Sonar X2 was announced yesterday

Im wondering if this is worth the upgrade...The improved low latency audio engine is probably my biggest interest. It never seemed as snappy as other daws out there...The plugin's ehh not so much it seems like it had been a complete software package already. I had jumped ship a while ago annoyed at some of the old bugs that never got addressed from older versions like sonar 5 & 6. It seems like the feature request thread on the forum is pointless sometimes...with X2 it looks like they added more plugins and polished a couple things. Another way to think about it is they didn't clutter with to many features introducing more bugs...I'm still not sold on it I need to see it in action first.
 
X1d is less buggy than other versions but there are still many problems with it. I am considering jumping ship but the feature set looks nice.
 
I use Sonar X1 and 8.5. Was thinking about jumping ship and going to Reaper or Studio 1. But, if they get the audio engine tight, I'll stay. That's the only problem I've really had with it. It works, but it can be very touchy at times.

Well, that and Sonar really doesn't have a good sample player. But, I've got two or three vst's to handle that. So, it's not a sticking point to me.
 
I hear that if they got the audio engine right i think I would stay as well. They say they have improved it for this version we will see. I am already using Reaper and getting used to it I like it but not as much as Sonar.
 
I don't see why anyone would use Sonar after ProTools 10 and Studio One v2 was released. Studio One is great for people that is already use to Cubase and Logic and ProTools 10 takes the software that everyone already uses to a new level. It's open to 3rd party interfaces, introduces a new high resolution and low latency expandable plugin format, cleaned the interface, and fixed the remaining bugs it had. They have really listened to the users for the feature upgrades. As for Studio One, if it was released 5 years ago when everyone hated to buy ProTools and couldn't afford Cubase it would have taken over. It's great for people that want to make the instrumental in the tracking software like the Logic heads also.

If I didn't use Reason for everything sound design related I would use Studio One probably. But ProTools is just amazing with the Mix routing and editing features.

As for Sonar X1 or any version, I never liked it. It's only on PC and it's features take time to locate to a new user. ProTools is so laid out for you. Easy to navigate menus, and easy button recognition, and easy screen switching without nested screens. I hate nested screens, the mixer isn't as fluid to navigate signal flow, and it feels like a sloppy collage when looking for something.

Like anything learning software takes time but I have spent time with all of them and Ableton I found the hardest to navigate as a new user with Sonar being the second hardest. Then Cubase, then Studio One. The easiest being FL Studio followed by ProTools.
 
Morning_Star said:
I don't see why anyone would use Sonar after ProTools 10 and Studio One v2 was released. Studio One is great for people that is already use to Cubase and Logic and ProTools 10 takes the software that everyone already uses to a new level. It's open to 3rd party interfaces, introduces a new high resolution and low latency expandable plugin format, cleaned the interface, and fixed the remaining bugs it had. They have really listened to the users for the feature upgrades. As for Studio One, if it was released 5 years ago when everyone hated to buy ProTools and couldn't afford Cubase it would have taken over. It's great for people that want to make the instrumental in the tracking software like the Logic heads also.

If I didn't use Reason for everything sound design related I would use Studio One probably. But ProTools is just amazing with the Mix routing and editing features.

As for Sonar X1 or any version, I never liked it. It's only on PC and it's features take time to locate to a new user. ProTools is so laid out for you. Easy to navigate menus, and easy button recognition, and easy screen switching without nested screens. I hate nested screens, the mixer isn't as fluid to navigate signal flow, and it feels like a sloppy collage when looking for something.

Like anything learning software takes time but I have spent time with all of them and Ableton I found the hardest to navigate as a new user with Sonar being the second hardest. Then Cubase, then Studio One. The easiest being FL Studio followed by ProTools.
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To each his own. I find Studio One to be clunky as hell in a bad way. I just don't like it. I don't like FL studio either I don't find it to be simple at all and it doesn't work how I think so maybe that's just me. I actually think outside of the bug issues that Sonar is a great daw and X1 made it even better. Its just the bug issues they have are infuriating and I am debating on changing DAWs and have been spending lots of time with Reaper.
 
I in general dislike handling midi anything in Reaper. Its a great tool for handling audio stems and mixing after that it becomes a pain in my ass
 
damnnnn sonar x2 these guys are fast im still working with 8,5 that works for me but x2 looks great a bit like Logic
 
Honestly I find Studio One to be anything BUT clunky.

Press Play.
Drag the VI, drop it, record it.
Add an audio track.
Press record... record your take... stop the recording (keep the audio rolling).
Drag a plugin, drop it, tweak it.
Song Done. lol No glitch in audio. No need to stop playback to do anything.

Messed up some notes on your take? Melodyne it.

There's some improvements it can make of course... but they're rolling things out in a systematic fasion to mesh it into the GUI and not screw up stability.

They also listen to their users very well also. I had an issue w/ Jbridged plugs. They asked me to email em, read my email, fixed it on the next update.

