AZSlow

I have a Cakewalk/Sonar project that opens perfectly in that DAW, but it doesn't recover anything in Reaper 7.42.

I'm using the latest version of the DLL.

Could you take a look at it? Where can I send/make it available?

Please upload .cwp (audio files are NOT required) somewhere and PM me the link (google drive, etc. have such feature).

Quote from: azslow3 on July 24, 2025, 11:19:47 AMPlease upload .cwp (audio files are NOT required) somewhere and PM me the link (google drive, etc. have such feature).

...AZ: I have saved the link and removed it, the forum is public...

I'm migrating several projects because I need to resume production on a new album. I'm putting them in this shared folder. One thing I've noticed is that projects that contained videos aren't bringing them back into Reaper. So, after the migration, I have to put the video back into the Reaper project.

One of the issues I'm having is that when I migrate the video to Reaper, the track keeps the sound file with it, whereas in Cakewalk there's a separation.

I can confirm some files can't be converted at all. I will investigate the reason.

Those which are converted looks reasonable, but I will check what kind of warnings they produce.

Video track is not converted by ReaCWP (no-one so far has ever tried/requested that...). Adding video to conversion is a complicated task, so please don't expect that in foreseeable future.
 
As with many other things, video in REAPER is not the same as in Cakewalk. You will need to find reasonable for you way to deal with that.

Quote from: azslow3 on July 25, 2025, 04:56:03 PMI can confirm some files can't be converted at all. I will investigate the reason.

Those which are converted looks reasonable, but I will check what kind of warnings they produce.

Video track is not converted by ReaCWP (no-one so far has ever tried/requested that...). Adding video to conversion is a complicated task, so please don't expect that in foreseeable future.
 
As with many other things, video in REAPER is not the same as in Cakewalk. You will need to find reasonable for you way to deal with that.

Thank you very much for the review.
I really don't expect a conversion regarding the Cakewalk video migration to Reaper, but I hope this is at least verified and that other possible conversions are performed with a message like: THE CAKEWALK PROJECT HAS VIDEO AND WILL NOT BE INSERTED INTO THE REAPER PROJECT.

As it stands, it doesn't perform any conversions under this condition.

If you could convert the project to whatever is possible, that would be a huge step forward, since currently, it's unclear what the conditions are for not opening the project.

Thank you very much.

Reporting there is not converted video is a different thing (there are many features which are not converted, most of them are not even detected... I mean I don't know how they are defined in the project)

But the part of the project which can be converted should be converted, even in case it has video, so that I am going to fix.

Please try b73 test build of ReaCWP (https://www.azslow.com/index.php?action=downloads;sa=view;down=57)

It should be able convert projects with video (not converting video, just not breaking existing conversion).

Video conversion is theoretically possible (I have found related section in .CWP, when not empty it was breaking the converter since I had no idea what it is). But implementing that is not one minute task.

About your projects:
* FX chains are not converted in general, but in addition trigger warnings about preset format. So
* reverb FXes are not there (FX chains) and increase warnings counter
* not reported to the user (printed by debug version...) are skipped ProChannel modules

The rest should be fine, if the code works as desired.

Note that ReaCWP is not working properly with not ASCII characters in file names. CWP files have many strings in (old) Windows single byte encodings. What is correct encoding is probably also in the file, but I don't know where... so I don't "re-code". Most users are from US... many international users (like myself) try to avoid not ASCII when using "old style" programs. And so that was not a big issue. But it seems like in your case it can be, sorry for inconvenience. 

First, I'd like to thank you for your kindness in evaluating and implementing this version, and for sharing my checks on this. Since I live in Brazil, where Portuguese is the spoken language, I still have many projects that insert accent marks, not only in project names but also in tracks, which the code doesn't address.

1 - I tried to remove accented words from the names, and in some cases, it worked without any problems.
2 - In others, it crashed. I reopened it in SONAR and saved it without accent marks, after replacing all the accent marks in the tracks, but the error persisted. I'll make this project available to you in the same share.

Question:
Would it be possible to list the issues found in the warnings?

You mention that x warnings were found during the conversion. If these warnings could be included in the project's notes field, I believe they could improve the project's preparation in SONAR for a migration closer to the source.

Thank you very much.

I have tried TesteQuestao2020.CWP in Windows and Linux and it was converted as expected.
Note I don't have most plug-ins used in this project.

What you mean by "it crashed"? Real REAPER crash? If yes, does that happened after you see ReaCWP info dialog (where you see the number of warnings)? If you don't see ReaCWP dialog before crash, I have to try find the reason... If you see it, the conversion itself is over and the crash probably happens during plug-in(s) instantiation. In that case you need to troubleshoot using REAPER methods (it has way more then Cakewalk...).

In some of your example projects I see non-ascii characters in track names (and other places). And they seems like displayed correctly in REAPER. Cakewalk has switched to UTF-8 ~ in 2020. REAPER is using UTF-8. So that should work fine. For old projects with non ascii characters it make sense re-save in CbB/New Sonar, with hope that will convert these strings correctly.

