Starship Krupa

Well, you turned me on to the fact that I can select multiple plug-ins in the Browser.

This fan of John Coltrane's "My Favorite Things" endorses your request.

It's just not a Coffee House topic until someone makes a hidden dig at the mods.

OMG, you've saved my 60-year-old Ableton bacon. And now it becomes apparent to me WHY there's no rewind/RTZ button on their transport. Probably 20 years ago, when Live! was created, when its purpose was, uh, live performances only, in a live performance there is no rewinding. Raises the question in my mind whether FL Studio has non-loop playback and recording modes as the default like most DAW's. I started this topic with tongue firmly in cheek, so I hope you're exaggerating. I know the feeling though. One of my favorite mental playtoys is "what am I doing this for?" Which is odd, I don't remember making a conscious decision to take making music "seriously" at any point. Even when I was at the right age playing genres that were starting to explode in the music scene (80's-90's grunge-shoegaze), I never maintained any illusions about making a living playing music. So I go through the process of reminding myself that if I were into model railroading (as one of my musical heroes, Neil Young is) I wouldn't be asking "what am I doing this for?" Simple answer: because it's fun, I like playing with trains (or in my case, drum kit and guitars), I have made lifelong friends through doing it. Same with participating in online forums. My last three girlfriends I met via some combination of online forums and the music scene. I do have the impulse to want to share my music with other music lovers. There's a lasting thrill that comes from people connecting with it. Even if it's only a handful of people. I'd be happy to put my music up on Bandcamp or Soundcloud or BandLab Albums and get five comments telling me that my ambient music helped them relax, or that they could relate to the lyrics in my rock songs. It would probably be the same with a cool Lionel train layout. I'd want to show it off to other enthusiasts and especially young kids, to see that wonder that I remember when I saw these amazing train layouts. Unfortunately, starting in the '60's music equipment (and now software) marketing has been mostly ignoring making music as strictly a hobby for one's own enjoyment, in favor of selling the rock star/hot producer illusion. This contributes to the idea that my hobby has to be "going somewhere" to have value as a pursuit. Also, I just turned 60 last month and I know intellectually that continuing to do creative pursuits and hobbies is good for keeping the aging brain nimble. What I'm getting at with all this is that I think we all wonder why we're doing what we do and that it's good and natural, even necessary to consider that and maybe that it's changed since we started doing it in our teens or 20's. Revisiting that (as I'm doing by writing this) can help relight the fire. One more thing: for me this is a hobby (I don't know if you're a pro or not). It's okay for me to walk away from it (or dial it back) for a while to whatever degree and let the batteries recharge. If the hobby is something I'm "meant" to be doing, my interest will come back. I just make sure not to liquidate the tools I need to start back up. At one point in my life, I pretty much stopped playing music at all for half a dozen years. I was all about woodworking and vintage home restoration. But music inevitably pulled me back. ? I am pleased to say that in all my years of being a plug-in 'ho, I've only had this happen once. I help avoid it by keeping all of my installers archived, that way I can quickly find out if I either own a license or demo'd it and decided against. And heck yeah to having enough gadgets that I can go into the toy chest and pull out ones I entirely forgot I owned. It goes directly against the whole "does this bring me joy" concept (which I don't discount), but it's not a bad thing to have something sitting around waiting for me to delve into it when inspiration has otherwise taken a hike. Especially these days when "delays" can be incredibly feature-packed. My "delays" folder has ObjeqDelay, Hysteresis, Sandman Pro, Sphere Delay and at least half a dozen other one-of-a-kinds.

