Where are they hiding?

[WRGKMC]

I figured I'd ask this question here because this is a tougher issue.

 

I'm in the process of doing another DAW upgrade. Better box that will double my speed.

We all know what a nightmare it is getting a new DAW tweaked the way you like it.

Its not only about getting it hot rodded but getting all your plugins and presets functioning the way you like it.

 

I've spent about a week moving files from drive to drive, plugging my old drives into the new box and pulling files over to the new computer. That alone is a ball buster. In this case, My old system was Win 7 and the new box was my Mastering computer running Vista.

 

I copied my effects DLL's over to the new VST folers. The simple ones will function, the rest I have to reinstall. I expected that having done this about a dozen times doing upgrades, replacing drives, etc.

 

I'm down to trying to transfering my plugin presets over to the new box.

My main DAW program is Sonar 8.5. I have most of my VST plugins in a Cubase

plugin folder which I also have installed.

 

All my factory presets function properly, but I have several hundred custom made presets stored on my old system and I'm looking for an easy method of transfering them

to the new box so I dont have to rebuild them all.

 

I think I was able to do this when I did my XP to win 7 upgrade last time.

I found a folder that had all my presets and simply copied them over to the

new drive, then navigate the plugin using the load presets button, then open

my old presets on the new box.

 

Well it aint happening for me this time. I cant find seem to find the preset folders.

Hasw anyone got a clue to where they hide.

 

I found some using the windoes search looking for FBX files but I only found a few sonar factory presets that way. I'm wondering id theres some kind of migration function or file I can copy over to solve this problem.

 

The only other option I have is to run my Old daw, load up the tracks with dozens of

plugins with the custom presets, then save the project as a cakewalk bundle file.

Then when I open the bundle on the new DAW, the presets will be present there and I can save them on the new DAW.

 

It would be great if there was a preset transfer function in sonar, I just dont think its exhists. The other item is the Sonar custom colors. The stock colors look like crap and way too dark for my eyes. I have my profile saved on the old DAW. I'm womndering if theres a file in Sonar that can be copied over so I can select my custom color profile.

 

I realize there are probibly questions for the Sonar forum, but I know a few here are pretty good with the program and may know a few tricks here that may save me time.

[Lee Knight]

 

The only other option I have is to run my Old daw, load up the tracks with dozens of plugins with the custom presets, then save the project as a cakewalk bundle file. Then when I open the bundle on the new DAW, the presets will be present there and I can save them on the new DAW.

 

 

I don't have an answer for you, sorry. But that ^ is a pretty clever solution.

[WRGKMC]

Yea, that one will work if you have all the proper plugins setup.

if you open a bundle and you dont have the proper plugins setup, it will

give you a warning. There are some plugins it wont work on. Some of the older

Voxengo and Antares plugins I have that use Pace anti piracy are ball busters.

I set those up last because any file changes on where the DLL resides disables

their functionality.

 

I'll have to keep digging though. I found the shared presets somewheres under

My Documents> Users> Sonar> Roaming. I copied them over but thay didnt work.

Maybe thay were stored differently in Win 7 and Vista doesnt recognise them.

 

Anyway, If I put in another late nighter and dont fall asleep waiting for all the files to copy over

I can get the bulk of the customization done over the weekend. Right now I'm doing the bulk of the work in the

living room where I can watch TV while I'm waiting on all the bulk stuff. Once I'm done with that then I'll set it up in the studio

and do all of my audio tweaking. I can only handle 3~4 hours at a pop in there because its a really dead sounding room.

I figure If I can get all my plugins setup and menus customized, I can do the rest as I'm mixing.

 

You dont realize how much tweaking you've done untill you do an upgrade like this. Its why I put off upgrading the OS

because those are the same deal. Win 8 is in trial now and I probibly wont bother with it for a year or two. by then all the quirks are

fixed. At least this time I didnt have to do a complete Vista install. Last time I did that one it took 8 hours on a high speed connection to

install all the updates. It must have needed rebooting 25 times after every few updates. It does run good once its done though. Thay basically make

it run like Win 7 now. I do like the menus better than 7 too. I prefer the classic tree vs that stupid scroll box on 7, especially if you have allot of

programs loaded.

