Sonar Home Studio 4.0.1 master.ins not being read at startup

[BKH]

I bought this software when it was the current version and so have used it a long long time.  I upgraded my computer recently.  Now, when I start the program, I have to import my instrument list for my synth.  It's as if I don't have the box checked save for next session (but I do).    The master.ins file contains all my instruments but it's not being loaded at startup.    Never had this problem with my old, yes,  XP system.  Now on Windows 10.  Any ideas what might be going on? 

I'm not in the habit of leaving my machines on all the time, which would be an option.

Thanks

Edited June 30, 2023 by BKH
gramatical error

[Byron Dickens]

I think it's nature's way of telling you you're way overdue for an update....

[JnTuneTech]

Just to be clear - are you saying that none of the default instruments, as well as your own imported, do not show until you import something?  That would be odd.

[Starship Krupa]

16 hours ago, BKH said:

Any ideas what might be going on?

Sure. You're trying to run very old software on a modern computer system. 🤨

While I do understand "if it ain't broke, don't fix it," at some point any given version of a computer program gets left behind, becomes no longer supported (in the form of updates to be compatible with newer OSes, peer support like you're asking for now, etc.). Past about 5 years, the time bomb starts ticking pretty loudly. At 18 years, you're lucky that it will even run on Windows 10. It's going to stop working entirely, eventually.

At that point, whether you like it or not, you're going to need to get a program that will run on your computer.

Cakewalk by BandLab is still free to download and use, and will remain free to use. It's about to be frozen, but it's at least designed to be compatible with Windows 10 and 11. It can open your Home Studio projects, and likely not have a problem with your .INS file. If it does have trouble with your .INS file, you can ask for help here and get more and more helpful responses.

[Promidi]

Where exactly, on your hard drive, is your master.ins file. 

[John Vere]

Probably 32 bit stuff so needed replacement anyways

[BKH]

All the default instruments exist when I start-up the program but not the ones imported previously  (JV1010).    Everything else is working fine using  Sonar 4.0.1 on my new Windows 10 PC.  Very strange.

Master.ins   is located at C:\Program Files(x86)\Cakewalk\SonarHomeStudio\SampleContent     Most everything is stored here except project files, drum files, and track presets.

[JnTuneTech]

2 hours ago, BKH said:

Master.ins   is located at C:\Program Files(x86)\Cakewalk\SonarHomeStudio\SampleContent

The reason this was asked about, is that Windows programming defaults were changed for some of those type of things when Windows 64-bit OS became available, and eventually the standard. File permission to add/modify things in certain system directories has changed as well.

I don't know how 32-bit Home Studio 4.01 was originally meant to reference its preference files. In 64-bit versions, some of that now gets set and modified in the normally-hidden "AppData" subfolders under the logged in user name folder. The running version of Master.ins for (64-bit) CbB typically resides there, and other copies can exist but are only reference copies.

If the running version of Sonar you are using does actually try to write to a Master.ins in the directory you have listed, it may not have proper permissions to change or save that file. That might be causing what you describe, unless there is some other issue saving an update to a system file like that.

[BKH]

Thanks for the response.  In response, I went to both master.ins (there are 2, see below), right clicked on it and went to properties, security.  It appeared to have the needed permissions but I proceeded to give it full permissions to be accessible by any application for read or write.  I then opened Sonar imported my Roland instruments, assigned channels to them and verified they were there by way of a project opening.  Saved the project again, closed Sonar, reopened it, opened the same project,  my Roland instruments are not there.

There are 2 master.ins files.  One in folder SonarHomeStudio and one in SonarHomeStudio\SampleContent.  The one in the SonarHomeStudio folder is the one that is read during the opening of any project.  I learned this by hooking up the old XP machine and finding the master.ins files.  The one in SonarHomeStudio folder was twice as large and contained all my Roland instruments.  It can be read with Notepad.  I then moved the file to the new machine into the SonarHomeStudio folder replacing the old master.ins file and that fix survives power downs.  Still does not explain why it won't write master files but I'm happy for now.

Thank you JnTuneTech for motivating me to dig deeper.

[JnTuneTech]

On 8/13/2023 at 3:05 PM, BKH said:

I then moved the file to the new machine into the SonarHomeStudio folder replacing the old master.ins file and that fix survives power downs.  Still does not explain why it won't write master files but I'm happy for now.

I'm glad you found & copied your old instrument definitions - those take a lot of work to set up!  -I have been copying mine to backups for years now, and when changing PCs they can be invaluable.

I have a suspicion that the reason the saves don't work normally, is that under Windows 10 - the Home Studio app needs to have Windows - compatibility settings configuration (in the Windows app shortcut run options - try XP compatibility) and maybe even run with admin permissions, to enable things like that. Especially since it is a 32-bit legacy version. - I hesitate to advise you on how best to enable that, as it depends on your system & security preferences, and also changing that can make you have to reset things in Sonar - depending on how you enable running it as Administrator.  -But keep at it, you are on the right track, if you really want to keep that old version.  -As others have noted, the current CbB is designed to run almost any older version project - probably much more efficiently as well, so you may want to just work towards that. -CbB can use your old Master.ins just fine as well, BTW.

Edited August 16, 2023 by JnTuneTech
Windows compatibility info added