SONAR™ 7

(Windows XP, Windows Vista)

README.RTF
Copyright © 2007 Twelve Tone Systems, Inc. All rights reserved.
Cakewalk is a registered trademark, and SONAR
is a trademark of Twelve Tone Systems, Inc.

This file contains supplemental information on SONAR™, Version 7. It was prepared on

September 3, 2007.

Contents

Top Issues in SONAR 7................................................................................................................2

User Account Control and SONAR installer............................................................................3
Disable Anti-Virus/Spyware Software......................................................................................3
SONAR x64..............................................................................................................................3
Backwards Compatibility.........................................................................................................3
Audio Performance Issues............................................................................................................4
Improving Recording Performance...........................................................................................4
Canceling Changes Made to Real-time Plug-ins.......................................................................5
DXi’s & Look-ahead Processing at High Latencies..................................................................5
Realtime Bounce and Multiprocessing (UAD-1 Issue).............................................................5
Realtime Preroll........................................................................................................................6
External Inserts and WDM Drivers...........................................................................................6
External Insert Delay Offset.....................................................................................................7
MIDI Prepare Buffer Size and Automation..............................................................................7
Control Surface Refresh Rate...................................................................................................7
General..........................................................................................................................................7
LP-64 Equalizer Presets (Producer Edition only).....................................................................7
Windows Media Video (WMV) Profiles..................................................................................8
External DV Output (IEEE 1394/Firewire)...............................................................................8
Cakewalk External Encoder Config Utility...............................................................................8
AudioSnap Palette Auto Load..................................................................................................9
Alpha-blended Bars on Slip-stretched Clips.............................................................................9
Reset All Selected AudioSnap Transient Markers....................................................................9
Scrubbing Audio at Unity Gain..............................................................................................10
Time/Pitch Stretch Plug-in Does Not Work With Groove Clips.............................................10
Time/Pitch Stretch Plug-in Does Not Affect Clip Length.......................................................10
Toolbar Background Gradient................................................................................................10
Console View Auto-Resizing.................................................................................................10
Track View Control Size and Layout......................................................................................11
Clip Name Transparency........................................................................................................11
MIDI Note Velocity Colorization...........................................................................................12
‘Zero Controllers When Play Stops’ Is Not Applied When Freezing Synths..........................12
SONAR and Screen Readers for Vision Impaired Users........................................................12
Upgrading to SONAR from an Earlier Version of a Cakewalk Product.................................13
Old Color Settings Are Not Migrated When Upgrading To SONAR 7..................................13
Known Issues...............................................................................................................................14
Session Drummer 2 Issues......................................................................................................14
HLP Files Cannot be Opened in Windows Vista....................................................................15
Plug-in Windows Flicker or don’t Display Properly...............................................................15
X-Ray Windows Not Compatible With Some Plug-ins..........................................................15
Changes to ReValver mk II SE Window Size Requires Re-Opening Plug-in.........................16
Using Mono VST Plug-ins on Stereo Tracks May Cause Out of Sync Audio........................16
QuickTime Issues...................................................................................................................17
Audio Metronome Issues........................................................................................................17
Enabling Mono on a Bus/Main Will Affect Upstream Meters................................................17
Mono Audio Clips May be Increased by 3dB in Certain Scenarios........................................18
Adding MIDI Device May Break Control Surface Support and MIDI Key Bindings.............18
High-Resolution Audio Boosted by 6dB when Stretched Using MPEX.................................18
ReWire Tracks Silent When Using Metronome Record Count-in..........................................18
Running Reason with SONAR on Vista.................................................................................18
MP3 Files With 256K Bit Rate May Not Play in SONAR 7...................................................18
TTS-1 DXi Does Not Support 88.2 kHz Sample Rate............................................................18
Using Cakewalk Kinetic Groove Synth in SONAR 7.............................................................19
Importing MPEG 2 Files in SONAR 7...................................................................................19
Successive Snapshots Do Not Update Envelope Node Values...............................................19
Potential ‘Pops’ When Using Surround Automation (SONAR Producer Edition Only).........19
Mono Plug-ins on Surround Buses (SONAR Producer Edition Only)....................................19
Staff View Font May Require Reboot After SONAR is Installed...........................................19
Exporting Audio with Waves Plug-ins and Multiprocessing Engine......................................20
Digidesign Mbox and Multiprocessing Engine.......................................................................20
Digidesign Digi 002 and Multiprocessing Engine..................................................................20
Mono UAD-1/TC PowerCore Plug-ins Do Not Sum Audio on Stereo Tracks........................20
UAD-1 Error When ’64-bit Double Precision Engine” Enabled.............................................20
CPU Munching When Using UAD-1.....................................................................................21
M-Audio Midisport 8x8 Compatibility...................................................................................21
M-Audio Delta 1010 Distortion With 5.8ms Latency.............................................................21
Frontier/Tascam ASIO Drivers...............................................................................................21
Frontier Design TranzPort Issues............................................................................................21
E-MU 1820 Compatibility......................................................................................................22
SONAR Only Supports GigaStudio Sample Rate When Using WDM Drivers......................22
Can't Print if Staff View is Floating........................................................................................22
RIFF/MID Will Not Launch SONAR When Double-clicked.................................................22
AutoTune 4 (Graphic Mode) as Clip Effect............................................................................22
iZotope Plug-ins Hang x64 VST Scan....................................................................................22
MIDI Note Will Continue to Play If Now Time is Moved......................................................23
Arpeggiator MFX With Low Rate May Affect Playback.......................................................23
Standard AVI Audio Codecs Do Not Support Multichannel Audio........................................23
No MTC Sync within 1 Minute of Midnight Roll-over..........................................................23
Dual Video Monitors Set to Different Color Bit Depths May Affect Performance.................23
Video Pauses on Playback When Using Creative ASIO Driver..............................................23

Top Issues in SONAR 7

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User Account Control and SONAR installer
To install SONAR in Windows XP Professional and Home Edition or Windows Vista, you must
be logged in as a user with administrative privileges.

