cakewalk vs audacity

64bit op system (Vista

 
MC 5 is not compatible with Vista 64-bit. That may have a little to do with it.
There was a thread recently about that and a Cakewalk guy had some tips; I'll see if I can find that thread.
I don't know why you're having these problems, Barry, unless it's all 64-bit-related Once I dialed in MC 2003, MC Pro 24 and SONAR Home Studio 6, I haven't had a single problem. With XP.
I don't have Audacity, either, but you can record with that, and if you want to edit/add stuff, you can import that into MC to work on it more, audio or MIDI.
What interface (besides the Bose) are you using?

That could be it. I've used it also with my Maudio Card on my other system and had problems with it. MC3, while sometimes difficult, at least seemed stable. MC5, seems a lot more unstable. I've tried it with my Line6 guitar interface and had similar problems.
I know that Audacity doesn't do nearly as much as CW, but what it does seem to do is record without all the problems. Seems I need to be a computer genius to just record a few hours of material. Makes me wanna go back to my old tape portastudios. At least it worked when you wanted it to.
Gregy mentioned that it wasn't compatible with the 64-bit system. Not sure how I missed that and it's a drag that I've got the whizbang 64 bit, but it won't work with one of my most used programs.

Every time I want to do something recording-wise, seems I need to purchase something else.
Ugh, just totally frustrated.

Mostly dropouts

what are your CPU and DISK percentages? this number should be in the bottom lower right. I don't get drops until I top 80% or so on a consistant basis.

Using my Bose system as the sound card (24bit @ 48K- that's what Bose puts out). I watched the CPU and Disk usage on the bottom right. The CPU never went above 03% and the Disk seems to still be at 00%.

The latency is at about 100 now. I've tried lowering it, raising it and still the same deal.
I am using a friend's copy of Sonar at the moment, trying to see if that might've been the problem.
The drivers are MME 32bit which could be a problem since my Vista (GOD I HATE IT) is a 64-bit deal...

The Bose L1 is not a sound card, it is a PA system, and has to be connected to a sound card. You still have to correctly setup the sound card for output. You are still using the built in card to feed the BOse the audio signal. I suggest getting a decent card for the laptop and setting up the proper drivers. Do the research Beag suggested and get a card that has 64 bit drivers for vista. MC5 should be fine as long as the sound card drivers are right. 

Robo- Not so. The L1 uses a Tonematch module, which is a bit like a small mixer. You hook it up to your pc using a USB cable and then your system recognizes it as the sound card. Much like a Line6 Toneport for guitar is recognized by the system when you plug that in. It uses both as a sound card. This allows you to record your shows off the Bose system straight from the PA. It's actually very cool, WHEN IT WORKS.

My point with the original title of the thread is- If Audacity (a FREE) software can record with no bumps, no extra soundcard, etc., why does the software that costs 45.00 (MC5) and even hundreds of dollars (Sonar) have such a difficult time just recording for more than 5 minutes? I would think it'd be pretty close to plug and play.  I'd rather not have to purchase yet another piece of gear just to record. Maybe there's other software that's a bit more resource friendly, but I LIKE Cake stuff. It's the most intuitive out there for my money.

Ugh, tried to quote this thread and it got bunged up-

BEAGLE:  cakewalk is a much more complicated program than audacity.  audacity is actually a wave editor where cakewalk is a sequencer.  those actaully are very different things.

BW- I totally realize this and I use those Cake's midi capabilities any time I come up with a tune that requires keys, drums, etc. I guess it seems that if you're not using those particular capabilities, then recording audio shouldn't be a big deal.

BEAGLE: you need to see if your L1 Tonematch module has ASIO drivers available from their website.  download the latest drivers from their website, install them and then try switching to ASIO.  if that doesn't work, switch to WDM, then you'll need to go and manually make sure that only the tonematch system is listed as the INPUT and OUTPUT DRIVERS and that it's the only thing listed as the RECORDING and PLAYBACK TIMING MASTERS - it's very possible in WDM or MME driver modes that your onboard soundcard is actually being used as a timing master.

BW: I would bet that they do not. When you connect the Bose to the laptop, then fire up MC (or Sonar), you go to Audio Options and then pull it down in the driver list. I was doing this as I know from the Maudio dilemma I had  a year ago that you can't miss that step.  Everything seems to be set right with the possible exception of Asio vs. MDM vs. Two Tin Cans and a String.  The Bose outputs at 24 Bit/48K, so that also has to be set. The other Audacity thing is that Aud will run fine using the Bose drivers. No Asio needed or anything, so that makes me think that maybe Cake just has way too much going on in the background to handle it. Maybe I just should use Aud for audio recording- I just don't want to because I like the Cake interface AND it's midi capabilities.

If no ASIO drivers are available from BOSE- what would the next step be?

Audacity is as beag said a simple wave editor, it does not need to use the fancy driver modes, but sort of embeds itself into windows and uses whatever it uses.

Most likely what you are experiencing is that Bose does not heve a very good driver set for the newer computers (64 bit) and all. One thing  to consider is that you have had issues from the getgo, and it might be some small misunderstanding on your part, in the setup. I don't mention this to pick on you, but to get you thinking on what it is that you are missing that we can't see.

There seems to be a general struggle with MC5 and for that matter all cakewalk stuff right now with 64 bit. not so much cake itself, but in the plugins and synths. Everyone point you to ASIO, but one thing to consider is that Cake was designed to use WDM as default, and many have found it likes that driver the best. Not all ASIO drivers are equal, as they are third party, where WDM is a windows driver.

Lastly when you upgrade you need to go do a lot of research, Toshiba laptops have a long history of struggling as DAWs. First it had to do with the fact they installed older slower hard drives (4200 rpm) , lately Both Toshiba, and Dell, and even a few more are guilty of placing too many things on one IRQ address, specifically the video drivers. This causes conflicts. I can't say for sure, but it might contribute. Lastly most laptops come today, and desktops for that matter, with far too much crap installed on the drive, and most of this crap is embedded so that it constantly asks for inflrmation causing interrupts in the process.

I should know this, but forget, ugh....

Asio4All- wouldn't that possibly be the ticket to fixing this?

will try this. I didn't see that BOSE had any drivers there.
Also, it doesn't seem to be JUST with the BOSE but any kind of audio recording. I'll keep monkeying...

well, there were the issues I was having with MC5 and my Maudio card on my desktop.
Also the Line6 Toneport (on the laptop again) that was also troublesome.

Sorry, I know it's a lot to ask, but I just want to be able to open a program, hit RECORD and be able to record more than 5 minutes in any given environment. Sounds like the laptop that I have is (of course) not optimal for doing what I want to do, so maybe I'll just get a cassette recorder that can do the job. ;)

I don't like it when stuff is harder than it should be and when I miss getting good recordings because of software issues. Drives me nuts, you may not've noticed though! :)

Wait Beagle- the Asio thing is not the way to go? Setting up the output and input is totally understandable.  However, Playback Timing Master has me confused. Where is that located? I don't have my laptop with me

Okay, so I tried Asio4all. It seemed to record a lot longer than before, however, when I played it back, it was all garbled. 

I messed around with the setup and tried it again WITH THE SAME settings and it worked fine.
??

yeah, I looked through those in my task manager and thought I had shut everything down. Strange that it'd be all screwed up and then just kind of 'fix itself'.  I remember similar issues with MC3 too.
Anyway, I was able to record last night straight for about an hour, so that was cool. I probably could've done more, but I stopped after an hour. Cool. Hopefully, the next time I go to use it, it will work as it did here.