Steev

9 hours ago, mdiemer said:

Me too. And you have asked the 64,000-bit question (can't say 64,000 dollars,  since it's free). I'm not counting on it. No mal intent on the part of the developers here; they just need to cater to the majority, who have moved on. I'm wishin' and hopin' and prayin', but I'm also realistic. If the day comes when it will no longer work on Windows 7, I'll move on. But not to Windows 10.

Move to WHERE? Linux? That's an enormous step BACKWARDS. To be perfectly realistic, there are really only 2 really good choices for solid performing  DAWs... Windows 10 or Apple OS-X? As far as I can see that's the only realistic answer/choices to your $64K question?. Do you have any  idea how much a decent Mac recording rig costs that can hold a candle to a Windows10 Cakewalk computer workstation? And what are the costs suffered by "the learning curve of using an entirely different OS"?

But let's forget learning curves and money, considering updates to Win 10 from Win 7 are remarkably small learning curve as their GUI's are very close to each othe,r and updating to Cakewalk are both FREE. ( and yes you can still update from Win 7 to Win 10 for free). If you get angry with you "freedom of choices" and forced updates from Microsoft, you're guaranteed a miserable life of LIVIDITY moving on to Apple. You only have one choice to run new software on an outdated version of OS-X. And that choice is YOU CAN'T. Apple won't let you.  Nor can you choose to run and old trusty beloved antiquated Firewire 400 audio interface that you love so much you want to be buried with on a modern Mac because the answer is simple as YOU CAN'T. Why? because Apple won't LET YOU! I personally know this to be true because I have 2 rather pricy Firewire 400 audio interfaces that were turned into paperweights because of this. My MOTU 8 and an AVID M box Pro. Both tested and work well on a Windows machine running ASIO drivers, just not as speedy as ANY USB 2 audio interfaces. And speaking of drivers, Apple doesn't support ASIO driver, they only support their Core Audio drivers. Windows 7 may not support the Windows 10 dramatically improved WDDM drivers, but it still supports ASIO drivers. I'm not even sure if Win 7 even supports the radically improved wonders of ARA and VST 3 technology at all? I'm not sure about that, but I don't really care. But I am sure about the fact that Win 10 is SO MUCH BETTER, FASTER, SMARTER (due to telemetry), maintenance free, and secure then Win 7 across the board that I don't have to because I no linger have to worry about these and so many others things anymore.

With all due respect my friend there was a time when  luddites said that about electricity. They argued; "Why do we a light bulb when a kerosene lantern can burn so much more brightly?" But the world kept on turning as electricity came to pass, and people would evolve and realize how much better the electric light bulb was and how much better, cleaner, healthier, and so much less expensive their homes were to live in, and as a result, they managed to save up enough money to by more freedom, as in, in the shape of a new Ford, a.k.a an automobile.

 But the luddites argued; "Why would you need an automobile when a horse and buggy is so much better? Can an automobile be your friend or find it's way home if you get lost?" But the world kept on turning as mass manufacturing progressed and as the people came to realize that even though a Ford isn't necessarily loving friend, it wouldn't get angry bite you if it thought you were ignoring it and getting a little too slow providing scheduled meals. But a Ford doesn't care how much food is in it's belly and it doesn't have to be fed every day whether you use it or not. The only thing a Ford will do to you to get even is leave you stranded on the road if you forget to feed it, but who's fault is that? And so naturally progression took it's course, and people started to realize that  there was nothing inherently evil about automobiles. And as such, saved up enough money to replace their aging local telegraph operator service with a telephone in their own home. Of course what with being a luddite and all, their aging local telegraph operator didn't appreciate this act of treason as much as those committing it, but........... Well your local landline telecommunications providers don't really have any more appreciation for cellular service providers then your broadcast media providers do for the Internet, now do they?

But tough tutties for the luddites, because you can't stop the world from turning and evolving, and without evolution there would be no progress, and if the luddites had their way we wouldn't be here right now because we would not only have "None of these things." and it would be a never ending and ultimately improbable chore to try and get the smell of kerosene out of our hair and clothes.

 And so as the story goes... Windows 7 was freak'in AWESOME for it's decade, but it's decade has PASSED and now it's as silly and dangerous as using kerosene lanterns because both pose extreme security risks.. Windows 7 was never intended to be a life long friend, and now, it not only holds you back from progressing, your standing on shaky, unstable grounds as the world continues to turn and evolve, you are one update away from blowing up and nuking you entire computer and taking Cakewalk by Bandlab with it.. And if that's not DANGEROUS I don't know what is!

