Getting back into music - which Cubase?

[kritikon]

"You have a few options, and one of the popular one's in particular to try out (if you haven't already) is unsurprisingly Studio One by Presonus"
I'll give it a look, thanks. I'm not averse to testing a new DAW out if it follows the general workflow I'm familiar with. A sI mentioned...bells and whistles are nice, but TBH I never used more than probably 50% of Cubase in the past anyway (though I was a fairly heavy in depth user when it was midi-only - used to make my own controllers and templates and all kinds of esoteric stuff back then).
And I'm not really in a hurry either...I can sit and diddle about on Cakewalk to get some music done while I make my mind up about a long term DAW.

[lfm]

"I always wondered what it is about Sonar that makes people think they can use it without any RTFM... I keep reading the weirdest things since way back"

Every time I've tried to dial up help from within Cakewalk it doesn't link to any kind of manual, it just leads me to a general Google search with some key words - many of the links being totally unrelated to what I want to know. The version I downloaded has no manual. I just assumed it's part of the freebie thing - you get it for free, but don't expect any bells and whistles...like a manual. I don't have a manual, and can't link to one.

There is a setting in Sonar if to use local help in your system instead of online.
I also think you have to download the tutorial content to get hold of that context help built in.

The built in help is a normal windows help file with search abilities and such.

But I have Sonar Artist from 2015/2016 - not sure if BandLab has altered this.

[Steve Bolivar]

As mentioned already for an alternative to Cubase check out Presonus Studio One v4.1 which is 50% off now. If you want to look for a more alternative alternative check out Traktion Waveform 9.

[Mushy Mushy]

Why are you talking him out of Cubase? It’s brilliant and a very solid purchase in either the Pro or Element variant.

[Steve Bolivar]

Why are you talking him out of Cubase? It’s brilliant and a very solid purchase in either the Pro or Element variant.

Because the OP said "Certainly I'm open to suggestion to other DAWs that use a similar workflow to Cubase", responded positively to to suggestions for other DAWs, and said he was content to stick with Sonar until he found something that suits him. It would be funny if this thread turned into a 40 page Cubase witch-hunt.

[Mushy Mushy]

Why are you talking him out of Cubase? It’s brilliant and a very solid purchase in either the Pro or Element variant.

Because the OP said "Certainly I'm open to suggestion to other DAWs that use a similar workflow to Cubase", responded positively to to suggestions for other DAWs, and said he was content to stick with Sonar until he found something that suits him. It would be funny if this thread turned into a 40 page Cubase witch-hunt.

ok fine.

Why doesn’t the OP simply download the demo of Cubase then?

[jancivil]

"I will say it performs vastly better than it ever did now on my new computer but I don't know it it's particularly more optimal in itself.
Cubase 9.5 is not really that different than 5. I went from SX2 to 5 (in spring 2009) to 9 (late 2016)."

Thanks...so it's not a massive leap of workflow from SX2 to latest Cubase? Obviously there'll be plenty of things they lost on the way, and things they added.

Basically it's Cubase, yeah. I think it looks better, but looking at SX2 in screenshots today is more the difference of like looking at older OSes.