I think I'm about to cry -- please help!

[stmain]

Hi folks, I've been working on a small film I'm scoring, deadline in three days, and I've been using GPO in VST mode in Sonar 5 (PE). Just half an hour ago I saw this:

Garritan Personal Orchestra
Error parsing input file at line 23004
<parse error>.
The loaded patch might be corrupt.

And Sonar then closes. I took out my GPO disk and recopied the .nki libraries from the disk onto my harddrive, but same thing.

Then I read somewhere here on the forum where someone else had had that problem, and it was suggested that he open Sonar in Safe Mode (holding down the Shift key, which allows Sonar to ask you if you want to open individual patch banks). I did that, told it NOT to open the suspect bank, and then it seemed to slow up, I told it several times more not to open. And then it crashed (again). And now Sonar says it can't find my file. (I can still see it on my desktop, but when I open, same "parse error.").

Question: should I re-load GPO entirely? I'm not thinking it's a Sonar issue since the error message clearly says GPO over the top. Any thoughts? This couldn't happen at a worse time for me and I'm kinda desperate.

Steve

[stmain]

Welp, I'm so desperate that I uninstalled GPO entirely. But in the meantime, Sonar doesn't let me open the file at all -- it says that this file is "not compatible with this version of Sonar."

SO maybe I'll uninstall Sonar and re-install both?

I've already scoured the SONAR forum for ideas, can't seem to come up with much good news.

I'm afraid I may have lost this entire project. Two weeks gone completely. Wow. Not sure what to do here.

Any help is appreciated, folks.
Steve

[Styxx]

Oh geezzzz hang in there someone with Sonar knowledge I am sure will chime in to help! In the interim, I have a funny feeling it is not GPO causing the problem.
Hang in there you're in the right place to ask! ;)

[billp]

Steve,
1. Are you able to load other SONAR projects?
2. Do you have S4 or S3 PE? I think they will load S5 and S4,S5 files respectively, ignoring features of the later versions (S3 doesn't support folders, for example).
3. By some outside chance, did you have autosave on and not know it?

If you are desperate enough, you can send me the file and I'll try to load it here (Berkeley).

[Markleford]

Cakewalk is very helpful with projects that won't load, as they're extremely keen on wanting to fix every bug possible! Contact customer service.

Otherwise, you can try to open the file while holding down the SHIFT key. This will cause SONAR to interactively ask which plugins to load.

- m

[stmain]

Howdy all, thanks for responding

Bill: yes, I am able to load other SONAR projects, and otherwise to open SONAR just fine.

I also do have Sonar 4 -- actually, in terms of disks, I have the full Sonar 4, and then the Sonar 4-5 upgrade.

No, I didn't autosave, only because I didn't understand why it would help me (I save compulsively about every 90 seconds as it is). But now I'm beginning to grasp the idea that when Sonar autosaves, it actually places the file somewhere ELSE, so that if the main file craps out, you've got something.

Lastly, I'd be thrilled to send the file to you right now... let me know where to send it. It's about 640 KB.

Markleford: thanks. Do you know a quick number where I can reach them, or is it just on their website?
Also, I have tried to open Sonar in safe mode, as you suggest, and avoid loading the plugins, and it still ends the process by telling me that the file is "incompatible with this version of Sonar." :confused:

Steve

[Markleford]

1-888-CAKEWALK, or send an email from their website form.

Good luck!

- m

[Haydn]

Sounds like a corrupted file since it won't load in safe mode. It sounds like the file header info is corrupted since it gives you the version error. This can happen if you save a file and then immediately do something that crashes Sonar. Since disk caching is usually turned on, the files do not immediately save. If a crash happens during the delayed write, then a corrupted file can occur. I've had this happen to me in the past.

I always work between 2 copies of my file. When saving I do a regular save and then a Save As to the other copy. This has saved me many hours of lost work. Also, I do regular backups of my work to other computers and to tape backup. Can't have too many copies.

It's possible that Cakewalk support does have a workaround for this issue although I've never contacted tech support for it as I've always gone back to my 2nd copy.

Jim

[stmain]

Thanks, I'm calling right now...