Hello,
I have been successfully using my Roland SI-24 purely as a great control surface in all Sonar versions through X3.
I am still using the Sonar control surface SI-24 config file designed for Sonar3 (not X3) way back when, and it has worked flawlessly through X3. I am communicating via MIDI In/Out only and not trying to use any RBUS card or driver.
 
Now that I have upgraded to Sonar Platinum, I cannot get Sonar to accept the SI-24 as a control surface.  It will allow me to add it to the control surface "table", but refuses to acknowledge the MIDI ports I select as in/out. (It actually "blanks" them out as soon as I select them.)   The same midi ports are functioning fine if used for other purposes.
 
For comparison, if I launch X3 (still installed on same PC) with exact same settings, the SI-24 works fine.
 
I submitted this to Cakewalk support, and generally the response was "the SI-24 is not officially Win7 compatible, you could try deleting your midi and control surface config files and set those up again".  Well, in short I did that with no difference in behavior.
This SEEMS like something has changed in SONAR "X4" treatment of control surfaces, though it does not look any different in setup.
 
Does ANYONE have an SI-24 set up as a midi i/o control surface in the Sonar Platinum or other "X4" version?
 
I would just like evidence that maybe it can work and I have not found the reason it is acting differently.  This unit works great as a 12+1 motorized fader, jog wheel, and transport button control surface, and I'd rather not lose it to Sonar Platinum on a technicality.
 
Thanks for ANY input.
 
Gabe
 
 
 
 

Since I kind of solved my own Roland SI-24 / Sonar Platinum compatibility issue, I am documenting here in case it helps others.
Despite lots of troubleshooting and false paths, I'll give the short version. It is a 64bit compatibility problem.

I did not realize that Sonar Platinum defaulted to 64 bit installation. and I have always used the 32 bit install on all previous Sonar versions.
Once I discovered this, I had to Google the method to get 32 bit Platinum installed. That is, run the .exe installer manually, and you'll eventually get to an option to install the 32 bit version.
I did that, and did not have any problems with 32 bit installation. Voila... the SI-24 as a control surface works perfectly.

Just as a test case, I went back to a previous Sonar version in 64 bit, and the SI-24 problems mimic the Platinum 64 bit problems. (That is, the control surface will not allow the MIDI ports to "stick" and the name of the control surface is in parentheses.) If you see your control surface in parentheses, I would consider that it might be a 32 bit dll not being compatible with 64 bit Sonar.

So, not surprisingly the dll written for SI-24 control surface is 32 bit only, and I do not know any tricks to allow it to work in Sonar 64 bit installations.
I suppose the chance of getting a new SI-24 64 bit compatible dll seems very low, so I guess my workaround is to launch Platinum in 32 bit mode.

Not sure if other reasons will come up to make me really need 64 bit Sonar, but for now I don't want to give up this nice motorized controller surface.

Gabe

grbarteck
So, not surprisingly the dll written for SI-24 control surface is 32 bit only, and I do not know any tricks to allow it to work in Sonar 64 bit installations.
I suppose the chance of getting a new SI-24 64 bit compatible dll seems very low, so I guess my workaround is to launch Platinum in 32 bit mode.

Control surface plug-ins are "in process" libraries. So for 32bit Sonar you need 32bit DLL, for 64bit Sonar you need 64bit DLL. While it is theoretically possible to write "BitBridge", since these plug-ins are not VST any existing "BitBridges" can not help. Only several long time deprecated devices have such plug-ins. So I agree there is no chance you get 64bit future for your device... except you adopt some other plug-in to work with it.

you can use the C.M. Motormix driver in the control surface dropdown for the 64 bit version, I have tested it and it does work, limited, but it does.... I too use the si-24, love it, but yes 32 bit sonar x3e only. if I have a project that needs the extra memory of 64 bit, I switch the c m motormix driver in the control surface dropdown.... now you have to set the roland si-24 to Mackie mode to get it to work. you get sliders 1-8, then you can toggle to 9-16, etc. you get mute and solo buttons and pan, but that's about it... still enough to use it for the 64 bit huge memory projects. when toggling through sliders 1-8, 9-16, etc, the buttons you normally use are backwards, I think.... play with it and you will figure it out. this control surface really is great... too bad support has dropped it. hope this helps.
Asaph

Thanks so much for taking the time to reply.  If I really want to use the 64bit version in the future, at least I have something to try.
Gabe

It Will Work Now!!!!
http://forum.cakewalk.com...m-64-Bit-m3444163.aspx