Which synths/instruments included Sonar can I use in another DAW? Details In Thread

Oooh... that's cool. So TTS-1 is in? That would be brilliant because I could just use my X1 discs and really that's all I need. Another reason I want to do this is to learn about general MIDI and how certain concepts translate to other platforms.
 
Thanks, Steve. Been a while but I see you have remained awesome. Cheers.
 
Edit: Just checked and it has DX and DXi support.... well it has a section in it's FX browser for them so I'm assuming that means they'll work.

 If they have a serial number than they could be used in all DAWs.

Update:
 
So yesterday I got some time to mess around with this and it turns out I can use pretty much ALL the Instruments and even the FX from Sonar in the other DAW. Awesome!
 
A little more detail...
 
I mulled over whether I wanted to go through the bother of downloading the installation files for X3 to the laptop or transferring them from my main DAW but considering I was sure whether this was going to do what I wanted I pulled out my X1 Production Suite discs and used them instead. It's got more than everything I need for just goofing around on the laptop. I considered doing a custom install to just snag the stuff I thought I would use but decided to do a full install to see if maybe I could get X1 running on the laptop (real longshot). That way I'd know everything would be on the system. I installed everything except the additional content disc (which I might do a custom install on later today just to get some of the extra DimPro stuff and whatever else might be useful on there... but NOT the sample projects). I opened up X1 using the onboard soundcard and it didn't choke so I started goofing around with some synths which... well that didn't work out as well at first. I maxed out the buffers and cache and I could get a clear sound on a single instance of some of the synths but I know it would probably screw up if I pushed it. Might work if I used my Scarlett but I don't want to pull it out of my main rig. No biggie.
 
So I opened up the "cheap" DAW and started poking around the FX/Instrument browser thing and not only were most of the synths in there but a whole pile of the FX were too! I seriously though most of that stuff was locked to Sonar but I guess it's just the ProChannel stuff and some of the third party LE versions. I could not however find Zeta or DimPro and a couple other things so I looked for a VST scanner type thingie (which I found) and just added the appropriate Cakewalk folders. Bango... the missing synths appeared. I started opening them and goofing around on them using the virtual keyboard (the thing that lets you use you QWERTY keyboard to play MIDI notes... which is really quite sucky and useless for playing but is good for checking out patches) and pretty much everything was working fine... even the heavier duty synths like DimPro loaded up with large patches/samples. I seriously did not expect to be able to do that.
 
I didn't even change any settings in DAW except to INCREASE the sample rate and bit depth to 24/48. Because there is no interface it automatically set itself to WDM. I guess the DAW itself is so light it's allowing the synths to use all the resources they need. However one thing I'm going to probably do is bring my VRM Box into the mix and use it as a USB interface so I can use ASIO mode and I'm hoping it will take some load off the system (I'm guessing that it does some of the analog/digital conversion in the box... not sure though). Even if it doesn't free up resources I've always read ASIO is superior anyway so unless it really jacks up how much processing power is being used I'm cool with it. Besides the current focusrite drivers for it are solid so likely better than the onboard sound drivers AND I get a better output for monitoring.
 
As far as the DAW... it's a little clunkier than I'm used to with Sonar but I'm getting around it fairly easy and it's interesting to see how "the other side" does stuff. I just want to use it for MIDI composing, exploring the Cakewalk synths and just generally goofing around. I'll hook up my M-Audio 25 for input which will hopefully help me get a better handle on working with MIDI controller stuff (like writing live envelopes, sending patch change messages, whatever). Whatever I write this way (that I want to keep) I'll probably render the tracks individually then mix on the big system. What I'd really like to do though is somehow export the MIDI files with whatever automation I've done and import them to a new project in X3 and somehow get it routed to the correct synths/patches (including ones I've created). That will be a challenge because... well that sounds scary and complicated especially considering it's not a "Sonar" to "Sonar" transfer. It's "DAW that shall remain nameless" to "external media" to "X3" transfer. Once I get to that point though I'll be sure to come here and bug the shiz out of you guys until I figure it out.
 
JK... I'll only bug you an appropriate amount.
 
Moral of the story... THIS IS FREAKING AWESOME!!! Thanks, Cake. Even though I am not specifically using Sonar for this Sonar has made what I thought was an essentially useless computer for music production into a neat little writing tool. Sweet!
 
Peace out.

Computer Music Magazine, has a vast free renderings of stuff on dvd...vst and vsti free ware...just a few quid at the local magazine store , and you got something to fiddle with on your lappy and unknown third party DAW?
 I could upload to sky drive the latest offerings....and send you a link to get em?
 
But not sure that would be a Sinless act on my part or yours....?

