Unable to drag and drop WAV to track window.

[Philip Jones]

This is one reason why I much prefer Sonar X3, because at least in Sonar I can drag and drop audio files, be they MP3, WAV, AIF, WMA, in fact sonar allows me to drag and drop almost all audio extensions into the track window for each created track, IE, create an audio track and drag and drop an audio file in to that track, but CbB, if I try I get the cursor change to ' No entry' which mean I have to manually either select File->Import or right click a track and select Import Audio, which is very tedious, mainly because every time I select 'Import Audio' it opens the default 'Audio Library' of the default Cakewalk data location, "C:\cakewalk content\audio library\audio export" and I have to navigate away from there to where the audio files are kept IE, "C:\<user>\music\project name\seps", it would be very useful to drag and drop audio files directly from an open folder to each track, but unfortunately CbB doesn't allow drag and drop, so, it's back to Sonar X3 until it's fixed.

Edited April 8, 2023 by Philip Jones

[Bristol_Jonesey]

Hi Phillip

There must be something weird going on with your setup because I can drag and drop from Windows directly into a project

It works in an empty project, dragging it to an existing track, I can't get it to fail

Running Version 2022.11 Build 021

[User 905133]

For my own exploration, I am trying write up the issue in steps.  I have trouble with run on sentences.  In trying to parse your narrative into steps, so far, I have: 

• 1. Create an audio track.
• 2. Drag and drop an audio file in to that track.
  • Where are you dragging it from?
    • You say, "it would be very useful to drag and drop audio files directly from an open folder to each track."
      • What do you mean by "open folder" here?
        • A Windows folder?
          • I have been able to drag and drop the following:
            • wav
            • mp3
            • aif
            • ogg
          • I have not had success with wma files.
        • A Cakewalk track folder?
        • Some other type of folder?

[msmcleod]

The most common cause for CbB not allowing drag & drop is because it's running as adminstrator.  Windows blocks drag & drop for programs running as administrator for security reasons.

Check you're running it as administrator - if you are... don't.

[Philip Jones]

10 hours ago, msmcleod said:

The most common cause for CbB not allowing drag & drop is because it's running as adminstrator.  Windows blocks drag & drop for programs running as administrator for security reasons.

Check you're running it as administrator - if you are... don't.

I have no choice but to run CbD as administrator, because 3rd party VSTi's and VST effects always install their VST plugins in "C:\Program files\" either in Steinberg, or the cakewalk VST plugins folder which when a VST plugin is first installed and then scanned by CbB that VST attempts to create a data folder within the cakewalk VST folder and windows will not allow this as writing to Program Files required admin access.  VSTi's from plugin4free website and choosing the 64bit versions, they create data folders inside the folder(s) for each VST, and being that the default installation is at "C:\Program Files\Cakewalk\VstPlugins" which is a 64 bit location, when the VST is first scanned, the VST attempts to create a data folder at EG, "C:\Program Files\Cakewalk\VstPlugins\AspenTrumpet/instruments", which is a no, no for windows, because the VST doesn't have admin privileges, and thus sends an error about missing modules (those missing modules are mainly for the VST's GUI), but run CbB as admin allows VST's to create those data folders and no error popups.

The solution was to NOT install any VST's to the Cakewalk vst folder, but to the hard drive's root, "C:\vst" which doesn't need admin privileges, which I have just tried and I don't get any popup like the attached screenshot of the result of CbB scanning the default VST folder where I just install Addictive Keys, and the screenshot is the result of running CbB as standard user, whereas I don't get that error when running CbB as admin.

Edited April 9, 2023 by Philip Jones

[Patrick Wichrowski]

59 minutes ago, Philip Jones said:

I have no choice but to run CbD as administrator, because 3rd party VSTi's and VST effects always install their VST plugins in "C:\Program files\" either in Steinberg, or the cakewalk VST plugins folder which when a VST plugin is first installed and then scanned by CbB that VST attempts to create a data folder within the cakewalk VST folder and windows will not allow this as writing to Program Files required admin access. 

