abacab

Take a look at the free Melda MCompressor. https://www.meldaproduction.com/MCompressor They also offer a nice bundle of free plugins.

Alternatively, just clean install Win 7, and then keep it offline. Spend your time making music on Windows... ? For online use, just get a used laptop or desktop, and re-purpose it as your internet computer with your chosen flavor of Linux. Or if not a geek, just use a ChromeBook for your online needs... Plug and Play! I say this as someone who has been running computers since the 70's, and Linux on and off since Red Hat 9 (2003).

I was wondering the same thing. I tried the demo last year. It had some good qualities, but seemed a work in progress at the time...

I prefer disabling my onboard audio, and just using my audio interface for all sounds in my PC. But that seems to work best in my case if I leave the sample rate for everything set at 44,100 Hz. Otherwise I sometimes have to fiddle when switching between DAW and Windows audio sources using the same interface, if the sources are set to different rates.

If they are x64 VST2, maybe look in "C:\Program Files\VstPlugIns". Or, if you know the plugin name, you could do a search in explorer to identify the correct path. Otherwise, you could run the installer again, and make note to what folder path they install the VST2 into. Some installers will make their own path. I know, crazy, right? But there are no fixed rules like with VST3 always in common files. Once you find the correct path, make sure it is listed in Cakewalk's VST scan paths. Then reset and scan again.

I bought the Studio One Pro crossgrade when Cakewalk went under. It comes with some decent instruments and effects that would be great for a first time DAW user. But they are locked to Studio One. So you can't use them anywhere else. Anybody that is crossgrading from another DAW is likely to already have their own favorite instruments and effects. So you may or may not want to use the S1 bundled plugins. But they are available, and generally decent. It comes with a sampler/ROMpler called Presence XT. I don't use it much, so not sure how it compares with Rapture Pro. The good news is that most of the Cakewalk Sonar bundle will work in Studio One Pro. The Cakewalk plugins except for Adaptive Limiter are good. Addictive Drums is fine, as well as Celemony. There were a few 3rd party plugins from AAS, 4Front, and Overloud that were licensed for Sonar only.

Recording specific ports and channels https://www.cakewalk.com/Documentation?product=Cakewalk&language=4&help=Recording.29.html

@Peter - IK Multimedia

Ha! Another task for a rainy day!

Funny thing, ST3 throws the same error as Syntronik when opening an edited Syntronik multi from ST4. But if you open any other Syntronik multi in ST3, all parts are defaulted to MIDI channel 1. So as you suggested, opening up the Syntronik multis in ST3, then just saving with no edits works! It changes the multi to channel 1 across the board in ST4, and it still opens up in Syntronik without throwing an error!

I still like the old Rapture, had some great sounds, especially in the Expansion Packs 1 & 2! I use the Rapture Session as a browser for my Rapture and Dim Pro content. Never did get around to acquiring Rapture Pro before it was discontinued...

Very interesting! Surprised that they share data. There must be something else that the "save" operation does in ST4 beyond just modifying the MIDI channel tag in the .st3m file!

Yep, confirmed it here. Got the same result after editing and saving just the Syntronik bass multis from ST4. This is probably worth opening a ticket with IK.

TTS-1 is the most useful if you want to open a GM song file, and don't have a Sound Canvas module or other GM synth handy. It is 16 channel multi-timbral, and the parts in the GM file are assigned automatically in TTS-1 when you open a GM MIDI file. It does that very well. But it is not very tweakable, is quite dated, and has some great and some not so great sounds. You can start with it, and then start substituting other virtual instruments for parts that need improvement. Xpand!2 is the best bang for the buck ROMpler! At $15 or less I would recommend it to anyone that is just starting out with Cakewalk, and doesn't already have a collection of usable instruments. It doesn't do GM, and it is only 4 channel multi-timbral. But you already have TTS-1 for that, right? And the sound content for Xpand!2 is only 1.5GB, so a rather small footprint on disk, compared to most sample libraries. What you do get is a diverse array of 2500+ presets sorted into 29 categories of instrument sounds. Editing is basic, and limited to some macro knobs for easy edits (think Analog Lab, or SynthMaster Player). The 4 parts can be layered or split. You could use up to 4 instances of Xpand!2 to create a 16 part mix in your DAW. This could be a great go-to sketching tool for songwriting, because of the number of sounds available. Later on you could upgrade to high end samplers, and replace parts as desired. *Edit: z3ta is still a good synth, but it's all synth. Very editable, but focus is on synth sounds. Not really comparable to the other two, especially if you are seeking "real" instrument sounds. Plus z3ta+ is discontinued, and only available if you already have it.

I found files with those names in my Rapture Session folder, but that is a light version based on Rapture Pro. Nothing like that came up in my legacy Rapture folder.

You can use any Syntronik instruments, or Syntronik Free, that you already have, in ST4. They will show up as separate sound libraries in the browser view. As far as I know SampleTank 4 SE doesn't include any Syntronik instruments. But it does add some new synth instruments for SampleTank 4. As far as I can tell they are not the same thing as Syntronik, but they could have borrowed some samples from Syntronik to create new presets from, IDK. In fact, ST4 MAX includes about 19GB of "new" synth sound content. This appears to be major overkill if you already have Syntronik, IMO.

I do recall seeing a feature request somewhere, I think it was on the IK Syntronik forum, regarding the ability to assign MIDI channels to the multi parts. Don't think that feature ever got any traction with the devs, as a workaround was always to just use the SampleTank UI. As you also pointed out, there are some advantages to using the SampleTank UI. Plus they seem to have ported most of the good stuff from Syntronik, such as the cool FX rack, over to the SampleTank 4 UI.

Yep, $349 vs. $999 for the Roland AX-Edge.

Good catch! By default, the parts in a blank SampleTank 4 parts view are assigned consecutively to MIDI channels 1-16, where in the native Syntronik UI, the parts are all assigned to "omni". So when loading the preset Syntronic multis from within SampleTank 4, the multi parts all seem to load with consecutive MIDI channels (1, 2, 3, 4,etc.) assigned, which means only the first part on MIDI channel 1 will respond, until you set all parts to channel 1. This only seems to be a programming oversight for ST4 with the preset Syntronic multis, as I checked some of the other preset multis for ST4 , which had all parts assigned correctly to channel 1 when loaded. The native Syntronic UI does have preset multis, but they appear in a different menu from the main browser in the Syntronik UI. Look for the dropdown menu within the multi view. The main browser only offers single patches, but does have the building blocks for creating your own multi velocity layers.

That Keytar looks like fun!

Can't imagine why that would be, other than a corrupt install. Both the bass and the guitar still working here on Windows 10, as plugins and with the Ample mini host (standalone). What is the error message?

+1

Just wondering how you are setting up your tracks for recording the Ample Sound output? If you are using a simple instrument track, by default it will record the MIDI. It is possible to capture the performance as audio on a separate audio track. If you play back an audio recording of that performance along with the MIDI, that will trigger the MIDI instrument again, and you will get it doubled. After recording the Ample Sound performance to an audio track, you will probably need to mute the MIDI clip.

First, I would thoroughly read the installation section of the motherboard manual that came in the box to familiarize with the connector locations and functions. Then I would tag or label any cables attached to the existing motherboard as to what they are connected to. I would ask questions for any that you cannot identify. Depending on how tight the fit in the case is, you may need to remove power supply, graphics card, drives, cooling fans, etc. Those tags will really be helpful when putting humpty dumpty together again! Good luck!