John Vere

This why I'm warning against "Importing" It is well known that if you import a midi file to an existing project a lot of data is not going to be there. The project will dictate a lot of parameters, example the projects tempo. Take a downloaded midi file, open a blank project and import the file. It will have nothing, no tempo no synth etc. it brain dead. It will have Velocity, I just did this and checked. But there are no patch numbers etc. Now if you take that same file and "open" it Cakewalk will create a new project and all the original data should be 100% intact. If you have nothing checked under Preferences/Midi/ Devices/ output then Cakewalk will insert the TTS-1 and all the tracks will play correctly if the file was a GM file. So the standard practice is to SAVE AS a MID. file in the original DAW and OPEN that file in Cakewalk to preserve important data. I would think you would need all the midi tracks on different channels before you save it otherwise they might get jumbled.

Thanks Noel I'll give that a try. This is a silly project but I'm always a sucker for winning a fight with Windows!

What model of Keyboard is this? Most keyboards you should be able to record the midi output and then you can edit the track to clean up mistakes etc and change the tempo very easily. It is not that easy to change the tempo of audio and I've never done it so sorry have no answer for that. You might not even need the sounds the Yamaha keyboard makes as there are hundreds of VST instruments available with Cakewalk and 3rd parties. Many are free.

There's a lot of ways to do this . It takes a box that has 1 input and 2 outs. Don't use a Y cable that will kill your impedance. A lot of DI boxes will do this. My Boss TU-3 tuner can do this. My Zoom G1 can do this. etc. I use a Radial Tone Bone Pz Pre to handle a lot of these tasks. It's a DI box on steroids.

Yes you can have all the VST's available in any DAW you install. You need to go to the plug in manager and add those folders to the pathways. Example all my 3rd party VST's I keep in Steinberg VST folder. https://help.cakewalk.com/hc/en-us/articles/360033405834-Using-the-Plug-in-Manager- Most are found under C/ Program Files or C/ Program Files (x86) then under Cakewalk or Steinberg. As far as a slow redraw that has nothing to do with the software and a lot to do with your Computers video card. A good gaming video card might speed that up. I have an old W7 laptop that takes forever to re draw simple 16 track songs. Same project on my i7 is almost instantaneous.

You should never IMPORT midi Always OPEN the midi file and the previous settings will be maintained. You just have to replace the TTS-1 with what ever synth you want to use. Import is meant to be used for clips not whole songs.

Hey Jim thanks for that, I downloaded it and ran it on this office computer and then I googled what it say's my Mobo is Asrok H97Pro4 and under audio the good news is this Audio: Realtek ALC892 7.1-Channel High Definition Audio CODEC; Supports Premium Blu-ray Audio So now I will see if there is a proper driver for this as I have a feeling it's running on a W10 generic. I know I had huge issues with the graphic card and it was because of this after I installed W10 I had to get the proper Nvidia driver and all was good after that. I built this machine from scratch using mostly on sale parts. I added the graphic card so I could use it for watching movies on a TV. The on board didn't have HDMI. I don't really use it much for a DAW but it's nice to edit stuff on. Update- Well that was a dead end as the driver is dated 2015 and say's Vista..

Ha- Next thing they will remove the volume control saying us old farts are the only ones that use that stuff, just make everything as loud as possible and let the turd polisher magic VST fix it !!

I do use the TH3 for stomps after the fact, I especially like the Compressor and chorus pedal... But I'm a huge fan of getting the sound I want first and then I record it. You tend to play to the tone and the effects, Example how could you possibly use a wha wha or even delay? You need to play along with them and for me that's never been possible via the DAW. Latency spoils my fun. There's something more reactive about playing through stomp boxes and an amp. For me it's the true guitar experience. I have lots of stomp boxes. Tremolo, Delays, dozens of overdrives, chorus, Mutron and MXR envelope ( auto wha) and a Rexx pre amp. I also dial in tones and effects on my Blackstar combo. I also have a Zoom multi pedal that for $70 is way more usable that I thought it would be.

Ok so someone buys a basic interface that has 2 inputs and 2 outputs and 1 headphone jack. Great if that's all they will ever use because they play guitar and sing. Then one day a friend comes over and , oh oh, Now I need 4 inputs and another headphone jack. Oh and he wants his headphones louder or he wants his mix different in the phones, And how about some reverb? Or you find yourself wanting to use an outboard synth but,, jeeze, now I'm swapping cables and having to re adjust my input gains all the time and wait a minute! I don't have any midi ports. How about a cool device that has SPDIF outputs ( CD, Mini disk or synth) and how do I get that into my DAW? You get the drift. So as I say in my blurb. Before you buy an interface it is wise to sit and think about how you might use it and what your future plans might be. All the above situations are solved for me because I bought a Scarlett 6i6. So a small mixer - $100 , a midi interface, $100 a SPDIF interface $100 and a headphone pre amp $100. I'm putting a $100 price tag on each just as example. But that is easily $400 to get what I got for only $150 more than the cost of a 2i2 . Now they make the 8i6 which gives you even more than I got. https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/Scarlet8i6G3--focusrite-scarlett-8i6-3rd-gen-usb-audio-interface So if where you bought it will exchange it for something like the 8i6 go for it. For you I see needing at least 4 inputs and the midi ports. so the 4i4 is only $70 more. https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/Scarlet4i4G3--focusrite-scarlett-4i4-3rd-gen-usb-recording-interface

Here's a question- All of my laptops and desktops only show " High Definition Audio Device" in any place that I investigate. Is this a W10 generic driver issue? In other words I have no clue who actually made the on board sound chip. I could have a realtech and not even know this unless I go and look up what my mobo is and so forth. The reason I ask is possibly the very pour performance experience with on board audio is due to not having the proper driver installed.

