I just assembled a new DAW PC and I need to reinstall Sonar X3. On my old PC (which died) I had both X2 and X3 installed.
Now most of my projects (I'm fairly new so not that much) can be imported easily in X3 as I have not yet used V-Vocal and from what i've been reading ARA is much better anyway.
 
My question is, are there any VST's I'll be missing if I simpy install X3e. I seem to remember mp3-encoder and some other plugin no longer being part of X3 but I can't find that info anymore.
 
So, if I install X3 will I miss some VST/plugins that were in X2 but are no longer in X3?
 
Btw. I have no interest in the new cloud-based Sonar Versions. X3 will be my last stop for now so I need to make it work with that.

In addition to V-Vocal, R-Mix and VC-64 were dropped from X3.

Thanks! Since I never used R-Mix or VC-64 (simply because I'm still learing to work with Sonar) and thus won't have any problems with older projects, is it still worth installing them by doing a custom installation of X2 or are they replaced with (better) alternatives in X3?

R-Mix was dropped because it was based on Roland tech which was not part of the sale to Gibson (same for V-Vocal). The developer of VC-64 went out of business years ago and effectively disappeared. The plug-in could not be maintained. All three plug-ins have their strengths but if you have never used them, it is unlikely you will miss them.
 
I will mention the new SONAR is no more cloud based than what your are currently using, IOW, not at all. If you purchase the upgrade as you purchased X3, there are no differences except a choice of installers and an increased frequency of updates.

Thanks for explaining. If it is only these 3 VSTs I can live without -especially since I never used them so far anyway.
I was more concerned synths like Z3ta or Dim Pro with its (free) Expansion Packs were not available anymore if I installed X3 but as that doesn't seem to be the case I'll go for a clean and fresh X3 install.
 
You're right I haven't really researched the whole new distribution mechanism. It's simply an uneducated feeling of dislike towards activations and/or dependancies that require an internetconnection (which I don't want on my DAW-OS -which is part of my new Dual-Boot PC).
 
Same way I will never use Cubase (although I love it since I bought the iPad version) because of the dongle and same way I dislike games that need Steam or Valve to work.
 
But I will give it a good look and wait for the early adopters to form a more 'educated' opinion.
 
Anyway, thanks again for helping me out!