Hi,

I think my computer is about to bite the dust. I don't think I have much of a choice but to get a new one. It would be nice to be able to run Sonar in 64 bit mode, anyway.

How much of a hassle will it be to get Sonar re-installed on a new computer, along with all of the other soft-instruments and plugins that I've been using (EZ Drummer and expansion packs, Alicia's Keys, the full Garritan Personal Orchestra, etc...). With all the restrictive licensing of the music software (i.e. "I understand that I can only install this software on ONE COMPUTER"), what is involved in getting everything authorized to run on the new computer that I'll be using? I know that EZDrummer in particular, required separate authorization process for each of the expansion packs that I bought, in addition to the main program itself, just to get the whole thing to run on the computer I have now. I anticipate a HUGE hassle getting this program migrated to the new machine, simply because the process was so much of a hassle getting it to run on the first computer.

Once I've got everything up and running, will there be any difficulties in opening projects that I've created in 32 bit under a 64 bit architecture?

Thank you,
Brad

If it's a reinstall, it's just the usual bunch of progress bar watching and gathering serial #s.
SONAR can port some but not all settings, which has always been a bit of a head scratcher. 

Easiest way tho, is to get an imaging program. I think there's even a freeware one now, I use Acronis. Make an image of the drive and you can flash it onto a new drive. In that case you don't need to reinstall anything.

Of course, if there's problems in the OS or related programs they'll all port too. Sometimes a fresh OS reinstall is good for the spirit. :-)

You may be able to "frankenstein" your computer up tho. I've done that three times now, just replacing the core components I want to upgrade. A CPU/Motherboard/RAM upgrade can cost as little as $300 and will completely overhaul your system.

I've started fresh a couple times over the last year, once moving to Win7 and recently setting up a dual boot to Win7 x64 to see if it works alright for me.  Both were pretty painless, just time and a few tweaks along the way.  Just make sure you've got your Serial Numbers toghether and a week end to devote to it.

Dan

Those are some good ideas wicked, I'll put some thought into that. Of course, I would still need to upgrade my OS if I'm wanting to run 64 bit, since I'm running XP currently. I've also thought about putting the old hard drive in the new machine and using the new, bigger hard drive as a media drive.

If I did change out the motherboard, then the software wouldn't recognize it as the same machine, right? So I would still have to go about convincing EZDrummer that I do have legal authorization to run the program. Is this correct?

Thanks again,
Brad

Thank you to DKE, too.

It's sounding like this might not be the nightmarish mess that I was afraid it would be.

 
Hi there Brad
 
I recently did exactly the same thing myself when upgrading from X1 on a 32bit Vista PC to a 64bit Win7 machine.
 
Thanks to some guidelines from the guys in here (similar to those you're getting) it wasn't too difficult - more time consuming than anything. I used my back-up drive to transfer my projects and VST plugs across to the new PC. I also installed both the 32bit and the 64bit versions of X1 on the new machine.
 
Here's how I went about it:

• Save all projects, VST .dll's and .exe's to removable media (if you're not using a direct transfer method). If you normally save your projects with the audio in the project folder (Store Project Audio in its own Folder) the transfer should be simple. Any projects that aren't saved this way should be re-saved as bundle files before transferring.
• Install/register both X1 32bit and X1 64bit to your new PC and patch them up from the Cakewalk website to the latest version (currently X1b) - if you later run into any specific problems you can apply the relevant hotfixes if necessary.
• Transfer your VST .dll's to the new PC.
• Transfer any executable VST's that need to be installed and install them (remember to install the 64bit version too if the option is available).
• Download and install any VST plugs (including 64bit versions) from the manufacturers' websites that cannot be ported over.
  
  Note - I saved my 32bit plugs inside Program Files(x86) > Cakewalk > VSTplugins and my 64bit plugs in Program Files > Cakewalk > VSTplugins - for an excellent guide showing how to do it really logically and efficiently, check out Jonbouy's post HERE Now scan the new VST folders in X1 (remembering that some plugs/VSTi's may have to be re-registered and/or re-authorised before they work properly).
• Any sound libraries etc that you've purchased separately for any softsynths will have to be installed and associated with the relevant VSTi's Transfer your projects over and assign the folder locations in X1 - make certain you check that they all open and run correctly (in 32 and 64bit versions) before deleting them from your old PC or from any removable media you've used in the transfer process.
  
  I found that by going through and opening all my transferred projects was a good way to find out which VST plugs and softsynths needed re-authorising, and also which of the 32bit ones worked OK bitbridged into X1 64bit and which didn't.

Hope that helps Brad - it was my first real big changeover (over three years of projects and accumulated VST's etc) and I have to say it went quite smoothly. If I think of anything else relevant or anything I've forgotten I'll let you know.
 
Steve
 
 
 

I recently migrated from a 32-bit XP machine with two HDD's to a 64-bit W7 machine with three HDD's. I have been, and am currently running, 8.5. I haven't loaded X1 yet.

Migrating Sonar wasn't too much trouble and has been covered above. I have lots of screenshots of my old setup to prove it.

However, the 64-bit W7 versions of some VST's expect their resource and sample libraries to reside in different places, and make it very difficult to locate the resources where I want them to be.

Dim Pro can be remapped fairly easily by editing the registry. However, Rapture does not provide that option, and a query to Sonar Technical support (who I typically find provides very timely response) pretty much said "too bad for me" about relocating the Rapture resources. In this case, I have to maintain two identical copies of the samples directory: one in the hard-coded location for the factory patches, and one in a location that my own programs can reference.

I simply don't understand why I can't locate the instrument resources and samples where I want them. My gripes about Caakewalk would be non-existent if it wasn't for this primitive implementation.

To those who have migrated to a different machine:  Did your custom presets for your plugins move to the new environment?
--Larry

If you have custom presets you want to save you need to find where they are saved and back them up before moving to a new system or doing a fresh OS install, so they can be restored.  Where they are saved depends on the plugin.

Dan

Many thanks to all who gave me such valuable feedback. You guys ROCK!

I'm going to print all this out and use it as a guideline for when I get the new machine.

Brad