Sonar, from a Pro Audio 9 perspective

[bduffy]

you had to process an entire clip of audio in realtime just to preview an effect! I'm not sure if they finally fixed that or not?

Long gone - insert FX in bin & press play.

Oh! per-clip FX! I forgot about that in the new version. Sweet.

Man, go for Sonar!

[birrbits]

By the by, there is a Sonar 5 demo now:

http://www.cakewalk.com/Support/kb/kb2005298.asp

Awesome, thanks for pointing this out. the download > trial versions only seems to link to the Sonar 4 demo.

[Ron Kuper [Cakewalk]]

My very 1st thought when the demo opened was "you have to be kidding me", the prompt screen hasn't changed since Pro Audio, nor for that matter have many of the popup windows, such as instrument mapping. So my general question is "what gives Cakewalk?" I thought Sonar was a rebuild from the ground up?

So much has changed I wouldn't know where to begin. OK, so the "migrate old settings" and some of the seldom-accessed setup windows are still flat gray. But, I suspect if you use the app for a just a few minutes you'll see how much has changed and how much better it is.

[birrbits]

So much has changed I wouldn't know where to begin. OK, so the "migrate old settings" and some of the seldom-accessed setup windows are still flat gray. But, I suspect if you use the app for a just a few minutes you'll see how much has changed and how much better it is.

I've been playing with the demo (Sonar 5 demo now) and I agree that many things seem very improved & there are many new things for me to explore. I'm at the point now where I need to stop and do a little reading because a few things aren't seeming "super-intuitive" to me at this point (such as is there a fast way to access a VST instrument panel from the main window?)...

at any rate, don't think I'm trying to give Cakewalk a black-eye. In Pro Audio's defense I still use the program to this day for manipulating midi. I am very glad that the audio engine is solid now (I can't tell you how much frustration it gave me in the past ).
But I would definately recommend that as the rest of the gui does look very nice & polished, perhaps its time to give those old gray windows a scrubbing too? (at the very minimum the default popup that most people turn off when the program starts). Thanks.

[Cyprus]

I love Sonar, it's a fairly intuitive program with seemingly limitless features. My issues thus far have been that some aspects are not nearly as intuitive as they should be. I've been disappointed with the way you have to loop midi tracks, also when editing midi it can be very cumbersome when editing a lot of notes.

There are definitely certain things here and there that I wish they would change, but overall I'm very pleased with it.

[bduffy]

...a few things aren't seeming "super-intuitive" to me at this point (such as is there a fast way to access a VST instrument panel from the main window?)...

Just double-click the VSTi's name listed on the track output.

[birrbits]

...a few things aren't seeming "super-intuitive" to me at this point (such as is there a fast way to access a VST instrument panel from the main window?)...

Just double-click the VSTi's name listed on the track output.

Thats a good way to change the name....but it doesnt seem to popup the vsti

edit nevermind, now i get it

[Brandon Ryan]

...a few things aren't seeming "super-intuitive" to me at this point (such as is there a fast way to access a VST instrument panel from the main window?)...

Just double-click the VSTi's name listed on the track output.

Thats a good way to change the name....but it doesnt seem to popup the vsti

edit nevermind, now i get it

No, double click the name where it is connected in a track I/O window or on a mixer channel strip. It will bring up the synth GUI.

[Stupid American Pig]

The synth rack is also a handy tool to pop up the GUI...

[birrbits]

Thanks guys, found em! I'll avoid asking more questions till after I do some reading...