Active Controller Technology (ACT) — dramatically changes the way you work with your MIDI controllers and control surfaces. With ACT you are always in control. As you navigate through SONAR, ACT automatically remaps MIDI controllers and control surfaces to provide complete tactile control over virtual instruments, effects, and SONAR's mix parameters.

Synth Rack — Redesigned for SONAR 6, the new Synth Rack provides a control center for all of your virtual instruments. The Synth Rack gives you immediate access to controls of all virtual instruments populating the rack—without having to open individual instruments. Browse presets, automate, freeze, or even link together controls from multiple instruments, all from one central location. Additional highlights include: find instruments quickly with customizable synth icons and names displayed in large type; Mute, Solo; Freeze, QuickFreeze; toggle through Next/Previous Preset; Read and Write automation enable buttons; place automation data anywhere via Automation Track Selector.

Console View — SONAR's console view's redesigned, fresh look for version 6 is easier to read and to navigate, vastly improving workflow. The new user interface complements a comprehensive bussing architecture, concise automation controls, real-world metering ballistics, integrated per-channel parametric EQ with plot display, and true surround busses and panning. The dynamic console allows you to show or hide any module in the console including I/O settings, EQ plot and controls, effects bin with assignable controls, sends, read/write automation enable, mute, solo, record, interleave, phase, input monitoring, faders, stereo and surround pan controls, and large/small track icons. Show/hide all tracks, buses, or mains with a simple click. Toggle between narrow or wide channel strip views, either globally or per each individual channel. Also, new automation indicators show when a control has automation data linked to it, and updated Quick Groups provide on-the-fly grouping of tracks or busses.

Customizable User Interface — Total control in a customizable workspace: SONAR 6 puts all your favorite features right at your fingertips in a flexible user-customizable interface. Complete user control with customizable menus for easy organization and grouping of SONAR functions; global toolbars where you can show/hide any button; create your own track view control layouts; track view controls can be reordered with a simple Alt+drag move; audio hardware port naming; and custom color schemes with saturation, hue, and brightness controls.

Plug-in organization and support - Further adding to SONAR's unique level of user-customization is an enhanced and fully integrated Plug-in Manager that lets you create, edit, and save custom menu layout files. Organize plug-in menus to make finding the right plug-ins easier. Group them by user-defined type (Compressors, Reverbs, Delays, etc.) or by style (Vintage, Digital, Abstract, etc.). Choose a different layout at any time on the fly. In addition, VST support is seamlessly integrated into SONAR 6 and no longer requires an external VST to DX adapter. All VST specific operations are now performed completely within SONAR or the Plug-In Manager .

AudioSnap — provides complete, non-destructive, multi-track control over audio timing, allowing for instantaneous timing correction/manipulation of recorded parts, quantization of an audio track with the rhythm of another, lock multiple tracks into the same groove, instantly change project tempo, quickly convert audio rhythms to MIDI data, slip-stretch clips to a new time or length—even quantize multiple tracks in relation to each other. AudioSnap gives the user the choice of multiple algorithms to provide the ultimate flexibility and sound quality when working with different audio sources. Algorithms include: Percussion Mode, Groove Clip, and iZotope Radius , for high-quality time stretching.

Session Drummer 2 — Session Drummer 2 includes real, multi-sampled drum kits paired with professionally recorded drum patterns. Users can build an accompaniment by simply loading a drum kit and dragging and dropping patterns into their project. Users can also play patterns or individual drums from any MIDI controller to perform their own drum tracks. Session Drummer 2 also provides the flexibility of custom drum kits, which can be built by loading individual components on pads (including the user's own WAV, AIFF, or OGG format samples) and then adjusting volume, pan, width, and tuning on each drum. Session Drummer 2's sound quality is made possible by the included samples and MIDI patterns from Smart Loops. These samples are rendered using the non-aliasing Expression Engine, found exclusively in the Cakewalk Instruments Line. Session Drummer 2 expansion packs are in development; more information to be announced in the near future.

VC-64 Vintage Channel — offers the classic, sought-after sound of big-desk analog channel strips and dynamics processors, all within a superior in the box mixing environment. VC-64 achieves this sound quality by taking full advantage of SONAR's internal 64-bit double precision processing combined with Advanced Component Level Modeling (ACLM) developed by Kjaerhus Audio. In addition, Vintage Channel takes the guesswork out of dialing in the perfect sound by providing a comprehensive collection of professionally designed 'go-to' presets.

VC-64's powerful sound-shaping features include: double precision internal processing; multi-stage processing with up to ten selectable interconnection/routings; serial and parallel compression and EQ stages; two VCA/Opto mode compressors; two 4-band double precision,parametric EQ's with five high-quality filter types to ensure accurate alteration of any part of the audio spectrum; Noise Gate with soft knee; wideband de-esser; user-customizable signal flow including internal side chaining; zero latency for live use while recording; and full automation capability.