Haven't played with the platinum version in a while; when I first got it I had (and still have) a lot of problems with opening my older Sonar 5 projects.  I used a lot of the 'builtin' Cakewalk effects, and apparently those effects no longer exist.  I've tried searching the Cakewalk site for information, but apparently "backwards compatibility" means something different to Cakewalk.  In my world, it means the ability of a newer version to successfully process files created by an older version.
 
In any case, is there a way to get the Sonar 5 effects to show up under Platinum?

You cant seriously be complaining about backwards compatibility projects from Sonar 5 ?
That Version came out almost 13 years ago. In 13 years from now I wont expect my projects to open in anything unless I keep on top of them by updating them every version (which is what I do now).
 
If a project is that important to me, I load it and then "Save as" the project to keep it up to date.
I could see if you had an issue with projects from a few years ago but 13 years is a long time. It was Sonar 4 when Cakewalk introduced VST plug ins. Some good plug ins yes (like Lexicons Pantheon reverb) but those are gone to the wind like 3 or 4 versions ago.
 
your can still load those projects up in Sonar but you'll have to make choices about plug ins.
 

If the projects were created in 32bit SONAR 5 using DX plug-ins, some of these plug-ins were not ported to 64bit. In order to open these projects completely, install the 32bit version of Platinum and the plug-in from SONAR 5 no longer bundled with Platinum.
 
If the projects were created using 64bit SONAR 5 with plug-ins no longer included with Platinum, add the plug-ins by running the SONAR 5 installer.
 
It has been a long time since I have run the SONAR 5 installer, if it provides an advanced install option, select that option to install the missing plug-ins only.

As a general rule, SONAR 5 projects should be compatible with the current version. That includes most of the effects bundled with S5 that are no longer supplied (e.g. Vintage Channel, Pantheon, Perfect Space). The exception would be DX effects such as the DX version of Dim Pro. If you have trouble opening a project because of one of those plugins, you'll have to find and substitute the VST version, assuming there is one. Fortunately, the majority of them do have VST versions (e.g. the Sonitus suite, TTS-1, Dim Pro). Only a handful were never ported to VST, such as Dreamstation.
 
I'm assuming you still have SONAR 5 installed. If not, then you'll be missing a bunch of stuff and will have to follow Steve's advice above and re-install S5 (or just the plugins).
 
BTW, I disagree with Chuck's assessment above. It would be a sad state of affairs indeed if digital music projects had a shelf life of less than 13 years!  I've loaded projects from Cakewalk 1.0! The hardest part was finding a floppy drive to read the disks.
 

bitflipper
 If you have trouble opening a project because of one of those plugins, you'll have to find and substitute the VST version, assuming there is one. Fortunately, the majority of them do have VST versions (e.g. the Sonitus suite, TTS-1, Dim Pro). Only a handful were never ported to VST, such as Dreamstation.
 

While Cakewalk sold the 32bit VST format of the Sonitus Suite, they never bundled it with SONAR. Both the Sonitus Suite and TTS-1 were ported to 64bit DX.
 
Substituting VST for DX plug-ins can be a problem because they are different plug-ins so the settings in the project will be lost.
 
Having both 32 and 64bit versions of SONAR available may help with transitioning to 64bit. Both may be installed on the same machine. When using the Command Center, to see the 32/64bit install option:

• open the Settings page in the Command Center by clicking the gear in the upper-right of the Command Center UI
• enable Verbose Install
• re-run the installers and select 32bit

Also you could probably get away with installing Sonar 5 along with Platinum. Generally speaking Sonar versions can coexist without problem, including both 32 and 64 bit versions. If you remember Sonar 5 was the first 64 bit version of any Windows DAW. Of course you may have to set some compatibility mode depending on your current ooperating system.

Here's a link to a spreadsheet with plugin details going all the way back to Sonar 3.
https://1drv.ms/x/s!Ahg7GEVUP0HfgZomRlkomgIPOnxNiQ Link is only good for a week.

serauk
...is there a way to get the Sonar 5 effects to show up under Platinum?

 
Install the 32-bit version of Sonar Platinum (if you haven't already got it). Use it for the old projects.

If you already have Sonar 5 previously installed on your system, then Platinum should have detected all the existing VSTs. If it is not detecting them, then you need to find out where they are and make sure that all the appropriate filepaths are set in Plugin Manager.

If you don't have Sonar 5 installed, you can run advanced install from the installation disk and select only the required plugins without actually installing Sonar.

bitflipper
...It would be a sad state of affairs indeed if digital music projects had a shelf life of less than 13 years!...

 
I agree.

Hi. Since going full 64 bit, I have accepted that some plugins from my old (SONAR 2 and 4 Producer) projects will have to their 32 bit plugins substituted with 64 bit plugins. Other than that, I haven't had any issues opening 15+ year old projects in SONAR Platinum (latest release).
All the best.

Kev999

bitflipper
...It would be a sad state of affairs indeed if digital music projects had a shelf life of less than 13 years!...

 
I agree.

Are you guys serious .  Just read this one more time....
 

serauk
 I used a lot of the 'builtin' Cakewalk effects, and apparently those effects no longer exist.  
apparently "backwards compatibility" means something different to Cakewalk.  
In my world, it means the ability of a newer version to successfully process files created by an older version.

 
It sounds like that is the OP's issue, its not actually loading the project, but the plug ins themselves.
I wouldn't expect to open a 13 year old project in Sonar platinum and expect DXI plug ins to magically load up.
Is that what you mean by "Shelf Life" ?
 
What I have done from the beginning is open older projects and exchanging plug ins OR use the "Bounce to tracks" functions to make sure I always have a back up.
 
Do I expect 13 year old projects to load up ? of course I do.
Do I expect 13 year old projects to open plug ins with plug ins that were dusted years ago ? Of course not.