Starship Krupa

I currently have my control surface set like this: The documentation says "if you want to use Active Controller Technology, ....select either the Cakewalk Generic Surface or the ACT MIDI Controller." I detest when manuals say something like this. "If you want to use XXX, then do this" when I have no idea if I want to use XXX. I never heard of ACT until I started using Cakewalk. If it said "if you want to use ACT, which is necessary for controlling plug-ins" then I would know what to select. If I need to change it to "ACT MIDI Controller" or "Generic Surface," will the transport and faders still work when I don't have a plug-in in focus? If so, why install Mark's thing? I was under the impression that "MMcL Mackie Control" had special mappings for the nK2. Do I lose that if I switch to Generic Control Surface? Is what I'm trying to do the realm of "want to use Active Controller Technology?" I'm getting the feeling it does. The documentation also goes on and on about importing ACT data, tells you where to go to find new ones, but then gives no hints as to what folder to install them in. It says that Cakewalk already comes with "built-in mappings for all relatively recent Cakewalk plug-ins." Relative to what? I tried opening PX-64 and wiggling the faders and knobs on the Korg, and CbB obediently moved the faders and pan in the Console. This was while the plug-in had focus. I don't even remember how I installed Mark's control surface driver or definitions or whatever the nomenclature is. If CbB has been updated to incorporate his features, do I still need to select MMcL Mackie Control? (if you get the idea that I find the documentation frustrating, you're right. If not for the forum, it would be so much harder ?)

I'm not even sure if I know what the ACT window is. The reason I've not asked for help about this is I'm so clue challenged that I don't know what to ask. I've had the thing for years without knowing that it was possible to control plug-ins with it. The only thing I've done with the nanoKONTROL in Cakewalk is follow Mark's instructions. I think I need to watch a tutorial before I go any further.

So....okay, this is relevant to my interests. My nanoKONTROL II probably gets the most use as a remote transport controller. I can set up my tracks and monitor mix, get myself comfortable behind the drum kit, then use the nanoK II to start and stop recording, play back the last take, etc. Sometimes I use the faders and pan knobs when mixing. Since you say control synth(s) plural, and you use the transport, how does this work? My guess is that Cakewalk passes the input from the Arturia to your synth if its UI has focus? And then if you switch to a different synth, with differently mapped controls, the controller input will automatically switch to that synth. The Arturia's transport buttons stay permanently mapped to the main Cakewalk transport. Do I have that right? If so, what I want to learn how to do is, for instance, map the controller for Breaktweaker. Breaktweaker is like a DAW-within-a-DAW, with multiple tracks, its own transport, etc. Not all of the buttons and knobs have a 1:1 correspondence, so I might want to map, say, the "Marker" button on the Korg to do something different. Then when I close the Breaktweaker UI (or maybe switch focus to a different plug-in's UI), I don't want the controller to affect its settings any more, I want to switch back to controlling Cakewalk's transport and channel strips. Even after careful study of the Reference Guide, I still don't know how to get started. I read the section on ACT. I have my controller in SONAR mode and Control Surfaces set to use @msmcleod's MmCl Mackie Control. That got it to work for how I'm using it now.

I got a nanoKONTROL II because I wanted to experiment with "physical faders vs. mouse drags." This may seem odd, but when I'm in the final stages of mixing a project, I often close my eyes. This if for a couple of reasons. Primarily it's so I can visualize the sonic space I'm creating. My favorite mixes are ones that create a virtual space. It can be one that simulates a real world place like an arena stage or an intimate room, and in the case of purely electronic genres, it can be an abstract space. David Tipper is a master of the latter. He creates 3-D sonic sculptures with elements that are so vivid I can almost touch them. If I close my eyes and can't picture what I'm hearing happening in a coherent spatial environment, with the individual elements distinctly audible, I know I have to keep going. Also, it relieves the load on my brain, frees up the visual processing task. Like we mute plug-ins to conserve resources in the DAW. Obviously, when have my eyes closed, I can't see the screen, the best I can do is click and hold on a single control and then trust my mouse hand not to move unless I tell it. With a control surface, the slider won't move unless I touch it, and of course I can keep my eyes closed and move around to the pan controls and mute and unmute. There's also the matter of live mixing and composition of electronic music, where you improvise, using a controller to trigger and fade loops and samples. If you've ever wondered why anyone would pay to stand and watch some person fiddle with a laptop, well, don't knock it till you've tried it. At its best it's a form of live improvised music, and someone good at it can "read" the crowd and get everyone moving, thin it out and get everyone in a trance state, rise and break it down all on the fly. When I fantasize about getting back on stage, it's more about doing this than it is slingin' my guitar. It can be done using a touchscreen or MIDI keyboard or even the QWERTY, but it's just plain more fun to use a pad controller. There is a LOT more I would like to be doing with the nanoKONTROL than volume, pan, and track controls, but I don't even know how to ask for help. I would like to be able to use it in Breaktweaker and other synths and FX without losing the ability to control the transport and channel strips. The Korg has a "SONAR" mode where all the controls are automatically set to present to Cakewalk as a Mackie, and I use this because it seemed easiest, but I'd like to do more with it if I could. An RTZ button would be a handy thing.

