New Cakewalk Next and Sonar

[clintmartin]

Anyone else having issues getting into the Cakewalk forum?

[frankpain]

yup

[clintmartin]

Back up.

[chk071]

They're really taking their time, aren't they?

[Saffran]

Yes.
I get the feeling now, that both Next and Sonar are going to cost money.
I also get the feeling that Sonar is going to cost more than Reaper. Which is my limit.
So i wonder what they're going to do with CbB? Set it free "as is" without updates or support would be nice, but i doubt it.

[chk071]

I'm sure that Sonar will cost more than Reaper. I would estimate about $400/400 €.

Yes, just a gut feeling.

[Saffran]

I'm sure that Sonar will cost more than Reaper. I would estimate about $400/400 €. Yes, just a gut feeling.

It sounds right. Maybe 360 euro for a year or 30 euro monthly.

[chk071]

Yeah, with the amount of time they need to release, and their legacy, I can't imagine them giving it away for very cheap. But, I think it's great to have Sonar back (one of the big names of yesterday), and another option for people looking for a good DAW.

[burkek]

If they don't have a Mac version from the get-go, they are dead in the water. Mark my words.

[chk071]

If they don't have a Mac version from the get-go, they are dead in the water. Mark my words.

Will be interesting to see if they work in that direction. So far, it only says on their website that it will support Windows, but, who knows if they won't support Mac in future versions.

I agree that it would be very beneficial (if not necessary) for a decent market share.

[Jim Roseberry]

If they don't have a Mac version from the get-go, they are dead in the water. Mark my words.

FWIW,
Logic hasn't had a PC version for years...
If you're a Mac user, you're not going to migrate to Sonar.
If you're a Sonar user, you aren't going to care about a Mac version.
If we're talking collaborating, exporting "stems" (raw tracks) works with any Application/Platform.

Not to derail into a Mac vs. PC debate, but if you're talking raw performance:
The M2 Ultra is nowhere near the performance of the 14900k.
I have both. The M2 Ultra yields performance equal to the 12900k.
M2 Ultra scores ~28-29k with Cinebench R23 multi-core benchmark.
14900k scores ~40k with Cinebench R23 multi-core benchmark.

I think the new Sonar's success/failure depends on the UI, performance/stability, and responsive support. I remember when you could talk to Greg Hendershot on the Cakewalk forums.
The industry as a whole is (IMO) really missing the personal (human) relationship... especially when it comes to support. It's nice to be able to reach a human and communicate directly what's needed.

[chk071]

Logic hasn't had a PC version for years...

Yeah, but, Logic doesn't really have the pressure to compete (and survive) on the DAW market.

Of course, Cakewalk has Bandlab behind it, but, if they offer a payware DAW, I'm sure they'll want to be reasonably successful (in their self-set frame).

[jinotsuh]

$149 a year or $49 a month and you can have it now. (Prices could be $1 or so out)

Bandlab Membership/Backstage Pass

[Kalamata Kid]

My guess is $199.
$99 intro price.

[Resonant- Serpent]

You can download it and check it out now, but they want you to pay if you want to save using the beta.

The current version includes:

UI refresh

Sonar has been completely refreshed with a clean new UI.

The UI refresh is an ongoing effort and will continue to be updated in future releases.

New dark and light color schemes

Sonar includes several color themes, including Dark, Dark Gray, Light, Light Gray, Tungsten, Mercury, and Cosmic.

Additional color themes will be added in the future.

Support for enhanced display scaling

Improves rendering and reduces blurriness, particularly for font rendering. Enhanced display scaling may sharpen graphics and make text easier to read. Improvements will be most noticeable when using large, high resolution displays (such as 4K) and with Windows display scaling set higher than 100%.

Per plugin enhanced display scaling for VST plugins.

New Quick Start screen

Open a recent project, open an existing project, create a new project from a template, download and open demo projects, preview projects, update the app.

Project preview

Preview projects from the Quick Start screen’s Local Projects page if you have exported a designated preview file.

Configuration backup/restore

Save and load backups of your Sonar configuration settings.

Cakewalk Interchange Format (CXF)

The Cakewalk Interchange Format (CXF) is a Cakewalk cross platform inter-app project file format, used to exchange projects between Sonar and Next. CXF files exported from either application can be opened or imported in both apps.

