Amberwolf

If you ever have any USB MIDI controller device that *doesn't* have a hardware MIDI port, you can use this to give it one. I don't know if it supports *all* such devices, but anything using the class-compliant "driverless" connection ought to work. https://www.serdashop.com/USBMIDIHost From the site: \ From the site:

For those that still use Soundfonts, and always wanted a hardware way to access them without having to setup a system just for that. Not quite a replacement for those that used to use the AWE / etc cards with the old Cakewalk that had a soundfont manager in it. Has USB and MIDI in ports. https://www.serdashop.com/SF2 There's another (older?) version here https://www.serdashop.com/MP32L From the site:

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Yeah...that's why I stopped building computers (or bikes or anything else) for people long ago--they usually thought they knew what they needed and wouldn't listen to me about it, then blamed me when it didn't do what they wanted.... I'd rather just deal with myself; I'm not as hard on me for my oopsies and any I have really are my own fault. :lol:

Kinda OT, but: Some antibiotics / etc have ototoxic properties, so depending on the meds for the infection and the dosage and your metabolism, that could also have caused it. Some infections can do it, even if they aren't ear-related (guessing they produce ototoxins that kill "ear" cells / cilia?, or damage to the nerves that read those). Covid may also be a cause of tinnitus and hearing loss (mine didn't get anywhere near this bad until I went thru that, now it's quite severe and causes problems even understanding speech under various conditions). Some of the "studies" show it comes back after a few months, but mine has only ever gotten worse with time. I also have problems using headphones, since the damage in each ear is different, and it is confusing and disorienting with the distinct separated L and R signals in headphones, vs speakers where they mix in the air on the way to me. I mostly use them now just to listen for timing issues (mostly percussion) with sets of soloed tracks, vs whole projects, and other detail stuff like that. Can't really use them to check mixes or eq with (mostly I have to use a spectrum analyzer view, like in Audacity, to see where specific problems are in a track visually, so I don't have to just eq tracks globally and nuke stuff I really want to keep in some parts of a song but avoid in in other parts).

I'm still surprised that this has never been added to Cakewalk in all this time; I know it's been asked for in the original pre-bandlab/roland/gibson version(s) more than a few times.... There are some "gotchas" that can happen from this type of thing; for instance if you actually use the bank/patch controls in a track (I never do these days) all the synths will be set to the same one which will probably be wrong. And if there is any data fed back from the synth (envelope / controller names, etc) that conflicts with that sent back from other synths, what does the track do about that? I very commonly stack several synths / etc to build my sounds from, especially when first messing around to get an idea rolling at the start of a project. ATM I have to have separate MIDI tracks all with echo on, all with record armed, each pointing to the synth it's for, to get that to happen. If I could instead have a single source track that feeds all the others, it would greatly ease the setup and start of a new idea. (I can always later split out the MIDI that has to be different between the different synths to new tracks, since synths already accept input from multiple midi tracks...we just need to be able to do the opposite as well). One of the things I loved about the ancient Amiga-based Bars & Pipes was the ability to route anything anywhere; I sometimes used the program not to compose or record but just as a router for live playback of multiple hardware boxes from multiple keyboards without having to buy a bunch of expensive little hardware boxes and cable them all together. I don't want to pollute your request, but another potential way to do this with no host software change (thus possibly more likely to happen?): ( @Viramor because, well, you're our only hope Obi-Vir! :lol: ) FWIW, I'd even accept a workaround that's an MFX (not VST) that would Y-split the midi stream at that point in the MFX chain and provide a copy to whatever midi input you select that's in the dropdown for any midi track. So you could pick any synth hosted in the program the MFX is in, or any hardware / virtual cable port, etc. Even if the MFX only has a single Y-output, you could just stack them in the Fx bin of the source midi track to route to multiple different synths. This approach could even be used with individual clips on a track to have one feed multiple synths while all the others on the track only feed one, or even to have different clips on the track feed different synths (I would probably not use this approach much, but there are instances I could use that ability). Then you can stick filter MFX before or after this Y-Cable MFX to send only the data you want to each one, if you stack them in the right order. The Y-Cable MFX doesn't need to have any other function besides the already-probably-complicated one described.

What was the problem / solution, so that other users with the same issue can find this thread and resolve theirs?

