Small annoyance in 2019.01

[JoseC]

I have noticed that the Open Project command now opens the explorer in the last directory used in the browser, instead of in the Projects directory. Just reselecting the Project directory tab at the bottom goes back to the right place, so this is not a big deal, but it is a bit annoying. Does this happen to anyone else?

[Grem]

Not seeing this on my Surface. If I hit Ctrl+O, or use the File/Open menu it still opens on my selected project folder. I even switched folders several times in the Browser.

[Bill Phillips]

5 hours ago, JoseC said:

I have noticed that the Open Project command now opens the explorer in the last directory used in the browser, instead of in the Projects directory. Just reselecting the Project directory tab at the bottom goes back to the right place, so this is not a big deal, but it is a bit annoying. Does this happen to anyone else?

That seems like an improvement to me. My Cakewalk Projects folder has lots of layers and I usually start where I left off. 

[Bill Phillips]

56 minutes ago, Grem said:

Not seeing this on my Surface. If I hit Ctrl+O, or use the File/Open menu it still opens on my selected project folder. I even switched folders several times in the Browser.

Grem, on an unrelated matter, does your cursor disappear frequently particularly when using file explorer to copy/move blocks of files. I have a Surface Pro 3 with a Surface 4 type cover and it happens frequently & has for what seems like forever. I've requested help from the community and Microsoft but none of it helps. 

Also how well does your Surface handle Cakewalk. I installed it but really haven't used it. I currently do all my work on my desktop. 

[Grem]

I love my Surface. Working on a song in EZ Keys right now. I have also used my Surface to do some practice mixing on it using headphones. I was surprised at really how much I can do with it. I have a project that has almost 50 audio trks and I had Waves SSL/PA bx_Console SSL on every channel  with other fx thrown in. Use Window WASAPI Exclusive and it works like a charm.

 

The Virtual Keyboard that comes with CbB is great to use with the touch screen. I use it to get ideas down and then work from there. In fact my last three or four songs was started on the surface. A lot of the time I have a song down and all togeher somewhat, then use the Surface to program the drums Jamstix/EZD2.

I have a Surface with an i7 4650, 8gb RAM, 128 hd and a 128gb SansDisc micro SD card. It ain't got much space at all, but if I manage it right, I really don't notice. I can tell you this much, when this one bites the dust, I am getting another one.

 

About the cursor, It never happened to me. Then it started doing it and was happening almost everytime I used it. I would have to restart it to get the mouse to come back. Then it stopped. Don't know why, but it hasn't done it in a while.

[Bill Phillips]

Grem, thanks for the comprehensive response. My surface is a lot less capable (Surface Pro 3, i5-4300U @ 1.9GHz, 8GB RAM, 250 GB SSD & 128 GB micro SD. My plan is to use it for remote recording, but since that hasn't come up yet, I haven't really tried. I love the Surface Pro and use it a lot, but not so much now that the infrequent cursor loss problem has become routine.  I received a recommendation from the support Community to re-install all drivers and a firmware update but that's hard to do with no cursor. What happens is it will disappear or freeze. Sometimes I can get it re-appear and move by using one, two or three fingers which is counter to expected operation.

[JoseC]

9 hours ago, Twisted Fingers said:

That seems like an improvement to me. My Cakewalk Projects folder has lots of layers and I usually start where I left off. 

Maybe I did not explain it well. When I first open Cakewalk, if I go to Open Existing Project it does open the right directory, but if I close a project after, fox example, dragging a track template into it from the Browser and try to open a new project, it then shows the directory where the track templates are, not the Projects directory.

[Bill Phillips]

3 hours ago, JoseC said:

Maybe I did not explain it well. When I first open Cakewalk, if I go to Open Existing Project it does open the right directory, but if I close a project after, fox example, dragging a track template into it from the Browser and try to open a new project, it then shows the directory where the track templates are, not the Projects directory.

Thanks. I'll try to check that out. 

[SquireBum]

18 hours ago, JoseC said:

Maybe I did not explain it well. When I first open Cakewalk, if I go to Open Existing Project it does open the right directory, but if I close a project after, fox example, dragging a track template into it from the Browser and try to open a new project, it then shows the directory where the track templates are, not the Projects directory.

This behavior can be reproduced in Cakewalk by BandLab 2019.01 Build 27 and SONAR Platinum 2017.10 Build 14 using the following steps:

1.  Create New Empty project.

2.  Drag a Track Template from the Media tab of the Browser.

3.  Close the Project.

4.  Attempt to open a new project using either the File > Open... menu or the Existing Projects option from the Start Screen.

Results:  The files explorer opens in the Track Template directory last selected in step 2.

 

Hope this helps,

Ron

[JoseC]

18 minutes ago, SquireBum said:

This behavior can be reproduced in Cakewalk by BandLab 2019.01 Build 27 and SONAR Platinum 2017.10 Build 14 using the following steps:

1.  Create New Empty project.

2.  Drag a Track Template from the Media tab of the Browser.

3.  Close the Project.

4.  Attempt to open a new project using either the File > Open... menu or the Existing Projects option from the Start Screen.

