User 905133

You raise an excellent point that ties in with some of my concerns about written documentation (and videos, too). To me, well designed text-based instructions are more accessible than most videos I have seen. Partly this has to do with my learning style. But I am not sure that all people who write manuals design them based on sound principles--esp. one that takes into account different learning styles. For example, some manuals (and online documentation) simply state what the different buttons, knobs, sections, etc. do. I suspect we have all seen these! But as far as I am concerned, the visual elements of the UI serve that function if they are not esoteric, obtuse, etc. I do not need to be told things like, "The button opens the XYZ dialog," or "Use this button to toggle the XYZ feature on and off." Many manuals (and other documentation) often do not go beyond basic descriptive characteristics of what I can see with my own eyes. I mention this particular issue, because it is part of the reason why I said that Chandler's videos match my learning style. Before there were videos I found I learned best from what some gear manuals present as "Instant Gratification:" a progressive set of hands-on mini tutorials--short series of steps to try and to learn with what elements on the gear (or in a UI) do what followed immediately by another short series of steps that build progressively on the preceding mini-tutorial. I find the videos I can relate to best are similar and allow me to do the hand-on thing either mentally or actually by pausing the video and rewinding a few seconds to make sure I did it right (kind of like re-reading the previous step in text-based "Instant Gratification" style mini-tutorials. Again, Chandler's videos work well for me because he helps me to learn how to do it by systematically trying out the steps. Another part is what you mention when you say you want to see more of the "why." I cannot learn by seeing or reading steps to follow. I need to see more of the causation that is happening. For me the causation is part of the "why." "How" to do something in its basic form is just a long list of steps to blindly follow. It is a chronological/sequential ordering of what to do and either implies or includes basic description of the elements, etc. Well designed "Instant Gratification" style mini-tutorials allow me as a reader to fill-in what's missing, to construct the why/causation on the fly. Once I have done that, I can read the rest of the details in the more dense sections of a manual because I have a personal sense of the manufacturer's modus operandi based on the hands-on exploration of what does what and why. But, there are many different paths to learning. Each of us is different, even if some of our learning preferences jive with those of others. JMO: It behooves each of us to understand the details of how we best learn. And I believe that creators of documentation and manuals really ought to take into account multiple learning styles. That being said, I suspect part of the appeal of Chandler's tutorials for me is that he seems to put into practice a long-held belief I've had: The best teachers are excellent learners, can effectively communicate to others their own learning methods, and can relate well to and implement multiple learning modalities. Thanks for allowing me the opportunity to set down in writing some observations I have had over the years.

Considering he had it available for free on his site and openly shared it for no charge, I assume his heirs wouldn't have an issue if you posted it. But I don't know for sure. Not sure if archive.org (the waybackmachine people) can link it into their site captures. They are a local phone call for you, aren't they? If you find out they can and are willing to do something like that, let me know. I have a ton of manuals and related docs for a particular manufacturer that have dead links on every site grab I have seen. Since I am an old man, and I doubt my kids would want to maintain my hosted repository, I have wondered if they could use the docs to fix all the broken links.

Yeah, I guess having a hardware MIDI thru connected or routed could be another cause. Based on the question asked "What did I accidentally activate?" and the OP's participation in the forum that leads me to believe he is not a novice, I assume (perhaps wrongly) the issue you added is not a likely problem. But maybe. @Johnbee58, please let us know what the cause was. @John Vere, since others have asked about doubled notes, if you haven't done so already, maybe this could go into a short video as part of a series on "Diagnostics" - different from your videos directed at beginners. PS: Or maybe another tutorial maker would want to do a series on "Diagnostics." I mentioned it to John, but I know there are other competent videographers who could do something like this as well. I just wanted to mention the idea since what we have in this thread seems (at least to me) suggests taking this approach with problems that repeatedly come up. Didn't mean to suggest John is the only one who could do it or that he should do it.

There can be many causes. The one I usually have is duplicate midi inputs selected, for example having both the usb and din ports coming from my keyboard selected. Since its easy to check, the first thing I'd look at are the midi input ports selected. Also, if using a plug-in that sends MIDI, double check that. But there can be other causes.

