Jim Roseberry

Live Nation recently publicized that they're going to ask performers to take a substantial pay cut. This (naturally) upsets performers... If the venue can only be 1/4 capacity, that means 1/4 the intake. Everyone loses... and ticket prices skyrocket even higher

Fixed x2 ? In Ohio: Gigs (only large clubs can afford full bands) start at 6-7pm... and end at 10:30-11pm Last-call is at 9:45pm. Alcohol sales end at 10pm. Bars have to be closed at 11pm. I don't mind the early gigs... but does the "Rona" only come out at 11:01pm? People are "loading up" at last call... leaving hammered... and/or going to private after-parties to continue.

You'll need a MIDI Drum Map that changes the MIDI notes (recorded from the TD25)... into the MIDI notes that trigger the desired sounds from EZ Drummer. If one doesn't already exist, I'm sure you could create one in 30-60 minutes. Create a test project with the following: MIDI Drum performance (recorded from the TD25) - on a MIDI Track MIDI Drum Map (to map the TD25 pad notes to articulations in EZ Drummer) Instrument Track with EZ Drummer You could (also) change the MIDI notes the TD25 pads send... to match the desired sounds in EZ Drummer (thus eliminating the need to use a MIDI Drum Map). There are also MIDI Drum Maps in EZ Drummer (there is a "Roland" Map but not sure it matches the TD25). There's no right/wrong way to get to the proper MIDI notes (to trigger the desired EZ Drummer sounds). Pick what makes most sense to you. With the above test project: On the MIDI track with your MIDI drum performance, select the MIDI Drum Map (you created for the TD25) as the MIDI output If you use a MIDI Drum Map in Cakewalk, that Drum Map allows you to select the EZ Drummer instance for the MIDI output of each mapped MIDI note If you use EZ Drummer's MIDI Maps, skip this step. If you changed the MIDI notes sent by the Nitro pads (on the TD25 itself), skip this step. If not using MIDI Drum Maps in Cakewalk, set the MIDI Output (of the recorded MIDI Drum track) to EZ Drummer. The recorded MIDI drum performance should now be triggering EZ Drummer (with the desired articulations). When you insert EZ Drummer into your Cakewalk project, you have two options for the Instrument track. Simple Instrument Track - creates a single stereo output for EZ Drummer Instrument Track Per Output - creates a track for each audio output from EZ Drummer With the first option, you'd have to mix the drums within EZ Drummer. With the second option, you've got individual mic channels that can be mixed within Cakewalk (Kick, Snare, HiHat, Toms, Overheads, etc). There's no right/wrong... just how you prefer to work The Focusrite Scarlett series is OK when it comes to round-trip latency (~6ms at the smallest buffer size). It would be better for triggering EZ Drummer samples in realtime (than the TD25's onboard audio interface)... as it offers lower round-trip latency. Some drummers would find even 5-6ms round-trip latency too much lag to comfortably trigger EZ Drummer samples in realtime. Get that lag (round-trip latency) sub 3ms... and it feels a lot more immediate.

The lower the latency (smaller the buffer size), the greater the advantage of the 10900k's significantly higher clock-speed. The higher the buffer size (higher the latency), the greater the advantage of the 3970x's many additional cores. I don't consider 512-sample buffer size to be small. I wouldn't work at anything higher than 256-samples. Most times, I'm working at 32/64/128-sample ASIO buffer size. Insert a single instance of Helix Native... running with Presonus Quantum set to 96k using a 32-sample ASIO buffer size. That's running at 1ms total round-trip latency. An extreme example... AMD 3950x and 3970x - audio will glitch Intel 10900k - no audio glitches If I'm paying $2000 for a CPU, I want it to excel at ultra low latency performance. 10900k is about 1/3 the cost of the 3970x... and offers a great balance of features: 5.3GHz all-core clock-speed Runs quiet with large/quality air-cooking 10 cores/20 processing threads TDP = 125w There's no such thing as a quiet 3970x machine (TDP = 280w)... unless you allow it to thermal-throttle (which negates the purpose)

Your audio interface will determine the lowest latency you can achieve. Of course, the machine has to be able to keep up with the load (or you'll hear glitches or experience drop-outs). Are you using the TD25 as your audio interface... or are you using the Laptop's onboard audio? The TD25 (if it's like the large TD50) functions as a USB audio interface. Between the Laptop's onboard audio and TD25, the TD25 has a proper ASIO driver (which will out-perform ASIO-4-ALL). If you're after super low round-trip latency, you won't be happy using either the TD25 or Laptop's onboard audio as your audio interface. If getting a dedicated audio interface (that offers low round-trip latency) isn't an option, use the TD25. If you're dealing with an audio interface that doesn't offer 5ms round-trip latency or lower, forget triggering samples from EZ Drummer in realtime (there will be too much lag). In this scenario, I'd record the MIDI performance from the TD25 (monitoring its internal sounds while tracking against the click-track). Once the TD25 MIDI performance is recorded, you can then route the MIDI track to an instance of EZ Drummer. You'll miss being able to play the EZ Drummer sounds in realtime... but it's the most effective work-around (to avoid latency). If you had a Thunderbolt audio interface like the Presonus Quantum... paired with a fast machine, you could trigger EZ Drummer in realtime... with no perceptible lag/latency. Quantum can run at 96k using a 32-sample ASIO buffer size (resulting in total round-trip latency of 1ms). At these settings, the machine has 1/3 of a millisecond to process the next buffer and get it in cue for playback. If anything interrupts this process, you'll hear glitches. This can be done, but (needless to say)... it's extremely demanding.

