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Keep sipping that Apple kool-aid, and M1 will magically be better than Intel or AMD... ?

I wasn't even aware that SampleTank had a safe start-up. No reference to it in the user guide. How do you do that?

Interesting factoid, @scook!!!

I never noticed a discrete Groove Player, because it seems to be embedded in the core ST4 interface. Any instrument that you insert which includes a groove has an active "Player/Loop" button on the instrument Parts View. For example there are many drum loops in the Neil Peart Drums library. No crashes here either. From the manual: and...

Well, as I mentioned earlier, MIDI learn is a function of the specific plugin. That means it is up to the plugin developer to include it or not. Many modern VSTi plugins do include it, but the Cakewalk Studio Instruments apparently do not support MIDI learn at the plugin level. Cakewalk TTS-1 does have it, so you can easily learn the pan, reverb, or chorus knobs. Access the feature by right-clicking on a knob, then after checking the "learn" box, move the physical control on your keyboard. You will see the MIDI CC number populate in the box, then choose "OK". All set! A plugin can sometimes have a button that activates a general "learn" mode, or sometimes it is hidden in the right-click context menu of each control. It is up to each developer to implement it, and while there appears to not be a standard, they are usually intuitive in their approach. Check out this link to a Cakewalk forum thread for freeware instruments. There are many available that are superior to the ones included with Cakewalk. You will probably have better luck using your controller with them! Here: Also this:

I think that many newcomers to Cakewalk do not realize that various DAWs have some major differences. The distinctions for live performance are a bit more complex than that. If you see a performer doing some cool stuff on stage, it it advisable to do some research, not just assume that any multi track recording tool will do that. You will need to use the tools that they use... The misunderstanding is deep, especially now that a powerful multi track recording tool such as Cakewalk is free.

I noticed that YouTube post (from 2018) mentioned that the audio Looper plugin was only available in Live Standard, or above. But it is now available in Live Intro 11. https://www.ableton.com/en/live/compare-editions/ Live Lite 10 is supposed to be updated to Live Lite 11 later this year. Live Lite 10 does not include audio Looper. Remains to be seen what will be included with that new edition of Lite.

LOL, found it on the internetz... ?

I would recommend Ableton Live for live looping. The free Lite version (8 tracks/8 scenes) comes bundled with many hardware devices, and the Intro version (16 tracks/16 scenes) is not very expensive. https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/Live11intro--ableton-live-11-intro Plus there is a 90 day free demo of the full paid version available. https://www.ableton.com/en/trial/ Live was designed for exactly what you are trying to do (and much more). If you try looping with Cakewalk it will be a workaround, as CW was not really designed to excel at live workflow. CW is best as a studio tool for linear recording/editing. Usually it's easiest to use tools that are designed to work the way you do. Just my two cents. Sorry to hear that you had no luck with MPC Beats, as that might have been a decent free alternative from what I've heard, although I have never used it.

Eventide Blackhole! FTW! I use that on just about everything I wish to mangulate! ?

MIDI learn is not the same as ACT in the Cakewalk DAW. I was referring to generic MIDI learn, which is not DAW specific, and could be used in any DAW and with any keyboard. A quick way to get up and running with MIDI using 3rd party MIDI instrument plugins with your keyboard. ACT is Cakewalk specific, and is for setting up the Cakewalk DAW to respond to a controller. It's a bit more work to get ACT setup, but it can learn MIDI CC's in a similar way. Here is the knowledge base article to get started, if that is what you want to do: https://www.cakewalk.com/Support/Knowledge-Base/2007013008/Configuring-the-ACT-MIDI-Controller-Plug-in

Is it really worth $143.20 with the code? For an EQ? I got Kontakt 6 full version for less...

Good stuff; +1 ? I didn't know about that last one, even after 20+ years with Cakewalk/Sonar! And I had forgotten about a couple of the others. Did know about the Melodyne audio > MIDI conversion, but it had never occurred to me to use a vocalization to create an organic MIDI instrument part. Such as Mike demonstrated with vocal > violin part. What a great idea!

Or get IKM MixBox and you can make just about any instrument sound cinematic! ?

Or get AAS Chromaphone and some reverbs... very little disk space needed for that.

