Leaving Cubase... Sonar?

[Evan]

After all these years I finally decided to drop Cubase and move on to a different sequencer.

The obvious alternative is Sonar so my first question is to those who have made a similar switch: how was your transition from Cubase to Sonar? I know there are always bumps in the way, what annoyed you the most in Sonar (being a former cubase user), and what where the pleasant surprises?

I do a lot of midi work, and I also need a basic score editor that... works (I have always been put off by Cubase's horrid score editor). I remember back in the old days, the old Cakewalk sequencer had a decent score editor... simple, useable, fast and to the point.

I find Cubase very unmusical as a compositional tool. I want to be able to approach and move around in a song in musical way... I like to think in terms of bars, beats, tempo and notes. Is Sonar better in this department?

Sadly, I could not find any other potential alternatives than Sonar on the PC platform. I am impatiently awaiting for your enlightment.

Thanks in advance!

[headquest]

Also check out Mackie Tracktion (which is free at present - prmotion prior to launching v.2 in the new year). Follow link from "hosts" section top right.

And I now use Live 4 - which is great.

I moved from Cubase to both these in turn, and felt... liberated!

[cptgone]

There's a reputable score editor called Sibelius

Never tried it myself.

BTW, only wuwu's ditch SX, shame on you and your shadow.

[WillieJenkins]

Evan, Give Sonar a shot. Theres a demo @ cakewalks site, and its grown up alot since you've probably seen it last

Sadly the score editor may be the same as you remember it

Currently I use a Sonar / Live tandem, and it couldn't be any more perfect for me.

[Meffy]

Haven't used Cubase (unless you count Cubasis, which I don't). But I've been a Cakewalk and/or Sonar owner for about a decade. I think Sonar would be a good choice if you prefer traditional musical notation and the like.

Sonar gives you a fairly flexible staff view along with the usual piano roll, event list, and other views. I'm probably in a small minority here, but to me working on a staff is the basis of composition. I can't imagine trying to work out chord progressions or voice leading on a piano roll! :-D Even with a staff I'm not terribly good at it, but it helps.

It's no substitute for a real notation program, but IMO Sonar's staff view sits right in the sweet spot between traditional notation and computer representation. And yes, you can quantize the notational view to whatever degree you please, without quantizing the actual note starts and ends! Verrry important, that.

Tempo changes, time signatures, all that's in there too.

For pure visual effect you can also apply several common ancillary markings, such as hairpins, pedal marks, etc., but they don't affect sound production. (Except maybe the pedal marks? I forget.) You can attach lyrics to your scores -- hyphenation dictionary included, IIRC, so syl-la-bles match cor-rect-ly with your notes, fa la la -- and even show a karaoke-style sing-along window while playing. :-D

I also love ableton Live, but it hasn't anything to compare to staff view. Entirely different critter. Tracktion is pretty cool too, but again it won't give you any traditional scoring tools. OTOP, for free you can't lose. :-)

Best of luck!

Meffy

[idobs]

I made the switch from Cubase to Sonar a few years ago. (a year after Sonar came out)

Growing up, my friend had Cakewalk, and that was the first sequencer I was exposed to, so I guess I was used to it. However, when I finally got around to building a studio, Cubase looked "sexier". It had a cooler mixer, and looked more like hardware. So I got Cubase...

After about a month, I really didn't like Cubase; I just couldn't get into it.

Now I'm using Sonar and I LOVE it. It's pretty close to perfect for my work-flow. I love the piano-roll, and the way virtual-instruments work (I think it's very intuitive, including the ReWire implementation).


I think in the end, there is no better DAW, it's all just personal preference nowadays.


-Ido

[nibbzious]

I made the switch from Cubase SX 2 to Live 4 not so long ago. I was always searching for something else... and I found it in Live 4. I gave every sequencer and tracker one could think of a try and I didn't like any of them.

But I love Live 4.

I love being able to edit MIDI and see all my MIDI tracks at once at the same time. I love being able to edit MIDI data with mouse+alt key. Drag up/down for velocity... left/right for length. Alt+click to place.

The automation is perfect. All you do is hit record. You don't have to hit R then W then turn off W if you forget to turn off W you're screwed blah blah... And editing the automation is definetely the easiest in this host. No host has better automation by hand.

I love being able to sample and resample. I can add boatloads of effects then resample and just mangle stuff to hell.

And having 3 sample browers open at one time...THAT CAN ACTUALLY USE THE FREAKING MOUSEWHEEL. And being able to drag and drop those samples into Live's sampler and Live's kick ass drum machine.

Live 4 is the perfect host for me.

[Mental Audio Deviations]

Go Sonar, you'll love it

[marce]

If you want have some other options, Overture from geniesoft is for the "Scored" mind a valid option, and appear that the coming version4 will be very good. This software is based on the Cakewalk engine (they develop on the same base code) but it have more powerfull features for notation. And have more options than finale/sibelius for the "track view" workflow.