Hmm... There are more pro peeps talking about CbB then you might think.. Check this out..  ?? THIS SOFTWARE IS BETTER THAN PRO TOOLS AND IT'S FREE!!! - YouTube

I remember back in the days around the time of SONAR 4 Producer it won "Best DAW Awards" from every music equipment & software review mag for a couple of years running while lead to 2 MEPA Awards, yet still it was talked about very little to none at all from music and software retailers. I'm sure this had more to do profits and commissions as SONAR Producer was extremely reasonably priced for such an extremely "Jam Packed" powerful, well equipped, feature rich DAW that it simply "Didn't NEED ANY EXTRA 3rd PARTY Instruments or FX Plugins to achieve Professional Results."  Of course you "could" run 3rd party DX and VST audio FX and instruments if you wanted to, you just didn't have to because they were already included and bundled with SONAR PE. And I truly believe from the heart that these are not only the best reasons why music retailers and publications resisted talking about SONAR PE back then when it ONLY had a shelf price of $500(us). What could they "honestly" say? That $500 worth of SONAR = $2500 of Cubase or $5000 worth of Pro Tools? But in those days, spending $5000 on a Mac/Pro Tools rig was ultra cheap considering what it would cost to record ONE ALBUM of the same quality to tape. There weren't exactly a lot of choices of top contenders of this caliber back in SONAR days.. I liked eMagic Logic a lot, Cakewalk's main competition at the time in my opinion, Cubase was kinda strong for Electronica but I thought lagging and kinda weak for everything else. But when Apple bought Logic they dropped and orphaned support for Windows, so I dropped and stopped using Logic because Pro Tools does NOT like sharing audio interface drivers with other DAWS very much, and I ONLY run Pro Tools on my Mac, and I only do that to keep my studio in business alive.  And as much of a fan and even maybe a minor evangelist I am of Pro Tools running on a MAC, I have to say I'm a much bigger fan and MAJOR evangelist of CAKEWALK by BANDLAB running on a Windows 10 computer with decent audio/MIDI interface and enough power to handle a DAW properly! Like a desktop/tower with a quad-core CPU with 8 gigs of memory with do the trick nicely, but an 8 core with 16 gigs of memory is the starting point of little worries of where the dreams are made of.??

And I don't love CbB because it's free, because it's that GOOD. I'd also like to add that I still use SONAR Platinum to open and work older projects to remix and insure I know exactly what I have going on, and as an extra layer of precaution, I'll add/update a new "save as" to another hard drive, a new version number to "rename" the project before opening and working on them in CbB. It's a long standing "just in case" measure that saved my ***** and original projects more than once over the decades. SPLAT still runs very well, rock solid in fact, but it not having some of the newer improvements & workflow enhancements I've grown to love and really appreciate in CbB is a tad frustrating.  And I can also really, REALLY appreciate the comparison 1st hand the amount of work and effort that gone on since Bandlab took over! ????? It really wreaked havoc on the conceptual continuity of my perceptions of "You only get what you pay for." for a couple of minutes. ? Seriously, I was still in kinda shock from Magix throwing ACIDplanet under the buss (along with 20 years of collaborators I lost contact with and my music i had published there?), then shortly afterGibson throwing SONAR under the buss??, I didn't really know how long it would run good on an ever changing Windows platform, and I was minutes away from purchasing a full License for Presonus Studio ONE along with ANOTHER new tedious learning curve???, my Pro Tools AVID Cloud and support license was expiring????. Yeah, I guess you could say I was in a rather foul mood  when I read Meng's announcement that Bandlab was taking over and continuing support for my favorite DAW, the very DAW that's the ground zero CENTERPIECE of my creativity. ??

  And so.... I'm completely convinced after over 30+ years of rigorous efforts of trials and errors looking for the best DAW, I can honestly say from the heart that they are all good, so the best DAW for anybody should be the DAW the you are MOST familiar with. That, and any & every DAW is only as good as the computer it's installed on. That's a good thing to keep in mind when you're having problems trying to run 24 tracks with dozens of plugins on your 10 year old mid grade laptop running ASIO4ALL drivers.?

Gear Heads trying to make a living have LESS reasons to discuss Cakewalk by Bandlab  today now that Cakewalk by Bandlab is SO MUCH better NOW then it was when they stopped talking about it 10 years ago, and that it's FREE..... ? Well....... It's not exactly a well kept secret

 I don't know of any honest single seasoned professional audio/MIDI engineer that anything bad or negative to say about CbB other then maybe "WOW this could be bad for business. This DAW is so GOOD it SCARES THE SHIT OUTTA ME!"

21 hours ago, Alvaro Diez said:

Dear all, 

Any of you may have the same problem: once updated to the last Cakewalk version available, mixing times are taking too long (i.e.: 3 minutes song, with 5 midi-tracks and 1 audio-track is taking more than 24 hours to complete the audio mix)

Is anybody having the same trouble? Does anybody how to fix this? 

Regards, 

Álvaro

24 HOURS? Is that a typo? Did you mean to type 24 "minutes"? Well no matter, my alarm bells would start chiming after 1 minute. When and or If Ever was the last time you ran computer tune up maintenance app? Like registry cleaner? Driver updater? Defrag? Upgrade to Windows 10 yet? Physically blow the dust out?

Freezing MIDI synths before "exporting" the tracks to audio GREATLY reduces the computer's processing workload, which greatly reduces CbB's export times. As does freezing audio tracks with lots of Audio FX running. It is quite possible that you are overwhelming your computer's CPU, and resources. The harder the CPU has to work, the HOTTER it gets, and the hotter it gets the SLOWER it gets due to cooling process known as "Thermal Throttling". However that should only slow your export/rendering times by minutes, never hours.

Kind of sounds to me like you may just have a serious hard drive problem? Mechanical failure? Maybe it's just too full of old stuff scattered all over the place and can't find enough space for writing new stuff, and so maybe the problem is simply due to lack of free space and fragmentation?

☮Why Can't We Be Friends? Jamm'in for Peace☮ by Steev | BandLab

GREAT advice from John Vere.