Once you have installed the product you may then log in as a standard user and use the
application without administrative privileges (you may also choose to log in as the same user that
installed the application if you prefer). Please refer to the notes on User Account Control
elsewhere for more information on running SONAR from multiple user accounts on the same
computer.

At the time of this writing, the only SONAR component that requires administrative privileges, is
the Pentagon I synth. When using Windows Vista, you must choose "Run as Administrator" when
launching SONAR in order to use Pentagon I.

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Disable Anti-Virus/Spyware Software
Please disable any anti-virus or spyware software before installing SONAR. Utilities such as
“Spyware Doctor” have been known to interfere with the SONAR installation. Such utilities
need not be uninstalled or removed from your system, only temporarily disabled.

SONAR x64
SONAR 5 was the first DAW application to provide a 64-bit audio engine in a 64-bit binary
application. Both a 32-bit and a 64-bit version of SONAR 7 are included on the SONAR 7 DVD.

The following features are not supported in SONAR x64 at this time:

 ReWire support for 32-bit clients like Project 5 V2, Reason 2, and Fruity Loops
 32-bit DirectX plug-ins
 Receiving MIDI output from VSTi plug-ins
 DreamStation DXi2
 MPEX time/pitch stretching. A 64-bit library is not available for the MPEX time/pitch
stretching algorithm, so this feature is not supported in SONAR x64. Use iZotope Radius
or SONAR’s internal time/pitch stretching instead.
 Apple has yet to release QuickTime for Windows x64, so QuickTime import/export is not
yet supported. Note: MPG 1 movie files can be imported.

Backwards Compatibility
SONAR 7 can load projects from any previous versions of SONAR, but projects that are saved in
SONAR 7 cannot be re-opened in SONAR 1.x or SONAR 2.x. In case you need to open a pre-
SONAR 7 project in an earlier version of SONAR, it is recommended that you always create a
backup copy of the original project before you re-save the project in SONAR 7.

Project files saved in SONAR 7 will not open in SONAR 4 if they reference or include any of the
following types of data or information:

 32-bit and 64-bit audio clips, including clips and tracks that have been frozen or rendered as
32-bit or 64-bit data.
 Audio clips that are not all of the same bit depth

Project files saved in SONAR 7 will not open in SONAR 5 if they reference 64-bit audio clips.

SONAR 7 project files may contain new features that will be missing if opened in SONAR 5 and
earlier, including:

 ACT current context

 All AudioSnap data
 Automation Read Enable States
 Clip lock properties
 “Preserve mix between gang members” setting

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 Synth Rack Assignable Controls
 Synth Rack Automation

SONAR 7 project files may contain new features that will be missing if opened in SONAR 4,
including:

 Clip effects and clip automation

o Effects are removed
o Automation envelopes are orphaned
 Groups
o SONAR 7 groups are preserved but will not be completely functional in SONAR 4
o Controls may be removed from groups
o Groups can’t be added to or changed
o Group names will be truncated.
o SONAR 4 may add extra groups to the project.

Re-saving a SONAR 7 project file in an older version may permanently remove the project data
described above.

Audio Performance Issues

The following issues concern improving and troubleshooting audio performance in SONAR.

Improving Recording Performance

EnableCacheWriteThru=<0 or 1>, default = 1

This AUD.INI variable enables disk write thru caching, on by default. When write thru caching
is on, data recorded to wave files is written to the hard disk immediately, circumventing the
hardware disk cache. Having write thru caching off can be more efficient for disk I/O but can
result in data loss if your system crashes.

Canceling Changes Made to Real-time Plug-ins

EnablePluginCancelButton=<0 or 1>, default = 0

In SONAR 4.0.2 and earlier, opening the property page of a VST plug-in during playback could
result in a slight disruption in playback.

The cause for this problem has its roots in the little "Cancel" button that sits in the top right
corner of the plug-in's property page. The purpose of this button is to allow the user to cancel out
of any changes they might have made to the plug-in, restoring back to whatever state the plug-in
was in before they opened the GUI window. To make this work, SONAR would need to take an
initial snapshot of the plug-in's state, and some plug-ins with large amounts of preset data could
cause an audio hiccup if the data was captured for the Cancel button.

To address this issue, SONAR 4.0.3 (and later) does not take a snapshot of the plug-in's state by
default, and the Cancel button is not available. There is a new CAKEWALK.INI variable to bring

5
back the Cancel button if desired, but be aware that this may also result in hiccups when opening
VST plug-ins during playback.

This variable should be set in the [WinCake] section. For example:

[WinCake]
EnablePluginCancelButton=1

DXi’s & Look-ahead Processing at High Latencies

Some plug-ins, such as the Sonitus:fx Multiband and other dynamics processors, use a look-ahead
buffer mechanism, which results in a short delay being introduced to the output signal when the
plug-in is used in real-time. SONAR’s automatic delay compensation (ADC) takes care of any
delays, but you may experience some anomalies when using such a plug-in to process the output
of a DXi—especially if SONAR is configured to use a high mixing latency. The symptoms
include audio that appears to drop out, and/or missed notes (from the MIDI track that is assigned
to the DXi). Again, this is more prone to occur with higher latency settings.

This may happen if SONAR doesn’t pump ahead enough MIDI data to compensate for ADC. To
fix this problem, go to Options > Global > MIDI and increase the Prepare Using [n]
Millisecond Buffers value.

Realtime Bounce and Multiprocessing (UAD-1 Issue)

AllowOfflineRenderMixThreads=<0 or 1>, default = 1

Set this variable to 0 to temporarily disable multi-threaded mixing during a fast bounce operation.

A value of 1 (default) allows multiprocessing during fast bounce when multiprocessing is enabled
in SONAR.

This variable can be used to improve compatibility with the UAD-1 v4.7.1 driver running in
SONAR compatibility mode. This variable is required because this UAD driver is not compatible
with multiprocessing in SONAR’s fast bounce mode.