In my quick check, old Sonar X2 doesn't display characters correctly if it is started with wrong OEM locale. I mean it can happened there is no codepage info in old projects. Theoretically I can try to use current OEM locale during conversion in case I detect non-utf8 characters, but that is tricky.

Please download b74 from the same place, it should be able load files with any name.



 

And now b75.

As I have written in other thread, errors and warnings are "logical bugs" and they are reported as such. Normally easy to understand for me from where it comes (and consequences), but will probably just confuse normal users (like "section N is not found for node M", "unexpected format of V", etc.).

In other words, warnings and errors mean converter hit something unexpected in the project, a good reason to contact the developer (me) for the explanation and possibly fix.


But I have introduced some info in b75, at the moment just which FXes are excluded from conversion (CW specific ProChannel modules and FX Chains).

Excellent! The messages you posted are very enlightening for those who have worked with SONAR for many years and allow me to correct the original project for a better migration. I'd like to share my thoughts on the messages:

FX chain '0 - Bass Drum' in 'BUMBO', not supported -
CWP-specific module 'SMOOTHER' in '1-VOZ' is skipped - This is a constant effect from SONAR's ProChannel.
FX chain '0 - Reverb Room' in 'Room', not supported - This is a set of SONAR FX. A feature that allows me to create an effects chain. This allowed me to open the source project and move the existing effects in the chain into the track, allowing me to have the effects individually. This is a great improvement, as it's a feature widely used by SONAR users, and it would be a huge loss not to have it in the migration. In Reaper 7.42, if I'm not mistaken, this is what's being called a Container.
FX chain '0 - Reverb Hall' in 'Hall', not supported - Same.

In your migration process, these issues you started mentioning in the Reaper project notes are issues for the users who are migrating. So I think it would be important to report their existence in your Message Box at the end.

Only display this message (No problem occurred during conversion) if there were no warnings.
Something like: There were no conversion errors, but check the Notes for this project.

I'm migrating several projects and your implementation has already given me a tremendous recovery.

I have just uploaded b76....

It happened unrolling FX Chains was relatively simple.
I know, putting them into REAPER 7 Containers is better. But that requires more coding, so not for today.
Also REAPER Containers have no separate Input/Output levelers, so conversion can't be exact in any case.
For that reason I still put note about unrolling.

Well, there are MANY things which (can) exist in CW project and are not converted / not detected / etc. ReaCWP teleports way more then any other cross-daw converters/formats, but I still can't write "everything except <short list>". I mean it make little sense to write in Notes what is not converted (in most cases I don't even know things are in the project).

BTW I forgot to write: big thanks for the communication. Most "users" try it... get frustrated... years later write somewhere "this thing doesn't work" 

Thank you, and I'll definitely revisit your implementations.

I was a Visual Basic, VB.Net, C++, and other developer for several years, and I know exactly what you're saying.

I'll send you a few more.

1 - The Preset Chain conversion was perfect, as it alerts you in project notes and separates the plugins on the track. With the previous version, I was opening the project in SONAR and inserting the plugins outside the chain. This is now perfect.
2 - In the SONAR project, many tracks appear to have no ProChannel input, even if I configure it with an "empty" preset, it's never empty. So I understand you're including a ReaEq instead.
3 - Another thing I still don't understand, but it must be because there's some kind of tag in the SONAR project that informs me that some tracks are including empty takes.

2.

I will start with an example for MIDI tracks. MIDI tracks have "parameter controls" which send particular CC, f.e. volume, chorus and reverb. When "Chorus" is at (default) 0, should Sonar technically "send" corresponding CC? If you have never "touched" it, logically you probably don't want it is set. But what should happened if you has touched it? It can happened that was a mistake, you reset it back to zero and "don't want it". But it can also happened you have explicitly set it to zero. For that reason there is a separate "Disable" option for all these controls, Sonar "enable" them whenever you touch them. But you have an option to "disable" at any time.

But such parameters "always exist", there are not created "on the fly".

ProChannel modules are complex and dynamic (unlike "filters" in old Sonar they replace, which was fixed). You probably don't want instantiate every module initially visible on every strip. But what happens if you touch any parameter? Sure, you can "disable" it as for MIDI parameters. But unlike MIDI parameters, which are "always there", you have already "instantiated" the module. And so, to be consistent, you need something else to "de-instantiate". In any case, you have to keep "preset" for changed parameter. The same in case your "default" preset is not "empty".

And now to ReaCWP. CWP is a binary format, any flag/parameter has to be deducted. There is no "de-instantiate" GUI control and so I don't know when (and if) a module is "not loaded" in case there is "preset".
ReaCWP instantiate ProChannel module (currently ReaCWP EQ only, but can happened FX Chains are also there, I have not checked yet) in case: ProChannel is not disabled for the track and there is preset for it.

By default, Sonar name them as "Proxy" and don't include presets. So there will be no ReaEQ. But templates and touching something in ProChannel change that. And I don't know what else I can use to decide.

3. lanes mapping is tricky, especially with comping, I guess I have not added "deleting" into the logic. There was some difficulty with empty lanes (I don't remember what exactly). There is "Delete lanes with no media items" Action (and other) for quick "fixing" the result.