BTW according to the screen shots you provided, just because you "set" Cakewalk to "default" to record "new projects" @ 192k/Hz ,  you are actually recording at 44.1h/Hz at 46.4 msec. CbB can ONLY record at a frequency that your sound chip/card can support. That setting  just instructs the DAW what bit depth and frequency to record at in a fresh "new empty project". And even if you had a CbB project that was recorded on another computer at 32bit/192k/Hz CbB couldn't open the project that your hardware can't support.

And that may sound like bad news, but that's actually a good thing because 192k/Hz sound files are so HUGE they are an abusive waste of hard drive space considering us humans can't "very arguably" tell the difference in sound quality between 24bit/48k/Hz "professional industry stand" sound file and a 32bit/192k/Hz sound file being played on state of the art, top of the line audiophile equipment.

 And even the term "Very Arguably" is kind of pointless because even at best, us humans can only actually hear frequencies between 20Hz -20k/Hz sooo, ?

So unless you are willing to spend more money on a sound system that costs more then the average new car just to try to experience it, don't even bother trying to record at  32bit/192k/Hz.

 You CAN of course splurge with as little as $100 (us) on and audio interface capable of recording at 192k/Hz such as a Focusrite Scarlett Solo, but unless you spend $1000'S of big bucks on monitors you're still wasting your time.

I have many old Cakewalk projects that were recorded at 24bit/96k/Hz many years ago using Windows 2000 and XP. 32 bit OS's that could only support 128 MEGA bits of RAM with duel M-Audio Delta 1010 PCI audio interfaces which allowed me to record up to a jaw dropping 16 audio tracks at once with SONAR 4 Producer. USB was just being invented & released. The reason for recording at 24/96k/Hz wasn't because music sounded better then music recorded at 24bit/48k/Hz, it was because of recording latency on much slower and less powerful computers then we have today, USB v2 became many times more efficient, faster, and cheaper than PCI tech, and as a result there is no longer any need to record at 96k/Hz. In fact, it's foolish to because the .wav audio files are 2x the size.

But today we have cellphones 100x more power then those early computers, and computers with 1000x of times more power, ALL the rules change. Just like they did when we switched over from analog audio recording to digital.

 Even with all the constant and fierce misinformation I was one of the very few who embraced that with all my heart. Why? Because I knew it was only a matter of time before I knew I could compete with the "Big Boys" studios in NYC as early as when SONAR 4 literally blew past my coveted Mac/ProTools rig rocked the entire world with 1st affordable brute force reliable digital DAW. The whole political climate of the recording industry done got turned upside down and inside out. And while it was still true the Big Boys could still kill my mass media broadcast radio and TV career simply by ignoring me they couldn't control or stop me from publishing to the Internet?

And now, thanks to Bandlab's continued support of IT and embrace of music, they can't stop anybody. Bandlab's 16 track Mix Editor is not only a shockingly good fully functional and powerful web based DAW, it can interface with seemingly any device with a microphone that hooks up to the Internet, be it any kind of smartphone or computer.

 It's so good in fact, I would recommend uploading these projects your having trouble with on your PCs and try working on them from there. It doesn't matter what kind of DAW or computer you use, it cross platforms with everything that can run a Chromium based browser. It runs very fine with Microsoft Edge browser on both Windows and Mac PCs, as well Android and iPhones.

I wouldn't say it's a replacement for CbB, not yet anyway, but if you crash it somebody else who know what they are doing will fix it for you and it's an EXCELLENT back up. You should try it, it's free, so you don't have anything to lose and many MANY things to gain. Things like fans, collaborators, Oh I can't list them all, free back up storage for projects you don't want to lose while you wrestle with trying to get your aging PC to do what you want it to, or come to grips with the fact that's it's never going to happen..

If you record the drum tracks directly into the EZ Drummer audio output channels without muting the MIDI track(s) for the drums you'll hear both the recorded audio tracks and the MIDI performance tracks playback together and go out of phase.

Your LATENCY is so HIGH I'm kind of shocked that you can even recognize the drum performance. 

 And even though I never gamble, I'd be willing to BET you can GREATLY REDUCE latency by getting rid of ASIO4ALL once and for all that as John Vere as already pointed out uses WDM drivers to fool your DAW into thinking you're running ASIO drivers and just use the much newer and much improved Windows WDDM audio drivers which  a couple of years ago the bakers at  Cakewalk had done a good job to greatly optimize to use for those who can't afford or refuse to spend a couple of dollars on an audio interface that supports real ASIO drivers.

Yes, TTS-1 is super easy on computer resources. And I honesty have to say I'm not a big fan of all it's sounds and voices, but I can't say that about any one particular synth.

 I never was a fan of Roland's pianos and drum kits which are very much close enough for rock & roll, but I've always preferred my Kawai -K11 1st. and Yamaha's 2sd as far as vintage hardware synths go. But now I'm very fond of XLN Audio's Addictive Keys for recording. But for just about everything else the TTS-1 shines. Very authentic horns and strings provided you don't play out of the various instruments octave ranges.

I really like Cakewalk Studio Instruments. Another bundle of very cool stuff that goes generally overlooked and seldom used because they are free. (?) I honestly do believe that they have tons of very cool and extremely useful sounds to add to the pallet that can be found IF YOU give them a chance and work with them long enough to see what they can do..

