Sonar 8: already

[Jace]

Sonar 8 already, and it is looking good, i may even be able to go over to it as my main daw now, becuase of its new drum machine, this is where sonar lacked for me, in the beats department.
and also the fact that you can now have single track lanes instead if you wish, then their is a list of enhanchments as long as your arm.
so maybe a second attempt to go over to this as my main daw,
i love the visuals and the 64 bit vista compatibility and improvements, as i have had my 64bit vista laying around for ages, time to unpack and test the power of this and quad core i think.

so much for buying my vestax controller in november, i think that will go on hold now, music first preformance last.

By the way: Sonar 8 due as upgrade from 2nd or 3rd of october.

[TokyoTrainspotter]

Im def going to get upgraded to Producer v8. I agree, the new drum machine looks vgood indeed

[Clinton Lobley]

If I had a 64bit Computer/OS I'd def go for it. But I don't, so I won't. TBH I'm finding myself using Sonar less and less these days - just don't need all that power. I'm only making simple music I guess - record, track out, slap on a bit'o'verb etc. Done. I could get by with Audacity!

[Chris Warren]

My college has only just upgraded to sonar 7 so I cant see us updating to eight for a long while...Do you think 8 will be much different to justify my own purchasing of it from scratch?

[Jace]

UK price is aprox_depending on currency rate
upgrades are not that expensive.

New Customer $619.00_ £333.87

Upgrade from SONAR 1-5 (Studio/Producer) $249.00_ £134.30

Upgrade from SONAR 7 Studio, SONAR 6 (Studio/Producer/Power Studio) $229.00_£161.27

Upgrade from SONAR 8 Studio $199.00_ £107.33

Upgrade from SONAR 7 Producer $179.00_ £96.54

http://www.cakewalk.com/Products/SONAR/English/default.asp

[Jace]

I have now had time test sonar 8, and also get up too date with what is going on via the cakewalk forum,
Sonar 8 has many problems and is very unstable, despite their already being an update patch to fix these issues, this patch has just added more problems, and has just been a fix to a few problems, that have not actually been the main problems of concearn, their are bugs with the Software programme and the graphics, and getting hardware too work, their are too many problems for me to mention in one swoop, but if you would like to confur with me, i will reply back, as i have also had lots of confirmation from other cakewalk members.

Moving on too the beatscape_ this has been quite a let down, it is just a combination of rex players and a few week effects thrown in, little to none editing features, and not the groundbreaking plugin we where hoping for/expecting/lead to believe.
Then with Beatscape their is also a need for a patch, and still it is very roapy to use, and often crashes.

Dimension pro has been very unusable (for me), sound fails to play via this plugin, and all stops working, i have to add another track and dimension pro again, and then its the teadiosue job off finding the sound again as their is no sample/file reference , which is stupid (no memory), this is also the case for beatscape/library, so as i suggested on cakewalk forums, make a copy of the beatscape library folder, and sort these rex files into subfolders, so at least if beatscape is not up to your liking, you can find these samples easy, and use in your rex2 player.

If it was not for the catalogue of problems' sonar would still be a great programme, Especilly when used in rewire mode as a host, using the reason rack and then all midi data wrote in sonar, so for this fact i will not give up sonar anytime soon.
beatscape and dimension have great sound files,
guitar rig 3LE is good.
I have not had opertunity to test the other new editions in sonar 8.

i would say think long and hard before you upgrade yet, unless off course you want to persevere with constant and annoying problems, but a price to pay if unpatient, that is your ultimate choice.

[Bryn]

I've used sonar/cakewalk for over a decade. I'm only on Version 6 (producer) and I've stopped upgrading. I'm Rewired with Reason, so I don't need all the new bells & whistles Sonar are coming up with. For example, if we are burning our music onto CDs or turning it into MP3s do we really need 64bit? I just think they are trying to sell expensive state-of-the-art gear to people who don't really need it.

