Sonar 8!

[Cheez]

OK. I'm one day early. Pre-orders and official announcement will come on 22 Sep (ie tomorrow) when they will release info about the product. But there are leaks and they are:

(from http://pcmusicsupply.wordpress.com/2008/09/20/sonar-8-producer-and-studio/)

Main application enhancements:

• Synth track - Normally you get a MIDI track and Audio track(s) for every VST you ptach into SONAR. Now you get a dedicated track that handles both. This is welcome news to many users as it means fewer tracks to manage and less troubleshooting.
• Loop Expolorer - The Loop explorer has been updated to preview both audio gooves/ACID files and MIDI groove clips. MIDI groove clips are like Acidized MIDI files and can roll out and follow pitch markers like their audio brothers.
• New Edit tools - SONAR 8 features new edit tools liek the AIM assist cursor and Free Edit Tool. Both of these will allow for easier editing and less keystrokes. Obviously, when you have to clean up a vocal line this will be a life saver!
• Live Bounce - This is a real neat feature as the output of synths and effects can be recorded in real time to tracks. This means you do not have to wait for a render and can print to tracks during a record.
• Live track arming - now during playback you can arm a track ro tracks and start recording. Again this is a real time saver if you want to get that idea down immediately.
• Improved Engine Perfomrance - The leaked ad and forum posts from CW staff refers to improved audio engine and ASIO performance. No matter how good your PC is gettign a more responsive program is always welcome.
• Lower latency - This goes hand in hand with the audio engine perfomance but lower latency means you should expect to see better response from vst synths even when your system was starting to hit it’s limits with version 7. If you are a new user you will find SONAR is extremely responsive to your moves. SONAR 7 was not bad with latency to begin with so improving this further can only be a very good thing.

New Instruments and effects:

• Beatscape - Beatscape is a new 16 part loop instrument with support for rex files and come with 4 gig of content. Beatscape also has step generators, slice editing and effect on board. This looks to be a monster instrument.
• Dimension Pro- We have to admit we are a bit stunned by this one. Dimension Pro is a powerful sample based instrument created by Cakewalk aftre it aquired RGC Audio. RGC is famous for their sfz synths like Zeta and Pentagon. Dimension Pro is normally $249 alone and now is inside SONAR 8!
• True Pianos Amber Module - Probably one of the best piano libraries out there. This is not just a simpler rompler. You get full control over tonality, room characteristics and dynamics.
• Channel Tools audio plugin - This new plugin adds some great panning options and allows for steroe tracks to be treated like mono tracks in regards to panning. You can now get those extreme pans that required using the surround panner and 2.1 surround in SONAR before. In addition you get Mid/side decoding, phase control and delay controls. The delay controls are very useful to do final tweaks on effects or external inserts.
• TS64 Transient Shaper - Transient shapers are truly amazing effects. You can change the attack of a kick drum to add more snap to it or add crack to snare. Like a compressor, once you are comfortable with it you will never run a session without one.
• TL64 Tube Leveler - An analog modelling tube limiter is a nice option and saves having to patch the VC-64 on every track.
• Guitar Rig LE- Guitar Rig from Native Instruments is a popular VST plugin and SONAR 8 will include the smaller LE version inside. Guitar Rig is great for adding amp simulations, speakers effects and the like. Checking the NI website we can see that LE comes with 2 amp Twang reverb and Lead 800 plus 12 cabinets. Of course you also get a collection of delays, flangers and reverbs to add into the mix. So for an LE version of a product it is feature rich.

Personally, I would like to see even more support for 64-bit. Sonar 7 already does it quite well, porting 32-bit plugins into their 64-bit version. Tomorrow...more info...

 

[Cheez]

Info out:

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

 

[Cheez]

New features, optimizations, and workflow enhancements include:

Loop Explorer 2.0—view provides browse and preview of audio and MIDI groove clips and patterns; quickly drag and drop loops and patterns into the track view; MIDI groove clips and patterns can be previewed with the virtual instrument of your choice.
Dedicated Instrument Track—single track optimized for mono or stereo virtual synths which simplifies the process of working with virtual instruments. In the pursuit of offering users options in how they want to work, the multi-track method of using virtual instruments employed by previous versions of SONAR is still supported. In addition users can split and combine instrument tracks to/from discrete audio/MIDI tracks.
SONAR Performance Optimizations—with focus on functionality including improved performance at high track counts and low latencies, faster launch time, and the ability to change audio devices without restarting; streamlined communication with VST plug-ins and Improved ASIO performance with output latency compensation.
User Interface optimizations—smoother display when resizing windows and panes, optimized metering, more responsive zoom and scroll.
​

Editing Enhancements:

Clip Selection Groups—Furthering SONAR's multitrack recording and take management capability, SONAR now automatically groups clips together across tracks after each recording pass — perfect for comping any multitrack ensemble performance, especially drum takes.
Aim Assist Cursor—Visual guide to assist in lining up tracks for precision editing.
Split and Mute Tools—can now edit multiple clips simultaneously.
Free Edit Tool—for performing edits by clips or by time without the need of a modifier key.
​

Recording Enhancements:

Live Effects and Soft Synth Recording—play and record effect and soft synth output into audio tracks in realtime using SONAR's live bounce feature. Anytime Recording—while the SONAR transport is running or looping users can now arm/unarm audio and MIDI tracks, punch in, punch out, and toggle between play and record.
​

