[CLOSED] Cakewalk 2019.11 Early Access

[user 905133]

Quote

On fresh installs of Cakewalk, the onboarding wizard lets you select an initial workspace (default is Basic). Note: The Help > Get Started command now launches the onboarding wizard. Please test this feature in the 2019.11 Early Access release.

Last Friday I test drove the "Get Started" initial configuration wizard and made many glowingly positive observations I had been planning to write up.  With the pending non-early release, I just wanted to get this out sooner rather than later. I had been planning to try to track down a consistent method for triggering a unhandled exception error (c0000005). It is entirely possible it is related to my specific ancient PCI sound card which I don't think anyone else uses any more.

I think the UI/audio/MIDI device configuration wizard should help reduce initial setup issues newcomers to CbB (beginners and those more familiar with other software) sometimes experience and have written about. (Kudos to the team for designing and implementing the wizard and being responsive to comments posted in the forum.)

I really like that when users select a starter Workspace, the Control Bar gives them a taste of what it will look like.

Probably not an issue with newcomers: Undocked/Floating Control Bars [Workspaces]. Clearly the wizard is designed for new users, so this might not affect any new users; but, when a floating/undocked Control Bar blocked (in front of) the wizard, it puzzled me until I could figure out I could move the wizard and/or make it appear in front of the Control Bar as a sample of lens/workspace. (I haven't tested this with newly created workspaces; not sure if there would be a difference.)  Nevertheless, having the Control Bar show up is quite convenient for sorting through previously created test Lenses.

IIRC the c0000005 unhandled exception error came about initially and later with experimentation when testing non-ASIO modes, before I realized the icon on the audio I/O page would allow me to choose more than one default I and one default O.  (Please note on my tower I almost always use ASIO mode so I am not asking for suggestions about this.  I felt bad that I didn't report a prior "forced" theme in the basic lens one of the releases ago and am just writing this up in case this turns out to be an issue worth correcting.)

IIRC, at one point, I was able to select my Sound Card as I suspect Windows saw it and my on-board Realtek chip-as-sound card. I think the c0000005 error was triggered when I went to switch/add Audio I/O ports from Preferences[P] (MME mode). Sometimes I would get an Audio Driver Error warning.  I believe this prevented the crash. Sometimes it crashed.

I suspect it might be "user error" that the wizard/Preferences[P] didn't catch. You can't make it 100% "idiot proof," but in case there is an issue, I am attaching my running all-in-one set of screen shots from last Friday.

BTW, I did not yet clear/rename AUD.INI to see if that would eliminate the issue. Also, I started to test different audio/driver modes, but never made the time to get back to the issue. 
 

Very minor suggestions: Could (1) the wizard box be resizable and/or (2) the audio and midi device lists be scrollable with a mouse wheel?  Also, in the wizard and Preferences can there be a "Deselect all"  option for audio ports and for midi devices (certainly not a "Select all" option)?

Again, Kudos to the team for the Get Started configuration wizard!!!!!

 

     

 

Edited November 26, 2019 by User 905133
to fix typos

[Feral State Sound]

1 hour ago, Noel Borthwick said:

We don't release unless it has been tested as much as we could internally as well as in beta test. Smaller releases are much preferable to monolithic large releases that are much more likely to cause problems and harder to troubleshoot. We switched to this model many years ago and many other companies follow the same.
I would dispute your argument about users not caring about our releases. We have got direct feedback from many users who are very happy that we are addressing long standing stability issues in every release. 

No, I mean that I prefer a model with no tight deadlines on releasing updates. That was the case with the Gibson "monthly updates" system and I was asking if the same model is still applying with CbB. I see your point with smaller updates but I have been appreciating a regular cadence in the update system and I just wonder if it is a imposed deadline. 

Off out "offtopic", great update!

[Noel Borthwick]

We don't have time based deadlines for updates. In fact we delayed some of the prior updates due to test concerns and implemented the early access program for this reason so that we can get more end user feedback. We had over 100 users try our early access last time around and it led to a much more solid release than would could have hoped for with just internal testing.

The two month release is a sweet spot for putting out a release of moderate size. Any longer than that it gets progressively harder to test since the scope gets much larger.

[Noel Borthwick]

@User 905133 thanks a lot for your detailed feedback. We are aware of some of the issues you point out and will try and improve it over time.

[Lee Shapiro]

I'm having some major issues after installing this early release (2019.11)
When I play the project I've been working on, I get constant crackling and pops throughout the entire song.  When I first installed the new release, it stopped the audio engine.
There is a LOT to take in with all the changes to the MIDI and audio settings.  I've tried to go through each one, but honestly, I'm a bit overwhelmed.
My project consists of a "normal" amount of virtual instruments and plugins, nothing excessive that would cause any problems in the past.
Superior Drummer,  Two instance of Kontakt (Evolution Strat and Scarbee Bass), MusicLab RealStrat, EZDrummer, and PianoTeq.
For efx, I have Guitar Rig 5 and Ozone 9 in the master bus (which I tried in bypass) .  All working okay before the update.    
See my signature for my DAW Hardware.

The settings I've tried adjusting (up and down) seem to make little difference in the amount of crackling I hear: (also see attached screen shots)
Adjusted Mixing Latency buffer Size (tried 256, 512, 1024) 
Playback I/o Buffer Size (tried 256, 512, 1024),
Playback Prepare Using (tried 20, 100, 200, 300, 400) Millisecond Buffers.
Sampling Rate 48000, Bit Rate  24 (Record), 32 (Render)
And finally my Saffire Mix Control software for my Focusrite Saffire Pro 24, is set to: Sample Rate 48Khz, with Audio Buffer Size set to 512 (what I normally set it to).

Could you guys maybe give me some suggestions on what I can try? 
When you hear constant crackling, what's the first thing you would check?

Thanks for any suggestions!




 

[Lee Shapiro]

The other issue I'm having (I don't know if it's related) is that I cannot change "Record Latency Adjustment Device" to the proper device:  ASIO Saffire Pro 24
It keeps reverting back to "Magix Low Latency 2016) Which I have no idea where that came from, but those devices are UNCHECKED in the Input/Output Drivers window.  (See screen shots above)

 

[scook]

IIRC, the MAGIX driver is a rebadged version of ASIO4All. I know Samplitude installs it and probably other MAGIX audio products do too. This can be a problem with installations that have a proper ASIO driver.

Removing the MAGIX driver entry from HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\ASIO should clear up this problem.

[Tommy Byrnes]

21 hours ago, Noel Borthwick said:

@Tommy Byrnes what is your midi buffer size set to in preferences MIDI? please check asap since we plan to release soon.

Sorry about the delay in my response, Noel. I see the formal release is ready. My  MIDI buffer size is 128. I bumped it up from 64