Oh and it probably is illegal to share those files. There is likely a cross promo deal between the manus and the mag for that stuff. You kind of "paid" for them when you bought the magazine and/or read the ads. I'm just some schlub on the intertubes. ;-)
 

Heh heh, dawg knows I've been trying to be good. All a matter of time now really with all the pokers I have in the fire but I think it's still gonna be a couple years before I'm flush with enough cash to make any serious purchases. That's why I was VERY cautious and thrifty back when I built my current set up. I built my main DAW to be future ready and considering my needs, barring any hardware failures, I could probably use it happily for another decade. What I REALLY need for that set up is a properly treated and soundproofed room for critical listening and performances... and good mics... and some better guitars, amps, controllers, etc. X3 has been rocking my world too so although there are some things I'd like to see improved (like Audiosnap) if I'm stuck in poverty mode for the long term I could happily squat on X3 in perpetuity and do what I need to.
 
This little experiment is more about convenience. Like I said I am pretty much always in front of my laptop writing, studying, screwing around on the intertubes, etc so having some decent audio production capabilities on it just makes my miserable life a little more pleasant and hopefully productive. It'll actually be particularly helpful for some of the stuff I'm currently writing without having to shuffle over to and fire up the beast in the other room.
 
Anyway... I'm just very happy about all this. I think I'm gonna spend the rest of the afternoon trying out the controller and the VRM Box as an interface stuff. I think I'm going to try the controller first to see how well that works in WDM mode.
 
Cheers.

Hi, Mettelus. X1 does indeed seem to run. I just had to crank the buffers up to make the heavier duty synths not crackle. X3 might work better even though the Sys Spec requirements are higher (it just seems to run better in general than X1/2) and using the VRM Box/ASIO drivers might make things better. The other DAW doesn't seem to be affected at all though so I'm working on the premise I will be able to get away with more on less with minimal screwing around. I kind of want to learn how to use this program anyway out of curiosity. It is actually helping me understand certain translateable production concepts that I think might help me work better in Sonar.

Unfortunately mead costs money (and in Canuckerland a lot more than in most of Yankland AFAIK) that somewhat hinders musical purchases. Now if someone would pay me to imbibe I'd be golden (as well as crisp, cold and refreshing). Maybe Sonar came with a beer simulator I've overlooked. If not... time for a feature request.

I was talking to the owner of one of the local music shops who's a long time DAW guy. His preference was not Sonar due to some of the stereotypical issues of years gone by but I was telling him about X3 and how all those issues dissipated for me as soon as I installed it. He seemed impressed and concurred that Sonar has and always has been the most robust/bang for the buck package as far as included tools. I think I may have convinced him to give it another go. He also seemed quite impressed that Craig was now affiliated with the brand. I could see Cake quickly rising to dominance in the market if they keep things up. I'm also under the impression that X3 is selling well enough they are able to take their time with whatever is in the pipe.
 
As far as transferring the synths over to another platform the major thing seems to be what formats the DAW supports. The one I'm using supports pretty much everything included the old stuff like DX and other junk I have no idea about. The one thing that screwed up epicly when I tried to insert it was V-Vocal but I really didn't expect it to work. I didn't even know I was opening V-Vocal because in the list it was calling it Kronos or something and I thought it was a synth I had never heard of. That isn't even a Cakewalk product though.

Heh... yeah, it should be pretty obvious which one it is but out of respect for the forum I'll leave its name out of it.
 
Since this got bumped I'll update my progress (I was just gonna edit my last post instead). I hooked up the M-Audio to try recording some live input (after hunting around for an extra freaking USB cable of all things... I should have a million of those buggers... what the heck? lulz...). Immediately I started noticing the problems I would normally expect. There was pretty distracting latency between hitting the keys and the output (I was using TTS-1 for the test) but I ignored it. I tried recording a little bit with the metronome and the metronome was spedding up/slowing down/crackling/generally being weird. So I started poking around to find some settings to attempt fixing it. Oof... totally different preferences setup than Sonar so I was kind of lost. I did however find the Driver settings. I thought it would be on WDM or something but it was on something called WaveOut which I have never heard of. It seemed kind of sketchy so I checked what else was available. Surprisingly WDM and MME were nowhere to be seen but there was WASAPI which, although I have no idea what the heck that stands for, I had at least heard of before. I switched to that and tried again and kabingi... I was good to go. Metronome worked properly, latency seemed to completely disappear and it was recording the input reasonably well. I noticed a weee bit of barely noticeable scratchiness on some notes but I think it may have been the metronome which uses a horrendous sounding sample. When I played it back without the metronome it sounded nice and clear.
 
I'm thinking if I hook up the VRM Box as an interface so I can switch to ASIO and figure out how to tweak the buffer settings a little I should be good to go. Not as fantabulous as I first thought due to those little scritchy scratchies but I've basically done next to nothing to tweak it and it is working pretty well. I don't even care if there is some unwanted noise. Just as long as when I render (if I render) it comes out clean and I'd make sure I crank everything I can find to make that happen.
 
So yeah... live MIDI input a success. Hooray!