Starship Krupa

The HX Stomp is an audio interface with a USB connection and has an ASIO driver. That is how you should be using it, if you are, then you've got the concept right. So what is happening is that you are recording your guitar using the HX Stomp as an audio interface going into your computer via USB at the settings you described. If you monitor yourself on headphones or speakers while you're recording, it sounds great, but when you monitor it through Cakewalk or listen to what you record, it sounds poor by comparison. First, we need to know more about what you mean by "low quality." Is there noise, distortion (the bad kind), off kilter tonal balance (muffled or shrill highs, boomy or thin bass) or something else? Are you seeing a good strong level for input, or is it very low or too loud? I'm not directly familiar with the HX, but with most audio interfaces, it's possible to send too hot a signal to their analog-to-digital convertors, which will result in bad-sounding audio. You want a healthy signal in the middle of the range, but not so hot that it slams your A/DC's. There are many different ways recorded audio can sound that fit the description "low quality," so we need to know exactly what it is.

Many are using Scarlett 2i2's with Cakewalk, so it's likely that your issue is solvable. Windows 7 is an older OS and not officially supported by Cakewalk by BandLab, but it usually works fine, there have been no Windows 7-specific issues since official support was dropped. None that I know of, anyway. Taking a wild guess, it sounds as if your interface's audio driver somehow got corrupted. My suggestion is to go to Focusrite's site, download whatever the latest Windows 7-compatible driver is for the Scarlett and reinstall it. Then see how Cakewalk gets along with it. A Focusrite Scarlett should be able to use its ASIO driver, and the native ASIO is the one you should use with Cakewalk. If you used the default installation choices, your project folders will be in C:\Cakewalk Projects. You say the "stems" are there, I presume you mean the raw audio files from tracking? Each project has its own folder in the following form C:\Cakewalk Projects\<project name>. At the top level of the folder there should be a file <project name>.CWP and a folder called Audio, which is where Cakewalk puts recorded and bounced audio files per project. Is the .CWP file for your project missing? I mean if you browse to that folder in Windows Explorer, not in Cakewalk's Recent Projects list. A project may be missing from Cakewalk's Recent Projects list and still be perfectly intact as long as the .CWP file is retrievable.

I'm a big Ctrl-Alt mousewheeler and would be happy to see it working in Drum Pane. When I work with drums in the PRV, I have a choice of non-persistent instrument names or non-functioning wheel zooming, so I just leave it on piano keys and try to remember which key corresponds to what drum/cymbal/whatever. The least of 3 hassles: board tape-on-controller-keys.

@ilir bajri, thank you so much for doing this. I'd also like to add that I really like your demo pieces.

Specifically, what aspects of my Control Bar theming contribute to the crispness 'n' clarity? I'd like to know what I'm doing right. One thing I do as I go through the button and tab images is rather than just altering the hue, I pixel edit them to eliminate the native edge blur. I was concerned that this might have a negative effect, such as introducing jaggies, but it has the effect of giving the images greater legibility, to my eyes.

Fab. This description eliminates Save/Ok/Import, too, which I guess was possible anyway for flat images, I just didn't know. My most-used are probably Alt+A to select all, followed by Ctrl+Shift+B to zoom to that selection.

Here's an image that I use privately with EVA 01 Flat. I'm just putting it up here to show off an idea that came to me when I noticed that the Tools Module had an expanse of blank space below the first 4 tools. I use the F5-F8 keys to switch between tools (and to switch tools' functions) while editing, but have always had issues with memorization. This has resulted in a slow uptake for keyboard shortcuts. It's one of the reasons that I lobby for tooltips and context menus. I tend toward being a mouse jockey.

Robert Smith, Level 62

It's a testament to how much I love the way my A|A|S soundpacks (and Objeq Delay and Lounge Lizard Session) sound that I'm willing to give them so much slack. With the last major update, the UI's of any of the plug-ins started to take about 3 seconds to load the first time, which may not sound like much, but in the context of a mix session, this is on a project that only takes 4 seconds for the whole thing to load in Cakewalk. 3 seconds is at least 3X longer than I should be staring at my DAW waiting for a plug-in UI to appear. This slow UI load happens in both Cakewalk and Mixcraft, it's with all of their stuff, Player, Objeq Delay, and the Sessions, and it's new behavior.