Really simple DAW.

I'm the type to create the beat and record the vocals all in one session.

I began DAWs w/ Sonar 4, just so I could add audio to my Reason 3 setup, via Rewire. I got comfortable pretty quickly w/ editing audio I must say. But the moment I began craving VST's... ehh, all of the bugs started rearing their ugly heads. I eventually switched to Cubase. I liked Cubase a lot... but it was 1) really busy w/ the # of windows, 2) the layout was poor IMO... i had too difficult a time optimizing it for my dual screens, and 3) audio wasn't seamless when adding instruments. I just dealt w/ it though. I tried Reaper to allieve these minor issues... but I couldn't get into the layout of the program. Couldn't figure out where things were easy enough coming from Cubase and got frustrated. Didn't feel like re-learning an entire DAW. I'm sure it's a great program when u use it more though. I really hated picking VST's out of that large scrolling list. Felt very unorganized.


I landed on S1 b/c the audio engine didn't skip when adding instruments, i didn't feelike I was re-learning anything... i felt very natural, and it seemed like it had a huge fresh upside to it... which I feel I was right on after the v2 upgrades. I can only imagine what v3 will yield.



I would try Sonar again just out of curiousity, since it probably has every feature known to man... but i'm stuck on S1 now. The only thing is i just got some new hardware synths, and it's a pain in the ass using synths in S1 b/c you can't save the patches. You have to do the math (or write down the bank/program #'s) every single freakin time. Presonus didn't have hardware sound modules in mind when creating S1. I trust they will figure out a solution though, in due time. No reason for me to jump ship.
 
Sonar does really well with hard synths in that respect but it still does not like VST plug ins that much compared to other stuff. Clunky may have been a bad choice of words maybe unnatural was a better choice. i may try the demo again eventually because as much as I love the features in Reaper I just cannot get into the gui its easy to use and very smooth for audio (midi is a bit of a pain though) I still really like Sonar though for audio related tasks.
 
The features are not the problem there are a lot of stability issues when using certain features. Example rewire has been broken for years. Cakewalk says they are well aware of it but does nothing to resolve the issue. My last version of Sonar did not have this issue so I assumed upgrading would not be a problem and found out otherwise. Most problems that people have are blamed on ones computer and other things that people using other DAWs do not have. When Sonar is working it is a great DAW one of my favorites but that is when its working right. That said I highly suggest downloading the demo first. The demo is the regular version but with a time limit on it (30 days I think) then it locks up. X1 works really well for most people and my only real major complaint right now is that it does not like my audio interface (Propellerhead Balance) there are some sort of driver issues between the two. As far as vsti problems some vsts just make Sonar very unstable or just plain will not run in Sonar. Someone was complaining on their site about Omnisphere not outputting sound and stuff like that. Sonar really shines when it comes to dealing with audio recording and mixing stems though.
 
Xabiton still holding it down for Sonar. I never could get into it.
 
Xabiton said:
Sonar Reason and Live and debating on Maschine but I am not sure that Maschine and Live do not overlap each other a ton
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I think they would. I have debated Maschine for a while but the work flow was kind of awkward to me. The MPC Ren is showing to be available at GC starting this Friday if they don't move the release date. I am interested in playing with one in person. I find the MPC sequencing more straight forward than the whole scenes style. I have always found Cubase to be my fastest workflow with doing a loop and then cut/copy/pasting it into a song.

I do believe Live and Maschine are similar though. Live is dope, but again, like Maschine it felt awkward. When i used the demo, i had to figure out how to get it to go into traditional linear sequencing because the scenes thing was not for me. It seemed way more aimed at remixing and Deejaying where one would just trigger loops in a "Live" setting.....not so much, in a studio sequencing tracks.
 
youngjboy said:
I think they would. I have debated Maschine for a while but the work flow was kind of awkward to me. The MPC Ren is showing to be available at GC starting this Friday if they don't move the release date. I am interested in playing with one in person. I find the MPC sequencing more straight forward than the whole scenes style. I have always found Cubase to be my fastest workflow with doing a loop and then cut/copy/pasting it into a song.

I do believe Live and Maschine are similar though. Live is dope, but again, like Maschine it felt awkward. When i used the demo, i had to figure out how to get it to go into traditional linear sequencing because the scenes thing was not for me. It seemed way more aimed at remixing and Deejaying where one would just trigger loops in a "Live" setting.....not so much, in a studio sequencing tracks.
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hit tab and go to the arrangement mode and it works like any other linear sequencer. I dig both modes idk the clips are what appeal to me in Live in the first place that and its sampling features. I may just skip Maschine as it would basically be a drum machine for me inside of Live and Drum Racks are cool I don't hate them or Love them they are very flexible and deep as hell. Then again I still love Kong too but I like some of the options that drum racks offer that Kong doesn't.
 
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