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Cakewalk is not responding


Astral

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  • 1 year later...

After updating Cakewalk to the latest version today (July 31st, 2022) I am experiencing the same issue with files that formerly loaded without any issues. I doubt that this is a hard disk issue as all other aspects of the system are running error-free.

The message when opening a project is "Loading Audio Regions ..." and then it hangs.

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It seems that the reason for the faulty behavior is that Cakewalk stores audio files that are used in a project in c:\Cakewalk Projects\Audio Data instead of storing them in the project's home directory as it does with other files that belong to a project. When That "Audio Data" directory is flushed or a file that is part of a project is missing from it, Cakewalk fails to open the project.

I think that is a severe software bug. This cannot be right that parts of a project are placed into a general "Audio Data" directory along with other audio parts from other projects and that any change to a filename or any removal of a part from there results in completely broken projects.

I also found that in projects where I used .mp3 files, Cakewalk suddenly expects the same filename but as a .wav file. So even if the formerly used .mp3 file is present, it requires a .wav file, else - even it if opens the project - it replaces the audio with silence, although it could equally well use the .mp3 file that you tell it to use in the replacement dialog box during the file opening procedure. This is a new behavior that I can only see in 2022.6 build 34. Before things were perfectly o.k.

Edited by Peter Debik
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Now further into the bug and - promised - my last post on this. I find this to be an absolutely inacceptable bug. I found out that obviously the latest Cakewalk version for unknown reason is unable to handle certain audio files that are properly located in the "Audio Data" directory. The same files that it could previously handle without any issues. In one case here it was a 320 kbsp stereo .mp3 file (the .wav pendant in the Audio Data directory). I tried to replace it with an identical .wav version - but no luck. Still hanging on opening when "Loading Audio Regions ..." Waiting for half an hour did not help, and the Windows process list does not show any cpu load on Cakewalk, neither do the Windows system logs show any event entry that could fit to the situation. Neither is an antivirus solution blocking file access. All files associated with the project have been manually tested here, and all are fully accessible through other software.

For Cakewalk however, it was impossible to open that project, so I was ready to accept the worst case that 160 work hours where flushed.

The only way to being able to access the Cakewalk project file again was to remove the references .mp3 (.wav respectively) from the "Audio Data" directory. Now when I open the project, Cakewalk does not find the file and asks for a replacement, which is great, because at least we now have a chance to open the project. I then clicked "skip" in the dialog where Cakewalk asks you to replace the missing file and - voila - the project could be opened. Of course without the problematic audio file, but at least the rest of the project became available again.

So the "solution" is to remove one ore more problematic audio files from the Audio Data directory and then open the project without the files, then import new versions of the same files into the project again and save it under a new name.

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UPDATE:  It's been a while since I have been on this forum and didn't realize this is an old thread.   Sorry.

 

After further research and digging,  I realized that my hard drive that houses my audio has several bad sectors which is an indication it is on it's way out.  (I've had this drive for almost a decade, so I should not be surprised.)   I do have a back up, but it's from a couple of months ago.  So my task now is to back up my newer projects and get a new hard drive.

So over all -  the Cakewalk update is not the issue.   In my haste to figure out what was going on with my system, I found this older thread that was recently brought back to life and assumed others were having a similar issue.

Finally,  back up your work!

Thanks!

P.S.   Back up your work!

 

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Hi  Long Time User here (Going back to "Pro Audio 9")   and old forum visitor. 

 

I am having a similar issue since the last update.   Loading  projects seems to take longer and  "Loading Audio Regions"  appears as the project  is opening.  (I haven't used the Audio Region feature as of yet.)  

Once the project opens,  it lags about 10 to 15 seconds when I press the space bar to start the audio engine or stop the audio engine.  Eventually,  I get a "Not Responding Message."  and I am forced to exit out of Cakewalk using CTR Alt Del.

While I do have an older system,  I have been using Cakewalk almost daily over the last several years without any issues.  I have project files of different sizes,  including some larger ones that take some time to load,  but I have been able to work on them with no problem.    Now, I have this "lagging"  issue with all of my projects.

I am currently working on mixing 10 songs, so the timing couldn't be worse for me.   Like I said, I do have an older system (64 bit Windows 10 with an Intel core i3,  3.2O GHz processor, 8 Gigs of memory,  2 (1 Tb Hard Drives)  one for the operating system and 1 for my audio files), but have only experienced issues since this update.   Perhaps it's a coincidence or maybe there's bug.


Any assistance would be appreciated.   I love Cakewalk and I appreciate all the of the updates.

Thanks!

NW Smith

 

 

 

 

 

Edited by NW Smith
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On 7/31/2022 at 9:35 AM, Peter Debik said:

I think that is a severe software bug. This cannot be right that parts of a project are placed into a general "Audio Data" directory along with other audio parts from other projects and that any change to a filename or any removal of a part from there results in completely broken projects.

This is down to your config (use per project audio files).  That said, even if using a global audio directory, the files are not automatically deleted by any Cakewalk process.  If you or another Windows process modifies a file/name Cakewalk expects to find, then wherever it is, don't expect Cakewalk to load the project correctly!

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On 7/31/2022 at 9:35 AM, Peter Debik said:

I also found that in projects where I used .mp3 files, Cakewalk suddenly expects the same filename but as a .wav file.

This is correct - the mp3 is imported and converted to a wav file as a fire and forget operation: there is no reference to the original mp3 file.  Cakewalk only plays back wav files.

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