Windows 10 and Sonar 7

[olek]

I am building a computer for a friend of my dads who is much older than me but is familiar with Sonar 7 producer edition. Because he wants that specific version of the software the computer needs to be on the older side in terms of operating systems. I came to this forum hoping that I could get advice on anyone who has Sonar 7 Producer Edition on a windows 10 64 bit PC to see if it works and if there are any issues. I find it a lot easier to find all the parts I need if I am working with windows 10 but cannot find any confirmation really that Sonar 7 Producer edition 64 bit will work on a windows 10 64 bit PC. I have seen the occasional person on other forums mention that it works for them but then other people say it does not work for them. So I am trying to find someone who has it working and see if I can replicate their PC build so I at least know that it works. Any feedback is greatly appreciated.

[mettelus]

The bakers would need to confirm for sure, but one check you could do is pop the installation CD into a Win 10 machine and see what it says (you only need to see if the installation gets to the "Install" button, not actually install it). The only lockout that might come up is some installers check the O/S version and will not install to unknown versions (not sure if that is the case with SONAR 7 though, but easy to check). An optional bypass if that happens would be to image his current machine, install that image on the new one, get all registrations in order and then do the Win 10 upgrade to it. I am pretty sure SONAR 7 only had minimum Windows version requirements, but the bakers or installing from the CD on a current Win 10 machine would be the better answer.

Also bear in mind any hardware he is using and be sure that Win 10 drivers exists or that the Win 7 drivers still function in 10. This wasn't as big a deal going from Win 7 to Win 10 as it was when installing Win 7. Win 7 required me to replace a few pieces of gear as they would not carry forward, but I did not have that issue going to Win 10.

[olek]

9 hours ago, mettelus said:

The bakers would need to confirm for sure, but one check you could do is pop the installation CD into a Win 10 machine and see what it says (you only need to see if the installation gets to the "Install" button, not actually install it). The only lockout that might come up is some installers check the O/S version and will not install to unknown versions (not sure if that is the case with SONAR 7 though, but easy to check). An optional bypass if that happens would be to image his current machine, install that image on the new one, get all registrations in order and then do the Win 10 upgrade to it. I am pretty sure SONAR 7 only had minimum Windows version requirements, but the bakers or installing from the CD on a current Win 10 machine would be the better answer.

Also bear in mind any hardware he is using and be sure that Win 10 drivers exists or that the Win 7 drivers still function in 10. This wasn't as big a deal going from Win 7 to Win 10 as it was when installing Win 7. Win 7 required me to replace a few pieces of gear as they would not carry forward, but I did not have that issue going to Win 10.

Thanks for reply and information! I actually did not even think to ask what hardware he was using which could obviously be a big issue because I do not know what his current OS is. I believe he is probably not using Windows 7 and might be running this on Vista or XP, but I will ask him to get confirmation.

Part of the issue with testing for me is that this is a new build. I have to buy the parts first, build the machine and than I can test if Sonar 7 Producer Edition installs. If I buy all the parts (CPU, Memory, Motherboard, Power Supply, Storage, CD/DVD tray, Case) for a windows 10 PC, and try installing Sonar 7 and it doesn't work then I did all that work for nothing so I was hoping to get around that with someone confirming that they have Sonar 7 Producer Edition running on windows 10 64 bit. This would be a clean install since I am getting all the hardware, would put windows 10 on and then just get the drivers needed for everyday use. I am assuming that sonar 7 would have all the drivers it needs as part of its install package from the CD he gave me, but as mentioned earlier I did not think about drivers for any external hardware he is using.

I personally don't have a windows 10 machine nor does anyone in my household. I am working off linux/mac os and just run windows in a VM on my linux distributions. My Wife has Windows 7/8 computers, so testing this software on windows 10 is a bit of a problem for me right now.

[Bass Guitar]

Im thinking the jump in Operating Systems would be a much bigger hurdle than going from Sonar 7 to the latest version. 
 

I can confirm that Sonar 8.5 64 bit runs on W10 no problem so I would think Sonar 7 64 will too. But if you have 8.5 I recommend that as it’s pretty much the same. Take note that you will need it to be 64 bit. Otherwise you will have to revert to W7. 
 

It’s a huge challenge to try and set up 32 bit systems these days unless you do have everything you need still on disk. You’re better off going to the Goodwill or a local computer repair shop and getting an older computer and just upgrade the drives and RAM.
I finally tossed out my W7 custom build as it was just taking up space. I think it cost over $1,200 back in 2008 to build. I only kept the drives. Nothing else in it was compatible with new machines. I still have a W7 laptop. 
 

 

[mettelus]

4 hours ago, Bass Guitar said:

I'm thinking the jump in Operating Systems would be a much bigger hurdle than going from Sonar 7 to the latest version. 

This is another good point to let your friend know. SONAR versions have always been backwards compatible, so any projects he has will open with the newest version of the free-tier of Sonar. Only caveat with that is that SONAR 7 needs to be installed first, then the new Sonar free-tier (so that shared utilities needed for the new Sonar are updated properly). Different SONAR versions can exist side-by-side without issues, so he can fall back to SONAR 7 while adapting to the new GUI. The easiest way to learn the newer version is to open up an older file, save it with a new name (to keep the SONAR 7 version in tact), then work on things and learn as needed. This is far simpler than trying to learn "everything" that is new. Other benefits of this include all of the new features and bug fixes, with support for VST3 and Melodyne's ARA, so he can upgrade instruments and effects if desired in the future without issues.

[57Gregy]

For what it's worth, I have 64-bit SONAR Home Studio 6 working on this W 10 machine. I can't say 'perfectly' because I haven't used it enough to uncover any flaws. It records well, plays back as it should, but beyond that...

[Bass Guitar]

Hey @57Gregy   . My story was when Cakewalk Next came out I got curious about how many features it had compared to Home Studio. So I installed the latest version of Home Studio to see what was up. 
In the end it totally trashed New Sonar. 
What seems to have happened is in the Platinum Era each version used the version as the folder name. 
You will find Sonar  Professional. Sonar Platinum but Heres the problem! Home studios folder is just called Sonar. Just like the new Sonar. 
I guess it totally messed everything up. 
Crash crash crash. In the end I redid my computer with W11 and started over. 

So I hope you don’t have any problems like that!