Can't open Sonar Platinum Project. Stuck, disappointed and confused

Hi Everyone,

I'm a 25 year user since Cakewalk 3.0.

I've read for over an hour here, have tried many things suggested and I have a virgin, fast Windows 7 Pro 64 Bit computer with nothing in it except Sonar Platinum and Adobe CC Creative Suite for editing video. I upgraded the Sonar Platinum in Sept, but haven't upgraded to the current version, Jamaica, I think I saw it called?
 
I have I7 Proccessor, 16 Gigs of fast RAM, SSD boot drive and several 1 Terabyte internal drives all setup for audio/video optimization.
 
I have a jazz trio and a vocalist all perfectly recorded with nine takes in a long single project. I copied the last take to a new project and worked an entire day mixing using all native plug in's, Melodyne Singletrack and so on.
As I edited, I saved a new version ever half hour or so, version 1,2,3....and am up to version 19.
 
All was well until I moved a bus fader that was set by my assistant mixer, and I noticed UNDO wouldn't put that back, so I tried to REVERT but there were no revert points, so I closed it. I then noticed that the original project was still open (the one with 9 takes that I pulled the last take from). I closed that too.

I then tried to open the current project again, and it just either hangs with nothing happening or I get an hour glass with OPENING PROJECT hanging forever until I open task manager and force a shutdown. The original project opens, other projects open, and I was able to go back to Project Version 7 after Melodyne was in and open that, but any of the projects saved after that will not open, and of course those are the one with all the edits and Plug Ins assigned that I need to export the finished .wav file.
 
Have RUN as Administrator, have Shift Opened Sonar, have Shift opened the Project, I tried manually loading Plug Ins and tried skipping a few plug ins and changed them not to scan on startup, all with no success. One weird thing happened while choosing to skip all Plug Ins when I opened the most recent Project file. They all skipped, but I then got a dialogue box that said something like, "You have two silent buses, they will be re-routed when...." This only happened once out of a dozen times I tried not loading certain plugs in when opening the project in Safe Mode, and when I clicked OK, nothing happened and the project didn't load and Sonar hung again and I forced the program to shut down.

I did notice that the Aud.ini file dialogue box is completely blank, but I don't know if that's an issue. I'm on the road and can't call tech support during the limited phone hours they are available, and then I'm stuck for the weekend.

Any suggestions would be appreciated as I really can't think of doing anything else. My main question here is, do you think I can eventually get the most recent project open somehow and I should feel as upset as I am because with some troubleshooting it will be possible? I mean, I see all the edited .wavs in the Audio folder. Holding my breathe.

Thanks.

Thanks. So I'm not sure I understand you though.
 
You said the Aud.ini will be blank, but then you said it contains at this point "are" any edit you've made to it.

So, "find" the original Aud.ini file (how or why would it have changed location?) and delete it IF it's populated? And if it were populated, and had the edits in there, why delete it.
 
Sorry, I don't follow.

Jerrycast
My main question here is, do you think I can eventually get the most recent project open somehow and I should feel as upset as I am because with some troubleshooting it will be possible? I mean, I see all the edited .wavs in the Audio folder. Holding my breathe.

It does not sound promising. If the project refuses to open in safe mode (holding SHIFT while opening the project) and loading only the audio, the only thing I can think of is to rebuilt the project from the wave files.
 

Jerrycast
I did notice that the Aud.ini file dialogue box is completely blank, but I don't know if that's an issue. I'm on the road and can't call tech support during the limited phone hours they are available, and then I'm stuck for the weekend.

Are you sure about this? The Aud.ini entries are displayed in Preferences > Audio > Configuration File. It should always have something in it, there is even an option to reset the file to defaults on this screen.  On the other hand, the Cakewalk.ini which may be viewed using Preferences > File > Initialization File is normally empty. It will only show values added by the user. I don't think I have ever seen an empty Aud.ini. I am not sure how SONAR would react to an empty Aud.ini. Both ini files are located in your user directory. While not necessary, if you wish to review the files at the OS level:
Press the Windows key + R to bring up the run window
Enter %appdata% to display your user AppData directory in Windows Explorer
Navigate to Cakewalk\SONAR Platinum
 
At this point you should be in your SONAR Platinum User directory. This directory contains both ini files and a bunch other files and directories. You can click on the ini files to open them in a text editor.
 
That said, I doubt the ini files are the source of your problem. If you wish to reset the Aud.ini, you can by renaming it then run SONAR. The re-personalization you performed (holding the SHIFT key while starting SONAR) only replaces missing files. It does not overwrite or reset anything. To perform a full re-personalization you need to hold the CTRL+SHIFT while starting SONAR. This will overwrite all the files in your user directory from the master copy in ProgramData.

Here we go again. Sonar Platinum, huh? Just spent hours with a cast of 5 people recording two lavalier mics and one shotgun mic for a total of 3 audio tracks on a simple 25 minute video shoot on a high end laptop, specs all top notch, no virus software and no other software except Adobe CC suite.
Got home from the studio and tried to open the project to create a bundle to open on my home computer, also running sonar, won't open, not in Safe Mode. Beyond frustrating.
Any ideas? After 25 years, I may be bailing on Cakewalk if I can't remedy this.
Thanks.

Thanks, Brian. Will do that. It's just that I can't figure out why this is happening. I had a pretty good audio guy running the laptop (he's a Reaper user) and all looked well to him during the session. 
 
I have an 8 channel Presonus Audiobox at the studio where we shot the video. Now the laptop is home, not connected to an interface, and of course I get the warning when Sonar boots.

