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If your main interest is piano, and you still need a keyboard controller, here is an inexpensive one with 88 keys (although not fully weighted) that comes with a free software bundle that includes Arturia Analog Lab (with 6500 sounds, sourced from Arturia's analog modeled V collection), which has a modeled virtual piano in grand and upright styles, as well as UVI's Model D (Steinway Concert Grand Model D captured in a brilliant European sound stage), that plays in UVI Workstation (free). https://www.uvi.net/model-d.html https://www.arturia.com/products/hybrid-synths/keylab-essential-88/overview

I struck the earlier comment about gaming. First, in order to not derail this discussion into one about gaming. and second, because I have not kept up with the subject. My gaming rig is running a year 2012 model CPU, LOL! ?

Ableton Live probably has the most fully compatible choice of MIDI controllers available. But since we are talking about Cakewalk here, the controllers that work with the Cakewalk DAW controls usually require some manual configuration, and some features may not be available. Cakewalk can be used with any MIDI controller, although without an 'integrated' user experience. Now, if you are just interested in integrated control of instrument plug-ins, rather than full DAW control, then there are a couple of examples such as the Arturia and Native Instruments controllers. These are dedicated to their respective instruments such as Arturia Analog Lab, or NI Komplete, and should be fully compatible with these instruments in any DAW. They are also fully MIDI compliant and should work as generic MIDI controllers as well. Arturia has dedicated templates for certain DAWs as well, but unfortunately Cakewalk seems to fall into the "other" category, again. https://www.arturia.com/products/hybrid-synths/keylab-mkii/overview This controller includes overlays for Ableton Live, Logic Pro X, Pro Tools, Cubase, Studio One, Reaper, as well as standard Mackie and HUI setups. https://www.native-instruments.com/en/products/komplete/keyboards/komplete-kontrol-s49-s61/ Works with all KOMPLETE and Native Kontrol Standard (NKS) instruments.

I believe that the consensus around this community is that the real-time audio performance of the Intel Core is preferred. Ryzen offer a lot of performance for the buck, and is potentially better at gaming and video editing. That is just my opinion based on what I have read, although to be fair I have also heard some good reports from users with Ryzen based DAWs. I chose the Intel Core i5-9600k 3.7GHz for my last build. It has 6-cores/threads, max turbo is 4.6Ghz. I have all 6 cores locked to 4.6 GHz in my UEFI/BIOS (an option with 'K' series 'unlocked' Intel CPUs). There is one more thing about the CPU and your DAW performance that has not been mentioned here yet. The single-thread clock speed of your chosen CPU is the most important factor for virtual instruments. Even if your DAW is multi-core aware, a virtual instrument is single threaded on one core. So you want the single CPU thread as fast as you can get it if you have a high CPU load due to high polyphony. Otherwise you may need to increase your audio buffer to prevent audio dropouts. Of course, with more cores you could theoretically run more plug-in instances of virtual instruments, subject to the limitations of your DAW program. Plug-in load balancing generally only applies to FX plug-ins, not instruments. Edit: struck the comment about gaming...

Yes, with a new topic you should be able to collect various real-world experiences from other users about their actual latency performance and buffer settings using an audio interface.

From the Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 user guide:

That topic is worthy of a forum thread of it's own! But I will add the following distinction to audio latency as it applies to audio recording on a DAW in general, and with what you are trying to do with a virtual instrument alone. If any more questions on latency, suggest a new forum topic to attract quality responses. ? You can have some audio latency with any audio interface. If you try some Google research on the topic you will likely encounter a lot of discussions regarding round-trip latency. But that doesn't fully apply to the one-way audio path if using only virtual instruments (well maybe 50%). Round-trip latency involves recording an external source using a line or mic in, through the audio interface inputs (A/D conversion), processing it in the computer application (DAW + virtual instrument + any effects), then playing the DAW result back through the interface outputs (D/A conversion) to the monitors. The latency can be an annoyance when you can hear what you are playing live, and then also hear the processed signal from the PC again with a delay. The best way around this is to buy an interface with direct monitoring so you can enable that feature and monitor the input audio signal at the interface before it goes into the computer. But, the bottom line is that you will be recording a virtual instrument, so you will not be dealing with a round-trip. For example when you play a note on your MIDI keyboard the MIDI data goes directly to the instrument track and the tone generator plays the sound. Any latency at this point will most likely be controlled by your audio buffer setting. That is why the quality of the ASIO driver supplied by your interface manufacturer is important. You should be able to tweak the audio buffer size as low as possible so that the latency is no longer detectable by ear from when you play a note until you hear the sound . For me that goal is usually <10ms.

Sweathogs! ?

Did anybody check if JRRShop is back on the air now?

