abacab

I get the point about the potential step down in available sounds when going from BandLab to Cakewalk. The starter sounds in the current edition of Cakewalk by BandLab may not offer much content, but the DAW is offered for free and is completely supported for free. And to the OP's point, there are plenty of great freebie plugins out there. Just the 50 sounds in IK Multimedia SampleTank 4 CS should go a long way for a new user! My point here is regarding the "free" part of Cakewalk. The development and support staff is small and focused on the DAW. Professional developers and support engineers usually don't work for free. If Cakewalk were to officially bundle 3rd party plugins, then they would be obligated to support their use, as that would be an implied endorsement and guarantee of functionality. Which would mean either taking time away from the DAW focus to test, QA, and support additional plugins, or adding staff to support them. I suspect that is one of the main obstacles for them to release any former legacy Cakewalk add-ons. The BandLab CEO, Meng, has stated that the Cakewalk DAW would always remain free. However, I would vote for a pay model for add-ons to see the re-release of Rapture Pro, for example.

When I tried out the Cubase Elements 30-day trial a while back, it came with instrument content for Halion Sonic SE (a limited subset of the full Halion Sonic 3 content). But I don't really see the point of having a "free" version of Halion Sonic SE without any content...

That's why an automated installer is desperately needed. Too many moving parts now for a human to get it exactly right with a manual install.

Hey ZincT, nice find!

Winner, winner, chicken dinner!!!

Yep. The SynthMaster developer said on their forum last September: "Guys, I started on the v3 development, the first milestone is to merge the architectural changes in SynthMaster One onto SynthMaster 2.9. That will be v2.9.9 release (Free update). Then we will be able to design the new UI from scratch."

I think in hindsight, I would probably rather have the MPK249, over the Advance. Sliders. https://www.akaipro.com/mpk249

Just grab the everything bundle. You get SynthMaster 2.9, all the preset packs for SynthMaster 2.9, plus a free upgrade to SynthMaster 3 when it's released. And they throw in SynthMaster One. https://www.synthmaster.com/synthmastereverythingbundle.aspx

One thing you can do is create separate paths for your ST3 content and your ST4 content (don't install them all in the same folder path), then add both paths to the ST4 GUI. If this ever gets messed up, just delete the content paths from the sound content settings in the GUI and then re-add them to the GUI.

I wonder what the "SampleTank 4.pak" file is in the "Program Files/IK Multimedia" folder is. It's too big to open with any editor I have.

Nevermind. I opened that file up in Notepad++, and it appears to only be system settings for ST4, but no favorites. They must be elsewhere...

I suspect that they are saved in the "settings.properties" file in this path: "C:\Users\[username]\AppData\Roaming\IK Multimedia\SampleTank 4".

It appears that sforzando can import and open the individual sfz elements from Dim Pro. But not the full presets, which can be made from up to 4 elements. Also, sforzando is not multi-timbral like the Aria player.

Back when AKAI came out with their plug-in host VIP, the company issued 3 controller series with fully integrated support for VIP, including onboard color LCD screens, and on-screen controls for plugin selection, patch selection, mixer for multis, etc. The series were the Akai Advance, the M-Audio CTRL, and the Alesis VX. https://www.soundonsound.com/reviews/akai-advance-49 I caught a great deal on the Alesis VX49, with the same functions and software bundle as the AKAI Advance 49. But it now appears that all of the VIP tightly integrated hardware has been discontinued, except for the AKAI Advance.

Something to consider about M-Audio is that they are owned by InMusic Brands now, so no longer the old M-Audio. They are in the same company with AIR, AKAI, Sonivox. and Alesis now. https://inmusicbrands.com/ I own several of their products, which work fine now, but I wonder about their future direction and commitment for ongoing support of existing products. Their top end line of hardware appears to be AKAI Professional.

That Nektar setup looks to be quite similar to that used for the Roland/Cakewalk A-PRO series keyboards. Both inputs have to be selected in Cakewalk, one for the keyboard, and the other for the control surface. The modes for transport, mixer, and virtual instrument appear to align with the ACT functions. I finally got my A300PRO working, with a bit of effort. Not currently using it as I found it a bit short (32 keys), and I don't really care for a spring loaded modulation joystick that Roland seems to be fond of... but I do miss the sliders...

I think so too. This seems to one of the few keyboard controllers that is not oriented to Ableton Live integration, and in fact includes Bitwig 8-Track in the bundle. It claims integration with other DAWs, including Cubase, Studio One, Sonar, Reaper, and others. But that is where I would put more weight on actual user reviews as to how well it works with any specific DAW, such as Sonar/Cakewalk.

I have had that one on my watch list for a while, for if I ever need another controller. My current one is all knobs, no faders. Sweetwater says more "on the way" here. $169.99 USD. Free shipping in US. You can sign up for notification when in stock. https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/ImpactLX49P--nektar-impact-lx49-keyboard-controller

Thanks for that tip on the validity checker. That would be a painful mistake... I do have AVX. The demo ran just fine on my machine, a 3rd gen Intel Core Ivy Bridge (from 2012). AVX2 came later, so I assume Massive X doesn't require that.

Just for the heck of it, I added the Massive X crossgrade to my NI shopping cart for $99.00. I do not have a Massive license... they usually let you know if you don't qualify for a deal. I didn't check out, but I assume that I could.

https://www.tx16wx.com/shop/ Starting at 39 Euros ...

I would say TX if you just want to craft your own sample libraries. It's a good sampler engine. But as far as I know there is not really a marketplace for pre-made TX sample libraries. Kontakt has many NI, commercial, and free 3rd party pre-made libraries.

That appears to be correct! This version is one of the full versions that NI have had for sale, with 100 presets! They are typically retail priced at $49 each. https://www.native-instruments.com/en/catalog/komplete/play-series/

Komplete Start included instruments: https://www.native-instruments.com/en/products/komplete/bundles/komplete-start/included-products/

If you do, it should show up in Kontakt 6 in your list of libraries as the Play Series Selection with the instruments ( Analog Dreams, Ethereal Earth, and Hybrid Keys). If not get Komplete Start (free) here: https://www.native-instruments.com/en/products/komplete/bundles/komplete-start/