Amberwolf

Oh, also, when I've got the basics of a track laid down for a synth that gets stuck notes, I do the freeze as well. But then I clone the resulting audio track (not the midi part) to a new audio track including events and properties and effects, etc., then mute or archive the synth track. Then I can work with the rest of the project, and if I only need to do simple cutouts or volume changes on that synth's audio I can do that to the audio clip, and only unfreeze the synth to edit specific note changes, add controller data, bends, etc., then refreeze it. If I have certain edits already complete as audio edits, I can then mute the ranges of the new freeze that I've already done in the first one or that didn't change, and then mute all the ranges of the old freeze that changed in the new freeze. (or I'll even mute the MIDI clips in the ranges of the old freeze that don't change, so they don't even generate new audio). So that's one workaround for synths that can't be arsed to shut up.

For me, with synths like those made by RGC (Z3TA, etc) the problem is caused by the way the synth is designed to expect note-off events, vs the way SONAR sends them. SONAR sends note offs as regular notes with zero velocity, but some synths don't accept that as a note-off, and expect a real actual note-off message. THere are some other threads and posts about stuck notes that may have more details, but IIRC there is an option in newer versions of SONAR (and maybe CbB) that allows note offs to be sent in the other way, or maybe it was that the panic button can be set to send a note off message for every note rather than a global all-notes-off message (which some synths don't accept). If none of these things fix the issue for your synths, then you may need another way to send the note off messages or to stop the synth output. In my ancient SONAR I don't have the modern options (which is why I don't remember what they are ) , so for Z3TA note hangs, for instance, I can toggle the built-in arp on or off and back again, and it will stop all notes. But that has to be done in each instance, so I leave the UI open almost offscreen with just the arp button edge showing. (I could probably setup a remote control for that button but never tried). The thing that normally causes the stuck notes for me is that I stop playback before the end of the note on that synth. If I stop between notes, they don't get stuck.

04-22-25: 042025 000001 200049h -- added accents, emotionalized ending https://amberwolf.bandcamp.com/track/the-beaten-dog 04-22-25: 042025 000001 200054i -- added backing sounds 04-22-25: 042025 000001 200058j -- cleanup and timing

04-21-25: 042025 000001 200042g -- extended, clarified, enhanced, filled. https://amberwolf.bandcamp.com/track/the-beaten-dog

FWIW, there is a feature request in for this, and some discussion of possible implementations, including how an MFX might be able to do it if someone were to write one. (other than the bluecat) There is also another thread that has methods to actually do this listed (but I haven't tested them), starting on this page And there are other threads discussing it, some of which are in this search https://discuss.cakewalk.com/search/?&q=multiple midi&type=forums_topic&quick=1&search_and_or=and&search_in=titles&sortby=relevancy

04-21-25: 042025 000001 200030d -- corrected version https://amberwolf.bandcamp.com/track/the-beaten-dog Something went wrong somewhere with the previous version, and all sorts of bits got mixed up in where they should have played, so the previous version is garbage. I should've listened to the export before uploading it. Been fixing that, new much much better version now, (I listened to the export to make sure!) you can tell what's what now.

If they did that here in Phoenix all he would've found were some little mummies, explaining why his "radio" only rattled....

New one, with lyrics (spoken word), less than a minute long. The Beaten Dog https://amberwolf.bandcamp.com/track/the-beaten-dog Please...save me let me go this life is kinda hard why? my people...my people, they left me. Why? trust me--there's a reason: I'm a shadow... I'm free....which way do you think we should go? Not the lightest song in the world.

It would be nice if there was a screen that listed each plugin, synth, mfx, etc., along with which track or bus it's in or clip it's applied to, and which order they are in when several are in the same bin, and which preset was used (if any, and if not a list of settings values with an option to "create presets for all". That could be used to rebuild a project should it become corrupt, or to know what plugins were used in a project so they could be installed in a new system ahead of time (like you're doing) without having to reference the missing-plugin dialogs. The closest thing I know of to do this sort of thing is ProjectScope by Adam Czyk "czyky", which at least provides a list of fx used. http://forum.cakewalk.com/ProjectScope-helps-find-CWPs-and-keeps-them-organized-updated-to-Producer-Edition-m3218609.aspx?high=projectscope http://forum.cakewalk.com/ProjectScope-for-Sonar-Project-Files-CWPs-updated-to-support-new-Sonar-project-features-m3584169.aspx https://adamczyk.com/miscellaneous-files/88-projectscope-exe-for-cakewalk-project-files

If you remove the midi hardware, including all the driver software for it, from the PC's that do have midi hardware, do they then work? If not, then it isn't having hardware or not that causes the problem--it's something else. If it does work, then you'd have to find what setting in the program or tracks is different from the hardware to the no-hardware setup. The easiest way to do that is take screenshots of program settings and track settings of working vs not working, and then compare them.

Then it can't be a bus problem, because you aren't changing anything about the bus assignment or bus properties. If you would provide sufficient details we could probably help you figure out the issue.

What happens if you *don't* disable the MIDI hardware outs? What happens if you don't use Simple Instrument tracks, and just use regular separate synth and MIDI tracks?

That shouldn't matter. I have midi outs *and* use VST synths just fine. If you're having trouble only on those specific machines, something else is going on. What exactly are your complete MIDI settings for the program itself, on the machines that work, vs the machines that don't? (screenshots are best) What exactly are your complete project settings for machines that work, vs machines that don't? (screenshots are best) What exactly are your complete track (MIDI, Audio, and Synth) settings for machines that work, vs machines that don't? (screenshots are best)

What exactly does "insert it to a track" mean? Normally that phrase means to insert a plugin in the FX bin of a track, but doing that with a synth probably won't produce the result you want--synths normally have to have their own synth track to operate correctly as a synth. For certain synths designed for it, being inserted into the FX bin of an audio track may allow them to work as an effect, but may not be driven by MIDI.

Also make sure you didn't use track manager to hide some tracks that have VV clips in them. If you don't have a specific visual layout of clips in each track, you can also enable layers/lanes in each track and then "rebuild layers" on each track to force no clips to overlap with any others visually in the same lane/layer, making it much easier to see everything. I also vaguely recall a wierd thing I sometimes saw with VV clips (one of several reasons I stopped trying to use it very early on) where a clip could just randomly become a "sliver", that could not even be seen on the track, but selecting everything on the track would make a barely visible outline of the clip that I *could* see, and delete or use clip properties (alt-enter) to change it to a length I could see and work with.