How does adding more cores affect latency and potential clock-speed? Generally speaking: To make effective use of significantly more cores, you're talking higher buffer sizes. The more cores on the CPU, the harder it is to achieve high clock-speed Super tight enclosures mean low clock-speed (thermal limitations) Long Battery Life means low clock-speed AMD has 32 cores on 3970x Threadripper, but the all-core clock-speed is about 4GHz. Intel 10900k has 10 cores, with all-core clock-speed of 5.3GHz. At large buffer sizes, the 3970x will smoke the 10900k At smallest buffer sizes, the 10900k will smoke the 3970x In my experience, Mac laptops currently provide longer battery-life than most PC laptops. When using a laptop, I'm almost always plugged-in. ?‍♂️

Just a couple of points: "Long Battery Life" and "High Performance" are diametrically opposed. You can have one or the other... not both. General-purpose use (Office Apps, Surfing the Internet, etc) doesn't require much in the way of CPU. ARM CPUs are already fine doing these tasks (iPads). We work with a lot of Mac users who were essentially abandoned (as power-users) by Apple. Most often they're professional composers... who need specific components in a high-performance machine; a machine that can be expanded/upgraded as need demands. The new Mac Pro??? 7k for the base model. Specs our composer clients need would be ~$10,000... and still not offer the same speed/performance and custom/expansion/upgrade options.

2020 has been brutal. RIP Eddy Van Halen! ?

If no MIDI data is recorded, none is arriving at the "Alesis Nitro" USB interface. Just read the User's Guide. You have to set Local Control to OFF. If it's set to ON, the pads will trigger the onboard sounds (but not send MIDI data). If it's set to off, the pads will send MIDI data. If you want to hear the Nitro sounds (while recording MIDI), make sure the MIDI track's Input Echo button is enabled.

Disable unused Audio Devices. Disable Power-Management (should ideally be disable in a high-performance machine) If you use a USB audio interface (and power-management isn't disabled), Windows can decide to turn off that USB port (to save power)... causing the audio interface to disconnect.

I can understand "hiding" certain aspects via Workspaces (to avoid visual clutter). I can't see logic in completely "locking-out" features not visible. IMO, keyboard shortcuts should still bring up desired views/etc.

First, I'd make sure MIDI data is getting from the drum brain to Cakewalk. Open a new empty test project Add a MIDI track Set the MIDI track's input to Alesis Nitro>MIDI Omni Record-arm the MIDI track Record a few seconds of playing the Alesis Nitro If no MIDI data was recorded, that means MIDI data is not flowing out of the Alesis Nitro brain into Cakewalk. Check the Alesis Nitro to make sure it's set to transmit MIDI data via USB.

This may also help someone: By default, the Key-Binding to bring up the Even List view is Alt+8

Sustain pedal is controller #64. In Cakewalk>Preferences>MIDI>Playback And Recording, make sure Controller is enabled (checked). Can you successfully record other MIDI controller data (pitch and mod wheel)?

What audio interface are you using? You can monitor your guitar in one of two different ways. Via the audio interface's onboard hardware based monitoring (near zero latency) Via software (subject to the audio interface's round-trip latency) If you monitor via the audio interface's onboard hardware, that's controlled by the audio interface's control-panel applet... or on the unit itself. If you monitor via software in Cakewalk, you'll want to make sure the Input-Echo button is enabled. When the track is record-armed, do you see meter activity on the track?

As was suggested, I'd install Cakewalk by BandLab... and see if the issue persists. Installing CbB won't have any effect on your existing Sonar X3 install (completely separate). If the issue persists, I'd check the machine's DPC Latency... using Latency Mon. High DPC Latency will cause symptoms similar to what you describe.

