msmcleod

Whilst there are a lot of class compliant MIDI interfaces out there, most of them don't support SysEx properly or heavy MIDI traffic. As the OP is using hardware modules, this may be a consideration. The M-Audio (MidiSport) range, MidiFace & MOTU are ones that definitely behave with SysEx and heavy MIDI traffic. I've not tried them, but I suspect the Roland and Yamaha interfaces are fine too. Unless you're just recording notes and basic controller information, I'd avoid the USB to MIDI cables out there. They won't be suitable for any synth patch editors.

Also check out my old post about using existing VSTs in the ProChannel:

Both Wookie & Chuck E Baby are correct. This file comes with the Visual C++ 2015 redistributable library. You'll need to download and install it from here: https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/download/details.aspx?id=48145

Have you recently compressed your drive or any of your folders? This is known to have issues with Cakewalk plugins. Make sure they're uncompressed.

I've seen this behaviour sometimes too. It seems to be something to do with the "Now Time" marker refreshing, and stealing focus every now and then. It happens so infrequently though, it's hard to tell.

Can apple mainstage do batch sampling of all the patches in a hardware instrument? $30 sounds like a bargain!

The ProChannel is the thing that for me makes Cakewalk/Sonar stand above other DAWs. The ProChannel EQ is my go to EQ the vast majority of the time. Although I quite often use some of the Waves modelled EQ's/Channel Strips, these are mainly to get the sound of their preamps more than anything. Occasionally I'll use the EQ on them for a specific colour, but the ProChannel EQ is definitely my go-to EQ.

SD3 is based on MIDI loops, which it alters depending on the options you've described. Jamstix is totally algorithm based. There's no loops involved at all (though you can import them). It uses AI techniques to model real drummers, identified by their first name, e.g.: Animal - "Animal" - Muppets band Carter - Carter Beauford - Dave Matthews Band Charlie - Charlie Watts - Rolling Stones James Stix - Ralph Zeuner - Jamstix Creator John - John Bonham - Led Zepplin Phil - Phil Collins - Genesis, solo Roger - Roger Taylor - Queen Steve - Steve Gadd - Session Drummer, scads of groups Stewart - Stewart Copeland - The Police Mark - Mark Brzezicki - The Cult, Big Country Danny - Danny Carey - Tool Jason - Jason Gianni - Session Drummer, Instructor, Author Lars - Lars Ulrich - Metallica Mike - Mike Portnoy - Dream Theater Neil - Neil Peart - Rush Noah - Noah Bernardo - P.O.D. I've got most of the packs (everything apart from Udu Utar), and there's 33 drummers in total.

AFAIK SampleRobot is a one-man company, or very small at least. I don't think I've ever seen it on sale. The learning curve is not too bad, but the manual can be a bit confusing - i.e. it goes into detail regarding all the features & functionality, but doesn't do much to actually show you how to use it in anger. The project wizard is good for getting you started though, and the results are great. I keep meaning to do a couple of tutorial videos - must get around to it soon. I use it in conjunction with the SampleLord/Extreme Sample Converter bundle (https://www.samplelord.com/) for a couple of reasons: 1. I wanted to get my hardware/soft synths on to my V-Machine (http://www.smproaudio.com/index.php/en/products/v-machines/v-machine) for live use. The V-Machine is like a poor man's Muse Receptor, but extremely under-powered for most VSTi's. It's fine with playing back samples though. SampleLord was written with the V-Machine in mind, and makes heavy use of streaming / buffer swapping to keep both CPU & memory usage at a minimum. The PC version of the VSTi is 32 bit, but I've never had an issue with it using JBridge and I use it regularly. 2. The Kontakt export on SampleRobot is ancient (it exports .sxt, which is actually a Reason file), whereas Extreme Sample Converter can convert an sf2/sfz to an real nki instrument. I tend to export as sf2 from SampleRobot, then use Extreme Sample Converter to convert to sfz and nki when needed.

