msmcleod

As a starting point, I'd recommend these books: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Designing-Audio-Effect-Plugins-Theory/dp/1138591939 https://www.amazon.co.uk/Designing-Software-Synthesizer-Plugins-Audio/dp/0367510464 The software that comes with the book creates a lot of the boiler-plate code needed for creating a VST3 plugin - all you need to do is fill in the blanks. Even if the UI elements it aren't quite what you want, it'll at get you to the stage of being able to test your DSP code very quickly. You could then use something like JUCE to create a more elegant UI and cut/paste the DSP code into your JUCE project. Of course, these books only cover VST / VSTi plugins. If you need to control the workflow within Cakewalk/Sonar itself, the only real way to do this is via the Cakewalk Control Surface SDK. This will give you programmatic access to running Cakewalk commands: https://github.com/Cakewalk/Cakewalk-Control-Surface-SDK

This is what I use for SF 12:

In the new Sonar, you can set the Start Marker to where you want the music to start. It doesn't change the bar numbers, but it'll save you having to fast forward. In Cakewalk by BandLab, one workaround is to enable looping, setting the loop start to where you want the music to start, and the loop end way past the end of the project. Pressing W will toggle between 1:01:000 and the loop start, so it's easy to back to where you want , and there's little danger of it looping back if it's far enough beyond the project end. Another method is to use markers or arranger sections, and then use the marker view or arranger inspector to jump to the marker/arranger section that matches the point in the project you want to jump to.

This isn't true. As long as you've got the latest security updates to Windows 7 (with TLS1.2 enabled) and the latest CbB, it should activate fine. You'll get a warning on installation, but that's all it is - a warning. I'm running the latest CbB on my Windows 7 boot with no issues. FWIW - I've tried the new Sonar on Windows 7, and it doesn't work properly. Menus are broken, drag/drop from the browser is broken etc.. It's not surprising - Sonar is using Windows API's that are only available in Windows 10 and above.

Network transfer is way too slow for me on the Pi - I'm lucky to get 11Mb/s on the PI vs 16GB/s with a portable drive.

That used to be the case, but the difference in energy costs was surprising. Turning everything off has reduced my fuel bills to around 1/3rd of what they once were. The only devices I leave on now are a couple of Raspberry Pi's and a MeLe silent PC, both of which are very light on power.

True... but can be a PITA when it comes to backing up! I used to be able to backup my whole system in an hour... it now takes over 6 hours, and I need a monster of a backup drive for the drive images.

That's strange... I don't recall any sample rate restrictions for Sonarworks. I've got the headphone release only, so there was no measurements involved. I've got ARC 2, though which has a 48Khz restriction for measurement setup only, but after the measurement was taken you could use any sample rate you wanted.

IIRC these are the project preview files (used in the start screen). If "Include Project Preview" is unchecked in the export dialog, they won't be generated.

As @User 905133 says, it's almost certainly from old player-pianos: When I used Music-X on the Amiga back in the late 80's, it had a piano roll editor:

I've had this before - quite recently actually. I fixed it by opening Native Access, then the Kontakt 7 standalone - everything was fine after that. FWIW - I always find it's good practice to open the standalone version of any app that comes in both standalone & VST format, first. Some take a while to update their internal databases/phone home, and this can confuse the VST scanners of DAW's.

In Sonar, not one click but two:

It's worth taking a look at this article explaining how the P/E core scheduling works on Windows 10 & Windows 11: https://aloiskraus.wordpress.com/2024/02/08/hybrid-cpu-performance-on-windows-10-and-11/ TLDR: If the process is running at a priority of normal or above, then Windows will choose the performance cores first, then fall back to the efficiency cores. If the process is running below normal, it'll pick the efficiency cores first. The Audio engine in Sonar/CbB runs at a fairly high priority (higher if MMCSS is checked in preferences, which it is by default), so Windows should be giving priority to performance cores. If e-cores do end up used for audio processing you could experience drop-outs if the e-cores fail to process audio in time. In essence they become the weakest link in the chain. In saying that, the e-core max turbo frequency is 4.30 GHz on a 13000K, and 4.5GHz on the i9-14900KS which should be ample for even the most demanding project. Of course, the fix is just to up your ASIO buffer size if/when this happens. The only time having a higher ASIO buffer could cause issues, is when you need to re-record or overdub a track later on in the mixing process. There are various workarounds for this including freezing tracks, turning off effects, or bouncing all the other tracks to a single audio track and temporarily archiving those other tracks while you track.

You don't have to use the headphone correction - you can enable the room simulation on its own. The adjusted frequency response won't be 100%, but it will give you the room imaging/cross talk etc. Alternatively you could download (or measure) the frequency response of your current headphones and chose a headphone model with the most similar frequency response. Lastly, you could try contacting HorNET so see if they'd include your headphones in their model list.

I've got it, but haven't really used it much. Seems to do what it says on the tin.

