Canopus

As none of the proposed solutions above have managed to solve the problem, I'd suggest both of you contact Cakewalk support.

Check if you’ve got a file called SonarHelp_Documentation_1.0.0.21.exe in your Downloads or possibly Downloads\Cakewalk, folder. If so, just double-click it. That’s how I solved the problem on my computer. The file had been downloaded, but never installed, and that's why it never turned up among the product update links.

Hej Krister. Tråkigt att du har problem. To start with, Local Help works for me in Sonar, so it's not a general problem. I know from my own experience that Sonar might think local help is installed, when in fact it isn't. In my case, I had downloaded the file, but not installed it (i.e. put it in the correct location). However, the download itself apparently triggered Sonar to believe it was in place. So, do you have the file Sonar.chm in the Sonar root folder C:\Program Files\Cakewalk\Sonar? As you have selected Always Use Local Help in Preferences, that really should be all that's needed. If you haven't got the help file in that location, go to Help > Check for Updates > Product Updates, to see if you have a Help download link waiting.

There have been some changes to CbB that makes later versions of themes have display issues in SONAR. The most important one was probably that CbB 2020.04 added Arrangement Tracks, and with the addition of one more tab in the Inspector, they all needed to be more narrow. Thus, user themes updated to CbB 2020.04 and later will not look that great in SONAR. I actually had to recreate an old version of my theme Lead recently, with the old tabs, to be able to use it in SONAR Platinum:

Ah, you're right. I mistakenly looked at the 2022 version, not the 2024 version.

And after downloading, search for "upsampling", and not "oversampling". I think they've changed the naming since that PDF was written.

It would probably increase the number of subscribers. Also, keeping a non-maintained version of BandLab available for subscribers, would hardly result in any significant cost to BandLab. When tools are made available to make more adjustments to the Sonar GUI, the need for a such a work-around would probably disappear. What's not to like?

The $49 offer is still there. However, you need to use this this link: https://www.bandlab.com/membership/get-membership?productAttribution=cw-cbb-offer Notice the parameter productAttribution=cw-cbb-offer at the end of the url. I guess BandLab wants to keep track of how many CbB users are willing to pay for the membership.

Your pane is not wide enough for all those buttons. If you move the cursor to the right, it will turn into a double-sided arrow. Then just drag it slightly to the right. And, hey presto.

They are stored in different folders. For CbB they are stored in %appdata%\Cakewalk\Cakewalk Core\Plug-in Menu Layouts, and for Sonar they are stored in %appdata%\Cakewalk\Sonar\Plug-in Menu Layouts. Just copy the updated layout files between them and you’ll be good. One more advanced solution, which I use myself, is to create a junction between them. I described it in detail here:

The Sonar application is based on Cakewalk by BandLab, which in turn was based on Cakewalk SONAR Platinum, which in turn was based on Cakewalk SONAR X3, X2 and X1 in decending order. I’ve had them all. Hence, the codebase is not something new, although recent code maintenance, as well as new features, of course, are. Microsoft's C++ runtime library is indeed an integral part of Sonar, but, as I'm sure you know, the same goes for most Windows applications. Bottom line: the free version of Sonar is not a new piece of software.

You can only have one app associated with each file extension. In fact, if you during the Sonar installation select Advanced, instead of Basic, you do get a question which file extensions you’d like to associate with Sonar. It looks like the dialog below. Just unselect those you don't want to associate with Sonar. However, as you most likely already have changed all of them to Sonar, by using the Basic installation, you can change the app associations back to CbB in either Windows > Settings > Standard apps, or do it in File Explorer by right-clicking a cwp file, select Open With and then locate Cakewalk by BandLab. Be sure to tick "Always use this application". That might in fact be the easiest solution. I always start by opening the application, and select which project file I'd like to work with from there. That gives total flexibility.

Me too, once I noticed they'd sent me an additional €10 personal voucher as an owner of Sonic Bundle. At €29 the price became pretty reasonable.

Unfortunately for me, PB doesn't seem to have any crossgrade to KORG Collection 5 from 3 KORG products. KORG always have that when on sale, but their crossgrade price has always been above my pain threshold; I think it's been $149 at the lowest. But I can wait. Oh yeah, I can wait.

A no-brainer price. I've had M1 and Wavestation for a long time. Now, after also adding MS-20 to my KorgID, I will hopefully get a better deal the next time KORG Collection 5 upgrade is on sale. Didn't care to claim the freebie at PB though. Too many reverbs already.

Thanks, corrected. And, yes, I know.

You also have a number of tutorials on YouTube. Here’s a playlist featuring seven different videos, where the first five are made by Cakewalk. Sure, it’s about 14 years old, but except for the DAW being used is Cakewalk 8.5, nothing has changed in Session Drummer 3. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLt3VhS98XSi9n1G4UAsrSAxf2N6w21B7L

Welcome back from the dark side, John.

As for SONAR, there hasn’t been an updated version since October 2017. As you know, Gibson pulled the plug in 2018. That also means that there are no upgrade options, or additional benefits, to those who once owned it. Believe me, I was one. Enter the world of Sonar. You have two options; go subscription, or download the free, scaled-down version of Sonar. Although some features have been removed in the free version, it’s still a much more mature product than SONAR Professional ever was.

If that includes free Sonar, that would be a great solution for everyone missing a drum sampler.

I’ve had SONAR since X1, so I’m not sure when Session Drummer 3 turned up. But, for sure, it was included in Platinum, part of the Artist Instrument Collection. As far as I know, it was part of all available versions of SONAR, i.e. Artist, Studio, Producer and Platinum. It might also have been included in the Cakewalk 8.x and earlier incarnations, I don’t know, but for some reason it has never been part of CbB. Maybe BandLab simply didn’t purchase the IP rights to those products.

I think it’s even simpler than that. If you make too much available in the free version, there isn’t much incentive to pay for the full-fledged Sonar. Some functions that most users would want simply have to be left out. Also, I guess that the functional gap between these two versions will increase over time.

Cakewalk XSampler only holds one sample at a time. I would use NI Battery, but of course any multi-sample sampler would probably do. Indeed, if you have Cakewalk Session Drummer 3 from the olden days, that should be fine as well. In Session Drummer 3, samples can be dragged onto the different kit pieces and then saved as a user kit.

It may be worth noting that VAT is not included in the advertised prices, but it will be added at checkout. I noticed that last year when I was considering Play4Life, so I eventually backed out.