konradh
My status:  Paid for EZD2, can't use it and had to uninstall it because it corrupted projects, and I am not getting updates from Toontrack.
 
Not good.

OK, here's your update.  It's not getting fixed until Cakewalk tells them where the problem is occurring in the SONAR program.

Sorry if Cakewalk stopped production every time a plugin didn't work they wouldn't get anywhere. The guys who make the plugin should be updating and taking the initiative, not Cake regardless of fault. If there's an issue with Sonar don't expect a fix until X3F (hopefully) or X4. Or hassle Toon for a patch.

I think speculation as to how Toon or Cakewalk is communicating is unhelpful to be honest. Nobody knows what is going on right now.

I'm sure more info will come available when they have the time to get around to it.

Cheers...

Wow lots of speculation and confusion on this thread. Sorry I hadn't seen this specific thread earlier or would have commented :(
 
So from what I understand, the new version of EZdrummer upped the number of outputs exposed by the plugin but did not rev the VST ID. What that means is the host (SONAR) has no idea that the number of outputs changed dynamically. Keep in mind that dynamic I/O's were officially only specified as part of VST3 so this is NOT a spec issue as someone suggested. As such SONAR doesn't detect and handle this situation. Further explanation below:
 
Virtual instrument audio input ports in SONAR are manufactured based on the number of outputs of a synth. So if you have multiple synths in the project and one of them changes the number of outputs dynamically, all the port numbers will slide by the "extra" ports causing unwanted behavior. Note that this only impacts projects saved with the OLD version of EZDrummer that are now opened using the new version. New versions will always have the new number of ports and will be fine.
Anyway, its important to understand that this is the root cause of the problems being faced here - i.e. projects saved with the old version and opened using the new version.
 
So how do we fix it? Every version of SONAR will be susceptible to this problem - X3 and lower. Some options:
 
1. There are several simple workarounds on this thread to break up instrument tracks and reassign the ports, then convert back to instrument tracks.
 
2. Toontracks can add a simple workaround to their plugin preferences that allows the user to set the default number of outputs (the default should be the old number). That way users can choose how many outputs they want on demand when creating the instrument. 
 
3. A future version of SONAR would need to add code to save the number of outputs in use by the plugin at the project level. Then when the project is loaded we would detect that the saved version and the new version is different and go through an automatic port remapping for all tracks in the project to fixup the new ports added.
(I just checked our code and fortunately we do save the number of outputs and the output names, phew!) 
 
In summary, its an unusual thing for a plugin to change its published number of outputs for the same version without revising the VST ID in VST2. As such its not something we commonly encounter. Its unfortunate that this was not detected in Toontracks beta process - Cakewalk isn't officially on their beta so we'd never have seen it, but more surprising is why their SONAR testers didn't find it, since it would be a very basic compatibility test to load older projects. Cakewalk gives numerous plugin vendors access to all our beta's to catch problems early and notify us. Waves for example is one such vendor who worked extensively with us on X3. Anyway, I think it would be a good thing for us to guard against in the future so I will try and add fixup code for this in the next version of SONAR. That doesn't help users of prior versions obviously so one of the other solutions I listed should be pursued for that case.
 

Thanks Noel for the response.  What puzzles me still is how Reaper, Samplitude Pro X and Studio One 2 didn't get bit by the same bug?

Hopefully, now we can move forward toward a workable compromise solution till all projects are finished with EZdrummer 1 and everyone works with SONAR X4.
 
EDIT:  For the record and the forum member's information, I am one of two SONAR users that are betatesters and frequently visit this forum.  I wish I had caught it but all of my active projects were in Pro Tools 11, Samplitude Pro X and Studio One 2 this development cycle.  None of those platforms exhibited the behavior.  My time has been relatively full of active projects for clients and no game stopping bugs appeared while working on those tunes in other platforms.  
 
All of my old EZdrummer/SONAR projects have been long finished and archived over a year ago.  I did create some test projects in SONAR but because they were created from a clean slate, no problems appeared.  It didn't occur to me that SONAR would be any different regarding legacy projects.

I don't actively use SONAR anymore but I've been a Cakewalk user for so long and I have such an affinity for this forum that I will try to still represent the SONAR user base and liaison between Toontrack and Cakewalk users to the best of my abilities as time permits.

CakeAlexS
Noel is the Kontakt issue related in the slightest?
http://forum.cakewalk.com...aspx?m=3064712&p=1

Thanks..

I don't think so. Its a different issue - that string is coming from the Synth not SONAR.

Thanks. OK won't hijack the thread but it's weird it's down to the number of outputs on that issue. Anyway there's a separate thread for it... Thanks...

