Hi, Del. If you just want some of the plugins and other components without installing X1 you can use the Custom Install feature when installing X1 and just select what you want from the list but leave off the actual X1 program. If you do want X1 IDK. Cheers.

Recent versions of SONAR don't seem to damage anything when you uninstall them - only unique files not shared by older versions get removed. But Pre-X1 versions could be troublesome. The last time I uninstalled a version (S6 or 7, I think), I made backups of the Shared folders, and there were files missing after the uninstall, so I restored them, and everything was fine. Also, registry branches and appdata folders get left behind that you would want to remove if you really want to "clean house".
 
As for getting versions to be completely independent, it might be possible with some creative file relocation and registry hacking after the fact, and/or by installing each version to a unique partition, but the risk of causing problems with one version or another are not worth the benefit - if there is one. Also, it's possible that a new version updates a shared file with stability or feature improvements or bug fixes that an old version can benefit from. You wouldn't get that benefit with totally independent installations.
 
Personally, I would just trust that the Bakers know what's best for continuity and stability, and leave everything where it is. The only thing I mess with are plug-in installations when the installer insists on putting things on my system drive or creating new Vstplugins paths. And that can get tricky. Sometimes all you need to do is relocate the VST DLL and re-scan, but there have been situations where I've had to rewrite multiple registry paths to get a plug-in to follow my relocation of its samples, etc.
 
 
 
 

I have 8.5 and X2 installed.  I didn't use X1 much, and the few projects I started with X1 have all been ported to X2 now anyway, so there's no need for X1 on my computer.  I find that X2 sometimes has problems with projects created in "pre-X" versions, so I keep 8.5 installed for those rare occasions that I want to go back to an old idea, usually just to export the MIDI and audio so that I can recreate the idea in X2.

brundlefly
Recent versions of SONAR don't seem to damage anything when you uninstall them - only unique files not shared by older versions get removed. But Pre-X1 versions could be troublesome. The last time I uninstalled a version (S6 or 7, I think), I made backups of the Shared folders, and there were files missing after the uninstall, so I restored them, and everything was fine. Also, registry branches and appdata folders get left behind that you would want to remove if you really want to "clean house".
 
As for getting versions to be completely independent, it might be possible with some creative file relocation and registry hacking after the fact, and/or by installing each version to a unique partition, but the risk of causing problems with one version or another are not worth the benefit - if there is one. Also, it's possible that a new version updates a shared file with stability or feature improvements or bug fixes that an old version can benefit from. You wouldn't get that benefit with totally independent installations.
 
Personally, I would just trust that the Bakers know what's best for continuity and stability, and leave everything where it is. The only thing I mess with are plug-in installations when the installer insists on putting things on my system drive or creating new Vstplugins paths. And that can get tricky. Sometimes all you need to do is relocate the VST DLL and re-scan, but there have been situations where I've had to rewrite multiple registry paths to get a plug-in to follow my relocation of its samples, etc.
 
 
 
 

Very helpful. Thank you.

Beepster
I'm about to reinstall X2 but also want to have X1 and some of it's components on board as well. I was kind of thinking that if I install X2 first then it will get a chance to set itself up better because that's the main program I'll be using THEN install X1. However I saw someone mention this may not be the greatest thing to do and it might actually make things worse.
 
I guess I just want to keep the X1 and X2 installs completely separate if at all possible so they aren't sharing any folders/registry or other stuff I don't fully understand yet. I'm probably being insane as usual but I'd really like to figure out if this is possible. Maybe with all the Bakers running around they can take a moment and offer some insight on this type of multi version install.

When I installed X2 on my music room computer, the installation went well. I then loaded some of the plug-ins from X1 that were missing from X2. No problems.
 
Walt

No one seems to mention the third party plug-ins whose installer will not give you the option of where the dll goes. Some of those plugs have a dll that when moved won't work anymore. I have had several instances of this happening. I think beepster has helped immensely with his post explaining about the registry tweaks. I get nervous when it comes to messing around in the registry. I had to do some registry tweaks a while back with a Rapture le to full Rapture situation gone awry.. The fix was simple but it still is scary in there! 

Sidroe
No one seems to mention the third party plug-ins whose installer will not give you the option of where the dll goes. Some of those plugs have a dll that when moved won't work anymore.

That has nothing to do with cleaning up old SONAR installs. While I might perform registry edits, I do not recommend them as a rule because I have idea how comfortable others are with editing the registry. The fastest way to break Windows is blow up the registry. There is an alternative to registry changes that can provide essentially the same result. The DOS command mklink (option /j) can be used to link the various plug-in folders into one directory tree. The same command can be used to relocate multisample directories (or any other directory) to different drives.

joeb1cannoli
    I Did an experiment with UAD plugins that worked. I imagine it should work with any VST.    I was tired of all the non-authorized UAD plugs showing up all the time and the plugin manager seemed tedious to me.     I copied all of my authorized plugins to a new folder and used that as the VST scan destination for the UAD stuff. It worked flawlessly.   I recommend copying the dlls. to a new folder instead of moving them so if you have any issues you can always guide the VST scan back to the original folder. 

++

If you create a restore point before doing registry edits can't you just revert back if something goes wrong? I've recently started experimenting with restore points on my laptop but I notice some things don't seem to want to revert back. I'm trying this type of thing out on my not so critical systems before I started fiddling around with the big rig(s).

Beepster
If you create a restore point before doing registry edits can't you just revert back if something goes wrong? I've recently started experimenting with restore points on my laptop but I notice some things don't seem to want to revert back. I'm trying this type of thing out on my not so critical systems before I started fiddling around with the big rig(s).

I would never rely on Restore points... As you've indicated, they are just not reliable.
 
Better and easier to simply make a backup of the registry (The option is there in the registry editor) - you can backup just the tree you are editing, or the whole registry - then if something goes wrong later, you can restore just as easily.