Introducing the new SONAR: New lineup, new features, plus membership

[EnGee]

That said, many of us Cakewalk users also use other DAWs.

Why?

Asks the guy who lists two DAWs and a notation program in his sig. Maybe for the same reasons you do?

I, for one, use Studio One (in addition to Sonar) because I really like the layout and workflow of its project page for mastering. I also have Notion 5 for notation (though I seldom do more than lead sheets).

you got me!

Ok, so you are saying that for you Studio One is better in the mastering stage to finalize your project? What if Sonar has something similar? Would you keep using Studio One? In other form, what will make you use only Sonar?

For me it is easy to answer! I use Bitwig mainly, but when I want to use custom drums maps (Battery 3), I use Reaper because Bitwig has no drums maps for 3rd party drums. It is a minor thing I know. There is nothing else make me not using Bitwig!

Notion is not a DAW for me, it is a notation program.

[Mystic]

Why?

Because there is no "can do everything fantastically" DAW. Each one has pros and cons depending on what you use it for and anyone with a brain knows that dedicating yourself to a single tool is foolish and limiting. The same reason why I have Ozone, Fabfilter plugins, UAD plugins, Waves plugins, Slate plugins, etc. Multiple EQs, multiple limiters, multiple compressors, multiple channel strips... the list goes on. They all do their job well and have their place but if I decide to just use one, I'm limiting myself to what the end product will be every time which in many cases may not be the best it can be.

Cubase is better at MIDI than Sonar right now. I hope that changes but until it does, there it is. Cubase can't compare to Sonar in Audio tracking and editing.
Sonar isn't the best for live EDM. For that, there is Ableton or Bitwig but those two don't have nearly as good a toolset or engine for MIDI or Audio editing as Sonar or Cubase.

See where this is going? People love to argue about this crap "Oh, my DAW is the bestest!!! It can do it all!!!" I get it, it's consumer pride. The reality is, I don't give a crap. I'm only interested in what results I can gain from the tools I use and this is what I've come up with through my own work and research. I almost left Cakewalk behind during X1/X2 because they were both terrible. Then X3 hit and decided to give them one last chance based on what I was hearing about development and stability since they parted with Roland. I'm happy with that decision.

I will defend Cakewalk when they need to be defended against ignorant rubbish comments people make because I do believe that words have the power to sway people and right now, they are the most impressive company in the DAW market with the amount of work they have put into their product. Seeing people trying to get those interested in a certain product by good companies only to be pushed away by stupidity of people with a chip on their shoulder or driven by pride for another product pisses me off.

[EnGee]

Why?

Because there is no "can do everything fantastically" DAW. Each one has pros and cons depending on what you use it for and anyone with a brain knows that dedicating yourself to a single tool is foolish and limiting. The same reason why I have Ozone, Fabfilter plugins, UAD plugins, Waves plugins, Slate plugins, etc. Multiple EQs, multiple limiters, multiple compressors, multiple channel strips... the list goes on. They all do their job well and have their place but if I decide to just use one, I'm limiting myself to what the end product will be every time which in many cases may not be the best it can be.

Cubase is better at MIDI than Sonar right now. I hope that changes but until it does, there it is. Cubase can't compare to Sonar in Audio tracking and editing.
Sonar isn't the best for live EDM. For that, there is Ableton or Bitwig but those two don't have nearly as good a toolset or engine for MIDI or Audio editing as Sonar or Cubase.

See where this is going? People love to argue about this crap "Oh, my DAW is the bestest!!! It can do it all!!!" I get it, it's consumer pride. The reality is, I don't give a crap. I'm only interested in what results I can gain from the tools I use and this is what I've come up with through my own work and research. I almost left Cakewalk behind during X1/X2 because they were both terrible. Then X3 hit and decided to give them one last chance based on what I was hearing about development and stability since they parted with Roland. I'm happy with that decision.

I will defend Cakewalk when they need to be defended against ignorant rubbish comments people make because I do believe that words have the power to sway people and right now, they are the most impressive company in the DAW market with the amount of work they have put into their product. Seeing people trying to get those interested in a certain product by good companies only to be pushed away by stupidity of people with a chip on their shoulder or driven by pride for another product pisses me off.

Hmmmm, I see!

I'll be 'without brain' soon then and limit myself just to one DAW like the good old 'stupid' days when working with just one DAW was the norm!

[Mystic]

I'll be 'without brain' soon then and limit myself just to one DAW like the good old 'stupid' days when working with just one DAW was the norm!

Good job taking all that and completely misunderstanding it.

[flugel45]

you got me!

Ok, so you are saying that for you Studio One is better in the mastering stage to finalize your project? What if Sonar has something similar? Would you keep using Studio One? In other form, what will make you use only Sonar?

...Notion is not a DAW for me, it is a notation program.

Yes, on the Studio One question. And sure, if Sonar had something similar (and laid out as nicely) then I would use that. I'm all for simplifying things!

I mentioned Notion because notation ability comes up a lot when discussing pros/cons of DAWs. For example, I only do lead sheets for the most part, and could do the job simplistically in Sonar, but I prefer the more "pro" options I get with Notion.