Okay, I think I need to add some definitions. Browser: the multifunction window that's docked to the right of the Track Pane by default. It may be collapsed, relocated, or closed entirely. Displays a list of plug-in category folders (among other things). Plug-ins may be dragged and dropped from this window on to tracks in the Track and Console views. Plug-in names that show up in this view may be edited and relocated to one or more category folders via a right-click menu. FX Rack and Insert Synth Menus: these are flyout menus that appear when the "+" sign is clicked in an FX rack or when the user is choosing a synth in the Synth Rack or Replace Synth dialogs. Cakewalk Plug-In Manager: accessed by going to Utilities > Cakewalk Plug-in Manager. Among its other functions, this allows you to organize your plug-ins into folders and categories for display in the Browser and FX Rack/Insert Synth menus. Now. If I use the functions in the Browser to customize my layout, the next time I install a plug-in that doesn't have a category string that Cakewalk can use to put it in a category, Cakewalk will display the category "Uncategorized" in the Browser with the new plug-in in that category. Then I can select it (or multiple ones) and use the right click menu to move it to another category. However, if I've used Cakewalk Plug-In Manager, unless a new plug-in has a category string that matches one of the category names I'm using in my layout, the plug-in won't show up at all in the Browser view. This is a pain in the rear for someone who tries out as many plug-ins as I do. The Cakewalk Plug-In Manager allows for greater versatility with folders as well as drag-and-drop organization. However, it's basically a separate program that must be launched, then you do your work, then save and close. The developers have said multiple times that they consider it a dead end and want to move its functions to other areas of the program. I don't want to become dependent on it for my workflow. As far as inserting plug-ins, my only complaint about the flyout menus is that depending on sort criteria, the list can scroll off the bottom of the screen and require moving around by clicking on tiny arrows. They don't respond to mousewheeling.

I'm working on the next version of Racing Green and am having a hard time identifying one certain image. I want to change all of the QuadCurve EQ grids, and I've finished all of them except the one that shows when a Console strip is narrowed. Thanks!

Another endorsement of Process Lasso here. Some have accused it of being snake oil, but that's in regard to its claims about what it does in its default behavior. What I like about it is its ability to kill processes that won't stay down when killed in Task Manager or even Process Explorer. Even the difficult ones that respawn immediately, like Xbox Game Services and Apple Mobile device support, you tell PL that they're not allowed and it's like putting out a mob hit in the movies. I once watched Process Lasso deliver a beatdown on Apple Mobile device support that was epic in computer terms. I had it set to kill all three components, which if any of the other Apple service see that one of their fellows is offline, they will start it back up. Process Lasso just kept hammering away on all three of them until for whatever reason, the Apple stuff gave up. The Apple stuff would respawn in a matter of microseconds, and this went on for about 45 seconds, so an eternity in computer time.

Archiving of take lanes is a feature that has been requested by me and others, mostly due to the fact that muted or not, in playback and recording, Cakewalk reads every file referenced by a clip in a project, including clips in muted lanes. I'd like to keep multiple takes for possible future remixing, but without the overhead on the audio engine of streaming them all. I can wind up with 10 takes of my drum kit, which amounts to 40 files the length of the song. So a song with 12 tracks, 4 of which are drums and the rest individual voices and instruments, can end up streaming 50 files depending on how many takes of the other instruments I have. Sometimes I'm not 100% sure which takes are going to work best until I get a halfway decent mix put together. Right now I solve this by moving the unused takes to other tracks and archiving these tracks into a folder named Archives, but, y'know, extra steps.

People don't seem to realize that a search function even exists. This forum has been going since December 2018 and we still get "Can I use my SONAR plug-ins with Cakewalk by BandLab?" "Will my SONAR projects work in Cakewalk by BandLab?" etc. ?‍♂️ Forum search engines often befuddle me, which is odd considering how good I am with Google. In this one, I have yet to figure out the syntax for searching for ALL terms in my query or a specific string. Everything I try ends up returning results that are as if I just entered the words at random.

Sigh. I think it was originally supposed to work the way you expect. According to earlier versions of the Reference Guide, Quick Groups were supposed to work on Take Lanes. Just as with tracks and buses, where we are able to select multiples, then hold Ctrl and whatever operation we perform (such as mute, solo or delete) would be performed. I can't find it in there any more, so I assume that the decision was made to alter the documentation rather than implement the feature. It's still confusing because you can highlight multiple lanes but it doesn't mean anything. Remove Empty Take Lanes is fine for just that, deleting empty lanes, but I'd like to be able to do it in one step across multiple tracks. Since I record live drums, I wind up with 4 tracks, often with a useless take or two. In order to get rid of those takes, I have to perform what I think is too many steps. Open all the lanes and delete them one by one? Delete the clips and then Remove Empties? Does Quick Grouping work for Remove Empty Take Lanes?

