Concerns about Sonar X2

[elwoodblues1969]

Mario,

I updated my Studio to the X2a version and now the transport controls on my keyboard do not work.I also have 23 midi effects that are missing,as the attachment will illustrate.

Aside from all that,none of my 3rd party VST's are showing up in this DAW.I think before I go to the Cakewalk forum for help,I will first call Sweetwater and have them take a look at my PC via their remote access program...because I'm afraid that people on the forum,will tell me to uninstall everything...or well...who knows what they'll advise me to do.


-Thom

[elwoodblues1969]

By the way...both my Dimension and Rapture modules are completely empty & I tried dragging and dropping everything manually into Rapture,but it won't save the content.

[MarioD]

Thom, did you register the VSTis and effects with Sonar?  You must do this in order to see them. Go to Utilities/cakewalk plug-in manager then scan.  You may have to tell Sonar where to look for these under options in the plug-in manager.

Here is a copy of my plug-in options: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/97281321/plugin.JPG

Good luck and let me know if I can help.

[elwoodblues1969]

Thom, did you register the VSTis and effects with Sonar?  You must do this in order to see them. Go to Utilities/cakewalk plug-in manager then scan.  You may have to tell Sonar where to look for these under options in the plug-in manager.

Here is a copy of my plug-in options: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/97281321/plugin.JPG

Good luck and let me know if I can help.

I registered my Sonar Studio DAW,but...are you saying that some of the effects & instruments have to be registered separately??Isn't it bad enough that I can't ever sell this software and that I can't run this DAW on more than one PC at a time?
What is wrong with these companies?

[MarioD]

No Thom that is not what I meant, I meant for Sonar to use plug-ins it must know where they are. When you use the plug-in manager it tells Sonar to register them so it knows where they are.  Register may be a poor choice of words here, locate may have been better.  Sorry if I confused you!

Sonar, like a lot of pro DAWS is extremely powerful.  They can be extremely stupid at times. You have to tell them where things are.  For every plug-in you add you must run the plug-in manager again for it to find it. Fortunately you can tell Sonar to ignore the ones that are already registered/located.

I hope this helps.

[elwoodblues1969]

Thanks Mario....I'll look into it tomorrow...as now,I'm really burnt out on this stuff.I think perhaps,it was the demo I had on my PC..because during the installation,it paused for a second,because it detected that I previously had the demo installed...but I had completely uninstalled it before I ran the new disc.

[elwoodblues1969]

I think having had the X2 Producer demo installed on my PC has caused me a lot of problems,as even though I had uninstalled it beforehand,it almost certainly caused me trouble with my Studio version & the X2a update just made matters worse for me.

When I fired it up this morning,the Pentagon synth was missing & I was unable to retrieve it.

The only thing left for me to do,is to contact Sweetwater tomorrow and have them run through my file system on my PC,with their remote access program.

This is the main reason why I decided to buy Sonar,via Sweetwater..because without them I would have wasted my money on Sonar(as this retailer has bailed me out of trouble,in similar situations).

I knew it was only a matter of time,that I would run into a problem with Sonar(the video tutorials have been great,but those instructions don't include troubleshooting tips).

[MarioD]

Thom, most programs when uninstalled leave crap behind in the registry.  After uninstalling a program I run the free Ccleaner program http://ccleaner.softm8.com/?gclid=CJrW78Lg9rgCFUqY4Aod6GoAGA

I run the cleaner to discard all of the temp files and I also run the registry cleaner.  The program will ask you to back up your registry prior to discarding the crap in the registry.  I always say yes.  I have never had a problem with this registry cleaner.

Is your music computer on line?  Installing a program with an anti-virus or anti-spyware program running may cause problems.  Using a DAW with anything running in the back ground like those anti programs will cause problems.  Just a thought.  Is your system tweaked for DAW use?  If not then that may help. There is some good information on that on line, just google/bing tweaking a computer for DAW use, or something like that.

It’s almost if not impossible to have a troubleshooting video.  There are so many various computer configurations that it would be impossible!  Each system has to be tweaked individually.  There are some basic guide lines, see above, but each system is different.

PS - are you running a 32 bit or a 64 bit system?

[elwoodblues1969]

Thom, most programs when uninstalled leave crap behind in the registry.  After uninstalling a program I run the free Ccleaner program http://ccleaner.softm8.com/?gclid=CJrW78Lg9rgCFUqY4Aod6GoAGA

I run the cleaner to discard all of the temp files and I also run the registry cleaner.  The program will ask you to back up your registry prior to discarding the crap in the registry.  I always say yes.  I have never had a problem with this registry cleaner.

Is your music computer on line?  Installing a program with an anti-virus or anti-spyware program running may cause problems.  Using a DAW with anything running in the back ground like those anti programs will cause problems.  Just a thought.  Is your system tweaked for DAW use?  If not then that may help. There is some good information on that on line, just google/bing tweaking a computer for DAW use, or something like that.

PS - are you running a 32 bit or a 64 bit system?

As I've mentioned on many occasions,I have two computers.One is a Compaq PC and I only have Presonus S1 on it.This PC is reserved for all of my miscellaneous downloading,so I need my IObit Anti-Malware running at all times.

