John Vere

I just re read the OP and I noticed this- "At that location, the CW meters show the audio to be more than 10 db below 0 dbFS (so the distortion is NOT due to audio clipping)." This is a mistake. The meters will not always show things that happen that fast. Put Span on the track and see what it's true peak level reads. If this is OK then we have a zero crossing issue.

This gets even weirder. . I tried Google but all returns are for Mac users. According to the manual the library should be installed along side the VST in the Steinberg VST folder. Nope. I was thinking maybe if I open Halion on my main DAW which has Cubase installed I could figure out were the heck the sound library is. I opened Cubase for the first time in probably 3 years. Man, there's all this On line crud and all sorts of junk to wade through just to load a basic template which includes the Halion and a piano. No sound, No piano file found? So even Cubase can't sort out how to use it even though I had used it a long time ago and it seemed to have a lot of sounds. @JoeGBradford Nothing really wrong with Asio4all if that's what working for your on board. My 3 computers were a no go when I tried to use it. My old Sony Laptop ran fine with asio4all and W7. I used Home Studio on that one just to mess around. I also would hook my interface up and I never had the conflict some people reported. People should try WASAPI Shared before they try Asio4all as this is much more simple to use.

If it was a bug it would have been reported 20 years ago. And to clarify- do you really mean to say " a glitch" . In other words there is a short burst of nasty sound at this point on the track. I think Greg has it nailed. Those normally show up at edit points. Try zooming way in on the wave form at that point.

Thanks for the heads up on the Free version of Halion VST3. I have Cubase 7 Elements and it came with a Older SE version, this one might be an update so I thought I'd follow through. I also thought this might be a good replacement for TTS-1 because it too is a GM player. OK- you gotta register, no big deal this is expected from some freebies. I'm already registered but Steinberg didn't like my password so had to go through all that BS which seems like every time I log in to my account. It took a long time to download due to large library. ( which doesn't seems to exist?) WARNING- On install it has the list of items to be installed and one of them is that pesky Steinberg Generic ASIO driver. Knowing this is a real nasty takeover of my ASIO system for Cakewalk I did the smart thing and unchecked this. Otherwise it becomes your Timing master in Sync and Caching, not a good thing. If you only have on board audio then you will have to install this as there will be no other choices. It won't work in stand alone with on board sound cards without that stupid driver. Now first thing you have to do is activate it. This is were Steinberg sort of sucks big time. Years ago I got so fed up with the software licenser I had to fork over $35 for a USB dongle. The good thing is it sort of work 99% of the time and I can move between computers easily. Ya, 99% of the time, today was that 1% day. Took 15 minutes to get that working and I managed to add the license to the manager. I opened the stand alone version and this is were I found out I couldn't use it with on board audio. I don't use an ASIO interface on this computer right now because I don't record, just edit and TRY NEW VST's. I then open Cakewalk and had to add the Halion sub folder to the scan path to get it scanned. The scan took about 3 minutes. But there it was, So I opened a GM midi file to test and inserted it and deleted TTS_1. This seemed to work except the Halion had no sounds loaded. Digging around it seems there's nothing? All the menus are empty. I used the default pathways ( there was no choices) There's a Library Manager I opened and it said there are no licensed Libraries found? I looked in all likely locations and found no libraries. And it is odd that it doesn't warn you or something when it loads? OK that's my 2 hours wasted on a VST. This is basically one of those pointless exercises in frustration EVERY step of the way. So Welcome to Steinberg folks- enjoy the ride. I got off at the last stop. Oh, this is #1 reason I never switched over to Cubase when Cakewalk died. I do use Wave Lab a Lot but I am slowly finding other ways to do those tasks- for free- and more intuitive software that doesn't drive you nuts.

ALL my and many other tutorials about midi cover this. You won't get far just guessing how things work.

In my signature is a link to my tutorials. I recommend you watch the video called On board sound it will get you up and running.

I can’t see being a Cakewalk user and Not regularly reading the forum. I generally pick up one new trick or tip every time. It’s better to learn in small doses anyway.

I have an Acer laptop with the same drive configuration as yours. It’s just an old beater but I use it for mobile recording and as a backup system to my main DAW. I have just my software on the C drive and it’s sitting at 69% now. I store everything else on the 240 data drive and it’s at 56% right now. I keep the live recording original copies there as well as VST libraries, movies and any documents I have a SSD DRIVE in a USB enclosure that I will work from so I can move between the 2 computers. That has all my projects as well as my software installers and VST back ups for when I rebuild a machine Ive never had issues working from the USB 3 SSD drive. Seems same as using internal

In my signature is a link to my tutorials Watch the one on ASIO as it gives you info about sync and what to look for. that sound card is from like 2004 so that’s my guess as to what is wrong. Probably outdated drivers not compatible with W10 latest version.

Always “open “ Midi files import is for midi clips not whole songs you loose important data if you import in my signature is a link to my tutorials and lots of info about using midi with Cakewalk Or go to the Tutorials sub forum

In my signature is a link to my tutorials or you can find them and others in the tutorials sub forum. I have a few on using midi that will help you get this sorted There is a lot of settings I see that should be changed. First is use WASAPI shared mode for on board audio.

