Although in the last few years Sonar has consistently gained industry recognition for innovation and features, for some reason it seems it's still treated as an after thought and an underdog by the music-making crowd. Why is that? It seems the pre-Sonar Cakewalk stigma is still kind of attached and people just seem to not think about it and only mention Cubase, Live, Logic, Samplitude...etc? (Well to be fair, no one ever talks about Digital Performer here either.)

I know we have a bunch of Sonar users here. So tell us what it is about Sonar that you love, and what features do you think it does better than other DAW's?

Believe me Samplitude gets mentioned MUCH less here than Sonar, Cubase and Reaper.

It mostly comes down to visibility and marketing dollars spent, and demographics - and which forum you are on (i.e. gearslutz, etc.).

Greg

sonar is treated like the underdog cause it is quite simply, a dog. IMNSHO.

sonar started to lose the plot right about the time ron left.

I think if their business model was better then sonar would be a really nice app today, rather than the rapidly increasing bloatware it has to become to feed it's release cycle.. craziness!

Kind regards

Dave Rich

Sonar is like the worst thing i ever bought..i had it 6 weeks and deleted it from my hard drive..if i'd known how bad it was i'd have slapped the sales person who filled me with all the crap about how brilliant a switch i was making from cubase was gonna be...
Install Sonar 8pe...find that Rapture is LE version...find that there is NO portamento feature in Dimension Pro..find a vst called Z3TA that sounds piss poor (wanna be virus) NOT!
To call Sonar an underdog would be correct 100%..Bugs from day one until i downloaded 8.3 but by then it was too late i was sick of not getting anything done so i cut my losses and bought Cubase 5 and everythings back to normal.

Also cakewalks policy of not being allowed to sell on software means that i now have a brand new box that is useless that i cannot sell.. [mod edit: no, that is not acceptable.]

Don't get me wrong some people love Sonar but it's just not for me..wish i'd never set eyes on it or allowed that squirmy little f**ker in the music store to convince me it was great...

Rob

yeah that no resell crap is illegal in the uk anyway.

If you bought it with your credit card take it back and demand a full refund, if you dont get it call the card company and they'll get you it.

Kind regards

Dave Rich

Hi Dave

i still even got the reciept in the box...date of purchase everything..it's basically useless mate..contacted cakewalk and they won't help..may stick it on ebay with conditions telling user that it's the latest stable version but you get no support hehe..honest mate it's brand new in the box.
p.s
once you register it there ain't no refunds according to cakewalk support so it's install at your own risk and if you agree to terms then that's your cash bye bye
rob

It's pretty simple: a few companies got used widely right from the inception of the recording industry, and once people get used to (and spend lots of money on!) their tools of choice, it's hard to shake them loose. And when you look at the timeline, Sonar was pretty late in coming to the pro-level table - and even then, they're windows-only - and the first twenty years of pro audio were Mac-only. I mean, Cubase is still a dirty word in most pro audio circles, and that just gets worse for each less-accepted app.

It's understandable, if not unfair. It's up to you to prove them wrong.

And that's your bedtime story, junior.

Bloody hell, has it improved that much since I last tried it?

I own version 6-8 and the last one isn't on my machine anymore....I did install dimension pro though(courtesy of Version 8 )....They seemed to have tried with the last version that is why I bought it(again)....erratic behavior is my main problem with it. Their instruments are great IMO. All of the drop outs and diagnostic just started to drive me crazy..I am using reaper full-time now...which is another underdog :_)
I have thought of getting cubase a few times....the dongle bothers me. Cakewalk needs to quit throwing out crap every year and let a product mature instead of throwing more features on a already buggy piece of software....iron the problems out and then move on...thats just my 2 cents.

So is it legal in the uk for me to sell sonar 8pe on ebay? Iv'e got version 8.3 with extra content burned to a dvd rom aswell.
I'll just explain in the item description that it's the latest version but you get no support hence the cheap sale..
rob

No, but it's illegal for cakewalk to sell you a product which you cannot then return.

seriously if you bought with a credit card you have a right to a full refund anyway,- no quibble, and if they wont do it then phone visa and THEY will take the money out of cakewalks bank account and give it back to you.

Not to mention all the other consumer protections in place...

Just to be clear it the retailer you should be after, not cakewalk. You are legally protected and if you find the product not fit for purpose you have a legal right to a refund. End of story.

The more people do this, the quicker people like cake will think again because retailers will cease to deal with them.

Kind regards

Dave Rich
Last edited by daverich on Wed Apr 15, 2009 1:14 am; edited 1 time in total

double post

I think Sonar gets mentioned plenty around here. It's a full featured host that can stand with the best of them in most areas. It really has improved in the past few years, including the introduction of features that either are or were at the time, unique.

I think the problem has been nailed though, in that there SEEM to be a lot of bugs. I personally don't experience much, but it's not perfect. I know I'm frustrated with it(though I'm frustrated with every host right now).

It's powerful and can do a LOT of things that people don't even realize. When you get to working with it, you see how flexible it can be to work with. On the other hand, they did seem to just tack on features for a while, without thinking of how they would affect the interface.

I will give Cakewalk credit for version 8. They didn't go for the sexy new features. A couple of people mentioned how they just add new features without working on the things that are there. But with version 8, I disagree. They worked on the core engine and the responsiveness of the program. Not really any new sexy features, though plenty of plugins(which it seems it the "sexy" thing to do these days as every major host is pretty much doing it).

But to be honest, the things said here about Sonar can apply to most every host in some situation. Thousands of people use Sonar every day without issue. I know several who do. Heck, I do most of the time(I'm still on V7, just for reference). And just as there are people who think Cubase, Logic, Samplitude, Reaper, etc. are buggy as all get out, some people will be unhappy with something.

Also, keep in mind that there is usually more "buzz" for hosts that either haven't been around as long, or haven't reached out to the KVR marketing segment as much. Of course hosts like Reaper will get mentioned a lot because when new hosts come along, people switch. I think it's just a trend, and doesn't really mean much. Nothing is better or worse. The older hosts don't really openly market to KVR, and many users have been with those programs for years. They aren't spreading the word as much because they don't need to. People already know what they are.

So to put a long and boring and pointless post into a quick thought; Sonar is great, but not for everyone. I wouldn't consider it an underdog by any stretch, and don't think it gets treated as such.

I do have a few wishes, but that's for another post.

Brent

Rob, why didn't you try the demo 1st?
Last edited by xx JPRacer xx on Wed Apr 15, 2009 1:17 am; edited 1 time in total