How do I get a copy of the Sonar X3e upgrade (fix)

[Dan Laskowski]

I'm a registered user of Sonar X3 but it seems that the Cakewalk people have abandoned me. I'm not interested in the new BandLab stuff. I normally run Sonar 2.2 and have been trying to get all of the bugs out of my X3 before using it on a regular basis. BandLab is not even recognizable to me, and neither is X3 but my newer computers are having trouble with V2.2.

I was just a month early of their Dec 2014 cutoff cancelling accounts and I no longer have access, so I'm not being allowed a download.

Wed, Nov 26, 2014, 11:26 AM

to techristian@musicinit.com

Dan

 

 

[sjoens]

On 8/16/2024 at 9:22 PM, Razoryhoney said:

I also have Sonar x3 Studio and could use the x3e update if possible.  Please let me know if anyone can help.  Thanks

It's on the Legacy website Knowledge Base page.

Sign in to your legacy account and go here: https://legacy.cakewalk.com/Support/Knowledge-Base/2007013361/SONAR-X3e-Update 

Scroll to bottom of page for links.  Download should be instant now that the URL is fixed.

Edited August 19 by sjoens

[Byron Dickens]

Without an account, it ain't gonna happen.

Trying to use 20 year old software is a recipe for frustration.

So is using 10 year old software.

All the bugs have been worked out of X3 and then some. Its called Cakewalk by Bandlab.

Edited March 17, 2023 by Byron Dickens

[Starship Krupa]

1 hour ago, Dan Laskowski said:

I'm not interested in the new BandLab stuff

Welcome, Dan.

Most of the veteran users of SONAR aren't (or weren't) interested in the "new BandLab stuff" either. It's a feature that you can use or ignore.

Maybe if you said what you want to avoid by using an old, buggier version of the program instead of the current, much improved version, we could reassure you. Most of the people who would chime in on this thread used SONAR before we upgraded to Cakewalk by BandLab. The universal agreement among veterans is that the current program is night and day more stable and has better performance. Also, there are 5 years of useful feature additions.

The "new BandLab stuff" in regard to Cakewalk by BandLab amounts to:

1. A new licensing model, which is a free subscription that renews automatically every 6 months. Your system needs to connect to the internet at least once every 6 months to validate the renewal, otherwise it's fine to leave it offline.
2. A function within the program allows you to transfer projects and finished mixes to BandLab's site for personal use or collaboration using their other DAW's. It goes 2 ways, so you can both upload and download projects. This is a manual process. Nothing is automatically synced.
3. The newer product is actively supported. The "Cakewalk people" didn't choose to abandon you, their parent company liquidated the division. Another company bought the SONAR code and hired the core development team. If you have trouble with Cakewalk by BandLab, there's a Cakewalk support staff that answers email inquiries. If you have trouble with SONAR X3....well, it's been abandoned.

That's pretty much it. There's a new module in Control Bar called "Export" that allows more direct access to the BandLab transfer functions, but that is easily hidden. Hide that module and there will be no sign that Cakewalk by BandLab has anything to do with BandLab except the splash screen and Help/About.

There is no risk involved in trying it. It's free and it installs right alongside your current SONAR installation(s) so that if you can't take the BandLab cooties you can uninstall it or just decline to use it. If you do that, though, I'd be curious to know your reasons why.

If you had an active Cakewalk, Inc. account when the company was liquidated, BandLab support can reset your password and restore the account. They do this as a courtesy. But it sounds like maybe you didn't? Anyway, a much better DAW awaits you.

[Brian Walton]

2 hours ago, Byron Dickens said:

Without an account, it ain't gonna happen.

Trying to use 20 year old software is a recipe for frustration.

So is using 10 year old software.

All the bugs have been worked out of X3 and then some. Its called Cakewalk by Bandlab.

X3e was pretty solid and I see no reason it wouldn't still be.  It is also potentially the last version you can install truly off-line without the need for Cake servers - so the "move on to Bandlab" isn't without giving up some scenarios.

Yes, I run the latest Bandlab - and paid a good amount of money for X3 Producer then "Lifetime updates" with Platinum.  I don't remember the details of when everything rolled out, but I do know that without some of the Pre-Bandlab stuff installed - I wouldn't have some of the extras that Bandlab didn't give away.  (Adaptive Limiter, MB Compressor,  LP EQ, etc) 

 

I do agree with the notion of using the latest version by Cakewalk as it is so much better than X3 at this point, but I also think that anyone that doens't have regular internet access on a machine and similar - it isn't unreasonable to want to have X3 as an option since Cakewalk will literally stop working every 6 months without it....and 6 months is not a very long period of time.