499KB and I get "This app can't run on your PC" when I run the installer. This is proving to be a difficult delivery.

I agree that descriptions are good. "Like XYZ" is still a useful reference for people who want to investigate. They can go to XYZ's site and get a full description of the feature. I read these as "Cubase has what I'm talking about, go check it out." Picture=1K words? ?

Okay, just installed the "trial." In my CbB browser, there's still only Nectar 3, but now I also have two standalone RX Breath Controls, 7 and 8. I opened them for comparison, and RX8 has minor art changes and a few more factory presets.

I think I understand what's going on with Nectar 3/Plus. This is all educated guess on my part, so take it as such. As soon as it actually ships, Nectar 3 Plus will be the sole Nectar 3 product. Any new installations/purchases will be Plus. They will keep 3 around for people who need it (as outlined below). They aren't ready to go live with the actual release announcement. The "trial" that's showing up is for people who want to start using the new plug-in, with its new name (and plug-in ID) in new projects. tl/dr: Between when Nectar 3 first released and now, they updated RX7 to RX8, and want the RX Breath Control feature to be consistent with the current RX product. After all, iZotope's suites can talk to each other. Why they would need to rename it and keep the earlier version around for existing Nectar 3 owners is for backward compatibility, existing projects that already use Nectar 3 plain. Otherwise, any existing project where you used RX7 Breath Control would be borked. So: same product, with an updated feature, new name (and plug-in ID). It looks like they are going to flow it to recent licensees, maybe they'll try to squeeze a bit of cash from earlier purchasers to upgrade. I have a feeling they won't. It would be a dick move, and negative sentiment would outweigh the financial benefits. Maybe they'll pitch it as a "quarantine gift" or something. Sound feasible? Whaddaya think?

This month's Free Product. notes: getting any of W.A. Production's many standard free products should qualify as a "purchase." When claiming their freebies, be sure to look for other offers they may put in your cart and delete them (unless you want to buy them). Blurbia:

I've seen this request many times, but I've not used a DAW that had a chord track, so I don't know how they work. In the spirit of offering a solution while we wait for this to happen, is there a (preferably freeware) plug-in that can do some of the functions of a chord track? Are they like Scaler or Instachord?

Thanks, now I'll just Pilaf outta here and collect my free plug-in (and Trash2 and Carbon!).

There so needs to be a LOLgroan emoji. Major important question/poll: is it pronounced PEND-you-late or the more British way that I can't get out of my head, the name of that comedian/magician guy whose partner never speaks?

Justin, did you ever figure out what was going on? I hope so. I'm thinking of writing my first tutorial/cheat sheet for Cakewalk, on the topic of exporting audio. One of the hot topics is making sure that the DAW mix and the exported mix sound the same. Since system issues/settings is a possible source of trouble, and you've had the toughest time I've seen getting it sorted, please share.

The current Reference Guide has not yet been added to the Cakewalk by BandLab installer, so if you already had a file named "SONAR Reference Guide.pdf" in your Program Files\Cakewalk\SONAR folder, that was from your SONAR installation, if you had one. If you didn't, that's a mystery. As far as I'm aware, the only way to get the current, updated one (with the new features!) is to use the link that Steve posted, so be sure to check. Also, Steve has developed a really nice tool (and other handy ones as well) for adding entries to the main Utilities menu, and you can add a link to wherever you keep your Reference Guide. It won't be context-sensitive, but it will be readily available.

Thanks for posting the solution. I can't speak for "everyone," and say "everyone has done this." But I will say that there is a very good reason that I knew what questions to ask. And I'll add that if I slapped my face every time I found a muted bus or zeroed fader or incorrectly assigned output that I had set and forgot about....I'd look like I'd been in a bar fight. And lost. ?

This, Vlad. My next suggestion is to install 64-bit SONAR 7 alongside your 32-bit version. I don't speak from experience, but I'd be very surprised if it didn't run much better than the 32-bit version. It will be able to do more with the extra memory it can use, and 64-bit Windows 10 runs 64-bit programs better, in my experience. One BIG reason is that also opens you up to being able to use 64-bit plug-ins. Often, I see plug-in developers stop supplying 32-bit versions, so it will help "future proof" your system, and you can keep using SONAR 7 longer. I really like Cakewalk by BandLab, but I wouldn't want to be forced into using it.

As @Xel Ohh mentioned, SONAR had Cyclone, which I just checked out some screenshots of, and it was replaced by a phrase/pad sampler called Beatscape. So historically, SONAR included a built-in phrase sampler for a long time. I don't know what they had in the way of integration and features. I'd sure use it.