CXF is a transitory format only used for exchange. It is not intended for archival storage or backing up since the format can change at any time.

Cakewalk ZIP Format (CWZ)

The new Cakewalk ZIP (.cwz) file format is intended for backing up projects, and is also useful for moving Sonar projects from one computer to another.

Cakewalk ZIP is recommended over the older Cakewalk Bundle (CWB/BUN) format, because it does not compact the audio data, and therefore supports AudioSnap clips.

Track Manager enhancements

The Track Manager lets you configure which tracks are visible in the Track view and Console view, and you can create per-project presets to quickly show specific sets of tracks.

Per-track spectrum analyzer display in the Console view and Inspector.

ProChannel Concrete Limiter module

ProChannel Concrete Limiter is a transparent look-ahead brickwall peak limiter. It is designed to reduce peak levels without coloring the sound.

VX-64 Vocal Strip

VX-64 Vocal Strip is a multi-functional plugin that combines a series of effects specifically optimized and streamlined for vocal processing. Combining compression, expansion, equalization, de-essing, doubling, delay and tube saturation in one convenient plug-in, VX-64 Vocal Strip is designed to make it fast an easy to enhance any vocal track.

Project Start and End markers

The Project Start and Project End markers define the playback range and the export range when exporting the entire project, and can also be used as Snap to Grid landmarks.

Automation smoothing when recording

Automation smoothing now also applies to recording automation in real-time.

Specify the default automation curve type for drawing automation envelopes

Offset mode enhancements

To make it easier to visualize if a track parameter has an offset applied, Sonar shows the parameter value in an amber color when Offset mode is not active, and the parameter tooltip shows the offset value.

In-app hang detection

Sonar can now detect hangs and save a minidump file, which allows you to easily submit minidump files to Cakewalk support for analysis.

Optimization for Intel processors

Improvements to reduce CPU load when streaming silence with certain plug-ins that generate denormals.

Double-click to expand/collapse docked windows (MultiDock, Inspector, and Browser)

Toast notification when a control surface is disabled on launch

Sonar now shows a notification if you start the app while a control surface is disconnected.

External Insert ports now persist in track templates

Audio port assignments for the External Insert plug-in are now persisted in track templates.

Assignable key bindings to quickly show/hide tracks in the Track view and Console view

Create sends by dragging effects to channel strips (audio track, instrument track, aux track, or bus)

Additional snap landmarks

New Snap to Grid landmarks include Arranger Section Start Time, Arranger Section End Time, Project Start Marker, and Project End Marker.

Create tracks routed to aux tracks or patch points

The Add Track menu now allows you to create tracks that are routed to a new aux track or patch point.

Deleting a tempo in the Tempo Inspector sets the focus to the next tempo in the list

Press F2 to rename markers in the Markers view

The meter scale for Instrument tracks changes from a MIDI scale (vertical piano keys) to an audio dB scale when the track is frozen

Remove all crossfades in the current selection with the new Track view Clips > Remove Selected Crossfades command

Ability to select all tracks/buses in a control group

The new Select Tracks/Buses in Group menu command on the control group context menu makes it easy to automatically select all tracks and buses that have controls that are a member of the current control’s group. Once selected, use quick grouping to adjust all tracks simultaneously.

Clicking Sonar logo in Control Bar opens Quick Start Screen

Preview Bus is now a project-wide setting

Preview Bus and Synth output assignment is now applied across the entire project rather than per view.

Preview bus assignment can now be managed directly from the bus/mains/aux track context menus or directly from the main Project menu.

An aux track can now be designated as a preview bus.

Report bugs via the in-app Help > Report a Problem menu command

Specify default synth for use in Add Track flyout menu

Set via synth track context menu or Synth Rack menu.

Quicker access to plugin settings

The plugin toolbar now has a Settings menu button that provides direct access to Enhanced DPI scaling and plugin upsampling settings.

Friendly names for plugins (set in the Browser) are now displayed in FX racks

Note: This will apply to new instances of the plugin. Existing ones will still show the actual plugin name. New instances will show the friendly name.

Track Scale Zoom is now quick-groupable

You can now zoom the waveform or MIDI notes in all selected tracks by holding down the CTRL key and dragging up/down in the track scale.

New plugins coming soon - to be announced.

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