Double post

Which part of my experience? I'd be happy to further clarify. My issue with using the Cakewalk Plug-In Manager to do my custom layouts is that when I install new plug-ins that are "Uncategorized (which means that the developers didn't set the "category" string in their vst code), those don't show up in the Browser. My issues with making my own layouts using the Browser itself are that it's clunky. To do anything, one must right click and work in a menu. No drag and drop, no renaming from the Browser itself. I'd like to slow click on a plug-in name to rename it. I'd like to drag a plug-in from one folder to another. Something I just thought of: I'd like to select multiple plug-ins (using Ctrl) and be able to either drag them to another folder or to an FX rack. Wouldn't that be slick?

@Colin Nicholls, do you have a single link that points to all of your custom themes? I want to recommend them, but I can only find links to the individual ones.

If you're using one of the factory themes (Mercury, Tungsten), look closely at the small icon to the left of the instrument's name. It's different for each type of plug-in, VST2, VST3 or DX. If you use one of @Colin Nicholls' themes or my own Racing Green, they feature a more differentiated set of icons in this location which Colin created and kindly allowed me to use. Each icon also has its own color, making it so that you don't have to squint to see right away. And I do recommend using a custom theme if you can find one you like. A good theme can make Cakewalk easier on the eyes, more inviting to use, etc. I chose green because my eyes "relax" better with it. I go back to the green-on-black monitor days and still like that color combo. His themes (and mine) also feature more contrasting colors for the names themselves, which is a themeable item.

Oh man, I love my MRythmizer. This is so very temptatious. Thing is, I haven't figured out how to make much use of their MB thing. Well, as I say, if it is a good idea, it will still be a good idea tomorrow. Note to the Meldaproduction upgrade policy h8r: here's an example of something I'd pay €25 for that Meldaproduction would credit me for having spent €50. It's not always best to avoid buying from dealers. Also, I notice that Gross Beat is on sale for $49 at Pluginboutique. Makes me wonder about the timing on this. Meldaproduction puts their version on sale for half that.

See, I am a befuddled geezer.

I have the Lite 10 license, and I drop in and mess with it every so often. Maybe I'm set in my ways with my Cakewalk and Mixcraft and REAPER and Music Maker and Waveform and Vegas and....well, pretty much every DAW and NLE I've ever tried. But when I fire up Live! Lite and try to start off by writing a tune in their piano roll, there's this feature that Ableton seems to lack that is standard in all of those others, which is the Rewind button. A button that returns the playhead to the beginning of the project. This function is handy for things like when I enter a few notes or chords and want to listen to what I just did. I hit play and it plays, then it keeps going on into infinity, and I can stop it, but then just sits out there. I can find no option to have it go back to start when I stop the transport, I can find no keystroke that rewinds, so I wind up clicking back at the beginning and hoping that my click was accurate. I know there are some fab features that Ableton Live! has that Cakewalk lacks, but really, being able to rewind the transport is not something I'd ever expect to have to do via clever workarounds. Is it that the music produced with Ableton is expected to be so inconsequential that even the person making it isn't interested in listening to it? That can't be, some of my favorite artists use Ableton Live! Adding some kind of rewind would be my #1 feature request for Ableton.

And at least in my case, they have failed entirely. Double-shot $20 voucher+already owning all the UfA licenses I want=digging around in the bargain bin. Next sale I'll probably pick up Mo-Verb so as to have the set handy. I haven't tried it yet, but I do realize that it's more transient shaper than something like proximity eq+. I like transient shapers, especially for salvage work. You know, those times when my TARDIS won't let me go back and record the material over again with better equipment or mic placement. If I were to encounter myself in my own time stream, it might do irreparable damage to reality, and an impromptu jam session that turned into everyone playing way above their abilities isn't worth risking existence itself.

As a public service, I'll post a link to my A|A|S wiping tutorial. On my systems, The number of of AAS Player locations in its various unnecessary forms is in the teens. I do the cleanup after installs of any of these products, I have a folder on my desktop with shortcuts to each of the folders so that I can clean them out.