FWIW, Adobe exported MP4 video loads/plays just fine (latest build Cakewalk by BandLab). If you're going to experiment with installing video codecs, make sure to have a backup image file of the boot drive. Playground for malware... and can cause other issues

If the keyboard is connected to channels 1 and 2... and signal is getting from the keyboard to the SSL-2, you should be seeing those input meters firing. As a test, connect an instrument cable to the SSL-2... and touch the tip of the 1/4" (unconnected) other end. You should see activity on the input meter. Try this in both Channel 1 and Channel 2. You may need to raise the gain knob a little... but it should spike when touching the unconnected 1/4" tip. If you have a Mic, test each channel in the same manner (connected via XLR). If you can't see input signal at all (even with gain increased), I suspect the SSL-2 is defective. On your keyboard, make sure MIDI Local is enabled. Otherwise, you'll hear no sound when playing the keys. If it's off, you'll need to setup a MIDI track in Cakewalk, and make sure Input Echo is enabled on that MIDI track. MIDI Local control is a means of (electronically) separating the MIDI keyboard from the tone-generator (to avoid double-triggered MIDI notes when sequencing).

If your audio interface has a control panel with input channel meters: Play the keyboard and look at those input meters. If you only see a single channel via the input meter, the issue is keyboard/cable (outside of Cakewalk).

If Cakewalk is recording two channels on said track... and one is as-expected and the other silence (noise-floor), the issue is most likely outside of Cakewalk (meaning the keyboard/cable/etc).

Recording the Left and Right outputs from a synth/etc to separate tracks allows a bit more control (without using additional plugins like Channel-Tools). You can pan hard left/right... or collapse the stereo image You can have separate processing on the left and right channels You can control the level of the left and right channels (independently) There's no right/wrong... just a matter of which is more convenient.

Quantum is a great choice... as long as you understand the one weak point (there's no onboard DSP for routing/mixing/loopback-recording). ALL monitoring has to be done via software. IOW, If you have an Axe-FX or Helix (guitar processor)... or a keyboard... and just want to sit/play (monitoring thru the Quantum), you'll have to fire up your DAW and use it to setup the desired monitoring (Levels/Routing/etc). Note: You can't add a PCIe Thunderbolt controller to just any motherboard. Motherboard has to specifically support a Thunderbolt-3 controller Motherboard must have a Thunderbolt-3 header that matches the type used by the Thunderbolt-3 add-in-card The Thunderbolt-3 add-in-card resides in a full-length PCIe slot... AND has to be connected to this Thunderbolt-3 header on the motherboard. Thunderbolt-3 works great on a Win10 PC. Just make sure you've covered all the details.

Just a couple of comments: Video capture software puts substantial load on a machine. Working with HD/4k Video is much heavier load than a typical audio project. Running both a DAW project and video capture simultaneously will push some machines to their limit. Increasing the ASIO buffer size allows your machine to better mitigate high CPU load. Using an extreme example: Audio interface set to 64-sample ASIO buffer size Sample-rate 44.1k When running DAW software, your machine has 1.5ms to process the next audio buffer and get it cued for playback. If anything interrupts this process, you'll hear a glitch or (worse) experience a drop-out. The lower the latency, the less efficient the load can be spread across multiple cores. Thus, when working at lowest latency settings, CPU clock-speed is the single most important factor.

Can't go wrong with K240s. I've used them for decades... but tend to use them for another listening perspective (not to actually mix). When mixing, make sure to vary the volume at which you monitor. ie: Turn the level significantly down. Can you still hear all instruments. Over time, our ears become less sensitive... so there's a tendency to keep increasing the monitor level (same as playing live gigs with amps). You can help save your ears (and mix) by turning the level down... and making sure the drums/bass/etc don't disappear.

If you have a Send set to 0dB (no gain change), what arrives at the Return (Stereo Bus) is a "mult" or copy. You've got processing on the original track (which happens before the Send). There's no way to make the original track's EFX Inserts "post send"... as the (Send) signal has left that channel. On the Return (Stereo Bus), you've got EFX Inserts... and you can Send to another Return (Stereo Bus). Let's say you've got a dry DI electric bass track... but want it to sound a bit more like Chris Squire or Geddy Lee. You could create a Send on the DI electric-bass track... to a Return (Stereo Bus) called "Dirt". On the "Dirt" return, use the EFX insert to add your favorite distortion plugin. Adjust the level of the "Dirt" Return... to mix in the desired amount of distortion (added to the original DI bass). Upon listening to the distortion, it's affecting the bottom-end too much (we want to limit the distortion to effecting only the mids/top end). In the "Dirt" Return's EFX insert, add your favorite EQ before the distortion plugin... and use a high-pass filter to roll off everything below 1k. Now, the distortion is adding character... without losing clarity on the bottom-end. On the Bridge of the song, the bass is playing a melodic part... so we want to add some Chorus (just to the distorted mult). Create a Send from the "Dirt" Return... to a new "Chorus" Return. Insert your favorite Chorus plugin in the EFX insert of the "Chorus" Return. Adjust the level of the "Chorus" Return to balance with the original bass track. This is what we've created: Original DI electric bass track Mult (copy) that's 100% distorted Chorus that's applied only to the distorted Mult You may know all this... I just wanted to use an example to explain what's possible. I'd be surprised if you couldn't accomplish what you're looking for... in a multitude of ways. Worst possible scenario, you can create multiple physical copies of the original track (I doubt this is necessary).