Transfer Cakewalk to new PC

[RICHARD HUTCHINS]

Hi all,

After very helpful discussions and advice from you guys ( thanks all)  I am ordering a new well specced PC for my Cakewalk stuff. When it arrives how easy is it to transfer this from my slow laptop to my all singing all dancing new PC? Bearing in mind I am a novice.

[RICHARD HUTCHINS]

Windows 10 I think, moving from Windows 7

[David Baay]

Others who upgrade their machines frequently and/or have a long history with Cakewalk and do extensive customization of their configurations might have more involved processes, but here's the simplified version:

- Install drivers for audio and MIDI interfaces.

- Install any legacy SONAR plugins/content you might have access to through the old Cakewalk Command Center that isn't part of CbB.

- Install CbB.

- Install and authorize all 3rd-party plugins (this is typically the most time-consuming and painful part)

- Copy your projects folder to the corresponding location on the new machine.

- Make music.

If you've done a lot of customization of the configuration on your old machine, you can consider copying some things over (e.g. aud.ini, cakewalk.ini, ttsseq.ini, master.ins),  but for optimal performance and stability, it's probably best to go forward with a default setup, and reset preferences as you encounter them.  I usually only transfer some very specific aud-ini settings, and migrate my master.ins (MIDI  Instrument Definitions for hardware synths). 

I also bring over the Cakewalk Content folder because it contains decades of custom and archived content. I keep it in a non-default location so I also copy the relevant branch of the Windows registry to the new machine, but that probably wouldn't apply to you.

There are also procedures for migrating plug-in layouts and presets;  I don't generally do a lot of customization in that area so I don't bother.

So long as you keep the old machine around, you can always refer back to it, and migrate additional content/customizations as needed when you find things are missing or not working as expected in the new environment. 

Edited August 15, 2019 by David Baay

[Tezza]

8 hours ago, David Baay said:

- Install and authorize all 3rd-party plugins (this is typically the most time-consuming and painful part)

+1

[RICHARD HUTCHINS]

Thanks for that, I agree, third party plugins will be a nightmare!