how to open old .cwp files in Bandlab

[William Marts]

I have been out of the recording hobby for several years.  Tech caught up with me.  Sonar won't work on Windows 10. Bandlab does not appear to have a way to salvage .cwp files.  I also have some old .wrk files from Music creator.  I would love to salvage all my work.   

[scook]

Based on user reports at least SONAR 8.5 though Platinum work on Win10.

Based on personal experience Music Creator 7, SONAR X1 through Platinum work on Win10.

My guess is several other older version of Music Creator, SONAR and other Cakewalk DAWs also work on Win10.

It may help to know which versions of MC and SONAR you have.

 

BandLab is a web-based DAW .

There is another DAW made by BandLab called Cakewalk by BandLab.

To open old Cakewalk projects use Cakewalk by BandLab.

The instructions for using BandLab Assistant to install Cakewalk by BandLab are here.

 

[Jonathan Sasor]

44 minutes ago, William Marts said:

I have been out of the recording hobby for several years.  Tech caught up with me.  Sonar won't work on Windows 10. Bandlab does not appear to have a way to salvage .cwp files.  I also have some old .wrk files from Music creator.  I would love to salvage all my work.   

Piggybacking on what @scook said, Cakewalk by BandLab is the successor to SONAR Platinum, and will open your .wrk and .cwp from previous versions of Cakewalk products. You can download Cakewalk by BandLab via BandLab Assistant.

[sjoens]

Pre X series may not work on Windows 10 but I have all the 32 & 64 bit X series installed and working (mostly). And there's compatibility modes for Vista, 7 & 8 if they won't. 

[Xoo]

I've opened .wrk fikes created in Cakewalk Pro Audio 9 in CbB...

[msmcleod]

Assuming any audio files associated with the .wrk file are in your Global Audio path, CbB should be able to open .wrk files without issue.

If you're wanting to "upgrade" your .wrk files though, the best way to do this is:

1. Create a new project based on the "Basic" template
2. Drag the .wrk file into Cakewalk from the media browser.

That way, you get a master/preview/metronome bus as well as all the pro channels enabled on the tracks.

[Jonathan Sasor]

On 8/15/2020 at 5:49 PM, sjoens said:

Pre X series may not work on Windows 10 but I have all the 32 & 64 bit X series installed and working (mostly). And there's compatibility modes for Vista, 7 & 8 if they won't. 

About a year ago we actually did a couple tweaks for loading older .wrk files in CbB, so that should all work just fine on a Win 10 system in x64. So either opening directly, or Mark's way to grab in newer features from the go are valid options.

[Artie Carter]

Hello all,

Wondering what the problems are here.   I'm Using Cakewalk Home 4 and Cakewalk Sonar 4 on my home windows 10 computer with the latest update to this date without any problems.  Downloaded Bandlab version and hated it.   Why oh why can't the programmers leave things in the same place from version to version is a complete mystery to me.  Nothing in Bandlab stays put from use to use.  What A waste.  Deleted bandlab and went back to Sonar 4.  (user since 2004)

[user905133]

29 minutes ago, Artie Carter said:

I'm Using Cakewalk Home 4 and Cakewalk Sonar 4 on my home windows 10 computer with the latest update to this date without any problems.  Downloaded Bandlab version and hated it.   Why oh why can't the programmers leave things in the same place from version to version is a complete mystery to me.  

I can relate in a sense. When Sonar went to the X series UI  (Skylight) after Sonar 8.5, I was totally lost. However, over the years the UI became more and more familiar to me.  In fact, I am still learning about features that were introduced after Sonar 8.5.

I think you are at a major disadvantage since you never migrated to the X series (Sonar X1 and successors) after Sonar 4.  In my personal experience, Cakewalk by Bandlab greatly improves upon the pre-X series, though I do miss a couple of the older ways of doing things.

While you continue to use Sonar 4, you might want to look at some tutorials.  Even the old CakeTV Sonar X1/X2/X3 videos might help you catch up in small pieces rather than trying to re-learn everything all at once.  Also, there are many newer tutorials available for the the current Cakewalk that might bridge the gap between what you already know how to do with Sonar and what you missed from having never updated from Sonar 4.

 

  

[Lombardi]

On 8/15/2020 at 5:54 PM, Kevin Perry said:

I've opened .wrk fikes created in Cakewalk Pro Audio 9 in CbB...

I actually have Cakewalk 9 installed on my Win 10 laptop.  Installed it using compatibility mode and it worked!

[sjoens]

I tried that when Win10 first came out and it didn't work for me. May try it again tho.

[Noel Borthwick]

On 8/15/2020 at 5:54 PM, Kevin Perry said:

I've opened .wrk fikes created in Cakewalk Pro Audio 9 in CbB...

I have wrk files from Cakewalk Professional 1 that open in CBB

[Giorgio Gabriel]

For some old projects (wrk) I had to load them using Sonar Platinum 32 bit (on a computer running windows 10 32bit), and then I saved again each song in cwp format (now I can load those songs with CBB).

It happened only for a couple of songs....

Bye,

Giorgio

 

[Bajan Blue]

We recently went back over all our old stuff, the first DAW based work was done in Guitar Tracks. These may have been converted over the years to a very early version of Sonar, but they all opened OK in the current version of Cakewalk by Bandlab. These are the tracks we worked on for our latest album which has just been released.

Nigel

 

[camarea]

I had a few older projects that I couldn't open in CbB until I realized that any 32-bit Rewire device had to be removed from the synth rack in the old DAW first, then re-Rewired at 64-bit in CbB ?