Vst from old Sonar to Cakewalk

[Yury]

Hi,

I have lots of instruments and effects from old Sonar. Cakewalk by BandLab is installed on my computer. But when I try to install VSTs from old Sonar so I could use it with Cakewalk with my old projects it says that I don't have Sonar installed. I understand that if I will install Sonar and have it on my computer along with Cakewalk I would be able to install and use all of them. But is there other way to install Sonar's VSts without installing Sonar? As far as I understand old Sonar is actually improved  today's Cakewalk.

Any thoughts and help will be greatly appreciated.

[bitflipper]

Back in SONAR days, Cakewalk would license plugins from third parties to bundle with the DAW. These cost money - built into the price of SONAR - so they were modified so as to only run within SONAR. There were also some plugins developed in-house for exclusive use with SONAR. Again, there's a cost there to be recouped through sales. Either way, it wouldn't make business sense to subsidize other DAWs by letting people use these plugins in rival DAWs. Every DAW vendor does something similar.

Today's Cakewalk is a free product, so the previous model won't fly anymore.

Bottom line: just re-install SONAR. Except for sample-based synths such as Dimension Pro, SONAR has a small footprint and it won't conflict with Cakewalk. So there isn't really any reason not to have SONAR on disk.

Which specific plugins are you after? After SONAR's collapse, some generous third-party vendors provided open versions of instruments previously locked to SONAR. Others have offered discounted crossgrades.

[Yury]

Thank you very much for your reply. I mainly missing Session drummer because I used it in many projects. Also few effects plugins and some in Pro channel

[MagBass]

My experience with this is that you simply need to install the older Cakewalk DAWs, but not actually install the program, only the plugins you want.

Right after the dialog to enter your serial number you will see the following:

Select Advanced, not Basic and click Next, then Next.  Then you will see:

Uncheck Program Files and check the plugins you want in the sections below.  Also uncheck anything in the sections below that doesn't pertain to plugs you want.  Continue with the install and you should have the things you need available.

When I was setting up a new machine, I first installed Sonar Platinum whole.  Then I installed Sonar 7, 8, 8.5, X1-X3 the way I show above.  I have essentially every plug Cakewalk ever included with their DAWs.  Good luck.

 

Edited September 14, 2020 by MagBass

[scook]

1 hour ago, MagBass said:

When I was setting up a new machine, I first installed Sonar Platinum whole.  Then I installed Sonar 7, 8, 8.5, X1-X3 the way I show above.  I have essentially every plug Cakewalk ever included with their DAWs.

This works except for V-Vocal which requires a minimal install of SONAR.

Platinum is different from the rest in that it does not have an Advanced install option. Instead there are multiple installers and some of them check the registry to confirm the DAW before running.

[brandon]

Does session drummer require minimal install too?

[Yury]

WOW!!!!

Its so simple, how i never though of this. Thank you very much. Its brilliant.