dubdisciple Posted July 8, 2021 Share Posted July 8, 2021 I have been seeking a drum and sampling solution within cakewalk for years that did not involve paid software. My reasons for this involve trying to help kids get started who may be low on funds. Cakewalk is a little daunting for young users who are accustomed to seeing Ableton or FL Studio in action, and make no mistake, these are exactly the tools they see their favorite pop songs being created on. However neither are free. MPC beats is free but is limited as a stand alone DAW. As a drum sampler module it has lots of potential and the audio track limit becomes insignificant. Unfortunately, for the beginner setup within DAW can be a little tricky. To ease that process , I have been working on a template that includes individual outputs within cakewalk. It works fine, but when I attempt to open from scratch it hangs when I attempt to select track with Beats. After weeks of frustration, i figured out I can get it to work if I open project in safe mode. needless to say, that is not a workflow i want to give kids if i am trying to create a more intuitive workflow. Anyomne have success creating a project template with Beats? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Byron Dickens Posted July 8, 2021 Share Posted July 8, 2021 No, but there are probably about 365,862 free drum VSTis out there that work and are not problematic. Some of them are even good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dubdisciple Posted July 8, 2021 Author Share Posted July 8, 2021 11 minutes ago, bdickens said: No, but there are probably about 365,862 free drum VSTis out there that work and are not problematic. Some of them are even good. I agree there are a few decent ones like Sitala, but i have not found one that has a functional MPC style sampler and workflow. Using other methods is my plan B, but hoping I can get this to work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scook Posted July 8, 2021 Share Posted July 8, 2021 Has anything changed since Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dubdisciple Posted July 8, 2021 Author Share Posted July 8, 2021 11 minutes ago, scook said: Has anything changed since Previously it crashed often from minor things. Now it works ok. it's when i close cakewalk and reopen it that problems occur. It would not shock me if this is an akai issue Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Byron Dickens Posted July 8, 2021 Share Posted July 8, 2021 Isn't MPC Beats it's own DAW of sorts? Why not just use it as is instead of adding layers of complication, if that's the workflow/ style these kids are interested in? It's a whole different way of working that is distinctly different that the traditional Console>Tape Deck paradigm modeled by most DAWs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dubdisciple Posted July 8, 2021 Author Share Posted July 8, 2021 32 minutes ago, bdickens said: Isn't MPC Beats it's own DAW of sorts? Why not just use it as is instead of adding layers of complication, if that's the workflow/ style these kids are interested in? It's a whole different way of working that is distinctly different that the traditional Console>Tape Deck paradigm modeled by most DAWs. It's not a very good DAW. great instrument, but horrible DAW. If you are going to keep telling me what you think i should do, instead of helping me, can you let someone interested in helping do so instead? i get that you think i should go another route, and that may be the case, but until i think my options are exhausted I want to at least try. i have had success in other DAWs. I just have this issue in cakewalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Byron Dickens Posted July 8, 2021 Share Posted July 8, 2021 (edited) I apologize if I am coming off that way. I'm not one to keep fiddle-f-ing around with something that obviously is not working; life is too short to keep beating my head against the wall. I've tried out more than one freebie that Crashes CbB, exhibits odd/ inconsistent behavior or just plain doesn't work. Bye. Delete. Gone. I won't keep screwing with iit Apparently, there was no resolution to this very same issue with this very same plugin in the thread that scook linked to. That to me just reinforces the idea that it ain't worth the effort. You are perfectly well free to take my suggestion to move on - or not - as the spirit moves you. It really won't hurt my feelings. Edited July 8, 2021 by bdickens 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dubdisciple Posted July 9, 2021 Author Share Posted July 9, 2021 On 7/7/2021 at 11:57 PM, bdickens said: I apologize if I am coming off that way. I'm not one to keep fiddle-f-ing around with something that obviously is not working; life is too short to keep beating my head against the wall. I've tried out more than one freebie that Crashes CbB, exhibits odd/ inconsistent behavior or just plain doesn't work. Bye. Delete. Gone. I won't keep screwing with iit Apparently, there was no resolution to this very same issue with this very same plugin in the thread that scook linked to. That to me just reinforces the idea that it ain't worth the effort. You are perfectly well free to take my suggestion to move on - or not - as the spirit moves you. It really won't hurt my feelings. sorry if i came off as snappy. I just have my reasons for attempting this. i have been kinda beta testing with a few advanced students and they like this idea better