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Latest CWBBL, Transport Frozen


Michael McBroom

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A few days ago, I installed the latest version of CWBBL on my laptop -- which had been running the previous version without issues. I didn't use CW right away, instead I waited until last night. I loaded up a new tune I've been working on with my desktop, which also has the latest version installed, and it came up just fine, but the transport was locked. Everything else about the tune, I could adjust. But none of the transport buttons or the slider would work. I tried loading older tunes I've been working with on this computer, wondering if it might have been something funny with this particular tune I was working on, but nope, all the earlier tunes I tried showed the same symptoms. Frozen transport while everything else was not.

I tried changing the audio driver -- no luck. Tried changing the Hz and bit rate. Nope. Tried changing the audio format. Nope again.

I don't  think the latest version of CWBBL is causing this problem, mostly since it's working just fine on my desktop. Rather, I suspect that I inadvertently did something I shouldn't have to cause this problem. Nonetheless, I'm just about out of things I know to try. Got any ideas how I can unlock things?

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The only other piece of software I have loaded with Cakewalk is TTS-1. I've used it successfully on my laptop with Cakewalk before. Kinda obviously.

No the transport buttons aren't grayed out. They're just non-responsive. I'd have noticed right off if they were grayed out. I just noticed something, though -- one of those things you see all the time but don't really think about. Down here on my desktop machine, when I pass the mouse cursor over the transport buttons, they turn from a light gray to white. Then of course, once the button is pressed, it turns to a light orange color as the track is played (citing the Play button here obviously). None of these color changes happen with my laptop.

 

Edited by Michael McBroom
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Well, no, I was using the pad. I've never used a mouse on this machine. I don't think I even own one that would work -- a USB mouse, I presume, since none of the other ports on this laptop would work for other types of mice. So, to validate your point, this means I'll have to buy a USB mouse. Really, why should I have to do this when previous versions of Sonar and CWBBL have worked just fine?  Reminds me -- I still have Sonar installed on that machine. I haven't tried it yet. Guess I should. How much you wanna bet it will work.

I'm downstairs right now (the laptop is upstairs) but when I get back up there, I'll give it a try.

 

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8 hours ago, Chuck E Baby said:

What are you using for a device ?

I'm  just using the sound chip on my laptop's motherboard. According to the laptop's Device Manager, the sound chip is a NVidia GeForce 9800M GTS. It's been doing a decent job handling both Cakewalk (and Sonar previously) and PG Music's Band in a Box. 

Oh, and I tried a few things since my last update. First, I tried Sonar Platinum. I was surprised to encounter the same problem. I tried a couple of different files. Same difference, just the Transport is frozen; nothing else.  Same situation as CW with the Transport buttons staying a light gray color and not turning white as I pass the cursor over them. It has the same audio ins and outs as CWbBL listed in the Preferences. I don't have any other audio ins and outs to select. With this onboard chip, I'm given a choice of the built-in speakers or the headphone jack.

I do have a couple of audio interfaces. I suppose I could try one, see if it makes a difference. I doubt it will, but I guess I should, just for the sake of completeness. They're downstairs and I'm upstairs on my laptop at the moment. So  next time I plan on doing a round trip, I'll try to  remember to bring along an interface.

So now, because SPlat isn't working, I decided to try Band in a Box. It's still working just fine. I also gave MuseScore 3 a try, since I haven't used it on the laptop in a while. It works fine too. So getting back to both CWbBL and SPlat, I just don't understand what it is that is now affecting both pieces of  software. Could I have inadvertently set something in CWbBL that would somehow get carried over to SPlat when I booted it? When I booted it just now -- that's the first time I've done so in months.

I'm really glad I haven't had the occasion to use CWbBL much recently on my laptop, else this would be a really big deal. The way things sit now, it's an inconvenience. But I'd still like to get to the bottom of it.

Edited by Michael McBroom
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I could have sworn I read a similar topic here recently that was solved by plugging in an Audio interface. That doesn't mean you should have to use one, because you shouldn't. But it might be worth giving it a test.

This is definitely a reach but.. The only other thing I can think of here (because it is happening in Sonar as well ) is "Ease of access".

There is a way to lock/unlock the space bar in Windows, thus no worky on playback.

Try this

How Do I Unlock the Space Bar on My Computer Keyboard

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I'll give it a try next time I'm up there, but I know for a fact that sticky keys are not enabled on that machine. I do CTLs and ALTs a lot on that machine, and I'm very used to having to hold those keys down as I type other keys.

I'll also take an interface up there and give it a try, just in case.

 

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17 hours ago, Michael McBroom said:

I'm  just using the sound chip on my laptop's motherboard. According to the laptop's Device Manager, the sound chip is a NVidia GeForce 9800M GTS. It's been doing a decent job handling both Cakewalk (and Sonar previously) and PG Music's Band in a Box. 

Oh, and I tried a few things since my last update. First, I tried Sonar Platinum. I was surprised to encounter the same problem. I tried a couple of different files. Same difference, just the Transport is frozen; nothing else.  Same situation as CW with the Transport buttons staying a light gray color and not turning white as I pass the cursor over them. It has the same audio ins and outs as CWbBL listed in the Preferences. I don't have any other audio ins and outs to select. With this onboard chip, I'm given a choice of the built-in speakers or the headphone jack.