To word it differently, I meant: is the *drum map* configured so that it is sending the notes to the same range as the bare port? Is it possible the map is transposing the notes up or down? (I don't know if this exists in them)

Good; at least I got some of it across. I'm still trying to figure out how to express some stuff in it; I have ideas but as usual keep dozing off trying them out (and sometimes remember what I was doing when I wake up, sometimes not till much later). Any technical feedback about it? (sound, mix, timing, whatever) If I know about problems I can try to fix them, and I always learn something in the process. No, mine was apparently a "spontaneous combustion" of "asbestos mastic" that they used in the 50s to glue linoleum tiles down; apparently after a long enough time chemical stuff happens with that that can start a fire. The city fire inspector said it has happened to multiple houses built the way this one was. This thread over on Endless Sphere is my "blog" about the event and subsequent things over the years: https://endless-sphere.com/sphere/threads/end-of-the-world-beginning-of-a-new-one-the-life-of-amberwolf.49550/#p1684189 The worst part was not the loss of the stuff itself, but the loss of all four dogs and my "safe place" to retreat from the world (I'm autistic and don't deal with stress (or a lot of other things) very well, so I have to have somewhere to "hide" when I can't handle it (nearly every day i reach that point sometime. Dogs are often like me, so I get along with them better than people (we understand each other), so having them around helps****). Then going thru the "gareki" left after the fire to find things that could be saved, the slow rebuild of the house over a year by the landlord while looters stole things I'd managed to save out of the high-fenced yard and sheds, moving back in and sorting thru all that to move it back inside, etc. The feeling of how everyone else regarded what was left after the fire as trash, where to me they were still memories and part of my life...that's what "gareki" means to me. I remember a fire that killed some firefighters near Yarnell, was it that one? (another musician friend lived near there at the time and was threatened by it). **** Since eventually I won't be able to have a real dog, for whatever reason (age, invalidity, space, budget, whatever) I've been working for decades on a project to design and build a robotic "emotional support wolf" (you would never guess but wolves are what I really am interested in, but they are wild and not pets (had a wolfdog once; they're not dogs either), so I am building what I would have if it weren't unfair to the animal in question). It'll be open source so anyone can build themselves one, or modify the design to build a different kind of animal; whatever it is that makes them feel safe. https://endless-sphere.com/sphere/threads/robotics-project-snuggles-the-wolf.122280/

I recall from ages back that there's something called multiclient that some drivers have and some don't. Assuming that's still applicable these days, then if your midi port driver isn't multiclient, only one program can use it at a time. YOu may have to use a loopback midi driver**** to connect CbB to Midiox, then MIdiox can direclty use the hardware port. ****(there are a number around; I use Loopbe, but if you have MIDiox then you probably already have MIDIyoke)

I doubt there are very many people here making money off their music / studio. Or at least, not many actually doing studio work with it for other people as a regular company kind of thing, even if they're selling their own music. I suspect most are like me, just doing it because they'd go nuts if they couldn't, even if no one else ever listens to any of it.

I haven't used their shopify site either (couldn't cuz it's borked for me). I bought the Ethnic Female Vocals pack on their $5 sale right from their main site, and right now am making this song using them: https://amberwolf.bandcamp.com/track/gareki

And to uninstall any of the generic ASIO drivers like ASIO4all, etc.

is it possible the base octave is wrong on the map? (if the maps have that as part of their info, as opposed to just what's in the main program settings)

Took a few tries, but it finally worked, to record the bend-fail tracks via VB's virtual audio cable. Because WDM/KS just won't play without cyclic pops (less frequent the larger the buffers are, but even at max they're still several times a second), I had to use WASAPI, which for some reason doesn't work with my Avid Fastrack Pro USB (WDM/KS and ASIO do, normally I use ASIO, but the VB cable isn't available with ASIO). So I can't hear the output while it's playing / recording, and have to switch back from WASAPI to ASIO to hear what's happening in the recording, listening to the whole thing, then back to WASAPI to retry various things to fix glitches, then back, and forth, having to "argue" with the audio reassignment dialogs that come up multiple times during each switchover to leave all the routings alone. So now I've exported the whole thing and reuploaded it as 01-11-25: 010625 000001 300045p (and I made sure it worked first, this time :lol: )

This is a real problem I have NEVER seen before. If I freeze the Rapture MIDI/Synth track, with realtime or fast bounce, it screws up the pitch of notes following a bend by rebending them further as if it were adding up all the bends along the way in some wierd way. Same happens if I export audio. If I bounce them to a new track, realtime or fast, they're missing a bunch of notes, *and* none of the automation (bend or mod wheel) is rendered. But if I just play it back, everything is perfectly fine. WTF? I guess I'll have to use a virtual cable and send the synth output to the input of another track and record it realtime.... Be back in a few minutes to let y'all know if that worked.

Ok, that's wierd, didn't listen to it till I posted it, but the pitch bends are broken on the rapture CS80 and it leaves the note bent down and then the next bend bends it further. Working on that.

