John Vere

This is the point of my list and I stand by what I said regarding everyone always will recommend the interface they have chozen. Everybody had totally different needs. They need to think about what those needs are, make a list and that will narrow down the search. And as far as not recommending any product this seems par for the course with just about all stuff that gets reviewed. There will always be 1 person who had a bad time with just about anything. Once you narrow down your choices then read as many reviews as possible just to get a general feel of each brand. Myself from what I've read over time is the top of the list seems to be RME for PC. I need to replace my Tascam us1641 interface because it is old and soon the drivers will not work in W10. I also gave away my 1st Gen Scarlett 6i6 to my band mate, I don't want it back as I hate the pre amps. I have also been using a Soundcraft mixer which uses a Steinberg USB ASIO driver and find no fault with it. It's just kinda big...

Home Studio didn't have a synth rack and once you realized this fact you soon forgot about it. I like the visual feedback I get from the synth rack. At a glance I can see what I have available already loaded. I might have synths in the rack I'm not using while experimenting with different sound possibilities. It's a little quicker sometimes when trying different instruments like say an electric pianos. You can tweek the sounds so each one is as close to what your after and then simply change the midi track output to try each in turn.

Are you using ASIO driver?

Here's a document I made a few years ago, nothing much has changed. There is a lot of choices. Make a list of your requirements first.. What kind of connectivity do you require? and how many of each. These are some of the options: XLR, 1/4", Combi jacks, RCA, ¼” line level, ¼” Instrument level ,MIDI, SPDIF, ADAT,MADI How many ins and outs do you think you'll need now and in the future? Are they accessible? Front or rear panel? Are all ¼” jacks Balanced? Is there a true stereo pair? Some don’t have a matched set of inputs which sucks for stereo recording. Pre Amps will fall under the “you get what you pay for” rule, but check out the reviews anyhow. A/D convertors will also fall under the same rule and generally all are good these days. Are there peak level meters or just a little LED for each input? Are there channel Insert jacks? Are there separate controls for Monitor level and headphone level? Is there a blend control for mixing Source with Computer ( DAW) ? How many Headphone jacks? A level for each? Are the input pads or line / Instrument toggle switches on the front, back or software controlled? Is it a metal box or cheap plastic? Is it light and portable or large and bulky, Rack mountable? Does it have an on / off switch? Does it use Buss power or a power supply? Buss power can have issues with noise and Phantom power. Look for at least an optional power supply. Does it have DSP effects built in? Does it use a GUI mixer? Having a software (GUI) mixer adds more options. Can it be used as stand alone? Some interfaces are also handy as a small mixer. What are the Round Trip Latency (RTL) specs? Do you need low RTL for real time processing or are you planing on using guitar sims? Low RTL is going to be at a higher price point. A $200 interface will have hidden buffers etc. Zero Latency monitoring is not the same as RTL. All interfaces have some latency. Zero latency is just marketing hype for monitoring directly from the interface. And most important of all, Does it have top notch drivers for your OS. What is the word on support from the company? Does it come with free software, An LE version of a DAW you would like to try? Everyone will recommend the interface they have chosen, that doesn't mean it is the right one for you.

There' just a lot of things typical of novice recording engineering done incorrectly that all add up to quiet recordings. First the low level recording. I too have a Scarlett 6i6 which is similar in design. Yes there are no hardware input levels as those inputs are designed to be teamed up with hardware that has a master volume, like a keyboard or a mixing board. Put the tracks in record standby , play as loud as you will be playing and adjust your keyboard master volume to keep below clipping at ALL times. There is also the Mix control software but that takes a very steep learning curve to master. Once you've got a better level on the track you then need to push that at the master without clipping. All it takes is one little peak to clip the output. This is were a good mastering limiter is required. I use the BT Brickwall set at - 0.9 and this allows me to hit the master a little harder. But then I always master my songs in Wave Lab because it's critical to producing a proper finished release. The recording process : In the real world this is done by 3 different people who are very good at what they do with years of experience and training. Please don't expect a computer to bypass any of this process and get the same results they do. Tracking Mixing Mastering

Just FYI my on board sound just say's Hi definition audio codex. It's a HP off the self desktop about 11 years old. I cannot get my Tascam interface to run in any mode except ASIO now. I had to shut it off to run Cakewalk in WASAPI. On W7 I for sure I used WDM when making live recordings because I teamed it with a Yamaha mixer. So I guess the driver was made for w7 and is hanging on by a thin thread. I will start shopping for a new interface I guess. I did use this computer all winter using WASAPI working with midi and editing songs and can't remember having drop outs. What are you system specs? Almost a dumb question these days but one thing for sure is Cakewalk likes lots of memory> I have 16 GB's. Also I'm running SSD drives with lots of space empty.

Yes, I just take it as a given that it won't work. I usually have to re download from the web site. I got lucky this time and it downloaded to my download folder and I fired it up from there. I did have to re log in and it never remembers me so I have to look up my password. I don't mind, it's free and so no right to complain.

I don't use midi guitar parts unless it was something that was part of a downloaded file. My own creations I play real guitar so it's keyboard chords I'm referring too here. I admit to have never even opened the staff view in Cakewalk. I used to read music and occasionally have to follow along looking over a piano players shoulder, but I guess the kind of music I normally play is not presented in that format. But that's a great idea I'll have to mess with it just for fun.

