Seriously, like the thread title says, I'm looking for recs on how best to upgrade my DAW system.
 
I have been using the same air-gapped, Windows XP, MOTU 828 MK1, UAD 1, Sonar 2, system since 2002 as a dedicated stand alone DAW. Never played a game on it, never typed a letter, never even connected to that fancy interweb all the kids are using. Its just been a tape recorder.
 
Not that I haven't been using it; I've recorded a few full albums and hundreds of demos for friends over the years, just never upgraded or wanted to fix what wasn't broken.
 
Lately, I have been getting some weird errors that the UAD can't be found, restart, works, etc... Can't clean audio folder as it just freezes and there are probably millions of orphaned wavs from countless retakes that I can't clean, etc...
 
So, here's my question.
Where do I start???
Can I just get a new Win10 machine with a MB with legacy PCI slots and install Sonar 2, my UAD card, a FireWire PCI, transfer all my data folders and get back to work??? Or is Sonar 2, my MOTU and UAD all just hopelessly out of date?
Or should I get on E - bay and get a older version of Sonar? Which one? Can I import projects from Sonar 2?
I have so many projects on my computer from years past, that I love to revisit and work on from time to time. I don't want them to be lost forever.
 
Any help and recommendations would be very much appreciated.
Thanks
 

Sonar Home Studio, last updated in 2017, is available as a free giveaway at this link.  It should be able to open older Sonar projects, and is compatible with Windows 10.
 
http://forum.cakewalk.com/Sonar-Home-studio-Giveaway-m3718858.aspx

Thanks for the help.

MVE
...UAD all just hopelessly out of date?...

 
The UAD-1 card will probably work provided that you stick with an early version of the UAD software. I'm running a UAD-1e card alongside a UAD-2 card with version 6.0 without any issues.

Have you tried reinstalling the program?
A clean reinstall might correct the problems.
It could also be your old computer/HD/etc..
I was running Sonar 8.5 on an old XP laptop for years, just like you, until the HD started getting back sectors and then I had to upgrade.

I think that the compatibility of your older drivers with a modern OS may be the biggest question needing some answers.
 
Getting a modern computer with PCI slots is possible, but your choices are limited. For example the Dell Optiplex XE2 Mini Tower has one PCI slot.  http://www.dell.com/en-us/work/shop/cty/pdp/spd/optiplex-xe2
 
Maybe reinstalling things will clear the errors, but an old system like that will eventually have hardware issues that need to be resolved.  Probably best to move on, if it is something other than a hard drive or ram issue, the other components are probably too old to bother with.
 
I custom built my desktop several years ago and added a PCIe adapter for my FireWire audio interface. The interface is end of life, and was purchased for a WinXP laptop with FireWire in 2005.
 
Fortunately the Windows 7 drivers, the last version published by the vendor, still work on Windows 10.

Thanks everyone.
I know I really just need to jump into the rabbit hole and see where it takes me.
I’ll probably learn a few things along the way and I’ll surely spend a ton of money.
I’ve found a few MBs that have a legacy PCI or two, and I’m definitely going to try the free home studio version and hope all my projects transfer.
I have a HD to USB adapter that is actually one of the handiest computer tools on the planet, with which I can explore any HD like a thumb drive. It should make transferring the cwp and wav folders relatively painless. I just hope they can still find each other when I’m done.
Thanks all

MVE

I’m definitely going to try the free home studio version

 
Go ahead and add that to your account now!  No telling how long that deal will remain active!