Please Help - Cannot Use Software / Hear Output

[gvdv]

Hi,
I cannot hear any sounds when importing .wav files onto my laptop, and would appreciate people’s help with this problem.

I recently loaded a version of Cakewalk’s ‘Home Studio’ onto my Dell Inspiron laptop with the aim of importing tracks which my friend and I have recorded in Home Studio on his computer.

However, every time I open Home Studio I receive the message:

‘No MIDI Outputs Selected: You Have Not Selected Any MIDI Outputs – This Means You Won’t Be Able To Hear Anything Play’ (I can hear regular CD’s, MP3’s etc., but not .Wav files that I’m trying to import).

So, when I get this message, I choose ‘Choose MIDI Outputs Now’, which opens the ‘MIDI Dialog’ box which is subdivided into ‘Inputs’ and ‘Outputs’ sections. The ‘Inputs’ section is blank, but the ‘Outputs’ section contains ‘Microsoft MIDI Mapper’.

So, I choose ‘Microsoft MIDI Mapper’, but when I click ‘O.K.’, I get returned to the ‘No MIDI Outputs Selected’ dialog box.

According to the Hardware tab of the Sounds and Audio Devices dialog box, my Sigma-Tel C Major Audio devices are working properly.

Also, when I got to My Computer – Sounds and Audio Devices, all volume controls are enabled and Audio Devices, MIDI Devices and Instruments (including WDM Based Devices), and Mixer Devices are all working properly.

The MIDI Music Playback device is Microsoft GS Wavetable SW Synth, and is apparently working properly.

For Sound Playback, Sound Recording the ONLY default device is the Sigma Tel C-Major Audio, and for MIDI Playback, the ONLY default device is the Microsoft GS Wavetable SW Synth (i.e., there are no other options to choose on my system).

As I said above, I am able to listen to things like Windows XP’s system sounds, CD’s, MP3’s etc., but *cannot* hear any of the .wav files I import into Home Studio, and am unable to successfully choose any MIDI Outputs.

I’m totally confused by this, and would very much appreciate enlightenment about this.

Many thanks,

Geert, in Toronto.

 

[mixsit]

Any chance you have midi tracks in the project but no audio tracks?

 

[gvdv]

Hi,
No, these are .wav files.

In fact, interestingly, and infuriatingly, since I posted my original message this evening, I again tried the CD which my friend and I had burned the .wav files on when I was at his place.

This time, Windows Media Player opened, and *will* actually play these files (individually, of course - I need to import them/open them in Home Studio in order to mix them down to a single, stereo .wav file).

Weird.

Geert, in Toronto.

 

[mixsit]

Hi,
No, these are .wav files.

No, I meant bare (open) audio tracks in the project to send the wave files to.

 

[gvdv]

Sorry,
I misunderstood you, and I'm new to this also, so I'm not quite sure what you mean.

Maybe an explanation will suffice - if not, feel free to ask me questions: the .wav files I'm trying to use were generated by another device (Zoom PS 04, converted from their native 'aud' format).

Some of these files were imported into Home Studio previously and saved as Projects (was that what you meant?), and others have only been converted, and not imported/opened previously in Home Studio. (I don't think that HS will play the Projects either, that were previously created on my friend's computer in HS).

However, as I said in my follow-up message, my Windows Media Player plays all of these files, so I'm wondering if there's some setting in the Home Studio software preventing my soundcard recognizing HS. If something as simple as WMP can recognize and play the files, why can't HS? It appears to import the files correctly, but I can't play them (nothing happens), and I keep on getting that message about no MIDI Output source having been named.

Geert, in Toronto.

 

[mixsit]

...It appears to import the files correctly, but I can't play them (nothing happens), and I keep on getting that message about no MIDI Output source having been named.

So you can see the audio tracks (they are showing up like normal audio)?

I thought it would be a long shot, but it is possible to have a project set up (some templates are like this) that have 'only' midi type tracks but no audio' type tracks. When you insert or create a new blank track for the import to land on, it has to be one or the other..?
Wayne

 

[VTmosaic]

Have you made sure that you have an output selected on tracks of the new waves you've imported? That's one thing to check.


Re: MIDI output prompt, which is a totally separate issue than your wav files not playing: you can tell it to go ahead and open without a MIDI output, which is one of the dialog options. You'll probably be using the Edirol softsyth in Cakewalk for your output (the microsoft stuff doesn't actually work at least in Cakewalk), if you even need MIDI output. As soon as you load one of those Edirols into a synth rack in your project, Cakewalk will stop bothering you about MIDI output (the Insert menu) But again, unless you're gonna do MIDI, and want to hear the output, you don't even need to worry about this part.