Like Cakewalk by Bandlab. I'd be willing to bet there are STILL people right here in this forum that are still over suspicious and will go out of there way to find fault with it simply because it free. I still have the last release of SONAR Platinum installed, most because of all the extra ProChannel modules I purchased and licensed 3rd party plugins that came bundled with it that I don't want to live without, and I spark it up every once in a while to compare performance. SPLAT is not only about 10-20% HARDER on computer resources, it doesn't have any of the new WAY TOO COOL features that were added since Bandlab took over. ??

Same goes for Windows 10 too. Too many people held on to Win 7 for so long they didn't even realize that that was the bulk of their problems. Win 10 CLEARLY runs more efficiently with much less problems then Win 7 did. especially when it come to OS upgrading. No more manually searching the web for drivers, no more manually having to SPEND WEEKS  reinstalling ALL YOUR SOFTWARE. And last but not least, Win 10 WON'T install if it finds a problem during upgrade installation, it will automatically roll back to the last successful boot. That happened to me once, it was a pretty scary and unnerving hour or so where I seriously considered hitting myself in the head with a board for not manually backing up my system config.

But Win 10 did that automatically, it created an image of my c boot drive right before trying to upgrade.

 And as a 30+ year user of Cakewalk, I think I qualified to say that it just keeps getting better and better, and I do believe the continued support and development is without a doubt equal to 12 Tones & Roland, and MUCH BETTER then Gibson's. ?

 I do believe the #1 reason sampler synths are typically perceived to sound more authentic is because, being that the samples were recorded/made from the actual instruments, you CAN'T exceed the limits of the actual instruments octave range so you don't or won't get any cheesy, unnatural, or unauthentic sounds from them. 

1 hour ago, Michael McBroom said:

Hey guys, just thought I'd check back in real quick. I upgraded my PC a couple of days ago, which always seems to end up being a marathon event for me. And I'm still running. About the only applications I have up and running are Chrome and Cakewalk. Waiting to find the time and the arrival of additional hardware before I launch into the reinstallation of things in a big way.

I've just caught up in the comments. I'm very intrigued by what you guys are doing, comparing the venerable old TTS-1 with all sorts of other products, most of which I've never even heard of (I don't get out much, I guess). So I'm gonna have to give things a listen, and maybe even contribute.

But that might be a while yet. An important CW file has just disappeared without a trace -- my Plugin Menu Layout (.pgl) file, which had dozens of VSTi's listed. It's just disappeared, which doesn't make sense because I installed CW onto a clean new SSD. The old drive is still in the system and I've gone into the CW directories in that drive and the file has disappeared. Very strange. I even did a file search for the entire PC and got no hits. So I'll have to rebuild the file before I'll have access to certain important files.

Oh, just in case you might be interested, I went the mid route with my PC upgrade. I chose an Intel i5 3.5GHz processor, which has the same number of cores and is only 0.1 GHz faster than my 12yo AMD processor. But I'm counting on the more recent technology benefitting me in various ways. The "new" refurbished motherboard is an ASUS Z87-K. It has PCI slots, which is something I still need., and a high-resolution HDMI port, which I need for my 34" wide LG screen. I loaded it up with 16 GHz of memory and also  installed a 1 TB SSD, which holds the OS and so far the few applications I've  installed so far, including CW. New 750w power supply, but old case. I like this old case. 

CW sounds great on this new platform, even with my 20 year old sound card.

With All due respect Michael, you didn't upgrade to today's tech, at best you went sideways. The Z87-K chipset only supports up to Intel Gen 4 which was released in 2013. Intel just release gen 11 CPU's running on the Z 490-M chipset.

On 1/21/2021 at 12:24 PM, Michael McBroom said:

 

At  last count, Cakewalk sez I have over 460 VSTs, but of all those VSTs, some of which I bought, by the way, I find only a very small handful to be useful. And even those are seldom better than the sound quality I can eke out of TTS-1. I find many of TTS-1's patches to be very realistic sounding, especially when a judicious amount of quantization  and EQ is applied.

 Recently I bought an entire package of symphonic instruments. Quite disappointed. Their features don't work as described and they are CPU intensive, so I can't use many of them, or as many as I would like. I can't afford Kontact.  Or at least I won't. I'm not going into debt for a software package.

I did use the "brute force approach," namely I set the instrument I wanted for that track at the beginning of each track's Event List. The way I still see it, though, the way I laid  out the tracks, these problems shouldn't have occurred because there were no conflicts. The way I normally assign a patch to a track, that is using the menu selection in the console view, which is how I do it, should have been enough -- and usually is with almost every other piece of music I've written.

This piece has eight different versions. The first version has a melody track, a guitar track, a bass track, and a drum track. Only the melody is MIDI in this first version. In all other versions, all tracks are MIDI. They have melody, bass, piano, guitar, and drums. I assigned five instances of TTS-1 to the versions, each instance of TTS-1 being dedicated to one of the previously mentioned instruments. In some versions I substituted other instruments for the piano and guitar. Shouldn't matter. Each version was located consecutive to the others along the track  view. That is, version one runs from, let's say just for the sake of using even numbers so it's easy to count, it runs from measure 1 to 102. Version 2 runs from 100 to 202, version three from 200 to 302, and so on. So except for the two measure overlap, there are no points where any instance of TTS-1 has more than one instrument playing. And in every case, I made it a point where the same instrument was not being used by the two voices that were overlapping, with two exceptions -- bass and drums, which by the way, did not have their voices switched, interestingly enough. Although, in a few instances, I had set them for different instruments. E.g. fretless bass to replace acoustic , or analog drums to replace the standard set. So I don't know how I could have set things up any cleaner. Yet TTS-1 decided to do what it wanted to with the MIDI voicing, which is what I don't understand. Especially reverting to Piano 1 for every single version's melody, and refusing to budge from it.

