Larry Jones

Problem is who gets to decide which features are the best ones...

Thanks for the info, Jim. I didn't even know about latency when I started out with Cakewalk and the M-Audio card, but if it had been too high I wouldn't have been able to work, so I would have had to learn something then. When I had to get a new interface was the first time I seriously thought about latency, and I had no idea what I should shoot for. I'm not technical, and I asked everybody on the old forum. I think I read some stuff you wrote back then, telling the basic facts, but milliseconds didn't mean much to me. Eventually I figured out that if sound travels through normal air at normal temps at 1100 feet per second, that's roughly one foot per millisecond, so (for me) anything less than about 15ms is acceptable -- that is, I can easily play in time using amp sims, as 15ms is approximately the equivalent of standing 15 feet in front of your amp on stage, which I have done all my life. In some ways I envy people who can hear the difference a millisecond makes, but I can't, so my life is a lot easier. I'm currently using a first gen Focusrite Scarlett 6i6, and it's all I need. Apparently the 2nd gen box is faster, but I don't know how much or if it would be worth it to get one. EDIT: I took a look at RME USB 2 interfaces on Sweetwater and they start at about five times what the M-Audio 2496 cost (same for their PCI devices). They have more I/O and more features, but they are no faster than that old card. So that's why the nostalgia for the good ol' days. ?

I'm with you on this. My first interface was an M-Audio Audiophile 2496, It was a PCI card, and the latency must have been low, because I used amp sims and I never even thought about latency. It cost $99 and was completely trouble free the whole time I had it. I had to get a USB device when I got a new PC, or I'd still be using it. Audio on the PCI bus must be inherently faster (I assume), so I wonder why somebody isn't making an affordable "simple audio card," as you say.

If the BT plugins are available in your X3, they are on your system somewhere. Track 'em down and then open your Cakewalk by Bandlab, press "P" for Preferences and enter the correct path in "VST Settings."

I would say that's pretty decent. Sound travels about 1,100 feet per second, or 1.1 feet per millisecond. So if your RTL is 7.3ms, that's like standing on stage with your amp about six and a half feet behind you. I have played most of my life without any big problems under worse conditions than that, so if I were getting the same RTL as you I wouldn't spend any money trying to do better. If your 44VSL is not stable, of course, then it might be time for something new. I think I got this right, but I am notoriously bad at math, so somebody let me know if my numbers are wrong.?

This was a hot topic a few years ago. In the end it seemed that some people found it really helpful, and others said it seemed to have no effect. In any case, it doesn't seem to hurt anything to disable those drivers/controllers.

You shouldn't have to unplug your audio interface to use CbB. Are you using the latest driver? Or maybe the latest driver is for Win 10 and you need the previous driver.

So what? Exactly! One way to get a good master is to hire an experienced mastering engineer with a rack full of expensive signal processors. Another way is with something like Ozone. No shame either way, and no guarantees either way that your master will have commercial success.

Sony bundled CD Architect with Sound Forge, and then so did Magix. I have Sound Forge 9 and 11. It's in 9 for sure, don't remember if it's in 11, but maybe you could find a new and legal copy of SF9 on Ebay or somewhere. After you've mastered your tracks and assembled your CD, I would recommend using a commercial manufacturing service for the final production.

Yikes! There are 3100 pages on the SONAR forum alone, and that's just the titles of the topics. It starts in 2005, when the current version is 4, and sure enough, the very first post is someone's wish list for version 5. We are never satisfied, it seems.?

I hope no one takes upon themselves to decide which posts are valid or appropriate and which ones aren't.

I've never had a use for an audio-to-MIDI conversion, but because of reading this thread I dragged a bass track to an empty MIDI track, and it "worked," in the sense that it got all the way through the conversion and presented me with a MIDI track. But it also completely sucked. Note durations were off, ghost pickups were converted to quarter notes, and so on. I got a track, and with a couple of days of editing I might have been able to use it, but -- based on my one experiment -- this is not a very useful capability. Is anyone using this function successfully? (I have Melodyne Editor.)

Some of the most recent installers of SONAR permit you to choose what you want to install. In those cases, choose the bundled addons that you want/need. For older versions of the program you'll have to install the whole thing to get the plugins (sorry, can't tell you which ones). Cakewalk by Bandlab will be able to access and use any plugins installed these ways. As noted above, even a full installation of an earlier version doesn't take up too much space. Some of the plugins you mention were bundled with SONAR but not with CbB. So I vote for installing any of the earlier versions you have (or just the plugins when possible), followed by the latest version of CbB.

Thanks! In a year or two I'm sure I would have figured that out. ?

scook - Please take a look at it. Everything past page two is gone.

I thought the idea was to lock the old forum and keep it online as a "vital information resource." I just went there looking for a thread from a month or two ago, and the SONAR forum, which must have been hundreds if not thousands of pages, is now just two pages, going back about a month. Has all that information been moved somewhere safe, or is it now lost?

Just guessing, but I don't think MS invented a new codec for their Expression video. It must be something. Maybe you could download MediaInfo and check the file to see what it is. If it truly is a Microsoft proprietary format, I think you might be out of luck bringing it into CdB. ETA: I just googled "microsoft expression video." Is this a screen recorder?

I haven't tried with CbB, but in SONAR Platinum I was only able to import uncompressed AVI video. Theoretically you can import MP4 files. What video format is your file?

I think this ^^ makes it a bug that needs to be addressed by TTFKATB (the team formerly known as the bakers). ?

Isn't there a bundled MIDI plugin with CbB called "Randomize" or something? Not at the DAW right now, but that might help you.

Thanks, Jim. Did you happen to look at the details in the link I posted? I went from 8.1 to 10, and didn't know at the time that I had any option to upgrade to a higher version of Windows. My impression now is that gpedit.msc is included in Windows 10 Home but disabled so casual users wouldn't mess up their systems. I don't understand that, as how many casual users would accidentally invoke it in the first place? My guess would be none. In any case I probably will never get around to using it for anything, as I'm not having serious problems with unexpected updates and I work privately on my own stuff, so no angry clients to worry about. I enabled it mainly to see if I could. Regarding "going legit," I have bought at least a dozen retail copies of Windows, so I feel like I am legit enough. ?

I used this method. No malware or PUPs, and now I have the Group Policy Editor on my Win 10 Home machine. Apparently, Microsoft doesn't approve of this and "deprecates" various policies from time to time, possibly including the exact one you'd like to use. But, it's cheaper than buying Win 10 Pro (it's free!), and it might work, and who cares what Microsoft thinks?

Thanks! I have X3. I'll look into this.

Just curious -- have you found a DAW that will do this?

I'm sure you will add a popup or something on the old forum, telling folks what's happening. I still see posts over there from people who seem as if they don't even know that Gibson shut down Cakewalk. (OK, maybe not that clueless, but not aware of the new forum and Cakewalk by Bandlab.)