SONAR X2 first look

[CTStump]

Here's a rant: Uninstall. Forget the money. At least I like the TH2 update.

I'm hopeless (the 10 take joy!)

In my opinion with all things Sonar is that it needs 2 to 3 hotfixes before its almost baked, unfortunately that's usually when they drop support and move to another full upgrade.

My timing is always bad when I finally give in and upgrade, X1 didn't do it and this time I'll probably stick with 8.5.3 and get off the merry-go-round.

[Rabid]

I think that most major software releases from any company are this way. For years I would buy every-other upgrade of Cakewalk/Sonar. When they would release a "Buy now upgrade next version free" I would buy. The version on sale would have the bugs worked out, and I could try the new release without really having to depend on it.

[ShawnG]

I personally really like X2, it has quirks, but so do all DAWS. I think Cake have done a very good job with this one all things considered. YMMV

[hibidy]

Wake the dead!!!!!!!



So, that's it. I tried the x2a patch and things seemed better at first and then all the same garbage shit started happening. Random now time glitches, mind of it's own, missing midi notes, not being able to navigate because the "smart" tool isn't too bright.

I don't want to uninstall because I have some use for some of the plugs, but it's on my ignore list.

[Svarg]

Hopefully, the dead will actually wake.

So far RXP works great for me. I especially like how when you put it into "Loop Mode" you can click the various buttons for transposition and it plays the loop back with no artifacts or aliasing. Great! Now if only you could do that in a midi track! Honestly, this is a cool feature of the RXP interface that cannot be used from midi?! Oh yeah, there's a transpose envelope you can add to the synth track - it gives you transposition in Percentages??!!! Really guys?!

I'd really rather not have to resort to rewires. (Reason is not cooperating with me at the moment... unReasonable ) Surely there's a better way to do transpositions of a loop, taking advantage of RXP's capability. Anybody know anything about it?

[Spiritos]

For transpositioning you could try Dropzone instead of RMX or just bounce to clip after freezing RMX.

[Svarg]

Thank you for answering.

Yes, the sample could be used from Dropzone or frozen but unfortunately with either of those choices it then becomes a monolithic sample in which the timing is lost. Especially when playing samples that are, for instance a piano phrase, a frozen sample plays slowly at lower transpositions and quickly at higher. The timing is forfeit. Whereas with RXP in LOOP mode the timing is preserved regardless of the key used; raised or lowered, the timing remains the same and the playback is absolutely smooth and glitch free. It's a shame that such a wonderful ability cannot be used from a midi track. I'm sure the programmer went to great lengths to make such a smooth playback at a wide range of frequencies, only to be restricted to live use from a midi keyboard. It seems to me that there could be a way for that sort of data to be transmitted from a midi track, perhaps with a sysex preceding it or some such method of communication.

[deastman]

I've found X2 to be the most unstable release in quite a while. I get frequent crashes, and the now time indicator likes to disappear completely. I tried installing the X2a update, but much to my dismay I discovered that it won't install under Window XP! X2 installed just fine, but the X2a update is Win7 only. So now I'm stuck with an unstable version until I can find the time to spec out and buy a bunch of parts and rebuild my DAW computer for Windows 7.

[cyphersuit]

After a year with studio one i returned to sonar for a day. Twas a pain. uninstalled since then!

[Svarg]

IIRC the requirements of X2 say Win 7 and up. I too, was dismayed as my desktop at home uses XP. I have W7 on my laptop but Sonar is not as useful there - it has problems with some of the other software I want to use (namely Reason). However, X2 works fine on it.

I hope you find a way to resolve your problem. I'm considering putting Win7 on my desktop.

[Spiritos]

Thank you for answering.

Yes, the sample could be used from Dropzone or frozen but unfortunately with either of those choices it then becomes a monolithic sample in which the timing is lost. Especially when playing samples that are, for instance a piano phrase, a frozen sample plays slowly at lower transpositions and quickly at higher. The timing is forfeit. Whereas with RXP in LOOP mode the timing is preserved regardless of the key used; raised or lowered, the timing remains the same and the playback is absolutely smooth and glitch free. It's a shame that such a wonderful ability cannot be used from a midi track. I'm sure the programmer went to great lengths to make such a smooth playback at a wide range of frequencies, only to be restricted to live use from a midi keyboard. It seems to me that there could be a way for that sort of data to be transmitted from a midi track, perhaps with a sysex preceding it or some such method of communication.

Ok. I don't really work with RXP so my knowledge is very limited. I thought that if you'd bounce the clip to Audio (drag and dropping the MIDI clip first) it would preserve the timing. Sorry I can't help you out.

[Svarg]

Thanks! I'll definitely give it a try and report the results.

[Spiritos]

Okay, let me know how it works out.

Although I love Sonar X2a I'm probably gonna add Live 9 to my stock as things such as working with Audio and routing seem so much more easier.
Then again it's all about knowing your DAW and Sonar is HUGE! So.. it's the operator that can't keep track for me

[Svarg]

Yes, it really has gotten big. I've sort of grown up with it since way back when it was Cakewalk v3.0 so it's very familiar - my "stomping grounds".

[dredd i knight]

@Spiritos:Best solution for you would be to to bounce the audio, and use the high quality timestretching algorithms through audiosnap. It's got very good quality timestretching.