JonD

To get the best deal, just wait for Native Instruments' regular summer (around June) or Winter (Black Friday) sales. If I recall, the prices are as much as 50% off. Alternatively, you can purchase secondhand, but of course there's some risk involved, and even with a legit sale, Kontakt is usually snatched up pretty fast.

Johnny, I replied to your message. -J

Johnny, Open Native Access, click on the little person icon in the upper-right. Click on Preferences. Under VST 64 location, click browse AND CHANGE THE LOCATION. You don't have to accept what's there. It's a bit tricky if you've never navigated Windows explorer. Otherwise, all you have to do is change the location or create a new folder. Easiest way is to copy and paste your VST folder location. I'm running short on time now, but if you need help on this, post back and I'll give you step by step instructions. (Maybe best to PM me). -Jon

You don't say if you tried to set the buffer size lower (for less latency). What happens if you move the slider more to the left?

How to install VST Plugins in Cakewalk How to use Kontakt in Cakewalk by Bandlab

As others have indicated, your Kontakt is out of date at v5.1. Use Native Access to bring Kontakt up to the latest. And while it's likely not relevant to this issue, you should update CbB as well.

You freeze the track(s) in Sonar/Bandlab, not within Superior Drummer. See here. Also, you didn't respond to gswitz's suggestion about latency monitor. That's an important tool to help troubleshoot in cases like this.

How often do you leave your PC on for? Rebooting your PC should be a normal part of any DAW user's routine. If you leave your system on, with project open, for days at a time, it's not surprising there would be issues.

One possibility is, PCI card-driven interfaces work best with the older motherboards. While the newer boards have PCI slots, they are often bridged, and that can present its own data-streaming problems. (This is not an absolute, as some newer boards work just fine with PCI-based audio, but it can definitely be a factor).

What a bizarre takeaway..... There are probably hundreds of users here using Amplesound without any problems. Did you ask for help here or just assume you tried everything so naturally it was a faulty product?

This. To be thorough I suggest uninstalling then re-downloading and reinstalling all of them.

Try closing Sonar/CbB, then restart using RUN AS ADMINISTRATOR and see if that changes anything.

You says this deletion/substitution happens with EZ Keys, but how about with other VSTs? If this is happening with any VST under similar circumstances, could be the track is receiving MIDI program changes from somewhere.

If you're looking for VST rompler with a wide array of sounds, I recommend Xpand!2 which has over 2500 presets, and is definitely worth the $15 cost: https://www.pluginboutique.com/products/1560

Did you keep a pre-mastered set of your wav-files? Traditionally - and I'm talking since analog recording days - there are three general phases to production: 1) Tracking 2) Mixing 3) Mastering The idea being, you save (at least) these distinct sets of files so that if you needed to go back and fix your mix or master, you wouldn't have to start completely over -- just go back to the previous saved set. Of course, if you mastered as you mixed, unfortunately you wrote over older mix files and there won't be anything to re-master. I'm almost afraid to ask.....

The manufacturer webpage describes a system tray utility called the "ipMIDI Monitor" which manages your MIDI ports. Is that telling you anything?

Looks similar to the issue described here: http://forum.cakewalk.com/New-Update-Messed-up-Breverb-m3804019.aspx

Excellent strategy. EVERY DAW user should rely on system backups. I suggest doing them fairly often. I do a system backup image about once a month or just before a major software change or update. In the past 20 years or so I've been using system backups, I've never been more than 10-20 minutes away from a working system (regardless of the software glitch)... I'm constantly amazed when I find out a longtime DAW user uses no system backup at all - the equivalent of operating without a safety net. (I guess they enjoy occasionally spending hours troubleshooting only to give up in frustration then spend a week reinstalling/activating all of their software).

Jan 2023? Lol. That only gives me OVER TWO SOLID YEARS OF CONTINUING TO WORK ON MY ROCK-SOLID SYSTEM until I have to think about updating. What was I thinking?

You don't say why you "hate Windows 8", but I'm rock solid here on Windows 8.1 (I have another machine with Win 10 as well). I use the free classic shell utility which makes Win 8.1 look like Win XP or Win 7, as I don't care for the Metro GUI. In any case, I will go against the grain and suggest you stay with Win 8.1, then install CbB, as unlike with Win10, there are no mystery updates that will break something and suddenly render your system unusable (until you troubleshoot and fix the problem). Also, more older interfaces still work with Win 8.1 while it's a crap-shoot with Win 10. Bottom line, Win 8.1 is much more predictably solid than Win 10 in my experience. With Win 10 you will likely spend more time trying to figure out why CbB suddenly isn't working the same as it did yesterday due to an MS update.

Best to just get in the habit of powering things on in the right sequence (ie. necessary hardware first). It might feel like a PITA in the beginning, but after awhile, you won't even notice.

Why? Many HW manufacturers stop driver development on their discontinued products. Presonus happens to be one of them. https://www.presonus.com/products/fp10/downloads Note that the last supported O.S. was Windows 7. Again, that doesn't mean the last released driver won't work under Win 8.1 or Win 10. It's certainly worth trying if you have a way to restore to a backed up system image if things go south.

Do you know for a fact that the Firepod works well with Win 10? I doubt there are Win 10-specific drivers for the Firepod, but that doesn't mean it won't work with Win 7/8 drivers under Win 10. So research that first (Obviously there's no point in updating the software if your Firepod won't work with the new O.S.).

Assuming there is a native (ASIO) driver. The reason most people use ASIO4ALL is they're using an onboard sound card with no native ASIO drivers -- or at best, poorly written ones. If that's the case here, OP should look into getting a proper audio interface. New ones can be had for as low as $50 (and lower if you buy used, on Ebay, for example).

How did you solve it?