Hi, guys! (LOL, Actually 3 quick questions.) 
 
Way, way back, (2002 or 2003 maybe?), I started out with Music Creator, moved up to Sonar Producer 3, updated to 7, 8 and stopped my upgrade path at Sonar Producer 8.53.
 
I've been happily using the 32 bit version of 8.53 ever since on my Win 7 64 bit DAW because I have a ton of third party 32 bit VSTs that I own and use on projects.
 
My questions are, if I download and install CbB, on the same machine,
 
1. Will it detect my 8.53 installation and import the plugins, settings, etc.?
2. Will my 32 bit plugins automatically work with the 64 bit CbB, or will I have to dig through my closets and hard drives looking for all my old installations disks, Cds, Dvds and downloaded installers and reinstall them from scratch?
3. Will installing CbB do anything to mess up or corrupt my current installation of Sonar 8.53 or my current projects?  (Finally started a new album a little over a month ago and have several projects in progress.)
 
I know I'm way behind and that CbB is light years ahead, and has most of the Platinum features, but 8.53 has happily been a proven workhorse for me and working great!  So, I'm a little gun shy about installing CbB and learning all the Platinum features that I've been missing, unless I know it won't detrimentally affect my current 8.53 installation.
 
Thanks in advance for any help, advice or suggestions! 
Bob
 

By default 64bit SONAR, CbB and plug-ins install under "c:\Program Files". Each DAW has its own product folder under "Cakewalk" but do use the same set of "Shared" folders containing the DX plug-ins and utilities.
32bit SONAR and plug-ins install under "C:\Program Files (x86).
 
64bit and 32bit versions of the same Cakewalk DAW share "Cakewalk Content" and configurations in the User directory, however; different products such as 8.5 and CbB have separate "Cakewalk Content" and user config file folders.
 
1+2) DX plug-ins are host bitness specific. 32bit DX plug-ins only run in 32bit hosts. 64bit DX plug-ins run in 64bit hosts. Most 32bit VSTs may be used with 6bit DAWs by first loading into bridge software. CbB includes BitBridge which works with most 32bit VST plug-ins, however; some work better with jBridge, a low cost 3rd party alternative. That said, as a rule it is better to use 64bit plug-ins whenever possible. A few 32bit plug-ins do not work in 64bit hosts at all, for example Toontrack do not bridge - fortunately they make 64bit versions. Consider installing the 64bit (and in many cases the 64bit VST3 format too) of your existing plug-ins.
3) Installing CbB is completely separate from 32bit SONAR.
 
For the best performance and stability, install the 64bit version of SONAR 8.5 to get the bundled 64bit plug-ins. Having access to the 64bit version of the 8.5 DAW may help with the transition too. Keep in mind most of the DX format FX 1, FX2 and all of DSP-FX were not ported to 64bit and not run in 64bit DAWs. All of the bundled VST plug-ins will work in CbB, most were ported to 64bit and the others run bridged. Here are the plug-ins included with CbB.
 
In order to upgrade to CbB create a BandLab user account with the same email address as your Cakewalk account the follow the install instructions here using BandLab Assistant.
 

Sorry for the new post, for some reason I can't seem to reply in my original thread, although I can submit replies in the Songs forum.  I tried several times and when I hit "Submit Reply" it just clears the message box and leaves a flashing cursor.
 
I mainly wanted to thank scook for his help on my questions!
 
Hi, Steve,
 
WOW! Thank you so much for taking the time to provide such a well thought out, detail specific, very informative and helpful reply!  I truly appreciate your great input and excellent advice!
 
I've also got a "sparking clean" Win 10 Pro machine that I bought about 6 months ago, (not for use as a DAW), that has practically no software installed on it yet. 
 
So, I'm thinking of leaving my current system with Sonar 8.53 on it as is, and Installing CbB fresh on the empty new Win 10 system, and then digging out most of my 64bit VST installers for my plugins etc.  I'm thinking this will allow me to keep working on my current projects while I learn the new features of CbB on a fresh new PC geared up for the future.
 
I'm pretty sure that I read somewhere here on the forum that Sonar 8.5 won't run on Win 10, so I'll probably not bother installing the 64 bit version and start with a clean CbB install, even though I'll end up losing all the stuff that came with 8.5.
 
But, LOL, hey, at least I'll be out of my "time warp"  and up to date with the newest version of Cakewalk for the future!
 
Thanks again for your help and great advice, sincerely appreciated! 
 
Best Wishes,
Bob
 

Merged with your previous thread.
 
The automatic spam blocker was deleting your replies. You can PM a host with the thread where this is happening and they will restore the reply.
 
I am pretty sure 8.5 will run on Win10 but have not tried myself. There are plenty of reports success on the forum. Even if planning to run only CbB you may want to run an advanced install of 8.5 to get the plug-ins unless you currently don't use the 32bit versions.

Great info, big thanks again for all your knowledge and help here on the forum, buddy, you're the best! 
 
Have a great night!
Bob
 
 

I have 8.5 64 installed on a W8.1 machine, so I'm pretty sure it will also install to W10.
As Steve is recommending I installed it to grab a few of the plug ins that were exclusive to that version. I do a bare bones install and was told it's best to install the old version first and then the newer.
 
I've found very few 32 bit plug ins that don't run on 64 bit. Only aside is I might experience crashes on occasion when using some of them but this has become very rare with this latest version of Cakewalk.

Cactus Music:
 
Hey, Johnny,
 
Thank you very much for the extra info and suggestions, that sounds very encouraging!
 
I think I'll try installing the 8.5 64 bit on the new machine first, as you both mentioned.  It'll either work and I won't lose the version 8 plugins, or it won't, in which case I can uninstall it and start fresh with CbB.
 
Thanks again for the additional input about your experience with your similar situation with Win 8, very helpful and much appreciated! 
 
Have a great night!
Bob