Robert Bone

I forgot about this method. Thanks. Bob Bone

Sure - insert an audio track, then highlight that track, by clicking on its track number on the far left of the track. Then click on File > Import > Audio, and browse to select the MP3 file you want to import, double-click on the desired MP3 file, and Cakewalk will import that MP3 file into the audio track. Bob Bone

I was really just mainly referring to volume. I record articulation changes on a separate midi track, as needed. If improvements to midi automation would benefit folks - I am all for it. I just don't do a lot of that. Bob Bone

I always apply automation to the audio track(s) that are associated with the midi synth, rather than to the midi tracks, after bouncing/freezing. Bob Bone

If you turn over a bit, if it is a '1' it's a dude, and if a '0' a dudette. Bob Bone

Good point to check, yet, If he stops playback at a point where the sustain pedal had been pressed, it wouldn't have reached the point where the note off events would be processed, which has happened to me many times in the past. When I record piano parts I generally do use the sustain pedal, but for that situation, just pressing the sustain pedal and letting it up again would silence the notes left on. If there isn't already something in place, would it be possible to have a setting in CbB to have it automatically send the midi event for sustain on and off, to all midi channels, when playback stops? Wouldn't need every note getting note off data - just the data needed to simulate pressing and releasing a sustain pedal. (just a thought). Bob Bone (edited to add the bold text above)

Yeah I just meant like when two people say the same thing at the same time, one owes the other a beer - at least that's what he did back in the days of college.... Bob Bone

You need to select a soft synth, such as SI-Electric Piano, or from one of the listed categories, (Bass, Drums, General MIDI, etc...), and THEN the Insert Soft Synth Options dialog box open. Bob Bone

I think you owe @scook a beer for that....hee hee

Some Cakewalk by Bandlab YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=cakewalk+by+bandlab Also, a lot of Sonar Platinum videos are still relevant in CbB. Bob Bone

You can manually press and release your sustain pedal, to get those notes to stop. Bob Bone

During the insert plugin process, when you see the Insert Soft Synth Options dialog box display - if you have the following two options checked, and then (after loading a sound/instrument/preset), click on the midi track and play some notes, you should hear the output. The two options I refer to are: Midi Source, and First Synth Audio Output. Basically, you need to associate a midi track with the desired plugin synth, and then you also need to have an audio track assigned to have its input set to pick up the audio output from the synth plugin. Once you have that (which will automatically happen when you have the above 2 boxes checked in the Insert Soft Synth Options), you should be good to go. There are other ways of setting things up - but the above is an easy way to accomplish it, for a single sound from a soft synth. Bob Bone

I do not remember enough about the integration of Bitbridge into Sonar, to be able to discuss - perhaps purchase was not correct - perhaps license would be better, I do not know. In any case, in my opinion, Bitbridge will not see any further development, because regardless of its place in the world in terms of whether or not they COULD develop it further, the entire industry has moved to using 64-bit plugins, so there is no business incentive to further the use of 32-bit plugins in a 64-bit world. So - J-Bridge is more robust, and runs about $20, last I knew, so that would seem the best chance of obtaining something that might allow the continued use of a 32-bit plugin that struggles to work under Bitbridge. Bob Bone

That comment referred to the final days of Sonar. Bob Bone

GREAT write up, by the way!

I had not realized how old my version was. I just went to the UVI site and downloaded the UVI Workstation installer, and ran it. Now running the newest version - thanks to all for helping me to realize I had forgotten about checking for updates to this. Kewlness Bob Bone

It won't happen. If memory serves, Bitbridge was developed externally, and purchased by the original Cakewalk folks. My memory is pretty foggy on that, so apologies if I got that wrong. J-Bridge is something like $20 to buy, and for those who wish to continue to use 32-bit plugins, where those plugins do not properly function using Bitbridge, then the 2 remaining choices would be to either purchase J-Bridge (and not all will work there either), or seek out replacement plugins that are 64-bit, and just leave the 32-bit plugins with issues behind.....Actually, one other option would be to maintain a 32-bit installation of Sonar (Cakewalk by Bandlab is only 64-bit), and do the work needing 32-bit plugins in the 32-bit Sonar, and either finish those projects in that manner, or port the finished tracks back over into a 64-bit Sonar or Cakewalk by Bandlab. Most folks have either entirely done away with using 32-bit plugins, or keep a very very small number of them, where they work with Bitbridge or J-Bridge. Bob Bone

Hi @scook - yup that is the screen I was referencing, and that did the trick for my friend, though those other mappings are indeed phenomenal, like they give you drum strikes against the Hi-hat stand, and that sort of thing, so it might also be worth continuing to explore that avenue, in addition to just mapping to GM using the screen in scook's clip. Bob Bone