Absolutely. I disable all other audio devices on my main DAW. I didn't even install the drivers for the on board audio when I re did the OS. You have to be pretty careful about what you install to a serious DAW machine. I always try and test new plug ins and stuff on my office computer or laptop first. I used to keep my DAW unplugged from the internet but that has seemed to changed as there too many things that now depend on that connection to work including Cakewalk.

Once again depends on system My main DAW has 3 ASIO drivers for my 3 different interface. A Tascam, Scarlett and a Soundcraft Mixer. The minute I hook up an interface Cakewalk will ask me if I want to use it. I just swap the USB cable with Cakewalk open. The other 2 are greyed out in the lists. But there's no conflict as far as I know with proper ASIO drivers. Yes I had that pesky Steinberg asio driver that comes with Wave Lab and Cubase ( which I use) I had to get it totally out of my system, because it took over the Recording Latency Adjustment. When I was using Asio4all on my laptop I could hook up my Scarlett or the Soundcraft and it always worked fine using their proper drivers. Asio4all would be greyed out on the lists. It never took over as was reported in the past. But that was W7 and at least 2 years ago. I uninstalled asio4all just because I didn't think I'd ever use it again and I like things tidy.

Well I do the same thing with a 2008 Sony Laptop that has I think 2 GB RAM and a Duo core 2.5 processor. I does have a SSD drive however. Recording audio doesn't use a lot of CPU or memory. From another thread were on board audio is in discussion people are reporting that Real Tech audio on board seems better than most. So might be a feature to watch for if you plan on using the laptop without an interface sometimes.

Well that's actually good to know as it would then be advisable for DAW users to make sure that is the on board sound chip and not other chips when shopping for a new Mobo or laptop. .

I think the bottom line is every system is different. What works perfectly for one person might not for the other. So no harm in trying your options and sometimes Asio4all is a solid solution to the on board sound blues. I haven't had to use it for a long time as I now only use my interface because that's best practices with Cakewalk. Also it's worth mentioning that my laptop is still on W7. Asio4all might not work as well on W10. We have WASAPI mode which works for most folks.

Well I just tried this, And I opened Span and it moves around fine. I tried a few times too. SO nope haven't noticed this. Possibly a video card issue?

Most modern keyboard controllers only have a USB port. It's nice to have the old school 5 pin Din jacks if you also own some older gear that use it. But otherwise USB works just as well and in most ways is much easier to deal with. My Roland A 49 only needs the USB connection for power and midi. If I used the MIDI ports I would need a power adaptor hooked up as well. You won't see MIDI ports on many new keyboard much anymore.

I see the Wavestation is from 1991 so obviously will not have USB midi connectivity. Once again if you had bought the 4i4 it comes with Midi ports. All these little things add up. So next thing you're having to purchase 2 or 3 more devices just to connect what is in your studio when the correct interface might have included this. . That's why it's the highest item on my list of what to look for when purchasing an interface. No big deal. Not sure where you bought it but a lot of places will allow your to exchange it. Johns Audio Interface blurb.rtf

They always are!

I am referring to your sampling clock rate, You can use 44.1, 48 etc but not 88.2 . Not that many would bother with that one. Most just jump right to 96.

As Steve has said you don't use replace synth on a midi track, only on a VST instrument track. Best to first insert your new VST instruments as he has pointed out. I find the fastest way is open the browser on the right, go to your list of instruments and drag and drop the one you want to the track inspector or pane. You might want to go to the "insert soft synth options" first and choose how you want it set up. Myself I mostly only ever check use first synth audio output. No other boxes are checked. I might use the All Synth Audio on a VST drum kit.

Possibly the OP has a Wave or MP3 version of a song that was originally recorded on a 4 track Tape deck. I have lots of those. But he could also be talking about a 44.1 ADAT 8 track which you are correct should not need much. Especially if they still have an ADAT machine and a way to transfer into Cakewalk all 8 track, I guess we need more info.

Of note above is the better performance from the Scarlett 6i6 over the Tascam in using none ASIO drivers. The Tascam is much older than the 6i6 so this might be expected. I'd be interested to know what the Scarlett 3rd Generations WASAPI performance would be. Also of note is that for my 2 interfaces WASAPI exclusive mode was worse than WDM mode. And both interfaces refused to use WASAPI shared. The 6i6 refused to use MME mode. One thing that I think makes the timing off is when you switch to none ASIO modes the Timing offset changes to something very weird and cannot be changed back even though the Focusrite shows as an option,, just like that pesky Generic Steinberg driver. Also these other crappy audio drivers try to take over your Playback and Recording Timing Masters but at least those can be changed back. But how many people think to check this stuff. When I change back to ASIO mode the crappy drivers are no longer on either of those lists.

Not at all. More people need to be aware of the latency and timing offset. Testing found that Cakewalks reported latency is generally very accurate and you can confirm this by testing with https://www.resplendence.com/latencymon The other way to check on your sync is do a loopback test. Same hook up as the Latency monitor but then you loop back a Kick or snare track made by bouncing a midi part. Record a new audio track from this. You then zoom in until your down at the sample level and see if they are lining up. ASIO drivers if written properly should report accurately to Cakewalk so it can adjust for latency. All of the ASIO interfaces I tested came out right on or within an amount that is not going to matter. After all, real music like a symphony orchestra has a lot of latency. Walk 6' from your guitar amp, you have latency. But it's important to have control over what is happening if your a fussy person about timing like me