If you hear clicks in the rendered audio while running with multiprocessing, you should set this
variable to 0, under the [Wave] section of AUD.INI. This variable is only applicable on
multiprocessor capable PC's when multiprocessing is enabled in Options | Audio | Advanced. For
example:

[Wave]
AllowOfflineRenderMixThreads=0

Realtime Preroll

RealtimePreroll=<0 or 1>, default = 0

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SONAR 6.2 introduced a new 'RealtimePreroll' AUD.INI variable. The default value is 0,
meaning preroll buffers are pumped as fast as possible. Setting the value to 1 pumps preroll audio
buffers in realtime instead of as fast as possible.

Prerolling in realtime may improve buffering and CPU load when using hardware DSP solutions
such as the Universal Audio UAD-1 or Focusrite Liquid Mix.

This variable should be set in the [Aud] section in AUD.INI. For example:

[Aud]
RealtimePreroll=1

External Inserts and WDM Drivers

WaveInBuffers=<2 - 8>, default = 8

In WDM mode when you use an external insert plugin alongside the original dry signal, you
might notice a flanging or flamming effect. To minimize this effect, we recommend that you set
the WaveInBuffers AUD.INI variable to 2.

Note that setting this value to 2 might have an adverse effect with certain audio hardware, causing
recording to drop out. If this occurs please reset the value to 8 and try using ASIO drivers if your
hardware has ASIO support. Also note that this variable only applies when using WDM drivers;
ASIO performance is unaffected by this setting.
 
To set this variable to 2, please add/modify the following line to the [Aud] section of AUD.INI:

[Aud]
WaveInBuffers=2

External Insert Delay Offset

The Delay Offset controls in the External Insert increase or decrease the number of Samples of
delay compensation.   The “++” and “—“ buttons increase or decrease the delay compensation by
10 Samples.  The “+” and “-“ buttons increase or decrease the delay compensation by 1 sample. 
Clicking the center button allows a numeric entry.  The number of samples in the offset is saved
as part of the presets.

MIDI Prepare Buffer Size and Automation

If your project contains several track/clip automation envelopes, setting your MIDI playback
buffer size too low (in Options > Global > MIDI) can cause audio to crackle if your audio
latency is also set very low. This problem will be somewhat worse if you enable multiprocessing
in the audio engine. To minimize or eliminate these crackles, please be sure to keep your MIDI
playback buffers at or above the default setting of 500 msec.

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Control Surface Refresh Rate
Control surfaces are refreshed by posting a windows message every 75 milliseconds.

CtrlSurfaceRefreshMS=<50 – 5000> (default=75)

You may wish to increase the value of this CAKEWALK.INI variable if you are experiencing
sluggish UI responsiveness when using a control surface and playing back high CPU projects.

Also, if you are using a control surface that is not bi-directional, the surface does not need to be
refreshed at all and you can safely increase the value.

This variable should be set in the [Wincake] section. For example:

[Wincake]
CtrlSurfaceRefreshMS=75

General
The following topics cover general issues in SONAR.

LP-64 Equalizer Presets (Producer Edition only)

The LP-64 Linear Phase Equalizer VST plug-in ships with a bank of presets stored in an FXB file
that gets installed into the same folder as the plug-in. By default, this location is:
C:\Program Files\Cakewalk\Vstplugins\Linear EQ

To load this bank of presets, open the LP-64 (either by inserting it into an FX bin or double-
clicking the effect name in a bin), click the “VST” button in the plug-in window toolbar at the top
of the screen, select “Load Bank”, and select the file “LP-64 EQ Default.fxb”.

Windows Media Video (WMV) Profiles

SONAR 7 includes several profiles for exporting WMV files. You can author your own WMV
profiles if you wish to use specific settings. To do so, you need to download and install the
Windows Media Profile Editor, which is included with the Windows Media Encoder 9 Series.

Download from here:

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/download
 
In ‘Select Download:’ choose "Windows Media Encoder"
In ‘Select Version:’ choose ”9 Series”
 
The setup program will install the Windows Media Profile Editor utility.

If you author your own profiles (.PRX files), they must be placed in the \Documents and
Settings\All Users\Application Data\Cakewalk\SONAR 7 Producer Edition\WMV Profiles
directory in order to be available in SONAR.

8
Note: if you use SONAR Studio Edition, substitute “Producer” with “Studio”.

External DV Output (IEEE 1394/Firewire)

SONAR relies on the Microsoft AV/C drivers to communicate with DV devices that are
connected to a IEEE 1394 Firewire bus on your computer, in order to control and preview video
to digital video devices.

If another software application overwrites or disables these drivers, the Preview to

Firewire and Print to Tape feature may not function correctly.  If you are going to install a
software application that uses DV devices connected to the IEEE 1394 Firewire bus, please check
with the software vendor about DV device drivers it may install.  Also, please check with the
manufacturer of your DV device for AV/C-compliance information. The following devices have
been tested and known to work properly with SONAR:

 ADS Pyro A/V Link DV transcoder

 Canopus ADVC-100 DV transcoder
 Canon ZR-85 miniDV camcorder

Note: when using DV AVI movies, the transcoding unit must be set to the same format (NTSC or
PAL) as the video file, or Preview to Firewire and Print to Tape will fail to work properly. Also,
CPU consumption will be lower when the source material is in DV format, since the format is
native to the Firewire device and doesn’t incur a CPU hit for transcoding video.

Cakewalk External Encoder Config Utility

SONAR 7 supports external command-line encoders, such as LAME, Ogg Vorbis, Monkey’s
Audio, etc. If an external command-line encoder is installed on your machine, the ‘Cakewalk
External Encoder Config’ utility allows you to add the encoder to SONAR’s list of available file
formats when exporting audio (File > Export > Audio).

To use the utility, start SONAR and go to Tools > Cakewalk Ext Encoder Config, then specify
the proper settings or the encoder you wish to use.

