msmcleod

Just for the benefit of others, how did you get it back? Did you press "C" (which hides/displays the Control bar) ?

Hi Stan, You can't insert plugins using the MCU, but you can edit them. Click the Select button on the track you want to work with, then click the Plugin button: You can then use the cursor keys on the MCU to navigate through the plugins on that track, and the bank left/right keys on the MCU to navigate through the parameters in banks of 8. Use the VPots to alter the parameters. Currently only effects in the track's effects bin are supported via the MCU (so no ProChannel). VSTi instruments aren't supported unless you insert them "the old way" by inserting them in the effects bin of an audio track. To be honest though, most synths have so many parameters, I've found controlling synths to be pretty useless via the MCU (or even the C4 for that matter), as you have to wade through pages of parameters and the 6 character parameter name limit is kind of cryptic. Before I officially joined Cakewalk, I did some enhancements (actually, most of the work was done by @azslow3) to add support for the ProChannel EQ & Track/Bus Compressor. You can download an installer for these enhancements here: http://msmcleod.co.uk/cakewalk/MMcLMackieControlSetup.zip You may want to wait however.... these changes will be available officially in the next version of Cakewalk by BandLab, and will be picked up automatically (the version above will require you to re-configure your setup) Finally, there's a utility I wrote that allows you to configure the layout of your plugin parameters (again, before I joined Cakewalk - so it's unofficial). It's written primarily for the Mackie C4, but will work for the MCU as long as you restrict yourself to the top row of knobs (using the M1- M4 buttons as alternate parameter banks). This utility will work regardless of whether you're using the official Cakewalk version of MackieControl, or the version above. http://msmcleod.co.uk/cakewalk/C4Mapper.zip A couple of things to note when using this utility: For a plugin to be available on the list, you must first have used the plugin since configuring your MCU, and restarted Cakewalk. The utility takes its plugin list from "%APPDATA%\Cakewalk\ACT Data\genericpluginparams.xml" which is only added to when Cakewalk has a control surface configured, and only updated when you exit Cakewalk. You need to run the utility as Administrator if you want it to update your MackieControl.ini (where all the mappings are stored). Otherwise, it'll store them in your Documents folder and you'll have to copy/paste the changes manually within Notepad.

I had issues with OneDrive, so I disabled it. Microsoft is pretty heavy handed about backing just about everything up using OneDrive, so it may be that OneDrive is accessing files that Cakewalk has in use - that was my experience, and was the cause of crashes for me. In hindsight, I could have probably configured it to ignore the Cakewalk files, but it's a real pain to configure compared to most cloud providers. If you want to continue using it, I recommend pausing the syncing when you're using Cakewalk: https://support.office.com/en-us/article/how-to-pause-and-resume-sync-in-onedrive-2152bfa4-a2a5-4d3a-ace8-92912fb4421e If you just want to disable it altogether: https://support.office.com/en-us/article/turn-off-disable-or-uninstall-onedrive-f32a17ce-3336-40fe-9c38-6efb09f944b0

When exactly does Cakewalk crash? You should close the dialog immediately after setting it up. If you've left the dialog open when using Cakewalk, that might be the issue. If this isn't what you're doing, then check you've excluded Cakewalk's directories from any anti-virus or cloud sync service (e.g. OneSync, Dropbox etc).

Hi Stan, When you open up the Mackie Control dialog, pressing F1 should bring up the help which will take you through everything in detail. However, here's a quick guide: 1. Go to Preferences->Control Surfaces and add a new surface of type "Mackie Control" specifying it's MIDI IN & MIDI OUT ports. 2. Add a new surface of type "Mackie Control XT" specifying it's MIDI IN & MIDI OUT ports. 3. Add another new surface of type "Mackie Control XT" specifying it's MIDI IN & MIDI OUT ports. 4. Click OK, and select "Mackie Control - 1" from the utilities menu: 5. Select the following options shown in red below: 6. Next, click the Configure Layout button (shown in yellow above) 7. At this point the channels being controlled will be shown on your MCU / XT. If your XT are to to the left of your MCU, turn the VPot on your 2nd XT so it shows channels 9-16, and turn VPot 1 on your MCU so it show channel 17 - 24; If your XT is to the right, turn VPot 1 on your first XT so it shows channel 9-16, and turn VPot 1 on your 2nd XT so it shows channels 17-24. 8. Press "Press Again When Done": 9. Finally, give your configuration a name and save it as a preset by clicking the save button:

Sorry, nothing like that exists I'm afraid. I've seen USB to Firewire adapter plugs on Amazon, but literally all they do is connect the USB pins to Firewire ones. Firewire & USB are fundamentally different protocols, so I can't see how this would ever work, and the scathing reviews on Amazon (including reports of causing irreparable damage to customers' USB ports / motherboards) would also support this. However tempting it may be to try them, please don't. As far as HDMI is concerned, HDMI is for display output. Although you can get Firewire/HDMI adapters, they are essentially graphic cards that plug in to your firewire port. In other words, they're for connecting your laptop to a TV via your firewire interface. They do not work the other way around - your laptop's HDMI port is output only. If you have a PCMCIA slot on your laptop, there are a few Firewire PCMCIA cards out there that will work, but if not you're out of luck. If that's the case, I'd recommend looking at some of the USB audio interfaces out there. The Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 is probably the most popular at the moment and has great pre-amps. The Scarlett 6i6 is closest to what you have already, and there's the 2i4 / 4i4 as well. If you're on a budget, Behringer are worth looking at. The mic pre's aren't great, but the line inputs are fantastic.

