Do more recent Cakewalk versions still read CWP files for projects?

[badt1mes]

Hello. I have an old DAW computer that runs XP and Cakewalk Sonar 7 Studio Edition for recording. I've had much success with the setup since 2008 and recently finished a couple more projects. If I were to upgrade my system and transfer all my music projects, does Cakewalk still use the CWP file format? Or would I need to export individual tracks to WAV and re-import them into the new Cakewalk software? Thanks!

Edited August 5, 2023 by Badtimes Banjo

[msmcleod]

A while back, I went through the process of upgrading all of my old projects to SONAR Platinum.  A fair amount of them dated back to CWPA 9.

While the projects would open directly, some were problematic - mainly due to 32 bit plugins, or old 32 bit DX plugins that were no longer available.  There were also some UI/routing issues due to the differences in Skylight  vs the old UI.

The most reliable way I found to deal with older projects was:

1. Create a new project using the Basic template - if nothing else, this ensures a Master, Preview and Metronome bus is created.
2. Navigate to your project in the Browser, and drag the project on to a blank area in the clips view.
3. Tidy up any blank tracks.
4. Save as a new project.

 

[Byron Dickens]

1 hour ago, Badtimes Banjo said:

Cakewalk still use the CWP file format?

Yes

[Lord Tim]

Cakewalk even still reads old .WRK files from the 80s, in fact, and CWP (and BUN and CWB from every version)

[mettelus]

+1 to the above. Another thing to keep in mind is that backwards compatibility is not always possible with a few new features that older versions cannot recognize (Aux Tracks/Patch Points being one of them). That being said, a couple things to consider:

1. You can still install SONAR 7 on the new machine. There are a lot of new features and layout changes since SONAR 7, so having that version installed may give you a comfort zone while learning the newer version.
2. Whenever opening an older SONAR file in a newer software version, immediately save it as a new name (with version in the title helps to keep track). This way the original file is always left intact should you want/need to back out to an older version. It is sometimes easier to finish projects with the version they started in if almost finished, but you can always transfer them forward (just sometimes not backwards).

[Lord Tim]

One other caveat too, I found in the past (pre-CbB) and opening some really early SONAR projects would sometimes throw an error because the window layouts were perceived as corrupt. I know Noel has done a hell of a lot of work on that kind of thing since the Bandlab take-over so this may no longer be a thing.

If you DO get a crash or error opening old projects, open them in Safe Mode by holding down SHIFT while loading the project, but just say YES to loading every plugin. The project will open correctly with all of the window layouts reset. Then I'd save under a new name like @mettelus suggested above.

[scook]

While the project format will be recognized by Cakewalk by BandLab, if those project contain any 32bit DX plug-ins there is a chance the plug-ins will not load in CbB.

Quite a few DX plug-ins were never ported to 64bit. Unlike VST, 64bit DAWs do not have a way to load 32bit DX plug-ins. There is a 3rd party VST wrapper but that does nothing for DX plug-ins in existing projects and if often more trouble than it is worth.

Should a project contain 32bit DX plug-ins that were not ported to 64bit, in order to open the project WITH the plug-ins, requires a 32bit DAW such as the 32bit version of SONAR 7 along with the plug-ins. Once open, replace the 32bit only plug-ins with plug-ins that have 64bit versions or at least VST format so they may be loaded in a 64bit DAW. 

So, it may be necessary to install 32bit SONAR 7 even if planning to use a 64bit DAW like CbB.

 

[badt1mes]

13 hours ago, mettelus said:

1. You can still install SONAR 7 on the new machine. There are a lot of new features and layout changes since SONAR 7, so having that version installed may give you a comfort zone while learning the newer version.

Interesting. So SONAR 7 Studio Edition, which ran on Windows XP, can be installed on a Windows 11 machine? Can SONAR 7 even be found anymore? Or would I be able to transfer it from the XP machine to an 11 machine? Sorry for the tedious questions.

[badt1mes]

Thanks for all the helpful replies everyone!

[scook]

4 minutes ago, Badtimes Banjo said:

Interesting. So SONAR 7 Studio Edition, which ran on Windows XP, can be installed on a Windows 11 machine? Can SONAR 7 even be found anymore? Or would I be able to transfer it from the XP machine to an 11 machine? Sorry for the tedious questions.

To install SONAR 7 requires the installation disks. There is no downloadable installer and copying the program is not the same as installing it.

[badt1mes]

35 minutes ago, scook said:

To install SONAR 7 requires the installation disks. There is no downloadable installer and copying the program is not the same as installing it.

Gotcha, thanks! I just checked my box of spare parts and I do still have the disk. Excellent