The instructions seem to be still valid. AFAIK there's no reason that the clips have to start at zero, but doing a "bounce to clip(s)" on each of your audio clips is good practice before doing any type of pitch processing. There's still some bugs in clip processing that can crop up, and "bounce to clip(s)" individually on each clip seems to work around most of them. You shouldn't have to bounce them all down at the track level though, but in saying that, it will mean less work for you, as you'll have less clips to change AudioSnap settings on.

Have you selected both the audio input on the track, and enabled input echo? There aren't any ASIO drivers (or any native drivers for that matter) for the ProFX8. ASIO4ALL is really your best choice here. I would personally recommend any of the Focusrite Scarlett range. The 6i6 is probably the best for your needs, that way you can route the audio out of your ProFX8 into the rear inputs of the 6i6, whilst using the front two for real instruments. Shop around though - there may be cheaper options, although IMHO, the 6i6 is best bang for buck for quality/features/price. There's no reason you can't continue to use your 2x2 for MIDI. The 6i6 does have one extra port though, which you can use at the same time as your 2x2. If you need more MIDI ports, I've found the MidiFace 8x8 to be the most reliable for me. I still have my MidiSport 8x8 (the big brother of your 2x2), but the drivers are old and aren't as reliable as the MidiFace.

I've been using SampleRobot since version 4. It absolutely rocks. The VSTi support in 6.1.1 upgrade is significant. Up until now, I've been using Cantable or MiniHost and running it through VBAudio Cable. It was a pain. Now it's seamless.

As you can't buy the iLok 2 anymore, I suspect they're saying iLok 3 just because it's the current dongle available.

The MCU Pro works fine with Cakewalk. Mackie are still selling it, so it's still current technology. I personally use the original MCU + XT + C4. Other (probably more popular choices) are: Behringer X-Touch Presonus FaderPort 8 / Presonus FaderPort 16 Both of these have motorised faders. The only thing I'd say about the MCU (and the MCU Pro), is they're quite large, and take up a lot of desk space. They're built like a tank though. If you're not worried about motorised faders, take a look at the Korg NanoKontrol Studio. At just over $150 it's very usable. All of the above support the Mackie MCU protocol.

Excellent in every way Bats.

Cakewalk has always had latency compensation built in from the early days of Sonar (unlike the cheaper versions of Pro Tools). It's automatic and doesn't need to be enabled. Cakewalk relies on the information provided to it by the driver. As the vast majority of users here don't get issues with latency compensation, I suspect it's your audio driver that is misrepresenting the actual latency values.

iLock cloud is where you authorise a "cloud session" rather than a computer, or a physical iLock dongle. Your computer then needs to log into the cloud session to pick up the authorisation. When your computer leaves the session, it's available again. The downside is that your computer needs to be online for joining the session. After that, it's authorised. So you only need to be online for a few seconds. I'm not sure at what point it checks again though.

As far as I can remember, either would work (I've not used it for a while either - I've been practicing my "real" drumming). But I tend to keep the groove the same length as the part - so the full 16 bar verse. But this is usually because I've got more complex things going on, like accents in specific places.

It's pretty quick to do it just using the clip properties: If you leave the clip properties selected, you can adjust things as you play - just as easily as a dial would be.

Not exactly - unlike a humanizer it doesn't just change the timing/velocity of what you give it, but uses it as a basic guide for something new. In other words, it will add hats, cymbals, possibly toms, ghost notes on the snare etc. The rhythm may change in places too. But its "based" on what you give it.

The best way to get it to play what you want is to provide it with a MIDI file of just kick & snare. Jamstix will then "paraphrase" your MIDI file in the style of the drummer you choose:

Remember that Kontakt 6 is fairly new. If you buy additional libraries (which are more than likely designed for Kontakt 4 or 5), there's always the possibility that it might not work properly in Kontakt 6.

Yeah, I've got it on three machines so needed the extra license.

Personally, I'd keep them. You never know when some instrument isn't 100% backwards compatible.

Right click on the transport record button, and make sure the following two options are set: If you've got Auto Punch enabled, make sure "Mute Previous Takes" is NOT checked.