Hi there....just upgraded to x3 (basic?) edition, as I REALLY want a sidechain compression effect. Is the Sonitus Efx suite a part of ALL the x3 upgrades, or just studio and producer editions?

Yes, it's included with all versions. Here's a comparison chart...
http://www.cakewalk.com/products/sonar/versions.aspx
 
Scott

--
Scott R. Garrigus - http://garrigus.com - SONAR X2 Power! - http://garrigus.com/?SonarX2Power
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Errr... Which version did you come from then? Sidechaining the Sonitus compressor has been possible for quite a while, even before the X series.

Anyway, according to this table
https://www.cakewalk.com/...ts/sonar/versions.aspx
the Sonitus suite is available in all versions, except for the surround compressor, which makes no sense in Basic anyway.

Thanks! Now I just need to figure out how to use it:-)

Sander, I upgraded from x1 essential...I only recently was told about "sidechain compression" and the effect that it produces, that is essential to the production "trance" music that I love, and would like to produce....yes now I know, through a bit of research, that I could have bought the Sonitus suite a while ago for x1, but I'm glad I waited...the new x3 upgrade includes it, for 50 bucks, where the suite by itself costs about 100 bucks for d/l

There appear to be more of those Sonitus plugins in X3 than X2. Just wondering; are all of those plugins 64-bit? There were plugins missing on my X2 installation after I installed the 64-bit version. They didn't show up.

Still rounding around the dreaded learning curve to see if this actually works....I downloaded and installed the 64 bit version....is there a difference between the 32 and 64?

As an aside, I want to praise sonar for its general ease of use for the average user without requiring a degree in computer engineering.....a friend loaned me a "free" copy of cubase to try, mostly because it had a compressor built in, but after 2 days of frustration trying to perform the most BASIC functions of a sequencer, setting up audio drivers, setting metronome etc, I scrapped the plan and bought the x3 upgrade which hopefully will solve this compressor issue for me permanently...

Ok I see, yeah this upgrade makes a lot of sense for you then. I use side chain gating a lot for electronic stuff, I'm sure you'll enjoy that possibility too with Sonitus Gate.
All Sonitus plugs are 32 bit and 64 bit. A common mistake is the idea that this has to do with sound quality - it doesn't, really. Basically, in order to use (or, in fact, see) more than around 3.25GB of RAM, your software needs to run in 64 bit. This goes for the operating system as well. So if you have a system with more than 4GB of RAM, AND you have a 64 bit operating system (press windows+pause/break) it makes sense to install 64 bit Sonar. If you don't meet one of those conditions, stick with 32 bit.

I have already installed the 64, but at your advice I am reinstalling it in 32, as I only have 4 gig of ram....I do have room to upgrade to 8, but haven't yet due to finances....will I see any differences in the 32 vs 64?