 

Now still trying to run 2.2 at this point that is just crazy talk.  ?

Edited March 17, 2023 by Brian Walton

[msmcleod]

@Dan Laskowski - what edition of X3 do you have - Sonar X3, Sonar X3 Studio  or Sonar X3 Producer?  The update has to match the version you have.  Let me know and I'll PM you a download link for the X3e update.

[Lord Tim]

You know Cakewalk by Bandlab actually is X3 without the bugs, pretty much? Plus current, ongoing support, something that will eventually be a problem once hardware moves on and software no longer supports newer hardware.

2.2 to X3 was a big jump. X3 to Cakewalk, aside from the fixes, is more "ahh that makes life so much easier" enhancements. I definitely couldn't go back now.

[John Vere]

 

This is the best insight here:  

19 hours ago, Dan Laskowski said:

BandLab is not even recognizable to me, and neither is X3 but my newer computers are having trouble with V2.2.

Reading carefully what the OP said is that they are finally being forced to move on from Sonar 2.2.   

They were trying to install an X3 patch but cannot get at their account. ( You just contact support at the top of the page here) 

The obvious cognitive mistake here is why bother with x3 then?  Cakewalk by Bandlab is  essentially X3. It just has a zillion improvements, mostly bug fixes, as well as a few highly useful new features. The OP is asking for a kind of lame update ( I have it on file)  that fixed possibly less than 1%  of Sonars  bugs when they can actually fix 99.7%  of them. CbB is the latest update to X3. 

Edited March 18, 2023 by John Vere

[Starship Krupa]

On 3/18/2023 at 9:33 AM, John Vere said:

The obvious cognitive mistake here is why bother with x3 then?  Cakewalk by Bandlab is  essentially X3. It just has a zillion improvements

It's right there: because he's "not interested in the new BandLab stuff."

That's why I asked him what "new BandLab stuff" he was talking about. Such things wouldn't occur to you and me, who know that while Cakewalk includes a couple of features that enable interoperability with BandLab's site, it's easy to forget that they exist.

There are still veteran SONAR users who are confused about the relationship between Cakewalk the program and BandLab's other DAW's.

He also said "the Cakewalk people have abandoned me," which suggests that he might not know that there are no "Cakewalk people" anymore, and haven't been for over 5 years.

[User 905133]

On 3/17/2023 at 5:02 PM, Dan Laskowski said:

BandLab is not even recognizable to me, and neither is X3 . . . .

On 3/17/2023 at 7:22 PM, Starship Krupa said:

Most of the veteran users of SONAR aren't (or weren't) interested in the "new BandLab stuff" either. 

I thought the "not even recognizable to me" comment was a reference to the "new" (compared to SONAR 2) Skylight UI found in X1, X2, X3, Platinum, and Cakewalk by Bandlab not the web-browser DAW known simply as Bandlab.

On 3/17/2023 at 5:40 PM, Byron Dickens said:

Trying to use 20 year old software is a recipe for frustration.

So is using 10 year old software.

All the bugs have been worked out of X3 and then some. Its called Cakewalk by Bandlab.

I agree totally.  But we don't know if the "newer computers" are 32-bit or 64-bit.  SONAR 2 might have been used for so long because the OP didn't/doesn't have a 64-bit computer. That might also explain why the SONAR X3e patch was never downloaded and installed.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This is a draft post from a few days ago.  Glad to see some of the newer posts, but I still think we don't know enough to be helpful. Maybe the OP will return.  I'd suggest not closing this thread as hastily as sometimes gets suggested. Besides, newer comments from long-time Cakewalk users can be insightful.

[Dan Laskowski]

On 3/18/2023 at 6:05 AM, msmcleod said:

@Dan Laskowski - what edition of X3 do you have - Sonar X3, Sonar X3 Studio  or Sonar X3 Producer?  The update has to match the version you have.  Let me know and I'll PM you a download link for the X3e update.

I have X3 STUDIO ,which unbelievably, I downloaded AFTER X3e was released, so I assumed that I had the most up to date version when I downloaded it. However, it says that I am running X3a Build 209  ??

(Approx. 611.8 MB, MD5: 8e5cd9e36b26a8f660dfecf0dda4f79e)
 

Apparently, I was supposed to download the X3e patch separately.

If your download link leads to Cakewalk.com, I won't be able to get in because EVEN THOUGH I BOUGHT THE PROGRAM LEGALLY, technically, I have no account at cakewalk ???  The links only work AFTER LOGGED INTO CAKEWALK.

Here is the letter they sent me back.