Check out HoRNet VHS - it's only €10.99 ( ~ $12 US ). It supports over 280 models of headphones.

I think you're crediting me with far more influence than I actually have!

BandLab Technologies (the company) is owned by Caldecott Music Group. There are currently three companies under its umbrella: BandLab Technologies, NME Networks, and Vista Musical Instruments. Each of these companies has several brands. BandLab Technologies has four brands: BandLab, Cakewalk, Reverb Nation, and Air Bit. They aren't separate companies, only brands within BandLab Technologies. See the Portofolio section here: https://caldecottmusic.com/

First of all, ensure your MIDI output is defined as the Alesis QS7. To do this, 1. Open the Preferences dialog and go to the Instruments page under the MIDI section. 2. Click the Define button 3. Click the Import button, and open "C:\Cakewalk Content\Cakewalk Core\Instruments\Alesis.ins" 4. Select the Alesis QS7 from the dialog. 5. Select channels 1-16 of the MIDI output device you have connected to your Alesis QS7 (click on Ch1, then while holding SHIFT click on Ch16). 6. Select the Alesis QS7 from the list. 7. Click Apply, then close. You can now choose QS7 patches using the Patch Browser button in the inspector. You should also be aware that Cakewalk has a MIDI Channel Override setting. When set to "MIDI Channel = None", then any recorded MIDI data will be transmitted using exactly the same MIDI channel it was recorded on. As your keyboard is most likely transmitting on only one channel (e.g. channel 1), this isn't always desirable - so you can force the MIDI channel to the required one using the dropdown below: This will ensure that both the program change message and the MIDI events themselves will be sent on the required MIDI channel for that part.

There isn't any Theme Editor for the new Sonar at present. We do intend to release one in the future, but it'll have to be written from scratch. When it's available you'll definitely be able to change colours, but whether you'll be able to replace SVG's is still in discussion.

The best advice I can give is to listen to everything on those headphones, especially lots of well mixed songs. You want to do this for several weeks, so you need to get to the point where you instinctively know what a good mix sounds like on your headphones. Pay particular attention to the levels of the bass and the vocals in relation to the rest of the mix. When listening to commercial releases, I've always found the bass to be quieter than I expected, and the vocals far more up-front on headphones. So be aware of this when mixing your own material. There's always the danger that you're ignoring frequencies that can simply not be reproduced by your headphones, so check your mixes on your monitors, home hi-fi and/or car and take note of anything that is overexaggerated in those environments. Again, bass will probably be the area that will give you most trouble. A high pass filter can help to eliminate these frequencies - especially on tracks that don't have anything useful in the low end (e.g. vocals, guitars). Get to the point where you're aware of what you can't hear in your headphones. Also consider getting ARC or Sonarworks for your Rockit speakers - it won't make your room perfect, but it will at least improve things for referencing. Finally, use reference material often. A/B your mix with a similar commercial track and compare the levels / balance of each instrument against your own. Bear in mind that the reference track will be mastered, and your track is only in the mix stage, so turn down the volume of the reference track to match yours.... not the other way around!

@Misha - have you actually asked BandLab your questions? Although us bakers do chip in now and then, this is primarily a user forum. There's very little information we can give short of repeating what is on the website. FYI, the emails to support@cakewalk.com go to the guys at BandLab first.

FWIW - I managed to get my HD201's for around $20 each. AFAIK they're now discontinued, but the HD206's are very similar can be found at a similar price.

The US-2400 uses Mackie Control emulation, so it would have to do it via the config in MackieControl.ini (i.e. it won't support ACT Learn). I wrote a GUI front end to MackieControl.ini to make this much easier/quicker: https://msmcleod.co.uk/cakewalk/C4Mapper.zip You'll need to set the VPot count to 8 to get this to work on the US-2400, as it emulates a MCU + 2 x XT's (i.e. 3 banks of 8). The one thing you can't edit in the C4Mapper is the parameter to VPot mapping of the Pro Channel EQ and Pro Channel Compressor. Those you'll have to edit manually in notepad (or an equivalent text editor). However, there's a couple of gotcha's: 1. The US-2400 doesn't have any scribble-strip display, so you'll not get any visual feedback as to what you're editing, or what the values are. 2. I'm not sure if the US-2400 has the buttons to allow it to enter plugin edit mode. For point 2, the enhancements to allow the Korg nanoKONTROL Studio access to the plugins may work, but I've not got a US-2400 to try it on. It uses either the Cycle ( loop on/off) or Scrub button as a shift key (e.g. Cycle + Mute 1 = Pro Channel EQ, Cycle + Mute 2 = Pro Channel Compressor ) : I'm also not sure where "Mute 1" will be - it'll could either be the first mute button on the far left, or the 1st mute button on the last bank of 8. At some point I'll need to get around to writing a virtual MCU Display....

There is a shortcut - Toggle Track/Clip Gain in the Edit Filter. It's under the Track View area: I've got mine assigned to backslash: