Any fix for the legacy Cakewalk instruments not displaying in Reason?

[FZ1]

The thread about getting Pentagon 1 running by correcting registry issues, makes me wonder if the display problem with RGC instruments in Reason is similar in nature.

Background; Legacy Cakewalk instruments don't display in Reason. You can load them and they work fine but the GUI will not display.

It's not the end of the world. I have made up combinator panels in Reason to access effects like Z3ta-1fx and the PX and VX strips.

And If I really want to use Rapture & Dim Pro in Reason, I use Kushview Element to load them. 

 

But I have always wondered if the problem is probably something that permissions/registry related. 

Something that stops Reason loading the graphics.

Does anyone know the nature of the problem?

 

 

[bitflipper]

Not a Reason user myself, but it seems unlikely that registry permissions would interfere with graphical elements in any application. The registry just holds small pieces of data and is mostly only modified during installations. Things in there that are routinely updated by programs (e.g. the last 10 projects you opened) are written to a part of the registry reserved for per-user data, a place where Windows assumes that if you are that user you have permission to write there. 

Sorry, I don't have a hypothesis as to what the problem is, only that it's probably not related to registry permissions.

[abacab]

Legacy Cakewalk instruments are old, unmaintained code. Which in many cases will still work fine, until it doesn't! If the problem is due to  a software incompatibility with Reason, then you would need to convince Reason support to implement a workaround fix.

I ran into a similar issue using a Cakewalk instrument with Ableton Live some years ago, and Ableton support straight up told me they were not going to support any end-of-life plugins. It is what it is. If the old stuff still works, then great! Otherwise not so much...

One other thing to consider is that you may not have all of the older Microsoft Visual C++ redistributables installed on your machine. That can sometimes cause errors with older software being run on newer Windows machines, independent of the DAW being used.

Edited July 8, 2022 by abacab

[Starship Krupa]

On 7/7/2022 at 7:57 PM, abacab said:

you may not have all of the older Microsoft Visual C++ redistributables installed on your machine

Good point I need to remember when older software stops working. Newer versions of .NET frameworks may not be as backward compatible as advertised either.

Every time someone posts something like this, that they're having trouble with older plug-ins, my first thought is "yikes, why mess with such antique software?" If I think about it in terms of the hardware instruments and processors they emulate, though, it makes more sense.

I still own and use hardware synths that are over 20 years old, I have multiple hardware processors that are older even than that. I have a couple of guitars that were, like me, made in the early 60's. So having grown up with the mentality that my music-making tools can last, if not a lifetime, then at least a very long time, I tend to acquire plug-ins using the same mentality.

I need to remember that they are software, and as such, more ephemeral than the hardware they emulate/replace. At some point, I'm going to have to being okay with the idea of someday letting them go, no matter how good I've become at getting results with them (although I do hope that Vojtech Meldaproduction at least keeps his code usable until I'm gone from this earthly plane 😁).

Continuing to use 32-bit plug-ins, using older 64-bit plug-ins that have started to be problematic (and are no longer under development), that require wrappers or whatever, that's when they become only for use in legacy projects, in my book. An inducement to actually finish projects from 5 years ago and then consign them to the archives!

This business/hobby of making music on my computer with a shoestring budget will require me to keep learning new tools. If I were a pro, maybe I'd be investing in things like UAD plugins. It's a gamble: which developers do I think will be sticking around long enough to keep me in updates?

Fingers crossed that my beloved AIR synths don't stop working until something else comes along. They are my most-used, and they are some olde code.

[abacab]

2 hours ago, Starship Krupa said:

Fingers crossed that my beloved AIR synths don't stop working until something else comes along. They are my most-used, and they are some olde code.

After Cakewalk legacy plugins, I think that AIR is probably next up for the software "reckoning". AIR are skating on thin ice by still selling that stuff. It's good, and I also own most of it, but with the realization that it doesn't come with a lifetime warranty! 🤪

At least Cakewalk is not selling their old legacy stuff, ultimately because they must realize the responsibility for supporting the code for old products if they do sell it, and the expense that would involve to do it correctly.

Edited July 12, 2022 by abacab

[Starship Krupa]

22 minutes ago, abacab said:

I think that AIR is probably next up for the software "reckoning". AIR are skating on thin ice by still selling that stuff. It's good, and I also own most of it, but with the realization that it doesn't come with a lifetime warranty! 🤪

No software does, really. The end to Cakewalk, Inc. was a hard lesson in how a company. And you can't "buy" licenses for the mighty Photoshop and Pro Tools any more (yes, I know you can still get a "perpetual" license for PT that will end your updates after a year). If you kept your old licenses for those, well, that means that your software is effectively orphaned.

I understand the desire/need for big software companies to go to subscription models, but I think that it should be optional. Subscriptions for bundles, perpetual licenses for individual products. Incentives for pros who can afford/justify monthly payments for the whole enchilada. But companies can change their licensing models whenever they decide to, leaving hobbyists like me stranded.

The only company where I've spent what I consider "serious" money (as opposed to onesie-twosie $10 Plugin Boutique or Alliance sales) is Meldaproduction, and part of why is their licensing policies. Lifetime updates (SONAR Platinum license holders shudder here). Free new ones if they decide to add them to a bundle you already have. I have 3 bundle licenses (including the "pro" upgrade of the FreeFX bundle), and all of them have received amazing feature updates just in the time I've had the licenses. But the whole empire rests on one genius, and if, heaven forbid, anything happens to Vojtech (or he just decides to do something else), there goes the whole show.

Moral of the story: finish projects before my plug-ins stop working! 🤣

[abacab]

11 minutes ago, Starship Krupa said:

Moral of the story: finish projects before my plug-ins stop working! 🤣

Exactly! Bounce your projects to audio and you will have them virtually forever. The most common problems seem to arise when hobbyists attempt to resurrect projects that they were working on 10-20 years earlier, after taking some time off for careers, families, etc.

Unlike your old hardware that you can just fire up again, the software world has moved quickly in 10-20 years!!!

[Byron Dickens]

More reasons why it pays to learn how to read and write music at least half-assed. Notes on staff paper are platform-agnostic and completely independent of any and all software, plugins, licensing schemes and even the actual instruments themselves.

 

[Starship Krupa]

1 minute ago, abacab said:

Bounce your projects to audio and you will have them virtually forever

I really need to get into the habit of doing this. My idea is to do bounces with and without FX. I mean, once the synth is dialed in, it's less likely that I'll want to futz with it.

[abacab]

1 minute ago, Starship Krupa said:

I really need to get into the habit of doing this. My idea is to do bounces with and without FX. I mean, once the synth is dialed in, it's less likely that I'll want to futz with it.

Stems and full mixdown if you want it all!