Lois S******** (Cakewalk)

Mar 18, 2023, 16:40 GMT+8

Hi Dan,
 
Thanks for writing! I was able to locate your registrations in our database, but it looks as if you did not create a Single Sign On account with Cakewalk prior to the company's closure in 2017. Back in 2014, Cakewalk had advised users to migrate any previous registrations to their new account platform that would combine the web store, the user forum, and features from cakewalk.com all within one account to log into. This system was in place from mid 2014 until Gibson ceased operation of Cakewalk in 2017. Here are the registrations for your convenience:
 
 
If you have the original discs, you can install as normal. Right click on the desktop icon and choose Run as Administrator, then enter the codes as seen above to activate the program!
 
While we cannot assist with account creation on the legacy Cakewalk site, we're thrilled to have announced that Cakewalk by BandLab is free for 64 bit Windows 7, 8, and 10 users! This is our continuation of the previous flagship SONAR Platinum, and is a current software receiving updates and support.
 
You can find full product details here:
https://www.bandlab.com/products/cakewalk
 
You can also read more about the changes to Cakewalk here:
https://blog.bandlab.com/cakewalk-announcement-faq/
 
Please let us know if there's anything we can do to help you get started using Cakewalk by BandLab.

Thanks,
Lois

 

Edited March 21, 2023 by Dan Laskowski

[Dan Laskowski]

As to why I'm not interested in Band Lab.....

FIRST OFF...ALL OF MY STUDIO COMPUTERS ARE OFFLINE BECAUSE VIRUSES HAVE COST ME MUCH TIME

 

SECONDLY,, I WENT TO THE BANDLAB SITE YESTERDAY and even created a new account. In 5 minutes what did I see?

1) A belly dancer

2) A song file with F##K in it.

3) A woman trying to get new "clients"

 

The world has gone to hell and there is no such thing as INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY anymore, unless you are very rich or have connections.

So that was my BANDLAB experience today.

 

 

[msmcleod]

10 minutes ago, Dan Laskowski said:

As to why I'm not interested in Band Lab.....

FIRST OFF...ALL OF MY STUDIO COMPUTERS ARE OFFLINE BECAUSE VIRUSES HAVE COST ME MUCH TIME

 

SECONDLY,, I WENT TO THE BANDLAB SITE YESTERDAY and even created a new account. In 5 minutes what did I see?

1) A belly dancer

2) A song file with F##K in it.

3) A woman trying to get new "clients"

 

The world has gone to hell and there is no such thing as INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY anymore, unless you are very rich or have connections.

So that was my BANDLAB experience today.

 

 

BandLab Mix Editor( the web based DAW), and Cakewalk by BandLab (CbB) are two completely different products.

CbB is a continuation of the SONAR product line, and is based on the same code base as SONAR.   Although there is the capability to publish / download projects from the BandLab community,  the vast majority of CbB users do not use this integration.

CbB is the equivalent of Platinum/Producer version of SONAR plus over 3000 bug fixes and new features.  The only thing you don't get with CbB is the third party plugins bundled with SONAR Platinum - although there are exceptions such as Overloud TH3 which is included in CbB.

I've PM'd you a link to the Sonar X3e Studio patch.

[John Vere]

I was to understand that if contacted Support they help you get at your account where all your old products are stored?  
Or does that not exist for people who didn’t create it?  I guess if you never bothered the register Sonar then they can’t help you. That is No fault of Cakewalk but negligence on behalf of the consumer.  


 

Edited March 22, 2023 by John Vere

[Dan Laskowski]

I'm very positive...In fact I have been writing my own music software since 1980.  I like it when I turn the computer on and it is ready without waiting for the Windows circulating dot for updates.  I like it when I only have 50 menu choices rather than 150 menu/submenu choices. I have 2 midi interfaces , each with 3-4 midi ports and it took me hours to figure out how to get Channel 1 midi on 2 different ports, just for an example. I like to get the job done. When I'm recording I like think about music. 

I also am using an MFX3 which requires SMPTE/MTC  SYNCING. Why do you say? 

With my last CD I had everything running on a single computer, plugins, audio and virtual midi instruments. The sound was harsh and there was latency.

Yes the new computers are faster, but the software gets more bloated with each generation.

I'm not new to this game....In fact, I'll be retiring Cubase SX1 soon, which I mostly used in my last project. It doesn't seem to like Hyperthreading. 

I also needed to HACK my Roland UM3-EX midi interface because it didn't like windows 10.

My fastest computer now has a 6-8 year old Xeon with 12 cores and a 8gb video card, but this one is mostly for Video Editing.