IIRC, Senderspike is a Cakewalk user who has posted on this forum, too, so probably gonna work well in CbB. I just realized today that one of my fave freeware plug-in producers had never been mentioned in this thread, and it's over due for a bumpity, so: Check out ljkb Plugins. Their most famous product is probably the knob parametric known as Luftikus. They also entered a look-alike of the ProChannel Quadcurve EQ for the KVR Contest a couple years back. Their most ambitious, and I think unique in the freeware world, project is QRange, a 12-band linear phase paragraphic complete with realtime analyzer and mid-side capability. Luftikus spent some time as my favorite master bus EQ, and may make it back there. QRange is a great complement to the non-linear phase EQ's in my quiver of FX.

Ay-yi-yi, nightmare. Ctrl Z is of course the universal "undo last action" keystroke, but that whammy of having two different undo/redo queues in the plug-in and the host is a tricky one. I'm kind of appalled that Melodyne only has one level of Redo in their plug-in. The plug-in deletion behavior is not Cakewalk (or SONAR?) being "rude," BTW. If the host program's UI has focus, Ctrl-Z should undo the last thing the user did in the host program. If that last thing was putting a plug-in on a track because they're testing it (over and over and over, I feel your pain),. then it should undo that. So it pays to be really mindful of which window has focus. In the case of Region FX, an option to have it warn the user before deleting the plug-in and losing all their edits might make a good feature request. I have any uneasy relationship with Melodyne, partly because they've set up Essentials in such a crippleware-y way, with features greyed out, the manual being the same as for the standard versions but with notes saying that the cheapo version didn't have the feature I just read about how to use. If I hadn't gotten all my Melodyne licenses in bundles, I'd be irritated with it, 'cause it's never come close to coughing up $50 in value. The only thing I think that's cool about it is the audio-to-MIDI conversion. The "rollin' the golden turds" UI looks kinda David Cronenberg, like I'm using some grotesque living organism to manipulate pitch.

That's why my first question was whether you were running 32-bit or 64-bit SONAR. The SI VSTi's that come with Cakewalk are 64-bit. If you are running 32-bit SONAR and for some reason the paths setting got changed to load the 64-bit versions, of if the installation overwrote the 32-bit versions, 64-bit plug-ins will fail to load. I don't know how SONAR 7 handled this, but some DAW's, when they try to load a VST and it fails to load, they will mark it as broken and not try to load it in the future, in order to speed up scanning. Only you know whether you are running 32-bit SONAR, so I don't know if this could even apply. If you are, and you want to keep using SONAR 7 and not Cakewalk by BandLab, I suggest also installing the 64-bit version, as it will likely remain compatible with modern plug-ins longer than a 32-bit version.

The solution to the OP's issue was clicking a button. I suspect that your issue would take more work to fix, if there were anyone left around to help fix it. Maybe it's time to take that free upgrade. Cakewalk by BandLab. 'Cause it sounds like maybe SONAR Producer is starting to not work that well on Windows 10.

If you need Mellotron sounds, Plogue sofrzando is free, and has some that come with it. Plogue hosts good freeware Mellotrons in .sfz format on their site.

You can do it with Meldaproduction's MEqualizer, which is one of the plug-ins in their FreeFXBundle. If you need to EQ each side separately, it can do that, but you'll need to put 2 instances of it on your bus and set them to L and R, respectively. Along with it, you'll get 36 other audio FX and tools (including oscillators and noise generators to help tune that room) to use for free. It's the second best deal in audio production software, IMO. You can upgrade the entire bundle to the Pro versions for about $50, or wait until they have a 50% off everything sale. QRange that Nigel linked to is excellent as well, and linear phase. You can get it and more from lkjb's page. That's guaranteed to have the latest versions. VST4Free are great, but sometimes their download links for actively developed plug-ins get a little stale.

The Project SAM Free Orchestra is a Kontakt Library, not a VSTi. You need to install it as such. Cakewalk can't load it by itself. Fortunately, it is compatible with Native Instruments' Free Kontakt Player, which you may obtain at Native Instruments' website. You also need to register at The Project SAM website to get a serial number for the library, if you haven't already done so. Instructions for installing it as a Kontakt Library should be in the download package, or from the Kontakt Player documentation. There are also plenty of Kontakt users on this forum. While you're at Native Instruments', go ahead and download and install all of their free instruments and libraries, they give away a great selection of sample content.

What Adam did with the C and the pan readouts is more of a feature upgrade to me than just skinning. It adds a function that isn't there in Mercury and Tungsten. And @Adam Compeau, it's time to update the Author and Description fields to say that you're the author, and that it was based on Jeremy Habetler's Dark Aqua. IMO, you've more than earned it. And really, his theme was based on the Glow effect, which looks cool except that I couldn't use it because I had a hard time telling active states from inactive states.