Sonar

[Chris Merritt]

Discuss this awesome sequencing software for PC!

[Chris Alpiar]

I started on Cakewalk 1 for DOS and grew with it over the years. I was a rebel at Berklee where everything was Opcode Vision, then later Studio Vision Pro. I still worked with Opcode lots but I alwasy kept Cakewalk. But I got to ProAudio 9 and then I got a mac and I realized while Cakewalk was cool it doesnt touch DP! Now I am back on a PC and struggling with Cubase SX3, maybe Its time to check out Cakewalk once again :)

[Larry G. Alexander]

I have been using Cakewalk products since the beginning of Cakewalk. Their latest software, Sonar 6, has so many features that it's mind-boggling. Maybe it's feature over-kill.

Since I have never used any other types of sequencer software, I don't know how Sonar 6 stacks up with others. Sonar 6 MIDI editing functions leave something to be desired, in my not so humble opinion. :O)

Regards to all,

Larry

[Chris Merritt]

Could you be more specific about the midi functions? What's missing?

[Larry G. Alexander]

One of the MIDI shortcomings of Sonar is the entering of accidentals in the staff view with your mouse. The process is very awkward.

Larry

[Chris Merritt]

You know, I have never used Sonar's staff view. I just never need it. When I enter notes, it's through a keyboard, and if I need to modify, I usually just replay it, but sometimes use the piano roll view. I would say that the other sequencers are better at notation in general.

[Larry G. Alexander]

Yes, and don't get me started on the notation and score printing "features" of Sonar. It's like pulling teeth to print music manuscripts and then the result is pretty sucky.

The good features certainly outnumber the bad, however.

Larry

[Chris Alpiar]

yea i always export general midi files and then work off that in finale when its time for parts, tho John Hinchey has some cool ways of importing to finale in other ways, he talks about it in his notation group at http://composersforum.ning.com/group/notationsolutions

[DACH]

I liked versions of Cakewalk through V3 - that's the ONLY program I've been happy working in the score view. after they got rid of the dots and added audio I had issues. It's just not for me... I've heard it's great now but I have no desire to switch....

[Brian DeBruine]

I have been using Sonar for the past 4 years but have just recently switched to Cubase. The reason that I switched is that the notation (scoring) features of Sonar are essentially nil. However, Cubase is nearly as full featured as Sibelius or Finale. Anyone interested in creating written scores for their music (and who isn't?) should strongly consider Cubase. I purchased Cubase Studio 4 which is lower-priced than the full Cubase, but yet has all the midi sequencing, VST plug-in support and audio editing features I need. I believe Studio and Cubase have identical scoring capabilities.

[Emma-Jane Vinyard]

When I got back into home recording again after a few years' lay-off (having had to return the Atari ST to its owner several years previously), I started on Cakewalk Home Studio, purely because it came with a serial > midi cable, and in those days I just had a bog standard PC with a soundblaster soundcard and very little knowledge about setting up home studio PCs.

I now have a dedicated music PC with an audiophile card, and in the past 7 years have upgraded from Home Studio to Sonar 2, and am now up to 5 Producer edition.

I am so familiar with Sonar that it would be very hard to switch sequencer now, and I do find it very user friendly in general, but I do have a few gripes with it, and cakewalk's customer service leaves much to be desired.

My main problems were dxi / vst based. On Sonar 2, you had to purchase f-xpansion's adapter separately. This worked fine on most plug-ins. Then came the upgrade to Sonar 5PE, and the built in adapter lost all my plug-ins! I spent hours moving, deleting, reinstalling my plug-ins, and had ongoing dscussions about this on the cakewalk forum, and emailed customer support a number of times, who basically told me to do things I'd already done (despite having told them clearly everything I'd tried!).

Anyway, to cut a long story short, I eventually solved it by switching off the internal adapter, and running the old fxpansion one. This is OK, but there are a few oddities. Preset names don't show up in some plug-ins (e.g. Mr Ray electric piano), and Trilogy now suffers terrible latency. The Grand, after tweaking a few notes in staff view, or transposing a track, decides it will suddenly cut every note off immediately, (or the opposite, sustaining notes for ever!). To rectify this, I have to close Sonar and re-open. After a few closes, it crashes my machine and I get the notorious BSoD!

I'm sure an upgrade to 6 would help my problems, but the thought of going through hours and hours of frustration again should it delete all my plugins fills me with dread, so I haven't bothered!

Sorry for the long post!

Emma

[Chris Merritt]

Wow you seem ticked enough to go try out Performer for a while!

[Emma-Jane Vinyard]

I am actually very tempted to buy a Mac and switch to Logic...