Well - not sure if that would be a bottle neck for performance, - USB 3 speed - I don't recall how fast that is, compared to an internal SATA III HDD, or an internal SSSD, other than I think the SSD seek time would be quite a bit faster, and the fastest would be an M.2 2280 NVME PCIe drive, but you would need to look into whether or not you can either just plug that into an M.2 slot on your motherboard, or if there would be a PCIe card you could add to give you one or two of those ports. What kind of computer do you have, and is there room for internal drives? Bob Bone

I have the following folders specified in the Native Access Preferences. I happen to use NI, because some of the paths of things get really long, and it sucks when doing a copy - like for a backup, or whatever, and Windows tells you a file path is too long, but doesn't tell you which one, etc... So, NI keeps things a bit shorted than specifying the whole 'Native Instruments': From My Native Access Preferences Settings (Set these in Native Access, to whatever drives you wish. I have a number of drives, so I use those rather than loading things onto my 'C:' drive - for anything other than the stand-alone programs and the plugins). Download location: D:\Users\Robert\Downloads\NI\Native Access Downloads Application location: C:\Program Files\NI Content location: E:\NI VST 64 location: C:\Program Files\VST64\NI VST 32 location: C:\Program Files (x86)\VST32\NI Bob Bone

It may be possible the circuitry on the HDD is on its way out, too, though I concur in the thinking that the drive hardware itself might be starting to fail on bad sectors. If you have a backup of the data on the drive(s) having issues, why not populate the replacement drive from the backup data, and that would likely get you most of the way there - with only data changed since that backup needing to be copied over to the new drive. Maybe that would cut down on the time it has been taking, as you could target only the outdated or missing data from the old drive, compared against the new drive's data that was populated initially from the recent backup.... I hope the above makes sense. (only copy data not present or updated since the backup, so lots less to have to copy from the old to the new) Bob Bone

A friend of mine has the same sort of issue, and we ended up editing the kits in AD2 to remap it to follow GM conventions. It is important to note, though, that the AD2 note number mappings support a CRAZY large number of different kinds of variations on the kind of events that can be made for each kit piece - WAY more choices than what are contained in the standard GM drums specs. That gives the user an incredible amount of control over the triggered sounds, and worth looking at. That being said, it would be nicer of they had an easier way of deciding whether or not to use the more complex mappings, versus a GM configuration. Anyways - the AD2 drum kit sounds are quite good, so I suggest you look at changing your loaded AD2 kit's mappings to follow the GM standard, and it has those mappings in its settings, once you specify the GM Drums to be used. Perhaps that would solve your issues, AND give you really nice sounding drums. If I was more awake and not running around already this morning, I would dig back into the manual to find the relevant text to paste that here, so you could see the steps to follow - I apologize for needing to attend to way too many other things in a time-crunching sort of way. As far as other drum synth software, Native Instruments' Battery 4 is good also, and can be purchased stand-alone, I believe, or you can get it in the Komplete bundled software from Native Instruments. Bob Bone

Noel nailed it - It is to get your audio synced to already completed video, that was created and edited outside of Cakewalk. Cakewalk imports the video to allow you to line up the Cakewalk audio tracks to the video scenes. Bob Bone

That some 3rd-party effects came with prior versions of Sonar were part of a bundled deal that the Cakewalk company made - and they paid the 3rd-party companies out of part of the retail cost we all paid for Sonar. Those deals are no longer valid, and because Cakewalk by Bandlab is FREE, they have no means of getting into a similar situation at this point. We DO have the Pro Channel, which has outstanding components, and there are all kinds of freeware audio effects, and synths, available to anyone who takes the time to look into them. Some of these are really really good. Some are 'lite' versions of more pro-grade effects, that the companies hope you will like, and then go on to purchase an upgrade to the full versions. Others are just incredibly out there for the asking - Bluecat, Melda Production, Voxengo, GVST, to name a few. (Melda Production alone offers something like 33 different FREE effects and tools). I am quite happy that Cakewalk by Bandlab is completely free to use, AND being further developed and maintained. With so many freeware and commercial effects and synths out there, I will gladly work within the environment Cakewalk currently operates in. Bob Bone

Cakewalk already went through a MASSIVE - actually a complete user interface redesign, beginning when they transitioned from Sonar 8.5.3 to Sonar X1, eventually ending up at Sonar Platinum, and that became Cakewalk by Bandlab, and has been FANTASTIC with continued availability and continued development, both with new features and with monthly maintenance. Not to mention (but I am), that it is now completely free of charge. If you seek free effects, there are literally hundreds, of not thousands of them available, for just about everything you would need or want to do. If you want something more 'pro-grade', there are also hundreds of commercial effects and utilities available. The Pro Channel is extremely well crafted, as well, and is there right now. Just invest some time into learning how to use what it brings, and you will be off and running. Bob Bone