[Anderton]

 

Well it aint happening for me this time. I cant find seem to find the preset folders. Hasw anyone got a clue to where they hide.

 

 

I'll look into this further, but I think different companies put their presets in different places. A lot of them seem to go into that stupid Users > Documents > Settings > My Documents > Roaming > Someone Else's Documents > Thingies and Stuff > More Stuff > More Roaming file path.

[WRGKMC]

 

I'll look into this further, but I think different companies put their presets in different places. A lot of them seem to go into that stupid Users > Documents > Settings > My Documents > Roaming > Someone Else's Documents > Thingies and Stuff > More Stuff > More Roaming file path.

 

 

Yup, I think you're right. The ability to export that kind of stuff in a standardized method would be really cool.

Maybe you can find out how to find the color/menu profile. That one would save time. I found the plugin arrangement profile,

copied it over and it works. That will at least save me some time setting up my plugin menu. Sonar lets your pick and choose which plugins

you want and set up their order. I dont use a whole bunch of plugins, but I know where they all are if I need them.

[Zooey]

 

In this case, My old system was Win 7 and the new box was my Mastering computer running Vista.

 

 

I hope you accidentally wrote that backwards!

[Anderton]

 

I hope you accidentally wrote that backwards!

 

 

Dude...don't you know, Vista is vintage?

[Anderton]

 

Maybe you can find out how to find the color/menu profile. That one would save time. I found the plugin arrangement profile, copied it over and it works. That will at least save me some time setting up my plugin menu. Sonar lets your pick and choose which plugins you want and set up their order. I dont use a whole bunch of plugins, but I know where they all are if I need them.

 

 

One tip: I created a folder where ALL this stuff lives - track icons, plug-in manager layouts, prochannel presets, everything. In preferences, I point all files that can be pointed to toward this folder.

 

One reason for doing this is that if you install an entirely new version of Sonar and aren't careful, some files might get overwritten. Also, when backing up, I can back up this folder. When I installed Sonar on my laptop, I just copied over this folder and voila - everything I wanted, where I wanted it.

[WRGKMC]

 

I hope you accidentally wrote that backwards!

 

 

No I posted it right. I have about 6 computers, 3 retired.

Previously, My mastering computer was an OEM Vista box which I also use for internet

and general computing. It had a largre tower required for my

M-Audio 1010LT PCI cards. The new computer had a smaller case so they didnt fit.

I simply made my mastering box running Vista my tracking and loaded win 7 on the new mastering box.

 

Swapping the two OS around at this point is just too much work. Vista box had a full OEM

install disk which will only work properly on the original equipment.

 

Upgrading Vista later to to Win 7 isnt a big deal cuse they are the same engine.

An XP upgrade requires a clean install because its a totally different engine.

Besides Win 8 should be out, probibly in a few months. I can upgrade to that on my tracking box.

 

I had to do this all on the cheap the way. The used box I bought was only $50.

I just needed drives for it which I had. I just bought a 2013 Mustang GT so I'm back to making

car payments.

 

The wife wasnt happy about me buying anything else new, but the Win 7 running

on the umastering unit which she also uses softened the wrath of my purchase. I used the line, See

isnt this a better and faster computer? She had to agree because it is.

[WRGKMC]

Well Craig, I found one short cut. I started manually tweaking my colors in Sonar to get rid of that standard

grey and black they have. Theres only two two presets, ligtand dark and both are depressing.

 

I discoverd that have an import and export button for the colors when you open that option.

I exported the colors to a USB memory stick and simplyopened it up on the other box and Eurika,

I had all my custom colors set up instantly. I just had to close and reopen the program for it to take effect.

 

I also took my own advise on moving the presets and it seems to have worked.

I opened up a 16 track template file I had saved ( I have a blank 8 and 16 channel file built that

I simply click on and I can record instantly without having to build a new project file from scratch)

And I loaded 16 EQ settings, 16 reverb settings, 16 Comp settings etc in the effects windows, then saved

it as a bundle to the USB stick. I did this for all my main plugins presets.

 

Then I simply opened the project on the new box, opened each plugin and saved its preset on the new box.

I should be good to connect it up tonight in the studio and finish the fine tweaking. The main benifit will be

the Mixdown time should be drastically reduced and I should be abole to run more plugins if needed.