Cakewalk Core Plugins Feedback

[Noel Borthwick]

11 hours ago, Starship Krupa said:

Actually, the Style Dials don't use the Sonitus FX for their processing, they use PX-64, VX-64, and TL-64.

I found this out after I discovered that these three plug-ins were included with Cakewalk by BandLab, but in "disabled" (hidden) state.

Style dials are internally fx chains but they don't use Sonitus plugs internally. However FX chains and prochannel FX chains are all properly handled and any Sonitus plugins present will get migrated correctly.

[Dana Elston]

On 8/24/2025 at 4:30 PM, Noel Borthwick said:

@Dana Elston They do but you must ensure that "replace on project load is enabled"
Please read the section on Automatic Migration from Sonitus plugins in Sonar

Thank you Noel...

[Dana Elston]

On 8/24/2025 at 4:30 PM, Noel Borthwick said:

@Dana Elston They do but you must ensure that "replace on project load is enabled"
Please read the section on Automatic Migration from Sonitus plugins in Sonar

I tried this but it did not load any of my self created presets. It opened using the setting I used for the song I was working on but it had no title (name) attached to it.

[Noel Borthwick]

Not sure what you mean by self created presets. Please show a video or describe what exactly you are doing or attach a file for what you are trying to load.

[Dana Elston]

It's the presets I'm saving for each particular DX Cakewalk Plugin. If I knew where my saved presets were located on my PC that might help but I just thought all my saved personal presets would be automatically be loaded into the new Core versions.

[57Gregy]

17 hours ago, Dana Elston said:

It's the presets I'm saving for each particular DX Cakewalk Plugin. If I knew where my saved presets were located on my PC that might help but I just thought all my saved personal presets would be automatically be loaded into the new Core versions.

I don't know, they're not listed in File Locations page of Preferences.
Maybe this could help? Preset Manager inside the Plug-in Manager. Do you already know about that?

[Noel Borthwick]

18 hours ago, Dana Elston said:

It's the presets I'm saving for each particular DX Cakewalk Plugin. If I knew where my saved presets were located on my PC that might help but I just thought all my saved personal presets would be automatically be loaded into the new Core versions.

We converted only the stock built in Sonitus factory presets, not user presets.
You are talking about the presets you made in the Cakewalk preset picker here:

Those presets are stored here: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Cakewalk Music Software\ActiveMovie\Presets

However, the format isn't directly compatible with the core plugins which are VST3. I'd have to write some special migration code inside Sonar to allow them to be converted. I'll look into it and see what's involved. In any case it's not something that an end user will be able to do since only the plugin has knowledge of how to convert its legacy presets not even Sonar.

[Mal Kilpatrick]

Hi all.  I've subscribed to the Sonar Premium (via Bandlab Membership) and am looking at the pros and cons of updating to the new "Core Plugins". I see this update process is separate to the Sonar update. I have been using the Sonitus series extensively and am concerned about loss of functionality in the new 'Core' series in existing projects, particularly as it appears that once the Core Plugins are installed, you can't go back to Sonitus. 

I understand the Core plugins have scalable UI. For me this is not a big deal-I can read Sonitus fine and they work fine on my screen layout (a 27" and a laptop) though I can understand this has definite appeal. Some of the questions below are probably quite newbie, but I would be interested in all responses.

1. What are the actual advantages of the Core vst format over the old DX format of Sonitus? The Sonitus DX plugings are working perfectly fine in new Sonar for me.

2. I understand Cakewalk will "stop supporting Sonitus". I am guessing that this means Sonitus may have problems/stop working with future upgrades of Sonar. This is looking like an inevitable consequence of going from a free product-but new modules ideally would align with past performance. 

3. Are all the functions of the Sonitus series reeelly in the Core series? eg, in the Compression module: is sidechaining still possible? Are all functions automatable? Are Bypass, Undo and Help (offline) still possible? I assume they are there but I can't see them on the vst images. The Sonitus Compression display has stereo In and Out indicators but the Core  version has just one meter for each. Not essential but still a useful facility.

4. If the Sonitus series disappears upon installing the Core Plugins, what is happening with Sonitus Surround (a great little plugin), SurroundComp and WahWah?

Thanks for any responses.

Mal Kilpatrick

Edited 12 hours ago by Mal Kilpatrick