Using old .wrk files - help please!

[ucurrent@mweb.co.za]

I used to work on Cakewalk and Cakewalk Pro many years ago and am trying to access the .WRK files I still have from the time, for use on Garage Band, MusePro etc.  I have tried to download and/or purchase various versions of Sonar, Cakewalk etc without any luck so far - new purchases no longer seem possible, and I also saw a message saying that software development has been discontinued.  Does anyone have any simple suggestions as to how to transfer a .WRK file to a .MID one?  Advice much appreciated!

 

[scook]

Cakewalk by BandLab is free, supported and still being developed.

It started with the code base from the unreleased SONAR Platinum 2017.11

It can read wrk and MIDI files.

If the wrk projects have any DX plug-in, they may be unavailable unless they were ported to 64bit and bundled with CbB. The projects should still open but without the plug-ins.

Instructions for installing BandLab Assistant (the tool needed to download, install and activate CbB) and CbB are here http://www.cakewalk.com/Documentation?product=Cakewalk&language=3&help=Introduction.30.html

 

[ucurrent@mweb.co.za]

58 minutes ago, scook said:

**Instructions for installing BandLab Assistant (the tool needed to download, install and activate CbB) and CbB are here http://www.cakewalk.com/Documentation?product=Cakewalk&language=3&help=Introduction.30.html

Thank you for the advice.  I downloaded the BandLab Assistant (for Mac) as advised at the above web address - but when I open the app, the "Apps" tab as advised (where one is meant to be able to download Cakewalk) does not appear.  The only tabs that appear are "Library" and "Sounds".  This seems to be a variation on an earlier process I tried to follow via Google Play Store on my cell phone.  Might there be another step I should be following?  Or might there be a direct download available without BandLab Assistant?

 

[scook]

While Cakewalk did a test run at making a DAW for Macs, CbB like all the old Cakewalk DAWs is a Windows program.

AFAIK there is no Mac program for opening wrk files.

 

Based on

Quote

I have tried to download and/or purchase various versions of Sonar, Cakewalk etc without any luck so far

I assume you have access to a Window machine

[ucurrent@mweb.co.za]

Thanks again scook.  I will try to find someone with a PC who can then hopefully transfer files for me.

[StudioNSFW]

You can run Windows OS inside a Mac as a virtual machine. On my (several) Macs, there are a couple of tools that are strictly windows only and so I have a special VM named "Toolbelt"

VMWare Fusion is the best platform for this. 

I haven't tried virtualizing a Windows machine for CbB, but come to think of it, it would be a good way to test fly the VS-700 driver hack for Windows 10 without committing my rock-solid Win7 system irreversibly.  I would think the virtualization layer would introduce just enough additional latency to make it wonky for day to day use in live tracking, but for a file conversion that does not matter. 

Keep in mind your Mac needs to have enough Oomph to run both OSX and Win-doze at the same time.   An old Mac Book Air just weeps uncontrollably when I try to use Fusion in it.

[ucurrent@mweb.co.za]

4 hours ago, StudioNSFW said:

You can run Windows OS inside a Mac as a virtual machine. On my (several) Macs, there are a couple of tools that are strictly windows only and so I have a special VM named "Toolbelt"

VMWare Fusion is the best platform for this. 

I haven't tried virtualizing a Windows machine for CbB, but come to think of it, it would be a good way to test fly the VS-700 driver hack for Windows 10 without committing my rock-solid Win7 system irreversibly.  I would think the virtualization layer would introduce just enough additional latency to make it wonky for day to day use in live tracking, but for a file conversion that does not matter. 

Keep in mind your Mac needs to have enough Oomph to run both OSX and Win-doze at the same time.   An old Mac Book Air just weeps uncontrollably when I try to use Fusion in it.

thank you

 

[ucurrent@mweb.co.za]

Managed on a PC, thanks! On another note... Might anyone be able to advise on the best way of replicating instrument sounds that were standard issue with sound cards such as Soundblaster and Soundblaster Pro from the mid-1990s?  Would the specific midi instrument sounds be related to a soundbank (SBK) file or to the hardware?  When I take old WRK files (now converted to MID) into Garage Band, the names of the original instruments still show up but the tracks link to different Garage Band instruments - and the available Garage Band instrument files are very different from the ones I remember using all that time ago... Basically wondering if the correct procedure is to import a SBK file that would have come with the original Soundblaster cards and then to relink tracks to sounds there?  If so, does anyone have information on where one might be able to download such files?

[User 905133]

Glad to hear you had success with the *.wrk files. I am not sure if the sounds packaged with 1990s SB cards were based on GM, but you might want to test drive TTS-1. Also, over the years I have seen soundfont files posted on the internet; so, maybe someone has converted sbk files into soundfont files.  If so, they might work in any of a number of soundfont players.  Maybe someone with more experience with those can make recommendations. 

EDIT: FWIW, the only *.sbk file I have is SYNTHGM.SBK which I found in some archival Creative Labs folders. I mention this because TTS-1 will probably not help with other *.SBK files.

Edited April 11, 2020 by User 905133
to add info about SYNTHGM.SBK

[StudioNSFW]

I just looked at the Creative Labs site -and the old software is there for the Live! and Audigy cards. Maybe possible to extract the sounds from either Wavstudio or the driver installer itself?

https://support.creative.com/Products/ProductDetails.aspx?catID=1&subCatID=205&prodID=149&prodName=Audigy 2&subCatName=Audigy&CatName=

The Audigy was such a great device for the price!

 

 

[ucurrent@mweb.co.za]

On 4/11/2020 at 5:44 PM, User 905133 said:

Glad to hear you had success with the *.wrk files. I am not sure if the sounds packaged with 1990s SB cards were based on GM, but you might want to test drive TTS-1. Also, over the years I have seen soundfont files posted on the internet; so, maybe someone has converted sbk files into soundfont files.  If so, they might work in any of a number of soundfont players.  Maybe someone with more experience with those can make recommendations. 

EDIT: FWIW, the only *.sbk file I have is SYNTHGM.SBK which I found in some archival Creative Labs folders. I mention this because TTS-1 will probably not help with other *.SBK files.

thanks for the inputs!

On 4/11/2020 at 7:13 PM, StudioNSFW said:

I just looked at the Creative Labs site -and the old software is there for the Live! and Audigy cards. Maybe possible to extract the sounds from either Wavstudio or the driver installer itself?

https://support.creative.com/Products/ProductDetails.aspx?catID=1&subCatID=205&prodID=149&prodName=Audigy 2&subCatName=Audigy&CatName=

The Audigy was such a great device for the price!

 

 

and thanks also!