TwelveTone systems' Cakewalk Professional 3 on wine

[MusicInstructor.net]

I own Cakewalk Professional 3 since the early 90's but it won't run on Wine either in Linux or in Mac. It crashes when the Event List window is invoked. Other versions like Cakewalk Pro Audio 7 works on Wine but I'm interested on getting Cakewalk Professional 3 for windows 3.1 running as it had a very different track looping feature . I'm already running it on DOSBOX/Windows 3.1 on Linux and Mac and get MIDI output to the rest of the system but switching windows to other apps is cumbersome.

I developed a super efficient workflow in the 90's for sequencing  that works for me and this so far is the only way to integrate it but with the caveat of window switching.

I'd consider paying a developer to get a MIDI plugin that would open and edit my old *.wrk files  inside of any DAW that would behave EXACTLY as my old Event List window from the 90's. Even better, I'd consider paying for the source code of TwelveTone systems'  Cakewalk Professional 3 for personal use for the purpose stated above.

The event list is what I've used for years to write music as a sort of "step sequencer" and I can type music as a stenographer on that thing. And I now that if I press "Enter" before any key I can get the Event List window into typing mode but that's a compromise that slows down my workflow. I'm not interested in that.

Best regards,

Ed

NOTE: I have quick access to a team of wine developers that I'd like to put in contact with a Cakewalk developer with access to the code of Cakewalk Professional 3. so I'd be grateful The idea would be to  trace down the dll that could be crashing wine.

Edited May 30, 2022 by MusicInstructor.net

[Byron Dickens]

I'd like to run around town in a horse drawn carriage but finding a buggy whip any more is damn near impossible....

[John Vere]

We all hate changing our workflow. I started on an Atari and KCS by Dr T. That was an all event list sequencer no piano roll.  When my Atari died in about 2004 I was “forced “ to change my workflow to Cakewalk and the PVR.
 

Sure at first it was slow and I didn’t understand nothing but now when I open the Event list in Cakewalk I’m 100% glad I don’t have to use it.
 

All improvements and workflow enhancements are within the PVR not the outdated event list or the staff views. 
 

So your basically on your own if you choose not to update your workflow. 
 

I can actually fire up my old XP computer and run STeam Atari emulation and KCS still works but it would be sort of pointless. 
 

So that’s your best option. If you want to stay in the past it’s best to keep the Computers from that era going. 
 

 

[User 905133]

What the heck: My Cakewalk for MS-DOS doesn't work on XP or Windows 10--even in compatibility mode!!!!  Not sure if I tried the Windows 3.1 version under XP.  I am pretty sure I didn't try it under Windows 10. I don't do anything with Linux or Mac.  

I remember when we used to be able to set loop amounts.  

Personally, if its possible, I wouldn't mind having some updates to the Event List, including some looping structures/commands.    

[User 905133]

35 minutes ago, Lord Tim said:

If you just want to run Cakewalk for DOS then the easiest thing is to grab Virtual Box and FreeDOS and run it all in a VM. Then go play Doom  

For the longest time my main Windows 10 PC wouldn't update--the kind of thing that it takes like an hour or so and several reboots, only to find Windows saying (in essence) "It ain't gonna happen" and then claims to undo all the changes (which is never the way it was before the failed update).  Then one time Windows figured out it was Virtual Box that was preventing the update.  Since I removed Virtual Box, Windows 10 updates itself!

When Windows 10 is no longer even minimally supported, when Windows 10 stops trying to update and I am forced to get a new PC that can handle Windows 11), I might consider trying Virtual Box on Windows 10.   

Never tried Doom, but I really loved Epic Pinball.  ?  CyberGirl has been waiting for me to get back to her. ? 

Edited June 5, 2022 by User 905133
fixed typos

[John Vere]

I fire up my Atari emulation to play Buggy Boy and Tetris

[Starship Krupa]

I've long been baffled by people coming to the Cakewalk By BandLab forum seeking help with such things as SONAR 8.3.