Hmm, perhaps you are overwhelming your computer's recourses? Have you tried "Freezing" the instances of the TTS-1 you aren't working with? It really a pointless use of energy and computer recourses to keep synths and massive amounts of audio plugins running on line even if your CPU can handle it, it still creates an excessive workload and heavy traffic in the PCI buss. And one seemingly simple small movement with a pitch or mod wheel can send 100's of MIDI messages per channel.

 Another One of the great thing about freezing tracks is besides saving enormous amounts of computer resources, it helps keeps your tracks/parts safe from accidental OOPSIES. And if you want to make any changes later on, you can always "UNFREEZE" them.

I absolutely LOVE the Cakewalk TTS-1 and have been ever since it was introduced, I believe back in 2004 with SONAR 4, and still use it today and it doesn't take any hassle to get it to sit great in any mix with any modern 3rd party VST 3 synths from Native Instruments, XLN Audio, etc. and of which I have many, including the latest release Propellerhead's Reason 11 Studio version which runs flawlessly  as a VSTi synth rack in Cakewalk.

1st off, the TTS-1 is a DXi synth, not a VSTi. And being as such it may look a bit cheesy, but it is ALL Roland GM/GS SoundCanvas synth engine under the hood.

 I know this to be true because I also own a now vintage Roland Fantom X which has been collecting dust for over a decade. And as great as the Fantom X sounds, it's still only a 16 bit synth. The TTS-1 runs at the same native 24 bit/48 k/Hz PER TRACK sound quality as I have Cakewalk projects default to.

 And THAT'S what makes it superior to a hardware Roland synth it can be configured for 4 stereo or 8 mono audio tracks in Cakewalk's mixer without ever leaving the digital domain. I.E. it will ALWAYS sound as good as your soundcard.

 And the TTS-1 responds EXCELLENTLY to my Novation Impulse 61 MIDI keyboard controller and is NO PUNK playing thru my Focusrite Scarlett 18i10.

I'm not familiar with Superior Drummer but it should have MIDI map templates for most popular controllers.

It should most certainly have a GM (General MIDI) MIDI map template, and if you set both the controller and SD to send & receive GM all piano keys/ trigger pads should line up accordingly. 

On 10/11/2020 at 12:43 PM, Colin Nicholls said:

>> are you still running Windows 2000 or XP ?

@Steev, as per my signature, I'm running Windows 10 1803. Until 1903 I never had any issues with the Echo Layla drivers on Windows 10.
I don't even know that I'd have problems with the latest Windows (2004?), but I just got frustrated with the shitty disruptive update process and froze my system at 1803.

Prior to the ECHO Layla3G, I had M-Audio Delta 66. Another very nice interface in its day, for the $$.

Ahhh, me now thinks I made a bad choice back in the day deciding on the Delta 1010 and blowing off the Echo Layla, as this is just proof positive that Event is willing to go the extra mile for customer support. M-Audio said enough is enough, 20 years of FREE support is ENOUGH refused to certify the M-Power drivers for Win 10. That was really the only problem, and it was an easy enough hack, but having to hack along with my hacking my Edirol PCR MIDI Keyboard Controller I thought, hmm, maybe enough is enough, in computer years this stuff is ancient dinosour tech, and all these hacks I'm doing are goobering up Windows Registry which slows the system down I've been using these products for over a dacade+ with great service so maybe it's time I man up a couple bucks for newer more modern toys. And I'm really glad and very happy I did.

 Not only did Focusrite prove that "OH YES YOU CAN" get super low latency out of a USB 2 audio interface, and Novation proved how much easier, faster, and more "intelligent" a a newer tech MIDI keyboard controller can be with Novation's "AutoMap" which is pretty good at searching, finding, and setting and MAPPING itself up to VST and VSTi plugins, every time I open a DAW project in CbB. It's also intelligent enough to recognize Mackie MCU protocol and ignore everything my Behringer X-Touch DAW controller is Mapped to, and head straight for mapping out most 3rd VSTi instruments, and VST audio FX.

Not a  perfect job mapping in CbB, but it does most of the work and SUPER EASY to create and modify any MIDI maps and it will remember them there after.

The old trusty and beloved Edirol PCR, which I still use on my Mac/ Protools machine is nothing short of being a serious PITA to map and Heaven HELP the FOOLS who don't SAVE the MIDI MAPS to a SAFE PLACE and never forget where you saved them, or sooner or later you will be DOING IT AGAIN. ?

