considering sonar 5 upgrade

[jammer42777]

I've been running FL studio 5 for almost a year,
I like it for sequencing, however it's playlist editor is fairly difficult to work with
So I purchased ACID pro 5 and it does well for sequencing loops, and does well for getting a finished product complete.
However I haven't used it too much since I haven't had time to finish projects lately.
It is a real pain exporting to .wav then sequencing the loop
so I'd really like an app where I can do all of my sequencing/vsti's and mastering all in one program.

So i was considering upgrading sonar 2.1 to sonar 5 producer ed.
Some of the major advantages would be working with everything all in one place, I'd be able to freeze vsti's instead of directly exporting to audio.
And I was considering getting a sample CD for dance drum sounds, but I noticed that Sonar 5 already has a built in drum machine.
And it includes pentagon (I haven't tried the demo for that yet)

Does anyone have any thoughts on this subject?

[daExpert]

The problem with Sonar is, it is far too hard to use for the spontaneous musician. Personally, I understand Sonar. HOWEVER, it takes far too many clicks to get where I want to. That is why my copy of Sonar sits in the trash can. It doesn't even deserve to be resold.

[SAB]

It's awesome, the best out there and you will not regret it.

Unfortunately as daExpert said, it is a more complicated software, but as with any software you can't always sacrifice performance and functionality for ease of use.

It does everything and then some for me.

Trust me, get it!!!

[idobs]

I use Sonar5, and like it. I tried Cubase about 5 years ago, and really got turned-off by the UI. I think the only reason why I prefer Sonar's UI is because a friend of mine had Cakewalk about 15 years ago, and I got used to using it in his studio early on.

I think Sonar is great, the only downside is some clunkiness around dialogs that haven't been touched in YEARS: Like the Quantize dialog, I really wish it would get an update.

Freeze works well. The piano roll is pretty good (although I actually prefer Reason's piano roll more, believe it or not.)

Sonar is usually rock-solid, although I've had minor glitches with the v5 upgrade. I'm not worried at all though, because I expect them to fix the last few bugs soon, as they always...

-Ido

[Stupid American Pig]

Luckily Sonar was designed for those without the amazing skill sets of "DuhExpert" And since this guy is a regular who is "c**ting" around the forum, I can heartily recommend S5 PE. I have Sonar 2 as well, just for fun I fired it up, and wow its amazing how much things have improved. The V-Vocal is one of the best tools included in any sequencer, and in my experience with it and autotune, I would say that V-Vocal is at least as good if not better. The Rex player in S5 is very useful and great for quick loop maipulation. Pentagon is great. I had always made do with Triangle II before I got S5. I must say that Pentagon is a great synth and does just about any VA sound you could need.

Another thing you will get when you upgrade to s5 is the Sonitus suite of plugins, which are excellent. I say if you are already accustomed to the sonar workflow upgrading to V5 is a great way to spend some cash.

[Spe3D]

Sonar 5 rocks I love it as a host and it works well with Intel (my current chip) I have used FL for years, Sonar is a different world, its a progression of sorts, I am pleased to have made the move.

I think if you are into beat boxes n just starting out, FL can keep most happy – it did me for ages – however if you want to see and hear everything laid out logically in a score/piano roll type approach – Sonar is the way to go imo.

Best regards,

Peter

[Baniev]

Sonar 5 rocks I love it as a host and it works well with Intel (my current chip) I have used FL for years, Sonar is a different world, its a progression of sorts, I am pleased to have made the move.

I think if you are into beat boxes n just starting out, FL can keep most happy – it did me for ages – however if you want to see and hear everything laid out logically in a score/piano roll type approach – Sonar is the way to go imo.

Best regards,

Peter

FL studio works well with Intel, too.

[Spe3D]

Sonar 5 rocks I love it as a host and it works well with Intel (my current chip) I have used FL for years, Sonar is a different world, its a progression of sorts, I am pleased to have made the move.

I think if you are into beat boxes n just starting out, FL can keep most happy – it did me for ages – however if you want to see and hear everything laid out logically in a score/piano roll type approach – Sonar is the way to go imo.

Best regards,

Peter

FL studio works well with Intel, too.

Cool

[billybk1]

Hey guys, Cakewalk has just released the SONAR 5.01 update. Some new features and a long list of bug fixes. I think everyone and their mama is trying to download the update as it is mighty slow, even with my DSL. I'm at 89% and counting............

Billy Buck

[Baniev]

Sonar 5 rocks I love it as a host and it works well with Intel (my current chip) I have used FL for years, Sonar is a different world, its a progression of sorts, I am pleased to have made the move.

I think if you are into beat boxes n just starting out, FL can keep most happy – it did me for ages – however if you want to see and hear everything laid out logically in a score/piano roll type approach – Sonar is the way to go imo.

Best regards,

Peter

FL studio works well with Intel, too.

Cool

If it hadn´t work on your system the problem was on another think, i have run FL Studio fine on my old Celeron adn i know much people that have run it on all types P4 from the old 1,6 GHz to 3 GHz so what you talking is nocesense, ah AMD is better for musicprograms i think.

[Spe3D]

If it hadn´t work on your system the problem was on another think, i have run FL Studio fine on my old Celeron adn i know much people that have run it on all types P4 from the old 1,6 GHz to 3 GHz so what you talking is nocesense, ah AMD is better for musicprograms i think.

I admit my spelling is bad – but just think – even I can tell what you have written could do with a quick spell check

Best regards,

Spe3d

:O)

[pummel]

So, you already have Sonar 2, FLstudio, and Acid ? So do I.

In my opinion, FL and Acid are very focused toward results -- FL at creating patterns and Acid at arranging them. So they are useful tools.

Sonar tries to be everything to everyone, but it doing so excels at nothing. As for the upgrade, think twice -- other than cosmetics and a few bolt-on features, there is little difference between version 2 and version 5. You can download the demo of sonar 4 producer edition and verify what I am saying.

If you must upgrade, why not simply go from v2 to v5 studio edition ? Thats a small step of $100, and probably well worth the cost ... assuming you currently use Sonar 2 every now and then.

[whyterabbyt]

Hey guys, Cakewalk has just released the SONAR 5.01 update. Some new features and a long list of bug fixes. I think everyone and their mama is trying to download the update as it is mighty slow, even with my DSL. I'm at 89% and counting............

Billy Buck

Thanks for posting this Billy.

[Bradster]

Hi jammer,

I second (or third or something) the praise of SONAR here, also the caveats. It's a much steeper learning curve than either FL or Acid, but much more rewarding and powerful the deeper you go. And Rene's Pentagon is one phat VA.

You also might consider Project 5. It's much more akin to the workflow in FL and Acid, although it allows for multiple instruments or loops in a single arranger track. It also supports layers. The downside is that the audio routing is very limited and there are no track envelops like in Acid.

Both SONAR and P5 support Acid loops (called “Groove Clips” in CakeSpeak) and have a loop explorer/editor feature to manipulate slicing and dicing.

I would highly recommend dl’ing the P5 demo and giving it a spin. I find it much more intuitive and quick to get ideas into than FL and more flexible than Acid in general.

HTH,

Bradster

p.s. There’s also a really good community of users in the P5 forum. They've put together a really slick Wiki site that has a wealth of information with no sarcasms.

[Jason Brian Merrill]

The problem with Sonar is, it is far too hard to use for the spontaneous musician. Personally, I understand Sonar. HOWEVER, it takes far too many clicks to get where I want to.

first halfway intelligent thing i have heard you say.

--halfway.. mind you...