Cakewalk releases SONAR 2016.09 Update - Adds Plug-in Load Balancing, New CPU Modes and Freeze Multiple Tracks

Cakewalk has announced the SONAR 2016.09 release for SONAR Artist, Professional and Platinum versions.

New features include SONAR's new Plug-In Load Balancing option. SONAR now balances DSP workloads across multiple cores on FX Racks and FX Chains if any of these contain two or more un-bypassed plug-in effects. This results in fewer spikes in the audio engine, as well as the minimizing of audio dropouts that are caused by unbalanced processing loads.

Adding in conjunction to the benefits of Plug-in Load Balancing, SONAR now has more helpful and selectable CPU Metering Modes. This update to the Control Bar's Performance module extends the ability to monitor what's happening with CPU—including monitoring the global CPU consumption across all cores for all aspects of the OS, audio processing load, and a single meter for SONAR's total CPU utilization. The meters include:

• Audio Processing: This default mode measures SONAR's audio processing load, which is the ratio of the actual time taken to process a buffer to the buffer duration.
• System Performance: Displays the global system-wide load across all cores, as reported by the operating system rather than by measuring SONAR's audio processing load.
• Overall App Performance: Displays a single CPU meter for the entire SONAR process CPU utilization across all cores.

SONAR 2016.09 also includes Quick Group Freezing. In SONAR, a user can free up resources by "freezing" a track to alleviate the amount of CPU power needed by temporarily bouncing down MIDI and audio. Quick Group Freeze now allows users to freeze and thaw multiple tracks at once. This feature combined with the new metering options enables users to better monitor and utilize system recourses.

The SONAR 2016.09 update, a free download from the Cakewalk Command Center, is available to all current SONAR Artist, Professional and Platinum customers.