Oh yeah, the dreaded and scary Windows Update program, it's always a tad hard on the nerves, but it really is a "condition" that's kinda like a necessary evil that can and WILL turn into serious problems if you wait too long, and go into it blindly and don't prepare for it by making SURE all your drivers are up to date. And that's something the Windows updater isn't exactly stellar at doing, and I've found that's the #1 cause of the proverbial "Shit hitting the fan" during major updates. ? But there are a few 3rd party  apps that are very good at it, such as my favorite WinZip Driver Updater does a very good job. There is a free version, which is a PITA because it starts up and checks for new driver versions every time you boot up into Windows, which really slows boot times down, and will annoy you with popup adds until you buy it. But THAT'S the price of FREE. ? However, it's one of the best $25 (us) I ever spent, considering it does a MUCH more through job then the Windows updater does, and what can take you HOURS to do yourself in mere minutes. As well as save you the hassles of the dreaded " BLUE SCREEN OF DEATH."

It also not only speeds up the time it takes major quarterly Windows updates complete, it's extra insurance that they do, OR successfully roll back if the don't. ?

I think v2004 is definitely quickest, easiest and smoothest update yet, and many bugs fixed/removed and an improvement in functionality.

I also recommend using Win 10 Pro so you can schedule updates, and keep an eye out for MS's "Patch Tuesday" policies and manually update, or chose to hold on Wed, or Thursday to have the time make sure nothing is causing problems. If so you can roll back anything that's not a mandatory security patch..

Yeah I know, nobody like to take out the garbage either, but if you don't you gotta keep living with the garbage. And all these things, once taken care of makes everything you do with your computer run smoother and more efficiently with a clean uncluttered Windows Registry and current up to date drivers are really essential for a smooth running DAW. ?

On 9/30/2020 at 8:31 PM, Colin Nicholls said:

If I were looking to replace my venerable PCI ECHO Layla 3G, then I would probably be looking at the Presonus Quantum 2626

I would also need a good PCIe thunderbolt card.

Wow Echo Layla, now there's a blast from the past, LoL. Are you still running Windows 2000 or X Pee? That was a SERIOUS contender for reasonably priced (lower end) multi channel audio interfaces, that were still rather costly for us non rock star money making recording enthusiasts. 

 I opted for it's slightly less expensive main competitor The M-Audio Delta 1010. My main motivation was because the payments for financing the Delta 1010 with a new AKG 414 + a very nice shiny new Focusrite ISA mic preamp to go alone with the AKG 414 + Teletronix LA2A Line Level Amplifier I had purchased the year before, and the new deal was more closely aligned to to my financial "comfortable zone".  My original goal was to make double payments and pay them all off in 6 months instead of a year, but an unforeseen Teamsters Union strike put a kink in that plan. It only lasted 2 weeks but that set back my financial plans & stability back 6 months, so  I had to occasionally limit my beer and weed consumption from time to time in order to make my payments on time, which I wasn't in the least happy about, but it was doable and well worth the effort. I still managed to keep the everyone in the household reasonably happy and comfortable and to pay my loan off in 9 months without the added expenses of ending up in divorce court.  ?

 And that's when life turned GOOD! Much thanks to Cakewalk releasing the ground breaking/recording universe changing SONAR 4 Producer. My dreams of actually recording 8 tracks of audio at a time into a computer with confidence had FINALLY BECOME A REALITY! ? After a few months of enjoying that, I toyed with the idea of selling my Tascam DA88's, and almost did until I upgraded Windows 2000 to XP, my new found confidence and reality took a SHARP TURN for the worse. ? In those days, there was no such things as simply checking a box with you mouse and rolling back your OS to a previous version. In those days, there was no such thing of "Cloning" your hard drives and you had to find your own drivers and install them yourself. In those days it took about  WEEK  to meticulously and very carefully rebuilding, tweaking and reconfiguration to upgrade a computer workstation for recording, and another week to get it back to the way it used to work as expected.

So to make a long story shorter, had to wrestle with Win XP for a couple of months before I finally found the time to reinstall Win 2000. And I ran Win 2K up until Cakewalk and all 3rd party vendors stopped supporting it which was about a year or less before Win. Vista was released. I skipped Vista entirely and used XP until the stable x64 bit version was released, and rebranded WINDOWS 7 Pro x64. And then life became, very, VERY GOOD again with a GIANT LEAP FOREWARD into the wonderful and extra powerful universe of x64 computing for all software taking the MANY advantages of x64 bit, and the ability of running XP (mode) in the background in x32 bit on a VM (Virtual Machine) for all my older favorite software that didn't/couldn't.

I used to love my Delta 1010's PCI cards and was kind of heart broken when M-Audio dropped driver support after Windows 7, and would have been more then willing to purchase and replace my 20 year old Delta 1010 PCI cards with the newer, faster, more better PCIe card slots instead of dropping the PCI line entirely and opting for USB interfacing which took a while for computer tech to catch up to get past the latency issues in the USB well into USB v2.

Gone but not forgotten, I donated my 2 Delta 1010's to my buddy Frank's kids Win 7 based home recording studio which just crapped out last year.

Being perfectly happy and happier with performance Cakewalk's CA2A clone of the Teletronix LA2A, I traded my Teletronix for a 2006 Honda CRV 4 years ago that still looks and runs 100% GREAT. 