I haven't tried this myself, but here's a recent tutorial for MSpectralDynamics on getting rid of guitar noise and hum.

WRT to circuit design and short-cuts, I hear you!!! That's an awful lesson to have. ? Even though I haven't blown up any music gear, I triple check power supply needs (sometimes using a meter to check--just in case). As for the ART X-15, I still like to use a power supply consistent with the one I first used and and which worked for years even though the power requirements are the most generous I have ever seen: YUP!! ". . . just about any battery eliminator." But I am not going to try all the ones I have just to test it! Plus, in a pinch, I can power-up the ART SGX Nitro and use the 9 volt DC output jack, but my current interest is for controlling plug-ins and the SGX draws a bit more power than a wall-wart. BTW, I agree that the Fury 800 comes wonderfully close to the sound of the Korg Poly and EX 800. I used it with some patch files I had from my EX-800, but I have not yet converted some I have on tape. If others are interested in this and other free full bucket products, here's the link. I downloaded a few others I never had as hardware, and have confidence in them as plug-ins although I cannot compare them to the hardware originals.

Thanks for the question and for the answers!! I used to use my ART X-15 foot controller extensively with hardware and have been thinking of using it again (esp. with FX) now that I have been messing around with plug-ins. This discussion should save me from having to spend time figuring out how to do it. I still need to find which box has "the right wall-wart."

Fixed! ?

Based on the videos I have seen of both over the past few years, no. But he is a much better knob turner, button presser, and ribbon sliderer, his house band is better, he does decent Keith Emerson stylistic impersonations, and has better cut-ins of Sandra Bullocks (or whoever that is). Plus, they both play better than me and have more and/or better synths than me, so they both win! ? ?

This is purely subjective. You have absolutely no *****ing idea what my needs are and how the $100 interface meets my studio needs. ?

Thanks for clarifying. I am not familiar with the Soul Girl brand, but it looks like other generic, no-name brands I have heard others have problems with. If your QS8.2 is the 88-key weighted keyboard I saw online, it deserves something better than what might very well be "a piece of garbage." Did you get MIDI-OX yet? If so, use it with the MIDI interface cable. Does it show that data is indeed coming from and going to your PC? If it does, you might be able to use the cable until you get something more reliable. There are many options for bona fide din to usb midi interfaces from second hand ones that have usb drivers known to work with Windows 10 to new midi or midi+audio interfaces in various configurations. I only know what I have used. For example, I have several old E-Mu Xmid 2x2 boxes that still work even though they are legacy gear (i.e., abandoned by E-Mu). I believe those were going for $20 to $35 several years ago. I also picked up some used iConnectMIDI+ that even though they have been replaced by newer models still work. IIRC the 2 in 2 out box cost around $40 (plus shipping). The iConnectMIDI4+ cost around $100. I am not recommending these specific units, just giving you some ideas. Maybe the 1 in, 1 out interface cable you have will work, but it might be part of the problem--which can be determined with MIDI-OX. If MIDI-OX shows data come from the SQ8.2 and going into it you can then diagnose what's going on with Cakewalk. PS: My comments are consistent with bdickens and John Vere's comments (which came in while I was replying).

The picture of the back panel of the Alesis QS8.2 I found on the internet just show 5-pin DIN ports for MIDI In, Out, and Thru. I am assuming the "MIDI to USB adapter" is a 5-pin DIN MIDI to USB MIDI interface, possibly a cable. Since the quality and capabilities of those interface cable vary greatly (some 1 in, 1 out no-name interface cables are notoriously problematic), perhaps it might be helpful to specify what you have (not just "MIDI to USB adapter"). I once tested an iConnect mio, 1 in, 1 out interface cable for suitability doing sysex data exchanges with Casio CZ synths and a computer. DIN connectors on one end connected to the synth and a usb connector on the other end connected to a modern PC. It passed with flying colors. However, I have heard horror stories about other 1 in, 1 out cable interfaces. I agree with John that MIDI-OX is an excellent tool. However, calling the cable a "midi to USB cable" is troublesome. It leads people to think it changes midi data to usb data.

