So I just bought a new midi keyboard that comes Sonivox Eighty Eight ensemble.
I load it up and sonar x3 immediately freezes and crashes.

Anybody have the same issue in X3?

From the Sonivox FAQ page:
Why does my software crash before it even opens?
 
This is most likely due to not having PACE extensions installed. This can be corrected by downloading the latest PACE drives from their site: http://www.paceap.com/dldrvr.html

thanks, I'll give that a try. I'm sure that was installed with the initial setup. Something must have gone wrong. I'll try that link.

Yeah, Eighty Eight does/should work fine with X3 - I've been using in on occasion for about a year now.  

I wonder if you are maybe plugged into a USB 3 port - some stuff freaks out if not in a USB 2 port.  Just a thought - and I suppose the drivers are installed for your OS version?
 
Lastly - wouldn't you normally have your midi devices connected prior to launching Sonar?  It shouldn't cause a problem - I am just curious.
 
Bob Bone
 

Tried going to pacer website and download ilok manager, didnt work. Tried uninstalling and reinstalling the program; "PACE drivers installed successfully" to paraphrase, still not working. Had my keyboard on before opening the VST, still crashed. I honestly have no idea what's wrong with this piece of software.
 
Anybody else have an idea or use Eighty Eight Ensemble with Sonar?

For those who couldn't figure it out. The solution for me that made it start working all of a sudden is this.
The process is as follows.
Install
Restart
Update
 
 
Any other way apparently breaks the program somehow.
The key for me somehow was not updating before restarting my computer then applying the update. No idea why that works but that was the solution for me.