Old Dog/New Tricks: Back in the Saddle Again

 I started using Cakewalk WAAAY back in the day (Cakewalk 1.0 for Windows 3.1). Came on three floppy disks as I recall. I'm a guitar player, so MIDI was just for drum tracks on demos. I was an early adopter/guinea pig for digital audio on the PC and joined the Cakewalk beta test team for CWPA 4.x. Beta tested through SONAR 4 (or 5?). I played in bar bands, ran a local recording studio (DA-88s sync'd to PC), wrote music software (LUI for Yamaha DSP Factory, distributed by Cakewalk), wrote articles for ProRec.com and eventually semi-retired back to my basement circa SONAR 4. My value as a beta tester was pretty low by then (wasn't doing much recording) and I was dropped from the team. I still see some familiar names on the forum from those years.

I've been using SONAR 5 Producer Edition since then for personal demos, but to be honest, I had pretty much hung up my musician hat for the last 5+ years. Some old band mates / studio clients asked me to join their band, write and record a bunch of new material, and gig once in a while. Last hurrah for the old farts (mostly in our 50s). HAHAHAHA

So I just upgraded to X2 Producer (yesterday) and ordered the full version of TH2. I installed the 32-bit versions because I have a bunch of 32-bit Waves plug-ins that were not cheap that I wanted to use. Nearly all my work is recording live musicians playing real instruments so there is a lot of SONAR I won't touch.

So far, so good. Installation went smoothly and everything works except for the Holiday Pack for Dimension Pro. If anyone has any insight on why it's complaining that it can't find 1.5 when I run the installer, I'm all ears.

I built a new system in the fall, so I'm in good shape there. I'm running Win7 Ultimate (64-bit) with an intel i5 on an Asus P8-Z77-V mobo and 8 GB RAM. System disk is a 120 GB SSD (wicked fast). Data drive is a 1 TB, 7200 RPM WD. Segate 1TB backup drive (external). Still using a Mackie Onyx 400F audio interface with the ASIO drivers (64 sample buffer size). Everything seems solid.

So I figured this thread would chronicle my return to the studio and the upcoming recording project. Sort of like a blog, but a place to ask questions when I can't figure something out.

garry


Last hurrah for the old farts (mostly in our 50s). HAHAHAHA 

I'm still there for another 37 days.


What then?

Welcome back, Garry!

Scott

--
Scott R. Garrigus - http://garrigus.com
* Author of the Cakewalk Sonar and Sony Sound Forge Power book series: http://garrigus.com/?PowerBooks
* Author of the Cakewalk Sonar ProAudioTutor video tutorial series: http://garrigus.com/?ProAudioTutor
* Publisher of the DigiFreq free music technology newsletter: http://digifreq.com/?DigiFreq
* Publisher of the NewTechReview free consumer technology newsletter: http://newtechreview.com/?NewTechReview

.os thgouhT

Your story is a common one in these parts, Garry. Welcome back.

But just FYI, guys in their 50's are only "old farts" in their own minds. Some of us look back on our 50's as the good old days when we could still lift an amp into the van without wondering what might break in the process.

+1 Bitflipper. (68 this year. going to be the best ever)