 Well so does the LA2A, but it can only be used on one mono track at a time. Cakewalk's CA2A can be used on as many tracks as I want, in mono or stereo, and being I have a very POWERUL AMD FX 8370 8 core computer/workstation that has no problems running and supporting Cakewalk's "Input Monitoring" I can run not only ProChannel, but ANY  FX plugin I want in "real-time" whilst recording...  As in 2x more audio FX plugins then I could run with Windows 7 then I CAN with Windows 10. Pro. ??

 And am I the only one here who appreciates the difference in performance, functionality, and sound quality from VST2 to VST3 audio FX plugins? How MUCH EASIER & FASTER it it to use Melodyne with Cakewalk's ARA support?

 I clearly and obviously noticed the differences simply by updating/ comparing my older Waves v9 plugins to the current v11. Waves v9 plugins still work & sound great of course, but v11 sound & PERFORM ???? AWESOME!

 And also if you love Melodyne v4, you are in for some really TASTY TREATS with v5. The boyz & girls at Celemony got BUSY with some GREAT results.

 And so I shall close my "Why it's always a great idea to keep abreast of modern tech" rant, I should also like to point out one more thing.

As much as I love my Focusrite Scarlett 18i20 USB gen 2 audio interface.. As long as you DO NOT have preexisting DAW projects recorded over 24 bit/48 k/Hz, I have to say in all honesty the difference in price of the Behringer U-Phoria UMC1820 should be the clear choice winner for those on a tight budget.

24 bit/48k/Hz is the industry standard, and Behringer ADA8200 does not support bit depths and sample rates higher then that.

 And in reality, with today's modern high powere multi core computer tech there is no real reason to record any faster sample rate then that. Back in the days of single core 32 bit CPU's that ran under 2 g/Hz and buss speeds under 1000 m/Hz the only way to achieve lower recording latency was to crank UP the sample rate speed.  

 There has been an ongoing argument for decades over whether us humans can actually "hear" the difference between recording made 24/48 and 24/96. I have conducted and been to and thru more than a few double blind tests in top notch professional recording studio ENVIROMENTS, and it's been proven every single time  NO HUMAN BEING can tell actually the difference with their EARS.

I have used, tested, and compared Behringer's ADA8200 hooked up to my 18i20 via ADAT and got rock solid EXCELLENT results at 24 bit/48k/Hz with the 18i20 used as a timing master with the ADA8200 slaved to it running a very negligible 2ms lower latency then using the ADA8200 as master with the Scarlett as a slave.

 And YES if you listen carefully you can actually hear the difference between the Focusrite preamps and Behringer's Midas preamps, however it might not be as easy as you would think to verbalize or put into words what the difference is you hear.

 Personally I prefer the sound of the Focusrite preamps, but the only real answer as to why is, because they sound very familiar, I'm "used" to hearing them sound the way they do... ?... ?

 But the difference isn't as great as it is listening and comparing them through Sony MDR 7506 or Sennheiser HD280 Pro headphones or the VAST difference between any and all near field monitors that are accurate enough to tell the differences. ?‍♂️

No paying for piano movers & it never needs tuning, unless of course you want to change "Temperaments" then of course you are free to do so.

 I've been using  Focusrite Scarlett 18i20's for years now, from gen 1 and currently using gen 2 as my main USB audio interface and they have been pretty much bullet proof. So has my Novation Impulse 61 MIDI keyboard controller.

 And believe me, their are quite a few very high quality audio FX plugins offered in Focusrite's "Plugin Collective" for free that I would not like to live without.

 So many you could actually save money by purchasing a Scarlett 2x2 USB audio interface and throwing it in the garbage just to keep the bundled plugins and software.

? 

It's probably the 2nd BEST VALUE on the planet.

Second only to CbB of course, which has not only been my absolute hands down "GO TO" favorite DAW for a couple of decades now, everything you hear in this piece, with the exception of XLN Audio's Addictive Drums 2 and Keys using "Modern Upright" piano samples is included in CbB. 

 I had gotten Addictive Drums 1 and 2 free years ago with a SONAR Update. I got Addictive Keys "Studio Grand" free upgrading my Focusrite Scarlett from 1st gen to gen 2, and got AK's "Modern Upright" sample pack with my Novation Impulse 61.

 As much as I'd recommend the Novation Impulse 61 as a great feeling and playing all around excellent MIDI keyboard, DAW, and plugin controller, it only has 61 semi weighted keys which almost but doesn't really suit many concert pianists insistence on weighted keys typically found on acoustic pianos, not to mention only 61 keys which is over 2 octaves short, and only has access to one foot pedal.

This is a raw unfinished, unmastered mix uploaded into Bandlab's "Mix Editor" in multi tracks. Feel free to analyze each track, remix, delete, replace or what ever to any track(s), and make it your own.

 The piano track was recorded using AK's "Modern Upright"

https://www.bandlab.com/band/band6873043074588134/a-salty-dog-31725dca-ac6a28a7

On 10/7/2020 at 1:45 PM, abacab said:

The Addictive Keys Studio Grand that John mentioned, Steinway Model D concert grand piano, is available for a free demo in a 4 octave version, no time limit, but limited to 4 octaves and 3 microphone perspectives.

It sounds good to me, but I am not a classical pianist. So try it,  and judge for yourself.
 

https://www.xlnaudio.com/products/addictive_keys/instrument/studio_grand

It's also worth noting that a fully licensed  XLN Addictive Keys is available as a free download in the Focusrite "Plug In Collective" with a choice of one out several different sampled pianos. The Steinway Grand, Modern Upright, Mark One [Rhodes] Electric Pianos etc. can all be purchased separately for expansion.

