Noel Borthwick

Turn off your AV. its not a virus its the VST scanner.

VstScan.zip

You can download and try this Vst scanner. Unzip and copy it to C:\Program Files\Cakewalk\Shared Utilities, and then rescan the plugin.
We'd planned to drop this update but it didn't make it into the CbB codebase.

For clarity, were not making any bug fixes to CbB since the last year and a half. Only a small amount of critical maintenance fixes will go into CbB. 

If you want regular fixes like this one (which was released to Sonar users in Feb) you have to purchase Sonar membership. 

7 hours ago, Tomo SZN said:

It's actually insane that this is still an issue 5 years later and now they want to charge people for Cakewalk again without fixing such a major glitch that consistently happens on a super fundamental essential feature.

You are posting in a thread for an issue that was resolved ages ago. If you have a new issue you need to provide a way for others to reproduce it as provide a simple project file. Most such problems can be very project specific so we typically need a project file to reproduce it. 

Also if this issue is important to you I suggest you download Sonar and try it since there have been many improvements to sidechaining. Even running it as a demo you should be able to test it.

CbB is only receiving maintenance updates since a year and a half now. All active work is on Sonar.

14 hours ago, noynekker said:

Likewise . . . I've never been able to run the Fab Filter Pro Q3 VST3 . . . instantly crashes Cakewalk, and has for many years, over many Cakewalk versions. I reached out for some forum help, and it turns out I'm the only one who had the problem, and I was never able to fix it . . . so I just use the VST2 version of Fab Filter Pro Q3. 

(VST3 version runs just fine in my other DAW)

Hope you get it sorted ! . . . the only advice I ever got was to re-install, but that never changed anything for me . . . hope it does for you.

Have you sent a crash dump?

12 hours ago, Glenn Stanton said:

several plugins have had issues when the directory has a .vst3 extension (which is the Steinberg spec) so when that happens i remove the .vst3 extension from the folder and sometimes that corrects it. lately some VST3 plugins (like the BBC Discovery) does not work in Sonar or Cakewalk, so i remove the .vst3 extension on the DLL (in the subfolder) and replace it with "x". this "rems" out the DLL and thus de-lists it from the plugin scan (which you need to run) and also allows you to restore it without too much trouble should the vendor provide an update.

as far as folders - one is just like another. so, if you have VST2 in the VST3 folder -- the plugin scanner does not care -- however, for keeping your stuff organized, it's recommended you follow the commonly used paths:

C:\Program Files\Cakewalk\VSTPlugins (good for VST2 plugins)
C:\Program Files\Common Files\VST3 (good for VST3 plugins ? )
C:\Program Files\Steinberg\VSTPlugins (some plugins default here)

some others include similar names in the Program Files (x86) for 32-bit plugins
and sometimes the plug will install into the C:\Program Files\Common Files\VST2 folder

 

This directory issue was fixed awhile back in Sonar. Maybe even in CbB I don't remember...

17 hours ago, Steve Patrick said:

Recently I've had a spate of software updates from various customers and several of them now will not work as VST 3s.  If I simply remove the .dll file from Common Files/VST3 the VST 2 versions load and operate fine.  I'm thinking this is a Cake issue.  Am I wrong??  Any solution on the horizon??

Need more information before we can offer a solution. Most obvious is are you running Sonar or Cbb?

What is the specific issue -crash or other problem. If it's a crash send a dump file.

Nice catch @Spectrum424

13 hours ago, jkoseattle said:

Hmm, both interesting answers. To both, as it turned out, I ended up deciding I didn't want two of the instruments in there musically, and as soon as I deleted those clips, it stopped always dropping out. Those two clips were tremolo strings and tremolo cellos.

@Noel Borthwick It was always error code (1). Where do I look those up? The problem is not cumulative, because I was specifically just playing a short section when the dropouts were happening. 

The dropout reason codes are all documented in the help.
https://legacy.cakewalk.com/Documentation?product=CakewalkSonar&language=3&help=AudioPerformance.24.html

code 1:

Audio processing took longer than the buffers allotted time slice.

