azslow3

You need to match the input first. As I have mentioned already, that is not easy. Pan law and exac level matching should be achieved. Note that corresponding settings in Cakewalk and REAPER are different, the same result is not always coming from almost the same words in the preferences, so that has to be checked explicitly. audio sample size used for processing. Check both DAWs are in 64bit processing (sample size as floating point, not program code) mode. audio sample size and sample rate used for the input. F.e. if your recording is 96kHz, Cakewalk apply pre-conversion in case the project settings are different (and project settings are always in sync with your audio interface). In REAPER project sample rate and interface sample rate can be different. Also note conversion algos (f.e. different for "online" and "offline"). Don't forget CAKEWALK can upsample/split buffers, if corresponding settings are activated. output chain, including rates and levels. Also don't forget to check you have nothing in the REAPER Monitoring chain (since it is a kind of "outside of the project", it is easy to forget). plug-in settings. Not only current "preset". DAWs (can) indicated offline/online rendering mode to plug-in and plug-in can use that. More safe is compare "rendered" results, and in case they are the same find the reason "real-time" is different (there are several related settings). And the list is far from complete... But one program (plug-in), with the same input and the same settings produce the same result (down to random component, which in most plug-ins is not time line nor host dependent). Computer programs are not "creative" and I have not heard any plug-in explicitly made sound different in different DAWs (while that is technically possible, if caught, the (commercial) plug-in developer will loose the reputation... and you know, in the audio world "believe" is almost everything )

DAWs sound the same, down to (theoretically) perceptible level. But the comparison should be done right, f.e. default settings in REAPER differ from default settings in Cakewalk. No, the output is not digitally equivalent. F.e. in Cakewalk audio is ALWAYS aligned to project samples, in REAPER it CAN BE aligned, but it is not by default and the procedure is rather tricky (taking into account the project, the clip and the audio interface can have different sample rate, that make no much sense there). Good start for comparison is just open Cakewalk project in REAPER, with ReaCWP. Many settings which can be converted are converted, so the sound should more closely match to the original then by simple "copy paste" audio/midi. BTW in ReaCWP documentation I explain many technical/internal differences between both DAWs (only from Cakewalk->REAPER perspective, not touching reverse direction). -------- For the thread: I have recognized many advantages of Cakewalk after switching to REAPER, they was so "obvious" that I have not noticed them before... So: my colleague ask me really often: "I again can't find how to..." and my answer is "wait a moment... I have to remember...", realizing in Cakewalk the same is simple and doesn't need "memorizing". REAPER is way more "flexible", but that has its price. Some highlights (the list is really long, so just few): for simple MIDI based work, especially when (multi-track) MIDI files are the origin and/or outcome, REAPER is in "hard to use" up to "that doesn't work..." range. step sequencer, matrix, etc. Good in Cakewalk. channel and other "must have" controls (f.e. "where can I select my MIDI keyboard for the track?") are good placed in Cakewalk for "safety" - REAPER all the way. Multi-platform, all versions (including the first one...) available for download and take no time (13MB) do download and install. Simultaneous versions completely independent (portable install), offline authorization, not restricted demo. So you know your can start the DAW anywhere and you will be able to start it anywhere in far future, independent from the company nor license existence. This DAW was made to do anything without stopping the transport (Cakewalk is better then Sonar in that respect, but still some operations have to be done with silence). deep troubleshooting is build-in into REAPER, with all timings, CPU consumption and delays (per plug-in). Plus 2 way plug-in isolation. anticipative engine is way more forgiving, when it comes to "play along"/mixing/mastering. It also void Plug-in Delay Compensation problem during recording. Note that "all in real time" is somehow better work in Cakewalk, especially when some plug-ins in monitoring chain have tiny delays (REAPER make them longer...) or the system power is on limit (in rather special conditions I could make a chain of plug-ins work without glitches in Cakewalk, while that couldn't be achieved in REAPER without rising the buffer). for experiments: fancy routing (including MIDI) and modulations - REAPER control surfaces - Cakewalk (AZ Controller... not many understand that, but some do...) In reality, it is good to have both ?

Do you mean vMPC2000XL freeware? ACT will not help there, may be Drum Map and some MIDI FXes...

It is better to set the same sample rate for the interface in all application, then convince the interface to switch into that rate (up to reboot, in case it refuse switching by software). So, check Windows sound settings and set targeted sample rate (check all visible in Windows inputs and outputs individually), then check Cakewalk and the interface controlling panel. That is especially important with one interface in the system, it will be "default" for Windows and so most probably in use outside DAW. Different interfaces react differently on switching requests, in best case Windows application are silenced when DAW/own control panel is switching to something else. Assuming Windows and Cakewalk are using the same sample rate, most interfaces can output ASIO and Windows sounds simultaneously. Some, but not all. That information is somehow hard to find for particular interface. Some people claim playing with flags (disabling them) in the "Exclusive" section in Windows settings can help with some interfaces. Impact on performance/latency/stability is a different question. There is no reports some interface can work with different sample rates at the same time. All have just one hardware clock. But in some driver frameworks Windows can re-sample on the fly, so OP can try MME and WASAPI Shared to get some sound even in case interface is not working with the Project clock (Cakewalk Project sample rate is locked and interface/driver should be able to work with it, unlike in some other DAWs...).

