Convo Boy in Sonar

[headquest]

i wont go into the differences between sonar's wrapper and every other vst host - perhaps a search would reveal something? But it sucks, imho.

Trying to use DX effects in Ableton is far worse

Sonar comes with the Sonitus fx:Suite. Although available seperately in VST/DX format, the only provide the DX version bundled with Sonar (petty, no?). To use them in Ableton I need to insert the VB ffx4 simple wrapper, which does not allow for any automation (except wet/dry amount). Very crappy.

To be honest, as Ableton advances with each update I can see that Sonar may not be much use to me for too much longer. Trying to use a fundamentally DX environment alongside a VST one leads to an uneasy alliance at best...

...but maybe with Sonar 6, Cakewalk will again tempt me to stay in the fold

[headquest]

sonar could be the one, with live rewired to it.

See above post regarding the frustrations of having both VST and DX effects in tow.

Regarding rewire, Live 6 allows for MIDI to be received from a Rewire host when in Slave mode, but still does not host VSTs when in slave mode. So far I have found rewire glitchy in the beta versions (and have reported problems back to the Abes)... but I'm sure they will get this working properly prior to release in September.

Playing with Live 6, I'm reaching a point where Sonar has little *extra* to offer (unless you do large hardcore MIDI projects, which I don't tend to)...

[ObsoleteAcc99]

sonar could be the one, with live rewired to it.

See above post regarding the frustrations of having both VST and DX effects in tow.

Regarding rewire, Live 6 allows for MIDI to be received from a Rewire host when in Slave mode, but still does not host VSTs when in slave mode. So far I have found rewire glitchy in the beta versions (and have reported problems back to the Abes)... but I'm sure they will get this working properly prior to release in September.

Playing with Live 6, I'm reaching a point where Sonar has little *extra* to offer (unless you do large hardcore MIDI projects, which I don't tend to)...

you nailed it with the last thing. If Live's midi was more sophisticated, and if it had notation as well, it would be my main host. I am almost EXCLUSIVELY midi.

The only thing I will keep Live rewired to Sonar for is to audtion loops in tempo.

Secondly, Audition? well yes, again f you dont need midi!

[headquest]

If Live's midi was more sophisticated, and if it had notation as well, it would be my main host. I am almost EXCLUSIVELY midi.

I remember you went down the Reason-only route at one point (finding the right sequencer is a long and ongoing journey in which the destination is permantenly shifting, no?)

FWIW if you are still using Reason, both Sonar + Reason and Live + Reason are great pairs. [But as I already suggested, Sonar + Live is less so]. In the free update between 5.0 and 5.2, Cakewalk massively improved Rewire hosting in Sonar. (The famous old 16 MIDI output limitation has been removed now). It now works particularly well with Reason (it didn't before).

Secondly, Audition? well yes, again f you dont need midi!

It's fantastic for sample editing and for mastering. Indispensable here. But I rarely use the multitrack ability, except for the odd montage during the final stages of a project. Or to do a better mix of Reason projects, bounced down one track at a time (although I love the program, I do personally find mixing in Reason quite hard).

Sonar IS a fabulous piece of software, so don't get the wrong idea from my posts - given your comments it might well be the ideal choice for you at this stage. The reason that I find it a little superflous is that I do all my notation in Sibelius (notation in Sonar is not good), sample editing and mastering in Audition, use Reason as a source of instruments, and love Ableton's workflow. Between them those four provide a fairly comprehensive set of tools. Sonar attempts to replace all four in one program, but kinda falls short. But if you want an all-in-one solution it is probably the best out there at present (on Windows, that is).

Now let's get back to talking about the nice Elevayta effects...