 

I always avoid installing everything in drive C: if possible. If the program insists, I "MKLINK" the folder to another location. I use Cakewalk as admin too, but I don't have this issue because my Steinberg folder with 32 and 64 bits VST2 are in D:, E: or F:

 

[Lord Tim]

Yeah, chiming in also to say this isn't a Cakewalk issue - all of this stuff works correctly here, and what Mark was saying was correct, it's blocked because of the different permission levels. You definitely don't want to run CbB as Admin unless you have to, not only for this issue, but just for system safety in general.

When you installed CbB the first time, did you install it as Admin or as a regular user? Some permissions could have gotten mangled somehow in your folder structure too.  I think once we get to the bottom of the HOW this happened, fixing it will be fairly straightforward and everything will work as you'd expect.

[Starship Krupa]

3 hours ago, Philip Jones said:

The solution was to NOT install any VST's to the Cakewalk vst folder, but to the hard drive's root, "C:\vst" which doesn't need admin privileges

So after doing this, you are now able to run Cakewalk as a user (not "Administrator") and drag and drop  audio files from Windows Explorer to audio tracks?

If so, I'm glad you found a solution.

[Philip Jones]

6 hours ago, Starship Krupa said:

So after doing this, you are now able to run Cakewalk as a user (not "Administrator") and drag and drop  audio files from Windows Explorer to audio tracks?

If so, I'm glad you found a solution.

Yes, I was able to run CbB as a standard user, not admin, and all VST's work as they should even when I install new VST's into the "C\vst" folder, then when I initiate a plugin scan, the right folder structure gets created by the VST, so, yep, it now works as standard user.

[bitflipper]

I'm still curious as to why this wasn't a problem under X3, which should be subject to the same Windows-enforced restrictions as any other application.

I don't think I've ever had to run any version as Administrator. Most of my plugins (that aren't virtual instruments) are installed on the C: drive. Rather than argue with installers, I just let them default to wherever they want to go and fool them via symbolic links when necessary.

[sjoens]

Can't you just change that folder's permissions?

I do this all the time.

Edited April 9, 2023 by sjoens

[bitflipper]

That was my thought. The only reason I can think of is if the previous X1 folder had different perms. 

[Starship Krupa]

2 hours ago, bitflipper said:

I'm still curious as to why this wasn't a problem under X3, which should be subject to the same Windows-enforced restrictions as any other application.

Maybe Philip was running X3 using (a) different location(s) to install plug-ins.

I've had to blast through changing permissions on my Programs folder and it was not a walk in the park. Usually I've had to take ownership, then sit there while Windows grinds through changing ACL's on however many dozens of GB of executables and support files. I got it to work okay, but I have a lot of experience as a Windows NT admin. I don't know if most people who use Windows (or Macs) even know that there is such a thing as folder/file permissions, and I don't blame them if they don't.

[Philip Jones]

On 4/9/2023 at 5:59 PM, Starship Krupa said:

Maybe Philip was running X3 using (a) different location(s) to install plug-ins.

I've had to blast through changing permissions on my Programs folder and it was not a walk in the park. Usually I've had to take ownership, then sit there while Windows grinds through changing ACL's on however many dozens of GB of executables and support files. I got it to work okay, but I have a lot of experience as a Windows NT admin. I don't know if most people who use Windows (or Macs) even know that there is such a thing as folder/file permissions, and I don't blame them if they don't.

No, I installed X3 leaving everything as default, the same as I did with CbB.  The VST2 plugins location for both CbB and X3 are identical, "C:\Program files\Cakewalk\VstPlugins" and VST3:- "C:\Program Files\Common files\vst3" both are 64 bit locations.

[D'Layna]

Hello All, 

I upgraded to Sonar Platinum when it was still owned by Cakewalk.  Two days ago, I experienced the same thing.  When I try to drag a file from the media browser onto an audio track it will not allow me to do that.  I can only double-click the file and it drops it on the track.  I can preview the loop, but that's it.

When I record a vocal, I cannot move the vocal to another track.  I have to cut and paste to new track. 

How can I fix this?  Did I accidently select something I shouldn't have?  How do I check if I am running as an administrator?  Would that even make a difference since I've owned this program years ago from Cakewalk?

 Any help is deeply appreciated.  

Edited April 16, 2023 by D'Layna
Added some more questions