ACT is no more convoluted then Ableton scripting, the difference is Akai supports Ableton and doesn't support Cakewalk... Instead of videos, I recommend to read the documentation: https://bandlab.github.io/cakewalk/docs/Cakewalk Reference Guide.pdf page 1272+ You can use 8 (+shift) buttons and 8 faders of your controller with "ACT MIDI Controller plug-in". You can use more buttons with "Generic Surface plug-in". The functionality is more or less limited by strip and (VST) plug-ins controls. If you want to use APC with Matrix view (something in Ableton direction), that is assigned in the Matrix view itself (ACT does not support it). APC is a controller specially designed for Ableton, which in turn has rather special work flow. Cakewalk likes "mixer" controllers (Mackie or clones). You can try to use APC with Matrix / assign some commands to buttons / use faders for VST controller (with ACT or MIDI learn). In practice that is not controller which steer Cakewalk well, I will say "X-Touch Mini" is minimal (and the cheapest) in the right direction.

Probably https://wiki.fractalaudio.com/gen1/index.php?title=MIDI_Bank_Select So, bank is selected by CC#0 (0,1,2) and then PC is used to select patch in the bank. For correct visualization INS file can help, but you can work just with numbers.

My TD11 shows ~12ms latency. I guess TD25 is in the same category. But before thinking about reducing it by audio interface, there are several things to check. if you can't set all settings to lowest (in Roland ASIO panel) without drop outs/choppyness, you need to optimize your computer till you can. Another interface will not help to solve that problem it can be 12ms is ok for you. Simple check: put speakers ~4m away from your head. Is it still comfortable to play e-drums? If yes, you should be fine when playing throw EZDrummer using headphones (10ms ~ 3.4m for the sound speed). check that latency throw EZDrummer is really what is expected based on current reported latency. I repeat, if you see 12ms it should really be close to the same in headphones with EZDrummer as with internal TD sound and speakers 4m away.

I can confirm, corresponding command does not work. I do not think there is any difference between known (official) Logic Control documentation and MCU (Pro) in the same mode. Cakewalk plug-in strictly follows the layout. While I do not have any Mackie device, I have checked remotely and X-Touch (big one) sends exactly the same messages. http://www.azslow.com/files/mcu.png I am not sure what you mean by "standard db log 10"... Cakewalk value to dB is significantly not linear. I personally approximate it with 4 linear peaces (that gives sufficient for me precision for all possible values). REAPER use exp(dB*lg(10)/20) for saved value. But it converts it to "fader" (so MIDI) values with quite complicated (not public) formula. They have mentioned somewhere (if I remember correctly) it is a king of Mackie (Logic) approach, probably it should be described in some documentation (I haven not rechecked Logic documentation, may be it is there). In any case, Cakewalk curve for normalized (0. to 1.) values works great for all controls, so for faders, knobs and encoders. That I have realized after trying to control REAPER by encoder (tried direct value and "fader" curve, with different step sizes, nothing was convenient).

Lets compare.... who force you to give complete private information? azslow.com - no, norton.com - yes who is taking money from you? azslow.com - no, norton.com -yes can you get private information of concrete person which is the owner of the site? azslow.com - yes, norton.com - no So, which from these 2 sites is more dangerous? Also check the terms and conditions you have agreed when you have installed Norton. They do not promise you anything they report has something to do with reality, they explicitly refuse to take any responsibility for false (positive nor negative) information. They effectively reporting your what they want and ask you to pay for that. Note (3): my real e-mail (+address, +name, +telephone) is associated with my domain. Have I EVER got e-mail/post/call from ANY "service" which declared me as "known dangerous"? NO! At the same time when some of our servers/workstations at work is really infected, we get notification within several hours (days at most). ------- Since years I am periodically "reported"... sometimes the website, sometimes particular versions of my software, etc. Once I get throw ridiculous procedure to whitelist my staff (complete personal information is required to register on each service, then one or more e-mails, putting special files to the website, etc...), they just whitelist me. No explanation why it was blacklisted, no apologize, sometimes not even simple notification that has happened... So I no longer waste my time doing this.

