Oh sweet jesus why do they do this to me........

http://www.cakewalk.com/Products/sonar/features.asp

Man, I wish these freaks would slow down! From 3 to 4 wasnt even really a legitimate version release, even though this one seems beefier.
They just might do the "Mars Music" growth thing, and internally combust!!

Anyway, I have bought 3 and 4, I just hope they dont stop the support for 4, as fast as they did 3......

Dumb question, but is Sonar any good?

I think its great, Bazz, but I have been a cakewalk user since pro 8, so I havent used much anything else. Almost everyone else I know around here uses it also, so Im not real privy to other apps.

It has a bit of a learning curve to it, compared to some others. I think it does TOO much, but they are trying to cover all the bases I guess.
I must say, Cakewalk is REAL fair aboiut upgrade prices for registered users.
Just dont try to get someone on the phone, the boards are more help anyway.

Thanks Guitwizz.

Just asking because a guy I've been working with is ready to drop a dime on a real sweet, loaded notebook and is thinking of moving away from Samplitude..The price really isn't that bad.

It really depends on what yer doing with it....Sonar has come a LOOONG way....especially now for native Surround support and video sync stuff....I do live multitrack audio using a Tascam Firewire 1884, and it just sings on my rig.....
Sonar 4 was like buttah.....I have noticed with 5 I have inherent CPU usage even in a stopped state......not sure what this is about....but it runs well. The 64bit engine is a bit taxing in a 32bit PC, but I'm looking forward to seeing what 5 could do in a 64bit dual core config. I've seen other stuff.....Pro Tools is nice, but pricey. Bang for the buck Sonar ROCKS for audio AND MIDI.....and since all of my audio is OUTboard on the 1884....I don't need a pricey sound card to make it all work. Just a $10 Flea Market Firewire card or my Audigy FW and I'm up and running.

I JUST got 5 so I haven't really took it out for a spin yet....Hoping for Scott Garrigus to release Sonar 5 Power soon. If yer into Sonar....GET HIS BOOKS!!!!! Sonar 4 Power is the definitive BIBLE for that program. I can't wait to see what little tricks he can teach me about in 5.

If anyone else experiences an increased CPU load in 5 for no apparant reason let me know please? I am trying to isolate the issue.

Jimmy,
I personally am not doin 5, for a while. I went from 8 (pirated) bought 9, waited till 3(bought it) to 4 (bought it), and I am getting sick of the new releases happening WAY too quick! They are going to support 4 longer than they did the last ones, probably because of griping, I dunno.... The release of 4 was pretty stupid anyway, it was a folder thing, and the surround, that was it. They realized they were behind the "Jones's" in that matter. It should have been a ,uh, "big update" or something. The relevancy of a new version wasnt really warranted at all.

I am sure 5 is much more deserving, what I have read, sounds like it.

Are you looking at the CPU usage in the Sonar taskbar?? That has ALWAYS been a terrible measurement, Im not sure why it isnt accurate. I started seeing the usage go from 10-20-5-30- percent, IN a stopped state, when I started using 3, all within seconds sometimes.... a few friends that also use Sonar, say they dont even look at that anymore. If you are looking in windoze to see the usage, then there is a funny thing going on. I would wait for the fixes to come, and they come quick with Cakewalk, which almost means in itself, "released too fast".IMHO....

Thats Fing AMAZING 2.4gb ?????? I use SAW studios and it's install files is 3.58 MB

Wow whats in that stuff your smokin'

LAter
Buzz

From Samplitude to Sonar? I've heard that Sonar 5 has some significant improvements over previous versions [I am still on v3 Producer]but as a Samplitude 8 user I would have to guess that the switch must be due to MIDI, looping, or other similar types of needs.

I get e-mails from Cakewalk constantly offering upgrade deals, package deals, all kinds of deals. Today I was notified (by Cakewalk) that I would be entered into a drawing for a dream laptop recording station automatically with the purchase of my Sonar 5 upgrade. It's the same price coming from v3 as from from v4. That wouldn't make me very happy if I were a v4 owner.

quote:

Originally posted by Bruce:
From Samplitude to Sonar? I've heard that Sonar 5 has some significant improvements over previous versions [I am still on v3 Producer]but as a Samplitude 8 user I would have to guess that the switch must be due to MIDI, looping, or other similar types of needs.

That's what I was thinking as well. I've demo'd the Sonar 4 demo and it's obviously better than Pro Audio 9 (what I started out recording on)... But it's no Samp.