That pretty much sums it up. The load times aren't so bad now that all of my samples are on an internal SSD, but still noticeable. And some of the presets are setup for your sound design, by listing in their comments if they only use a basic oscillator, such as saw, triangle, square, etc. Suggest starting with one of those presets if tweaking is your plan. But some of the sounds are fantastic, and are much more realistic than many emulations. Mainly because the oscillators were sampled from the real synths. The filters are modeled, and you do have control over those, as well as full control over envelopes and LFO's. Also includes a nice "MixBox style" FX rack, as well as a cool on-board arpeggiator.

MIDI learn is a function of the plugin software, not the keyboard. ANY controller should work for learn, regardless of the brand. MIDI controllers send a unique MIDI CC# (in the undefined range) for each control being activated, that the plugin can remember as you map them. Depending on the keyboard, there may be a keyboard setup mode that lets you assign specific CC's to specific controls. (The undefined CC’s you can map yourself to any assignable parameter on your synthesizer/instrument plugin.) Reference: https://professionalcomposers.com/midi-cc-list/

I picked up Liquid Rhythm a few years back on a good deal. It has a unique way of creating your own rhythm patterns, that can be saved. I was able to use this to trigger Addictive Drums for the audio output, while muting the internal LR drum sounds. ? Instead of buying loops, you can create your own patterns with this.

Me too! I bought an extra serial just to get in on the IK Group Buy last year. Which worked out quite well... I bagged MODO Bass, MODO Drums, and the Hammond B-3...

Not free, but $55 at Plugin Boutique... In seconds deCoda will tell you the key, tempo, chords where the verses and choruses are and more. https://products.zplane.de/products/decoda/ https://www.pluginboutique.com/products/6057-deCoda

I have heard that some laptops might never be fully compatible for real-time audio, based on some online forum posts I've seen. Probably best to research up front before you buy one, in order to locate a model that others use with success. Apologies for saying that, but it is possibly true. I build my own desktops, and the BIOS is usually wide open for tweaking with them. On the laptops I have owned, many BIOS items are locked down or hidden. That's probably just part of the problem, but some vendors have optimized their hardware for other priorities than real-time audio, as well as for reduced heat and power consumption. A computer that is more than suitable for gaming or video editing may not be good for real-time audio, which is actually more demanding. Gaming and video editing are not actually real-time processes. They can buffer as much as needed to keep things flowing. See my next comment about that for audio... Regarding real-time audio, I will mention that the fastest CPU on the planet is going to have issues if misbehaving drivers can tie it up so that it's unable to keep the audio buffer full. One strategy may be to set your audio buffers as high as possible, to see if that minimizes crackles and pops. This may not be acceptable for actual use, but as an exercise which may provide some insight.

Same here. I have 1,000+ plugins, so I'm more inclined to reach for my IK Multimedia Total Studio Max stuff than PreSonus. I already had acquired a lot of plugins (and DAWs) before I bought in to Studio One Pro, so their proprietary plugins were not that interesting for me if I couldn't use them elsewhere, so I rarely ever touched them. But for someone just starting out that picks up Studio One Pro to begin with, you pretty much get everything you need to get started without having to spend more money to build up your studio kit! So S1 Pro's a really good deal for newbies!

Yes, you could use automation in your your Cakewalk tracks to tweak the sound, but that is usually more work than actually playing the part the way you want it to sound. If you would rather play the part, read the user guide for your instrument to see if it offers a feature called "MIDI learn". Usually the setup process for MIDI learn is as simple as (1) activating the MIDI learn mode in the instrument plugin, (2) in the plugin GUI, select the knob or control you want to use with the mouse, and (3) move the physical knob or fader on your keyboard. The plugin will then remember the MIDI CC # sent by your keyboard for that knob and you will have remote control over that specific function in the plugin. Then just repeat the same process for each keyboard control you wish to assign. Done. That works with just about any MIDI controller keyboard, and is a function of the instrument plugin software, rather than Cakewalk. So the only catch is that those assignments are made on an instrument by instrument basis, and are not global. The other stuff that you read about HUI (and possibly other protocols) usually pertain to DAW control, such as transport and channel mixers, etc., and are not specifically about instrument plugins. That is another can of worms, but many times Cakewalk will respond to available keyboard transport controls if you experiment with different controller definitions in the controller setup page in Cakewalk preferences.

Have you tried the built-in step sequencer in Cakewalk yet? It should be able to trigger Sitala or any other sampler plugin that you have. And anything you do in the sequencer is also reflected in the piano roll view for your track, so you already have your MIDI.