Dancing Dots
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Dancing Dots serves blind musicians and their educators through technology and training

CakeTalking for SONAR 8.5 Technical Support and Tips

CakeTalking for Sonar FAQ

Tips to improve performance of CakeTalking and SONAR.
Check our CakeTalking FAQ for solutions for common CakeTalking difficulties.

System Requirements

  • It is not recommended to run SONAR on a netbook machine. No version of SONAR is officially supported under Windows XP Media Edition.
  • Before installing CakeTalking for SONAR 8.5 under Windows7 or Vista, you must disable User Account Control.
    • Turning user Account Control Off in Windows7: Open the User Accounts Control Center Window. The Keywords to type in the Start Menu's search box are, "Change User Account Control Settings". Set the Notify slider to, "Never Notify".
    • Turning user Account Control Off in Windows Vista: In Control Panel, User Accounts dialog, TAB to the item named, Turn User Account Control On or Off. Press SPACE, thenTAB to the checkbox called, Use User Account Control (UAC) to protect your computer. Uncheck it. User Account Control must be turned off for optimum JAWS performance.
  • You can now install CakeTalking for SONAR 8.5 on a 64-bit machine as well as on 32-bit Windows. Instructions for installing SONAR
  • CakeTalking 8.5 for SONAR 8.5 requires that you run SONAR 8.5. SONAR 8.5.3 is a no-cost update for registered SONAR 8.5 customers. SONAR 8.5.3 requires CakeTalking 8.5.68 or later.
  • To download the SONAR 8.5.3 patch, the link below will bring you to Cakewalk's support web page where you should find a link to this patch. You will need to have your Cakewalk SONAR product Serial Number in order to download any SONAR update patches. See your product packaging or find your Serial Number under the "About" entry on SONAR's Help menu.
    See Cakewalk technical support and follow the link for SONAR Producer or SONAR Studio to download this update patch.
  • After installing CakeTalking, especially if you use a non-English version of Windows, follow instructions in the CakeTalking 1 Settings document for your version of Windows which you will find in CakeTalking's Setup folder.
  • If you use non-English Windows, uncheck "I am using an English Language version of Windows" under cakeTalking User Preferences (open with CONTROL+U from SONAR's Track Pane).
  • CakeTalking 8.5 officially runs under Windows XP Home, XP Professional, Windows Vista and Windows 7.
  • CakeTalking for SONAR 8.5 is compatible with JAWS 7.10, 8.x, 9, 10 11, 12 or 13. For Windows 7, you must use JAWS 11, 12 or 13. CakeTalking 8.5 was beta tested with JAWS 7.1 through 11. However, it has been found to work reasonably well with JAWS 12 and 13. That is, Dancing Dots does not officially support using CakeTalking 8.5 with JAWS 12 and 13 but many customers have installed CakeTalking and run it with those versions of JAWS and have not experienced significant technical difficulties doing so. If you encounter a significant technical problem using CakeTalking 8.5 with JAWS 12 or 13, run SONAR 8.5 with JAWS 11. Call Dancing Dots if the problem persists even when you use JAWS 11. Remember that you must reinstall CakeTalking after installing any version of JAWS on your system.
  • Please purchase or upgrade your JAWS for Windows through Dancing Dots. Dancing Dots represents not only Freedom Scientific, but most of the major manufacturers of assistive technology and music supplies.
  • You must use an English keyboard layout and an English version of SONAR.
  • Even if you use CakeTalking on a laptop PC you must set the JAWS Keyboard Layout to "Desktop"( JAWS / Opttions/Basics/Use Keyboard Layout).
  • For best results when using CakeTalking on your laptop, Dancing Dots strongly recommends that you use a full-size PC keyboard as many important CakeTalking functions are controlled by keystrokes from the num-pad. USB or wireless PC keyboards are relatively inexpensive. some customers have had success with auxiliary num-pad attachments but others have not.

Support

Upgrades

Upgrades for CakeTalking and SONAR.


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