Mark Morgon-Shaw

For the record I am still on Win10

I may have it - just figured out a difference between Sonar and CbB If you minimise a plugin in Sonar with plugin re-cylcing enabled, the next plugin you open appears in the same location with just the title bar visible. If you do this is CbB the new plugin opens in the 'old' location before it was minimised. Maybe this is what's causing the confusion.

I usually have my plugins open on monitors 2 or 3. I don't typically have them open on screen 1 as this is used for my main track view and I don't want anything obscuring it.

Here's an observation from today. I was working on a project this morning , all plugins opening where expected. No issues. I had to take a break as our dog needs walking , and knowing I'd be gone for quite some time I switched my 3 screens off ( I do this manually as I use a performance power plan with no automatic sleeping or powering off peripherals ) but left Sonar running as I planned to continue on my return. So I came back 90 minutes later, powered the 3 screens back on, waited for them to sort themselves out and lo & behold, the next plugin I tried to open was down in the corner like in the video I posted. My console view which I normally place on the right hand monitor had minimised itself so I restored that up back to where it had been. This made no difference to where any plugins opened. I tried various functions, like inserting new plugins from both the right click menu and dragging from the browser - all had the same result If I inserted a new VSTi with "Open Synth Properties" ticked, this also opened itself at the bottom with only the title bar visible. Nothing short of dragging it to the right place seems to cure it once it happens.

No , one is higher than the other 2 Yes, just the menu bar visible - always on monitor 1

Just tried it , made no difference.

Yes They do - I usually have them on my 3rd monitor Well that's the tricky part - I haven't figured out what action or set of actions causes it. All I can say is I'll be working away and at some point it happens. I've tried various functions to see if any common action triggers it but I have yet to be able to force it to happen deliberately. Now I am more aware maybe I can spot it more easily next time it does. Correct although it seems as though the plugins all now use the same new location , rather than any they may have had previously Yes it always seems to work okay when Sonar is first started AFAIK none of the plugins were ever offscreen when it happens. One minute they're opening normally, the next they're opening offscreen Yes 3 screens, 1920 x 1080 native resolution - 100% scaling No - Although there may be times when I leave the DAW open and have to leave the room for a while so I may turn all the monitors off to save wasting electricity I wouldn't have thought so - not sure how to check Yes I will try, kinda difficult when I can't make it do it on purpose. I know. It was the OP that said that not me.

Too big to post on forum but try this https://www.dropbox.com/t/4Y8NZqPdm7VaglQ6 It was fine when I first opened the project, then I noticed it happened again so I recorded the video. Once I dragged a plugin to another part of the screen all the subsequent plugin windows opened in the right place. However after further working on the track it reverted back to them being down the bottom with only the title bar visible

It doesn't happen with CbB though

I mentioned it again recently

Yeah - I kept using CbB 😆

Yes same here and others have also mentioned the same issue. I think I reported this well over a year ago when I first started using Cakewalk Sonar - it happens regularly but not all the time. I can't figure out why. I thought maybe it's was me that had a some sort of settings issue but since the Sonar Free Tier I've seen more folks report the same issue. I don't think the plugins are minimized, I think they are just positioned off screen instead of re-opening in their previous position. Maybe @msmcleod or @Noel Borthwick can shed some light on this, it's a real PITA

There's some good use cases for AI, stem separation and stuff like AI tempo maps are the type of new tools that enhance music production rather than replace it. Maybe the Luna team is bigger I dunno - I remember when Sonar used to be the first to implement new features, now it feels like they will never catch up.

I don't think it's just a case of needing time to adjust — I've been using the new Sonar on and off for around 18 months now, and I still find the visuals difficult to engage with. And I know I'm not alone in that. (By contrast, my jump from 8.5 to CbB years ago was nowhere near as jarring...and I loved 8.5 dearly.) I fully understand and appreciate the technical reasoning behind the switch to vector graphics — modern scaling, high-DPI support, cross-platform readiness, etc. That all makes sense. But here’s the sticking point: Other modern DAWs also use vector-based UIs, yet they still manage to look polished, inviting, and visually distinctive — without being cluttered or hard on the eyes. So I suppose the question is: why does the new Sonar UI feel so flat and uninspiring by comparison for so many of us? At this point, I'm wondering — is this more or less the intended aesthetic going forward, or is there still significant design refinement planned? Because honestly, with the clock now ticking on CbB even some subtle use of contrast, colour, and depth cues would go a long way toward making the interface feel more "alive," and "comfortable" without compromising the scalability and performance benefits of vector graphics.

Hmmm..... I mean several ideas spring to mind. Make a copy of the project is the first thing I would do so you can experiment. 1. Turn off snap and Nudge or Drag the tracks back to where they should be manually ( use the 1 key on the key pad for the smallest nudge ) 2. Delete the track to the right of the the split, then select all the remaining tracks and grab the right hand edge of the clips. Slide the mouse over to extend the clips back to their original length 3. Right click each clip that's in the wrong spot and use " Revert to original Time Stamp" Those are three approaches that spring to mind, I'm sure there are other ways someone will chime in with.