Dimension - NOT Dimension Pro

[Steve Moddelmog]

I'm trying to open an old project from 2007.  Two plugins weren't found: Kontakt 3, which I have somewhere and can install, and "Dimension."  The missing plugin is not identified as Dimension Pro (which is installed and should be available).  I noticed in a spreadsheet I have of what plugins came with what versions of Sonar that there was a Dimension LE that came with Sonar 7.  I know the missing plugin is come variant of Dimension Pro - it actually loads the same little graphic in synth rack  view that loads with Dimension Pro.  Does anyone know what version of Dimension ?? would just be identified as "Dimension" by Cakewalk / Sonar?

[Steve Moddelmog]

Oh, ps to that.  I recall buying Dimension Pro and then it later came included with Sonar starting with Sonar 8, and I had issues with then having Dimension Pro installed with two different serial numbers.  But I don't think that could be my problem here - pretty sure both of those versions of Dimension Pro showed up in projects as "Dimension Pro," not "Dimension."

[scook]

IIRC, Dimension was a P5 plug-in.

This means it is likely 32bit DX format and will require 32bit SONAR to load the project if you can find the P5 install disks for the synth.

[Steve Moddelmog]

45 minutes ago, scook said:

IIRC, Dimension was a P5 plug-in.

This means it is likely 32bit DX format and will require 32bit SONAR to load the project if you can find the P5 install disks for the synth.

Ah, I do still have my P5 CD.  And I've had pretty good luck wrapping dxi's with dxishell.  I'll give it a try.  Thanks!

[Steve Moddelmog]

Of course, even if I can get it working with dxishell, I won't know what settings or preset I used.  I know that information has to be embedded somewhere in the .cwp file - I wish someone would develop a tool to extract it.  Would be very helpful for working on old projects that use old versions of Native Instruments plugins, for example, where every update is actually a new program and you'd like to be able to find  what the preset was in, say , Absynth 2 that you originally used in the project and load it in Absynth5, without having to install Absynth 2 just to get to the info.

[sjoens]

It should load with bitbridge in CbB.

Or open project in P5 if it installs and check the settings there.

Was there a Dimension other than LE and Pro?

Edited August 12, 2023 by sjoens

[Alan Tubbs]

7 hours ago, sjoens said:

It should load with bitbridge in CbB.

Or open project in P5 if it installs and check the settings there.

Was there a Dimension other than LE and Pro?

The unpro simple Dimension was part of P5. I don’t think it was included in Sonar until after it became Dimension Pro.

[scook]

8 hours ago, sjoens said:

It should load with bitbridge in CbB.

DX plug-ins have no bridge and as the OP observed wrapping them removes their identity for existing projects.

In short, to load projects with 32bit DX plug-ins requires a 32bit DX host. CbB is a 64bit DX host and as is completely unaware of 32bit DX plug-ins.

8 hours ago, sjoens said:

Or open project in P5 if it installs and check the settings there.

Are you sure P5 can open SONAR projects?

8 hours ago, sjoens said:

Was there a Dimension other than LE and Pro?

According to the product info I found on the internet there was.  The plug-in was bundled exclusively with early Project 5.

IIRC, I bought P5 when Cakewalk bundled DP with it as a promo for the new synth. 

[Steve Moddelmog]

Seems not worth it to pursue.  I do have P5.  I could install and then wrap "Dimension" with dxishell, which I've had pretty good luck with converting other dxi's to VSTs.  But it wouldn't recognize the wrapped dxi as the dxi that was used in my 16 year old project, so I still wouldn't know the preset that was used (or the settings).  If I knew those, I'd just load them in Dimension Pro.  ("Dimension" doesn't happen to be one of the few dxi's that work in 64-bit Cakewalk by Bandlab (such as PSYN II and Pentagon), does it?)

As I said above, I do wish there was a way to get Cakewalk to cough up the info on presets and modified settings used for each plugin in a project.  The info has to be there or it wouldn't know what to do when you load  any project.  Would be very useful with many plugins such as Native Instruments, Wusik, etc., that get new "identities" when they are upgraded.  Would save me from having to have, for example, seven versions of Kontakt loaded (the same project with "Dimension (NOT Pro)" also uses Kontakt 3, which was a little tricky to authorize since it expects NI's Service Center, not Native Access, to authorize it).  I've wised up recently and, unless I forget, I add the preset name to the Track notes so I know exactly what's what when opening  in future installations.

[scook]

Depends on how much value the 16-year-old project represents.

There is no reason to wrap Dimension for future use as it was eclipsed by the 64bit Dimension Pro VST2 plug-in you also have licensed.

All you need P5 for is the plug-in. To load the project requires a 32bit version of SONAR or some other program that can read a SONAR projects and load 32bit DX plug-ins.

PSYNII and Pentagon I were shipped as both 32 and 64bit DX plug-ins.

AFAIK, Dimension was never sold separately. In fact, there were quite a few plug-ins bundled exclusively with P5 that were never ported to 64bit DX or VST format.

 

[Glenn Stanton]

32 minutes ago, Steve Moddelmog said:

... I do wish there was a way to get Cakewalk to cough up the info on presets and modified settings used for each plugin in a project.  The info has to be there or it wouldn't know what to do when you load  any project.  ...

+1 -- a means of viewing detailed project information esp on plugins... not necessarily all the settings (very nice to have though) but at least the plugin and patch name, or for CW plugins, the settings as well ? generally speaking when i make enough changes to a preset or from scratch, i save it as a preset of it's own - either for generic re-use, or if project specific - then a project "abbreviation" added to its name and/or saved to the project folder if its an option.

Edited August 12, 2023 by Glenn Stanton

[sjoens]

5 hours ago, scook said:

Are you sure P5 can open SONAR projects?

I wasn't sure about that or if it was a P5 project.  But did find this.

5 hours ago, scook said:

In short, to load projects with 32bit DX plug-ins requires a 32bit DX host.

True. I still have a 32 bit Windows XP system with Home Studio 9 for such occasions.

5 hours ago, scook said:

Was there a Dimension other than LE and Pro?

I shudof known that after finding this a while ago.  And now this.

Edited August 12, 2023 by sjoens

[Steve Moddelmog]

I used to have 32-bit SPLAT installed alongside 64-bit Cakewalk by Bandlab. That way I could easily run old projects and not have an these headaches. Now I can't figure out how I did it - I think the installation sequence must be very important, because if I install 32-bit Sonar with Cakewalk already installed, it destroys the plugin database. But I'm certain I used to do it.  Can anyone point me in the right direction for doing it? Maybe uninstall both, then install 32-bit Sonar first, run it so 32-bit and dxi plugins are found, and then install Cakewalk?

[sjoens]

That should work, but FWIW I installed Dimension LE 1.2 DXi  (in C:\Shared Dxi\Dimension LE), but 32 bit X3 and SPlat don't see it for some reason.  It may need to be installed on a 32 bit system.

[scook]

The plug-in database "%appdata%\Cakewalk\Library\library.db" is used by all the last series of SONAR products and CbB. With that in mind, I might not want to have more than one of these DAWs open at a time for fear of corrupting the database.

There are some subtle default path differences when installing 32bit Cakewalk DAWs before 64bit versions of the same DAW. As a rule, if 32bit DAWs are going to be installed, install them first. 

If I still needed a 32bit version of SONAR, I would treat its installation just like any other legacy Cakewalk install...after installing any legacy DAW (re)install CbB to insure CbB is correct.