John Vere

My workflow is to not use any effects while in the tracking phase of recording. Why would you need them? I try a have a great sounding recording happening without the effects and then start adding them at the mixing stage. At that point it no longer matters if they are resource hogs. I’ve never used PDC. I do use the Global effects bypass if at the mixing phase I find myself re recording a track.

To avoid these issues: 1. Uncheck midi outputs if you are not using hardware 2. Make sure any synths used in the project have midi output disabled. 3. Always select only your controller as the input to the track.

Yes I remember the tape data system. My Roland 505 has it too and we used to load 5 more sequences on set breaks and pray it worked. We are most certainly spoiled now with almost every synth available and mostly for free. The Poly 800 was my bass player back then. When I fried it I replaced it with the Roland MT-32 which set me back $1,500. But I then needed a controller so I also bought a Roland P-200. I must have also purchased my 1st Atari ST that same year. It was literally thousands of bucks back then to play the one man band game.

For a guitar track probably won’t matter but you certainly wouldn’t do this to vocals

It will probably have a terrible noise floor. @Promidi suggestion is the best way as if can take a -40 db track all the way to zero. But best to set it at -8.0 db. Normalize is found in Process. But what mr @bdickens said is the truth.

Just be aware that using the line in jack on a computer is going to be pretty low quality audio signal. It is recommended to always use an audio interface with ASIO for any audio recording. The A/D converter of a computer sound card is about $2.00 worth of technology. And your tracks will be out of sync. But a mixer is the next best thing. Assuming the meters are moving on the mixer then you might need to watch this video for proper audio set up of both Windows and Cakewalk.

Congratulations you get the official title of internet wizard. Oh And keep it a secret ?

It's not your fault. In my opinion Cakewalk has had the most ridiculous and complicated installation system since Bandlab took it over. First the ultra buggy Bandlab assistant, and now the elusive web installer. I wanted to make a turorial on how to install Cakewalk and gave up. I'm wating for them to finish what they started last Summer. To me it should be pretty staight forward. I download and install lots of free Software. The instructions are always very clear. Most people are going to enter "Cakewalk Download" in the search. Now you would sort of expect a Cakewalk Home Page with a big DOWNLOAD button. Go ahead and see if you can find it. This is what you get! Confusing, you bet. Do you see Cakewalk on the products list? Sorry, you're going to need to be a internet wizard too find the correct pages.

Boy do I ever know this story! We moved 3 years ago and I'm still missing a few wall warts. I just havn't gotten around to those "catch all" tubs full of loose wires and junk from the last studio location. And I am now in the habit of clearly labeling both the wall wart AND the end with the plug. I blew up my beloved Korg Poly 800 when I accidentally plugged the wrong power supply into it. If they had put one simple 50 cent diode in the power supply jack it would have survived. That was $1,000 at the time, goes Poof! 20+ years later I have it back ( sort of) with the Fury 800. https://plugins4free.com/plugin/3134/ Analog synth at its best.

100%. I have never had issues as desribed above and I have some pretty busy projects sometimes. My computer is also pretty underpowered by today's standards.

Yes I know that. We must have posted same time. I was just pointing out where the dialog box is due to the fact those dialogue boxes are not always shown if you are using certain Workspaces.

One thing you didn't mention. Setting the Input for the track the instrument is in to the correct source.

There's some misleading info in the OP. First and most important is why ASIO is important and should always be used if you are recording audio. https://youtu.be/liJqHlL8WA0 The video has the details if you are curious. ONLY ASIO reports system latency to Cakewalk. All other modes will be out of sync. See screen shot for a visual. This is just one of dozens of set ups that I and a whole bunch of Cakewalk forum members tested years ago. Results were always the same. ASIO perfect sync, all other modes late ( rarley early) by random amounts depending on interface and computer. If you are not using an Audio interface with ASIO drivers you need to perform a loopback test and adjust your timing offset. If you do not directy record audio into your DAW this sync issue probably will not matter. I would be curious to see a zoomed in shot of the OP's audio tracks and how they line up with the midi tracks. The other thing that makes no sense to me is a driver mode causing a crash? I have never heard that one. Possibly a wrong sample rate or a bum Plug in but driver mode? I have projects from different audio interfaces including lots of midi projects recorded 100% with on board audio. That includes ASIO4all and WDM modes from years ago. Lots of different computers and configuration. Those projects have always opened on any variety of Cakewalk systems both ASIO and on board audio. But I always set up my audio system correctly before opening Cakewalk see this one for details- https://youtu.be/JM8rKHQ9GIo

There's no point wasting money on a pure Midi interface for $100 when for $50 more you get an audio interface which is needed anyways if you want to do any audio recording. The only advantage to midi interfaces is that most have 4 or more in/outs for those who have a room full of nice vintage synths. But if you only have one then an Audio interface is better bang for the buck.

Yep. big waste of cash those puppies. ? This is the best bang for the buck according to a review I watched where he tested 10 inteterfaces under $200. It's the only one with Midi I do beleieve. https://www.presonus.com/products/audiobox-usb-96

I know, I did!

Thanks everyone for the great feedback. I did turn up the vocals a bit I've moved over to mostly using Sound Click now because I can upload the whole album. It's faster to make changes as I am tweaking the songs as I listen. It's weird I don't get a notifications about replies even though it's checked to Follow?? Here's the song https://soundclick.com/share.cfm?id=14406697 And here's the whole album https://soundclick.com/JohnVere

Does this keyboard work in any other DAW? Does the little icon in the system tray flash on and off. If not then your midi to USB cable is garbage. Midi OX is a good free app that will diagnose midi routing issues. Your best solution is a audio interface that has midi ports. You’ll need that to get the audio from the synth anyway

In Wave Lab. Shift/Home highlights from now time to start. Shift/ End highlights to end. I find it odd that no other software I use figured this brilliant solution out.

Are you sure they are not just appearing in the uncategorized list? If they show in the plug in manager then they are installed. Unless you’re looking at the excluded list.

99.9 % of the time this is due to a Sample rate miss match. If your new to Cakewalk then these videos will quickly bring you up to speed.

It's weird because the "Selct None " or CTRL/SHIFT/A was what was commonly recommended on the forum here for years. For most of us it always worked and was more reliable than CTRL/A and became a habit. When the new export dialogue was introduced I stopped doing that and I must of exported 100's of song or stems that way without any issues. Just about a month ago, after they did some small changes to the export dialogue, I started getting the silent treatment again. I have returned to using CTRL/SHIFT/A and so far so good.

As always a great track. I also like that your doing an "Album" it's becoming a lost art.

What your seeing is a heavy resorce HOG! That will happen when you use certain plug ins that are heavy load. I personally aviod them unless there are no other options. It forces you to dial in a setting and freeze the track.

I have the M4 as well. Motu is more of a Mac focused company so you are correct. There is less uspport for native windows drivers. I do beleieve WASAPI shared works.