Increase the Buffer Size value in Edit > Preferences > Audio - Driver Settings.

The recommended action just a general suggestion. It would appear from your symptoms that the synth is taking a huge amount of time to process the string tremolos. If it takes longer than the quantum of time determined by the audio buffer size for N consecutive buffers the engine will trigger a dropout and stop playback.

You could bounce that section to avoid this issue. Have you tried running the same project on a different machine if you have one?
Its also possible that there is something else that leads to the problem, eg a fragmented disk. Perhaps the synth is trying to do disk I/O and its simply too slow to keep up.

If you can send a trimmed down project with just the section in question that drops out I could take a look and see if there is anything else that jumps out.

PS: depending on the number of cores you have enabling plug-in load balancing may also help with this.

I would also contact the plug-in vendor to ask why the processing is so expensive and if it can be optimized.

1 hour ago, jkoseattle said:

I get it. dropouts of the audio engine have to do with processing at runtime, so increasing buffer size, reducing effects, etc are all remedies to improve it. But how do I know which?

This project has a couple dozen instruments with some effects on some of them. I keep getting dropouts in the same places. Specifically today, it's at a part where only about 5 instruments are even playing, yet this quiet little part drops out EVERY F___ING TIME. I try turning off effects - still drops out. Try pre-loading all instruments that are playing at that time. RAM usage goes way up, but dropouts still happen. 

I'm shooting in the dark here. I don't know WHY a dropout ever happens. It's like CW just says "Sorry, nope", and if I want it fixed, well that's my problem. But I have nothing to go on.

5 instruments playing

FX disabled

Buffer size maxed out

Drops out every time. WHY??? Is there any way to narrow it down and find the culprit or do I just try stuff (and eventually give up and move on)?

What is the dropout error code shown? I added those specifically to aid in diagnosing drop outs.

To rule out something at the point of failure, try starting playback a measure or two before that point. If it plays past that and drops out elsewhere later then the problem is cumulative. The error code is the best way to diagnose further in that case.

On 7/11/2024 at 3:02 PM, Scott Mallard said:

Has anyone run into the problem where some projects take a long time to close? I've pulled up 'Task Manager' during a few of these slow-close events and noticed that the  'Memory' associated with Sonar takes a long time to purge. It's not until this memory has purged that Sonar finally finishes the closing of the project. The more memory that is used for a project, the longer it takes to close. In the meantime, I get this message from Sonar: The application is not responding. It may respond again if you wait. I usually just wait until it finally closes.

Any suggestions on how to improve project closing time and memory purge?

If you have a reproducible case send the project file and also capture a dump file from task manager while it appears hung.
That may show what operation is taking long.

You can get a scan log today if you are that interested in whats being scanned. Look in Preferences VST.

All UI in windows or Mac is single threaded. Unless you are using something like direct 2d.
Windows supports multiple threaded UI messages but pretty much nothing uses it due to compatibility issues and other complexities. We utilize multiple threads for UI only for toast notifications. What we use are higher priority messages rather than timers for things like metering and now time updates.

So yes, the more plugins or other components that are keeping the UI thread busy the more lag will be perceived. We typically don't do expensive operations on the UI thread unless its a command and the UI needs to be intentionally blocked.

Yeah "won't activate" was a bad use of words. I've updated the post.

They have already diverged several ways by adding new features - just two recent examples are the new instrument sidechaining and external insert features if used won't be compatible with CbB. This doesn't mean the projects wont load in Cbb (we always support both forwards and backwards compatibility) but those features won't work properly in CbB or may cause functional issues.

@Jaime Ramírez Are you referring to the Melodyne time display play head when you say "cursor".
Typically plugins display their time info using timers. In Sonar we have a more optimized way to display our playhead so its possible that Melodyne itself is not very optimized for displaying its time. That would be something for Celemony to look into.
Also, if this is happening in a specific project, it may be that some other plugin is hogging the UI thread and blocking updates in Melodyne as a result. As mentioned, we're not seeing this across the board.