Based on some internet searching, it looks like it was courtesy of Ralf Sesseler. The wayback machine has several captures of his audio site: https://web.archive.org/web/20210418044221fw_/http://dis.sesseler.de/index.html . It seems that the file was not captured in any of them. ?

@Chandler Over the past several months I have also watch a number of your targeted tutorials showing how to design sounds. I find them very helpful--chock full of tips, nice step-by-step approach, etc. They greatly match my learning style. Thanks!!!

withdrawn

I haven't looked at these in a while, but I thought that the antecedents of Surge XT were 100% free (no fees charged) for the past several years while Vital is only free (no fees charged) for a limited version intended to "inspire" users to subscribe to a monthly fee. I haven't researched this; would appreciate feedback purely on this issue irrespective of which one people prefer. Thanks.

On my PC, Right click > Edit for the the Samplitude *.kbn assignments has section headers ([Track View], [Piano Roll View], [Loop Construction View], [Track View], etc.), Kx assignments, etc. Not sure why I can read them and you can't. They also open with Wordpad and my Web Brower. I just downloaded VS Code and dragged in a *.kbn file. After I said to trust it, it opened. Maybe others can help.

I am not sure what you want to do, why, or if using the contents of the KBN files will help you do what you want. I am not sure that the assignments are kept in Windows' Registry. I am not a computer guru and almost never edit values there. I am just sharing my experiences with reading *.kbn files since you had problems doing that. On my PC Notepad opens the *.kbn files with right click > edit. If I wanted to put those into a spreadsheet I would just copy and paste them (Ctrl+C, Ctrl+V). When I looked at them in HxD (using Windows' "Open with" function), I don't see anything other than the text and the ascii representation of the text. "SONAR Default Keyboard Assignments.kbn" only has 4 lines, just like your image shows. Please don't use any of the information I have written here to explore making random changes to the Windows Registry.

What steps did you take? I just took a 726,630 KB flac file (outdoors open mic recording (birds, dogs, kids, planes, cars, etc.) approx. 2 1/2 hours), dragged it from a file finding utility called "Everything" into a new instance of my personal blank template (into the track header area).. Due to the size of the file, it took a little while for Cakewalk to convert it, but after a couple of minutes I had the file in Cakewalk as an audio track. I am sure there are other methods that would work, too. EDIT: I am also using CbB 2022.02 build 36, Win 10 Pro 21H2. My PC is a minimal system--2011 era PC, duo core Intel chip, 8 GB RAM system. UPDATE: I just tried (a) dragging a flac file from Cakewalk's Media Browser and (b) double clicking the file in the Media Browser. Both methods worked.

That outfit is ballsy!

Once in a while when I boot Cakewalk I forget I had other music software running (MIDI-OX, a standalone product, etc.) that uses a MIDI device (usb keyboard, etc.) I use automatically with Cakewalk. As almost everyone who has done this knows, this causes the poorly worded and misleading Microsoft generated "Not enough memory available" message. It is easy enough (1a) to closed down the other program(s) or (1b) to change the MIDI devices used in the other program(s), etc. and then (2a) to shut-down/reboot Cakewalk or (2b) to go into [P]references to re-enable the MIDI device(s), etc. However, it would be handy (that is, less intrusive to workflows) to have a "Retry" button after doing (1a) or (1b) so users don't have to do (2a) or (2b). Not a bug, not critical, but I suspect some users might be less frustrated by the misleading "not enough memory" message--especially if there were also a message (or an info button) that said something like "Check to see if other software is using the failed MIDI Device. If so, [steps to take]").

Just an FYI given the interest in the expanded Synth Rack:

YUP!!!! Long time user (since MS-DOS, but I had limited use of TTS/SONAR/Cakewalk during the years I was sequencing mainly via hardware sequencers built into ROMplers/Samplers/etc.). I learned about the expanded Synth Rack features here in 2020: Astralos raised some issues with the expanded synth rack. I posted the link in case others want to read about them. Its a relatively short thread; didn't catch much attention.