But I don't use MIDI so my comments are stickly on the audio side of things.

-tkr

Im on v4 studio. The Lexi verbs are the worst I have ever heard, and I tweaked till they were sore.....I dont see how they could have even put their "name" on those plugs.....I auditioned producer, not worth the extra dough, to me anyway.

Like I said up there ^^^, cakewalk needs to re assess their directions, and growth. I will say, that because I was a "registered" user with the pro 9 on file, I bought v3 for 199,(when it came out) which is a very nice offer, on their part. They seem to have a CEO with ADD though.

quote:

Originally posted by Guitwizz:
I will say, that because I was a "registered" user with the pro 9 on file, I bought v3 for 199,(when it came out) which is a very nice offer, on their part.

I have Pro Audio 9 also, but I don't think I ever registered.... The upgrade for me would be $350 for me if I were to decide it's worth the price. It'll be interesting to see the new v5 demo when it comes out.

-tkr

I'm still on the first version of Sonar. It does what I need it to. The main reason I haven't upgraded is because I can see myself needinging more computer power if I do (1.7 gig, 512 ram). Since my big decision to get out of the box I'll mainly be using Sonar as an editing ap.

Rocky

quote:

Im on v4 studio. The Lexi verbs are the worst I have ever heard, and I tweaked till they were sore.....I dont see how they could have even put their "name" on those plugs.....

Have you checked out the R66 [as in group buy]?
It's got a demo and, in my opinion, is pretty darn good unless you have UAD, Powercore, or such.

What is the R66?

It's a reverb bySonic Flavours that has been doing a group buy ending tonight or something.

Many, including myself, thing it's quite good but others, particularly those with plug in card type of stuff [expensive] don't think it has that much to offer them.

..some just get annoyed at people such as myself trying to hype the group buy.

I forgot that their site is down for a couple of hours. That's why the group buy was extended for another day from the 15th to the 16th.

sounds cool. Not offended by the "buy". I am using the waves (not wave arts) verbs, and they seem very nice. I bought the waves pack, after using them pirated for a long time. I figured, that was the honest thing to do. Even told the sales guy that, he said, "Thats the honest thing to do"... that may be where I got that quote, dunno....

BUT, there is a verb setting in the CW "Spectrafex" that is even better than the Lexicon verbs, sounds real natural, no grainy "ckskshck"-y trailers.......

WoW! Thanks for makin this an active discussion guys! ROFL I wasn't expecting it GRIN, but seriously....now that I have had some time to test drive v5 Producer, I can say this....HOLY SH^T!!!!! I am TOTALLY impressed! The new SoftSynths are VERY nice, and the 64bit Double Precision Engine DOES make an audible difference, even if it is a bit of a system hog.

My only concern is I have noticed the CPU usage bar is at a constant 25-35% even when nothing is playing....this is rather odd.....On a 4 track trial run, using the BBE Sonic Maximizer plug in, and NI Guitar Rig on individual tracks....once I begin playback, CPU spikes into the 60%+ range. Something is really not right here considering my system specs.

Asus P4P800-VM
P4 3Ghz Northwood
1Gb PC3200 Dual Channel RAM
Maxtor Diamondmax10 250Gb SATA (16Mb cache)
Nvidia 6800GT 256
Tascam FW1884 Firewire Console

This never happened in v4, and in fact I could do 20-30 tracks EASILY with multiple plug-in instancesand rarely hit 25% CPU usage.

I have checked with and without the 64bit engine enabled and there in still some continuos usage even when no playback is present.......just not sure what is causing this. I have noticed popping and crackling on echoed audio during recroding, that isn't on the audio playback.

Am I missing something? I know I have the rig to run this, but something is causing a resource issue. Windows processes are less then 30 during recording, and I can see in the Task Manager that it is Sonar gobbling up the CPU cycles. Is this a legitimate glitch? Or am I missing a setting or something somewhere? HELP!

Okay, still no progress on the CPU usage issue, but I HAVE been able to finally dive into something y'all are probably gonna laugh at me for sayin......

I finally figured out how to use a soft synth. Yes I know, but I finally got a dedicated MIDI controller keyboard and have discovered the joys of soft synths. Now my next CD of studio music is gonna sound like ELP on crack! ROFL I am forever enthralled with all the wonderful little toys that digital music hardware/software provide. I am the type of person that can kill an entire evening just fiddling with the sound banks of a single synth, so you understand how much fun it is for me.