SONAR™ 8.

5 LE
(Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7)
README.RTF
Copyright © 2009 Cakewalk, Inc. All rights reserved.
Cakewalk is a registered trademark, and SONAR is a trademark of Cakewalk, Inc.

This file contains supplemental information on SONAR™ LE, Version 8.5.1. 
It was prepared on September 29, 2009.

Contents

Installing SONAR LE...................................................................................................................2
User Account Control and SONAR LE installer.......................................................................2
Disable Anti­Virus/Spyware Software......................................................................................2
Compatibility................................................................................................................................2
Opening SONAR projects in SONAR LE................................................................................2
Windows Vista.........................................................................................................................3
Windows 7................................................................................................................................4
Upgrading to SONAR LE from an Earlier Version of a Cakewalk Product..............................4
Known Issues.................................................................................................................................5
HLP Files Cannot be Opened in Windows Vista......................................................................5
Plug­in delay compensation re­sync.........................................................................................5
Installing SONAR LE

User Account Control and SONAR LE installer

 
To install SONAR LE in Windows XP Professional and Home Edition or Windows Vista, you must 
be logged in as a user with administrative privileges.  In Windows Vista, you may install from any 
account, but you will be prompted to elevate your privileges when the installer is launched.

Once the product has been installed, it may be run from any account without the need for 
administrative privileges.   

Disable Anti-Virus/Spyware Software

Please disable any anti­virus or spyware software before installing SONAR LE.  Utilities such as 
“Spyware Doctor” have been known to interfere with the SONAR LE installation.  Such utilities need
not be uninstalled or removed from your system, only temporarily disabled.

Compatibility

Opening SONAR projects in SONAR LE

SONAR LE has the following limitations. SONAR LE will open projects saved in
SONAR Studio or Producer that exceed its limitations with the extra content
removed:

• 32 Audio Tracks
• 64 MIDI Tracks
• 8 Busses
• 24 Audio Inserts
• 5 Audio Sends
• 12 MIDI Inserts
• 8 Synth Rack Plug-ins
• 24-bit/96kHz Audio Quality

SONAR Studio or Producer project files may contain features that will be missing
if opened in SONAR LE, including:

• AudioSnap
• Matrix View
• Arpeggiator
• Track FX Freeze
• Clip Selection Groups
• Step Sequencer View

2
 • Side-Chaining
• Clip Lock
• Multiple Time Rulers
• Clip FX Bins
• 32-bit and 64-bit Float Files
• Surround Mixing
• POW-r dithering
• Mute Tool
• Track Layers
• Track Folders
• Guitar Tablature
• Guitar Fretboard View
• Fade/Envelope, Crossfade, Remove Silence, Interpolate, Scale Velocity,
and Retrograde Processes.

After saving a project in SONAR LE all SONAR Studio or Producer features will be
permanently removed. It is recommended that you create a backup copy of the
original project before you re-save the project in SONAR LE.

Windows Vista

The following issues are known problems with Microsoft Windows Vista (as of Vista SP1):
 In WDM or WASAPI mode for some audio devices, SONAR LE reports an "Unable 
to Open..." error when attempting to record w/ multiple input drivers. This may occur when 
SONAR LE attempts to open more than one input for recording when "Allow Arm Changes 
During Record Or Playback" is selected in Transport | Record options. This problem is most 
likely caused by the driver disallowing multiple inputs to be used simultaneously.
 As of Vista SP1, WaveRT drivers for onboard audio devices do not work in Vista 
X64 while running the 32 bit version of SONAR LE. This is due to a problem with WOW64 
in Windows Vista X64 that has been reported to Microsoft. This issue has been addressed by 
Microsoft Windows 7.

WASAPI Wave Profiling in Windows Vista

Prior to wave profiling in WASAPI we recommend that you profile your audio hardware at least once
in WDM mode. This allows the WASAPI wave profiler to pick up the driver preferred DMA settings 
from WDM. 

This is required because some drivers perform better with these settings and WASAPI does not 
provide any mechanism to get the driver preferred values. This issue has been addressed by Microsoft
Windows 7.

3
Windows 7

At the time of this writing Windows 7 was still in a Release Candidate phase.  SONAR LE is 
officially supported on the shipping version of Windows 7 available October 22 nd 2009.  We cannot 
support any beta or release candidate versions.

The following issues are known problems with Windows 7:

In WASAPI mode if you set the audio latency lower than 4 milliseconds, you will get an error 
message that the audio device does not support the current format. This is a known bug in the 
shipping version of Windows 7 and has been reported to Microsoft.

Upgrading to SONAR LE from an Earlier Version of a Cakewalk

Product

SONAR LE SETUP does not overwrite your existing MASTER.INS file. That file contains 
the instrument definitions that SONAR LE 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.

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

4
Known Issues

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 LE. We will update SONAR LE’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 delay compensation re-sync

Some plug­ins such as iZotope Ozone 4 and various UAD plugins, change their internal delay (PDC) 
dynamically when certain parameters are modified, presets are changed or internal plugin routing is 
changed. When a plug­in changes its internal delay, SONAR LE will detect this and re­sync all tracks
in the project to this new delay value. While this is done you may hear a momentary interruption in 
playing audio. This is normal and required in order to keep tracks in sync and delay compensated.