There wont be a collision since the approaches are completely different and insulated from each other.
The only thing that can be done in SONAR is react to a new output size different from the saved project. Irrespective of what toontracks does that will be a valid change. The only thing they can do is change the plugin ID (which has its own set of compat problems and is probably worse) or have a configurable default number of outs.
I strongly advise against host specific hacks since that always has problems going forward.
Developers can contact us at any time via this form:
http://www.cakewalk.com/About/Email/11
 
We'll also pass on this info to them.

Anderton

Noel Borthwick [Cakewalk]
I strongly advise against host specific hacks since that always has problems going forward.
 

Amen. As a user I've seen that happen a few times when a company has good intentions and wants to fix some specific issue not of their making, but then that solution breaks other things that do "follow the rules."

I saw that first hand between Toontrack and Cakewalk when EZdrummer first came out.

I could live with EZ1 in the old projects and EZ2 for the new ones but Toontrack didn't give us this option.  Thumbs up to Addictive Drums!!

Noel, Excellent information, but I still have some outstanding questions and comments:
 
1.  If a project was created with EZ Drummer 1 and the user has installed the upgrade to EZ Drummer 2, there is no way I know of to avoid opening EZ Drummer 2.  If you click on EZ Drummer in the synth rack, the new version opens up.  There is no option to restrict Sonar to EZ D 1.  Any attempt to edit will take you to the new version and the bugs.
2.  Your excellent explanation clearly explains how INs and OUTs are getting reassigned, but it still leaves me wondering what is causing the issue with freezing.  The upgrade prevents me from freezing and unfreezing some synths.  The inability to unfreeze is a major issue since that prevents the reassignment of the INs/OUTs.
3.  The upgrade also causes some synths and sometimes the entire project to lose audio output.  Once this happens, the project is corrupted and cannot be restored.
4. Note that I had issues with INs and OUTs of soft synths suddenly reassigning themselves before EZ D 2; although, that issue, while annoying, was not a show-stopper once I realized what was going on.
 
For the record, Sweetwater can recreate all the bugs I describe so they are not peculiar to my set-up and are not user errors.
 
Thanks again.
 
PS Interesting that I was chastised for saying Toontrack was not responding so I said "OK, Cakewalk is not responding" and then I was corrected again.  I'm not blaming anyone, but it certainly isn't my fault!

konradh
PS Interesting that I was chastised for saying Toontrack was not responding so I said "OK, Cakewalk is not responding" and then I was corrected again.  I'm not blaming anyone, but it certainly isn't my fault!

Sometimes I'm too chicken to quote people but I would not have quoted you. I was observing just the usual Chinese whisper effect that often happens in posts like this, it didn't get too bad and my point is totally irrelevant now. Ta.

jb101
It is remarkable that Toontrack's Sonar beta testers didn't pick it up.

I'm sure if you were to offer your services they would consider you for the team.

jb101
I will add one other thing. When I contacted Toontrack and Cakewalk about this issue, they both asked for more information.

I sent that in, and since then have had emails from Cakewaalk, as well as PMs from staff members on here, explaining what they were doing.

Toontrack did not even have the courtesy to acknowledge my email.

I don't think these reflect well on Toontrack.

Don't be too tough on Toontrack; Cakewalk is the exception, not the norm, and is unusually responsive given the company's size. FWIW I spent last week in Boston and was involved in several meetings. The company looks at everything through the lens of "what's best for our customers?" Obviously part of that is the belief that happy customers are good for business, but because most of them are musicians who use Sonar, I think a lot of it is because they live in "our" world.

Kind of interesting that this thread is still going on and it is the same info going back and forth.  Toontracks fault, Cakewalks fault.  I am at a point where I just don't care who's fault it is.
 
I do have one alternate fix I am thinking of trying.  I recently upgraded from X1 to X3 because of the ridiculously low upgrade price Cake just offered (thanks to Cakewalk for doing that by the way). 
 
Anyway I am going to try to install a second instance of ezdrummer1 in a different file than the original install then apply the upgrade to the new file path of the second ezdrummer1.  Hopefully it will only override the new install.
 
Then I am going to try to get ezdrummer2 to upgrade the second instance of ez1 and put that .dll in its own folder and direct X3 to scan that folder for the vst (and not scan for the original .dll). 
 
X1 will still be scanning for the original EZ1 .dll and X3 will scan the new folder for the new EZ2 .dll.  Not sure it will work but who knows.

I think plugin manager is a "shared" utility. Please keep us posted as to your results.
Tom