What would I MISS if I switched to Sonar PE 5?

[Hink]

Yes, the latest version of Wusik works without problems with SONAR.

Wk

[Hink]

...btw.. I also mention what FL lacks, perhaps you should read a bit more, but i will sum it up:

no automatic PDC
audio recording not as robust by any means
no sysex support

audio recording itself is fine, it's the lack of tools associated with recording audio that is lacking imo. TBH any audio I have recorded in FL has been fine, but no auto-punch (or any punch in) seriously limits it's use as a multi-tracker...however from what I've read in gols post FL is not designed as a multi-tracker, but the audio is for those who use audio recording occasionally...

[Jason Brian Merrill]

yeah, and for quick ideas... i do jams all the time in FL, and record a quick rythym, loop it, then record a single long track of soloing over it.

really quick and nice, but i wouldnt use it for anything extensive -- sonar definetly has it beat in this regard. But again, its all up to your workflow, and what type of stuff you do.

[Hink]

yeah, and for quick ideas... i do jams all the time in FL, and record a quick rythym, loop it, then record a single long track of soloing over it.

that's exactly why I never finish songs But I have fun

[ccollinsmith]

I've read a lot about the features of Sonar 5 PE and tried out the demo of Sonar 4. However, I was wondering if there are any features Sonar doesn't have that my current host FL Studio does?

You wouldn't miss anything except your cash, since you can use FL and Sonar side-by-side - or even use FL inside Sonar. I move a lot between the two.

[ccollinsmith]

That sounds less useful unless you have control over which ones it "sees" as with the previous wrapper.

Sonar 5's wrapper is pretty much the same as previous versions, only a little better integrated with the main program. as before you have COMPLETE control over what it sees. Compatibility has gotten better as well.

Compatibility has definitely improved in Sonar 5. Sonar 4 was buggy with a number of my VSTs. Sonar 5 isn't. But I still have a bug with V-Vocal, even though the new Sonar patch was supposed to address some user-reported problems with V-Vocal.

BTW, if you update with the 5.0.1 patch, you'll probably need to re-set the VST Configuration Wizard to point to your plugin folder(s).

[Zamyen]

Thanks for all the helpful advice. Particularly thanks to Jason for pointing out the automation bug (!)-

1. I'm amazed that automating more than 1 parameter seems to be causing problems yet it still doesn't seem to be fixed even in 5.01? (And messages about this date back a long way... it wouldn't be a limitation of DXi would it.. given Sonar converts Vst to DXi by default)

-Anyway the automation is good in FL Studio and find I use it more and more, but just was hoping for something a little more accurate from a host like Sonar.

2. Interesting that people have found Sonar piano roll to be not so great. It didn';t seem as intuitive in the Sonar 4 demo, but I figured that was because I was just used to FL Piano roll (can't teach an old dog new tricks..)

I think I'll wait for FL Studio 6 and see what that brings and use Audition to multitrack in the meantime - I think Gol said FL Studio was never intended to multitrack anyway which is fair enough I guess.

Cheers,

Zam

[ccollinsmith]

2. Interesting that people have found Sonar piano roll to be not so great. It didn';t seem as intuitive in the Sonar 4 demo, but I figured that was because I was just used to FL Piano roll (can't teach an old dog new tricks..)

I've always hated the Sonar piano roll, until version 5. I think they have made significant improvements. But the FL piano roll still rules... EXCEPT when it comes to non-4/4 meters. Sonar has FL beat hands-down, IMO, when it comes to working with stuff like 3/4 or 6/8 or an odd-meter.

I think I'll wait for FL Studio 6 and see what that brings and use Audition to multitrack in the meantime - I think Gol said FL Studio was never intended to multitrack anyway which is fair enough I guess.

Audition works great with FL. ReWire between Audition and FL is seamless, so you can mixdown your FL tracks in Audition's Multitrack view. I much prefer to mixdown audio in Audition than in FL.

[Beardedone]

Audition works great with FL. ReWire between Audition and FL is seamless, so you can mixdown your FL tracks in Audition's Multitrack view. I much prefer to mixdown audio in Audition than in FL.

How is this done exactly? I have little experience with Rewire having been quite wary of it.

[Hink]

Audition works great with FL. ReWire between Audition and FL is seamless, so you can mixdown your FL tracks in Audition's Multitrack view. I much prefer to mixdown audio in Audition than in FL.

How is this done exactly? I have little experience with Rewire having been quite wary of it.

I like using Audition in FL as my editor...just add it as a tool...to rewire with auditon just select rewire in the input channel, hit enable, select fl, select your ouput option, then hit launch...then you use your channels by how you chose the option. If you select stereo pair, one track will be used, if you select the second option all those tracks will be used, or you can select any input from the FL output to any track in AA...

[Hink]

btw beardedone...one thing that confused me was how to switch between...you do not need to use the transport in FL, but you can while composing...it is okay to close FL after you're done composing in FL, it will still play and you can relaunch FL anytime...

[Beardedone]

Very cool! Thanks Hink!

[ccollinsmith]

Audition works great with FL. ReWire between Audition and FL is seamless, so you can mixdown your FL tracks in Audition's Multitrack view. I much prefer to mixdown audio in Audition than in FL.

How is this done exactly? I have little experience with Rewire having been quite wary of it.

From the Multitrack View, go to the Options Menu. Select Device Properties. Click the button to Enable Audition as a ReWire host. From the checkbox menu that opens, select FLStudio, and click the Launch button on the Right side. This will open FLStudio.

In FL, open the file you want to mixdown in Audition. Select the Channels you want mixed. You can select a single channel in order to do your Multitracking in Audition, or you can select all the channels or any combination of channels.

Close FLStudio. It is still running, but you need to close the Window in order to get back to Audition.

In Audition, go to the track that FL is ReWired into (the track will be a lighter gray and will say that it is FLStudio). Select a time range that you want Audition to mixdown. You can test the time range first by hitting the play button and seeing how long it takes for the track to play. But in order to get a mixdown, you actually have to drag across a time range to select it.

Then you can right click inside the ReWired track and select either Mix Down to File or Mix Down to Track (Bounce). And then it mixes down.

Hope that helps.

FWIW, Audition is about the only ReWire host that works well for me for mixdown. So I hear what you're saying about ReWire.

[Hink]

From the Multitrack View, go to the Options Menu. Select Device Properties. Click the button to Enable Audition as a ReWire host. From the checkbox menu that opens, select FLStudio, and click the Launch button on the Right side. This will open FLStudio.

you dont have to do that, just use the dropdown menu on the channel inputs and select rewire...

[Hink]

6 of half dozen of the other though...