Cakewalk has announced a free update for SONAR 8 Producer and SONAR 8 Studio. The 8.3 Update will be available February, 2009, as free a download for registered SONAR 8 customers.

The SONAR 8.3 Update adds new usability enhancements, engine optimizations, classic Roland sample content for Dimension Pro and Dimension LE, and drum kits for Session Drummer 2. In addition, the update addresses various performance issues reported by customers after SONAR 8's initial release.

The SONAR 8.3 update will include:

• Snap Presets: SONAR has always provided flexibility in snap settings, allowing for audio and MIDI edits to specific musical or absolute times (to snap points, or by time intervals), clip events, transients, and markers. SONAR 8.3 introduces user-defined 'Snap Presets' that can instantly recall all of these settings in one click, providing a fast, efficient way to incorporate many edit type combinations into your workflow.
• External Inserts: Allow you to insert outboard gear into your projects, while providing sample accurate delay compensation. New optimizations for SONAR 8.3: improved sync when mixing external hardware with other plug-ins that require delay compensation; multiple external inserts can be used in the same project; improved stability on multiprocessing machines; and improved sync while looping. The "ping" test has also been improved to consistently return sample accurate offsets without any further adjustments.
• Optimized multiprocessor load balancing: More efficient handling of multithread processing for improved CPU utilization and better overall performance.
• Aim Assist enhancements: SONAR's visual guide for precision editing can now follow snap settings or automatically align to clip starts and ends.
• Vintage synth sounds for Dimension Pro: Original samples of the legendary Roland SH-101, TB-303, and VP-330, along with classic sounds of the Arp Odyssey, Moog Minimoog and Sequential Circuits Prophet5.
• Classic Drum kits for Session Drummer 2: Genre-defining original samples of the classic Roland TR-707, TR-727, TR-808, and TR-909 drum synthesizers, along with kits from Sequential Circuits Drumtraks and Linn Electronics LinnDrum.
• Guitar Rig 3 LE and TruePianos Amber Module updates: Offering support for Windows Vista x64.

A comprehensive list of all feature enhancements and refinement of the user experience will be posted when the SONAR 8.3 Update is released in February, 2009.