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 Thursday at 06:29 AM by Mal Kilpatrick

[Noel Borthwick]

On 8/26/2025 at 8:47 PM, 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.

@Dana Elston This has been implemented for the next release. All user Sonitus DX presets will be automatically migrated to the VST3 core plugins and be available in the preset picker.

[Noel Borthwick]

17 hours ago, Mal Kilpatrick said:

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.

There are no cons. The Core plugins have more functionality and are more deeply integrated with Sonar than the old DX plugins and will grow even further with future updates. Installing the Core plugins doesn't prevent you from using the old plugins. The messaging was specific to projects SAVED with core plugins. Once replaced you cannot un-replace them other than going to a backup of your project.

 

17 hours ago, Mal Kilpatrick said:

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.

The core plugins are completely re built and optimized for future scalability and deeper integration with the application. They have bug fixes that the DX versions will never get. 

17 hours ago, Mal Kilpatrick said:

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. 

The old plugins will most likely continue to be available with the free product, at least in the forseable future.

17 hours ago, Mal Kilpatrick said:

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.

All the functionality and automation is intact. Help is not yet available - it will be done sometime soon. The meters are stereo meters in the new version as well.

17 hours ago, Mal Kilpatrick said:

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

 

It will not disappear, unless "Hide related plugins" is selected in preferences. Wah Wah is replaced by Core AutoFilter. Surround will be coming soon as a Core plugin. There are no plans to replace Surround Comp since that is a DX surround compressor and we dont presently support surround via VST.

[Salvatore Sorice]

On 8/23/2025 at 7:53 AM, Noel Borthwick said:

We can consider it but why not use standard parameter learn in the host application? That's the more modern way to do it.

Let me preface my post by saying that I am not very experienced with midi, automation learn, etc. Sorry! @Noel Borthwick, not sure what you mean by "use standard parameter learn in the host application". Does that refer to using ACT (which I'm clueless about)? Not sure how to "learn" a knob on my Korg Nano Studio or Nano 2 so that it controls something in one of the Core Plugins. Please excuse my ignorance 🙃

[Noel Borthwick]

9 minutes ago, Salvatore Sorice said:

Let me preface my post by saying that I am not very experienced with midi, automation learn, etc. Sorry! @Noel Borthwick, not sure what you mean by "use standard parameter learn in the host application". Does that refer to using ACT (which I'm clueless about)? Not sure how to "learn" a knob on my Korg Nano Studio or Nano 2 so that it controls something in one of the Core Plugins. Please excuse my ignorance 🙃

You can use ACT of course or use the assignable controls in the inspector to remote control those as below.

[Jim Stamper]

I've been a heavy user of Sonitus for years, and they've been great. I'm having some separation anxiety. 😬

Once I install the new Core plug-ins, will the Sonitus plug-ins still be available to me in my registered plug-ins list? 

Is there any guidance on how long Sonitus will be supported?

[msmcleod]

2 hours ago, Jim Stamper said:

I've been a heavy user of Sonitus for years, and they've been great. I'm having some separation anxiety. 😬

Once I install the new Core plug-ins, will the Sonitus plug-ins still be available to me in my registered plug-ins list? 

Is there any guidance on how long Sonitus will be supported?

The Sonitus plugins will remain in your plugin library as long as the operating system supports them.

If your "Replace if possible on Project Load" setting with Preferences->File->VST Settings is unchecked, then your existing Sonitus plugins will remain unaffected.  You'll be free to use either the old Sonitus plugins or the new ones.

If your "Replace if possible on Project Load" setting with Preferences->File->VST Settings is checked, then loading any project with the old Sonitus plugins will result in them being replaced with the new Core plugins.

Even if you had this checked, and migrated the Sonitus plugins to the new Core plugins in a particular project, there's nothing stopping you inserting the old Sonitus DX plugins... however these will be replaced with the Core plugins if that setting is checked when you next load the project.