Results:  The files explorer opens in the Track Template directory last selected in step 2.

 

Hope this helps,

Ron

Yep, that's it. Thanks for checking.

[Rico Belled]

20 hours ago, Twisted Fingers said:

Grem, thanks for the comprehensive response. My surface is a lot less capable (Surface Pro 3, i5-4300U @ 1.9GHz, 8GB RAM, 250 GB SSD & 128 GB micro SD. My plan is to use it for remote recording, but since that hasn't come up yet, I haven't really tried. I love the Surface Pro and use it a lot, but not so much now that the infrequent cursor loss problem has become routine.  I received a recommendation from the support Community to re-install all drivers and a firmware update but that's hard to do with no cursor. What happens is it will disappear or freeze. Sometimes I can get it re-appear and move by using one, two or three fingers which is counter to expected operation.

I have two Surface Pro 3's, the i3 and the i5 and both run Cakewalk by Bandlab beautifully!

 

People around here are always throwing huge amounts of RAM around as necessary but the truth is I've never made a Sonar project that used more than 1.5GB of RAM, that includes HUGE ones with 100 track, Addictive Drums, Garritan Personal Orchestra, Lounge Lizard, Trilogy and endless audio tracks. My Surfaces have 4GB and are snappy; when I upgraded my main machine from 8GB to 16Gb it made zero difference. Mind you, I do know that if you're running enormous sample libraries a lot of ram CAN help, but in my opinion for 99.5% of all people even 4GB is enough. Real world comparison: my Dell XPS 13 has 8GB and the same CPU as the i5 Surface, there's zero difference in running any Cakewalk project I have tried.

 

R

Edited January 25, 2019 by Rico Belled

[Bill Phillips]

5 hours ago, SquireBum said:

This behavior can be reproduced in Cakewalk by BandLab 2019.01 Build 27 and SONAR Platinum 2017.10 Build 14 using the following steps:

1.  Create New Empty project.

2.  Drag a Track Template from the Media tab of the Browser.

3.  Close the Project.

4.  Attempt to open a new project using either the File > Open... menu or the Existing Projects option from the Start Screen.

Results:  The files explorer opens in the Track Template directory last selected in step 2.

 

Hope this helps,

Ron

Ron, I followed those steps  using the File > Open option in attempting to open a new project and the new project folder that I'd just created is what opened. See photo. Now I use individual project folders and the folder created for the new project with just one track from a track template is called 00x which I have since deleted. That seems reasonable to me. Am I missing something?

Bill

[SquireBum]

3 hours ago, Twisted Fingers said:

Ron, I followed those steps  using the File > Open option in attempting to open a new project and the new project folder that I'd just created is what opened. See photo. Now I use individual project folders and the folder created for the new project with just one track from a track template is called 00x which I have since deleted. That seems reasonable to me. Am I missing something?

Bill

 

Bill,

Step 3 in the post left out the important fact that the project was not saved when closing it.

Ron

[Some Guy]

12 hours ago, Rico Belled said:

I have two Surface Pro 3's, the i3 and the i5 and both run Cakewalk by Bandlab beautifully!

 

People around here are always throwing huge amounts of RAM around as necessary but the truth is I've never made a Sonar project that used more than 1.5GB of RAM, that includes HUGE ones with 100 track, Addictive Drums, Garritan Personal Orchestra, Lounge Lizard, Trilogy and endless audio tracks. My Surfaces have 4GB and are snappy; when I upgraded my main machine from 8GB to 16Gb it made zero difference. Mind you, I do know that if you're running enormous sample libraries a lot of ram CAN help, but in my opinion for 99.5% of all people even 4GB is enough. Real world comparison: my Dell XPS 13 has 8GB and the same CPU as the i5 Surface, there's zero difference in running any Cakewalk project I have tried.

 

R

You don't need ridiculous amounts of RAM, but 8GB is pretty much a practical minimum. 

Windows 10 uses 2.5-3GB RAM after booting.  So I severely doubt you see "zero difference" going to 8/16GB RAM from 4GB.  You have to ignore the differences to come to that conclusion.  Windows 10 will swap all day with 4GB RAM if a running application is using 1.5GB of RAM.

macOS has the same memory footprint, and Apple had to move the base SKU MacBook Airs up to 8GB RAM from 4GB for the same reason.

Additionally, some people run more than just one specific application on their machines.  Cakewalk isn't exactly known for being the Studios' Choice, so it's used by a lot of people running home studios or making music on their personal laptops and desktops.  If you also edit video or do photography, 4GB RAM is laughable and simply won't work well.  It's a huge bottleneck.

4GB RAM only works for Netbooks and Chromebooks.  4GB Surface Tablets with weak GPUs are basically netbooks in a different form factor.