mettelus

Ample Sound uses its own engine as the sound files are in a proprietary format. It is not in a Kontakt-usable format.

Bounce to Clip(s) will destructively edit the trimmed audio into a new file, which will be significantly smaller; but also bear in mind that Cakewalk will not delete the original audio, so both copies will remain in your audio folder. The simplest method to clean that up is to do a "Save As..." of the project to a new folder with "Copy all audio with project" checked. Again, you will now have a duplicate folder, but the "Save As..." directory (new copy) will only contain files required by the current project version.

Without details to see what you have done, if you are copying a clip and also need to preserve timing, use CTRL-Shift-drag. The Shift preserves timing when moving vertically between tracks. If Snap is off, you could have introduced a minute delay between the two copies, which is a common trick to get a chorus effect.

Which Virtual Instrument is this specifically? I think that is what the question above was asking you. There have been VSTis over the years that either have abysmally low or oppressively high outputs on their default settings. It is always helpful with the OP to detail your setup so people don't charge down a rabbit hole on an assumed solution. The "instrument" referred to in the OP is still a mystery to people trying to help.

That is a good question, I am not sure what the new Sonar has intended for it. I got sticker shock when I first saw this plugin (I didn't even know it existed till I saw it in here a few months back), since Dolby Atmos was embedded into the Studio One Pro 6.5 update, and you can pretty much get that DAW outright for the (sticker) price of this single plugin. I am still puzzled by that price point TBH.

Loopback is a real-time recording function (i.e., slow) and can also have feedback concerns depending on your setup. Depending where you are downloading from, 4K Video Downloader will download up to 30 files/day on the free version, and there is an option when pasting links to select the video/audio resolution you want (you can choose just the audio from a video if desired). Some links it will not parse properly for download, but it tends to do fine for major sites. The huge advantage of that application is that it is only constrained by your internet speed (even video files can download in seconds), and you simply copy a link, paste it into the app, and select what you want from it. I haven't used loopback for anything in the past several years because of that app. Quick side note: I never installed the "+" version of the app, so not sure what the differences are with the original version (which still updates regularly).

This is definitely a consideration, as the shielding inside of some USB mics is not the best and will also let the transformer bleed into the circuit. You mentioned a USB condenser mic in the other post, but I didn't see which model you are using? A few high-level comments on USB mics in general (I bought both PreSonus Revelator versions last year because I wanted to check these firsthand): A USB condenser must be treated like any condenser... it needs a shock mount or it will pick up vibration noise. Depending on your environment, this may be overwhelming. For condenser mics in particular, environmental noise in general is something to address as they also will pickup noise from things close depending on what polar patterns are available. The transformer bleed requires a noise gate (at least on the Revelator condenser). The Revelators come with a software FX chain (pre-recording) which can deal with this, but it is still a balancing act to get them not to pump. Plosives can be mitigated by rotating the mic roughly 30 degrees in addition to your distance from the mic (another balancing act). As with any recording, the "balancing act" is to maximize the signal-to-noise ratio in your favor (cleanest signal to lowest noise floor you can get). The more distance you can get between the signal and noise, the easier follow-on FX chains or post-production becomes. Addressing those will take a little time, but once you get into a comfort zone with them, keep your settings/setup consistent so that you get repeatable results.

Wow, there is one you don't see very often... someone who takes so much pride in their work that they actually listen and respond to users without getting indignant. Very good form.

One of the comments in that insolvency thread says it all... "Switching to DaVinci Resolve." The free version is already more capable than most apps and if you ever need Studio (for many this is highly unlikely) it is a one-time $295 (that upgrades forever after, at least thus far). There is a YT video somewhere very damning to Adobe... $600/year for Premiere Pro/Mocha versus a one-time payment of $295 for the same feature set. Resolve is one of the few apps with a free version that has very few limitations to it; very well worth learning since you can do your thing and seamlessly jump to Studio should that day ever come.

This version also fixes the SOP 6.6 VST3 issue. I didn't see that in the release notes but wanted to check that out and it is again functional.

I am in agreement with the posts above simply from this comment. If you haven't even started anything substantial with them and are already getting pushback, it is only going to get worse from there. I have never, and will never, chase someone down to give them money; that is simply not how real life works. Life is about time, and it doesn't take long to realize that lazy people end up being a time sink on your life.

There were several posts on the old forums in the X3 days, but I did a quick check of the ones easily found and the links are no longer valid. @Clovis Ramsay has this thread from 2021 that has even more info, but the link to the drum map itself (on Google Drive) is not functioning for me. Maybe they will get a ping from this post and can help you out. Quick Edit: I clicked the "Download All" in the upper right on Google Drive and that did download everything at once. I couldn't just download the map individually.

MStereoSpread is worth a quick mention here. Unlike MStereoProcessor, which was offered last week and tailors existing stereo material (but won't generate it), MStereoSpread will generate stereo via either classic delay or via Melda's spectral generator. The spectral generator shifts frequency content randomly to one speaker while compensating the other, which allows for things to sit in the "same space" yet avoid frequency collisions (in a stereo field). Caveat to this is the spectral generation will always collapse to mono perfectly, so be sure to consider that (and frequency collisions) depending on intended playback systems.