 Each one of these Sample Packs has a very large selection of different choices of microphone and preamp setups, what types of mic was used, and various very high quality FX built into it's user interface for detailed editing and setup. Many presets, all editable and fully customizable to your liking.

You can even dial in & choose how much "Pedal" noise you want to leak into your piano recordings.

It's available for free to all registered users of Focusrite audio interfaces and Novation MIDI keyboard controllers with a choice of 1 free sample pack included

Addictive Keys download.

I would obviously recommend the "Studio Grand" sample collection for the type of recording you have described, as the Steinway Model D concert grand piano is contained in part of it. 

? Please tell me Betty Boop isn't SHANK'in on Olive Oil with Popeye at one of my Dance Parties! ??‍♂️?‍♀️ Nah, it isn't so.. Things are not always what they look like, LoL..

SHOW MORE

AMD is a no brainer for me.

This is my test drive mix using the new 2020.04 release of  Cakewalk by Bandlab.. ? I can't think of a better way to test drive then mix one of my favorite, not quite finished Steely Dan tunes I've been working on. FM, and there's no static at all. 

Rarely if EVER have I ever selected a plugin "preset" and thought it needs no tweaking.  I've always thought of presets as a really cool way to get me close to what I want, but I think this is the first time I think in my entire history of recording and mixing that I EVER got this close to what I want with the new ENORMOUS selection of KILLER ProChannel module presets included in CbB v2020.04.

This is also the first time in years that I used NO 3rd party plugins. This mix is 100% Cakewalk & Sonitus audio  FX plugins that are included with Cakewalk by Bandlab.

FM, and there's no static at all.

Hope everyone is doing well and adjusting to the New World Order. Hang in there, all things must pass.

I had taken the extra spare time to upload a series of blues jams to Bandlab.com to keep me occupied and keep my chops up uploading one every day for the week.

They are all  Multi-tracked for anybody who would like to use, add to, or remove tracks, and can be bent, spindled, and mutilated any way you choose, or not, only rules I have is stay safe & have some FUN.. ?

Cabin Fever Blues (day 6)

He was a such great influence to so many.

Bill Withers has passed way on the 30th of March. He was 82. ?

Just The Two Of Us

On 4/1/2020 at 10:47 PM, scotia1 said:

I have the same issue. I recently upgraded my Waves plugings which converted some from VST2 to VST3.

Now plugins which had no issues do not load with the message they are missing or not properly installed.

Any help?

EVERYTIME you update or upgrade Waves plugins or Waves Central, you MUST Re Scan your VST folders.

On 3/30/2020 at 7:02 PM, Max Arwood said:

I have a ton of waves products.  Something must be wrong.  I have never seem a Waves product cause the Risky/Do you want to Enable this plugin message.

Max Arwood

That's most likely a Windows Security issue caused by Windows recognizing Waves Plugins are changing your systems config settings, and asking you if it's OK to do. Check "YES", and be sure to run a VST scan and everything will run fine.

Make sure "System Exclusive" MIDI data is being transmitted to Cakewalk from your hardware & software synths.

You won't get a notice for driver updates in Focusrite Control. You need to log into your Focusrite account and check for updates.

 I had the crackling issue after a Windows update with my Scarlett 18i20 Gen 2. It didn't record the crackling, but it still drove me NUTS. ?

Anyway  Focusrite just recently released Focusrite Control version 3.5.0.1754 a month or so back for "GEN 2 interfaces".

Focusrite Control version 3.5.0.1754 also includes a new firmware update with will automatically install with the driver installer package.

Mustang Sally

Renee Dragoo-Farner @tinselweed0827 : Vocals
@steveschreiber : Music [rhythm bed]
@stevebotterbusch : Acoustic Drums
@wrenjennywren: Backup Vocals
@deanwyant: Mix&Master

And one of my ABSOLUTE FAVORITE things I Love about Bandlab.com is when someone like Steve Botterbusch revises a song and records himself playing his drum set in his garage in New Bern, No. Carolina from his iPhone directly into the Bandlab Mix Editor. ? Romeo & Juliet Revision

9 hours ago, emeraldsoul said:

I have every minute nuance of the original committed eternally to memory. Kudos to take this on, it's such a great song. I like your vocal stylings. The music bed is very faithful.

cheers,

-Tom

Thanks all so much bro, more times then not, while doing cover songs I tend to like to improvise and bend things out of shape and more or less into my own visions, but I truly feel songs with such beautifully intricate, and delicate arrangements like this need to remain as close to an intact revision as we can do in order to tell the story faithfully.

And having previously suffered thru a similar tragic love story myself not very log before this was released, it took me years to even even be able listen to this piece thru to the end without breaking down. 

And then the other day after picking up my Alvarez Acoustic and simply finger picking away waiting for inspiration to strike the right chord, before I knew it, this is where my Muse lead me without even realizing it. ?

 I have written countless songs, so many I've lost track of how many, but that's not entirely accurate because I've never sat down with the "intention" of writing a song, it's more like these songs are living observing expressions of life that write themselves...

I feel it would be nothing short of being pretentious, or maybe even dishonest to believe that I could write an original song more heartfelt then this.