Project idle too long, some MID tracks stop making sounds in live mode (echo) but will still playback existing content

[Nathan Gopen]

I have experienced this now on different software instruments, both with Kontakt player as well as Addictive Keys, and East West Play.  
I have a good computer - Windows 10, i7 8 cores, 32 Gig Memory etc.

Simple project, only 4 tracks so far, with the 3 plugins mentioned above.

Normally I can switch to any of the 4 tracks, play notes on the keyboard, and I hear the respective instruments.  I can also record, and play back the tracks and all is good.

But invariably, when I leave the project open and idle for a long time (let's say half a day goes by and then I come back to it).... when i come back, one of those tracks will now be silent when I try to play notes as described.  In at least one case, a track had existing midi data recorded, and for that one if I played back the track I could hear the soudns fine.  When I hit keys on the keyboard I would see the virtual keys moving on the screen, but silence.

I I exit the program, and re-open Cakewalk and reload the project, all track work normally again.

Any clues?  This is a frustrating issue that is really making me think twice about investing time and resources in learning a new DAW, but it would be shame to give up now, as my other option is rather out of my budget at the moment  (buy a $2000 mac mini and useLogic which I know works for me, no issues).

 

 

[David Baay]

Are you allowing your PC to sleep/hibernate? If so, you might start by setting it to High Power mode; at the very least, make sure the O/S is not allowed to power down USB ports.

Before you shutdown Cakewalk. I suggest you try other actions to 'reset' whatever is not working; this might also help determine where the problem is:

- Toggle the audio engine button off/on in the transport module.

- Force input echo ON on the MIDI/Instrument track (rather than just depending  on 'Always Echo Current MIDI Track', in preferences)

- If keyboard is connected via USB, toggle the power off/on; if it's connected by DIN cable to a USB MIDI interface (or combined MIDI/Audio interface), toggle the interface power.

- Disconnect/reconnect the synth via that menu in the Synth Rack.