abacab

Yes, I agree. I explored a few 3D modeling and animation tools back in the day. Discovered that you would mostly be working in wireframe mode and then need decent 3D acceleration on a high-end PC to see a realistic 3D preview of what your fully rendered work would look like. Depending on your CPU back then, renders could take seemingly forever. And there was the learning curve. Not for the faint of heart! You would need to be committed fully, and there is where the time in the day applies. If I had been at least 10 years younger at that time, I might have been tempted to pursue a career in that field. But I already had a full time job. Still, it was, and still is fascinating... ?

I'm not sure what you are implying there. Why do you appear to be so hostile and angry? Who are you venting at? Some of us are probably much older than you. I started MIDI sequencing with hardware before there was a VST. And used instrument definitions for MIDI program bank and patch change over MIDI cables to external hardware. As well as MIDI SysEx dumps and loads over the same cables. There are lots of friendly folks around here with plenty of experience that would be happy to exchange ideas in a friendly, respectful manner.

Not true. I added that "it's up to the VSTi vendor. Cakewalk supports the feature if the plug-in is capable".

Not saying that. You put the MIDI on the track with the instrument. Then bounce or freeze the track. The files you drag onto a sampler would obviously be audio samples. The sampler plays back audio samples. MIDI triggers the sampler to play back those samples. Bouncing the MIDI track processes the MIDI data through the sampler instrument telling it what notes to play and how to play them, resulting in an audio file with the resulting sound based on the samples that the sampler is holding. MIDI in, audio out.

Daz 3D goes way back, and has combined their own Daz Studio, originally their own scene creator and alternative to Poser, with Bryce (Kai Krause), a fractal based 3D landscape modeler, and Cararra (now Daz 3D, but earlier from from Ray Dream and MetaCreations), a general purpose 3D modeler/animation package. From the beginning, a lot of the initial creative 3D software development from MetaCreations, Fractal Design, Ray Dream, and others such as Kai Krause together inspired much of this. On the shoulders of giants, as they say... Even Corel acquired Painter from Fractal Design. All this happened mostly in the 90's and early 2000's.

I forgot that I had an old version of that software around here somewhere... ? It's probably kick-***** on modern computers.

Going from MIDI to audio track requires that an instrument be defined for the bounce process. Otherwise the bounce has nothing to process, as MIDI contains no audio information. When dragging a MIDI clip into a sampler, you would need to have a default instrument assigned to the sampler track. Again, MIDI data itself contains no sound info.

I've also heard it said that the silent space between the notes is just as important!

FYI: just look at all the hell raised by IKM users because they DID NOT have a software manager. Now they do. And it was certainly justified given the astronomical number of downloads with hundreds of GBs involved. I agree that listening to the user, and giving them a choice is always the best solution!

Don't feel bad! I did the same thing, as indicated in my post way back in this thread. Arturia apparently got ahead of themselves, too! LOL! ?

Whenever I see that I just log into my account at the XLN website and activate my "new" computer. Done. FYI : Windows Feature Updates change your computer ID.

Not sure what you meant here. Can you elaborate? "One aspect of MIDI music that has not advanced" implies that you are not referring just to Cakewalk, but in general. There are programs dedicated to scoring sheet music that can output MIDI.

Discussions of software piracy in this forum will most likely draw the attention of the moderators, so do yourself a favor and keep it on the down low. Just an FYI. Cheers! ?

BandLab owns the copyright for all of the legacy Cakewalk IP, so technically not abandonware. BandLab may not currently be selling the legacy instruments to new users, but they do support the activations for legally licensed users.

Expand the track height view fully so that all inputs and outputs are showing. With them hidden from view it is not possible to diagnose.

AL5 was added to my AL4 license, automatically. It is activated. Update the ASC and let it re-sync your license. If that doesn't work, contact their support.

I don't understand all the hate and pitchforks for XLN? They have good products that sound good. That's all I need. Do I need a shiny new version every year? Nope. They keep what I paid for maintained. That's all I ask...

Now you're singing my song! I can recall when spending $1,000+ for a new keyboard seemed normal! ?

The coupon was automatically added. I only own AL4 and Pigments 2.

I guess you could look at it like as it may have been in a major studio back in the day. For example a guitar player or keyboard player could have had stomp boxes or an FX rack located with their gear, that they use to shape their sound, just like live on stage. I imagine that time based effects (reverb & delay) and modulations would have a major role here. The effects that make up a significant part of the instrument's sound character would have likely been used at the source, which could compare today with "onboard" FX in a synth these days, or the FX bin in an instrument track. Then those "live" sounds could be recorded with microphones (wet) at the amplifier, and/or mixed with a dry DI (direct in) signal at the mixing console. In that scenario, those signals probably went into channel strips at the mixing console, where EQ & compression were applied, and limiting, saturation, or any combination of dynamic effects could be used to achieve the desired sound in the mix. At that point the mixer could use sends to FX busses to blend things into submixes. There are no absolutes, but that's how I generally visualize the role of onboard effects. But bottom line, you have so many tools today, that one needs to just decide what works best for you.

As plug-ins go that appears to be true. But I think the point of requesting an integrated "sampler" is for an alternative to being dependent on what a 3rd party developer chooses to enable in that regard. Both PreSonus Studio One 4 and above, and Tracktion Waveform 9 and above, have an integrated multi-sampler that can record live. Here is an example of using Sample One XT's live record mode to sample a bass guitar. Obviously not everyone wants to multi-sample their own instrument, so this is just proof that an integrated sampler can record live audio. Studio One also includes another sampler called Impact XT that is more suited for drum samples and triggering via pads rather than by keyboard. And I presented the above information only as examples of what is possible if Cakewalk were to add an integrated "sampler". I am not trying to promote other products here. Just showing that the idea is already "real" elsewhere, for those who may question the need in Cakewalk.

It's amazing how easy that is to do in Reaper. You can route an audio input to an instrument track in Reaper. If the instrument, like for example TX16Wx, supports audio input and live sampling you are good to go.

For those of you with the AL V, I found a killer preset that is a 2-part split between the Stage-73 and the Emulator II. Check out the preset "A Rhodes For You".

Wow, now I can even get V Collection 8 for $399 with a coupon discount!

@fitzroyYou are correct! Checking in with ASC, the AL V is appearing as activated now! No more demo. According to 'My Products' on the Arturia site AL V has apparently been bundled in with my AL 4 license! Thank you Arturia!