My 2nd computer,is my Cyberpower gaming PC,which has the 6-core processor,1TB HD and 8GB of RAM and this of course,is my main DAW PC.
I have another instance of Presonus S1 on it,as well as Reason 7 and now my Sonar Studio X2a.I am connected to the internet on this one as well(for authentication purposes,to launch Presonus & Reason)...but I only have Windows Security Essentials on it,nothing more.

Before I start messing around with registry cleaners & such,I will first contact Sweetwater and have them take a look at my PC with their remote access program.
It's an amazing method of tech support,because it's tantamount to having a tech-guy right there with you,in your studio.

I have Windows 7 64 bit & I'm running the 32 bit version of Sonar Studio X2a.


Thanks again for all of your advice.

[elwoodblues1969]

By the way...about the Z3TA+ Classic..well...before I installed my Studio version,I had no idea that the Classic version of this synth would be so scaled down,in terms of size and controls.
From what I've tinkered with so far in Sonar,I think Z3TA is Cakewalk's best synth,& maybe the only module in Sonar that's worth upgrading.That being said,if I chose to even bother utilizing this synth again,I will go for the upgrade.

I think you're right about Dimension not being as good a sample engine as Kontakt,so I will wait and see what happens with the future X3 version.

[MarioD]

Thom, the first thing I would suggest doing is to run the 64 bit bit version of Sonar.  The 32 bit version can only access a max of 3 gigs of ram.  Heavy duty DAWs like Sonar, probably Cubase and others, work best with more ram.  They also run better when they are the only program that uses the computer clock. 

You are probably using the 32 bit machine so you can keep some of your 32 bit VSTis and plug-ins.  It may be time to move on.  I tried some of the 32 bit VSTis and plug-ins on the 64 bit version and many didn’t work, even when wrapped.  I moved on and I don’t miss them at all anymore.  Most will have to convert to 64 bit or be left behind.  I do not buy any 32 bit stuff anymore.

The ram comes into play when using the various VSTis.  Many of Sonar’s VSTis are heavy users of ram and as you add more tracks to your songs Sonar will need more ram.  With only 3 gigs max that doesn’t leave much room to spare, especially when other background programs are loaded into ram.

The clock comes into play when you are using Sonar and another program interrupts it by using the clock.  This is true with any program that uses the internet, like your antivirus. 

There are a lot of sites that can help you set up your Win 7 for DAW work: http://www.google.com/#bav=on.2,or.&fp=ae1d97b68cec209d&q=tweaking+win7+for+a+DAW

You might want to look at some of these tweaks as they can stabilize a DAW machine.

[elwoodblues1969]

Mario,

I appreciate all of your troubleshooting ideas,but I had Sweetwater walk me through Sonar this morning & as it turns out,it was just a simple matter of disabling the user account control.
I could have easily avoided all this mess by just running Sonar as an administrator(if I had thought of that)...but changing the control settings is better and as a result,everything is running smoothly.
This is why I wanted to wait & consult with Sweetwater first,before going crazy with exploring the vast realm of possible causes.

As for abandoning the use of Sonar in it's 32 bit version and discarding the utilization of my 32bit VST's...well,I'm trying to keep my transient DAW use down to a minimum,by pooling most of my sounds into a single DAW session.

Sonar is more freeware-friendly and besides,I shelled out quite a bit of coin,in my various 32 bit VST purchases,so I am going to facilitate them as much as possible.

I will probably install the 64 bit version of Sonar as well...but I'm not sure that it is all that necessary,at this point.


-Thom  

[MarioD]

Oh yes, that terrible often intruding UAC.  I keep forgetting about that as I turned mine off the day I brought my computer home!

I’m glad everything is working ok for you.  I would suggest that you install the 64 bit version now that you know about the UAC/administrator thing.  Eventually all will be 64 bit.

Have fun with Sonar.

[elwoodblues1969]

Just when I thought everything was green-lighted in Sonar,I hit a brick wall..in terms of video importing.When I tried to load mpeg 2,I got nothing but a small,blank & grey screen.
When I tried to import MOV(which is supposed to be a highly compatible format),all I get,is an error message. Acoustica Mixcraft 6 was a ridiculously buggy DAW...but at least the video import was simple & usable.

Naturally,I figured I am doing something wrong...but what?I don't understand how importing video,requires a special knowledge of Sonar,in order to pull it off.

[MarioD]

Thom, I don’t think that Sonar 2x can import MPEG2 files.  I just tried it on mine and I could not do it.  I kept getting a non-compatible type error message. They are up to MPEG4 now so 2 is an old format.  However there are converters, some free I think, that can change them to the correct format.  Here is a couple of Cakewalk docs explaining what can be imported.

http://www.cakewalk.com/Documentation/default.aspx?Doc=SONAR%20X2&Lang=EN&Req=Dialogs2.010.html

http://www.cakewalk.com/Documentation/default.aspx?Doc=SONAR%20X2&Lang=EN&Req=Tutorial8.2.html

Sonar can do MOVs but you must have Quicktime installed: http://www.cakewalk.com/Documentation/default.aspx?Doc=SONAR%20X2&Lang=EN&Req=Playback.39.html

I hope this helps.