Sonar 5 has arrived...

[whyterabbyt]

hehehe Just because you can't see it doesn't mean someone else doesn't want it.

Pretty much true for most of the posts in this thread.

[lanfear]

Sonar adds just the first default channel, you'll have to add more yourself should you need them.lf

Not entirely true.

SONARs Synth Rack gives you the option of adding just the 1st or "main" outputs or all outputs......

Ah, so true. I've forgotten about the avilability of those options as I've used this setting for so long. Thanks for the correction!

lf

[lanfear]

Now all they need is a talented gfx artist, and they are onto something.

To me, they've been "onto something" for a long time. We'll cross our fingers and hope that they'll get to you too, soon!

[christianmusicmaker]

Now do remember that any screenshot is inevitably going to try to show all the new features off in one place - the reality of it is that you're not going to have it configured like that. For instance, you've always been able to re-order the track fields and widgets to the order you like them in and by selecting the width of the left-hand pane appropriately, you only see the important ones (for you) 90%+ of the time, which makes a huge difference to usability and comfort.

If that's the default colour scheme, it looks very much like what I'd picked for SONAR 4, so I think they have good taste

Exactly...I totally agree KP, I can't imagine anyone working with Sonar with all that information infront of them *all* the time. Of course you can group tracks into folders, maximise and minimise tracks and even control FX parameters without opening the FXGUI in Sonar 4 Producer. It can be as busy or clear as you want.

Even the navigator view at the top of the Sonar screen can be dragged down or even floated...a highly flexible environment.

Tabbed views means every thing is available on one screen now, and if the splitter bar separating the arrangement and the tabbed views can be dragged as it can in Sonar 4 then you can simple drag it right down off the screen or all the way up the screen.

The track inspector has two views...the standard view and narrow view.One click of a button can remove the track inspector from view completely if you wish.

I guess everyone has their own opinion of sequencers (thats why we have the hosts forum ) but the screen shots used for Sonar 5 clearly are designed to show *as many features and views* as possible.

Just like any other host you can set up a default template with only one track if you want that loads up when you start Sonar so you will not have to stare at so much information when starting Sonar.

Many times I work with one single track on screen at any time and simply mimimise that track to see other tracks within the project.

Even within the navigator view I can drag the square to make more tracks visible vertically or horizontally to see the complete project...all very quick.

Any tracks I do not use I simply create a folder name it archive and send the tracks there and select the archive option. Very fast.

Creating Track folders is just a few clicks.

I have a template set up with tracks set up in group tracks named Drums, keys, Strings, guitars..e.t.c. very simple and means I only have about 4 or five visible tracks most of the time as they are all in groups with a graphical representation of the contents of each folder on the group track. Simple.

Sonars interface can be confgured very easily IMHO. You can have as much information on screen as *you* want.

As for colours Sonar has loads of options for changing the colours in Sonar 4. There may be even more options in Sonar 5.

[RapRogue]

Now all they need is a talented gfx artist, and they are onto something.

To me, they've been "onto something" for a long time. We'll cross our fingers and hope that they'll get to you too, soon!

Hope not...I like it HOT!

[disturb]

I remember that when i tried S4PE, what bugged me the most was the cryptic midi editing, it seemed so hard to do such basic stuff as quantizing, enetering notes, editiong velocities, resizing, changing pitch etc. It seemed like i needed to pick a different tool for each of these !
Also the fact that you have a midi track + audio track(s) for vsti was a pain (just like in sx).
I hope this has been enhanced cause the features list is quite promising, and i could bear the gui if it works well...

[Sascha Franck]

Also the fact that you have a midi track + audio track(s) for vsti was a pain (just like in sx).

Uh... this better won't be true!

[lanfear]

Also the fact that you have a midi track + audio track(s) for vsti was a pain (just like in sx).

Uh... this better won't be true!

There is some Logic (pardon the pun!) in this, as you often have several audio tracks for a multiple output VSTi.

[Sascha Franck]

There is some Logic (pardon the pun!) in this, as you often have several audio tracks for a multiple output VSTi.

So, where's the Logic in it?
I can do all that in Logic as well. If I want, that is. But nobody's forcing me to do so.

[disturb]

There are a few things that i'd like to know more about, maybe some sonar users could tell since they have a better grip on the app...

Track Folders
(...)When tracks are organized into folders, you can quickly mute, solo, record, archive and perform other functions on all of the tracks in the folder.

Does this mean you can copy/cut/paste the folder tracks, and basically do everything you can with a normal track (per clip fx anyone? ) ??? Thsi would be killer to me


And about the loop construction thing, how is this suposed to be integrated in the app? Is it a plugin that loads files? Is it a feature for any audio clip in the arrangement view?
The latter would be way more useful (e.g. instant remix for your bounced tracks...)


more to come i suppose

[ericj23]

There is some Logic (pardon the pun!) in this, as you often have several audio tracks for a multiple output VSTi.

So, where's the Logic in it?
I can do all that in Logic as well. If I want, that is. But nobody's forcing me to do so.

because by seperating the midi and audio tracks it makes it easy to follow how midi is being sent to other devices - like plug-ins

which logic can't do (without an enourmous amount of fudging) or odd additional plug-ins and routings etc

couldn't live without it myself

[lanfear]

There is some Logic (pardon the pun!) in this, as you often have several audio tracks for a multiple output VSTi.

So, where's the Logic in it?
I can do all that in Logic as well. If I want, that is. But nobody's forcing me to do so.

I didn't mean that there's something from Logic (the app) in it, but that I found the system itself to be logical and consistent.

[Sascha Franck]

I prefer having straight access to my VSTis audio channels. And I can use MIDI plugins along with eXT. Not all that much of a fooling around.

[kp]

OK, I buy the bus thing in the mixer - but I'd expect the busses to also be in the same place in the track view. Logically there is no other way to do it.

[Sascha Franck]

I usually don't need busses in my track view at all. The same goes for group tracks.
Apart from that (and that's why I mentioned "modularity" in an earlier post), in Logic I can have BOTH. There's a track mixer and theres a fully modular mixer. I prefer using the latter. And I find it rather nice that it's up to *me* to decide.