Note: the SONAR 7 DVD includes several pre-defined profiles for various encoders. These
profiles can be found in the \Utilities\External Encoder Profiles folder. You can use these profiles
as a starting point when creating your own profiles. Simply double-click the appropriate .REG
file to add the information to the Windows registry, then use the ‘Cakewalk External Encoder
Config’ utility to specify the correct install path of the encoder.

AudioSnap Palette Auto Load

AutoLoadAudioSnapPalette=<0 or 1>, default = 1

By default, the AudioSnap palette appears automatically whenever you enable AudioSnap on a
clip. If you prefer to never auto-show the AudioSnap palette, you can change this behavior by
adding a variable to the CAKEWALK.INI file.

This variable should be set in the [WinCake] section. For example:

9
[WinCake]
AutoLoadAudioSnapPalette=0

Alpha-blended Bars on Slip-stretched Clips

AlphaStretchIndicator=<0 or 1> (default=1)

When an audio clip is slip-stretched, a yellow alpha-blended bar is displayed on the clip. This
may affect performance on some systems if there are many slip-stretched clips. There is a new
CAKEWALK.INI variable to disable the alpha-blended bars, and instead only show the percent
value in the lower right corner of the clip.

This variable should be set in the [Wincake] section. For example:

[Wincake]
AlphaStretchIndicator=0

Reset All Selected AudioSnap Transient Markers

SONAR has a quick way to reset transient markers. This may be useful if you have pre-SONAR
6.2 projects that exhibit these symptoms with AudioSnap clips:

 The wave picture shows a flat line in strange places

 Extreme timing issues when bouncing the clip

Or, you might just want a quick way to revert your experiments with AudioSnap back to the
original data.

These symptoms are the result of various AudioSnap issues that have since been fixed in SONAR
6.2.

To reset transient markers:

1. Select all clips you wish to reset.

2. Press Ctrl+Alt and click the Reset button on the AudioSnap Palette. This brings up a
dialog asking if you want to Clear All AudioSnap Markers. Clicking Yes will delete all
the existing edits and restore clips to the analyzed transients.

Note: this gesture is not undoable, so make sure you really want to reset the transient markers.

An alternate solution is to turn off AudioSnap on the clips and then use Edit > Bounce to Clip(s).
However, this will also render any clips fades.

Scrubbing Audio at Unity Gain

In SONAR 4.0.0, the Scrub function would automatically scrub at unity gain. This has changed in
version 4.0.1 and later, where audio scrubbing is performed at the mix level (volume and pan
settings are applied). You can also scrub at unity gain by holding down the Alt key while
scrubbing.

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Time/Pitch Stretch Plug-in Does Not Work With Groove Clips
The Cakewalk Time/Pitch Stretch 2 plug-in cannot be used with Groove clips. As a result, the
plug-in will fail to load if you try to apply the plug-in as an offline process on a Groove clip.

Time/Pitch Stretch Plug-in Does Not Affect Clip Length

When used as an offline process, the Cakewalk Time/Pitch Stretch 2 plug-in stretches clips
properly, but the actual clip length does not change.

Toolbar Background Gradient

DrawToolbarGradient=<0 or 1> (default=1)

The SONAR 7 global and view toolbars are now drawn with a background gradient. If you prefer
a flat background, you may disable the gradient drawing by adding the following entry to the
CAKEWALK.INI file in the WinCake section:

[WinCake]
DrawToolbarGradient=0

Console View Auto-Resizing

By default, the Console view will automatically resize itself vertically as modules are shown or
hidden. If you prefer, you can keep the Console view from automatically resizing by holding
down the Shift key as you click on a module’s Show/Hide toggle (leftmost pane in the Console
view). This will preserve the current Console view size without resizing the view to fit all visible
modules.

Track View Control Size and Layout

It is possible to alter the default size and layout of the controls in the Track view. This requires
adding entries to the CAKEWALK.INI file.

This variable should be set in the [WinCake] section. For example:

[WinCake]
TVBoldStripNames=0

Below are the variables that affect the control appearance:

TVControlHeight=<number of pixels>, default = 17

Specifies the height of controls. The default height is 17 pixels. This value shouldn’t be changed
more than 1 or 2 from the default value, or you may experience unexpected results.

TVControlWidth=<number of pixels>, default = 41

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Specifies the width of controls. The default width is 41 pixels.

TVControlSpacingX=<number of pixels>, default = 3

Specifies the horizontal space, in pixels, between controls. The default spacing is 3 pixels.

TVControlSpacingY=<number of pixels>, default = 3

Specifies the vertical space, in pixels, between controls. The default spacing is 3 pixels.

TVSpacingXInCluster=<number of pixels>, default = 2

Specifies the horizontal space between each button in a “cluster”. The default value is 2 pixels.
The following controls are grouped into clusters:

 Mute, Solo, Arm for Recording (MSR)

 Automation Read, Automation Write
 Phase, Interleave (mono/stereo)

TVBoldStripNames=<0 or 1>, default = 1

Specifies whether track/bus names use bold (value=1) or regular (value=0) font style.

TVLargeStripNames=<0 or 1>, default = 1

Specifies the size of track/bus names. The default size is large (value=1).

Clip Name Transparency

TransparentClipNames=<0 or 1>, default = 0

SONAR can write Clip Names with an alpha channel such that the waveform behind the clip
name can be seen.

To enable this effect, add the following variable to your Cakewalk.ini file:

[Wincake]
TransparentClipNames=1

MIDI Note Velocity Colorization

PRVColorizeVelocity=<0 or 1>, default = 1

MIDI note colors are tinted depending on their velocities. Notes will appear darker for higher
velocities and lighter for lower velocities.

12
This feature may be enabled (1) or disabled (0) in the [Wincake] section of the Cakewalk.ini file.
For example:

[Wincake]
PRVColorizeVelocity=0

‘Zero Controllers When Play Stops’ Is Not Applied When

Freezing Synths
Please note that the global ‘Zero Controllers when Play Stops’ setting is not applied when
freezing soft synths. This means that the current state of a continuous controller when play is
stopped can cause unexpected results when freezing a synth.

