Many years ago, I used an old version of CakeWalk under Win3.1 ... I still have the .WRK files (the PC itself is long since dead).  I was using this old version of Cakewalk as a MIDI sequencer only, to control keyboard and synth modules.
 
Will Sonar X2 (or any current offering from Cakewalk) read these files? Thanks in advance!

I'm thinking X2 probably will be able to open those. I've only opened files from the Pro Audio era (I have midi-only files from earlier versions stuck on floppy), and they mostly just added audio headers, etc., to the format at that point. One thing you can say is CW has always been pretty good at backward compatibility. You could always just download the X2 demo and try it. I bet the files will open.

Yes, it will open them just fine.

The oldest one I have is from 3/3/2000 and it works fine, but I used TTS-1 only. It's still included thankfully.

I just loaded up TTS-1, dragged the .wrk file in to Sonar, and it worked.

Come to think of it, I think these files are older than that, but I copied them from a damaged HDD somehow and the dates changed. I think they are much older than that in reality.

Thanks for the quick replies, gentlemen - I really appreciate it!

Yep, SONAR remains compatible with older files. The only things that may not load are older plug-ins that you may no longer have installed.

In addition, older versions of SONAR will open newer files, but of course, some features will be disabled because those features aren't present in the older versions.

Scott

--
Scott R. Garrigus - http://garrigus.com - SONAR X2 Power! - http://garrigus.com/?SonarX2Power
* Author of the Cakewalk Sonar and Sony Sound Forge Power book series: http://garrigus.com/?PowerBooks
* Author of the Cakewalk Sonar ProAudioTutor video tutorial series: http://garrigus.com/?ProAudioTutor
* Publisher of the DigiFreq free music technology newsletter: http://digifreq.com/?DigiFreq
* Publisher of the NewTechReview free consumer technology newsletter: http://newtechreview.com/?NewTechReview

If you copy your old Master.ins file, even your old midi port and instrument definitions will still work.  I still use my MOTU MTP AV USB to drive all my hardware synths and modules.

I even still have a perfectly good Music Quest 8 Port SE and the only reason I don't use it is because it is parallel port and it's virtually impossible to fine a modern PC MB with a parallel port and those add on cards don't work with midi interfaces....so I bought the MOTU on Ebay.

Some will and some won't based on my experience. You just have to try it and see. 

Yeah I tried this not so long ago with stuff I did with Cake in the 90s. Worked fine. However I was reminded that what I did back then totally sucked... I wish I hadn't done it.

I have had partial success with opening my old WRK files with Artist.  The files open fine, and after I install and route the tracks to the TTS synth, they will even play.  BUT... they go silent after 30 seconds.  Anybody have any ideas?