John Vere

Actually folks the OP’s Yamaha MOXf is a USB Midi and Audio interface using a Steinberg ASIO driver. So they will need to download and install the driver and do a little reading of the Yamaha manual too. Lots of video support for that series. I have yet to make a proper tutorial for this type of set up not having this type of device on hand. I was just given a older Yamaha piano that had a glass of pop spilled inside and I fixed that issue but the display screen is broken. I need to get it working to get at the USB setting

Forgetit.

It's not really a template at all when you open a Midi file. It is just the midi data and if it was a type 1 file it will open with each track the way it was originally saved by the creator. What you get is a raw Cakewalk project with no frills. The TTS-1 is the default instrument because they assumed you are opening a GM multi channel file. It’s a real handy option for preview of download Midi files. You can disable this. If you choose a Midi output in Preferences, example I can choose my Midi ports of my Audio interface, Then the TTS-1 will not load, all you will have is your midi tracks. You then needd to build your project around those tracks. Add instruments etc. Notice there is not even a master bus with a midi file. You have to add that as well. This is where Track templates save time. If I add a track template I created for True Pianos it then automaticly creates a Sub bus and a Master bus.

Yes the correct way to back up a project as midi only is simply use the save as option and change to the midi format you want. This is something I’ve always recommended as a future proof back up of all projects. A huge amount of work can go into the Midi part of a project and if your like me I spend more time creating Drum, Bass and keyboard parts than I do recording Guitar and vocals. And if you produce electronic music Midi might be everything in the project. So making a Midi back up makes you future proof because probably it will be usable 20-30 years from now just like my Midi files from 1984 still are. And it’s also part of the easiest way to transfer to a different DAW. You open the Midi file in the other DAW and then just import the audio as stems. Not really required but If you want to spend a few minutes and set each instrument on a different channel that makes them sort of GM friendly. Hmm, this just gave me the topic for my next video, thanks for asking.

And wait another month for a reply?

I opened a fairly busy project on my i5 Office computer so you could see that for me it works fine. I'm using WASAPI shared because I need to run other music apps and watch You Tubes. My buffer seems to default to 480 samples which might vary from machine to machine. WASAPI shared does not let me adjust the buffer size but WASAPI Exclusive will. So if you need to increase your buffer you'll need to switch to Exclusive mode. I took some screen shots so you can compare setting. Here's my specs which are pretty close to yours. Here's the project running and playing a song with about 12 different plug ins running plus a few VST instruments as well. You can see my cores are not even breaking a sweat. Here's my Latency monitor report look like yours I guess. This is with Cakewalk and Google chrome running. Here's my Audio preference settings

Ok yes progress is happening at a rapid pace. Next suggestion is to try and increase your buffers and see if that works. To me your computer should not barf on that few plug ins. But as you add stuff you sometimes have to increase buffer to more than 256 which is a sort of normal setting.

What I see is a list of junk you don't need or want on the device lists. You are attempting to use a few devices that are designed for Podcasting and are normally problematic when used for Home Studio recording with a DAW. System is OK because it passes the Latency Monitor test with flying colours. The CPU spikes are therefore caused by something else, most likely one of these low budget audio devices. Lets get rid of all that so we can get WASAPI and your realtek working as it should and then you can start replacing devices with things that are known to work with a DAW. The Samson Co1u was discontinued and its generic driver ( W7) will not support WASAPI which I will guess is the heart of the issue here. Unplug it and uncheck from list. Voicemeter while found to be harmless should be completely removed from your system as it "could" cause issues and you really don't need it. I would go into the Windows setting like I show in the video and disable all device except your Realtek Speaker output. Now open Cakewalk and choose WASAPI shared or Exclusive and play the metronome as I show in the video. You may want to watch it a 4th time and just carefully do what I say. Now drag any audio file into Cakewalk and it should play without crackles. If your plans are to record with a microphone you will defiantly need a proper USB audio interface. The type with a XLR connection. USB mikes are for Podcasting and have a long history of not working with Cakewalk or any DAW unless you own a Mac. Good luck and keep us posted. The folks here really do want to make this work for you and we won't give up until it does ?

Why didn’t we all ask for screen shots of all the audio settings in the beginning. Would have saved a lot of guessing and typing. Make mental note to self. But the good news is we are getting closer to solving your issues. I feel dumb for not asking for more info to start with and just assumed this was a case of only playback with a typical on board Realtek system. You actually have a lot of stuff connected and this makes matters that much more complicated. Now we find there’s a few low budget usb devices involved and it doesn’t take much to guess why WASAPI mode won’t work.

I wonder if Craig realized he was replying to Dave when he was much younger.

I guess the best way to figure this out would be to do loop back tests. But I’ll let someone else do that as I said I don’t use the PDC. First I avoid adding effects when still in the tracking stage. And then later if I need to record a new track I use the global bypass toggle. Sometimes my song sounds better when I turn off the effects ?

