Hello everybody,
one thing that bothers me big time in SONAR Professional is its plugin error handling and I would like to share some thoughts about that. I am not really a technical expert, so I won't claim to know what is right or wrong. It is just that there a things that I would expect to be designed better. Perhaps someone can explain why it is as it is or perhaps my experience can help solve these problems. Both would be good.
 
So here we go:
I recently upgraded from X3 to Professional and had some problems with crashes as described at http://forum.cakewalk.com...-m3325325.aspx#3325470
 
These initial problems could be solved.
 
BUT:
There many, perhaps too many problems that I keep stumbling across. I will just list the points. I think it should be easy to get the picture.

1. I upgrade from X3 to Professional and suddenly basically none of my projects can't be opened anymore because there are plugins that used to work in X3 and don't in Professional. (After a lot of error messages, quite a bit of searching and replacing and changing and stuff it is back to normal)
2. Other plugins that also used to work okay in X3 do now cause the next problem. I didn't detect that at first because these plugins did not trigger an error message when I opened SONAR and they seemed to work okay in the projects. But, as I now recognised, as soon as I try to open them in SONAR, SONAR triggers the "teleport server doesn't function properly" error message.
3. What is really bad, is that this error message then causes the whole program to freeze and...
4. ....this freeze causes my system to somewhat loose the drivers. So next time I open SONAR I am greeted with an error message saying that there are no drivers.
5. And this means that I have to restart the whole computer.
6. And as a additional note: When I go to configuration and check my plugins none of them is detected as faulty or causing any kind of problem

 
So being real nasty now, I would say that the above combination is as bad as it can be.
What is so bad is the unpredictability.
Things change from one version to the next, certain plugins cause error messages right away, others are first overlooked and then still cause crashes in the program and none of all that can be predicted or prevented with the check plugin functionality.
 
And then the result. These plugin issues cause an array of follow-up problems that is extremely annoying.  So, why does a problem with that teleport server cause the whole program to crash? Wouldn't it be possible to design that in a better form? Something where the troublemaking plugin is detected and deactivated or something so that the main program could still be used, especially when, as in my case, this crash also means that I not only have to restart the program but the whole computer.
 
These would be my questions. That plugins can cause problems is clear. But the way they do it in my case is really bad and that is why I thought I need to throw it up here.

Unfortunately we'll need more information before being able to diagnose your problem. The Teleport error means bitbridge is having a problem dealing with 32-bit plug-ins.
 

• Was X3e 32-bit and Platinum 64-bit, were they both 32-bit, etc.?
• Which specific plug-ins don't work? Are they third party? Do they need to be updated?
• Did you run both X3e and Platinum under the same operating system?
• Are they VST2 or VST3? Is SONAR set to exclude VST2 plug-ins if VST3 one exist?

 
From time to time you will run across plug-ins that simply will not work in a newer version of a program or with a different operating system - perhaps the company went out of business of abandoned further development. SONAR X3e and Platinum can co-exist on the same system so if all else fails, you can open the project in X3e, render the track with the problematic plug-in to audio, and bring it into Platinum.
 
The greatest number of support calls to Cakewalk involve 3rd party plug-ins and/or plug-ins that don't quite follow the VST spec, so I think they have a lot of experience on the subject if you want to contact support.

I would like to know what plugins are not working?  Name them. 

Problem is (can be) that the VST scanner is shared between X3 and Platinum, so there is no guarantee that X3 will continue to work with all plug-ins it did before Platinum was installed.

That's the main design flaw.

It has been my experience that what works in an older version will work in a newer version. I have tons of old projects going back to wrk files. All open and work in Sonar 2015 Platinum. Old DX 32 bit plugins wont load aside from that I have not run into any load or running problems. At present I don't have an older version of Sonar installed. In the past I had as many as four old versions on the same system and never ran into a problem because it.
 
 

Try running SONAR as administrator.

Anderton
Unfortunately we'll need more information before being able to diagnose your problem. The Teleport error means bitbridge is having a problem dealing with 32-bit plug-ins.

• Was X3e 32-bit and Platinum 64-bit, were they both 32-bit, etc.?
  
• Which specific plug-ins don't work? Are they third party? Do they need to be updated?
  
• Did you run both X3e and Platinum under the same operating system?
  
• Are they VST2 or VST3? Is SONAR set to exclude VST2 plug-ins if VST3 one exist?
  

 
Sorry, for not giving enough technical information. I have them in my signature but missed to recognize that the signature was not added.
 