If you experience this issue, rewind the project before freezing the synth.

SONAR and Screen Readers for Vision Impaired Users

SONAR has a special Accessibility Mode which can be helpful for vision impaired users when
working with screen readers (Window-Eyes, JAWS, etc.). The Accessibility Mode is enabled by
adding a key to the Windows Registry (WARNING: only do this if you are comfortable with
editing the Windows registry; you may wish to back up the registry first), and allows screen
readers to receive various information from SONAR that may otherwise not be displayed on the
screen (names, values, etc.).

The key is:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Cakewalk Music Software\SONAR Producer\6.0

Note: if you are using SONAR 7 Studio Edition, substitute ‘Producer’ with ‘Studio’.

The Value is:

AccessibilityMode

It is a DWORD. Value can be 0, 1, 2 or 3:

0 - no accessibility (default)
1 - put the access string in the TrackView Cview's caption
2 - put the access string in the CWACCESS window
3 - put the access string in the CWACCESS window and make this window visible

Upgrading to SONAR from an Earlier Version of a Cakewalk

Product
SONAR SETUP does not overwrite your existing MASTER.INS file. That file contains the
instrument definitions that SONAR loads every time it starts. SETUP installs new .INS files for
each supported manufacturer. These files contain the latest complete set of available instrument
definitions.

13
To learn how to import any of these .INS files, see the online Help topic titled "Importing
Instrument Definitions”.

Old Color Settings Are Not Migrated When Upgrading To SONAR

7
SONAR 7 has new color settings that most often result in poor results when importing color
presets that were created in previous versions of SONAR. Because of this, old color presets are
not automatically migrated to SONAR 7 if you are upgrading from a previous version of
SONAR.

If you would still like to use your old color presets in SONAR 7, you can do so by following the
steps below (warning: only do this if you are comfortable with editing the Windows registry; you
may wish to back up the registry first):

[1] Export the following registry branch (pick the SONAR version you are upgrading from):

SONAR 5 (color presets): HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Cakewalk Music

Software\SONAR Producer\5.0\Presets\{6B0298E5-C4B7-4AAF-90EF-B214D18F7654}

SONAR 4 (color presets): HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Cakewalk Music

Software\SONAR Producer\4.0\Presets\{6B0298E5-C4B7-4AAF-90EF-B214D18F7654}

SONAR 3 (color presets): HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Cakewalk Music

Software\SONAR Producer\3.0\Presets\{6B0298E5-C4B7-4AAF-90EF-B214D18F7654}

SONAR 3 (current colors): HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Cakewalk Music

Software\SONAR Producer\3.0\Colors

SONAR 2 (current colors): HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Cakewalk Music

Software\SONAR\2.0\Colors

SONAR 1 (current colors): HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Cakewalk Music

Software\SONAR\1.0\Colors

[2] Open the exported registry file in a text editor (to use Notepad, right-click the .REG file and
choose ‘Edit’).

[3] Change the path to reflect SONAR 7:

If you exported all color presets from SONAR 4, enter the following path:

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Cakewalk Music Software\SONAR Producer\4.0\Presets\

{6B0298E5-C4B7-4AAF-90EF-B214D18F7654}]

If you exported the current/default colors from SONAR 1/2/3, enter the following path:

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Cakewalk Music Software\SONAR Producer\3.0\Colors]

14
Note: if you are using SONAR 7 Studio Edition, substitute ‘Producer’ with ‘Studio’.

[4] Save and then close the .REG file, then double-click the REG file to add the information to
the registry. Your old color settings should then be available in SONAR 7.

Known Issues
The following topics cover known issues in SONAR that may be addressed in the future.

Session Drummer 2 Issues

MIDI Drag and Drop from Desktop Captured by SONAR

Dragging a MIDI file from the Desktop into Session Drummer 2 will cause a new MIDI project
to be created in SONAR.

To add a MIDI pattern to Session Drummer 2, you may use its built-in MIDI Pattern Browser, or
you may drag and drop a MIDI clip from SONAR.

Session Drummer 2 May Lose Sync with SONAR During Seeking

If the global "Set Now Time with Full Reset" option (Options > Global > General) is disabled,
Session Drummer 2 may lose sync with SONAR if Session Drummer 2 is auto-playing a pattern
while you seek in the SONAR time ruler.

If you are affected by this issue, the solution is to enable "Set Now Time with Full Reset".

RPN Events Stop Session Drummer 2 Audio Output

If a MIDI track that is routed to Session Drummer 2 is transmitting RPN events, Session
Drummer 2 will no longer output audio.

To fix this, open the Session Drummer 2 property page, click the ‘VST Preset Options’ button
next to the preset controls, then select ’Plug-in Properties’. Finally, enable “Do not intercept
NRPNs” and click OK.

HLP Files Cannot be Opened in Windows Vista

Windows Vista does not ship with the Windows Help (WinHlp32.exe) help program, which is
required in order to open 32-bit help content files that have the .HLP file extension. This affects
HLP files for a few legacy plug-ins that are included with SONAR. We will update SONAR’s
online Help in the future to address this. In the meantime, please see the following Microsoft
Knowledge Base article for information about a solution:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/917607.

Plug-in Windows Flicker or don’t Display Properly

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If you have any plug-in’s that flicker or don’t display properly, please see the "X-Ray Windows
Not Compatible With Some Plug-ins" topic below.