than alternatives so far Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leighton Cooper Posted July 14, 2021 Share Posted July 14, 2021 OK there's a lot in this conversation. There are truly two ways to go. One is to get a keyboard like the Yamaha Psr Series or like the Casio CT x-3000 which offer lots of tools that are involved in music production, checking out rhythms, splitting the keyboard, programming accompaniment patterns Learning how to use arpeggios. In other words it's a full package synth . The only thing is that the general midi samples are not the same as the PSR series, but it offers 100 effects to PSR's 10,. The other solution is getting a program like BIAB which they have a midi only version rather than using real tracks, which do sound loads better, But in midi everything involved can be shown and it is like buying a Encyclopedia of performers and they are able to interact and help you discover how they shaped music. Cakewalk was great because it was like buying a music store full of instruments. Unfortunately BandLab's doesn't include many things that were in the Cakewalk suite. So while we have cakewalk you have to find your own vst's. One that is simple to use is Cobalt VST, another is the Kawai K3 VST. Both of these are good starters, because the range of envelopes pretends to look the same, but when you investigate them. There are significant differences. I hope your project works out well for you. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leighton Cooper Posted July 14, 2021 Share Posted July 14, 2021 Now also there is a real retro way to go. The 16 bit computers had some great midi sequencers developed for them. That are in some ways with the exception of Band in a box. More track and pattern based. You could turn your computer into an Atari ST and use programs from Tim's Midi world. But you would want to use (in my humble opinion a keyboard like I mentioned earlier. There is Dr T's Level 2, and quite a few others. The documentation isn't great either, but it would allow you to build a discussion about the various facets that really are covered very well in Biab. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NokNod Posted July 19, 2021 Share Posted July 19, 2021 (edited) I tried MPC Beats but...MPC Beats is too resource hungry and takes almost 700MB of ram. The load time takes too long and causes too many crashes. I would only use that stand alone mode. An option I found that works is Poise VSTi it is 64bit and has all the functions of the MPC style sampler and its free...if you are interested the link is here https://www.onesmallclue.com/ and a video walkthrough .. Edited July 19, 2021 by Guerilla Genus 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dubdisciple Posted July 21, 2021 Author Share Posted July 21, 2021 On 7/19/2021 at 4:59 PM, Guerilla Genus said: I tried MPC Beats but...MPC Beats is too resource hungry and takes almost 700MB of ram. The load time takes too long and causes too many crashes. I would only use that stand alone mode. An option I found that works is Poise VSTi it is 64bit and has all the functions of the MPC style sampler and its free...if you are interested the link is here https://www.onesmallclue.com/ and a video walkthrough .. I remember poise. It is actually free now?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scook Posted July 21, 2021 Share Posted July 21, 2021 yes both Poise and Grace are free Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dubdisciple Posted July 21, 2021 Author Share Posted July 21, 2021 22 minutes ago, scook said: yes both Poise and Grace are free Thanks. Tried grace. Decent but workflow is too meh for today's generation. Poise may be an option Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NokNod Posted July 21, 2021 Share Posted July 21, 2021 Good News...! IF you have the full version of MPC Software. Version 2.10 was released yesterday. The update seems to run pretty smooth with Cakewalk. I ran it this Am with no crashes and my test project saved and loaded without issues 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dubdisciple Posted July 22, 2021 Author Share Posted July 22, 2021 On 7/21/2021 at 9:00 AM, Guerilla Genus said: Good News...! IF you have the full version of MPC Software. Version 2.10 was released yesterday. The update seems to run pretty smooth with Cakewalk. I ran it this Am with no crashes and my test project saved and loaded without issues I got it yesterday. It's pretty extensive. Have not tried in cakewalk yet Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nigel Mackay Posted July 23, 2021 Share Posted July 23, 2021 Have you had a look at this tutorial? I know nothing, I just remembered this is in the tutorials section. ? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dubdisciple Posted July 23, 2021 Author Share Posted July 23, 2021 5 hours ago, Nigel Mackay said: Have you had a look at this tutorial? I know nothing, I just remembered this is in the tutorials section. ? I have viewed this video. He does a great job. Unfortunately as of the time I posted this, it was not working consistently. I heard the new update works better Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dubdisciple Posted July 27, 2021 Author Share Posted July 27, 2021 They finally released the update for beats and it is working great in cakewalk for now. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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