After update have lost playback to speakers with midi tracks

[George McKeever]

Very novice user here.  Just updated to 2023.09 as it stated it will be the last update and application must be updated to this release in order to ensure it will activate in the future.  Opened up a project just started the other day and the Midi tracks now do not point to speakers as output, just show a generic 1 on the output label.  Cannot get anything through to speakers when I hit play, or if I try to input through an attached midi keyboard.   I can see activity on the meter for tracks I have already have midi information but no output to speakers, and there is nothing happening if I try and input from a midi keyboard.  If I click on the output icon it just lists "New drum map" and "Drum map manager...".  The Audio tracks still show the output as Master and play fine.

Please note this is when I select to add an Instrument track rather than dragging in one of the installed vst3 plug in instruments or cakewalk instruments.  I am just selecting generic instruments in this project. The vst3 and cakewalk instruments seem to work fine and show out put as master, it is the generic instruments that have lost focus.

Edited September 2, 2023 by George McKeever

[John Vere]

Best thing you can do if you are new to Cakewalk is watch the tutorials which will most certainly explain what to do and how you use midi , audio etc. 

Here is the playlist. 

 

[George McKeever]

Thanks, I have watched the tutorials and many other introductory videos.  Nothing explains why my midi tracks in a saved project the output has changed other than the update and I don't know if this is correctable.

[User 905133]

9 hours ago, George McKeever said:

Very novice user here.  Just updated to 2023.09 as it stated it will be the last update and application must be updated to this release in order to ensure it will activate in the future. 

Where did you see that 2023.09 was released?

[George McKeever]

When I started cakewalk I was  notified after the plugin check in a window on the bottom right that the update was available and that I would have to update to this release soon or cakewalk would not initiate once the paid version is released.

[George McKeever]

There is a workaround to this problem that I found, which is to simply add the TTS-1 instrument to the project and now all the midi tracks point to the TTS-1 and the TTS-1 points to Master.  The only drawback is that the general midi instruments are not labelled with their common names, only numbers, so you need a reference chart if you don't know them by heart.  If you don't want your TTS-1 on top, then you could select all the instrument tracks first, label them and then add TTS-1 before starting to add your midi information to each track.

[John Vere]

You sure you watched my videos? I even have a complete tutorial on using the tts1 which also shows you how to select the correct bank that shows the names. 
Cakewalk takes a while to sort out and you are off o a good start by the sounds of it. 
It might take a few more views of each topic to really catch the small details like this.  
I can relate because I’m just learning how to use a new video editing software and I had to watch one series of 5 beginners videos 3 times so far and I’m still not there.  

[Steve_B]

"  11 hours ago, George McKeever said:

Very novice user here.  Just updated to 2023.09 as it stated it will be the last update and application must be updated to this release in order to ensure it will activate in the future. "

The message that comes up is "Early Access Available (2023.09 EA). Nothing about application must be updated to this release. Its just notification of a chance to try out the forthcoming last release before the official release. Its a chance for users to check for bugs etc. So it's entirely possible this version will get further updates before final release.

Steve

[George McKeever]

Thanks for the explanation.  My hurried reading of the message did not seem to imply it was only a test tryout, so I will watch for the final release.

[Conestantino Estrada]

On 9/2/2023 at 9:23 PM, George McKeever said:

There is a workaround to this problem that I found, which is to simply add the TTS-1 instrument to the project and now all the midi tracks point to the TTS-1 and the TTS-1 points to Master.  The only drawback is that the general midi instruments are not labelled with their common names, only numbers, so you need a reference chart if you don't know them by heart.  If you don't want your TTS-1 on top, then you could select all the instrument tracks first, label them and then add TTS-1 before starting to add your midi information to each track.

Try this...

[John Vere]

For other who might find this thread in the future. There’s some misleading comments I feel need clearing up. 
First the title would imply that the update is faulty. If this was true then thousands of people would be here complaining. It’s theoretically the ultimate best version of Cakewalk ever. 

The only reason why an update might cause minor issues with some users is that something was never properly set up to begin with. So it reset to a default. 

The normal default is what you will see if you open a Basic or other Cakewalk template. 

The tracks are assigned to the Master bus. The master bus is assigned to 1/2 outputs of your interface or It will be Speakers  if you are using Computer audio. Simple. This is the first thing you check if there’s no sound. 
 

The OP said no sound from midi tracks.  Of course, midi doesn’t make sound. It is possible they were using the MS GM synth. They didn’t say there was sound from audio which is important. Midi doesn’t make sound on its own it needs an audio/instrument track to do that. 

That’s why I pointed to the videos because there can be infinite amount of things not set up properly and the videos take you step by step to achieve the correct set up to work smoothly in Cakewalk. 
The OP’s workaround possible solved the problem because apparently the MS GM synth is now unsupported.  

So to other new users starting out, take the time to watch the videos from the beginning to the end and as I said you might have to do this a few times before you get it. You will save yourself a lot of waisted time trying to sort things out on your own Cakewalk is complicated. 
This is the playlist that is best to watch in this order. Watch for end screen link to view in order. 

 

[Alvin Fields]

There is DEFINITELY something wrong with that last  2023.9 update. Two of my midi instuments show up in the edit/preference screen but do not show up in the track panel at all!

Instead there are VST’s replacing my assigned  R-70 midi instrument. I have every version of cakewalk so when I call up the exact same song in Platimum every midi instrument is exactly where it was initially assigned and  NOT REPLACED BY A RANDOM VST! This did not occur before the 2023.9 update. In Bandlab. The image on the left is Platinum where all assigned instruments are present but on the right the midi R-70 drum machine is no longer showing up despite the fact that it is present in  edit/preference/iinstruments in the same song. As I said this error was not present before that update. What to do?!
HEEEEEEEELLLLPPPP!😫

[msmcleod]

4 minutes ago, Alvin Fields said:

There is DEFINITELY something wrong with that last  2023.9 update. Two of my midi instuments show up in the edit/preference screen but do not show up in the track panel at all!

Instead there are VST’s replacing my assigned  R-70 midi instrument. I have every version of cakewalk so when I call up the exact same song in Platimum every midi instrument is exactly where it was initially assigned and  NOT REPLACED BY A RANDOM VST! This did not occur before the 2023.9 update. In Bandlab. The image on the left is Platinum where all assigned instruments are present but on the right the midi R-70 drum machine is no longer showing up despite the fact that it is present in  edit/preference/iinstruments in the same song. As I said this error was not present before that update. What to do?!
HEEEEEEEELLLLPPPP!😫

 

It sounds like you've not got both the MIDI inputs and outputs checked for those.

If this isn't the case, also check your Control Surface preferences to verify it's not "stolen" one of them because your MIDI device order has changed.

[Alvin Fields]

To add a note…the R-70 is connected to my pc  via an Edirol midi to USB converter. I’m big on Roland external sound modules combined with VST’s.

[Alvin Fields]

Copy: Control surface is normal and consistent with my Peavey Studio mix. It’s being stolen by VSTs because that’s what’s showing up in place of the midi assigned R-70 .

Are there any preference options for my VST’s where they might be blocking the Edirol midi?

Edited October 28, 2023 by Alvin Fields
Pic added

[Alvin Fields]

As for midi in and out preferences those were also correctly implemented. Output for the R-70 and other midi drum machines are unchecked.

 

Edited October 28, 2023 by Alvin Fields