Noel Borthwick

This should be resolved in the next Sonar release.

That error message means that Cakewalk failed to load the plugin library at a system level. The only way that can happen is if something in plugin itself failed the LoadLibrary call. Most likely it could be a memory limitation where the plugin is relying on a global  memory pool which is too small or some other static resource is my guess. This is not a Cakewalk specific problem.

I'm sorry to hear that you ran into this issue. I know you said that it corrected itself but if you can get a repro please send us the project files.

On 4/4/2024 at 10:15 AM, aidan o driscoll said:

Hi Noel,

Here is a screenshot when it opens on the RECENT PROJECTS tab:

 

The projects listed to the right - some of them would have been opened yesterday over the peer to peer network via my router from another system. So that might be it? Is there a way to clear that list? Also is there a way to clear the list in the FILE menu?

Cheers

Aidan

This is definitely the problem. If it's taking long to Open the files listed (to show project metadata) then it will slow down the load.

There is no direct way to clear the list today other than temporarily hiding the files and opening the app. That would flush the list if they are missing.

On 4/3/2024 at 1:09 PM, Terry Kelley said:

While I personally think we are being “strung along” at this point,  I don’t think it’s the developers doing it and I get the impression they would give us everything we want - if they could.

I understand that users want to get definitive answers on final pricing and purchase options, but please don’t read too much into this,.
As mentioned earlier, BSP was the quickest way we could make it the software available to users while all the other moving parts are sorted out for an official release. The wait to final releasse was completely expected to be a few months. BandLab is a big company and Its not just engineering - management, marketing, back end, social, support, all of those have to be coordinated to make it happen.

Our team would obviously like this to happen sooner than later and we’ve done our part to communicate whats needed within the org. If you need it now go ahead and use BSP, or wait for the final announcements on purchase options. Its pretty simple.

Which tab of the start screen is it defaulting to for you? Also where are you located? 

If it's taking long to show the data on the online projects or demo projects page it's likely because of Internet delays in accessing the data. 

Also can you switch to a different tab while it's waiting?

On 3/23/2024 at 8:59 AM, Bob Halilovic said:

Master bus output is set to Speakers (4 - High definition Audio Device)

I just noticed this only happens with stand alone CWP files and not to CWP files in a project folder, with those, each track points to Master and that property is selectable for each track, The Master track points to Speakers (4 - High definition Audio Device) and everything seems to work correctly.

I will try creating a new project and copying everything across.

 

 

@Bob Halilovic very unlikely its related to the last update. there weren't any changes in that area. Which version did you update FROM?
Also, please PM the project that exhibits this issue and we can check.

My dev PC was bought from @Jim Roseberry at Studiocat.com

These were the specs:
I9 Platinum Studio:
Silent Mid Tower Case
1000w Ultra Quiet Power-Supply
I9-10980xe (18 cores, 36 processing threads, 4.8GHz max turbo frequency)
X299 Chipset Motherboard
64GB DDR4
1TB SSD (OS/Applications)
GT-710 video
Windows 11 Pro

However, the UI smoothness can be seen on pretty much any PC. Its smoother even on my surface book 2.

Yes it is a lot more efficient for drawing the UI, which is visible in the responsiveness of meters and now time scroll smoothness. I posted a video some weeks ago with Sonar and CbB demonstrating this. There have been numerous optimizations to the UI to improve performance.

Yes there are plans to have purchase options outside of backstage pass which was intended to be the quickest way to get it right now.

When details of it are known it will be announced.

Talking about promos, bandlab has 30% off membership including backstage pass that includes both Sonar and Next for 104.99 for the first year.

It doesn't get any better than that for pricing.

3 hours ago, SirWillyDS12 said:

This issue was resolved for me with the 403 build @Noel Borthwick... Also, I'm no longer getting the Audio device has been disconnected dialog box on startup if Sonar resets the sample rate...

Nice. Yes this notification is now masked during app startup. What happens is when the sample rate changes some ASIO drivers request a driver reload leading to that spurious notification.

22 minutes ago, Promidi said:

I would rather have a perpetual licence - a similar way that Sonar Platinum was offered (before the lifetime licence was offered). 

Making 12 consecutive monthly, or one annual payment, gives you a version that keeps working.

If any updates are released while you have an active membership, you have access to those updates.

If, after the 12 consecutive monthly, or the one annual payment, you decide to stop renewing your membership, then you keep the version you had when you stopped renewing.

What I definitely would not like is for the only way to keep using Sonar is via membership.  I think that would annoy a lot of users.

We’re looking into other package options. Anything like that involves back end, and has a lot of other moving parts which is why there is a delay in information being made available.

53 minutes ago, Alan Bachman said:

I do not mind the subscription or plan idea at all.

I have asked some questions for clarification - such as - does bandlab membership include Sonar - with no extra fee?  Just want to know.  I do think it is time for Bandlab to start clarifying pricing, whatever it is.

There are often critiques on this forum and almost always they are made to make sure the product and presentation of the product improves.