The OP wins a prize for taking it to a new level.

Have you taken a look at this:

 

[Byron Dickens]

Pro Audio 9 was the previous record for ancient, obsolete versions.

[Terry Kelley]

Hey, I miss the simplicity of that screen!

[User 905133]

Back before they mucked it up with "AUDIO" ? !  Bring back MIDI sequencers!!!!!  ? 

Edited June 6, 2022 by User 905133
to add "sequerncers"

[Starship Krupa]

On 5/30/2022 at 4:41 PM, MusicInstructor.net said:

I developed a super efficient workflow in the 90's for sequencing

And I suppose that in the past quarter century of MIDI sequencer evolution, every time you've tried out something newer, you deemed it inferior because you couldn't immediately work as efficiently with it as you can with Pro 3?

Your old tool has finally broken. You must learn to use a newer one. Choose a current program, and allow whatever length of time it initially took you to get that good. Cakewalk still has an Event List, and my guess is that it's the feature that's changed the least in 30 years.

[Starship Krupa]

On 6/5/2022 at 7:19 AM, John Vere said:

KCS by Dr T.

I really have to hand it to Dr. T for bouncing back after the 5,000 Fingers debacle.

[John Vere]

I don’t know if the Op will even return they only came here that one day and started 2 threads with same topic. 

But reading the excellent answers posted here I hope they see that what they are going through is nothing new. Most  of us cut our Midi chops on the original software of the 80’s.
And probably each and every one of us had a great workflow on software X at one time or another but had to reluctantly move on or be left in the dust. 
Had to snicker at the offering the money to pay the Cakewalk team. 
I did once  pay for a personal software improvement. I paid Jeff Kofftinoff a few hundred bucks to add the foot controller via Atari joystick port for me. He was a local software writer later working for Roland and an Editor for the MT 32.   

[Starship Krupa]

1 hour ago, John Vere said:

probably each and every one of us had a great workflow on software X at one time or another but had to reluctantly move on or be left in the dust

This. There are multiple current products that feature editable MIDI event lists. Surely one can adapt one's workflow to one of them. A small bit of searching and checking out trial versions is more likely to yield good results than offering to buy the time of a commercial development team.

With just a little bit of Google Fu, I even (in typically frugal SK fashion) found a freeware one that looks a lot like olde tyme Cakewalke:

http://www.midieditor.org/

Ain't that cute? I might even just download it and putter about with it. It actually looks like the developer missed the days of the early 90's and decided to roll his own MIDI-only sequencer.

Bonus: it's open source and has a Linux build, so even if it doesn't do exactly what the OP wants, that team of WINE developers (or the developer of MIDIEditor himself, he solicits suggestions) could probably add or adjust whatever features. No need for WINE.

Load the .WRK files into CbB, export the MIDI, load it into MIDIEditor, et voila, workflow accommodated.

[Starship Krupa]

3 more native LINUX programs with tabular MIDI event lists:

https://manual.ardour.org/midi/midi-editing/midi-list-editor/

https://terryewell.com/m116/MIDI_PC_values/MIDI_PCvaluesNEW.html

https://www.tracktion.com/products/waveform-pro

[Mark Morgon-Shaw]

On 6/6/2022 at 3:42 AM, Starship Krupa said:

I've long been baffled by people coming to the Cakewalk By BandLab forum seeking help with such things as SONAR 8.3.

Sonar 8.5.3 was fantastic, I used it for a decade and many of my TV tracks still in circulation were made with it. I still think it has a clearer yet more compact GUI.

5 hours ago, John Vere said:

And probably each and every one of us had a great workflow on software X at one time or another but had to reluctantly move on or be left in the dust. 

Not software X, but Music-X on the Amiga, it was a far superior sequencer than the Cakewalk of the time ( and in some ways it still is ) but the Amiga was a dying platform and 30 years later look where we are. Doing things in the box we couldn't have dreamed of in 1989.  

