New piece of Cake-Walk, two new versions of Sonar...

[christianmusicmaker]

mmm interesting...does it have the same audio/midi capabilities as full Sonar? I was considering getting Sonar to combinet it with FL, mainly for hardware synth's usage...

As far as audio / midi capabilities are concerned, from the information on the Cakewalk website the answer would be yes for audio and yes for midi.

The only difference as far as audio capabilities are concerned are the audio track count which is capped at 64. Enough for probably most needs I assume.

I am not sure if folder tracks and nudge for instance made it into SHS but I would imagine most people are more interested in a single interface to avoid having to use multiple windows.

Of course just getting a version of Sonar4 for considerably less than Sonar4 Producer, that is not radically limited in key features but quite similar, is also of interest to a fair few producers out there as well I imagine.

Sonar HS has *no* track limit for midi tracks and the piano roll looks identical to Sonar4 Producer.

It is also a rewire host with 24-bit/192 kHz support.

Of course S4 Producer has other goodies like surround,Pow-r dithering and Mpex3 which SHS does not have. My guess is the current feature set will be enough for a good number of users.

Although it does not have a video track it does have a video view,notation features, control surface support, a very interesting looking RXP Dxi Drum machine / groove box and a reverb plug based on the Sonitus technology. The sonitus reverb is brilliant.

I use Pristine Space - Voxengo's convolution masterpiece and the Sonitus reverb is almost as good to my ears.

Here is one feature SonarHS does have that Sonar 4 producer does not...a copy of Pyro express for CD burning.

[garret]

mmm interesting...does it have the same audio/midi capabilities as full Sonar? I was considering getting Sonar to combinet it with FL, mainly for hardware synth's usage...

For the most part, yes. It looks like they've changed up the limitations of HS for this renamed version... it used to be unlimited audio tracks, but limited DX/VST instances.. .I think 24. The specs for this version say 64 audio tracks, but I didn't see where they capped the num of plugin instances. So maybe there's no cap.. that would be nice given that it's not hard to exceed 24 now.... there's no built in channel strip in HS, so you have to us at least one plug for every channel if you want eq/compression/gating. (That's one more reason I love wavearts trackplug... it conserves plugin instances).

From Sonar's featureset, the only thing I've noticed and wish I had is the fit improvisation feature, which generates a tempo map from midi data. I don't know how well it works anyway, but it sounds intriguing.

-Garret

[dusted william]

Why would someone want this instead of P5 V2?

dw

[christianmusicmaker]

Why would someone want this instead of P5 V2?

dw

I think there are quite a few people out there that want to use a host that has a traditional mixer view which P5v.2 does not have, but SHS does.

P5v.2 does have an inspector / channel strip but so does Sonar Home studio.

Clearly with so many Cakewalk sequencers available now at different price points and with different views and features, there is a degree of overlap.

I guess Cakewalk want to cover as many bases as possible.

Another reason someone would want to buy Sonar Home studio is if they want to buy Sonar4 Producer at some point in future but cannot afford it now. $959 for Sonar 4 Producer is simply too much for alot of people.

Many buyers will put their money down for a particular product if the price is below a certain point. Group buys tend to bring out buyers who would not consider a product simply because it is beyond their budget.

They can certainly familiarise themselves with this new version of Sonar and easily get the job done just as well but for less money, but the full upgrade path is always there should they decide to go for the top end version of Sonar4 at some point in future.

Also buyers interested in Sonar's video features will not find them in Project 5v.2.

Unless they buy Sonar4 Studio or Producer, the only other option now is the two new versions of Sonar which both appear to have video features but not quite as extensive as Sonar 4 Producer.

I think there is another Cakewalk product that has video features as well but not P5.

Some users of P5v.2 will rewire back into Sonar to finish off a track, so again if having to use two packages is a problem then getting SHS instead of P5v.2 may be a better choice.

Frankly P5v.2 is a full DAW with everything needed to finish a track, so is SHS, so I guess it may come down to price at the end of the day.

P5v.2 is around £200 here in the UK.

I think Sonar Home sutdio is around £125 - Tracktion2 territory.

Some users prefer a product they can grow into rather than a package that just meets all their needs now.P5.v2's lack of notation features is another reason someone may get SHS instead.

Almost missed this...Sonar Home studio also has Sonars Drum editor which being part of the Piano roll view will also be fully integrated into the main screen. Project 5 does not have a drum editor as such but you can see the sample names on the tasty looking P5 Piano roll anyway.

The Sonar4 drum editor is more flexible and powerful in my opinon but possibly not as quick to set up as P5.All down to preferred workflow at the end of the day.I have used both and you can achieve the same thing with either approach really but the Sonar drum editor is a more dedicated environment for drums.

Cakewalk have quite a few packages at the moment which seem to cater for just about every need. Of course thats just my view but I think the multiple window issue is buried and the viewpoint some have with Sonar being complicated is clearly being addressed by Cakewalk...

How easy is it to use? http://www.cakewalk.com/Products/HomeSt ... erview.asp

EDIT: Also the very useful navigator view which can be dragged down also makes its way into SHS but is not present in P5.v2 which is aimed at a slightly different market really.

[mumpcake]

Looks great, like Cakewalk have finally figured out what to do with Home Studio... I've been using it since HS 2002, and it's a terrific package at a very reasonable price.

I've been calling it Sonar's little brother for ages now... nice to see they've made it official.

The first time I saw it, I missed reading the "Sonar" part. I was thinking, they went from HS9 to HS2002 to HS2004 to HS2 and now HS4?

Home Studio has been based on the Sonar engine since HS2002, though. I now use Sonar, but much of what I do I could have done just as well had I stayed on the Home Studio upgrade path.

[mumpcake]

I noticed the RXP DXI in the XL version plays sfz loops, and they've also bundled RGC's Square 1. Neat!

Doug

I read on these or CW boards that CW wanted to make inroads into the instrument market, and was planning on bundling more instruments with their products. I wonder if we'll see any of these included in S5S or S5P.

[christianmusicmaker]

Dimension shows that Cakewalk are taking the instrument side of their products to completely new levels. Dimension is fantastic. I expect to see something similar but even more fully featured in Sonar 5.

Not sure if any of the new SHS plugs will make it to Sonar 5 though.

[christianmusicmaker]

Two new Sonar Home studio video clips...

http://www.cakewalk.com/Products/HomeStudio/video.asp

Of particular interest to me was the Instruments video. About half way through it goes into detail about the RXP Dxi rex + acid drum machine...very nice.

It's similar to Cyclone but with Rex file support.

The menu's and design are almost identical to P5v.2's Dimension.