Most DAWs are "supported" by simulation of some Mackie controls. That also works in Cakewalk. Is that really useful in practice? Transport works, volume can be controlled by faders (unlike Mackie there are not touch sensitive nor motorized, but still), pan by knobs and sometimes solo/mute/rec arm by buttons (on devices which have sufficient number of buttons). But in all cases, that is far from real Mackie functionality. Also note that Mackie has display, while most "compatible" devices with keyboards do not have any indication (LEDs under some buttons at most). So the only more or less convenient solution should be device+DAW specific. F.e. there should be on-screen display to show current device layout, commands/parameters should be adopted for particular device and user preferences. Is that possible? Sure. Cakewalk own ACT MIDI provides that for any controller with under 8+8+9 (8 knobs, 8 faders, 9 buttons) controls. Just without feedback on the controller. AZ Controller does the same, but for any controller and with feedback. Both need like an hour of reading the documentation and initial configuration. The fact is... the number of people which are ready to invest one hour into configuring the controller is almost zero. I mean people CLAIM they need controller, but in practice they do not (need/want). If "ready to use" solution exist, people do not complain. Controllers producers know that, so they simply write "we are compatible with these DAWs", without really doing anything. One-two users will complain the solution is terrible in practice, but all other simply never use that functionality, except may be transport buttons and occasionally changing tracks volume (VST controlling is different topic).

it is mentioned for MIX_PARAM_FX_PARAM, to specify FX and parameter (in dwParamNum). MIX_PARAM_FX does not mention MAKELONG, just "fx#". So the question is what it should be to work with the whole rack instead of particular FX.

With which parameter value it works with "rack bypass"? zero and positive numbers work with particular FXes, -1 produce an error

I have checked with X2 only, it can be something was changed since then... but MIX_PARAM_FX needs parameter number, which is index of particular FX. So it works with one FX, not FX bin.

I remember nice video how blind musician was recording/mixing using computer keyboard (Sonar 8). There is no much difference in transport or other buttons, but changing continuous parameters with keyboard is not fun. That leaves mouse as the only usable computer device for most parameters. And it is rather bad device for "shortcuts" like operations (I have written special plug-in to use it that way, f.e. press button+turn the wheel, not good in practice). I still prefer turn physical knob to change volume of my interface over mouse or keyboard buttons, I mean outside DAW. And so turning knob or moving slider feels like the "right" way.

Saving changes after surface preset selection/modification is the only general surface bug and it exist in current release only. Mentioned hotfix solve it for other, workaround is simple to apply as well. Till you give more details, problems are triggered by your particular setup or (more likely) there is no problems at all (you just expect thinks are working not the way they are really working). F.e. presets (as well as mappings) are saved/loaded or not, there is no "soft of" behavior. When you are "switching between presets" in ACT MIDI, normally nothing changes visually since most parameters in most presets are the same. But what you see as "labels" (parameter labels, control labels are fixed by preset) depends from current context and preset parameters. The context changes all the time (when you click different parts in Cakewalk interface), a label is blank in case the parameter in question does not exist. I repeat, control surfaces installation is a complex process, especially with DIY oriented devices like Axiom or BCF. Everything is logical but far from intuitive. Transport buttons (and some other controls) in Cakewalk Generic Surface can be defined more or less "by intuition", but anything else requires at least an hour reading the documentation (for device and surface plug-in in question). Bandlab Assist is rather strange program... to revert you will need uninstall Cakewalk in Windows (but better not remove "shared" staff, you will be asked what to do with it) and then install current release with Assist.

Computers still seems very buggy, but I would have hoped they are more stable now ? Now serious... "ACT" means different things: (a) it is general API to be used for writing controller plug-ins for Cakewalk, (b) sometimes people reference "Cakewalk ACT MIDI" plug-in as "ACT" and (c) (since related buttons was labeled as such) as a part of API related to VST plug-ins steering. Note there are other MIDI (and sometimes controlling) related features in Cakewalk, which are NOT ACT: "Remote control" for Cakewalk related parameters, MIDI "shortcuts" and (direct) MIDI control for plug-ins. All these features can fight for the controller and the result can be rather confusing when you mix them, at least when you mix them without careful planing. All incarnations of "ACT" are in fact working well (for years). Correct initial setup is a must and there can be some bugs (as in all programs). The issue number (1) exists in one single release of Cakewalk. Settings saving was properly (in case of one controller) working before and we all hope will proper work in all following versions. For this single version use mentioned workaround, for most users (which do not change controlling plug-in presets all the time) that is one time several clicks operation. From (2) and (3) I guess you incorrectly interpret general ACT approach: you first explain controlling plug-in how to work with your device and then assign what controlling plug-in should do with changes sent by your controller. Sometimes both are pre-defined (Mackie), sometimes are defined in parallel (Generic Control Surface) and sometimes truly independent (ACT MIDI and AZ Controller). Sorry, but proper setup and understanding what is going on is required for your controllers: Behringer and M-Audio have not prepared "plug&play" solutions for Cakewalk. I recommend to start with one device and one surface plug-in of your choice, read corresponding documentation (ACT MIDI and Generic Surface have detailed documentation in PDF reference guide, my site explain AZ Controller) and not mix ACT with other approaches, at least not for the same physical control (f.e. do not use the same knob for "Remote control"/MIDI Learn and ACT plug-ins). F.e. for (3), you will need to "learn" some physical controls (in surface plug-in), then enable "ACT" (as VST Dynamic Mapping) for these controls and then "ACT Learn" corresponding logical controls in particular VST. When done properly, you will get "ACT Learning" confirmation dialog (except with some VSTs/parameters, for these you will need to use other assigning approaches, f.e. AZ ACT Fix utility).

