Tracy

AAAHHH! I GOT IT!!! I was able to complete this time. Everything is up to date. The instruments were always there, they just weren't playing. After I reopened the updated Cakewalk, it didn't recognize the HookTheory MIDI file as MIDI... it thought it was a WAV file. So I went back and imported it into Bandlab first (which always played it fine except for the janky trombone and piano sound). Then I exported all the tracks from there to a folder on my desktop, and from there imported it into the updated Cakewalk. . . and . . . SOUND!!! Thank you so much!! Boy was that frustrating! I was ready to give up on Cakewalk. It's the tenth new program I'm learning, and by far the most difficult. I though Synth V was a steep learning curve, but nothing compared to this! I appreciate all the help. You guys are all rock stars!

I think that would have worked. Everything was rocking along until I tried to open Cakewalk Command Center, which required an upgrade to the new Cakewalk Sonar. I got all the components downloaded and it asked me to sign in to continue. I was then redirected to the Bandlab membership page, which is an annual subscription. I can't go any farther without subscribing, and I don't need any of the other services from the subscription, so if I have to pay to use their DAW I might as well just buy another one. Thanks to everyone who tried to help though. I really appreciate it!

When I clicked on Insert>SoftSynth, there were no options. Same thing when I clicked on Synth Rack at the top. My understanding was that Cakewalk came with this (at least according to their own literature). Is there a single plug in for this out there? When I Googled "synth for Cakewalk" it brought up "bass synth", "keys synth", VST plugins, etc. I didn't want to have to program every instrument in the orchestra. I really appreciate everyone's generosity and help, but I feel like I just learned arithmetic and this is calculus. At this point, just looking for a simple fix. If it really is that complicated, I'll probably just keep doing the tutorials (the ones that make sense to me, anyway) and circle back to this when I understand more. Grateful for your help!

Thanks for responding. I've been doing this new hobby for a couple of months, so STEEP learning curve. So I'm understanding that I need an additional device or software, and the computer speakers are not enough? (Probably a dumb question, but this is my first go at this.)

I did a quick sketch in HookTheory and exported it as a MIDI file. I then imported said file into Cakewalk successfully, but I get no sound on playback. All the tracks appear to be there, I just can't hear them. I've checked my drivers in "preferences", and they appear to be there. What am I missing? (I'm new to Bandlab, so it could be a setting I missed.) Dance With Me Example.mid