I got a similar reply when I opened a support ticket because the IK Product Manager was having difficulty downloading and installing the full Miro 2. With the addition of "While we look into this, you may download your sounds from "My Products" in your User Area." Well never mind... I narrowed the problem down to the downloads being corrupt from the server with a 'Bad archive' error. If they downloaded OK, the Product Manager could unzip them and copy them into the library correctly. Originally it kept failing after the first file download, but I persisted by deleting the last downloaded file prior to the 'Bad archive' error, closing the product manager and restarting it. Eventually it got to 9 successful downloads (out of 17), but kept failing at #10. So I manually downloaded the remainder and copied them into the Product Manager folder. The IK PM was then able to unzip the rest of the files and copy them into the library. There is something strange happening with the Product Manager downloads, as they seem to be throttled to 4.0 Mbps, while a direct download from my user area typically runs at 40-70 Mbps.

Already asked and answered.

The audio interface will connect to a port on the motherboard. USB 2.0 is the most common one used today and ready to go on almost all modern PCs. USB 2.0 has more than enough bandwidth for pro audio. There is really no need to pay for more than a good USB 2.0 interface. Bottom line answer for new users is to go with this. I would check out the FocusRite Scarlett 3rd gen units for starters. They range from single audio inputs, to 18 inputs. For new users I would shoot for 1 or 2 inputs, but since you will only be using virtual instruments, you really won't have much need for extra audio inputs, unless you would decide to record from external inputs someday. The FocusRite brand has a good reputation, and is shown here as an example only, not a specific recommendation. https://focusrite.com/en/scarlett Less common are USB 3.0 based interfaces, and Thunderbolt. Most of today's PC's have USB 3.0 on-board, and that would also be fine and ready to go. But setting up Thunderbolt on a PC requires some expert knowledge and a PC must meet specific requirements to be set up with that. Unless you already know why you would need Thunderbolt, I would not bother. FireWire has become old tech, and I wouldn't bother to set that up on a new PC today. PC and motherboard manufacturers stopped building the FireWire ports on-board years ago. You have to install an add-on PCI Express card to use it.

Well, this probably won't help those who are trying to avoid Prime Day, but here goes... ? Here Are All The Best Amazon Prime Day Deals https://www.buzzfeed.com/maitlandquitmeyer/best-amazon-prime-day-2020-deals

Save up for Black Friday in 6 weeks... ?

Waiting for Spectrasonics to pull a deal like IK's be like...

Only a true VST drum geek could tell the difference... ?

That, and they probably don't need the money... Max Martin production discography https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Martin_production_discography

Yes, B&H carries everything from pro audio, to computer components, to pro camera and video. I used to receive their paper catalogs, and they were some serious competition to the old Sears catalogs! When some friends of mine made a trip to NYC, they made a point to drop in to B&H. A full city block of electronic wonders I was told!

I think that now in the age of Amazon, many local stores only stock fast moving products. I am in favor of supporting local business, but if you are looking for some obscure replacement product, sometimes Amazon (or eBay) is your only resort!

I have bought some camera gear at B&H over the years. Their customer service and fast shipping is top notch. I had once placed an order before a major power blackout shut down Manhattan, and somehow they got my order out!

If you suck it up and buy Live 10 Suite, that wouldn't be an issue! ?

That XP-Pen Pro looks interesting. I have an old Wacom Intuos 3 from way back when (Win XP days) and it still works and has current drivers and control panel for download), but the drawing area is 6x4, and the larger new Wacom tablets are not cheap! I found the XP-Pen on Amazon and will consider them if I decide to get a larger tablet. https://www.amazon.com/stores/XP-PEN/page/F604EA49-79C9-4AB9-919D-22EE6487EB7B?ref_=ast_bln

As far as I have seen, all products offered in this bundle are for perpetual licenses, except for CorelDraw. So nothing else to buy, except maybe a tablet. The CorelDraw subscription runs out after 6 months, so yes don't bother with that one. The XP-Pen has an entry level (small) tablet, that is not the Pro model for $39.99 at Amazon. https://www.amazon.com/StarG640-Ultrathin-Graphics-Battery-Free-Pressure/dp/B078YR2MTF

Nice tune John! Clever lyrics! I couldn't resist checking out the rest of the playlist. ? I am a fan of acoustic folk and Americana style music (and all good music in general).

I think that you have made a great point about Corel software! For example I had an older version of Corel Graphics Suite X4 (from 2008) that would NOT install and run on Windows 10, but ran just fine on Windows 7. Fortunately I took advantage of an upgrade offer just before Corel stopped offering upgrade editions of that product. In this case I had an up to date OS, but needed an updated application. I think that the Corel developers must use the latest Windows programming libraries to advance their latest products with the latest new features that were not available on earlier versions of the OS. You were lucky that just updating your current OS resolved your issues! [Edit] This comment above was about CorelDraw, which is a Windows only application. Regarding Corel Painter however, which is cross-platform Mac compatible, I have not seen those types of Windows dependencies, thus a longer life span of usefulness with older versions. Painter was originally a Mac program developed by Fractal Design (1991?), which merged with RayDream, then MetaTools, to become MetaCreations. And finally was acquired by Corel. I started with Painter Classic 1.0 for the PC in 1999, then upgraded to Painter 8 in 2004. Have had some version of it on the PC ever since. This Humble deal is a great offer for art dabblers or photographers!