Jerry Gerber

Not sure what you mean. I just opened up Z3TA-2 and Breverb and they work fine. I paid for those separate from Sonar. As far as the other plugins that come with Sonar I am still using the Sonitus plugins. After completely uninstalling Sonar, and reinstalling Cakewalk, the Sonitus plugins are also working fine.

I think Cakewalk, particularly the new version about to be released that fixed the long-overdue problem with snap in the staff view (which I've tested and works great), will be sufficient and I won't need to use Sonar. After Gibson destroyed Sonar, I backed up all of my Sonar installation files, put them on a CD and put them in a safety deposit box in the bank. But now, I doubt I'll need them. By the way, I don't quite get how Bandlab is giving a $400 program away for free. I could understand it if they were just making it available, but the fact that they are fixing bugs and adding new features makes me wonder. Nobody gives away such sophisticated software for free, well, almost nobody. Do you think they'll start charging for it soon (which if OK with me) or is there some catch somewhere? I do notice that the end-user doesn't really have a copy of Cakewalk, there's no .exe file to hold onto. Best, Jerry

I fixed it, but a little differently. I like to keep my DAW lean and thin. Any program or files I don't use eventually get removed. So I uninstalled Cakewalk (current version), uninstalled Sonar and reinstalled Cakewalk. Everything is working fine. Sonar doesn't need to be installed, but if shared files are removed that causes the issue. By reinstalling Cakewalk, all the shared files are restored. Thanks Scook..

Hi, Tonight I installed Cakewalk, everything's working fine. I then proceeded to uninstall Sonar Platinum, and now when I open Cakewalk, I get two messages: 1. Database Error--Database connection failed. Assigned plugin categories and names will be unavailable. 2. Database Update Failed--The database update utility failed to run. Please verify that Cakewalk is installed correctly. What shall I do? Thanks, Jerry

Problem solved. I downloaded the latest version of Cakewalk and now it's fine. I was using the last version of Sonar, I know, I'm a real holdout. Until this sync issue, I was having no issues at all with Sonar, so I didn't bother to upgrade. Jerry

Thanks Max. I've never seen this problem before and have recorded with Dune many times. I prefer to render the entire sequence at once, but I may try your suggestions if I cannot resolve this. I wrote the company that makes Dune, maybe they'll have an idea. I also tried inserting a brand-new Dune track and I copied and pasted all the MIDI data to the new track, but this doesn't resolve it, I thought maybe the track might have gotten corrupted, but that's not the case. I also tried restarting the DAW but this doesn't work either. I'm stumped, at least so far. Dune seems to missing the tempo change entirely, and then it tries to catch up a few beats later, but of course this doesn't work because it's already out of sync with the rhythms of the other instruments and the tempo of the sequence.. Yeah, Dune has been my favorite synth for years. It has incredible sounds and is fairly easy to program from scratch. Thanks for the comments about my music, glad you enjoy listening. Jerry

Hello, I have 36 MIDI tracks and 1 softsynth (Dune 3, a VST plugin). When I playback the sequence everything is perfectly in sync, even with lots of meter and tempo changes. But when I render the sequence to audio and play back the audio file, there's a certain point (at measure 95) where the softsynth begins out of sync. I've tried recording right from that point in time, but the problem still happens. Here's what I've tried: 1. Turning off delay compensation on the plugin (no go) 2. Moving a cc7 240 ticks earlier than the note that has the problem (no go) 3. Moving a tempo change, which occurs right at measure 95 back to m94 beat 4 clock 240. (no go). Anybody know what might be causing this? I've not seen it happen in all the years I've been working with softsynths that are synced to tempo.. Thanks for any help! Jerry