I still use many outboard MIDI modules as well as my own Fastfingers C64 SID 6581 Computers.

I don't want to sound the same as the rest of you. That is why I do things the way I do them.

To answer the other question, I have at least THREE 64 BIT COMPUTERS.

Dan

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited March 21, 2023 by Dan Laskowski

[Lord Tim]

I'm pretty sure the rest of us don't sound like the rest of us either, so that generalisation probably doesn't apply to many of the people in this thread, let alone the forum. Many of us are working industry professionals with a vast plethora of different hardware configurations, much like yourself.

Mark has given you the link to the update to X3e, and as you've been told, Cakewalk by Bandlab essentially *is* X3, with thousands of bug fixes and enhancements (and not the Bandlab app you saw online). Leaning into what you were saying in your post, one of the great things about CbB is that you can show or hide as much of the UI as you like, so you can limit all of the distractions and just focus on the job at hand.

Rather than trying to fight against it all, going into it with an open mind definitely has its rewards. I was someone who really didn't enjoy the transition from 2.2 to the X series either, but it was a relatively short amount of time to get used to it in the scheme of things, now looking back. CbB is LIGHT YEARS beyond the X series, but still very familiar if you've gotten used to X3.

[Dan Laskowski]

Thanks Lord Tim for your reply.

I have only been making the transition from 2.2 to X3 the past few days, and I think i have it licked. I have gotten most things to work.

Now only to see if X3 can read my FF3 data !

http://musicinit.com/fastfingers.php

Dan

[Byron Dickens]

1 hour ago, Dan Laskowski said:

SECONDLY,, I WENT TO THE BANDLAB SITE YESTERDAY and even created a new account. In 5 minutes what did I see?

1) A belly dancer

Oh my God! The Horror!

 

1 hour ago, Dan Laskowski said:

2) A song file with F##K in it.

 

Don't listen. Problem solved.

1 hour ago, Dan Laskowski said:

3) A woman trying to get new "clients"

Don't respond. Problem solved.

1 hour ago, Dan Laskowski said:

The world has gone to hell

The world has been "going to hell" for at least the past 2000 years.

1 hour ago, Dan Laskowski said:

and there is no such thing as INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY anymore, unless you are very rich or have connections.

Bullshit.

 

1 hour ago, Dan Laskowski said:

As to why I'm not interested in Band Lab.....

FIRST OFF...ALL OF MY STUDIO COMPUTERS ARE OFFLINE BECAUSE VIRUSES HAVE COST ME MUCH TIME

 

40 minutes ago, Dan Laskowski said:

In fact I have been writing my own music software since 1980. 

 

45 minutes ago, Dan Laskowski said:

I also needed to HACK my Roland UM3-EX midi interface because it didn't like windows 10.

Wait a minute... You are so computer savvy that you've been writing your own music software for 43 years and you hacked the driver for your obsolete MIDI interface to make it work with W10 but you let viruses take out your machines? How does that happen?  WTF are you doing?

[Dan Laskowski]

15 minutes ago, Byron Dickens said:

Wait a minute... You are so computer savvy that you've been writing your own music software for 43 years and you hacked the driver for your obsolete MIDI interface to make it work with W10 but you let viruses take out your machines? How does that happen?  WTF are you doing?

I got on the internet in 99. I don't consider myself an IT guy. Virus "protection" software slows things down, just more running in the background.  Some of the things are NOT viruses, but other TASKS running , slowing things down. When things slow down too much , I reformat and re-install everything. Data is stored on a different drive.

 

 

Dan

 

 

Edited March 21, 2023 by Dan Laskowski

[User 905133]

1 hour ago, Lord Tim said:

Rather than trying to fight against it all, going into it with an open mind definitely has its rewards. I was someone who really didn't enjoy the transition from 2.2 to the X series either, but it was a relatively short amount of time to get used to it in the scheme of things, now looking back. CbB is LIGHT YEARS beyond the X series, but still very familiar if you've gotten used to X3.

I also took forever to get from using the older UI as found in SONAR 3, 5, 6, 8.5, etc. to using the Skylight UI as found in SONAR X1 through Cakewalk  by Bandlab.  In fact, even though I have been using Cakewalk by Bandlab (CbB) for about 3 or 4 years, I am still learning new things about how to best use the UI for my own needs / workflows. 

Thanks for clarifying why you want to use SONAR X3.  Just to let you know, a couple of weeks ago I installed X3e on my current PC (Win 10 Pro, 2011 era PC) in order to have some of the  plug-ins that came with in. The X3e patch worked for me.  (I had a copy on an external HDD, but I have also seen it in my Cakewalk account.)

