Starship Krupa

I seriously thought that this had already been addressed (no pun). Or was it only how Cakewalk would usurp the next available port for control surface duty if you started with your USB MIDI control surface unplugged? And yes, Windows manages USB ports, but so what? That does NOT mean that Cakewalk should lose track and shuffle them around if you unplug a device and then restart the program. I believe that each USB MIDI device gets its own GUID, but even if that's not the case, most of the ones I've seen have unique friendly names, which Cakewalk can and does read (it displays them, after all). Just because Windows manages them doesn't mean that Cakewalk can't or shouldn't gather and maintain its own information about them. So IMO, Cakewalk doesn't have to lose track (no pun). Even if I'm wrong about the GUID's, at worst it might be lose track in the case of two USB MIDI devices with the same friendly name, which is a thing that I've yet to see. If you want to see the information that Cakewalk can get from the OS regarding USB ports and devices, there's a freeware utility called USBDeview (scroll alll the way down to download it) that will show you. Each USB device has a manufacturer number and a product ID, which you can also read right from Device Manager: https://www.the-sz.com/products/usbid/ There's plenty of information supplied by the OS to distinguish one USB MIDI port from another. A program should be able to look at that list, notice which devices are still there from the last time it started, which of them are not, and retain its configuration for the ones that are still there. As the OP points out, there are other Windows programs that don't have the same issue, which suggests that it's possible to address. I thought that it had been addressed. It no longer causes trouble for me, anyway, but that might just be for the control surface issue.

Well, one reason I can think of is that my ears and mixing moves might have accommodated for the variations while I was finalizing (yeah, right) the mix. Something I don't need is a button that generates variations in a mix after I've decided that I'm finished. Why not just call it the "Rabbit Hole Generator," or "Too Much Choicerizer?" The way that this works in the physical world is that every strip does indeed have tiny variations, especially when it comes to pots. But if we're "mixing with our ears" (which I thought was one of the points of using a channel strip rather than, say, a chain of Meldaproduction or Fab Filter "scalpels," then couldn't one's mixing moves have accommodated for the variations in some way? TMT="Too Much Twiddling?" "Tweaker's Midnight Terror?"

Something I've discovered about this after tearing a certain amount of hair out: I can only get it to work if there's already a node later in the timeline. Once I have created that first node, I can use this technique only to the left of it, not to the right. Is this as-designed? I can't find it described in the Ref. Guide, but it's a big book and it wouldn't be the first time I've missed something.

I'm happy to have rewarded whoever was responsible for its creation with my small contribution! I also liked the earlier freebie bx_masterdesk Classic. I submitted a mix to PA's online mastering service and found the results to be unsatisfactory. There's still a difference between having an all-in-1 mastering plug-in where I can tune each module the way I want and just letting an algorithm do its thing. V2 looks pretty similar to V1, but with more "food processor" buttons.

I paid for v. 1 right before they gave it away in that intro bundle, and I don't regret it. All-in-one mastering plug-ins prior to this one were only for quickies, but I started turning it loose on quickies and decided that it was sounding pretty danged good for keepers as well. And it's not as if I hadn't been using some top notch (or boost as the case may be?) mastering FX.

Nice UI's!

A favorite of mine. The built-in soundset is limited to just the TR-606, but you can also load up each slot with your own samples. They also give you about 30 samples for each drum to make it easier to put together your own kit. It will also do multiple outs for when you want to pan or process each drum sound on its own.

Unfiltered Audio G8 CM is the best all-around gate anywhere, IMO, only surpassed by the full version (which adds some features that not all would consider essential). As for the others: JST/Boz Sidewidener is my favorite stereoizer, HY-FX CM is a crazy deep multieffect that AFAIK, has no corresponding product in HY's lineup. The Overtone Program EQ is a feature complete Pultec emulation (everyone needs at least one Pultec emulation, don\t they?). Many public libraries will allow you to check out and read issues of Computer Music via libbyapp.com. Worth looking into. They also have Sound on Sound.

Just open your take lanes and it should be right there, big black box in the header. It sits right beneath the track's FX rack. It's sort of "hidden in plain sight." You may have thought (as I did at first) that it was just a placeholder. Before I started using CbB, I had to insert a plug-in like MNotepad in order to get close to this functionality.

I never used P5, but the thing that chaps Superabbit's bunny tail is that its ability to create arp patterns for use in Sonar didn't get rolled into Sonar. I love using arps, and it would be nice to be able to roll my own patterns for use in CbB without having to use a 3rd-party plug-in.