You can certainly open your projects. Only saving new edits is disabled and export. Same as classic SONAR.

And yes for infrequent users they can certainly subscribe when they need to. This is one of the benefits of a monthly sub - its a very cost effective way to use it if you are an infrequent user.

2 hours ago, Glenn Stanton said:

if you had the previous version: Cakewalk by Bandlab TH-U -- that does work in both CW and Sonar. it may have been licensed during the older SPLAT days.

I think you are confusing TH3 with TH-U. The new Cakewalk TH-U bundle is a Sonar and Next exclusive and will not work with CbB. Unless as Jon mentioned you have a full license of THU from Overloud itself.
The latest update to Sonar which does include TH-U will likely go out sometime this week.

On 7/1/2024 at 11:45 AM, Glenn Stanton said:

for now, i just gave up my two of my weekly Starbuck grande decaf no-fat grass-fed goat milk mocolatta with vanilla caramel to cover the $15/ month... ? 

Given the crap you get from Starbucks passing off as coffee I can guarantee you that you're getting a supremely better deal with Sonar ?

3 hours ago, Tom Jacobs said:

Hey Noel, thanks for the response.

and good to connect again, we had some fun late night with bamidi and bobs leather pants?

Yes this is a welcome upgrade I didn't know I needed, the DPI thig is a game changer, I can finally see

I used it today for a vocal session and it worked flawlessly, a couple of things were hard to find at first( and that was user error)

Thanks for the heads up about mono external inserts, I've waited this long I can wait a while longer. Bob once gave me a patch that I could o it with but that computer is long gone,

For the SSL software, I am referring to the 36o link, that controls the SSL controllers.

https://solidstatelogic.com/products/ssl-360

I've been able to get them to work through using the "studio one" preset. and with the Mackie controller settings in Sonar, but not all common SSL functions work. From all of my research SSL is willing to work with company's to accommodate their controller protocols 

If you want discuss privately, I'm game. 

Thanks

Tom

Hi Tom please send me an email or PM.

Yes I think you will like the EI enhancements even besides mono outs.

It was sad to lose Billy. Passionate guy.

It's no different from the old Sonar platinum membership other than the fact that there is no unlock after 12 months. 

After the lease period elapses the software won't activate until you purchase a new membership.

EDIT: "won't activate" was a bad use of words. You can still open the app and load projects but you will not be able to save. i.e the software acts like its in "demo mode"

Not today but there are definitely plans to do this among other things in the future. In fact, the new vector drawing facilitates this.

If you actually read my last message you would see that I said  “there will be other promos”.
There are some people that will genuinely benefit from this promo. If its not for you wait for another.
Can we please stop with the endless negativity? 

Glad you like Sonar. BTW mono external inserts will be in the upcoming release next week.

Re SSL are you referring to their channel strip plugins? Not sure what integration you mean. If it's vst3 they should work like any other plug-in. We support the channel context vst extensions so if they support it, it should work. That's how softube etc do it in Sonar.

7 hours ago, noynekker said:

Excuse me ? How is this a deal for those already paying the monthly subscription, are we not included in this deal ?

See Ashwins post above. This is a general sale targeted for BandLab membership and not specifically for Cakewalk users. Sales come and go at all companies esp during July 4th.

It would have been nice if it included existing members but there will be other promos.

Send a message to support. Perhaps @Ashwin Rao can help.

Just a heads up for anyone wanting to get Sonar.

Edit: Please note that this specific promo is only for new bandlab membership subscribers so if you are already a member this promotion will not apply to you. 

If I may say it, irrespective of preferences you might have for perpetual licenses it's a pretty insane deal to get a full year of updates to Sonar, Next and all the other membership perks at this price.

Here's the link.

https://www.bandlab.com/membership

PS: no further debates about membership here please. This is simply an informational message for those who may not know about this deal.