Jim Fogle

@e2studio, Elix - buon Natale e Felice Anno nuovo (Merry Christmas and Happy New Year)

@Tony Shaffer, I hope you will relay scook's information to your friend and that Steve's information proves useful. On a related but side note PG Music's premier product, Band-in-a-Box , is JAWs screen reader compatible. A PG Music forum user has been diligent in assuring JAWs compatibility is maintained. I'm sure PG Music support can provide additional information upon request.

I humbly disagree that midi note 60 = C4 is set in stone. There is disagreement in the musical community about if C3 or C4 should be considered middle C. Here is a classroom resource for a midi class that states, The bold emphasis is mine. Here is a blog post that provides a little background information and provides two examples. An excerpt is given below: Again the bold emphasis is mine.

Colin, I never thought I'd disagree with you but your statement above is partially wrong. The top of page 5 of the midi specification attached below does assign MIDI note 60 to middle C. However, the specification does not provide either a pitch or frequency for middle C. C4 is considered middle C in Scientific Pitch Notation (SPN) however SPN is just one of many notation standards. This link gives many examples of possible middle C definitions. RP-003_General_MIDI_System_Level_1_Specification_96-1-4_0.1.pdf

I've got to admit that when I saw the visual my first thought was the dial face of a 50's era Grundig radio. ?

@Jack Stoner, I believe what scook is suggesting is to place a link in your signature so that anyone that knows you have the file to share will click on the link instead of sending you a pm.

@Starship Krupa, Really nice overview of samplers. ? Your overview gave the discussion a different perspective. Now not only should we request a sampler but need to decide if it should be a phrase sampler or a stretch the note sampler. I've got brain overload! Decisions! Decisions! ?

Here are eight REALLY GOOD videos that provide a comprehensive overview of MIDI. Understanding what midi is is key to understanding how you can use it inside Cakewalk by Bandlab efficiently. +++ Video 01 MIDI Signal Path +++ +++ Video 02 MIDI Message Types +++ +++ Video 03 DIN (5 Pin) MIDI +++ +++ Video 04 MIDI Protocol +++ +++ Video 05 Channel Messages +++ +++ Video 06 MIDI Clock +++ +++ Video 07 SYSEX And More +++ +++ Video 08 USB MIDI +++

@Rick S, Like you I upgraded from Music Creator 5 to Cakewalk by BandLab or CbB. All my projects have opened in CbB without any issues. As scook, Steve, noted Cakewalk by BandLab has much more capability than Music Creator. You'll find some resources that can really help smooth your transition. The Cakewalk Reference Guide pdf file is available for download under the "Cakewalk by BnadLab" tab at the top of each forum page. It is the most up-to-date and comprehensive resource CbB resource available. The video tutorial links in the forum "Tutorials" section are excellent. The pinned, Morten Saether link to the Cakewalk video series is a great starting thread. Creative Sauce, X.E.L. Ohh and Robert McClellan are three main contributors but there are certainly other video tutorials available. There are two assets not available in MC5 that, once you try them, you'll be glad you upgraded. First is the Studio Instrument suite of drums, keyboard, bass and strings virtual instruments. Second are the eight Style Dials that are one knob effects for common effects like a compressor, reverb, tone, delay and so on. The Studio Instrument suite is available as a Cakewalk add-on download through Bandlab Assistant along with the 64 bit version of TTS-1. Style Dials are available as individual modules in the ProChannel.

For some reason the former Cakewalk website did not have a public link to download the Sonar Reference Guide. Before Cakewalk by Bandlab I used Cakewalk's consumer product, Music Creator. The older boxed editions included a printed manual while the newer versions included download links to updated versions of the same manual. As far as I know the old website did not include a public download link for the Sonar Reference Manual so if you didn't own Sonar you didn't have access to the guide. I found out about it because it was included in the download of Sonar Home Studio. I glad the guide is available to everyone that wishes to download it. Two changes would make it almost perfect; add a version number to the pdf file name and include the pdf in the initial download of Cakewalk by Bandlab.

Hello @Kit Fox, Welcome to Cakewalk by Bandlab, or CbB for short and to the forum. Please post your CbB midi devices input and output selections and your midi Playback and Recording settings. A screen shot of these two screens would be wonderful! When you said, "the computer's recognizing it fine", what feedback are you seeing that convinces you enough to make that statement?

Good one. Enjoyed watching this. I was surprised at your final choice!

After seeing @Xel Ohh's tutorial video about Big Fish Audio's free sampler, Momentum, I'm excited about it. Big Fish Audio updates it, it has up to 16 outputs and there is a 1.7 GB library to get you started.

@Psalmist35, Great rendition . Good work with the mix. Also, thank you for enabling download. This is now in frequent rotation on my Christmas playlist.

Big Fish's Momentum has some awesome capability. I found this video useful as far as explaining, in terms even I can understand, ways this tool can be used. ?

@jon bees, 2600 pages is the size of the final Sonar Reference Guide pdf file. The April, 2020 Cakewalk Reference Guide pdf file was 1704 pages while the November, 2020 Reference Guide pdf file is 1802 pages. While that is still huge it is current by including information about all the updates from Sonar to 2020.11

Support for the NKS specification has been requested multiple times. I hope it happens in the near future.

I like the idea of having some way to manage what is displayed on the Start Screen.

Very nice video. Your voice sounds different in this one; sounds good. Thanks for adjusting the balance between your voice and the incidental music.

Great to see a new video from you. Missed you while you were gone.

I also like Sound On Sound (SOS). I find it even more surprising Cakewalk by Bandlab (CbB) is listed even though SOS dropped Craig Anderton's long running Sonar\CbB column. Craig's column was the main reason I visited SOS's website each month. I rarely visit their website now.

@tjmicsak, Welcome to the forum and to Cakewalk by Bandlab or CbB for short. One plugin suite you will enjoy are Style Dials. The online Reference Guide states: The eight style knob effects are available as add in selections in the Pro Channel. The eight effects are described here: https://www.cakewalk.com/Products/Style-Dials

This is an informative video. Although other DAWs have the same feature under a different name, I don't use other DAWs so I haven't previously seen or used articulation maps. It looks like it will be a great aid to using VST instruments.

Does Cakewalk by Bandlab support Midi Polyphonic Expression or MPE as it is sometimes called? MPE is a method of using MIDI which enables multidimensional controllers to control multiple parameters of every note within MPE-compatible software. In normal MIDI, Channel-wide messages (such as Pitch Bend) are applied to all notes being played on a single MIDI Channel. In MPE, each note is assigned its own MIDI Channel so that those messages can be applied to each note individually. +++ This article +++ indicates the upcoming release of Ableton Live 11 will support MPE. I don't have any hardware that supports the feature but, what got me curious was this statement:

The current release is now November, 2020. Mort and all the developers involved in maintaining the Reference Guide, thank you for your tireless effort. ? Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! ? Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! ?