X-Ray Windows Not Compatible With Some Plug-ins

X-Ray Windows is not compatible with plug-ins that use DirectDraw to create their windows,
such as many recent plug-ins by Waves. If a plug-in is not compatible with X-Ray, the plug-in's
window will either flicker or not display properly. If you have any plug-ins that are affected by
this, you can exclude the plug-n(s) from X-Ray by following the instructions below:

1. Open the Cakewalk Plug-in Manager (Tools > Cakewalk Plug-in Manager).
2. In the Plug-in Categories window, select the category that the plug-in you want to
exclude is in.
3. In the Registered Plug-ins window, select the plug-in that you want to exclude.
4. If the plug-in is a DirectX effect or an MFX, write down (or select and copy) the CLSID
value that's in the CLSID field at the bottom of the dialog.
5. If the plug-in is a VST or VSTi, write down the VST ID value that's in the VST ID field
at the bottom of the dialog.
6. Close the Plug-in Manager dialog.
7. Use Notepad to open the XRayExclude.ini file that's in your SONAR program folder
(C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\Application Data\Cakewalk\SONAR 7
Producer Edition).

Note: if you use SONAR Studio Edition, substitute “Producer Edition” with “Studio
Edition”.

8. At the end of the file, find the [EffectProps View] section.

You will see entries such as the following:

; Waves SSL EQ Stereo

XRayExclude11=1397510483
XRayExclude12={E451379E-F7E1-4E82-98D9-BEB87AC45E90}

9. Exclude your plug-in by creating a blank line below the last entry in the [EffectProps
View] section, and then typing:

;[name of your plug-in, but without brackets]

XRayExclude[type the next available number in XRayExclude list, but without
brackets]=[VST ID number, with no brackets, or CLSID number, with curly braces at
start and finish]

For example, if the last entry in the [EffectProps View] section was:

; Waves SSL EQ Stereo

XRayExclude11=1397510483
XRayExclude12={E451379E-F7E1-4E82-98D9-BEB87AC45E90}

If you wanted to exclude the Cakewalk FxDelay from the X-Ray Windows feature, after
creating a blank line you would type:

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 ; Cakewalk FxDelay
XRayExclude13={985DAF67-589F-4B8D-8BBC-D7AD651B9022}

If there was also a VST version of the Cakewalk FxDelay, you would add another line:

XRayExclude14=[some VST ID number, with no brackets]

10. Save and close the XRayExclude.ini file, and restart SONAR to implement your changes.

Changes to ReValver mk II SE Window Size Requires Re-

Opening Plug-in
When making changes to the Module Height or the height of ReValver mk II SE, the plug-in
window must be closed and re-opened for the changes to take affect.

Using Mono VST Plug-ins on Stereo Tracks May Cause Out of

Sync Audio
When using a mono plug-in on a stereo track (interleave set to Stereo), the left and right channels
will be out of sync. The left channel is processed by the mono effect, and delay compensation is
applied, while the right channel is not processed and does not have delay compensation applied.
The signal will look something like this:

Left channel: Wet signal (delayed)

Right channel: Dry signal (no delay)

A mono VST plug-in will work correctly if "Enable Mono Processing" is checked in the VST
Plug-in Properties dialog and the track interleave is set to mono.

Note: "Enable Mono Processing" is enabled by default in SONAR 7. If you are playing back a
legacy project in SONAR 7, and notice the project does not sound the same, try to disable
"Enable Mono Processing" for any mono plug-ins used in the project.

QuickTime Issues
In order to import/export QuickTime files in SONAR 7, you must install both the filters AND
QuickTime. Below are some other known QuickTime issues:

 QuickTime Import/Export requires version 6.5.1 or higher of the QuickTime Player to be

installed. The QuickTime Player is not included with SONAR, but can be downloaded
separately from Apple’s web site (http://www.apple.com/quicktime/download/win.html).
 Audio mixdown to QuickTime must be set to 16 bits stereo or mono, or the resulting
export will create a unusable file or abort with an error.
 Audio mixdown to QuickTime must be set to 48 KHz or less or the resulting export will
create a file that plays back incorrectly.
 When exporting to QuickTime, the frame rate of the QuickTime video compressor will
default to "best possible." Since not all movies in a SONAR video project correctly report

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 their frame rate, the best practice is manually enter the desired frame rate.  This is done in
the video settings of the QuickTime video compressor.
 Exports to QuickTime from a SONAR video project created from an AVI using the Indeo
video compressor will create a movie with white frames.
 Exports to QuickTime may have an extra white frame on the last frame of the movie. 
This extra frame can be removed with the QuickTime Pro Player or another QuickTime
editing application.
 Movies created in QuickTime 7 may not import properly into SONAR 7.
 When loading a project with a QuickTime 7 movie into SONAR in WDM driver mode,
SONAR may not play. The workaround is to use ASIO driver mode if your hardware
supports ASIO drivers.

Many of these limitations will be addressed in a future update to SONAR.

Audio Metronome Issues

The default audio metronome sounds are 44.1kHz samples. This may result in a pop when
playback or record is started and stopped when using audio hardware that use a native sample rate
of 48kHz (such as SB Live!). This is an artifact of the internal sample rate conversion that the
audio hardware performs.

Note: this is not an issue if your SONAR projects use the 48kHz sample rate.

Enabling Mono on a Bus/Main Will Affect Upstream Meters

If you make a bus or main out mono by toggling its Mono/Stereo switch, any “upstream” meters
—that is, meters on any tracks or buses that are assigned to the mono bus/main out--from the
bus/main out will also display as mono.

Note: this only affects the meter display, not any audio that is bounced or exported.

Mono Audio Clips May be Increased by 3dB in Certain Scenarios

There are some situations where the level of a mono clip will be increased by 3db if the track's
output interleave (mono/stereo toggle) is set to mono:

1. If the track has mixed stereo and mono clips

2. The track has a synth selected as its input source
3. Input Echo is enabled or the track is armed for recording

In summary, whenever the track output interleave is mono and the data interleave is stereo, mono
data will be increased in level by 3dB.

This issue will be addressed in a future release.

Adding MIDI Device May Break Control Surface Support and

MIDI Key Bindings

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When adding a new MIDI Device in Options > MIDI Devices, control surface support and MIDI
key bindings may no longer work properly. Restarting SONAR will solve this problem.

