Rant: Upgrade from Sonar HS4 to Sonar 5

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grweldon

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This is going to be a rant, please read it with that in mind....

Well, I finally did it. I spent the money to upgrade from Home Studio 4XL to Sonar 5 Studio edition, only I didn't quite think it through correctly. I'm running Windows 2000 professional on all the computers in the house, including my recording machine. Sonar 5 requires Windows XP. So, I go to www.newegg.com and find an OEM copy of Windows XP Professional, thinking I'm going to install it on my recording machine and run Sonar 5 on it. It's on it's way to me now...that would be good, but in the next few months I'm going to be upgrading my motherboard and processor to a 64 bit system. Killer...right? Wrong. I've never dealt with WinXP's activation before, and I start to do a little research. It seems that the OEM versions of the software are tied to the computer hardware, specifically the Motherboard. Do you see where I'm going with this? I won't be able to re-activate the OEM version of Windows XP after I change the motherboard. I've verified this with Microsoft.

So I'm going to be stuck with making a choice to install the XP OEM version on my existing machine (4 years old) and running Sonar 5 immediately, or waiting to run Sonar 5 on my new 64 bit machine, in which case I should have purchased the 64 bit version of XP professional since Sonar 5 takes advantage of 64 bit processesing.

I've got a pleading message in to New Egg asking for an exception to policy and allowing me to return the OEM version of XP for the upgrade version, but I don't expect the reply will be favorable to my wishes.

So I've pretty much screwed myself, would y'all agree?
 
You can still take advantage of the 64-bit processing in Sonar and still run a 32-bit version of XP....
 
Do 64 bit drivers exist for all your hardware? You'll need those too, especially for your audio interface.
 
You might want to try it before you freak out. MS Tech Support wouldn't know a good time if it were sitting on their face.
 
hey man,
i have heard that if you explain to microsoft that you are just upgrading your current computer, and not actually getting a new one, you can still use the same copy of XP. its worth a shot anyways
 
Sonar uses 64 bit processing even with plain old XP. There has been no big rush for 64 bit driver support for XP64, so use caution. Frankly, I would simply use XP32 bit until Vista arrives and has some legs. You are not going to find much support out there for 64 bit.
 
Once again, I guess I should have read more before I acted. I returned the XP pro (Newegg accepted it back) and ordered the OEM version of X64 and the MB and processor for my upgrade. Obviously, I took the more costly option, but other than that, did I screw up again?

Thanks for everyone sharing their insights.....
 
grweldon said:
Once again, I guess I should have read more before I acted. I returned the XP pro (Newegg accepted it back) and ordered the OEM version of X64 and the MB and processor for my upgrade. Obviously, I took the more costly option, but other than that, did I screw up again?

Thanks for everyone sharing their insights.....
Click to expand...


You will need 64 bit drivers for your interface/hardware. If your interface has 64 bit drivers you are ok.
 
I just got my Sonar 5 upgrade today. You know, after all this, I just decided to try installing it on Windows 2000 Pro, thinking that it would tell me it can't install. Guess what....IT DID! AND IT WORKS! I wonder why Cakewalk doesn't advertise this!

Anyway, I have an M-audio 1010lt....going to the M-audio site now to check for 64 bit drivers since I have a 64-bit OS on the way....
 
grweldon said:
I just got my Sonar 5 upgrade today. You know, after all this, I just decided to try installing it on Windows 2000 Pro, thinking that it would tell me it can't install. Guess what....IT DID! AND IT WORKS! I wonder why Cakewalk doesn't advertise this!

Anyway, I have an M-audio 1010lt....going to the M-audio site now to check for 64 bit drivers since I have a 64-bit OS on the way....
Click to expand...


Cool... they don't advertise it because then they would have to support an older OS.
 
grweldon said:
Once again, I guess I should have read more before I acted. I returned the XP pro (Newegg accepted it back) and ordered the OEM version of X64 and the MB and processor for my upgrade. Obviously, I took the more costly option, but other than that, did I screw up again?

Thanks for everyone sharing their insights.....
Click to expand...

I'm running 32-bit Sonar PE (with the 64-bit precision processing enabled) in Win64. I chose 32-bit Sonar to support all the various plugins and such that don't run in the 64-bit version of Sonar. The Sonar 5 PE DVD came with both the 32-bit and 64-bit versions, hopefully so does Sonar SE. The RME FF800 drivers work well in Win64 and Sonar 32-bit, but not so well in Sonar 64-bit.

Hope this helps.

-mr moon
 
grweldon said:
Anyway, I have an M-audio 1010lt....going to the M-audio site now to check for 64 bit drivers since I have a 64-bit OS on the way....
Click to expand...

M-audio should have 64-bit drivers, though they are "beta." (Make sure you include beta drivers in your search - it is disabled by default on the m-audio site).

I'm in the same place.. Just built a new computer, put Win64 on it, but now I'm waiting on my Sonar upgrade to arrive before I can do any recording. I did install the beta drivers for my Delta66, and they installed ok with the hardware, but I haven't had a chance to test them out yet.

I will tell you now - if you want to do wireless networking with Win64, you are in for a headache. http://www.planetamd64.com is your friend.
 
Dirtythermos,

No wireless networking here!

I checked M-Audio's website last week, including Beta drivers. There are no x64 drivers yet for the 1010 or 1010lt. If they are available for the Delta 66 that probably means they will be available for the 1010lt soon....

Anyway, I'll just run in 32 bit mode for a while.
 
grweldon said:
I checked M-Audio's website last week, including Beta drivers. There are no x64 drivers yet for the 1010 or 1010lt.
Click to expand...

You must have missed them. They have been out for both the 1010 and the 1010lt since 4/12/2005.

Click "Drivers"
Check "Show Beta Drivers"
Select "Delta Series"
Select "Delta 1010"
Select "Windows 64Bit"
And you should see the file.
 
Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't M-Audio just have one set of drivers for all of the Delta Series cards?
 
I think so.. that sounds right. Either way, all the Delta cards have x64 support.
 
I'm glad to know I've missed them. I'll need them next week. Thanks so much for your help in locating them....
 
FWIW, I got Sonar5 up and running in 64-bit mode on Win XP x64 with M-Audio Delta 66 Beta drivers yesterday. I made a few quick recordings and was impressed. So far, no issues. I haven't done anything major, though.
 
I just installed the 64-bit version tonight, only to find out that only the "SFZ" plugin was installed with it. What do you do if you want to use ALL of the standard plugins that come with Sonar 5?
 
I have the Studio version, and all my plugins worked correctly. The "sfz" thing is the only one that is VST, so it gets put in a different place in the menu.

I'm at work and don't remember where the other ones get put, but I have seen and used the sonitus:fx, TTS:1, and GrooveSynth for sure.
 
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