The latest version is all that's actually on the Bandcamp link. I left the pre-spoken-word version up on the soundclick link but it's now missing many edits so go for the link in this post for all those (it's much better): 01-11-25: 010625 000001 300045p -- converted bass arp to midi notes and edited them to fit the rest of the song parts, modulated delay on bass to cut out unncessary repeats. Added pitch bends and modulation to CS80 lead to better match vocals. Many small timing and volume edits. EDIT: Ok, that's wierd, didn't listen to it till I posted it, but the pitch bends are broken on the rapture CS80 and it leaves the note bent down and then the next bend bends it further. Working on that. So the version up there now is kinda broken. I have tried with both the music and the "cover art" to make something to convey the sadness, the disheartening dismay, of seeing your home destroyed, the things you live(d) with treated like junk and garbage. It's a feeling I know very very well, from the housefire a little over a decade ago. I am still figuring that out (how to express it), so this is the beginning of that. I am hoping that those that listen will tell me if it induced any emotion, and if so, what. If it isn't doing what I wanted it to, I can work on it more to try to fix that. On the artwork I tried to use the google imagefx thing to create this, but it just didn't listen to me. I ended up having to composite multiple things from that and elsewhere, using the ancient PaintShopPro6, to get something resembling what I want. It's still not quite there, either, but it's close enough for now. Hopefully it also helps convey the emotional side of what Gareki can mean to someone. I chose the "pup" for it's resemblance to Hachi, whose loss in the fire hit me worse than any of the others. The wolf I chose for it's pose; there were others with face-on facial expressions that said it better but they did not have the dejected body language I was after; this was the closest I could come. Previous edit notes I seem to have missed posting here include: 010625 000001 300038m - assorted edits, added elven phrase " This garden you created, this forest you gave life to, is, and always will, be my home." It was the closest thing I could find in what i had to some of what I wanted to say. I have enough words in the assorted phrases in there that I could say more if I knew what all of the individual words actually mean, and the grammar to be used with them. (if I find time I suppose I could research that, as I'm sure it's documented out there somewhere, assumign these phrases follow those rules--presumably it's from Tolkien's Elven, but I don't know, the Shymer documentation doesn't say).

Yes, they emailed that out after sending out the overly dramatic first email titled "we are closing down (enough)". 😒 (BTW, I find it strange that there is no "rolling eyes" emoticon. Then again, around here maybe it just got worn out and fell off the page?)

A couple of flashing siren lights like on a forklift ought to do it.

We had that happen long ago when I was a kid living in a literal "little pink house" in rural texas.... IIRC mom fell thru the floor next to the bathub into the crawlspace under the house. Landlord never came to fix it; we just had a piece of plywood over it till we moved.

I don't know of a way to do it in SONAR or CbB, but there is a program called VSTHost by Herman Seib that has a function in the menu Engine - Send Sysx file to browse for and send a .syx file. Details are on page 85 of the PDF manual https://www.hermannseib.com/english/vsthost.htm https://www.hermannseib.com/documents/VSTHost.pdf It's not a quick easy one-key thing, but it's there. If you are willing to setup a system-wide keyboard macro program, you can use that to capture a key-combo that would trigger this function without you going away from Cakewalk to do it. I know there's at least one thread about assorted keyboard macro type software around here somewhere with good info on those. Been a while since I used it but I think MidiOx can do the sysex file send too.

If you sign up for their emails you can get their coupon if you want it, but you might or might not be able to actually use the site well enough to buy anything. (the site is too broken for me to be able to access to try it out). FWIW, I can see why they hate shopify; I can't use the site at all (any browser), all I get is this for a login page at: https://deals.functionloops.com/account/login

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Same here; anything that requires an activation (other than a one-time serial / etc input). Long ago got tired of things suddenly deciding they need to talk to daddy before they will let me use them when I'm in the middle of something. I really prefer ones that have no installers, but just let me unzip the files into my plugins folders. I found so many free (VST mostly) plugins over the years that I have at least one of just about every type of sound emitting or processing plugin; some of them are not very good but others are good enough for my stuff. (some of hte not very good ones are useful for destroying sounds in various ways :lol: ). There are only a handful that I actually use regularly, many of those came with one version of SONAR or another. But I do collect sounds (samples, loops, etc) to hack apart to use for various bits, sometimes to build entire projects from, sometimes just to accentuate them, sometimes somewhere between. Most of those are free, too, but I did skip some groceries over the holidaze and buy a few of the super-cheap bundle sales, so I have fresh meat in some of my latest projects on http://amberwolf.bandcamp.com