Here's one of my recipes: open an instance of that MCompressor you upgraded a couple of months ago on whatever material you want to compress. Try a vocal or guitar track where the player isn't already using tons of compression. Set it up for 4:1 ratio, 5mS attack, 100mS release. Hard knee, peak not RMS. Now adjust the threshold so that the vertical line in the MCompressor metering window is "dancing" back and forth across the angled horizontal line, right at the knee. Switch it in and out of bypass and adjust the output gain to compensate for the compressor's overall gain reduction. You're looking for about 4dB or so of gain reduction. Then park your cursor arrow on the bypass button, close your eyes, and click it a few times, listening for the difference it makes. That's one of my starting points for when I want to use a compressor to make something "pop." Another thing: They have multiple uses. Compressors were originally designed to pack more signal into limited bandwidth, but they're also used to alter amplitude envelopes in sonically pleasing ways. It was important to me to distinguish between those two uses when I was learning, because I needed that to understand the advice people gave me. There's a psychoacoustic effect, our ears have their own built-in compression that clamps down on transients, and compressors can be set up to mimic that and trick our ears into getting the impression that we're being exposed to a louder sound than we actually are. Think of an explosion in a movie, it sounds really loud, but it doesn't hurt your ears because there's a compressor (a limiter, too) on it smoothing down the spikes. I found/find MCompressor to be the best for understanding compression because it's designed to be as free as possible from character and coloration. When I click back and forth I'm not digging the "mojo" it's adding. It's a favorite of mine for individual instruments for that reason, when I don't want "mojo" to build up. Here's a video that I've watched multiple times. It's about using them for sound shaping, how to listen for what they're doing:

SPL De-Verb Plus, you are now mine.

Waves score points for using a non-proprietary dongle, for sure. It does make up somewhat for the single-seat license. And I, too have shelled out (WavesHell loading system is another PITA) money to WUP a few plug-ins, first to 10 to bring them into the Windows 10 era, then again to 12 to get the scaly gooeys. I didn't mention single-seat iLok'd companies now that I have a fiiiiiine iLok2 to use with them.? (Next time I go to LA I think I'm going to get a chain to wear my iLok around my neck)

Of the biggies, only Waves stick out as far as not being cool. It's about single-seat licenses and grubbing for WUP fees. I'm not scared about my v.11 plug-ins being "unsupported," if they work fine now it's likely they'll work fine in the future. Charging more than $10 to transfer a license is unnecessary, so Plugin Alliance takes a hit for their $20 fee. Otherwise, hey, good discounts, 3-seat license, what's not to like? I'll chime in with Meldaproduction love, the one hitch is that there's no discounted upgrade path for individual plug-ins in a bundle. For instance, if I wanted to upgrade my Essentials Bundle MSpectralDynamicsle to the full version, I have to pay whatever the going rate is for it. Whatever, I've benefited greatly from their generous upgrade policies and referral credits to get some really great top quality plug-ins.

Excellent advice from John regarding the Maximizer or similar harmonic enhancement tools on old recordings. Something I neglected to mention earlier, since you're trying to give the old mix a better overall tonal balance, reference it against a better-mixed song while using a spectrum analyzer on each. My choice for spectrum analyzers is Meldaproduction MAnalyzer (nice because there's fully functional free version), and Voxengo SPAN is another popular choice. I prefer MAnalyzer because it shows numeric readouts on the peaks, which would help with that midrange lump. MAnalyzer also comes with presets that allow you to overlay analyses of tracks in a variety of genres for comparison. And your analysis can be copied and pasted into MEqualizer for direct reference while you're working on it.

I've done a bit of polishing of challenging material like phone captures and old cassette recordings. I actually find it great fun to see how good I can make a poor recording sound. The tools I turn loose on them are EQ (using a plug-in like MEqualizer that can do mid, side, left and right independently is the best) stereo image processing (Voxengo MSED, and JST Sidewidener or Polyverse Wider), and transient shaping (I've used fairly simple ones in the past, but I acquired WA Production Imprint multiband transient shaper several months back and am looking forward to deploying it on one of these someday). The transient shaper can bring up or push down various elements in a mix by emphasizing attack and decay.