I do have a couple of audio interfaces. I suppose I could try one, see if it makes a difference. I doubt it will, but I guess I should, just for the sake of completeness. They're downstairs and I'm upstairs on my laptop at the moment. So  next time I plan on doing a round trip, I'll try to  remember to bring along an interface.

So now, because SPlat isn't working, I decided to try Band in a Box. It's still working just fine. I also gave MuseScore 3 a try, since I haven't used it on the laptop in a while. It works fine too. So getting back to both CWbBL and SPlat, I just don't understand what it is that is now affecting both pieces of  software. Could I have inadvertently set something in CWbBL that would somehow get carried over to SPlat when I booted it? When I booted it just now -- that's the first time I've done so in months.

I'm really glad I haven't had the occasion to use CWbBL much recently on my laptop, else this would be a really big deal. The way things sit now, it's an inconvenience. But I'd still like to get to the bottom of it.

Which driver mode are you using? This looks like CbB cannot open the audio device and its failing. Have you tried WASAPI Shared mode and also MME?

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A video? Okay, picture this:  I move my mouse cursor over the Play Transport Icon. It doesn't turn white. I try clicking  on it anyway. Nothing happens.

I mean no disrespect, but this has become quite frustrating. The only thing left I can think of is to uninstall and reinstall Cakewalk.

I just had a thought -- I don't believe I mentioned that I'm still running Win7. Are any of you still running Win7? I'm just wondering now if it is at all likely that a recent update to the OS may have broken both Cakewalk and SPlat.  I know, not very likely, but I've run out of everything else.

 

 

 

Edited by Michael McBroom
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I asked for a video because your problem is unusual and a video will frequently show us visual clues that you missed describing. 
There is nothing relevant I see immediately that prevents the transport button from highlighting. If you press spacebar instead of clicking the transport does the project play? Also check if the playback timing master is selected in the audio driver settings just in case.
If you create a fresh project does the same problem occur?

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I'm not at my laptop right now, but when I get back to it, I'll try your suggestions. As for your last question, I haven't tried loading a new project. But I did try loading several old ones that used to work just fine with both Cakewalk and Splat and where now neither of them will play these old projects.

I'll try loading a new project, but I'll lay a wager right now that the same thing will happen with a new one.

 

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  • 3 weeks later...

Well, a couple weeks have gone by since my last post on this problem. I've been doing all my CW work on my DAW but I just happened to be at my laptop and read through this thread. One thing I hadn't thought to try was Noel's suggestion about using the spacebar. So I tried it just now. It works. When I press the spacebar, a file I've chosen plays and the Play transport buttons highlights in the orange color. But when I try to control the transport with the mousepad, I still don't get a reaction. I did check that the Playback Timing Master was selected -- it is. And I tried setting up a new piece -- same problem.

So, it's still a problem on the laptop. Wish I knew what was causing this.

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I've noticed something else with my installation of both Cakewalk and Sonar. It's like a case of the creeping crud. Now, not only will the Transport buttons not work, but now I can't activate the Smart tool, and I can activate the others only by maneuvering the cursor to a certain position where I can see the tool's background change from black to gray; then I know that I can click on the tool. Also, now certain other clickable features are no longer responding, such as controls for the Console and Inspector. Actually, it's not just the Console, but also the Staff view and Piano Roll view. None of them will activate when I click on their tabs.

So, frustrated, I uninstalled Cakewalk. I left Sonar alone. After uninstalling CW, I went to Bandlab and made sure that I was downloading the latest version. Installed it -- everything went smoothly. Fired it up, and the same exact problem persists. Well, I'm stumped. I'm glad I don't really need to run CW or Sonar on my laptop, cuz I'm totally out of ideas.

 

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I had a hunch that Windows 7 display scaling might be involved, so we did some tests and managed to reproduce the problem.

In Control Panel -> Appearance and Personalization -> Display, make sure you're using one of the 3 predefined options - Smaller, Medium or Larger:

image.thumb.png.1784d4748b1728f2508a1594a3b42129.png

It's possible to use a custom setting by clicking 'Set custom text size (DPI)', but doing so seems to cause this issue. It works fine (for us, at least) if you stick with Smaller, Medium or Larger.

If you try that and still have problems, try clicking 'Set custom text size (DPI)' and making sure the 'Use Windows XP style DPI scaling' option is enabled/checked (I think it's enabled by default, but worth checking):

image.png.d67b57bdb949e72884cc5779820d3cda.png

That resolved the issue in our tests. Hope it works for you too. Let us know how you get on.

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Ben, thanks for the tip. I had my laptop set to "Larger," but I decided to try "Medium" just to see if it would make a difference. Well, I was surprised. It did make a difference, and CW is back and working normally. All the text is smaller now, but I guess I can deal with that.  Dunno why it didn't want to work at the "Larger" setting -- may just be a peculiarity of this laptop's NVidia display adapter, who knows. Anyway, I'm glad it's back, and thanks again!

Edited by Michael McBroom
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