Since I ignore that message and continue, and am now not connected to the Audiobox, could that be the problem? I'm going to take the laptop back to the studio and hook it to the Audiobox before booting Sonar to see what happens. It shouldn't be, but who knows with computers, so I'll try it.

I do have a smaller Presonus Firebox here at home, but I didn't want to confuse things by trying to hook that, so I'll try the studio interface first and report back.

Thanks again man.

Brian, this high end laptop was built for music/video only by PC Audio Labs in Cali (out of biz now), about 2009. Dweezil Zappa referred us, so, the on board device on the MOBO is disabled. And if I wanted to use it as I once did, I had ASIO for all running.
Will let you know what happens when I get to the studio later.
Thanks again.

Hey Jerry,
 
Make sure you let us know - I had a similar problem with a project.  Was able to open by removing all plugs and had to start all over after almost being completed with the mix.
 
Here is the peculiar thing, my setup is similar in that I am running Windows 7 64 bit I have I7 Proccessor, 16 Gigs of fast RAM and  1 Terabyte internal drives all setup for audio/video optimization.
 
Can it be Windows 7???  Just wondering outloud.
 
 

Jerrycast
Got home from the studio and tried to open the project to create a bundle to open on my home computer...

In lieu of sorting out the problem that's causing the failure to open it on the laptop, you can just Zip the project folder and copy that to your other DAW. Zipping generally results in a smaller file that is less prone to extraction errors than bundle files.

Jerrycast
Thanks Craig. Oh yeah, Obedia, now I remember. Two years ago I need them and the head guy called me right back. Unfortunately, since I wasn't buying a new system from him, I couldn't get back the answers from his in subsequent emails and calls that he promised to research on whether or not my Clevo case and current MOBO would support 16 Gigs of memory. After many attempts to contact them with no response, I finally figured it out. It would support up to 8 gigs, so I bought them, installed them and also upgraded the processor to the fastest that MOBO would support. Was kind of disappointed about that experience with Obedia.
Also, the problem seems to be on both AUDIO only machines, desktop and laptop, intermittent on both, which is worse that them not working at all.
I guess going to Windows 10 is a good thing, I just dread the whole process as I've got Adobe CC suite running so smoothly.
Thanks again, everyone (and Listen, too).

Your experience might differ from mine.  I dreaded the change from Win 7 to 10.  I also had Adobe products.  The only hickups I had were re-authoring AD + Melodyne and pointing my AD to find where the "data" was stored as I had them on a non-default slot and the system looked for it in the default path.  
 
My internet is slow, so getting all the updates was a time consuming pain, but the process and system has been smooth so far.
 
(Win 7 needed updates to get plat to run)

Thanks Craig -
I'm going to back-up my Windows 7 and cross that BRIDGE over to Windows 10
 

Jerrycast
Brian,
I guess I wish that my Platinum was running as stable as X3 was so I could make music and not continually troubleshoot like I have since I started my love/hate things with computers in 1991. Thanks and I'll let you know.

So far I've actually had a bit more stability out of Plat.  The main difference is I had a 32bit plug that won't work in X3 without freezing on project close.  It actually works in Plat and saved me the upgrade fee to the 64 bit version that offered me no functionality.  

Anderton

listen
Thanks Craig -
I'm going to back-up my Windows 7 and cross that BRIDGE over to Windows 10

 
Don't know if this is still the case, but when it was available for free, you could roll back within 30 days if there were issues.
 
FWIW I did an in-place upgrade over W7, didn't wipe the hard drive first...still no problems. Have updated to Windows 10 on three very different machines, all running smooth as silk.
 

I did the very same, with the same experience.  I was terrified before the 1st, but it went so smoothly - I didn't hesitate on the others.  


I would suggest turning off the internet when you are working though.  Windows 10 does what it wants to with the internet in the background in my experience, even setting as many things to "off" as possible.  

Thanks Craig. I read the article you suggested and it's helpful.

I only have USB 3 Ports on my PC Audio Labs (Obedia), laptop. I was getting a weird "buzz" that as being recorded with any audio when I hooked the Audiobox directly to the onboard USB 3 ports, so I bought an adapter card to slide into the slot (also USB 3), and that cured the buzz.

I could now buy a USB 1 or 2 card to slide into the slot, but I'm not sure how that would help the problem, as the main issue is that the project won't open on the laptop when NOT connected to the Audiobox. But we know computers, so I guess it's worth a shot as you never know how or why something will work/not work.

Will report back later as I'm getting ready to see if the project bundle and the project file folder that I exported from the laptop while it was hooked to the Audiobox at the studio, will now open on my home studio desktop.

Also, thanks Songroom and everyone else up there. I appreciate your help.

Thanks. I will remember and check that save all Audio tip, but I actually was trying to open the project on the actual laptop that I had recorded the project on, just without the Audiobox connected, which is at the studio and I had brought the laptop to my home studio that doesn't have the Audiobox (I have a Presonus Firebox, but didn't think to hook that up, but will try).

Yes, when I boot Sonar I get, "There are no audio devices for the current driver model on you system. Please go to Edit/Perferences/Audio/Playback and Recording and choose a different driver model". I OK that, and Sonar boots, but the Projects just "hang" while trying to load.

No, these machines are not optimized for streaming.

No, I can't do a Windows Update on my Win 78 Pro 64 Bit 16 Gig of RAM laptop since Aug 2015 because of unknown issues. After several hours of researching and trying various FIXES, I still can't update, but I figured I wouldn't need to because this is audio/video only laptop.

Thanks again. Gonna go try to hook the Firebox to the laptop and see what happens.