John Vere

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 Probably outdated drivers not compatible with W10 latest version.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

In my tutorials I always mention opening the Help module which you can find in Views. Then when you point the mouse at any place on the screen it will tell you what it is and what it does Super helpful for newbies and then when you ask for help you could say with confidence “The track strips on the left”.

I guess I’m in the habit of closing all open software before I install anything so hadn’t noticed this. But it does sound like a issue that could be easily resolved @Noel Borthwick that will give him a notification about this thread

One tool that has worked for me is BBE sonic maximizer It brings out harmonic overtones sort of like tube overdrive does. I’ve never used it on a finished song but it certainly works with badly recorded drums or bass to get that mud out. I read once were someone took a dull recording and copied it to 6 tracks and then processed each to highlight parts and then used these to remix. I think it might work but would be careful about phase issues

You have zoomed in too far it will be a matter of zooming out until you see as much of the timeline as you’re needing

I use a few different USB foot switch’s all will do what you need. They are all programable with any combinations of keystrokes. They also retain the programs in static memory so once programed you can move them around. The best of them is the Stealth because you can use up to 5 standard foot pedals the kind used for keyboards. I got those from Amazon for $12 each. The other bonus is it has the most together software as well. https://stealthswitch3.com/stealthswitch-3/ I have that programmed to control playback of Win Amp for my now defunct live performances. For Cakewalk I’ve been using a cheap Chinese model I got on Amazon. It has 3 pedals. I have it programmed R W Spacebar This one below was my first I used for almost 15 years. Built like a tank and the company sent me 3 new internal micro switches when one started to fail. I only got the stealth because I needed 4 switches. https://xkeys.com/xkeys/footpedals.html