Well guys I downloaded Van Basco's Midi Player.
Playing it along with my other probrams open was no problem. It worked great. Gary you were right about it. It seems like a good little program and easy...But, there's so much more I can do with Cakewalk and I'm used to it.
So I have to make a decision. If I want to continue using Cakewalk I'll probably have to increase my ram like Bill said. If I do that I will keep Van Basco's also as a back up and if Cakewalk doesn't still work, well then I'll have to go with Van Basco's.
At the very worst I'll have more ram which can't hurt.
I'll have to think about this.
All your imput was wonderful and very much appreciated.
If anyone has anymore comments about this I'd still like to hear them.
Thank you,

Peter

Like you Peter, I resisted apps like Van basco in favor of Sonar, XG Works etc...

I finally got used to using it though and I'd never use anything else for live work. Thanks to these guys here, or I'd never have given it a fair shot.

Either way, you have and will likely still use cakewalk, much as I need Sonar and other high end apps for studio use. My laptop started out with 512 mb. I immediately added another 256. This was fine for running Sonar until I started using a few Vst instrument and effect plug ins. Now the laptop has 1.5 + gigs of memory, and the difference is like night and day. I recommend as much memory as your setup allows and that you can afford for running higher end audio / DAW apps.

AJ



[This message has been edited by Bluezplayer (edited 09-29-2005).]

AJ...I understand what you're saying. That's probably what I'll end up doing too.
I also have Sonar which I use in my home studio. The Cakewalk that I was referring to is version 3.0, strickly midi, no audio. It's an old program but, I think it's the best midi program made and when I'm doing just midi,which is often, that's the program I use.

So when I finally decide how all this is going to work out for me I'll let you know.
Thanks again for you imput.

By the way I agree with you about the guys here at Synthzone. They're not only very knowledgeable, they're also very generous with their knowledge and their time.

Peter

[This message has been edited by Musicman22 (edited 09-30-2005).]

Gary, Fran, AJ and everyone else that responded...one question. Are any of you using Windows XP or Windows 98 on you laptops? And what laptop and mhz is in your computer.
The reason I'm asking is my laptop is a Compaq Armada E500 500mhz. It came with Window XP Professional. I got in touch with Compaq and asked them what operating system works best with my Armada and they told me it was designed for Windows 98.
So in order for me to do what I would like to do I may have to install Windows 98.
Thanks.

Peter

[This message has been edited by Musicman22 (edited 10-03-2005).]