Imho, no one should abandon Cakewalk or Sonar.   It is a great, deep, reliable program and for me, it is especially important because I can open files from decades ago in various iterations of Cakewalk/Sonar.  And good luck finding a DAW with as helpful people as the Bakers with this forum, etc.

It includes both Sonar and Next at no extra fee which is a great value if you do the math. Also included are all the standard BandLab membership perks like distribution promotion etc.

19 minutes ago, Tez said:

I documented my experience, others have a similar issue and for me this did not occur to CbB versions prior to "2023.09". The question is how to track this down if it only occurs to some of us,  A windows task manager dump may not capture what's initially blocking  the handshake  which for me subsequently disappears on a relaunch with a now activated notice, incidentally when the Bandlab membership promo notice popped up there was no following activation issues and clicking check for updates shows the CbB version is up to date. Any suggestions?

Sign in is complex because it relies on the browser handshake. If something in windows blocks it there isn't a whole lot we can do. It's not a bug in our code so I can't help you with that in this scenario.

Using offline auth via product center to activate from a different machine is the easiest solution. If sign in fails even from product center then you have a more fundamental problem with your account or credentials.

32 minutes ago, norfolkmastering said:

Worth having another look at text legibility which I’m struggling with in the new Sonar GUI.  My monitors are on maximum possible resolution and I’m struggling with some of the text.

Can you be specific about exactly which areas you find difficulty with? Post screenshots if necessary.

18 hours ago, norfolkmastering said:

I think this sums up the issues with the new Sonar Tungsten theme very well. I don’t mind it not being an exact copy but it should be better, not worse. I hope the themes are not being ‘fashion’ driven.  Totally irrelevant for an GUI you are using for music production.

We need good contrast between functional blocks, easy to see buttons and knobs, and very legible text.  The CbB Skylight GUI does that really well and is the standard to start from in any new Sonar GUI.

Thats a generalization since its not a black and white choice. There are many people who are equally driven by aesthetics as much as function and would not consider using a product that didn’t look and feel clean and inspiring. 
Everyone is different has has varying tastes when it comes to an interface. Personally, I lean closer to favoring function but I am very affected by visual clutter. I hate using products with so many options in the UI that it causes paralysis. That said, the design team takes all of this into account.

15 hours ago, John T said:

I'm personally not interested in a full-blown theme editor. But I think it would be nice to see more colour tweaks available in preferences.

I also think there's a gap in the current set of themes, and there should be at least one that's a bit more high contrast.

More color customization will evolve. There won't be a theme editor since there are no bitmaps to replace. We have some themes not released yet that will fill these gaps when it's complete.

On 3/11/2024 at 1:11 AM, Hillmy said:

So I would advise not making anything related to Cakewalk/Sonar/Next your main anything or permanently move anything to it. Because IT WILL CHANGE SOON! 

Nothing will change that will break compatibility. Both sonar and next are not beta software. Backstage pass has more to do with the delivery of the software than the software itself.

I can assure you that it is not.

23 hours ago, Will. said:

Make sure to login at www.bandlab.com as well. 

Logging in to bandlab.com is irrelevant. You have to sign in from within CbB. When the Web browser opens sign in there with your bandlab credentials. That's all there is to it.

If it fails then something on the system is blocking it. You can attempt offline with using a different PC if so.

Are you running the app online and signed in? You normally don't get these prompts if so.

Nothing nonsensical about it. It's the requirement for running the free version.

12 hours ago, Morten Saether said:

Thanks for clarifying. The goal is not for Sonar to look just like CbB, although Sonar will feel very familiar if you are used to CbB. The focus is to have a clean modern UI that is scalable, which will have many benefits as the app continues to evolve. We will be able to do lots of slick things with the UI that simply wasn't possible before. The vector graphics have no effect on the overall color scheme.

There are to main differences in the new Tungsten theme:

• There are fewer shades of gray for a cleaner and more streamlined look
• Most buttons have a transparent background in the off position

There is currently no user customization, but we are continuing to refine the themes, and additional themes will be added in the future.

To add to this the “flat” look is intentional. Sonar theming is generally not going for a 3d look on buttons for definition. I suspect thats what you are comparing and finding different. It may take a little getting used to but its not less defined even to my eyes and I’m not young by any stretch of the imagination

10 hours ago, Kevin Walsh said:

I should be more careful with my words. As the project plays, the now marker "freezes" at a point for perhaps half a second rather than tracking smoothly with the current sample. It then jumps to the current sample and freezes there again, and so on. It is continually playing catch up. 

I should also note that I don't notice any stuttering in smaller projects with fewer tracks and no or few virtual instruments.

My display is an LG Ultrawide set to 3440 X 1440 at 85hz refresh rate.

Windows scaling is set to 125%. 

GPU is an AMD Radeon RX580 series.

System is an AMD 3950x-based tower with 64gb of ram and a bunch os Samsung nvme ssd's.

That was a preexisting issue that was also in CbB. In the next update as shown in my video this should be improved a lot.

1 hour ago, John T said:

It's a minor point, but I was a bit surprised to see that the Console Emulator and Concrete Limiter ProChannel modules don't have the new UI style.

Technically they are external to the application since they are plugins. We may get around to refreshing their UI at some point.