I have been using Cakewalk Pro 9 for some time now. Suddenly it has decided to hold midi notes when the song is stopped (in the middle of the song). This freezes the program and I have to shut it down to turn off notes and get back to the program. Everything seems to work fine with my Power Tracks program and Windows Media Player 10 has no problem playing and stopping midi either. So it seems like a problem with Cakewalk. Can anyone lend advice?

Also, the MIDI in/out monitor on the bottom toolbar stays - open. It has never done that before.

[This message has been edited by cassp (edited 11-22-2005).]

Cassp,

As I recall there were some problems with CW9 and Sonar 1 with windows XP and since recently the latest updates to win2K cause problems on my PC as well.
(some safety issues of win2K were brought up to the "standard"of win XP )

I'll see or I can solve it coming weekend, which could address your problem as well IF you recently updated!

Fred

You might try clicking on the Realtime/Reset menu item. If it works, it is faster than a reboot.

Still, this should not happen. I write programs that play midis, and I fight this all the time. I have never discovered the real cause. I use MS utilities to 'play' the midis, and my best guess is that these may be changed by OS/support file updates.

Regards,

Michael

Hitting the Realtime Reset does work - once the program starts working again, but that is not a viable solution. The program is still freezing up for a minute or two and holding midi notes until I can do something to counteract it.

Thanks Mike and Fred. Anyone else have an idea?

Hey Cassp,

With Cakewalk open, click on Options, click on Project, click on the Midi Out tab, and verify that the Zero Controllers When Play Stops box is checked.

Here's a cut & paste from the Help files:

Zero Controllers When Play Stops...if you check this box, Cakewalk zeroes the pitch wheel, the sustain pedal controller, and the modulation wheel controller on all 16 MIDI channels. It also sends a “zero all continuous controllers” MIDI message which turns off other continuous controllers on newer synthesizers. If you experience frequent stuck notes when playback stops, try checking this option.

-mike

No go, Mike. It was already checked and it still sticks. The Windows Task Manager says the program is "Not Responding."

Any thoughts about uninstalling and reinstalling - good, bad, ugly?

What do ya got to lose?

I know that when Cakewalk 9 installs and you run it the first time, it profiles the audio hardware and sets parameters. Maybe that action will help here.(?)

I'm still using Cakewalk 9 and I've yet to see (hear) this. I'm using Yami's XG Softsynth for the midi mapper.

Good luck.

-mike

I have been using the Roland VSC3 and the laptop's GS Wavetable successfully all this time. This note hang up is something new. I just can't get a handle on it. And I haven't even hooked up my USB midi stuff yet.

Just in case Cassp,

If you updated windows mediaplayer, look if the midi files are assigned to the windows media player!
(options->filetypes->uncheque midi. just in case the midifiles are assigned to the windows mediaplayer)
Restart your computer.

If you have a PSR connected, try disabling the midi echo in CW to prevent looping.

Regards,

Michael

[This message has been edited by Michael P. Bedesem (edited 11-23-2005).]

These are all great ideas, but none of them are solving the problem.

Fred, and just what should I open my midi with? Using Media Player assures that I can preview them easily. I have never used anything else as the default program and CW hasn't had a problem until now. Could there be a "dll" problem? I'm getting closer to uninstalling and reloading the program disk (if I can find it).

Cassp it's no problem at all to open with mediaplayer assigned or not does not matter.

Recent updates from media player are causing lot's of problems in "other" software.
Secondly it often stays resident active in the background after closing eating lot's of resources....
I don't know if you have automatic updat switched on?
In that case something might have changed without knowing!

There is a patch for the Sonar versions but I doubt if that will work on Cakewalk.

Now, I don't say it is the solution to your specific problem, but it's just a few mouse clicks away, which is reversable so no problem to try out..

By the way cakewalk does play midi files
and lot's of other players too..

Reinstalling is quick so that would be the first option indeed.

I'd be tempted to reprofile the sound hardware or maybe even re-install the software.

Could it be a processor load / playback dropout issue is it? Is something else running that is hogging the processor? Over-zealous anti-virus software? Over-full hard disc?

Also one of my favourite tricks is to set it lo loop around a zero-length seqment.

about my favourite trick: it behaves like a lockup!

Thanks for all your help everyone. Have a Happy Thanksgiving. I've got my two computer-nerd sons coming over for dinner. If they can't solve it, I'll try a reinstall on Friday. Till then, all God's blessings my great friends here at the SZ. I'll keep you posted.

So, what Happened?
( I hope it didn't spoil your Thanks Giving )

I can't solve the problem. I've reinstalled Cakewalk with no difference. The program hangs up any time any way I stop the player or it stops at the end of a file. I couldn't find this thread on Monday so I started another. How frustrating :{