I’ve never had this issue but then I always carefully choose the spots buy zooming in. Best if snap to grid is off so you can place the now time on the exact spot.

You should always render when done. You can always re apply the regional effect later and continue.

PVR has seen a lot of updates , Staff view seems to have a list of improvements that have been asked by members that have not ever been addressed. I have used PVR for probably over 20 years so I'm very comfortable editing and drawing notes. I've never even opened Staff view. I actually know how to read music but for midi PRV and the Event list seem more logical. But for those who have a high skill level with notation I guess Staff view has it's fan club. But then I'm not sure how you deal with Velocity and and CC events in staff view so I guess PVR is where you would end up working anyhow.

The videos 209 and 210 in my 200 series show you how to use effects and mix songs, I cover the topic in a few of the tutorials. I would think also videos # 15 and 22 will also cover the topic.

Hey maybe the solution for people who keep forgetting to save as they work is make an option for asterisk to be HUGE as a reminder. Even a flashing angry red one option for some. But myself, you only make that mistake a few times before you will learn to make it a habit to save, save & save, as you work. Go ahead and trust the buggy auto save, be my guest. This applies to all software I work with , not just Cakewalk.

Yes PDC is another way to fix the issue. Only thing I don't like about it is it's easy to forget you toggled it. That's why I prefer to use the Global effects bypass because it's usually noticeable that it's toggled. At least it seems your exports will not suffer as you see in the very last line I highlighted. From the PDF Documentation: Live Input PDC Override . Enable/disable delay compensation on live tracks, thereby removing the latency during playback and recording of such tracks. Because it's a toggle, you can quickly turn it on to complete your tracking at low latency, and turn it off when finished to hear the track compensated as normal. For details, see “Live Input PDC override” on page 367. Live Input PDC override While working with virtual instruments and live input monitored tracks, it is important for audio to be streamed at low latency in order to minimize delay. Although Cakewalk supports streaming audio at very low latency, there are cases where internal buffering can cause additional latency. The most common scenario is when using plug-ins that require Automatic Plug-in Delay Compensation (PDC). PDC is the process of delay compensating other normal tracks so they are synchronized with the delayed audio produced by the plug-ins. Whenever delay compensation takes place on a track that has a live input (an input monitored track or synth track), it is delayed by the required amount to synchronize it with other tracks. In some cases, the delay can be noticeable and make live tracking difficult. The Live Input PDC Override toggle lets you disable delay compensation on live tracks, thereby removing the latency during playback and recording of such tracks. Since it's a toggle, you can quickly turn it on to complete your tracking at low latency, and turn it off when finished to hear the track compensated as normal. Regardless of whether Live Input PDC Override is enabled or disabled, recorded audio is placed on the timeline at the correct position as recorded. Live Input PDC Override is ignored during a bounce/export or freeze operations.

Ok I’ll repeat what I say in the Video as well as a few other folks here have said. Make sure your Master bus output is set to Speakers and not Digital. Terms that are easy to use Google search to learn but are included here for clarification Speakers= the green jack on most Computers where you plug in a set of speakers or a set of headphones. Some MoBo sound cards have both a Speaker and a Headphones jack which are marked as such. SPDIF = a type of Digital connection normally using a yellow or orange RCA connection but might be a 1/8” jack on a MoBo used to connect home theatre equipment to a PC. Most PC inputs and outputs only show when something in connected to them. The exception seems to be the Digital.

OK that good (and bad) as it rules out what I thought might be happening. That sometimes other crappy ASIO drivers get in there and mess up the reported RTL figures. One thing that will mess this up the reported RTL is using certain look ahead effects that will add additional latency but this is not factored into the calculation. So try bypassing all effects and see if that fixes it. I myself avoid adding effects until I’m done tracking. But if I do I always use the global bypass effects toggle.

This was not the correct way to solve the issue because many 3rd party plug ins are installed to those folders. You’re going to run into problems in the future when you install other VST’s. You trying to do this inside Cakewalk when the correct places to deal with it were described in my first post.

Video #17 goes into details of using the Metronome. If you have further questions I also own a 6i6 so can help you if your issue is due to monitor set up via the mix control software. But basically if you can hear playback from Cakewalk you should also hear the metronome.

just did an experiment. Turned off my Audio interface and re enabled the digital output to my on board audio ( Realtek) open a Blank template project. MME mode. Speakers are Master bus output. WASAPI modes- Digital is Master bus output. WDM Mode- Digital is Master bus output. ASIO mode - Not available, Realtek ASIO driver deleted. It's as I said, in MME mode Speakers show at the top of the device list. In all other modes the Digital ( SPDIF) is at the top of the device list. So there's the issue. This thread would have been 4 posts long if the OP had watched the video all the way through.

All of this is covered very clearly in the video I posted. Of course some people don't always watch entire videos and the important part of this was explained at the end regarding the Digital output being a default for the master in some driver modes. At this point I will put my money on the master bus output is wrong.

Videos #2 and #12 cover proper Midi set up and explain how to avoid Midi loop back