I agree that CbB has a whole lot more to offer over X3/X3e, but I can understand not wanting to connect a PC to the internet once every 90 days to re-authorize the software.  Whether you use X3/X3e or CbB you will need to learn the "new" UI. 

The CakeTV videos  are still on line.  [No space between Cake and TV.  That will get you food related videos.]  So, if you want to just stay with the SONAR X series features, those might be better to watch than newer videos. 

  PS:

1 hour ago, Dan Laskowski said:

Now only to see if X3 can read my FF3 data !

I still have my commercial C-64 Interfaces and possibly there's a C-64 and maybe an SX-64 sitting in storage (ir the critters and the elements haven't gotten to it).  I haven't used them in decades.  But I can relate somewhat to programming MIDI stuff (ASM) on the C-64--just custom stuff so I could do stuff for myself (processing MIDI on the fly, splitting Dr. T files, etc.).   I didn't write code to program the SID chip, but I definitely got into the 6502/6510  instruction set and the C-64 architechture.  Years before I every heard of a circular buffer, I found four unused zero-page locations that worked well as read and write index pointers for a 256-byte on-the-fly MIDI I/O buffer.  

If you are serious about converting your FF3 data to work with X3, have fun with the project. And thanks for the link to your Blast-from-the-Past, memory jogging site/videos.  It brought back happy memories of teaching myself C-64 ASM Coding.  

PPS: I forgot, I also started work on making a large format structure for a Casio CZ librarian and evidently toyed around with the C128's Burst Mode.  Totally forgot about that. 

Code segment from when writing efficient processing code was so much simpler.

Quote

;MIDI PROGRAM   FILE CONVERTER  5/25/88 
;          CZ.FC.ML version 1.0.nolist
; --create file1 for data
; --create file2 for names [+]

.origin $1310

.nolist

;***  JUMP TABLE ***
get.file.name:      jsr get.name
read.file:          jsr read.it
save.files:         jmp save.them

;  *** BURST LOAD ARRAY / FILE NAME *** 
burst.command.length:  .byte $10
burst.load.command:  .byte $55, $30, $ff
file.prefix:  .ascii 'cz'
designator:   .ascii '.'
input.name:   .ascii 'a/b-preset'
.byte $0d, $20, $20, $20, $20, $20, $20
extension:    .ascii ',s,w'
length:       .byte $0a
file.name = file.prefix
file.name.length = burst.command.length

;*** C-128 MEMORY LOCATIONS USED ***
        temp.array = $59
        temp.storage = $5a
        choice = $5b
        add.value = $5c
        temp.storage2 = $5d
        txttab = $2d
        vartab = $2f
        new = $51d6
        bottom.of.basic=$4100
        min.choice = $b4
        max.choice = $b5
        current.menu.number = $fa
        temp.y = $1304
        file.number = choice
;  *** C-64 / C-128 Kernal Routines ***
jbasin = $ffcf
jbsout = $ffd2
mmucr = $ff00
fetch = $02a2
stash = $02af
z.p.ptr.stash = $02b9
z.p.ptr.fetch = $02aa
jckin = $ffc6
jckout = $ffc9
jreadss = $ffb7
jclrch = $ffcc
jclose = $ffc3
jsave = $ffd8
jsetnam = $ffbd
jsetlfs = $ffba
jsetbnk = $ff68
jopen = $ffc0
jclose = $ffc3
load = $f27b

temp.buf.ptr.lo = $fb
temp.buf.ptr.hi = $fc

read.it:        lda #$00
                sta temp.storage
                sta temp.buf.ptr.lo
                lda #$10
                sta temp.buf.ptr.hi
                lda #$2e
                sta designator
                jsr burst.load
store.end:      sty $fd ;end.lo
                sty $fb
                lda $fc
                sta $fe ;end.hi
                rts
 

  

Edited March 21, 2023 by User 905133
to add a PPS after finding a txt file of some of my ancient code; to add a PS after looking at your FastFingers site; to fix a couple of typos

[57Gregy]

On 3/21/2023 at 1:46 PM, Dan Laskowski said:

I have only been making the transition from 2.2 to X3 the past few days

I understand, a little. I'm still using SONAR Home Studio 6 for actual song recording on an old 32-bit XP machine. Ancient software, ancient hardware.
But, I do have CbB installed on this computer and am learning it so when the time I must move to the new stuff I'm somewhat ready.
No viruses so far. 
I'm just a hobbyist, and it's entirely possible that I'll never finish another song. The pressures of having to complete a musical project I haven't felt in more than 40 years. Thank goodness.
Good luck!