These are my system's data:
DAW : SONAR Professional Kingston, 64bit
PC : i5 - 4570, 3,2GHz, LGA1150, Quad-Core
RAM : 8 GB (2x4) Kingston 1333 Mhz 
OS : Win 7 Professional, 64bit
Interface : Line6 UX1

To answer your questions:

• I used to have Xe 64-bit and I now have Professional 64-bit. My old Xe version is still installed (along with the even older Music Creator and Music Creator Touch)
  
• The plugins that don't work are admittedly critical ones (old, third party, 32-bit, no updates for very long, etc.). More about that later...
  
• Yes, I have had the same operating system for all my cakewalk DAWs. I never changed the operating system.
  
• The problematic plugins are all VST2. I didn't set SONAR to exclude VST2 plug-ins if VST3 exist (I didn't know that that is possible)
  

Generally, I am aware that plugins are a topic of its own and often cause problems.
And I have learned my lessons. I used to play around a lot with plugins but have now limited their number as much as possible and have tried to erase all 32-bit ones.

BUT, my complaints are not so much about plugin problems in itself and more about what I described as the resulting "failure handling" (not sure if this is the proper term).
 
My main point is this:

1. Plugins can cause problems - accepted!
   
2. But, if they are likely to cause problem then... 
   
   1. these problems must be detected early (before the project is opened)
      
   2. the resulting effects should be somewhat weakened and not result in a complete system crash (as it always does in my case)
      

And here I really do not understand what is happening at 2.2.
When the system correctly recognized that there is a problem with the teleport server and spits out the corresponding error message why is it not possible to also control the resulting behavior?
The result now, a freeze or crash, is the worst thing that can happen. And isn't it at the very core of good programming to foresee and detect such pitfalls and correct them?


=> HINT:
There has been much talk about the new business model and the advantages of monthly updates. I didn't care much about all that as it seemed rather abstract and theoretical to me but here I see an example where cakewalk could prove their point.
Use the shorter release circles to care about such things and I would be 100% more convinced of the new model.

An additional note about the forum:
I was expecting to find a specific category for "wishes", "improvements" or "bug reports" here in the forum, but didn't. Did I miss that or isn't there any?
 
Okay, I think I got my point across.
Here are two examples of the plugins that were causing problems. (If needed, I could check and find some more.)

• The 10 band EQ from http://www.vst4free.com/free_vst.php?plugin=10_Band_Graphic_Eq&id=1477 and 3rd Bass from http://rekkerd.org/fretted-synth/ were some of the plugins that worked with no problem under Xe but caused initial error messages when I tried to open projects with it in SONAR Professional.
• The bass preamp from http://rekkerd.org/ronald-passion-releases-bass-preamp/ was one example of a plugin that didn’t trigger error messages in SONAR Professional. But when I now find that plugin in my projects and happen to click on it SONAR triggers the “teleport server doesn’t function anymore” error message and then freezes.

 
Again, I would like to add that I don’t mean to sound offensive. As I said before, a part of the problem is on my side with me not caring enough about old, outdated plugins. Perhaps there is more. So keep telling me or ask questions if something comes to your mind.
 
Still, I don't think I am the most stupidest DAU and my system is not the most strange and outdated one, so there might be some room for improvement on the cakewalk side as well...

KPerry
Problem is (can be) that the VST scanner is shared between X3 and Platinum, so there is no guarantee that X3 will continue to work with all plug-ins it did before Platinum was installed.

That's the main design flaw.

That is correct and it is exactly what happened to me:
When my projects threw all that error messages at me in Professional I immediately went back to the X3, just to find out it now was the same in X3 as well. 
So, there was this akward moment when I really thought all my work was gone.

Steffen Heller

KPerry
Problem is (can be) that the VST scanner is shared between X3 and Platinum, so there is no guarantee that X3 will continue to work with all plug-ins it did before Platinum was installed.

That's the main design flaw.

That is correct and it is exactly what happened to me:
When my projects threw all that error messages at me in Professional I immediately went back to the X3, just to find out it now was the same in X3 as well. 
So, there was this akward moment when I really thought all my work was gone.

This is a concern of mine as well, since a shared utility running amok makes reverting to X3 not an option. I ended up rebuilding my machine from scratch in July and created a "pre-Platinum" disk image just in case, but the shared utilities do, in fact, mirror themselves onto X3.

Steffen Heller
I was expecting to find a specific category for "wishes", "improvements" or "bug reports" here in the forum, but didn't. Did I miss that or isn't there any?

Features and Request http://forum.cakewalk.com/Features-Ideas-f76.aspx
Problem Reports http://forum.cakewalk.com/Problem-Reports-f77.aspx
Please read http://forum.cakewalk.com/Feedback-Loop-Handbook-Please-read-before-posting-m3151738.aspx before posting in these areas