abacab

Here is a list of internal cards available at Sweetwater Sound (1 page; $$$-$$$$): https://www.sweetwater.com/c703--PCI_Audio_Interfaces vs. USB interfaces available at Sweetwater Sound (5 pages; $$-$$$): https://www.sweetwater.com/c695--USB_Audio_Interfaces

Sound Blaster Z is a gaming sound card. Not engineered for pro audio production. And it's not that budget friendly either. Since you are looking at that SB card, I would assume that you only need 1 line in? For about the same money, you could get a Focusrite Scarlett Solo USB, and for a little bit more you could get a Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 USB.

Well I was merely offering a suggestion for an alternative, in case it ends up being a dead-end regarding accessing the legacy account. Not a perfect solution, but it's better than nothing! At least it would get a Cakewalk DAW up and running again for free! As scook said, an account was required to register Sonar 8. Cakewalk support is trying to assist the user, but without that original email to reference the account, success may be in doubt.

I think it was mentioned that it was playing MIDI data in Cakewalk, rather than playing a MIDI controller.

It looks like XLN is throwing in the towel for drum kits.

Cakewalk by BandLab is free now. It is a continuation of Sonar Platinum 2017.10, and is much improved from Sonar 8/8.5!!! Just need a free registration here, to get the BandLab assistant, then you are free to download and use the latest version of Cakewalk! https://www.bandlab.com/products/cakewalk

You can get Ableton Live Lite or Bitwig 8 Track for free with certain 3rd party MIDI controllers and hardware products that bundle them.

I got Ozone Elements for free at Plugin Boutique last year. It was free with any plugin purchase. So I bought a $2.00 plugin, and that was all it took! So pay attention to those "deals"!

Maybe for $29 it would be fun to play with. But really, it seems that the folks marketing software today are focusing on who is selling today's hit records, and the musical styles that are on those records. Chasing the trend and market share...

Matrix View is something that the developers could improve. It does a few things well, but is not a full replacement for something like the Ableton Live session view workflow.

When using the Cakewalk LP EQ, you can disable the LP "look-ahead" buffer by using the "non-linear" setting under "Precision" in the plugin's Expert menu.

iZotope Ozone Elements has a handy maximizer. If you use the "Master Assistant" it will bring the volume up automatically after it listens to your music. Also, nothing was mentioned about the audio signal chain in the source recording. What was recorded and at what levels, what pre-amp and interface was used, etc. If the input signal level was too low when recording it, amplifying it effectively will be harder.

Since Cakewalk MIDI tracks can only have one target for output, this shouldn't happen by default. The only way that I can deliberately make this work is to use the MIDI out option from one instance of Kontakt (Engine > Send MIDI to outside world > incoming notes). If the other instance has MIDI input selection set as "None" or "All Inputs > MIDI Omni", or the other Kontakt instance, it can pick up the incoming notes. The easiest way to prevent, or disable this behavior is to uncheck "Enable MIDI output" in the Cakewalk VST header menu for the offending instance of Kontakt. Or you could uncheck "incoming notes" in the Kontakt settings for "Send MIDI to outside world" .

MP3 ate the world. Audiophiles are a minority these days.

I'm a dinosaur too, and started out with MIDI keyboards and rack modules from Roland , Korg, and Alesis. But today I am comfortable with virtual instruments. If I played live as you do, I might have a different perspective that emphasize hardware. Still have a few Roland JV/XP series ROMpler synths sitting around. Not so sure about the forever part. Depending on wear and tear, something is likely to give out eventually. Then the search for parts and schematics will likely be underway. The part about software synths sounds correct, but hardware synths don't store everything in ROM. In regards to a digital ROMpler, typically just the raw waveform is stored in ROM, but then the hardware synth also processes that signal by combining oscillators, using filters, modulations for various envelopes and LFOs, and effects in real time as you play the instrument. This real-time workload is also what is being emulated in a virtual instrument using the CPU in the computer host. I don't believe the ROM theory is responsible for the reduced latency. Hardware is just dedicated to the real-time audio task, and a general purpose computer is not. But I can still easily get latency under 10ms with my virtual instruments. Doing that all on one computer is a balancing act for the operator. There are free solutions like freezing instrument tracks as you go, or expensive ones like a major computer upgrade. Freezing tracks can accomplish that as well. I'm not familiar with physical modeling hardware, but there are some interesting modeled virtual instrument solutions such as Chromophone 2 from Applied Acoustic Systems (AAS), Modartt's Pianoteq, Arturia's V Collection, and IK Multimedia's MODO Bass, for example. I agree that you will never get zero load on a CPU running virtual instruments, but computers are getting more powerful every year. So you can throw money at the problem and get more tracks. For reference to the path we have traveled, take a look at this comparison of CPUs from Intel 386 in 1985 to Intel Core i7 6700K 2015. 40 Years of Processing Power "To put the difference the years have made into perspective: 1 second of processing by Intel’s (2011) i7 3960X would have taken the best 1985 personal computer over 4 hours 29 minutes!"

Support@cakewalk.com or support@bandlab.com should do it. The servers at the legacy site cannot automatically send out emails any longer. So no more self-service for the account info changes there.

The free Audacity multi-track audio editor is a quick way to edit MP3 files: https://www.audacityteam.org/

That is possible when you are talking about live MIDI controller input, since that could potentially end up in any track via omni if you are not careful. But playing back MIDI data shouldn't cause this behavior. In Cakewalk, each MIDI track has an independent set of 16 MIDI channels that talk to a single instrument assigned to that track. Recorded MIDI data in each track is only being sent to one instrument at a time, regardless of the channel used. So an instrument in another track cannot see that MIDI data, omni or otherwise.

Yep, like some gold plated "Monster" cables! I think these would get the job done: Cable Matters 3-Pack 90 Degree Right Angle SATA III 6.0 Gbps SATA Cable (SATA 3 Cable) Black - 18 Inches $7.99 https://www.amazon.com/Cable-Matters-3-Pack-Degree-Right/dp/B018Y2LEBE

It's better in the current broken state than ST3 ever was when it was working! But if you're not in a hurry, save yourself some pain and wait at least few more weeks. Or until the next big sale!

Put your EQ on the synth audio outputs. I think this is a known problem with TTS-1, and not a bad install or anything that you did. There are posts about this issue elsewhere on the forum, but I just don't happen to have a link for them handy.

I think that is 192,000Hz. Or 192KHz.

You'e seen IT all?

Speaking of staff view, I like this comment the best! http://forum.cakewalk.com/FindPost/3148750 "We frequently (annuallyish) investigate Staff View improvements, or even an overhaul. It's not "dead" nor "abandoned." It has just been "deferred" due to other priorities that impact a larger group of customers. Don't lose hope. We understand there is room for improvement and intend to tackle it eventually. Our new release model will allow us to budget time and resources more easily, so it's more realistic now than it has been in years. Thanks for being patient." Bill Jackson Product Manager Cakewalk And followed by this... http://forum.cakewalk.com/FindPost/3148782 "In the spirit of being totally honest, though... I will admit that there are no current developments to the Staff View in progress." Bill Jackson Product Manager Cakewalk

The first section in this new guide covers what's new since Sonar. CWAF!