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Old VST2 plugin causes Cakewalk by Bandlab not to close down entirely.

Geert Jonkheer

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Geert Jonkheer

Geert Jonkheer

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Hi Support Centre,

This week I recalled some of my older project which I used with Sonar Platinum, I made a new version of it using the same plugins as my older project.
Emulator X3 was one of the earliest plugins that I use and now see that this old VSTplugin has a bug inside that seems to cause memory leaks that in the worst case causes almost any DAWs to crash. When you know how to use to work around this problem you can still use Emulator X3 with the sounds you want for your project.

Using Cakewalk by Bandlab with the Emulator X3 plugin seems to cause a different problem probably caused by the memory leaks of the Emulator X3 (which can not be upgraded / bugs fixed anymore because there is no one around who still cares about the Emulator X3 software).

Problem faced: When I have setup my project with one or more instances of the Emulator X3 plugins in there and used it to record, edit or simply play a project and I close the project or better close Cakewalk by Bandlab, the closing of Cakewalk is not done entirely. It looks like that Cakewalk by Bandlab is waiting for Emulator X3 to free its memory before closing itself. The strange thing is that the Windows of Cakewalk by Bandlab disappears assuming that it is closed and gone.

When I want to start Cakewalk by Bandlab again it does not appear and this is caused by a tiny "Cakewalk application" running in the background which can be seen by using the taskmanager. When I stop this process I can restart Cakewalk by Bandlab normally again.

Question: Is this something Cakewalk by Bandlab can fix or must I live with this problem whenever I like to use Emulator X3. Note that this plugin because of its age can not be fixed by itself and that I still think this is one of the greatest sounding plugin ever build by someone at E-MU in 2008/2009.  I use the original software.

I hope the support centre is able to work around these kind of VSTplugin problems so that at least Cakewalk by Bandlab closes in its entirely when I close Cakewalk by Bandlab using the Red X on the right top of the Cakewalk by Bandlab window.

By the way I am very pleased about Cakewalk by Bandlab and use it a lot and is in general very stable even with older VST or even DXi plugins that I use. Great work guys I appreciate it very much! Also I wish Cakewalk by Bandlab and their development team Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year.

With kind regards,

Geert Jonkheer

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John Vere

John Vere

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He beat me to it. But 2 years too late!   I do the same with the TTS-1. It can crash Cakewalk so I either freeze it or better yet export the tracks as stems and bring them back as audio and delete the TTS-1. 
You need to plan for the not to distant future as we move forward these old instruments which are no longer supported will cause even more trouble later on 

 

Edited by JohnnyV
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Lord Tim

Lord Tim

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Just for anyone reading the OP in this bumped necrothread, just to clarify - this forum isn't a staff support forum, it's a peer-to-peer forum primarily, meaning most of us who post here are just regular users. Often there'll be a lot of regular users who have huge amounts of knowledge on both Cakewalk products and computer recording in general though, so it's a super valuable resource - I've learned so much just from lurking here myself.

The staff do sometimes post and they do often read threads and try to help when they're not tied up working themselves, but if anyone is after any proper support, you can try the support center: https://help.cakewalk.com/hc/en-us  or e-mail support@cakewalk.com or you can check out some of the super useful FAQ sections: 

https://discuss.cakewalk.com/index.php?/forum/26-frequently-asked-questions/

Just bear in mind that if you do have a specific problem, it's best not to post in there, but to start your own thread in the main forum.

The Reference Guide is another great place to get familiar with: https://bandlab.github.io/cakewalk/docs/Cakewalk Reference Guide.pdf

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User 905133

User 905133

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In between the time of the original discussions from 2001 and now, I have had issues with Emulator X3, too.  For the longest time after Creative Labs abandoned the software, the authorization server still worked (based on my experience). However, it no longer seems to work. On my previous  audio PC on which Emulator X3  was authorized, the software sometimes worked and sometimes gave an error message and Cakewalk refused to let the plug-in work.

On my newest audio PC, I cannot even get baseline authorization in standalone mode.

I really wish Bandlab would have offered to take the E-Mu software off the hands of Creative Labs and updated it to be the sampler that a number SONAR/Cakewalk users have been asking for over the span of several years.

As long as people have resurrected this ancient thread, I just thought I'd mention that Emulator X3 was a power house program that even today uses fewer CPU resources than a number of contemporary soft synths.  And for those who don't know, the standalone version was effective handling 64 channels of audio. 

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User 905133

User 905133

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23 hours ago, Byron Dickens said:

There's no way BandLab could have taken  the E-Mu software off the hands of Creative Labs because Digital Sound Factory   has exclusive license to that material since 2007,  still making them your best bet  just like two years ago when I posted the link the first time in this zombie thread.

In case it wasn't clear in my post, I was talking about the Proteus X/Emulator X software. 

I have not seen DSF do anything with the Proteus X/Emulator X software.  If he does have an agreement with Creative Labs to be able to revise and make available the software as well as the samples, that would be good to know.  I have tried to find out the details on line, but from what I have seen he only has the rights to convert, repackage, sell, and market the samples/sounds.