"could result in a slight disruption in playback" When I tried to enable it, the first project I opened emitted a rapid series of loud pops and then Cakewalk went silent until I restarted it. Is that what they mean by "slight?"

But y'know, for heaven's sake, it also says "Cakewalk by BandLab released: Learn More." And if you click on that "Buy Now" button it takes you to a statement by Noel about Gibson's halt to Cakewalk, Inc. operations. Apologies to the confused, and I understand that English is not the OP's first language, but it's hard not to learn about Cakewalk by BandLab once you get to the old company's website. This forum also has a search function, and these questions have been asked and answered many times.

What does the Cancel button do, exactly? Does it revert your plug-in's settings to how they were before you last opened the UI?

The reply is the best way, because it will bump the topic to the top.

j/k: Cakewalk could at least throw a warning dialog if the project length to be rendered is greater than a week. I must wonder, if Alvaro had let it finish, how long it would have taken and what the file size would have been.

Not recommended. SONAR Platinum had hundreds of bugs in its code that have long since been fixed in Cakewalk by BandLab.'s. The behavior you describe is only one of them. Just install Cakewalk by BandLab to the default directory. It won't overwrite SONAR. Your old projects will open just fine in Cakewalk By BandLab, and you'll have access to more features and an overall better optimized DAW. All of the premium content and plug-ins that were bundled with SONAR Platinum will be available for use in Cakewalk. If things go wrong, SONAR is old and unsupported. Cakewalk is up to date and fully supported.

I used the trick from YLIP of setting the background color via the medium Custom Module background. Then I changed some of the module backgrounds to full transparent. It was an experiment in getting away from the Control Bar being made up of modules that are like tiles and more toward the idea of it being a monolithic surface that can be customized, if that makes sense. I don't think the modules need to look separate from each other. I had some fun with the Ripple Edit button, making an oblong transparent cutout for the "off" state. With my purple menu bar, the orange text stands out and helps draw the eye to it One element that frustrated me was the Track view Now Time display background. I guess it's not themeable, and it's a lighter grey. I don't really use it, so not a big deal for me, but when it's enabled, it stands out where I'd like the numbers to appear over the same color as the surrounding element.

Yes!! The cover of Batman: The Killing Joke. It hadn't occurred to me that it might not be a coincidence that EVA 01's color scheme is not dissimilar. Okay, well, thanks to your input, I toned down the Console View by making Background #1 a darker (via transparency) green. No more loud purple in the Console View. There is an intended positive psychological effect here, BTW. The Track View has all the purple/orange, which increases alertness for recording, editing and comping, while the Console View is now more subdued for long haul mixing.

Right, Synthedit. In any case, I'm disappointed in PB for keeping these in the store. The people who are going to get snookered are inexperienced users. PB are usually savvy about getting people interested, with their monthly freebies and sales. Also, I usually trust them to have plug-ins that at least function. It's like any other retailer: if I buy a new guitar at Guitar Center, it's going to be at a certain quality level (at least since they stopped selling Behringer guitars!). They want return business rather than "I bought this crappy axe at Guitar Center, next time I'll shop somewhere else." Or worse, the beginner will decide not to go ahead with the hobby. Which means that the retailer will miss out on future sales when they want a better axe, strings, amp, etc.

I hear ya. But a big part of the exercise was to see what I could do while restricting myself to 4 colors. I think the first thing I'm going to adjust is the Console View separators. That's just too eye-popping.

The entire range of Minimal System Group fx and synths, all of which are 32-bit only. https://www.pluginboutique.com/deals/show?sale_id=7631 I'm posting this because the idea of it baffles me. It seems uncharacteristically irresponsible for PB to sell people 32-bit plug-ins with no upgrade path.