[Jace]

I know what your saying, but for me their has been some added bonus in sonar 7-8, but shadowed by these problems , i am still, waiting on baffled support ,i have just solved my missing snap grid options, but at present, midi and audio will not drop to other tracks directly, i have to keep shuffling the dragging until i get to the track i want, if they do not disapair altogether, so its hit and miss with the dragging.
i also have a XP 32bit setup which i also use with ableton and Reason (Reason also worked on my Vista 64bit without a hitch - surprised !) ableton i dare not try, as it is problematic at the best off times on 32bit,.
like i say i am back to 32bit for sonar, but i still get many problems with sonar 7-8 on 32bit as well .
ableton was the most unstable, until version 7 of sonar, yet reason has only ever crashed 2 or three times in many months.
Also now i use 3 Daws, i would find it hard not to bounce back and too and rewire, each has its advantage,
I normally start off in reason, then go to sonar, then i send some parts to ableton for editing layers and creating layered effects, adding vocals.Then these get put back into sonar for the last stages, but at any time i may call back and switch section to fit my track better, this also being the reason i end in sonar,becuase at any stage i can collect midi from my audio with v-vocal.
It taking me a lot longer at the moment, but i am getting pro results compared to the tracks i already have up here,

Back to the 64bit vs 32bit debate, i Believed that useing 64Bit Proscessing where applicable, and 32bit audio, would help keep best sound quality with bouncing so much data around, but i am not to mathamaticle, so it may be a waste of time, maybe one day i will have the full facts and knowledge.

Nice talking to you Bryn, and welcome to MTmn

[Bryn]

Your mention of baffled support reminds me of when I have contacted Cakewalk for help. Admittedly this was a few years back but on two occasions when the problem/solution has been ping-ponged back & forth between emails and they can't solve it, they end up not replying anymore. Which is yet another reason for not upgrading. I now only use Sonar for recording audio -guitar mostly with minimal FX- and final mastering. I am seriously considering in the New Year getting a different sequencer package but then again I might end up with another set of problems.
Thank you for the info and warm welcome.
Speak to you later.

[Geoffrey]

- Jason
i just found MTM by searching for a fix with viewing the snap properties in sonar (8.31). I was wondering what the fix was for you ? ( i've trimmed down to 1 monitor, and even re-installing the 8.31 patch doesn't help ) The window just refuses to show. any suggestions? -thanks Geoffrey

[Jace]

All i can remember is that i had to go into the registry and i think i had to delete the snap properties from the cakewalk folder, sorry i can not remember the whole/exact Process, if you dont mind maybe having to reinstall/repair if an option it has to be worth a go.

I did quite a few reinstalls myself, over various things, not all too do with sonar mind you,
but funny enough this problem just stopped happening and this was before the sonar update patches.
and using 2 monitors. Personally i advise you delete all off sonar from every area of your computer save your projects folder, then reinstall, then update with all the patches, their are 3 updates now, make sure your open sonar once before each update, many off the main issues have been corrected.
Their are still a few annoying bugs, like dragging and dropping to other lines often causes crashes.

I have kind of given up with sonar, i love the visuals and layout amongts other things, but i hate the slow work rate, the only things i really use is v-vocal to convert audio to midi, and the vst plugins including fx i copied to a seperate folder last time i had sonar installed (I dont have it set up at the moment), now i just use the working vst in ableton, as many still show up.

Anyhow back onto yout issue, if you cant solve it after updates, then get onto cakewalk, and they will tell you the correct fix.
Good luck,

oh! and welcome G, i hope you can stick around, quite a good community here, not the fastest moving, but Very Friendly and helpful.

[Geoffrey]

Thanks Jason. looks like i'll probably have to re-install (yet again,,,seems like every 6 or 8 months!). i'm excited to have found this community, i'll stick around, i need 'mentors'/friends to move my musical life forward! be in touch
-g