I have a set of powered Mackie CR 4 studio monitors that I bought just for my home office set up. I just plug them into the little green jack on my CPU. But that is irrelevant as I could have any cheap computer speakers or headphones and that would not change anything I'm aware of. We moved last summer and my studio stuff is still packed in boxes. So I can't do any recording but I like to do a little listening and midi editing, try different effects and VST's. For that you can use WASAPi and I guess I always use shared so my other computer stuff will work too. I dug out my Tascam interface a few weeks ago and am now using that.

OK fair enough. I just loaded a default theme and I now see what your talking about. I guess I'll have to either learn how to use the theme editor or live with the dang black background on the PVR. It's the only thing that bugs me. Those icons are baffling. but I guess they are better for multi language users.

Ya I realize there are many ways to create chords but what Kalle is saying and like me, is to be able to do this in Piano roll view. I often have to flesh out simple 2 or 3 note chords I have played. I'm not a keyboard player but I can play real basic chords. But then I have to manually edit note by note to make those chords more interesting. I need a really smart mouse tool!

Edited as was dead wrong--- Yes I see what the OP is talking about. So much for my favorite theme

As I said, Cakewalk is optimized for and expects to see an ASIO driver. If you choose to use any other mode you will have these issues. It's the price you pay for not having a solid system. USB class compliant devices are fine in a pinch but not what you build a smooth running studio set up on.

You cannot expect Cakewalk to perform properly using a crappy driver from 1998. And if the other drivers are not working then your whole system must not be up to par for audio work. Try the WASAPI mode again as that the most stable for on board audio. I can certainly use it with out issue. You for sure will have audio issues when you do not use ASIO mode. Cakewalk and all DAWs for that matter expect the user to own a proper audio interface.

Exactly- This is why you need to use ASIO mode if any serious overdubbing is to happen. ASIO mode is the only mode that can accurately report the latency to the DAW. It is not the DAW's fault. it can only use what is reported by the driver. All other modes need to be adjusted. I did a whole bunch of test along with other group members here a few years ago. I tested all sorts of modes and devices I had on hand. Everyone reported the same findings. Even the cheapest ASIO audio interface was bang on ( or very close) using ASIO mode. All other modes including asio4all did not stay in sync using a loopback test. And some like you say even wander around. If your serious about music being in time you will need a ASIO audio interface. Other modes are fine for making a live recording and editing, mixing a project. But to overdub new tracks it's ASIO or nothing.

What you could do is install CbB which should have zero impact on X3. Hundreds of users here have many old versions side by side without issue. Now you should have already made back up copies of your projects so use one of those to experiment with in CbB. Your original copy with be safe from harm.

What happens if you disconnect the Roland interface and use the on board sound card in WASAPI exclusive mode? Before I mucked about with the files I'd try a different system. I'd also try opening the wave files in a editor like Audacity or Gold wave which are free. You can also download a demo of another DAW like Studio One and import the wave files.

WDM mode is long forgotten and people use WASAPI shared for this, give that a try. But be warned, Cakewalk is a fussy DAW and is only really smooth sailing when using ASIO. Also for overdubbing your timing offset will be out a bit. In this screen shot I'm using a loop back test to demonstrate how WDM mode with a Sound Blaster audio card actually records early on the time line. The Berhringer records late with USB class compliant driver

I used Dr T sequencer and an event list style editor for almost 20 years. My Atari died in 2004 and I just happened to have a copy of Guitar Studio that came for free with my Roland keyboard. I was disappointed that the event list was not the focus of editing with Cakewalk and forced to use the piano roll. I'm still learning. It's latest incarnation is the best yet and I could never go back to an event list. For first time users I recommend you bone up on the 2 main things before you get down to editing. First the smart tool. Go to the help files and read about the options and especially what happens when you hold the tool over different parts of the note blob. Second is the Workspace. Take the time to click on every option and drop down etc. There's a lot. You'll be surprised at what you'll find and possibly that feature you are looking for is right there under your nose. I love Kalle's idea. A little pop up window with drag and drop chords would be a huge time saver. I do believe Strum session can generate chords but I've never figured that out. I think you have to record them via midi out in real time.

I have no clue which version it was. I never look as it's not what I consider critical to using Cakewalk. It might have been an older version. I update Cakewalk almost immediately when I see the hub bub on this forum.

Old thread but some interesting insights into the user group personalities Almost all to good quality "Freebies" come with registration and require your email address. Come to think of it,, so do the paid for versions!

Mine shows in the bottom there did you miss seeing that? But then as typical there is still a buggy install and I have to manually update.

I was just curious and took a quick look using the hover over 3 locations in C drive. I just realized I missed 1 folder, Program Data which is another 8 GB and thats all my samples for default Cakewalk stuff. I keep 3rd party VST libraries on my data drive but I only managed to point Rapture Pro at the data drive, the rest are default. But not a problem as I have 151 GB free space on the 240 GB C drive. In the Program folder is sample libraries. Dim Pro alone is 3.4 GB. Studio instruments 1.3 GB and VST folder 2 GB.. The old versions of Sonar use very little room example Sonar 8.5 shows as 81 MB, Splat as 200MB. Cakewalk Content - 4 GB Program Files Cakewalk- 8.2 GB Program Files 82 - 750 MB Program Data - 8.5 GB

You mention saving project as a WAVE file and a Bun file? Did you not save it as a Project file? CWP is the best format to save as. Bun files are known to become corrupted occasionally.

That's the ticket. Just install what you use. I just hovered the mouse over all my Cakewalk folders and I'm sitting at a total of 12 GB. I have 8.5, X3 Studio, Home studios last version, Splats last release and CbB. I never instal tutorials or anything that says it's a loop but I grab everything else.