Sonar 5 has arrived...

[kp]

Exactlly - they can't not offer a refund if the part doesn't work, period. It was shipped to me, didn't work, I shipped it back to them (at my expense which they should have paid), they said it did work (despite not actually testing it the right way), then lost the returned item, wouldn't reply to emails and wouldn't refund money until I contacted Trading Standards and got an official quote from them.

Now Philip Rees I like - I've met them at trade shows in the past and had a good chat with them, but they've got a very poor reputation on (for example) the SoS Web site.

[Sascha Franck]

Again, on zooming I wish someone would steal Logics approach. Hold alt, rubberband an area: zoom into area! Hold alt, click in background = zoom back to previous level. Works for multiple levels.
Then there's shortcuts for "zoom into selection" and "one zoom level back" and "back to zoom snapshot". The "zoom into selection" command allows to do it only vertically or both vertically and horizontally.
Finally, there's CTRL+arrows, which will also zoom in/out.
And of course there's the usual zoom arrows, but I haven't used them in ages.

Really, there's nothing left to wish for.

[saturdaysaint]

Sonar has that, Sascha (my preferred method of zooming as well) - hold Z and rubberband an area to zoom in, press U to go back a level (Sonar has pretty detailed keybinding templates for other hosts, so it might work exactly like Logic). The CTRL+arrows also work that way. Also, you hit Shift+F to instantly zoom out to see the entire project. This and the aforementioned Z+rubberbanding tool are the quickest ways possible to navigate a song, IMO (if not noob friendly).

[Sascha Franck]

That's sounding great, saturdaysaint.

[pitchdrifter]

Anyone know when the date for the EU release is?

[kL]

Again, on zooming I wish someone would steal Logics approach. Hold alt, rubberband an area: zoom into area! Hold alt, click in background = zoom back to previous level. Works for multiple levels.
Then there's shortcuts for "zoom into selection" and "one zoom level back" and "back to zoom snapshot". The "zoom into selection" command allows to do it only vertically or both vertically and horizontally.
Finally, there's CTRL+arrows, which will also zoom in/out.
And of course there's the usual zoom arrows, but I haven't used them in ages.

Really, there's nothing left to wish for.

Those are all very useful options -- as is the navigator pane in Sonar -- but they still require gestures, attention paid to the screen, etc.. Scrollwheel zoom can be accomplished while something else is being done with the mouse/wheel and user focus -- selection, movement, button actions, and so on.

Even though, after many years of every method, I find this type of zoom indispensible, I say, not one or the other, but the options for all mentioned.

[thunderkyss]

Those are all very useful options -- as is the navigator pane in Sonar -- but they still require gestures, attention paid to the screen, etc.. Scrollwheel zoom can be accomplished while something else is being done with the mouse/wheel and user focus -- selection, movement, button actions, and so on.

Don't take this personal, but it kills me when I'm using an app that does this as the default. Give me a modifier key, alt, ctrl+alt or something. I definitely do not want zooming to be the default. I spend so much more time scrolling up and down, and left and right, than I do zooming in and out.

[kL]

No offense taken. I feel the same in reverse.

Hell hath no fury like a musician/producer whose personal style of working is not supported by an audio program. Which is exactly my point: as supporting many methods -- as options -- is fairly trivial in effort required, I'm really surprised when a major program with many, many workstyle options has repeatedly left out one that is so simple and obvious.

(To me, of course, with all the caveats implied and due respect offered...)

[christianmusicmaker]

Now Philip Rees I like - I've met them at trade shows in the past and had a good chat with them, but they've got a very poor reputation on (for example) the SoS Web site.

Phil Rees...I may have to go the Dell route instead. You said Phil Rees has a poor reputation, do your mean on the SOS forums or in the SOS magazine reviews? I thought Phil Rees SOS review was quite favourable

Anyone know when the date for the EU release is?

Based on the information on their site it will be available to select retailers early next month. Although customers outside the US and Canada can now order Sonar 5 direct from Cakewalks website. I think that option kicks in later this month sometime.