Cakewalk stores each project in a folder. If you friend is coming over to your house then just save that folder to a thumb drive and copy to your computer If you open the project and then use “save as” with copy audio checked, browse to a portable drive and save this is quick method to make backup files

Have you tried opening different Workspaces? Do you use 2 monitors and are both on? Have you tried minimizing the Project to see if it is hidden behind

Why are you looking in Windows sound when you’re using an audio interface? The interface is you sound device. Make sure you download and install the latest ASIO drivers for the interface. Make sure your interface is the only device chosen in all the preferences/ Audio dialogue boxes. Make sure your master bus output is going to the Focusrite Alway use the ASIO driver with any audio interface Your speakers need to also be connected to the output of the interface not your computer. You can’t use both together, it’s one or the other. If you speakers don’t have the proper connection use the headphones or get an adapter

In your second paragraph you first said you installed the driver and at the end you say it doesn’t need a driver? Definitely when there’s a midi driver you want to use it as Cakewalk loves real drivers. I have never used a control surface so not sure about setting that up but if the LX 25 shows in the midi input list and in the track inputs then it by all rights should work. Only thing I can think is that somehow Cakewalk is confused about what the device is for. Is it a keyboard controller or a control surface device

You should start your own topic as this becomes confusing.

All you have to do is log on to Command center. You can then install most of the plug ins that came with the older versions. Most have there own installers and activation codes so no need to even install X3. You really should have all those backed up anyway as there's $1,000's worth of stuff well worth keeping safe. When Gibson shut down most of us made backups of everything including all the serial numbers etc. All you're Cakewalk products should still be accessible from the old Web site https://www.cakewalk.com/My-Account You don't need the disk but you can still use them. Log in and go to My Products. If you can't log in Support here will help you with that still. This is a list of all included plug ins- a user created. https://www.dropbox.com/s/fa9totrruxnlmvq/Sonar_Plugins_3 to X3.xlsx?dl=0 https://www.cakewalk.com/Documentation?product=SONAR&language=3&help=Plug-ins.1.html It is recommended you start with the oldest version and work your way forward. Myself I have never done this and had no issues at all. I just wait till the day I needed something and run the installer for that version bare bones. Uncheck everything but the one plug in I need. The Software takes up very little room. But the items I mentioned all have separate installers and for me I have back ups of the old Command Center download folder so I just install Command center and before I run it, I copy every thing into that folder. This saves re-downloading the files so is fast. Here's the link to the videos- https://sites.google.com/view/cactus-studios/cakewalk-videos

Best info for me was watching one of Mike's Creative sauce videos on this subject this one was great and there are others too.

Funny-- I had a 12 song live recording that is 44 min long and I zoomed way out to see all the songs and hit the space bar to play. It didn't move. I kept hitting the space bar and even the play button and finally Duh! you idiot it is moving but so slow you can't see it move, and it would help if you turned the monitors on too! so the exact opposite of the speedy now time line.

My guess is this was part of an update or something. Not a bug. But for me anytime I open a midi file or use any template I get the Custom default. Drives me nuts. But I fixed it once I stumbled across the fact I could change the options. I think if you re apply your workspace it fixes it,, not at my daw right now.

Probably a Laptop. Stupid thing is you can use WASAPI mode and avoid Asio4all. Any USB audio device that doesn't come with a proper ASIO driver will show in Cakewalk under WASAPI. Why bother with a second interface which to me is confusing the issue unnecessarily. Asio4all is actually WDM mode which a 3rd party wrapper to give you the asio options. It doesn't give you any better performance according to some test we did a few months ago.

This must be about the 10th post with this issue. Possibly a Staff member could make a note to Please change the default to ALL. This bugged me to the point that I changed the Custom Preset to now show All. Open the Track Control Manager and choose " select all controls"

Another tool I use that you should have if you had Sonar is the LP Multi Band compressor and the BTBrickwall Put these in the effects bin of the Master buss stacked like this LP multi band BT brickwall Span Youlean meter On the multi band chose the mastering light pre set this will show you which frequencies are too hot if they show a lot of reduction happening. Set the brick wall at -0.8 or whatever you personal preferences are. As a note . Your audio playback system makes no changes to an export wave file. Burn a CD or put it on a stick and playback on other devices. At this point try and proof as a Wave file not an MP3 as the encoding software can definitely make a difference with MP 3

First make sure everything is going through the master bus buy muting it. Download Span and look at your spectrum and it will also show you things like peak level and average LUFS levels ( should be around -14) Another good tool is the You Lean loudness meter In my signature is a link to my tutorials, watch the video on using on board sound

This is a good one. I think I have ignored them for a long time now. But they are stupid. I think I’ll add things like “ feed Jack the Cat” Take dinner out of the freezer tune your guitar don’t forget to turn off the monitors before shutting down