From my experience (and many reports in the Internet) Dell XPS (and some other models) have latency problem for years. Somehow it is related to ACPI, probably bad design or/and bug(s) in hardware (as with almost all parts in my, now a bit aged, XPS. USB-C, wlan, audio, etc.). DELL has never confirmed general problems there, but some firmware updates had "latency improvement" in Changelogs (without noticeable difference in practice). Some update has broken ACPI compatibility with Linux (my XPS was running Ubuntu like 20 years old Celeron after that update... I have found some discussion where Linux developers have refused to mitigate clear DELL bug on there side...), after that I run on old firmware. In practice, with network and all services/tasks disabled, XPS can run audio applications without dropouts (at least with RME). Any activity which access system information (and I guess SupportAssist does) can introduce "blackout" for several ms. That is indirectly confirmed by many users which disable corresponding drivers, so services/programs no longer can request information. But disabling some related drivers has consequences and it is unclear which service (especially DELL own) access which device/driver (and when).

@Heinz Hupfer Try switch "Send 0 as Off" to "Send 0 as On" in feedback. Still, 127 had to work. May be worse to try other values like 1,2,etc But that make sense in case August is ready to do these tests...

Just in case Heinz is sleeping now (probably) and you do not (depends from location... ? ) "Forget MIDI" for WAI_UP and WAI_DOWN (they should not have any MIDI assignments). And reassign WAI_Left and WAI_Right.

Those who are asking for Open Source DAW for Windows, try to find (legal) version of Ardour with ASIO support (tip: it does not exist, till you compile it yourself after signing agreement with Steinberg). And from all current plug-in formats under Windows, there will be DX. It will be hard to host VST3 since its Open Source incarnation is strict GPL3 (means whole source should be not only Open Source but also GPL3 or compatible license). VST2 is "gray" (like with ASIO, but not even possible to sign post 2018). PS. People who write open source programs rarely ask such question as OP, they know the answer...

That is known problem in the current version (only), for workaround see

Note that is V2, it has no native Cakewalk support (unlike the first version). Also the price in the link is a bit high... it is ~€180 in Europe (so should be $300). DIY solution for V2: http://www.azslow.com/index.php/topic,444.0.html Several (different) controllers can independently work in parallel. TouchOSC can be used: http://www.azslow.com/index.php/topic,295.0.html , but TouchDAW covers more. Transport without app (from phone/tablet): http://www.azslow.com/index.php/topic,288.0.html Cheap controller with good functionality coverage: X-Touch Mini. http://www.azslow.com/index.php/topic,377.0.html Korg Nano has many controls, but no encoders. Good to control "fixed" set of parameters (f.e. just 8 tracks), not good for for switching between tracks/parameters (needs bringing controls "in position" after switching blocks of tracks).

ProChannel modules have no GUI. What you see is "standard" GUIs which are auto-constructed in that case (also shown for other VSTs without GUIs). With Console that is a bug (known). The fact ACT MIDI tries to open interfaces for ProChannel is just not nice. AZ Controller tries to avoid that ?

@Devils you are not using AZ Controler with Mini ? I do not know how you could get feedback on encoders without it... In fact ACT and surfaces in general are working fine, as long as you have MCU or use AZ Controller (with everything else). ACT mapping you can easily preserve, once you use AZ ACT Fix... For current problem (with the latest CbB only, not loading presets at startup) there is a workaround: after selecting required preset in Surface dialog, visit Control Surfaces in Preferences. Change In or Out port to something else, apply, change it back, apply. Current preset will be loaded after CbB restart (tested with ACT MIDI and AZ Controller). In case the preset is changed (selecting some other preset or by direct modification) repeat port switch.

I have done "clean" test: removed ctrlsurface.dat started CbB inserted Mackie (standard Cakewalk one, shows (C) 2019), with In and Out (not to Mackie device, but who cares... ports exist) changed F8 and disabled handshake restarted CbB Mackie is loaded with default preset ? I mean how you test to AVOID that behavior?