Goodbye Sound Forge

Olec wrote on 3/22/2026, 4:41 PM

Like a lot of people here, I've been a lot time user and a fan of Sound Forge since version 4.5c, when was it still developed by the amazing Sonic Foundry. It (was) a brilliant editor. Easy to use, fast, reliable. Things got much worse after version 15, when Magix started to introduce bugs and UI "improvements", but could not roll back.

For the last few years, have been using their subscriptions. Finally decided to buy it. And after spending $250CAD (which is a lot of money for me), found their registration / licensing module is broken - it was not happy with they key I got from Magix. Tried to uninstall the pre-existing SF Pro, but that failed too (their uninstaller fails to locate some forge180_365.msi). Tried cleaning registry, files, etc. Nothing, still can't install the latest v18.

And now I'm stuck in limbo - can't install the new version (it complains about the existing version) and can't uninstall the previous version, there's nothing else left to delete.

I had enough at this point. So long Sound Forge. You've been a great editor. It so sad to see what they've done to you.

 

Comments

SP. wrote on 3/22/2026, 9:10 PM

@Olec Which error message are you getting?

Olec wrote on 3/23/2026, 11:37 PM

Just please do not ask me to uninstall previous versions, or anything like that. Everything there was to uninstall - has been uninstalled, everything that failed uninstall - has been deleted or cleaned up from the registry, yet the problem still remains. I'm DONE.

Luckily, I've found an old version of Sony SF (not Magix) that kind of still works (half of the plugins don't work, but I'll figure this out).

At this point I just want to get my money back and forget about this like a bad dream.

SP. wrote on 3/24/2026, 2:54 AM

@Olec

Everything there was to uninstall - has been uninstalled, everything that failed uninstall - has been deleted or cleaned up from the registry, yet the problem still remains.

Obviously, that's not the case. Otherwise it would work. The installer still finds some remaining files or entries in the Windows Registry.

Which operating system are you using? In case you're still on Windows 10, it's highly recommended to use the Windows Troubleshooter to remove or install problematic programs instead of manually deleting files and registry entries.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/topic/fix-problems-that-block-programs-from-being-installed-or-removed-cca7d1b6-65a9-3d98-426b-e9f927e1eb4d

rraud wrote on 3/24/2026, 9:37 AM

I always use Revo Uninstall when removing programs from my PC. The free version is adequate in most cases,
https://www.revouninstaller.com/products/revo-uninstaller-free/

That said, I have multiple versions of Sound Forge installed going back to SFP-10 and all still coexist without issue.. though I am very disappointed in the evolution.