MIDI and audio are not the same thing. MIDI is the digital communication standard between digital devices whereas some devices have internal electronics to take the MIDI data, process things and produce an audio output. WD-40 now has a cleaner called Specialist Contact Cleaner readily available at Home Depot, hardware stores, Amazon, etc. It does a good job on connectors when you spray them and cycle the mating connector a number of times. I'm not sure what your output signals are but it could also be a mismatch of impedances, older devices with newer. Can you post a picture showing the back side connections of each of your devices?

@Brian M Got it. I was thinking MIDI would let you do all the stuff you wanted to do and then bring it into something modern that has the kind of audio output you get line level signals with to go into your interface. Are you able to put headphones on the two units and hear good audio?

My comment is too much reverberation in the mix, and the instruments are background to the vocal. It's missing depth. The frequency balance doesn't come through. I would like to hear this mix without any effects so we can all assist in getting it sounding its best.

Don't pay to play!!!

It's all about the sound you want whether it is a snap, punch, thump, soft attack, sustained body, tail off, etc. watching the needles is good advice. Just keep in mind that keeping the initial transient attack probably has the most noticeable change to the sound for dynamics and punch. It's all about the milliseconds under your control. The body of the waveform gives what I would call character and presence. If the compressor your using doesn't quite get you where you want, consider transient shapers as another means. Check out a Mastering the Mix article on "Best Compression Settings for a Punchy Mix"

Hi Klaus, being as how you have and SSD and a secondary drive, I'm assuming your OS is on the SSD, which is more common, so make sure it is on your D drive because Windows is faster loading from an SSD. Depending on how much storage is on the SSD, some find it ok to add applications on the same drive with the OS and keep their files and data assigned to the secondary drive. Usually, the plugin launchers will choose the main drive by default, but I and many others like to load them onto the secondary because I use a smaller capacity SSD (500 GB) and try to keep it mostly assigned for the OS. Definitely keep your music files on one drive to avoid storage of some parts on two different drives. It's ok to have your VST3 plugins on any drive and not necessarily with the DAW. There is no need for a specific folder to keep installation downloads. Many times, I just open and run the install file not bothering to save it into any specific folder and let the OS download folder get cluttered up in its own way. There is a zip folder that will store extractions but don't be too concerned making sure something has or hasn't made it there. BOTTOM LINE - YOU DON"T NEED TO SAVE ALL THAT CRAP. It gets too complicated trying to save everything as to how it might make sense. It just clutters up your storage somewhere else, plus the names in those folders are confusing anyway. You can always do a new download if you can't find the specific download application if you need it again. Just keep a written record of all your apps and licenses you have installed in case something craps out and you have to start all over again. For my Product Portals, I keep them on the desktop as an icon to launch as needed because they seem to constantly need updating when I have to open them up to do something. They usually download to the main drive, and I don't bother assigning them somewhere else. All the best