( PS - I would love to hear the music produced by the musicians on obsolete platforms but I get impression it's not going to sound radically different than using any current gen software )

Edited June 7, 2022 by Mark MoreThan-Shaw

[Xoo]

10 minutes ago, Mark MoreThan-Shaw said:

Sonar 8.5.3 was fantastic, I used it for a decade and many of my TV tracks still in circulation were made with it. I still think it has a clearer yet more compact GUI.

To my mind, the single biggest advantage of 8.x over X1 and onwards was the customisable PRV (shift/ctrl/alt+mouse clicks+regions all configurable so no need for switching tools ever).  I'd love to see that make a comeback (and equivalent for the smart tool in track view).  The default would be as it is now, so no change to current workflow.

[Starship Krupa]

Quote

Pro Audio 9 was the previous record for ancient, obsolete versions.

I remember one poor soul who was seeking help with a precursor to Home Studio that used to come with some audio interface or other. Despite having gone through the whole process of registering with BandLab and coming to the forum, which process, IIRC, has popups pitching Cakewalk by BandLab, he was gobsmacked to learn that he could just download this whole new advanced program and use it for free.

I'm not baffled by the affection for SONAR 8.5.3, and even wanting to still run it, I know that old workflows die hard, and SONAR users included many people for whom 8.5.3 was not broken, whereas X1 did not make the best first impression. I'm baffled by how people who have been using a program for that long come to this forum looking for help. And who sometimes aren't aware that what had once been the mighty SONAR is now the even mightier freeware Cakewalk by BandLab. How do you get as far as being able to post on this forum without learning that?

I never ran 8.5.3, and I started up again with CbB after my last dance with Cakewalk Pro Audio/SONAR being in 2002, a 16 year hiatus. I do know that whatever version of SONAR I was running at the time was rock solid on Win 98SE, whereas the initial release of CbB on Windows 7 was....not. Noel and Jon and Morten and Ben proceeded to hammer that code until 3 months later I could leave it running overnight.

In that 16 year break, I got some experience with Mixcraft and Pro Tools and FWIW, had little trouble adjusting to the UI and workflow paradigms of CbB. Despite the initial implementation, the industry was heading in the direction of take lanes, and IMO, the Skylight UI is still brilliant (and imitated, look no further than Studio One). It scaled wonderfully to the advent of multiple monitors.

5 hours ago, Kevin Perry said:

customisable PRV (shift/ctrl/alt+mouse clicks+regions all configurable so no need for switching tools ever).  I'd love to see that make a comeback (and equivalent for the smart tool in track view)

Once I figured out right click for marquee select?, I don't ever manually switch tools in PRV. I have the two thumb buttons on my Logi 705 configured to Ctrl and Alt, so I only go to the keyboard for Shift, in the case of constrained moves and copies.

Similar with Track View regarding manual tool switching. I set the Smart Tool so that the Comp function is turned off unless I'm actually using those features and it's good to go.

The current Cakewalk PRV is my favorite of the ones I've tried, which now also includes Ableton Live and Studio One.

What am I missing? Is there a feature request or two that could restore what you liked about 8.5.3's PRV?

Edited June 7, 2022 by Starship Krupa

[Xoo]

9 minutes ago, Starship Krupa said:

What am I missing? Is there a feature request or two that could restore what you liked about 8.5.3's PRV?

I can try reinstalling and showing you the config page - it was truly awesome ?

[Starship Krupa]

17 minutes ago, Kevin Perry said:

the config page - it was truly awesome

I do loves me some flexible configuration ability.

One of the reasons I drifted away from Mixcraft when CbB dropped was its lack of keystroke assignment ability. It's very mouse-y. I like not having to hit the keyboard if I don't want to; the advent of the context menu in Windows 95 was love at first sight. But not to a fault.

I've even feature requested the addition of some keystroke commands in CbB (fit horizontal was one that was fulfilled).