High-Resolution Audio Boosted by 6dB when Stretched Using

MPEX
When using a sample rate of 88.2hKz or higher and performing any operation that uses MPEX
time/pitch stretching, the stretched audio will be boosted by 6dB.

ReWire Tracks Silent When Using Metronome Record Count-in

When using a metronome count-in and recording, any ReWire tracks will be silent at the start of
recording. The silence period will equal the count-in duration. To fix this issue, disable
metronome count-in (go to Options > Project > Metronome and set ‘Record Count-in’ to zero).

Running Reason with SONAR on Vista

Reason 3.04 requires a ReWire update in order to run as a ReWire device in SONAR 7 on a
Windows Vista system.   The installer for this update can be downloaded from
http://www.propellerheads.se/download/index.cfm?fuseaction=get_article&article=vista_installer

MP3 Files With 256K Bit Rate May Not Play in SONAR 7
MP3 files that are created in Cakewalk MediaWorks version 1.0 with a setting of 256K, may play
back as silence when imported into SONAR 7. This may also apply to MP3 files that are authored
in SONAR 7 at 44.1kHz, 16-bit, 256K joint stereo. Other bit rates should be fine.

TTS-1 DXi Does Not Support 88.2 kHz Sample Rate

The Cakewalk TTS-1 soft synth supports 44.1 kHz, 48 kHz, and 96 kHz sample rates, but not
88.2 kHz. The audio engine will not engage if SONAR is configured to use a sample rate of 88.2
kHz while TTS-1 is loaded and connected,

Using Cakewalk Kinetic Groove Synth in SONAR 7

If you are a Cakewalk Kinetic customer and you are using the Kinetic Groove Synth in SONAR,
please be advised that any saved SONAR projects that make use of the Groove Synth can no
longer be opened if you uninstall Kinetic. Attempting to open such a project may result in a crash.

The Kinetic uninstaller is removing the Groove Synth sample file, but not the actual synth. Both
must co-exist or you will run into the issue above. To address this, make a backup copy of the
P5antom *.DAT file before uninstalling Kinetic, then copy/move P5antom *.DAT file back to its
original location after Kinetic has been uninstalled.

Importing MPEG 2 Files in SONAR 7

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SONAR 7 does not directly support MPEG 2 import, but if you have installed Cakewalk Pyro
Plus, SONAR 7 will be able to import MPEG 2 files by virtue of the shared libraries and filters
from the Ligos components of Pyro Plus.

However, please be advised that if WinDVD or Power DVD have been installed before Pyro Plus
(or MediaWorks) is installed, SONAR may crash when attempting to import MPEG 2 files.

Successive Snapshots Do Not Update Envelope Node Values

When taking multiple automation snapshots at the same Now time, new envelope nodes are
created instead of updating any existing envelope nodes. To address this issue, undo the previous
automation snapshot before performing a new snapshot.

Potential ‘Pops’ When Using Surround Automation (SONAR

Producer Edition Only)
If you record ‘Angle’ surround pan automation, please note that a pop may occur as the angle
parameter jumps from 0 degrees to 180 degrees. This may occur if the jump is not instantaneous,
and can be easily solved by zooming in the envelope automation and moving the top and bottom
nodes so they are aligned in time (tip: enable Snap to make it easier to align the envelope nodes).

Mono Plug-ins on Surround Buses (SONAR Producer Edition

Only)
Mono plug-ins may not work properly when inserted in a Surround bus effect bin. A common
symptom is a Runtime error message.

Staff View Font May Require Reboot After SONAR is Installed

SONAR installs a font that is used by the Staff view. This font is only installed temporarily when
SONAR is installed, and becomes permanently installed after the machine is rebooted.

On some machines—even if the Staff View font is successfully temporarily installed—some

functions that reference the font may fail until after a reboot. The problem is easily identified by
corrupt Staff View graphics.

Exporting Audio with Waves Plug-ins and Multiprocessing

Engine
If SONAR's multiprocessing engine is enabled ('Use Multiprocessing Engine' is checked in
Options > Audio > Advanced), a crash may occur when exporting audio from projects that use
Waves plug-ins.

If you are affected by this, temporarily disable the multiprocessing engine before exporting audio.

Digidesign Mbox and Multiprocessing Engine

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A crash may occur while recording with the Mbox if SONAR’s multiprocessing engine is
enabled (‘Use Multiprocessing Engine’ in Options > Audio > Advanced) on a HyperThreading
or multi-processor system.

This problem appears to be caused by the Mbox driver.

Digidesign Digi 002 and Multiprocessing Engine

When using the Digi 002 in ASIO mode, a crash may occur if all of the following steps are
followed:

1. The multiprocessing engine is enabled ('Use Multiprocessing Engine' is checked in

Options > Audio > Advanced)
2. A soft synth is inserted in an audio track’s FX bin.
3. The audio track is exported as a track template.

If you are affected by this, temporarily disable the multiprocessing engine before saving the track
template.

Mono UAD-1/TC PowerCore Plug-ins Do Not Sum Audio on

Stereo Tracks
When using mono UAD-1 or TC PowerCore plug-ins on stereo tracks in SONAR, the audio is
not summed; the left channel is processed and delayed (delay compensation is not applied), and
the right channel is unprocessed and not delayed.

UAD-1 Error When ’64-bit Double Precision Engine” Enabled

If you enable “64-bit Double Precision Engine” (Options > Audio > General) while a project is
loaded and uses UAD-1 Powered Plug-ins, you may receive an error message indicating “Plug-in
buffer size mismatch”.

This appears to happen with the UAD-1 if you change the buffer size more than once in
succession. The buffer size is automatically reset twice in a row when the double precision engine
is engaged/disengaged. There is no data loss or crash, and the solution is to save and reload the
project.

CPU Munching When Using UAD-1

If you experience CPU munching when using the UAD-1, please see the ReadMe topic titled
“Realtime Pre-roll”.