There are those of us who have legally owned rights to use the samples/sounds. Since the software has basically been abandoned, it would be nice have the software updated.  Neither Creative Labs nor DSF has shown any interest in doing that so far as I have seen.  Having looked at the documentation for some of the new products which can use the remarketed samples/sounds, those products do not offer the capabilities of the Proteus X/Emulator X.

Your "best bet" is IMO inferior at best. ?  

 PS:  

On 12/23/2021 at 5:31 PM, Byron Dickens said:

That particular instrument is known not to work on W10.

In my experience, before the recent issues with authorizing a license, the Emulator X3 software worked exceptionally well under Windows 10 Pro and was very efficient. 

Edited by User 905133
grammatical correction/clarification; fixed typo
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User 905133

User 905133

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On 12/23/2021 at 4:21 PM, Geert Jonkheer said:

Using Cakewalk by Bandlab with the Emulator X3 plugin seems to cause a different problem probably caused by the memory leaks of the Emulator X3 (which can not be upgraded / bugs fixed anymore because there is no one around who still cares about the Emulator X3 software).

27 minutes ago, Starship Krupa said:

Therefore not much incentive to work around its bugs.

That's because E-Mu products were abandoned.  There seems to have been enough interest in Sound ROMS for the hardware over the past decade or so, that they were regularly being sold (not just listed, but sold) on third party platforms for more than E-Mu was selling them.  Legal copies of Sound CD ROMs also commanded decent prices.  Unfortunately, people started selling pirated copies and then making copies available on sharing sites.

Those pirated copies and the availability of sharing sites cut into any incentive to reissue legitimate copies.  Not sure if DSF had the rights to do that.

Considering that Emulator X3 worked well with SONAR, we cannot be sure what the OP meant by memory leaks and bugs.

As far as "there is no one around who still; cares about the Emulator X3 software,"  based on all that has been written over the years, I would argue that the comment is more of a reflection of what Creative L:abs did to kill the brand than the usefulness of the software.

On the hardware side, there has been enough interest for several people to work on designing Sound ROMS.  From what I have seen, at least one person has been successful.

Of course, as we all know, despite all the limitations, flaws, and failings of software (not to forget about the various sales/marketing schemes consumers have issues with), no one wants hardware any more.   

Edited by User 905133
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User 905133

User 905133

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Keep in mind, these only make use of the repackaged samples/sounds for the romplers. Evidently, there was enough interest a year or so ago for NI and DSF to work together.  If they continue in this vein and do the same kind of thing for the sampler portion of the Emulator X, who can say that there would be no interest for it because its ancient?

I had mentioned this as a potential opportunity for Bandlab long before NI did the romplers. Considering all the user demands for Cakewalk to have built-in sampling abilities over the years as well, it seemed to me that a strategic partnership be tween Bandlab and DSF might have benefitted consumers.

 

Edited by User 905133
added an addendum; fixed typo
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Byron Dickens

Byron Dickens

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3 hours ago, User 905133 said:

In case it wasn't clear in my post, I was talking about the Proteus X/Emulator X software. 

I have not seen DSF do anything with the Proteus X/Emulator X software.  If he does have an agreement with Creative Labs to be able to revise and make available the software as well as the samples, that would be good to know.  I have tried to find out the details on line, but from what I have seen he only has the rights to convert, repackage, sell, and market the samples/sounds.

There are those of us who have legally owned rights to use the samples/sounds. Since the software has basically been abandoned, it would be nice have the software updated.  Neither Creative Labs nor DSF has shown any interest in do that that I have seen.  Having looked at the documentation for some of the new products which can use the remarketed samples/sounds, those products do not offer the capabilities of the Proteus X/Emulator X.

Your "best bet" is IMO inferior at best. ?  

 PS:  

In my experience, before the recent issues with authorizing a license, the Emulattor X3 software worked exceptionally well under Windows 10 Pro and was very efficient. 

OK. So what's your suggestion? Keep fiddle- f**king around with problematic abandonware last tested for Windows Vista? 

Since it worked so well for you in W10, might I suggest buying a lottery ticket; I've seen pages and pages of people having nothing but headaches. Maybe pairing up with ASIO4ALL is the secret.

And what are these missing "capabilities?" The ability to record and process your own samples? Whoop-de-do. How many people even do that?  How many did it 20-30 years ago when this stuff was current?

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User 905133

User 905133

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1 hour ago, Byron Dickens said:

OK. So what's your suggestion? Keep fiddle- f**king around with problematic abandonware last tested for Windows Vista? 

Since it worked so well for you in W10, might I suggest buying a lottery ticket; I've seen pages and pages of people having nothing but headaches. Maybe pairing up with ASIO4ALL is the secret.

And what are these missing "capabilities?" The ability to record and process your own samples? Whoop-de-do. How many people even do that?  How many did it 20-30 years ago when this stuff was current?

LOLOL.  Its been a good couple of years since you've given me shit.  I was due!!!!

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