KVR Audio

tony Smyth · Post by **tony Smyth** » Wed Jun 01, 2005 3:43 pm

Been reading about P5, but am still a bit confused. Ok so its a bit like Reason but takes other VSTS. Great, but in what ways is it better/ superior to Sonar 4?

Next, a very important question - can its sequencer still not drive an external synth? I know this wasn't possible in Ver.1, but now? If it cant it rules out P5 for me - yes, you could firewire it but I cant afford 2 new sequencers.

Its really hard to get what I want - Live seems great but let down in the MIDI dept, Podium has real posibilities but isnt really fully equipped yet - doesnt support the Behringer Bf 2000 automated faderbox thingy for instance.......

kenfranks · Post by **kenfranks** » Wed Jun 01, 2005 4:41 pm

Sonar and P5 are different types of programs. Sonar is a sequencer, P5 is a "live" performance program with some really good synths, including "Dimension". P5 does have midi out with free "patch" available on Cakewalk's site. I use P5v2 with MusicCreator Pro (SonarLE). Also, P5 is based on "one track, one synth".
Another difference, P5v2 has one audio track, Sonar is unlimited.

atomic_(no)afro · Post by **atomic_(no)afro** » Wed Jun 01, 2005 4:49 pm

P5 2 is best for Live use, in that capacity it nails it so much better than Sonar, which frankly stinks (due to audio glitches mostly). P5's workflow is fast, but it's automation isn't my cup of tea (no breakpoints! WTF?). It works best in the studio when combined with Sonar or another DAW via rewire (not firewire), as it's workflow allows for fast song creation, but the lack of discrete outputs in stand-alone mode make it's rewire slave mode much more appealing.

ATA

epytryga · Post by **epytryga** » Wed Jun 01, 2005 5:04 pm

Sonar and P5 compliment each other....they cover some similar ground but have different ways of going about it...

I have both so, I'm in pretty good shape to compare/contrast...

As far as "midi out" to hardware synths....there is a free plug in at the cakewalk site, written by the guy who created "Dimension" and "Z3ta"....which sends midi out to external devices....you can then, if you like...take the audio out of your hardware synth and patch it in to your sound card..and record the synth as audio...for more editing, f/x , etc...

The new automation is quite excellent, IMHO...you can pretty much automate anything you like...output parameters, aux send amout, all aspects of the softsynth, midi f/x, audio f/x etc....
I use a Behringer BCR2000 and a Korg micorKontrol with P5 and it works great...

If you have any specific questions you can PM if you like...

Stairsteps · Post by **Stairsteps** » Wed Jun 01, 2005 5:09 pm

The other posters have nailed it pretty much but I have this to add ,P5 has a higher resolution than S4, also it alows for multiple synths "vsts or Dxi" to be used at once not just one at a time. It took me awhile to get comfortable with P5 cause at first it seemed like a waste but delving into it proved worth it even though im a studio musician and producer"I dont do live gigs" it still has some good functionality for studio work. Btw Ive never had any bugs with audio in sonar4, I did with sonar 2 but its all good now, also its nothing like reaktor but alot like reason.

Sepheritoh · Post by **Sepheritoh** » Wed Jun 01, 2005 5:33 pm

You can not compare Sonar and P5. SOnar cost about 5 times more for starters. It is a studio recording software and sequencer. The audio recording capabilities far outperforms P5, where audio recording is added as an extra.

That said, as all pointed out above, P5 is great for what it is meant to be.

Project 5 questions