[Skorpius]

Cubase is better at MIDI than Sonar right now. I hope that changes but until it does, there it is. Cubase can't compare to Sonar in Audio tracking and editing.

I've been following this discussion for a while since I'm thinking of moving to Sonar from another DAW. For this reason, I've decided not to take the negative statements into account that various users made here about CW and the Sonar forum.

Could you possibly explain in more detail what you mean by "Cubase is better at MIDI than Sonar" and "Sonar is better at audio than Cubase"?

[EnGee]

you got me!

Ok, so you are saying that for you Studio One is better in the mastering stage to finalize your project? What if Sonar has something similar? Would you keep using Studio One? In other form, what will make you use only Sonar?

...Notion is not a DAW for me, it is a notation program.

Yes, on the Studio One question. And sure, if Sonar had something similar (and laid out as nicely) then I would use that. I'm all for simplifying things!

I mentioned Notion because notation ability comes up a lot when discussing pros/cons of DAWs. For example, I only do lead sheets for the most part, and could do the job simplistically in Sonar, but I prefer the more "pro" options I get with Notion.

Well, the Project page is indeed very nice in S1 but IMO the Pro Channel in Sonar has higher quality plugins (compared to early S1 v3, I don't know about the latest one).

Anyway, everyone of us has different workflow and discussions like these have benefits (for me at least).

Yesterday I have uninstalled all DAWs except my main one and Notion (I use it with learning piano lessons). I also uninstalled plugins worth more than $500 (my payment for them) and I ended with one host and the most used and liked plugins (which still many!).
It felt so good really! Like I've lost 10kg and could run easily so thanks for this thread that made me return to 12 years ago workflow

I'll try to sell what I can as most of them are either NFR or not worth the headache

[flugel45]

Well, the Project page is indeed very nice in S1 but IMO the Pro Channel in Sonar has higher quality plugins (compared to early S1 v3, I don't know about the latest one).

Anyway, everyone of us has different workflow and discussions like these have benefits (for me at least).

Yesterday I have uninstalled all DAWs except my main one and Notion (I use it with learning piano lessons). I also uninstalled plugins worth more than $500 (my payment for them) and I ended with one host and the most used and liked plugins (which still many!).
It felt so good really! Like I've lost 10kg and could run easily so thanks for this thread that made me return to 12 years ago workflow ...

Yes, it's because of their excellent Project page. The bundled fx (In S1 or Sonar) really didn't factor into it, as I use mostly 3rd party ones.

I admire your decision to downsize. I'm trying to to do the same thing. If I can bring it down to 100 plugins, it'll still be a big improvement!

[EnGee]

I admire your decision to downsize. I'm trying to to do the same thing. If I can bring it down to 100 plugins, it'll still be a big improvement!

It's easy really for me to downsize! First because it's a hobby and second I'm not into mixing and mastering (I hate these stages!), so I depend on few plugs (the ones provided by the host plus few others like TB EQ and Compressor). But I'm really enjoying being slim musically

[Mystic]

Could you possibly explain in more detail what you mean by "Cubase is better at MIDI than Sonar" and "Sonar is better at audio than Cubase"?

Most of it has to do with 3 major things: Workflow, Tools and Stability. Editing midi notes in Cubase takes less time and clicks than with Sonar because of the design and tools they use.

Good example of this is how Cubase uses expression maps while Sonar does not. If you look at how Cubase works with midi, it feels lightyears ahead of Sonar because of the tools and amount of control it gives you.

Sonar on the other hand has focused more on the audio recording aspect which, in my opinion, offers far superior tools and workflow than anything else. Is it perfect? No but there is nothing close to perfect out there and this is as close as I've found.

[vespesian]

Could you possibly explain in more detail what you mean by "Cubase is better at MIDI than Sonar" and "Sonar is better at audio than Cubase"?

Most of it has to do with 3 major things: Workflow, Tools and Stability. Editing midi notes in Cubase takes less time and clicks than with Sonar because of the design and tools they use.

Good example of this is how Cubase uses expression maps while Sonar does not. If you look at how Cubase works with midi, it feels lightyears ahead of Sonar because of the tools and amount of control it gives you.

Sonar on the other hand has focused more on the audio recording aspect which, in my opinion, offers far superior tools and workflow than anything else. Is it perfect? No but there is nothing close to perfect out there and this is as close as I've found.

Actually, I much prefer the comping in Cubase.

[acYm]

Actually, I much prefer the comping in Cubase.

really curious about that one if you don't mind

[Numanoid]

Sonar 2016.04 replaces TH2 with TH3 (Cakewalk Edition)

https://www.cakewalk.com/Products/SONAR/TH3-Cakewalk

[incubus]

WAIT..............wut?

How did I miss that?



Don't people keep up with this stuff? Overloud, I'm thinking it's demo time

[DrGonzo]

I really don't like the idea of memberships for computer programs.

Not many does - but honestly, there is not much of a difference between this model and NI Komplete. So in a way, this is perhaps a more honest way of showing how far their support goes.

/C