Solidos already answered most of this, which is basically V6 has free updates until V7 comes out. They split off the new VSTi as a hybrid push, and the only way to get that is to join the hybrid plan. The hybrid plan is a Catch22 in that you are locked to the latest release as your "most current" (same as what Platinum's Membership Plan did), and in case you didn't catch the comment in this thread, 6.6 broke several VST3s, and there were not enough updates in it to warrant installing, so staying on the last 6.5 update isn't going to affect you one iota. A "fix" for that VST3 issue has still not been released.

We really need more information on his situation if you can get it. There are plenty of guitar VSTs that also have input gain control, and even some like Overloud's TH series that default to expecting a stereo input (which is very uncommon). If he already has the interface set to proper levels, I would walk him though the rest of his signal chain and find out what he has going on in that regard. A line vs instrument level at the interface shouldn't be an issue if he is seeing the levels passed out of the interface, but that is worth checking as well. I am not familiar with that unit, but I am assuming the levels he is seeing are the output since it has no software mixer per Google (which would be another thing to check if that were applicable).

It is possible that is a font issue, but my hunch is that is is more likely a screen resolution issue. When increasing screen resolutions, not all fonts take kindly to that. Unfortunately setting high resolutions on a laptop can also make the screen hard to read, so there may be a balancing act to perform there. A quick check would be to set the laptop to the recommended resolution and see what it looks like.

^^^^ This one is massive from my perspective. Pretty much everything I am incredibly passionate about I have kept in the "hobby" bucket for the simple reason that I can do what I want, when I want, how I want, and if I don't want, that is perfectly okay too. It is very important to keep in mind what variables are in play and which ones impact the "fun factor" adversely. Hobbies are for fun, so definitely keep that part (i.e., "I loved making music"), but don't feel the least bit bad about kicking the things that make it not fun to the curb and walking away from those aspects.

After what you went through on the first one, I would have kept that as a badge of courage (and resolve). Another reason I was thinking the luthier as well is I am curious what is the cause of such a repeatable inconsistency. Gut assumption is they used a caul that was a smaller radius than the board (so it would contact the edges first), but then made me wonder if the ends are glued since you said the middle will seat but not stay put. The guy who PLEK'd my main pulled and reseated half the frets before PLEKing (first fret job I did in a dorm room without proper tools) for $50 and they are still fully seated 12 years later. Yours would be a bit more complicated because the tangs are not exposed so a simple fret saw won't work if the slot is filled... but then again, that issue may also be from the machine they used to cut the slots with. Just sucks they sent you something with an issue like that and didn't QC it better. But that did just make me think of another idea.... get a quote from a luthier, and ask Guitar Anatomy if they will pay for the repair since it isn't your fault, and you shouldn't be shelling out return fees in the first place. Putting you out of pocket for $350 is a bit uncalled for.

The luthier option might be best if you like the neck otherwise. Frets really need to be cauled and then tapped so the barbs are under fresh wood, but a luthier should have all the stuff needed to pull and reseat them properly for you.

When you are that deep into a project this is probably the least painless. To that end you can also have the vocal recorded to the 113bpm version and bring it into the 110 version and slow it accordingly for final mixing. You would still need to repeat the 113 step on the pre-master.

Also be sure your Windows Sound Options are not giving exclusive control to apps. If another app sees it first, it may be locking the device so Cakewalk cannot access it.

A lightweight alternative to Task Manager is Moo0 SystemMonitor v1.83. The Portable version is the best option, since it installs nothing on your machine and you can simply run that when needed (and use it from a thumb drive as well). If you right click anywhere on the GUI you can choose to "Keep on Top" (option near the very top) while working. If your machine starts to get sluggish, pay attention to the [Bottleneck] and [Burdened By] at the top and what processes under [CPU Loader] and [HDD Loader] may be triggering them. Although it doesn't go into the detail of the Task Manager, the Bottleneck/Burdened By fields are handy for when they get triggered and it takes up far less screen space to use.

As Andres said, a lot of this is how the VST is scripted and how it loads samples (if used). There is no cut and dry answer for this unfortunately, but VSTis that load samples into RAM so that they are instantly accessible will often be smoother than ones reading from a disc, but that would also bring up a RAM concern to make sure you can load them all. Internally a lot of VSTs can be CPU-hungry even if they do not have massive size to them, so using only what you need is often best (akin to Ozone Standard is a mastering plugin, do not use that on all tracks). For some instruments it can be better to bypass internal FX, then use a lightweight chain on the output. A good portion is also the system, so do not forget old school things like freezing or bouncing tracks. CWPs themselves are rather small (as long as Region FX are bounced), so you can save things with a new name when you are "close" to committing, yet still back out to the previous version if you do have tweaks to make.

This used to be dependent on the card issuer, but there is now a federal law mandating this (12 C.F.R. § 1026.12). As most major issuers are based in the US, this will almost always apply, as most third party cards are actually issued by a parent company of VISA/Mastercard/Discover/American Express, but as Glenn mentioned it is definitely worth checking. PayPal is one I do not overly trust, but some vendors require it. You can actually make a transaction then unlink you card from the account right afterwards so that it doesn't stay on file. I have gotten into the habit of that simply because the phishing emails regarding "PayPal" are frequent enough they never fall off my radar.