Note: these versions of EVA 01 have been moved to the Archive folder in the Dropbox folder. They will not be updated. Purple, orange, green and black. Those are the distinctive colors of EVA 01, the bio-mecha piloted by Shinji Ikari, the protagonist of classic anime series Neon Genesis: Evangelion. After deciding I liked the look of the mecha, I found the exact color numbers used and set about changing as many Cakewalk UI elements to them as I could (minus certain buttons that I consider standardized). I've tried to work in a few things that I don't usually see customized, and tried out some new techniques involving use of transparency. There is a "flat" version for people who prefer that, it's the same theme with most of the gradients removed. Apologies for odd or incomplete images. This time around I tried to figure out which images and button states are never displayed and left those out of my theming. This may have had some unintended consequences I didn't uncover. It also uses a version of the color presets I came up with for Racing Green that allow for greater visibility of grid lines. Fans of the franchise, enjoy. People who want an out-of-the-ordinary high contrast color scheme, also enjoy. If you like it or have any critiques, post here. https://www.dropbox.com/sh/ax7xeox3a5t003v/AABtPXXXSOxwJAkOH-fbyHRfa?dl=0 Update: the Console View in the original was just too "loud" with the purple separators, so I changed that color to a muted green. (Note: Track icons for Instrument and Synth tracks use the YLIP convention, where the icon for a Synth track is a picture of a synthesizer keyboard, and the icon for an Instrument track (which combines MIDI and Synth tracks) is a combination of both the MIDI and Synth icons. If anyone would like it the other way 'round, just ask.) Update: 5/18/2021 Added images for Meter/Key (and related) dialogs, minor image changes and recoloring Update 5/24/2021 Updated many images

I did it once years ago partly just to see if I could do it, to refresh my build skills. Setting up the whole build environment on Windows 7, downloading all the dependencies, getting all the variables right, wow, what a string of chores. And then after that I couldn't even legally give it away. And it didn't work any better than WASAPI.

Whoa, no kidding, Fleer, the UfA one looks like they had an offspring. Speaking of Valhalla, they're proof that simple, flat, and utilitarian don't have to be yoogly, just give some attention to the colors. It really helps the Meldaproduction UI to go into the settings and browse through the styles and choose colors you like better. As with other aspects of their stuff, they reward getting under the hood. Freakshow Industries do some of my favorite UI's. Their products both fulfill and disturb my dreams.

My wild hunch is that rather than re-code the Exponential products, iZotope have in mind to fold the algos into new products like Neoverb. Re: licensing, yeah, it's a pain in the (single) seat to only get one for the price, but back when they were Exponential products, didn't they cost at least 5X more? They could go 2-fer on the seats or slash the price enough so that we could buy multiples. FWIW regarding iLokery: I recently tripped up by changing my system drive without deauthorizing and had to location reset several plug-ins that I hadn't moved to my physical iLok. Eventide did it in less than 24hours, and it somehow triggered PACE to send out reset requests to both the other vendors, Softube and InMusic. Softube reset it without my even asking, and took a week and badgering InMusic to get the AIR and SONiVOX ones back. The ones I had on the physical iLok were always there, so I guess if I were a pro, I'd become one of those people with an iLok either sticking out of my computer or on my keychain. It's true that we don't own software. We give some consideration or other for the right to use it and agree to whatever enforcement. Creators of music can limit its use, too, it's just not as customary. I don't own the music on my CD's, I own the plastic and metal and the right to listen to it. I'm not allowed to broadcast it, make copies for friends, or use it to score a film. If I buy a painting from a living artist, it doesn't explicitly grant me the right to make photographic copies and sell them or give them away. I'm allowed to hang it up somewhere of my choosing. If that place burns down, I'm left with nothing. All I ever owned was the physical stuff it was made from, not the image itself. Seems weird, but how to ensure that people who create something unique get rent money (I don't know the answer)?

It kiiiinda looks like they're ripping Valhalla a bit here, which is not surprising given the features. I think BYOME has one of best-looking, if not the best-looking UI's of any plug-in I've seen. Some of the others, eh, not so pretty, but plenty functional and easy to get around in, considering their depth. All things considered, I like them better than SoundSpot FX although those have better-looking UI's. It would surely be nice if whoever did the BYOME/Triad UI could go to work on the rest of the line.