for Windows Vista, XP, 98

for Windows Vista, XP, 98

The User's Guide for both Notation Musician and Composer describes how you can import a Cakewalk Instrument Definition (.ins) file in order to set up the configuration of your MIDI device. This will save you the effort of manually entering the patch names for each of 128 instrument sounds on your MIDI device, or multiples of 128 instrument sounds if your MIDI device has multiple MIDI banks.

The procedure for importing Cakewalk Instrument Definition (.ins) files into any Notation product is described in the following section of each User's Guide : Configuring Your Sound Card and MIDI Equipment / Using the MIDI Device Configuration Window / Managing MIDI Devices / Importing from a Cakewalk Instrument Description (.ins) File.

To download a Cakewalk Instrument Definition (.ins) file for your MIDI keyboard, MIDI sound module, or other device, follow these steps:

1. IMPORTANT: If you are viewing this web page using Notation's built-in browser, you should instead follow these steps using your normal browser, such as Microsoft Internet Explorer or your preferred browser. The reason for this recommendation is that in step #5, if you attempt to download the Cakewalk Instrument Definition zip file using Notation's built-in browser, Notation will attempt to unzip the file as a MIDI file and will display an error message saying it cannot correctly open the file.
   
   
2. Click the following web link:
       ftp://ftp.cakewalk.com/pub/InstrumentDefinitions/
   
   
3. If you have an FTP (File Transfer Protocol) program, it might be automatically activated, and show you the above directory at Cakewalk's web site. Otherwise, your browser (such as Microsoft Internet Explorer) will show you the directory.
   
   
4. Read the list of files in the directory. The files are named according the MIDI device manufacturer and model numbers. If you do not find a file with the particular model number of your device, then use the general manufacturer file, such as Roland.zip, that will include instrument descriptions for many models for the same manufacturer.
   
   
5. Download the and unzip the zip file. (IMPORTANT: See note in step #1.)
   
   
6. Run Notation, and follow the instructions for importing the Cakewalk Instrument Definition (Ins) file into Notation.
   
   Again, the instructions for doing so are described in the User's Guide : Configuring Your Sound Card and MIDI Equipment / Using the MIDI Device Configuration Window / Managing MIDI Devices / Importing from a Cakewalk Instrument Description (.ins) File.

Cakewalk offers excellent music software products. We appreciate Cakewalk for making their user-contributed Cakewalk Instrument Definition (.ins) files publicly available.