Steven Philips

Being as there is no ASIO for windows except ASIO4ALL, and any ASIO drivers that are available, are bundled with either horrendously priced commercial software, or software that you're forced to download just for the ASIO drivers even though you're not going to use the software, one such piece of software is FL Studio, it comes with ASIO_FL but to use it, I would have no option but to install FL Studio even though I won't be using it, and that's why I use ASIO4ALL, there is NO freeware ASIO drivers for windows. If you were to do a Google search for 'Freeware ASIO drivers for windows' the only results you'll see are ASIO4ALL or FlexASIO which is the same as ASIO4ALL but uses a complex configuration file.

What? Using ASIO4ALL? Simple, if you can prove that MME is 0 latency, then I'll use it, but ASIO bypasses windows sound drivers and talks directly to the sound hardware reducing latency, and I can prove this by creating 8 tracks of audio, then applying mastering VST's to the main mix, and some other effects VST's to the instrument tracks, and eventually when you play this, it will stutter using MME, but when I switch to ASIO4ALL, no stutter and no high CPU usage, so, yeah ASIO is far better than MME. I've used ASIO for a full band recording, using 15 tracks, and various VST effects on the mic'd drums, EQ's, etc etc, and the CPU was around 43% and the entire mix played flawlessly with no dropouts, but, change to MME, and immediately, the audio engine drops out. I always suggest using ASIO.

That explains why I still have TTS-1, as I still have my trusty Sonar X3 PE installed, and it's a good job that I didn't uninstall it, as I found that CbB is not as good as Sonar X3, mainly for these reasons: 1. CbB can only use the MIDI output devices (with exceptions to external devices) that Bandlab specify. Whereas Sonar X3 can use whatever it detects, currently it's using the Coolsoft Virtual Synth along with the fluidR3 soundfont, that CbB can't use. 2. CbB gives a warning when trying to use ASIO4ALL, that it may be incompatible, forcing the use of MME that is unstable and has a very high latency, but Sonar X3 uses ASIO4ALL perfectly. 3. CbB is 64 bit, whereas I previously chose to install the 32 bit version of Sonar X3 for compatibility with most of my 32 bit VST's and VSTi's, and find no difference in audio quality between 64 bit and 32 bit unless I use bit rates higher than 96K, which I don't, I use 41.1K. 4. CbB's built in bit bridge is not always compatible with some 32 bit VST's and VSTi's, whereas I can use jBridge for 64 bit VST's converted to 32 bit and successfully use them in Sonar X3. That's just a few reasons I'll always stick to using my old Sonar X3 PE, and I only use CbB to upload a project to my Bandlab account, and just in case anyone is wondering, I have separate folders that hold projects for both CbB and Sonar X3, , and I set those paths in each DAW's configuration, so that CbB has its own project folder and Sonar X3 has its own project folder too, then when I've completed a project in X3, I make a copy in the CbB folder, then load it into CbB to be uploaded to my Bandlab account.

Personally, I would forget about Sonar and just use CbB it does have TTS-1, it's not loaded by default when you start a new project, but it is loaded when you open a MIDI file.

OK, I recorded 8 tracks of audio using the online studio, I then set a name, saved then published it, now here's the $6M question, if I were to click on 'Studio' on one of my projects it load up each individual track, but when I use the windows app, under Browse Bandlab Projects, and import a project only the main mixdown is downloaded as a flac file, but if I deselect 'Project Mixdown' in the Download Settings, it crashed Cakewalk, but if I leave everything checked, it only downloads the mixdown from the project not all the tracks as a multitrack download, so how can I get the windows app (IE Cakewalk) to import/download a multitrack project?

I was looking for a way to copy a workspace, and thought it would be in the 'Manage Workspaces' which I selected 'Basic' at the top, then in the pane on the left I saw a 'Views' selection, and in there I saw that SySx was unchecked, so I checked it, and applied the changes, now I have SySx in the view menu in the basic workspace. All the settings and features I needed were in that 'Manage Workspaces' window. This solution may help others that having the same problem I had. Thanks for helping guys.

OK, but even the shortcut ALT+SHIFT+7 should open the sysex editor, but nothing happens. I can't keep changing workspaces just to obtain a hidden feature, and the control bar is not customizable, as on some workspaces, the icons on the control bar are at different positions, and the way the 'Basic' workspace control bar icons are placed is ideal for me, but I can't replicate that when creating a new workspace, as the module drop down is different, having the 'Custom' module second from the bottom not at the top, meaning the 'Custom' module will be the 2nd to last module on the right of the bar not at the beginning, and drag & drop icons don't work.

Unlike the old Cakewalk sonar X3 PE, the Bandlab version has got rid of the sysex shortcut and is no longer in the 'View' dropdown, I have look everywhere for it, and yet sysex is available as it keeps asking if I want to send sysex messages, but I want to remove the messages as they are muting VSTi's. When I use TTS-1, the instruments are fine, but as soon as I plugin a VSTi, the VSTi suddenly becomes silent, and when I look at the event list, there are a few messages such as chorus and wheel controllers, but nothing that would silent the instrument, but I can't check the sysex messages as there is no way possible to open the sysex editor, I've looked in ALL menus, why was it removed from the view dropdown?