bitflipper

Almost no USB MIDI here. I have a MIDI multiplexer, a sort of 5-pin DIN patch bay with presets. Also some standalone splitters and a combiner so I can drive a common MIDI device from two keyboards onstage. My only USB connection is to a tiny portable keyboard that fits into my laptop bag. Its only purpose is to give me something to do in airport waiting lounges. No need to chain it to anything.

Maybe this is the true value of 432 Hz tuning. I've settled on 433.5 Hz just to be safe. Empirical testing has shown that to let in just enough cosmic vibrations and still fall outside the parameters of automated melody detection algorithms.

^^^ This is my logic, exactly. I'm self-quarantining. But I've been soaking my microphones in alcohol just to be safe. The surgical mask over the pop filter didn't work out so well.

Step one: verify that the DLL is actually where you think it is. Yeh, that falls under the "duh" category but it's always gotta be step 1. I've been bitten by not making it step #1, e.g. the plugin's installer put it somewhere I didn't expect. Once you've verified the DLL is present and where you think it should be, there are only two reasons for it to not show up: 1. The VST's internal registration failed, or 2. Cakewalk never initiated the registration because it didn't know about the VST's existence. Open a scan log and re-scan all your VSTs. Do a text search within the resulting log file on the DLL's filename. If it's not there at all, then it's scenario #2 (you haven't told the scanner where to find the DLL). If it's in the log but raised an error during initialization, the error may provide a clue as to what went wrong, e.g. a missing dependency or insufficient Windows permissions to create some file.

If this was a paid gig, I'd say go out and buy iZotope Rx. But given that it's a freebie, Adobe Audition should do OK. It has decent noise reduction features, and its spectral editor can handle the one-off noises (be ready to spend some hours with your headphones on). As Jim points out, it will probably require multiple passes. Fix the noise first, then use LP and HP filters to narrow the spectrum to just the speech frequencies, and finally work on the amplitude issues with gain automation, gating and compression.

That's mod wheel data. Cakewalk isn't sending it, it's your controller. Or (less likely) your MIDI interface.

You could say the same about 12-string guitars.

The band above is Nightwish, a mostly-Finnish band, although the pipe player Troy Donocklay is British (their current singer, not shown, is Dutch). One of my favorite bands in the world, certainly my absolute favorite Scandinavian metal band. And yes, his instruments are real. Interesting you should mention Gary Moore, as Nightwish covered a Moore tune "Over the Hills and Far Away" and it's one of their most-requested live numbers.

^^^ Craig has succinctly identified the main advantage of the K-system over LUFS: the former is built around monitor calibration while the latter ignores the problem of subjectivity in the mix in an attempt to make the process a completely objective exercise. They are really two different things, even though they have similar goals. LUFS solves the longstanding need for standardization in broadcasting and streaming, but it does not help you get a good mix to begin with. For that you need to monitor at consistent levels, and that's a prerequisite for implementing the K-system. I use both systems. K-14 or K-20 while mixing, LUFS for the final master. If I have to alter overall volume to hit the LUFS target, monitoring at the same levels as dictated by the K-system helps me hear whether that volume change has made it necessary to tweak the mix.

As long as you don't modify the beginning of a wave file, an external edit should not affect the file's position on the timeline, as that information is not contained in the wave file itself but rather in the project. I've been using an ancient copy of Adobe Audition this way for many years, and have never had an alignment issue. However, I do 99% of my editing within Cakewalk itself, using splits, slip edits, mutes and automation to fix most problems. An external editor only needs to come into play if I'm trying to remove noise, as CW does not have a de-noiser or de-clicker utility. Those are specialty tools best left to dedicated software such as iZotope Rx and Sony SoundForge.

Well, if CW insists the phantom plugin is on a clip, and there are no clips, then it seems likely the project file is corrupt. At this point, I'd go with laposoa's suggestion and recreate the template. And make a backup of it for insurance.

Try this...select all tracks by pressing CTL-A, then hit the Del key. That should wipe out any events in the tracks without deleting the tracks themselves.

Nope. To start the Event Viewer, type "Event Viewer" in the search box next to the Start button. Under "Windows Logs", click on System. At the top of the event list, click on the "Level" column heading. That will group all the events by severity; you're looking for an entry with a red icon, labeled either "Error" or "Critical". As you click on each entry, a description will appear below the event list. I haven't seen a driver error here in years so I forget what to look for, but it'll reference either cakewalk.exe or your driver's DLL filename.

MDynamicEQ should be in everyone's toolkit. It's a problem-solver.

I'd talk to UAD. Although this can only be confirmed via a crash dump, it's most likely caused by a driver bug. Even without a dump file, an entry in the Event Viewer may give you enough information to verify this.

I just read that kvr thread...jeez, talk about your fanboys! "Just release it already so I can buy it!!!". That's over the top even for me, someone who has almost all the FF products.

Oh, yeh. Imagine a plugin that's functionally identical to SPAN but $199. Sign me up!

Beautifully balanced mix, clean, wide and up-front without any harshness. And not drenched in FX, thank you. Great performances across the board. Kudos for taking on such a challenging tune to cover. I wouldn't have had the patience!

Agree with Tom regarding the bass. Not too bad on my speakers, which are pretty flat, but on headphones that are a bit bass-hyped (as most are, and most car stereos, too) the low bass is a bit overwhelming. Personal preference only, but I'd suggest backing off the reverb a bit on the lead vocal (it's fine on the BGVs). Maybe bring up the delay a little if that sounds too dry. The song, though, is great, as is the production. Love the guitar lead. Tasty.

Very enjoyable! Would love to hear what you could do with some Shadows covers.

Great composition, as always. Love the dynamics and panning choices that make your compositions a joy to listen to on headphones. Sometimes, though, it sounds surprisingly bright, at times almost harsh, here on both my speakers and (to a lesser extent) on my headphones. Especially noticeable on loud passages and percussion, e.g. some crash cymbal hits and tambourine. But other elements, even those that can sometimes be overly bright such as celeste and brass, sound great. I've never noticed this on your other stuff. Maybe this one's just mastered a little hotter than your other pieces? Or maybe it's just the libraries. I know some Spitfire libraries favor treble and often call for a little EQ, but I don't know about VSL - that pricey stuff's out of my league!

If nothing has changed other than the executable's replacement, then it's perfectly reasonable to assume the problem lies there. However, it's very common for users to assume nothing else has changed and be wrong about that. If you're recording a new project, then lots of things have changed. Do previous projects play without dropouts? Or does the problem only appear while recording new audio? To answer the original question, no, I have not experienced any dropouts over the past 20 or so (including beta releases) updates. However, I keep my ASIO buffer size at 2048 and almost never change it, so I'm pretty much immune to buffer underruns under normal circumstances.

FabFilter has never been known for unique plugins. Rather, they make unimaginative standard types of plugins, but do them with such uncompromising quality and friendly UIs that you'll want their stuff even though you already have plenty of other compressors, EQs, reverbs, limiters, etc. in your arsenal. So what generic types of plugins don't they have yet? Chorus/Phaser/Flanger. Analysis/metering tools. Multi-channel effects. A level-rider. I can't imagine the world needs more of any of these, but then the success of iZotope's Insight took me by surprise. The other thing FabFilter's famous for is selling new versions of existing products. Updated versions of their gate, de-esser or dynamic EQ seem unnecessary. A multi-channel spectrum analyzer would be welcome but other products already do this very well. Saturn would easily lend itself to expansion, perhaps offering some proper amp sims, so I'd be inclined to agree with Zo. I would also be inclined to buy a Saturn 2. I just hope it's not Pro-C 3 or Pro-L 3.