F1 doesn't work.
 
A search in the help file tells me to 'see the online help pages'.
 
Searching the online help pages allows me to find pages which tell me to see the online help pages.
 
How do I find the help page for Channel Tools? 
 
In general I find the help system pretty frustrating.  I hope this is something that is addressed in the next iteration of the software.
 
[edit, sorry was getting confused with the 'always use offline help' settings bit, my brain's a bit frazzled after trying for ages to find the above help page]

The help file "Channel_Tools.chm" is in ...\Vstplugins\Channel Tools.
 
And if you click on "Cakewalk" in the plugin's control panel (a diagram pops up) then hit F1, the help will appear.
 

Paul P
The help file "Channel_Tools.chm" is in ...\Vstplugins\Channel Tools.
 
And if you click on "Cakewalk" in the plugin's control panel (a diagram pops up) then hit F1, the help will appear.
 

Well I never did know that!  Is the Cakewalk logo clickable on other plugins?  Thanks very much btw :-)

Some are. Styles changed over the years and the plug-ins reflect those changes.

It'd be nice if all plugin developers adopted this convention. Out of curiosity I just checked a bunch of random plugins to see which ones respond to a left- or right-click on the company logo or the plugin name.
 
Sonitus suite: no.
CW Transient Shaper: yes.
Boost11: yes.
LP-64: yes.
VintageChannel: no.
Fabfilter: no.
Waves: yes.
Voxengo: no.
iZotope: no.
Native Instruments: yes.
D16: no.
ToneBoosters: no.
Cockos reaPlugs: no.
PSP: yes.
IKM (TRackS 670): no.
Meldaproductions: no.
 
 

Paul P
The help file "Channel_Tools.chm" is in ...\Vstplugins\Channel Tools.
 
And if you click on "Cakewalk" in the plugin's control panel (a diagram pops up) then hit F1, the help will appear.
 

Thanks Paul! Neither did I have any idea of this.

You welcome.  I think this is really a bug.  Seems to me F1 should work right away.
 
I can maybe see popping up things like credits when you click on the logo, but there shouldn't be anything important hidden under there.  One of the worst offenders is Pentagon with a bunch of menus hidden under the logo.  Thank God for this forum !  A lot of stuff I would never have found and I keep learning more stuff every day.
 
 

Paul - yes thanks. I had no idea that you could get to help like that.

Ston - my method is to go to YouTube. Type in Channel Tools and you'll get a couple offerings on how to use it. Karl's official Advanced Workshop tutorial on X2 Effects in the Cakewalk Store actually tours thoroughly through each effect in a nice organized way. You might want to look for that - it's well worth it.

I use the YouTube method quite a bit though to see if there's something out there for specific tools / effects. I've found things posted from some of experienced forum members as well.

I gather shortcuts to all my help files in a \music\docs folder. Every new plugin I install, I create a link to its help file there. That way, I have one place to go for every piece of documentation I've ever acquired, including old versions and even uninstalled products. And not just primary help files, but also readme files, miscellaneous stuff I've found online, lists and charts such as note-to-frequency and MIDI CCs, and shortcuts to web-based documentation goes there, too. I almost never hit F1.

F1 seems to have been coded out of CUA guidelines along with help files that are actually helpful. The current crop of PDF based help files is useless in my opinion. Personally I would love to go back to the format of about Win 3.1. It seems to degrade with every cycle ever sense.
 
OTH: I can google most stuff fairly easily. Perhaps, after the links to "Buy Now!", I might even find a nice video covering the subject at hand. Two steps forward, one back (maybe).
 
Regards