scook

Posting here is fine. Nice first effort.

It was common practice for each release of SONAR to build on the previous releases. CbB pretty much follows that practice although re-badged for a different company.

I would not be surprised if some of the PC and FX Chain presets go back to X1. Other presets like drum maps and plug-in presets are much older. I doubt any new PC presets or FX Chains were made for CbB but have not bothered to perform the needed research to verify the claim either way.

It appears most of the effort regarding CbB so far has been in software development and documentation not content such as presets.

The documentation linked above looks like it was lifted from the last SONAR release (this is also a practice common to SONAR).

In response to the OP, I spent some time reviewing a few FX Chains mentioned in the documentation and found some were made with effects bundled with CbB but these were also in SONAR.

similar thread

click the arrow next to the topic to open.

The pcp extension is used for ProChannel Presets. They are not the same as FX Chain presets.

An FX chain preset is a definition for collection of DX, VST2/3 plug-ins wrapped in the FX Chain module which may be loaded in either the FX Rack or ProChannel. The documentation link provided above did not discuss ProChannel Presets.

A ProChannel preset is a definition of a collection of PC modules and FX chain presets that may be loaded into the ProChannel.

You may consider PC presets as FX Chains but it can be confusing when using the terms interchangeably as they are treated differently by the DAW.

FX Chains don't include PC modules. I checked all the "Mastering FX Chains" and they appear to be built with Sonitus plug-ins. I spot checked some of the others, some do contain Channel Tools which is not in CbB. Others were OK. So, yes CbB does ship with FX chain presets built solely from bundled plug-ins, however; there may be some referenced in the documentation that are built using plug-ins from SONAR.

The sort in the Start Screen may look strange because the files are read unsorted from the OS (apparently limited to the first 100 entries) then sorted alphabetically for display. The sort the Template window in the New Project dialog is alphabetical too. IOW '2' comes before '3' just like 'a' comes before 'b'. So, '24' comes before '3' just like 'apple' comes before 'banana'.

Here is the link for keyboard shortcuts on the CbB help menu. Many may be customized in preferences.

Given the exact cutoff at 100, there may be a limit on the number of project templates.

Looking at the number of templates included with X2 on, it appears SONAR Platinum shipped with the most project templates at 30.

My custom folder has 8 templates. Instead of a large collection of project templates, For new projects, I rely on track templates, several "empty projects" and the 8 project templates in my custom folder.

Does the New Project dialog show all 181 templates?

It is possible to bypass individual track/bus FX racks. Right-click in the track/bus FX rack for a context menu with the bypass options.

I don't think the plug-in manager reads anything other than the registry and layout files. VST plug-in validation and gathering data about them is the domain of the VST scanner. The exclude list is handy for reducing the number of plug-ins the DAW uses to build the dynamic "Sort by" layouts.

It does not matter where the project templates are physically located as long the the path is correct in preferences. Personally, I do not use the default path for the reason mentioned in my previous post.

Of course, track templates (file extension cwx) are not show in the start screen only project templates (file extension cwt) are.

3 hours ago, mettelus said:

[Side comment, potentially related] One thing I find concerning is that this new forum seems to be populated predominantly with members from the old. I *assume* this is open to everyone (perhaps in error), so find it odd that more new members are not present.

AFAIK, the only notice about the forum was posted in the old forum. My guess is this was by design to allow for a soft roll out. The next release of CbB will have a link to the forum. It will likely be mentioned in the release notes. This may have an impact on new user activity.

https://www.cakewalk.com/Documentation?product=Cakewalk&language=3&help=EditingAudio.15.html

The plug-in manager like the VST scanner is a separate program from the DAW. It is shared by all versions of SONAR and CbB installed. It may be instructive to know which OS is running. If a virus scanner running and if turning off the virus scanner makes a difference.

For more about dumps here is an old Cakewalk KB article some of it still applies.

My guess is the first thing support would suggest is update CbB. The latest version is 2018-11 build 31. They would also ask which OS and if it is it up to date. May want to look in the Windows Event log for clues about what is failing. Does the problem happen when running one interface? Does the program generate a crash dump? The dumps would be in %appdata%\Cakewalk\Cakewalk Core\MiniDumps. For a hung process, there is likely no dump but one may be generated using ProcDump.

