Finally Upgraded to Sonar 4 Producer

[DigitalDon]

I've been using CW 9 (and Win 98SE ) for years and finally upgraded to Sonar 4 Producer. Just got the package in yesterday along with the Sonar 4 Power book. I hope to install XP Pro this weekend then Sonar 4. I still have to download the 4.0.1 and 4.0.2 maintenance patches but my work computer doesn't seem to want to allow me. Damn I hate to even try to download a 7 and 11 meg patch on my home dial-up. I know it'll end up corrupted or just quit completely. Sent an email to Cakewalk asking if they can send it to me on a CDR so I guess I'll wait and see.

I assume the best thing to do is a clean install of XP and Sonar. Does anyone have any recommendations/suggestions as far as the loading? I looked at the Microsoft site and it says I have to download about 4 meg worth of files to put on floppies in order to make the CD drive useable for loading XP. Ideas?

Still, I'm excited about buying the latest/greatest and can't wait to get moving with it.

DD

[Beltrom]

I went from CW9 to Sonar 3 (studio). It was a VERY easy transfer considering the large jump in time and features. I guess it's a combination of Sonar being very intuitive, some things are a bit like Pro Audio and it's a very focused work area. Things you don't need often doesn't interfere, so you can learn things as you need them.

But I remember being a bit worried as they aren't very similar on the surface...

I'm very happy with Sonar 4 - don't really know what else I might need in a DAW. But I'm sure the guys at Cakewalk will show me in a few months!

Anyway, congrats! And happy music making!

[dachay2tnr]

Originally Posted by DigitalDon

I assume the best thing to do is a clean install of XP and Sonar. Does anyone have any recommendations/suggestions as far as the loading? I looked at the Microsoft site and it says I have to download about 4 meg worth of files to put on floppies in order to make the CD drive useable for loading XP. Ideas?

Sounds odd. Depending on your computer, you should be able to boot directly from the XP CD and install it from there. You may have to go into your BIOS first and change the sequence of the boot order - i.e., make the CD the first bootable device. Then pop the CD in and reboot.

The first step will be to reformat your hard drive - so be sure you are ready for this before you start.

Enjoy the new toys.

[minofifa]

what specs do you have with your computer? and what version of XP did you get? keep in mind that you might have to do some downloading for XP as well. I would recommend at least service pack 1, i think you will need the latest version of directX to run sonar (well not the latest but a newer version than what came out with Xp in the day). regardless, it will be a setp up, enjoy

[DigitalDon]

Custom Built Rackmount Computer
Abit IC7G-MAX motherboard
Pentium 4, 3.0GHz CPU
512M RAM (planning on upgrade to 1G)
Fixed 40Gb WD 7200 RPM drive
Removeable 80Gb WD 7200 RPM drive
Matrox G450 dual video card
Win XP Professional with service pack 2 (to be installed)
Aardvark Q10 Audio Interface (2 of these for 16 channels total)
And of course Sonar 4 Producer Edition

[minofifa]

oh, you are definately set to go then. win98/pro audio 9 was definately your weak link there. i'm super jealous of the rack mount computer, that's what i want, my next build! do you have any specs/pics you could send me of it? i found it really hard to research a rackmount computer in terms of parts to get for DAW work.

[EddieRay]

What happens to CW9 after installing Sonar? Does it become Sonar or do you now have two products installed? And what happens to your CW9 projects and .wav files? Do you migrate them (export, import, whatever) into Sonar?

[dachay2tnr]

Originally Posted by EddieRay

What happens to CW9 after installing Sonar? Does it become Sonar or do you now have two products installed? And what happens to your CW9 projects and .wav files? Do you migrate them (export, import, whatever) into Sonar?

You have two products installed - both will remain functional. If it was purchased as an upgrade, legally you are only *supposed* to use the newer version - since your original license was transferred to the new product; however from a practical standpoint, I don't think the folks at Cakewalk care that much (unless you were planning to sell your copy of PA9). Once you start using Sonar, my bet is you won't be using PA9 very much anymore anyway.

Sonar is able to directly open any PA9 files; however, once resaved in Sonar, they can no longer be opened by PA9. Therefore it is normally a good idea to have them backed up, or to at least save them under a different name in Sonar.

[DigitalDon]

minofifa,
This is the exact case I have. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...777063227&rd=1 Mine came without the power supply but this one will work as long as it is a "modern" power supply with the right connectors. Everything (motherboard, drives, etc) dropped right in with no modifications. Also, it's a very good price. Price is about $75 US and shipping to Canada is $80 US. It's a very heavy duty case (and heavy) since it was intended as a server chassis. No thin sheet metal. You can do a search on eBay for "rackmount case" and come up with a lot of hits. We ordered these same cases (4 of them) where I work and paid about $275 a piece for them.

DD

[EddieRay]

Originally Posted by dachay2tnr

You have two products installed - both will remain functional. If it was purchased as an upgrade, legally you are only *supposed* to use the newer version - since your original license was transferred to the new product; however from a practical standpoint, I don't think the folks at Cakewalk care that much (unless you were planning to sell your copy of PA9). Once you start using Sonar, my bet is you won't be using PA9 very much anymore anyway.

Sonar is able to directly open any PA9 files; however, once resaved in Sonar, they can no longer be opened by PA9. Therefore it is normally a good idea to have them backed up, or to at least save them under a different name in Sonar.

Thanks! I'd like to be able to uninstall CW9 if/when I go to Sonar. But the .wav files are in the product's directory path. Won't uninstalling CW9 delete them? If I open CW9 files in Sonar, will that relocate or copy the .wav files to Sonar's repository?

[dachay2tnr]

Originally Posted by EddieRay

Won't uninstalling CW9 delete them? If I open CW9 files in Sonar, will that relocate or copy the .wav files to Sonar's repository?

Uninstalling PA9 will not affect the underlying .wav files.

However, the default directory for Sonar *may* not find them. You might have to redirect Sonar to locate them in the original directory, or you may need to move them to a new directory.

Making it even more complicated, Sonar offers "per project" capabilites which puts the wave files for each project in their own directory. Its a little complex, but the bottom line is that the files should remain available to you.

However, as with everything involving computers, backing up is your friend. Save the PA9 projects as bundle files, and put them on a CD or DVD. This will keep the project and underlying audio files into one single file. This way if anything goes wrong later, you will still have an intact project available.

[tkingen]

Originally Posted by EddieRay

Thanks! I'd like to be able to uninstall CW9 if/when I go to Sonar. But the .wav files are in the product's directory path. Won't uninstalling CW9 delete them? If I open CW9 files in Sonar, will that relocate or copy the .wav files to Sonar's repository?

You could open up each of your projects in Sonar4 and save them. I'm not sure if it would be in a different folder than CW9, but if saved in Sonar there shouldn't be any problem with uninstalling CW9.
I uninstalled S3 after upgrading to S4 and had no problems at all.