https://enchantmentathamilton.org/20200601ForTheLongestTime.mp4

Hi Bjorn, When I set out to compose a piece, I have a few parameters. Is this going to be a standalone piece, or is it going to be of a larger piece, i.e. a symphonic movement, a piece in a set of songs, or a set of piano works? Then I decide, very roughly, approximate length. When I begin composing, I start with either a motive or melodic phrase, a chord or chord progression, a rhythmic pattern, or even just an instrument or two. There's no one way to begin a piece. After I've written maybe 25-50 measures, (if it's going to be a longer piece) then I evaluate whether the piece is going to "fly", meaning I commit to writing it till the end, or I abandon the idea and begin something else. I'd say about 25% of the time I abandon the idea. I am a strong believer that form and structure evolve directly from content. I haven't analyzed what the form of this particular piece is, I compose intuitively and build up structures based on what I've already written. form follows content. I strive to ensure that the "seams", or the "joints" are not audible. The goal is to create a piece which has autonomy, a sense of inevitability and structural cohesion. I have to understand emotionally and intellectually what I write. If there's any confusion at all as to what I mean, I rewrite, rewrite and rewrite. Sometimes I'll write a section and think, "no, I don't want the piece to go in that direction", and I delete that section and begin again from that point forward. That happens a lot. A composer has to be two things: He has to be his own fiercest critic and his most passionate supporter. You can't just be one or the other, it must be both! Thanks for listening Bjorn! Jerry

One thing I've noticed with the upcoming new version: Even when the global snap is turned OFF, the snap function still seems to work in the staff view Hmm? Is that by design?

Yep, I noticed that too. As soon as the new version is finalized I'm going to download it onto the DAW. I'm hoping it will be as stable as the final version of Sonar has been on my Windows 10 machine. (even though the lack of snap in the staff view drives me nuts).

Why, thank you very much Mark. I am glad you appreciated my piece! All done in Sonar (before it was Cakewalk). Best, Jerry

I'm working on the ending of the 1st movement of a new symphony, hope to have it done by the end of August...

I think so. I've been testing it this afternoon and it's a delight. So much better with snap than without. As soon as the official new version is released I'll install it on my DAW. My first upgrade since the final version of Sonar....Yippee!!

Fantastic! I've been trying it out and I'm pleased that the staff view FINALLY has its snap-function restored. This really helps a lot!!! Can't wait to finish testing and then install it on my DAW... Thank you! Jerry

Hi Tom, By ambience, do you mean reverberation? I am pretty sure for that piece I used the Yamaha SPX-2000 reverb... Thanks for listening! Jerry

Here's a slow piece... From the album Cosmic Consciousness PLAY Jerry

It works on my system as expected. When I click on any note already on the staff the duration changes to that note's duration when I enter a new note. Maybe try a reinstall? But wait! I am still using the very last version of Sonar. I hope they didn't mess that one up, it's extremely useful...

Well, that is really good news, and God knows we can use some good news these days. I look forward to installing the new release when it becomes available! Thanks, Jerry

Hi msmcleod, Any idea when the next update with the staff view snap function repair will be released? Thanks, Jerry

Yes. In the staff view, if you lasso and select a group of notes to edit, say you want to increase their velocity. Sonar always worked by right-clicking to bring up the context menu from which you can choose velocity and perform the edit. But now, if you do that, the selection disappears, so you have to press CTRL AND right-click in order to keep that from happening. It's a shorter step to not have to press CTRL and have it work the way it did in Sonar. Adding time or having to move your other hand to press CTRL might seem like no big deal, but over time, these extra steps really add up. I hope you change it back. I don't understand how anybody could object to making an operation quicker to perform by removing one additional keystroke... Thanks! Jerry

I have no idea what genre this is in. I write what I want to hear and others can classify it any way they want to. I've had companies online selling my albums calling them "dance music" ? I actually believe that all the music in the universe comes from the same source and each and every musician is trying to interpret it and feel it based on their own experience, inspiration, training, culture, etc. Thanks again for listening! Jerry

Pressing CTRL and right--click requires 2 hands. Right-clicking alone requires only one hand. When you're doing a lot of editing moving both hands to call up a menu takes more time. The workaround is to keybind the context menu operations you use and then just press one key to call them up.

I agree. When the snap function is fixed, the staff view will be on par with every other DAW that I've used or tried. The newest DAW to notation, Studio One looks promising due to the dynamic symbols being linked to MIDI cc data, but the dealbreaker is that Studio One doesn't seem to have an Event List. Every DAW has an event list, it's one of the most useful tools for working with cc data, and copying and pasting notes, program changes and cc data all at the same time. Even without the snap function working, I still have gotten pretty fast at entering notes. Enlarging the staff helps. I've been using Cakewalk since 1992 and have never even once used the piano-roll view. As you pointed out, for polyphonic music with a lot of counterpoint, nothing beats notation. Jerry