button, and the Freeze button becomes linked to the Freeze button on the corresponding MIDI Track.

- and vice-versa, if you take the audio track from a split instrument and set its input to your soundcard, the icon changes and the behaviour becomes that of a regular audio track. The same thing happens if you delete the synth that feeds such a track.

Edited December 8, 2021 by Jeremy Murray-Wakefield