So late September or at least early October should be the timeframe for the EU release hopefully with the full US manual.

Sonar 4 Producer costs about £120 to upgrade from S3.Producer.

I am hoping it will be cheaper to order it direct from Cakewalk I think it costs about...£90.

This is interesting...

If you have been sitting on the fence about surround usage in Sonar4 because of the cost of encoders Nero may have a solution...not sure how they have managed it, but it is worth investigating further...

http://www.nero.com/eng/Multichannel_Pl ... oPage.html

The Multichannel Plug-in contains the following components:

Dolby® Digital 5.1 Channel Decoder
Dolby® Digital 5.1 Channel Encoder
Dolby® Digital 2 Channel Encoder
Dolby® Digital 2 Channel Decoder
Pro Logic® Decoder
CPRM Read
The Nero 6 Reloaded Retail Version contains the following components:

Dolby® Digital 5.1 Channel Decoder
Dolby® Digital 2 Channel Encoder
Dolby® Digital 2 Channel Decoder
Pro Logic® Decoder

I think you might need a full copy of Nero reloaded to use it though although Nero seems quite widely used anyway. The add on costs...£10

I think Surcode stuff is much more expensive. http://www.surcode.com/

[xylyx]

Sonar 4 Producer costs about £120 to upgrade from S3.Producer.

I am hoping it will be cheaper to order it direct from Cakewalk I think it costs about...£90.

Yep, I was excited about the prospect of ordering from Cakewalk until I gave it some more thought. I think we will be looking at £125 inc p&p in the UK...the question is, how much p&p are we going to be looking at from Cakewalk? Then there is the issue of import duty...I am beginning to wonder if it will actually save any money going the direct route...

Oh, and Cakewalk have confirmed that countries where English is the native language will get the full English manual included.

[christianmusicmaker]

Oh, and Cakewalk have confirmed that countries where English is the native language will get the full English manual included.

Thanks for that. Either way even if it is more expensive ordering direct from Cakewalk, it's a nice effort on their part, at the very least, for EU customers.

[WilliamK]

I just would like to point that I got a Sonar 4 NFR directly from Cakewalk. So we could test and fix the problems we were having with our VSTi, Wusikstation.

They were very kind and sent me a boxed version at no cost. Thanks to that, we were able to improve our code.

We also got NFR copies of other hosts, like Orion Platinum, Tracktion, Live, FL5, ...

But we never got a reply about our NFR requests from STEINBERG. Shame on them. I sent a new request 2 weeks ago, nothing...

Cakewalk, thank you for your great support.

I also started making music with Sonar 4 and I'm impressed with its features and easy of use. Heck I started on the MIDI world with the old Cakewalk-MIDI software that came with a SB card. (before that I was using Voyetra for DOS) Also, only with Sonar I was able to get 10ms latency without clicks, all other hosts I tried would click after 50% CPU usage.

Best Regards, WilliamK

[xylyx]

Either way even if it is more expensive ordering direct from Cakewalk, it's a nice effort on their part, at the very least, for EU customers.

Yep...especially if it leads to everyone being able to take advantage of any special offers Cakewalk might do in future.

[beltrom]

before that I was using Voyetra for DOS

Now there's a nighmare. My first (apart from a self coded little midi sequencer) was Voyetras Sequencer+ (on copy protected 5.25" floppy). The guys raised with todays music software would have laughed as hard as my son did when I showed him the original Tennis TV-games next to his PS2...

[bmanic]

before that I was using Voyetra for DOS

Now there's a nighmare. My first (apart from a self coded little midi sequencer) was Voyetras Sequencer+ (on copy protected 5.25" floppy). The guys raised with todays music software would have laughed as hard as my son did when I showed him the original Tennis TV-games next to his PS2...

Aahahahaahh.. I'm also an ex-voyetra user!

What a small world.. man, I gotta go dig out those old floppies, they've gotta have some antique value by now! Oh, and I have an original 'pong' tv game as well!

- bManic