Hi guys,
 
Weird one here that I can't seem to figure out. Sessions drummer 3 does not appear in my plugins list. I happened to have a client send me a drum track using SD3, but it says it's not installed on my system when I try to load up his file.
 
I looked in both my x86 and 64 folders and SD 3 is in both of them. It's in the normal vst plug directory which Sonar is searching through at all times. My first thought was to re-install it using my install. But, this install was done by my DAW builder using all my codes and he put on the full version of Sonar. Mine was an upgrade version from 8. So, when I tried to run my install just to install SD 3, it tells me to install the correct version of Sonar first.
 
Another strange thing....my x86 folder containing SD 3 doesn't contain any sounds or preset folders. The one in the 64 folder DOES. I can't get it to show up and work on either version of Sonar but there is an SD 3 .dll in both folders. The only way I might be able to do this from what I see is to install Sonar 8 and then proceed with the update to 8.5 that I have just to get to the VSTi install section. Uggh..this sucks! Do you guys have any advice for me? Thanks in advance.

Hopefully you've reached some sort of conclusion by now, but if not.....

Sorry your SD3 is out of whack. Reinstalling sounds like a pain. In you situation, I would first peek at the windows registry, search for "sessiondrummer3" to see if there are any references to it at all. If no references, then at least you know it's never been installed and has to be. Drats. If yes references, then is has been installed at some point and maybe you can see some sort of directory mismatch or something between what the registry says and what your file systems says. (ie, files need to be moved. That's if you're lucky.)

I think you can run the v8 install, but ONLY install selected vsts (not the whole program), is this not so? That shouldn't be too bad. (Or is that where you get the "use the correct version" msg?)

Danny have you tried telling Sonar to refresh its plugin list?  That search thing it does on start up.  I believe there's a setting to re-build the entire list from scratch.

Option 2.  Are the folders you found the .dlls in actually the pluging folders?  I have two sets of folders on my system from where I moved everything off to a bigger HDD, but some progs still insist on installing where they 'think' the plugins folder should be, not where it actually is...

czy: No, not a remedy in sight for this one. I even tried to manually register the .dll's and it's just not happening no matter what I do. What's weird is, they are there...and it was obviously installed. What went wrong, I have no idea. I can't run the v8 install because it doesn't have Session Drummer 3...that's an 8.5 only deal, so I'm screwed there. My 8.5 install is looking for 8.0 because it was an update purchase when I originally bought it and my DAW builder put 8.5 on my new machine using his full version and all my codes. Not sure how to get around this one. Thanks though.

Karyn, thanks...yep, tried that and even pointed the SD3 folder in the plug search options just to rule that out. When Sonar does its scan, it does see it in the scan, but the plug never shows up in my plug bin and doesn't show up in VSTi's in plugin manager...which is really strange. so something is jacked somewhere. The folders are where SD3 should be, yes...inside C:\program files (x86) Cakewalk\VstPlugins_32Bit\Session Drummer 3 and there's another in my 64 directory exactly like it with the .dll there. The 64 directory is the same as above minus (x86) in the folder address. I've checked all other folders containing Cakewalk info and there's nothing else that I see that would be associated with SD3. I'm totally at a loss on this one without the actual 8.5 install.

czy: No, not a remedy in sight for this one. I even tried to manually register the .dll's and it's just not happening no matter what I do. What's weird is, they are there...and it was obviously installed. What went wrong, I have no idea. I can't run the v8 install because it doesn't have Session Drummer 3...that's an 8.5 only deal, so I'm screwed there. My 8.5 install is looking for 8.0 because it was an update purchase when I originally bought it and my DAW builder put 8.5 on my new machine using his full version and all my codes. Not sure how to get around this one. Thanks though. Karyn, thanks...yep, tried that and even pointed the SD3 folder in the plug search options just to rule that out. When Sonar does its scan, it does see it in the scan, but the plug never shows up in my plug bin and doesn't show up in VSTi's in plugin manager...which is really strange. so something is jacked somewhere. The folders are where SD3 should be, yes...inside C:\program files (x86) Cakewalk\VstPlugins_32Bit\Session Drummer 3 and there's another in my 64 directory exactly like it with the .dll there. The 64 directory is the same as above minus (x86) in the folder address. I've checked all other folders containing Cakewalk info and there's nothing else that I see that would be associated with SD3. I'm totally at a loss on this one without the actual 8.5 install.

 
Hey Danny,
 
Give me a call tomorrow...  

Will do, thanks Jim. Tried to see if there was a possible fix without bothering you...looks like I have to! LOL! Talk soon thanks.

I had the same problem - no SD3 in my plugins list.  SD2 was there, imported from Sonar 7 and also the original Session Drummer imported from Sonar 6.
 
In my case I found that selecting the original Session Drummer from the list of plugins actually opened SD3.  i.e. SD3 called itself Session Drummer in the plug-ins list.  I re-named it Session Drummer 3 and the problem is solved.
 
I can't open the original Session Drummer anymore, but who cares?
 
HTH,
 
Phil.

Thanks OB, but I don't have SD2. I think a few may have misunderstood me. On my old system, I had Sonar 5 through to 8.5 on it. Each time I bought Sonar, I always bought a full version. When 8.5 came out, it was way cheaper to buy the upgrade than it was to buy the full version. So I got the update, which stated it needed 8.0 installed in order for 8.5 to install.

Now, all the stuff above was on another machine that completely fried 3 weeks ago. This leaves me with install discs of Sonar's full version from Sonar 5 to Sonar 8. I don't want any of them on my new pc....all I want is Sonar 8.5. When the new machine I have here now was being built, I asked the DAW builder if he could put Sonar 8.5 on it for me using my codes that I have, to which we said "sure no problem".

Now all I want to do here is install SD3, but for me to use my upgrade install of 8.5, it needs Sonar 8 to be installed first. So I have no session Drummer 2 or 3 right now. SD 3 WAS installed on this new machine, but for some reason, I do not believe the .dll's are registered properly or something as they DO exist. See what my problem is now? :) Thanks for the suggestion though.

Hey did you ever figure this one out? I'm having the same problem.

Danny what does your client want you to do to his/her drum track?
You have BFD2? I would use that and send it back to him. If he fails to notice the difference his ears are clearly askew
and if he does notice he'll surely thank you with a million kisses 

Sorry that doesn't help

Steve