M-Audio Midisport 8x8 Compatibility

The M-Audio Midisport 8x8 driver (as of v. 4.1.21) has a limitation that only allows you to use
up to 15 MIDI input ports simultaneously.

M-Audio Delta 1010 Distortion With 5.8ms Latency

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When using the M-Audio Delta 1010 set at 128 sample buffer size (configured in M-Audio Delta
control panel), setting the mixing latency in SONAR to 5.8 milliseconds may results in distortion
if either or both of the following is true:

1. An effect is patched into a track and the track is armed for recording.
2. An effect is patched into a track and Input Echo is enabled on that track.

Frontier/Tascam ASIO Drivers

The Frontier/Tascam ASIO drivers install two flavors of the ASIO driver in the registry: a 24-bit
one and a 16-bit one. SONAR may have problems trying to profile both drivers. The solution is to
remove one of the drivers from the registry.

Frontier Design TranzPort Issues

Track Arm Button Conflicts with SONAR MIDI Key Binding

The track arm button on the TranzPort uses MIDI Key C0, which in SONAR, is the default shift
key when MIDI Key Bindings are enabled. The workaround is to disable MIDI Key Bindings in
SONAR or reassign the Shift Key to a different Key (like Db0).

SONAR Hangs on Deleting Control Surface While TranzPort is Connected

Occasionally, more than one instance of the Tranzport will appear in the Control Surface dialog. 
Unfortunately, SONAR hangs if you try to delete one while the device is connected. 

To remove the duplicates, close SONAR, unplug the Tranzport, re-open SONAR, go to Options
> Controllers/Surfaces, and delete all but one instance of Tranzport. 

At this point you must close SONAR, re-connect the Tranzport and launch SONAR again in
order for the Frontier MIDI drivers to become available so the surface will work.

Selecting an archived track causes a second non-archived track to be selected

If the TranzPort "Skip archived tracks" option is enabled, clicking on an archived track in
SONAR may also cause another nearby non-archived track to get selected.

E-MU 1820 Compatibility

96kHz Sample Rate

If a 44.1/48kHz session is loaded in the Patchmix DSP application, a crash may occur if you
change SONAR’s sample rate to 96kHz. To address this, load a 96kHz session in the Patchmix
DSP application before changing the sample rate in SONAR.

ASIO Panel

If the E-MU ASIO Panel is open, a crash may occur if you try to launch the SONAR online Help
from the Audio Options dialog (Options > Audio). To address this, you must first manually close

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the E-MU ASIO panel. A host application has no way of knowing if the ASIO panel is open or
closed.

SONAR Only Supports GigaStudio Sample Rate When Using

WDM Drivers
When using GigaStudio and SONAR with WDM drivers, SONAR must use the same sample rate
as GigaStudio is using.

Can't Print if Staff View is Floating

It is not possible to print the Staff view if the Staff view is float-enabled. If necessary, temporarily
disable floating if you need to print from the Staff view.

RIFF/MID Will Not Launch SONAR When Double-clicked

Double-clicking RIFF MIDI files and Standard MIDI files will fail to launch SONAR even if
these file types are associated with SONAR.

AutoTune 4 (Graphic Mode) as Clip Effect

When using AutoTune 4 as a clip effect, its Graphic mode may not track clips properly if Auto
Tune’s “Buffer Seconds” setting is not set high enough. For example, if “Buffer Seconds” is set
to 100, its graphic mode won’t be able to track pitch after 1:40 (real time, not M:B:T) in the
project if it is being used as a clip effect.

If you experience problems with tracking, try to increase the Buffer Seconds setting. For instance,
in a 6 minute project, you would want this setting to be at least 360.

iZotope Plug-ins Hang x64 VST Scan

iZotope Plug-ins will hang the VST Scan process in SONAR x64. To launch SONAR
successfully, these plug-ins must be removed from any of SONAR’s VST Scan paths.

This issue will be addressed in a future update.

MIDI Note Will Continue to Play If Now Time is Moved

Changing the Now time while a MIDI note is sounding will cause SONAR to play the full
duration of the note. This behavior was introduced in SONAR 4.0.3, and is necessary as a result
of addressing various gapping issues when editing MIDI data during playback.

If you prefer a slight hiccup instead of hearing the full note duration, you can change the default
behavior with the “Set Now Time with Full Restart” option in Options > Global > General.

Note: moving a MIDI note event during playback is affected by this same issue.
 

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Arpeggiator MFX With Low Rate May Affect Playback
When using the Arpeggiator MFX MIDI plug-in and setting the 'Rate' parameter to 1 MIDI tick,
playback may become very sluggish. This is primarily an issue if your MIDI hardware cannot
handle the numerous events that are generated by the Arpeggiator effect.

Standard AVI Audio Codecs Do Not Support Multichannel Audio

None of the standard AVI audio codecs support multichannel audio. When exporting
multichannel audio to an AVI video file, do not select an audio codec (no compression), or use a
codec that is known to support multichannel audio.

No MTC Sync within 1 Minute of Midnight Roll-over

SONAR will not sync to MTC within one minute of roll-over (1 minute before midnight;
23:59:00:00 - 23:59:59:xx). To address this, use a SMPTE offset that doesn’t require you to
trigger the midnight roll-over.

Dual Video Monitors Set to Different Color Bit Depths May Affect
Performance
If you are using a dual monitor system and experience sluggish performance when selecting and
dragging clips in the Clips pane, confirm that both monitors are set to the same ‘Color Quality’
bit depth.

Video Pauses on Playback When Using Creative ASIO Driver

When using the Creative ASIO driver and starting playback on a project that contains video, the
video may pause for a moment or not animate at all. This may be more pronounced when using a
high latency setting.

This issue is due to the Creative ASIO driver, which returns incorrect sample positions, which in
turn causes the clock to report a bad position causing video to stop playing. This is currently only
known to be an issue with the Creative ASIO driver and not other ASIO drivers.

//END OF DOCUMENT

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