If it were my problem, I would consider providing this information (including a dump) to support@BandLab.com

It is possible to use one Transpose MFX like a bus summing 16 tracks with a virtual MIDI cable. The free LoopBe1 and LoopMIDI support a single cable with 16 channels. LoopBe30 supports up to 30 virtual cables. It may be possible to create multiple virtual cables with LoopMIDI but I have not tried and don't have it installed ATM.

I am not sure the TrackKey+ function still works in CAL but I know manipulating note values does. The language was deprecated around the original release of SONAR and BandLab has no plans to revive it. Even so, there is not much advantage to using CAL in this case. Stopping the transport, selecting the tracks and running a CAL script is the same effort as running Transpose from the menu.

I would not waste time pining away for this. While anything is possible,  this is a pretty definitive statement from the owner regarding CAL and scripting in general.

With  "Always Echo Current MIDI Track" enabled, it is still possible to manually turn on input echo but

1) it is easy to forget to do so being used to having it set automatically

2) there are times having input echo enabled on the current track is NOT wanted. For example, consider an instrument or MIDI track with its input intentionally turned off (i.e. set to None).  It makes no sense to enable input echo on a track with no input setting. In this case, CbB automatically switches the input to Omni when input echo is enabled. This means the track picks up all MIDI input from the controllers AND plug-ins. Often this results in unexpected "crosstalk" on the current MIDI track. This has been the subject of more than a few threads.

The synth does not matter. Input echo would be my guess. Before recording, both the arp and the instrument must have input echo enabled for MIDI data to get to routed out of the plug-ins.

CbB has a built-in arpeggiator. Unfortunately, there is no pattern editor. At least not now. Project 5 could create and edit patterns. Some of the old pattern files are still available here and here. These links came from an old forum discussion about the built-in arpeggiator.

I believe Kirnu is the free precursor to Kirnu Cream a plug-in sold by Arto Vaarala.

Here is how to setup BlueArp, Cream or any VST arp which is recognized as a synth in CbB (or any synth that generates MIDI data).

1) add the arp to the project, I use an instrument track but it will work when added with an audio and MIDI track. NOTE: all synths in CbB must have an audio track even if the synth does not make a sound. Adding an arp with only a MIDI track does not work.

2) make sure "Enable MIDI Output" is checked. It should be by default but is a good idea to verify.

3) Add the synth(s) to drive with the arp.

4) Set the synth input(s) to the arp

5) make sure input echo is enabled on the arp and synth(s) instrument/MIDI tracks

WRT input echo, I find it easier to manage manually.  This means turning off "Always Echo Current MIDI Track."

For arps that use lower MIDI note values for control, consider creating drum maps, instrument definitions or step sequencer pattern templates.

An output set to None or set to hardware no longer available to the DAW will generate this message too.

There is a global setting to prevent the messages from being displayed - set WarnSilentBuses to 0 in Preferences > File > Initialization File.

There is no local help for CbB. The local help option in Preferences was removed. I do not believe there are any plans to release the help in alternate formats. There was some discussion early on about making the html downloadable but there has not been any mention in some time.

It would be nice to have search available for the CbB help. Until that time, here is how I located the urls for posting here:

1) use the web search to generate results for old Cakewalk products

2) narrow the search for Platinum, Professional and Artist Documentation using the link at the top of the search results

3) select a topic

4) if the topic is what I am looking for, I replace SONAR in the url to Cakewalk

5) open the new url

Most times this will open the appropriate CbB help. If it does not, for example if the SONAR page is in "New Features," I fall back to the CbB help index.

AFAIK, the local help code switch "UseOnlyOfflineHelp" and the supporting code are still in place. Most of the most recent SONAR help is still applicable to CbB. I have not tried it recently but it still may be  possible to use the chm from SONAR by copying the chm into the CbB program folder and setting "UseOnlyOfflineHelp" to 1 in HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Cakewalk Music Software\Cakewalk\Core