Cakewalk Template keeps "dropping" the Inputs linked to it from the mixing console randomly

[Edward Allen]

So this is a little complicated to lay  out but here goes...

I have a main template that I have developed that includes having all the links for the Zoom L20 mixer configures, so the Preferences section looks like this:

 

So normally when I open a new project (based off this template) I can immediately see the various feeds streaming in from the L20. All good!

BUT....

Numerous times when I've booted up the Laptop and L20 to start work I notice that all the ALL the Inputs that were previously set up to the channels are NOT there and just show "None" like this:

 

It doesn't happen every time just (so it seems) randomly!

(Just for a test after finding out this template had "lost" its feeds to the channels as shown, I opened up a prior template and bingo that one had KEPT all its feeds and the audio streamed in automatically whilst this latest template was "dead"!! so I'm confident that the overall signals from the Mixer are getting through)

The Zoom control panel that operates on the Laptop doesn't seem to be the problem:

 

So, yes I can just "relink" all the channels on my master template and move on but its an annoying repetitive niggle and I'd love to get to the bottom of it! So here are my questions:

Could there be something in the order I turn on The Mixer / The Laptop / Cakewalk that could possibly trigger this loss?

Has anyone else had this kind of issue and how did you resolve it?

 

Many thanks in advance for any perspectives you can offer.

Edward.

 

 

 

 

Edited September 16, 2023 by Edward Allen

[msmcleod]

11 hours ago, Edward Allen said:

Could there be something in the order I turn on The Mixer / The Laptop / Cakewalk that could possibly trigger this loss?

Has anyone else had this kind of issue and how did you resolve it?

I think this is probably the likely cause.

Whenever I've had similar issues (though, normally this is with MIDI devices rather than audio), it's been a power-on order thing.

General advice:
1. Always use the same USB ports for your audio devices.  Swapping them around causes Windows to see them as a different device.
2. Switch on your audio devices before you switch on your PC
3. Once you've switched on your PC, give it time for the L20 to initialize before you start Cakewalk.  Opening the L20 ASIO panel before you start Cakewalk will show you if it's fully ready to go or not.
4. Make sure you've NOT got any aggregate ASIO drivers installed - i.e. ASIO4ALL, or the Steinberg, FL Studio or Magix equivalents.  The way these drivers work is by wrapping your real device's WDM drivers up as ASIO drivers, which can cause the real ASIO driver to be blocked when Cakewalk tries to open it.

 

[Edward Allen]

1 hour ago, msmcleod said:

I think this is probably the likely cause.

Whenever I've had similar issues (though, normally this is with MIDI devices rather than audio), it's been a power-on order thing.

General advice:
1. Always use the same USB ports for your audio devices.  Swapping them around causes Windows to see them as a different device.
2. Switch on your audio devices before you switch on your PC
3. Once you've switched on your PC, give it time for the L20 to initialize before you start Cakewalk.  Opening the L20 ASIO panel before you start Cakewalk will show you if it's fully ready to go or not.
4. Make sure you've NOT got any aggregate ASIO drivers installed - i.e. ASIO4ALL, or the Steinberg, FL Studio or Magix equivalents.  The way these drivers work is by wrapping your real device's WDM drivers up as ASIO drivers, which can cause the real ASIO driver to be blocked when Cakewalk tries to open it.

 

Many thx Mark. 

Any thoughts on once the problem has occurred how to resolve it quickest? (Full reboot of everything? or perhaps try to reset things within Cakewalk etc.?)

[Wookiee]

@Edward Allen just a thought have you disabled power management on your USB ports?

[msmcleod]

1 hour ago, Edward Allen said:

Many thx Mark. 

Any thoughts on once the problem has occurred how to resolve it quickest? (Full reboot of everything? or perhaps try to reset things within Cakewalk etc.?)

The way I've done it in the past is as follows:

1. When the routing is correct, close Cakewalk and copy AUD.INI from %APPDATA%\Cakewalk\Cakewalk Core  to a backup location.
2. If the problem occurs again, close Cakewalk and copy your backup back to  %APPDATA%\Cakewalk\Cakewalk Core 
3. If the problem is still there, reboot, copy your backup back over again, then start Cakewalk.

The new Sonar will have configuration presets, which will make this far easier.

[Mark Morgon-Shaw]

2 hours ago, msmcleod said:

The new Sonar will have configuration presets, which will make this far easier.

Great. Does this mean my preferred choice of Sound On Sound editing can be part of the preset so I don't have to go back in to preferences and select  it each time I start a new project ? 

[msmcleod]

10 minutes ago, Mark Morgon-Shaw said:

Great. Does this mean my preferred choice of Sound On Sound editing can be part of the preset so I don't have to go back in to preferences and select  it each time I start a new project ? 

Yes.

It includes pretty much everything - audio & midi device config, control surfaces, all of your options preferences and any global options throughout the app.

You can save/load presets either within preferences, or alternatively specify a config preset as a command line option (so you can have different shortcuts on your desktop that launch Sonar with different configs).

[Mark Morgon-Shaw]

3 hours ago, msmcleod said:

You can save/load presets either within preferences, or alternatively specify a config preset as a command line option (so you can have different shortcuts on your desktop that launch Sonar with different configs).

Will the preset persist if I save it in a Project Template ?

[msmcleod]

23 minutes ago, Mark Morgon-Shaw said:

Will the preset persist if I save it in a Project Template ?

No - it doesn't work like that.

The config preset is a separate file on disk that contains a backup of any configs in your registry settings, and the contents of several .ini /.dat files.  Essentially it's a backup of your global settings.

What it doesn't contain:

• Any user specific details (e.g. user name, serial number etc)
• Plugin inventory
• Project specific settings

Restoring a preset re-applies these settings to the registry and .ini/.dat files.  Once it's applied, it becomes the current config.

Any project specific settings will of course be in your Project Template.

The main uses of the feature are:

• Saving a backup of a working config so it can be easily restored either to the same machine or a different machine
• Allowing users with several different hardware profiles an easy way to switch between them (e.g. different MIDI devices, or different audio interfaces)
• An easy way for Cakewalk support to replicate your current configuration in order to reproduce any issues