Are you using presets only, or are you changing parameters - if you are changing parameters, what parameters are usually lost? I tend to stick to the presets myself on Xpand2, but I do change parameters like pitch bend range (it's one of the few VSTi's that allows me to specify an octave) @Sidney Earl Goodroe - can you also confirm: 1. What build of CbB you're using (check the about box) and; 2. What version of the AIR plugins you're using (click on the AIR logo on the bottom right, or the name of the plugin at the bottom?

@Sidney Earl Goodroe - is there a specific AIR plugin you're having an issue with? I've got both the instruments & the effects collection, if I know what I'm looking for maybe I can reproduce the issue. I use the hardware iLok on my studio PC, but the computer registration on my laptop, so hopefully I can replicate any scenario.

Its big brother is also a good option... and it's only 6" x 10.5" I have both, and they're both great. The nanoKONTROL 2 is stuck to the wall on my studio next to my vocal mic, and I use the nanoKONTROL Studio for general DAW duties in the house.

If you want to record more MIDI after editing, you may want to look at using take lanes on your MIDI tracks. If you're doing this, I'd recommend turning Comping Mode off for the smart tool, so that all lanes remain active.

What MIDI driver mode are you using within Cakewalk ? I always use my Focusrite in MME mode rather than UWP: Note: You'll have to close down any project to change this.

@Felipe Andrés Riquelme Gonzále - if you want to look at the CAL route, here's my old script for splitting up drum tracks. Before running it, you need to create 6 new midi tracks (for bass drum, snare, toms, hats, cymbals & other percussion) - although you could alter the script to create these for you. This is mapped to GM notes.

@sadicus - Sorry, been busy so missed the post where you said you had Kontakt. If it's the full version, I did my own piano Kontakt instrument a while back: http://msmcleod.co.uk/sounds/GPiano.nki

I saw an interview with one of the engineers (or maybe the producers) who recorded it - he said Cher's pitch was so close to dead on most of the time, they actually had to use a pitch shifter to put it OUT of tune to get most out of the effect. It's hard to know what to believe nowadays !

It used to be commercial, but now it's free

I use Cobalt a lot for lead sounds: https://www.lesliesanford.com/vst/plugins/ It's pretty similar to the Korg DW8000 / Kawai K3

There is a way of turning off UAC on a per application basis, which would remove the need to run CbB as admin. I try to avoid running CbB as admin, as you lose the ability to drag/drop from other apps and Windows explorer. Here's an old post of mine regarding this: http://forum.cakewalk.com/Tip-Turning-off-UAC-on-a-perapplication-basis-m3797461.aspx

It doesn't surprise me that PCI gets better latency than USB, as its much closer to the CPU. I normally run my 6i6 with a buffer size of 64. However, with the very latest drivers I've been running fairly light projects with a buffer size of 16 on my 1st 6i6, and running slightly more demanding ones with a buffer size of 32. As long as you stick to ASIO, the latest 6i6 drivers are great... just don't swap between ASIO / WASAPI with these drivers... it'll blue screen

That's one of the places you can do it. But there's also the options within Power Configuration:

It really does sound like your power saving options are powering down your USB ports. Turn off all power saving, and you should see this go away.

Another piano to check out is AIR Mini Grand, which I use a lot, and personally prefer to TruePianos - not that TruePianos is bad, but Mini Grand isn't quite as bright (although it can be if you want it to). Going for just over $20 at the moment: https://www.pluginboutique.com/product/1-Instruments/64-Virtual-Instrument/1683-Mini-Grand Getting this will also entitle you to upgrade to the AIR Instrument Expansion Pack 3 upgrade (pretty much all their synths/instruments) for $49

So after a bit of experimenting... MIDI tracks that go to a real MIDI port don't have a border on them. MIDI tracks or instrument tracks that go to a soft synth do. Audio tracks routed to a hardware audio device (which will be 99% of the time) also don't have a border on them. I suspect that audio tracks that are sent to the input of a soft synth that accepts audio will end up having a border on them too... but I can't find any instruments I've got installed at the moment that have that facility. So in summary, if the output is going to something "internal" then it's got a border around it, otherwise it's not.

That's interesting, and just shows how subjective the sound of preamps can be. Personally, I find the Focusrite preamps to be the closest to my Neve 1073 clones (GA Pre 73) - in fact to my ears they're indistinguishable until you start to drive them... then the Pre 73 comes into its own. So yes, the Focusrite preamps do have colour to them, but I find them more musical in that respect. In the past I've used Behringer and Yamaha preamps. Both are very clean, although personally I found the Behringer mic pres to be a bit harsh on the ears (compared to the Yamaha, which were just very clean but a tad clinical). The Behringer line inputs were flawless though. In saying that, that's my experience with the ADA8000 which is before the Midas takeover... the ADA8200 (and any other Behringer with Midas preamps) will sound much better.

An i9 9900 has double the number of threads, so you've got to ask yourself if the extra $170 is worth it. Whether its overkill or not largely depends on how many simultaneous plugins you want to run. The i9 9900 will definitely handle more than the i7 9700, but in all honesty both will handle even the most demanding project.