This. I've been going to NAMM Shows for 35 years, seen countless MIDI guitars, and it just seemed like a solution in search of a problem. I've read so many accounts of people saying that they had to develop new techniques and whatnot. It's always seemed that with all the time it would take me to work out all the glitches and get good at it, if I spent that time learning how to imitate guitar playing on my keyboard (a la Daft Punk on "Digital Love"), I'd get better results. Best application I've heard: Fripp and Belew on 80's Crimson. Coolest use: Josh Menashe of Triptides playing a plastic Casio DG-20 into an iPad that was running a Mellotron emulation. Since Triptides are a '60's retro band (complete with Farfisa and 12-string electric), it was mind-bending to see all those eras of technology represented. I sort of accidentally wound up with a MIDI guitar that I didn't know was a MIDI guitar until the morning I was going to sell it for $50 at a swap meet. https://www.engadget.com/2012-05-21-gtar-iphone-guitar-hands-on.html A friend's girlfriend won it in a raffle and gave it to me, and since I didn't have the right iPhone, I tossed it in the closet. By the time I dug it out, the company was gone and the iPhone app with it. So I forgot about it until the next time I put on one of my Musicians and DIY Electronics swap meets in Oakland. The morning of, I plugged it into a computer via the USB port just to check it. The computer happened to have Cakewalk running, and Cakewalk cheerfully asked me if I wanted to add it as a MIDI device. Uh....yeah? I guess? Turns out that before the company went away, they updated the firmware in the thing to make it a polyphonic MIDI controller, and mine was from that era. So far I've kept it around as an oddity, but it's kind of useless as a MIDI controller. It does "note on" okay, but is hopeless for "note off." To be usable, one would need to rig some kind of "all notes off" panic button. On the other hand (or strap) I love my Rock Band keytar. After watching Edgar Winter and Gary Wright tear it up on Midnight Special as a kid, I wanted to strap on a keyboard and prance around the stage. Hold the platforms:

Porter shaggin' 'er? I've had a couple of Southern girlfriends. I'd've boinked that tag right off her hat. Howwww-dee!

Try using WASAPI Exclusive, maybe? You can get an excellent-sounding set of wired cans for $35 I've owned both of these and they sound great: https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1301767-REG/superlux_hd_681_professional_semi_open_studio_headphones.html/ https://www.amazon.com/Superlux-HD-681-Professional-Monitoring-Headphones/dp/B00CAG1ZG0/ref=asc_df_B00CAG1ZG0/

You'll have better luck with Cakewalk by BandLab.

$29 https://razor.com/products/kick-scooters/a-scooter-synthwave/

The documentation is amazing.

I certainly found/find it so. Take $20 out of your plug-in budget and just get it. I put it on my iPad so that I can read it while waiting at the airport, doctor's office, etc.

I kinda had the moment of clarity with this one. At first I was thinking "ooh, Antares," but as you say, it's a vocal doubler. I need that like I need another channel strip or LUFS meter. My go-to vocal doubler is Soundspot Voxbox. It just has the best display for indicating what it's doing. Most of my old Soundspot FX have been replaced in either Meldaproduction or Plugin Alliance sales (if they would use OpenGL for those pretty UI's it might be a different story), but that one has withstood the test o'time. I got Objeq Delay as a PB freeB a couple of years (?) back and it is alllll that. Good grab. Some really unique sounds in that thing. It lives up to A|A|S' reputation for sonic quality and delivering really useful presets.

It's been noted by the dev team, IIRC, that some plug-ins have trouble understanding the concept of "idle" and sit there flailing away flipping the "dirty" bit so often that it triggers the auto save counter in less than a minute. So I can have an auto save set for 5 changes or 5 minutes (which I assume is "whichever comes first?") and certain plug-ins make Cakewalk think those changes happen about once every 5 seconds. That's how I understand it. I guess the "change" counter could be reconfigured to only count changes made by via user input, but of course, that would require the opening of ye olde code, with the possibility of encountering dragons within its maze of dusty passages.

In other words, Patricio, keep checking the Deals forum! You don't want to miss anything.☺

Yeah, the "performance enhancements" amounted to "allowing it to perform after installation." I dutifully downloaded the "updates" even though I never had the same issue that many were complaining about. The installed .DLL's were exactly the same size and date as the previous revisions.

I accept it as part of the joy of Cakewalk. If you want to be humbled some more (in a good way), head over to the Tutorials sub and check out some of the tips. I just posted one about a couple of the stochastic elements built into Cakewalk. The Step Sequencer can add randomization to how often a note will sound and the plug-in properties menu can randomize whatever parameters an effect or synth exposes. There's a lot more to the Step Sequencer than I had thought. I don't think it gets the attention it deserves. I want to try going to it first when I want to make a beat.

Well, do check out that thread. LISP by SleepyTimeDSP is pretty good. ToneBoosters has recently released Sibalance for free. Both of them surpass the legendary Fish Fillets, IMO. Go to libbyapp.com and check out the latest issue of Computer Music (for free) and you will get access to many dozens of pretty great FX and instruments, one of which is Unfiltered Audio's G8 CM, which is better than any other gate on the market, with the exception of Unfiltered Audio's full version. If you think Floorfish is great, G8 CM has everything you need and then some. They also have a version of Sibalance, which is now unnecessary since the ToneBoosters release. The Fish Fillets were great back when all was 32-bit and good freeware plug-ins were more rare, but trying to choose great freeware FX these days is like trying to drink from the proverbial firehose.