Mixing Enhancements:

Exclusive Solo Mode with Solo Override—New solo mode forces soloing to one track/bus at a time and prevents tracks and buses from being muted when other tracks/buses are soloed.
Bus Inputs QuickGroup Command—automatically groups all source tracks feeding a selected bus.
Mono hardware outputs—for easy assignment of tracks and buses to individual hardware outputs in addition to stereo pairs.
​

Control Enhancements:

Transport Updates—True Rewind, Fast Forward and Pause Buttons; Audition Button; Improved Jog/Shuttle Heuristics; optimizations for control surfaces and scrub performance.
Control Surface Enhancements—Show/Hide Tracks from Surface can follow either the Track View or Console View, obeying visible/hidden tracks, Control Surfaces MIDI port assignments retained/stored in SONAR, Real-World VST Parameter Values are now displayed.
Track View and Console View Sync now automatically syncs visible/hidden tracks between the Track View and Console View channels.

​

Additional Enhancements:

Enhanced Sample Rate Conversion — now employs the same fast convolution engine as the LP-64 series 64-bit mastering plug-ins.
Vista Audio — WASAPI support, which is compatible with any Vista audio device, including WaveRT PCI and motherboard audio, USB, and FireWire devices.
QuickTime 7 Import/Export —support for the latest QuickTime 7 codecs, including H.264 and AAC audio.

​

Workflow Enhancements include:

Insert Send Assistant—provides a fast and easy way to create effect buses and insert sends to new or existing buses.
Updated ACT Presets —mappings for popular plug-ins and controllers.
Templates — over 400 new production ready Track Templates and Project Templates.
Drum Maps & Presets — Updated Drum Maps and Plug-in Presets enhancing our most popular plug-ins.
Patterns — New collection of drum pattern presets for the integrated Step Sequencer.

​

New Instruments Include:
Beatscape loop performance instrument (PE)
Dimension Pro (PE)
TruePianos Amber VSTi Module (PE)

New Effect Processors Include:

TS 64 Transient Shaper (PE)
TL-64 Tube Leveler (PE)
Channel Tools
Native Instruments Guitar Rig 3 LE (PE)

 

[Cheez]

In short, nothing exciting for Sonar PE7 users to have to upgrade to version 8.

 

[logicdroid]

Nice one. I might go get myself a copy. Weren't they the first to move into the 64bit realm?

 

[fibredrive]

actually just the NI Guitar Rig and Truepianos are tempting enough for me to upgrade from PE 7.02. hmm. wonder what the upgrade price is...

 

[Cheez]

Yes, they were the first to move into 64-bit - for 3 years already. Cubase is coming on too - don't know what is their 64-bit status. Last time I heard, it was in beta. And logicdroid, since you're in the Mac platform, it will be interesting to note that Sonar 8 is now compatible with boot camp. But then again, if you're using Logic, there's no point moving to Sonar. I would choose Logic anytime if I'm on Mac.

Pricings (for 8PE):
$179 for Sonar 7 PE users
$199 for Sonar 8 Studio users
$229 from Sonar 7 Studio and all versions of Sonar 6
$249 for Sonar 1-5 users
$449 for registered Cakewalk users
$619 for new customer
(all prices USD)

So if you own older versions of Sonar, upgrade is a no brainer. But for Sonar 7, you have to REALLY want it to upgrade.

For me, still no big reasons to upgrade. I already have Guitar Rig 3 (not LE version), which doesn't work in 64-bit anyway. And I have enough piano samples. The only possible reason is their improvement in performance. Caekwalk mentioned in their forum that the performance improvement is significantly higher for 64-bit than 32 bit when compared to Sonar 7.

 

[Cheez]

OK. Here is the entire list of "performance improvement" from their forum. Too long to cut and paste into our forum. Now the gap for and against upgrade is closer...

http://forum.cakewalk.com/tm.asp?m=1496133

 

[para-di]

online purchases and support (or rather, lack of)

If you are thinking of making an online purchase of the Sonar Producer 8, think again! Why not make your purchase with the local dealer who will be able to give you after sales support?

We are a local dealer, and we recently received an email from someone who bought this product from an online company. This online company refused to offer any form of after sales support and the online company even pushed the customer to us!

It is extremely frustrating for anyone to be told that he has to figure out how to troubleshoot on his own after purchasing Sonar 8 or any other DAW for that matter. These products are not cheap, and the buyer deserves to have some form of after sales support (should there be any problems in the first place)..

My advice to all buyers out there: Make a call to you local dealer before you decide on where you will be making your purchase. Purchasing online typically means that the seller will not be obliged to offer you any form of after sales support even if you really really need it.

 

[Cheez]

I agree that a local dealer is extremely helpful at times. But I would assume somebody who purchase Sonar 8 PE would have some pretty decent experience with DAW to be able to solve most software related issues. And Cakewalk does have ok support for their products.

For one, I'm wary of purchasing from 3rd party online distributors from other countries - in case there are problems with the packaging itself. Their support is usually nil. I would get direct from Cakewalk. For somebody who is just getting to understand DAW, then my suggestion is don't jump into the deep end (like Sonar 8 PE, which cost quite a bit) - there are cheaper alternatives. And if they really want to jump in, then get it from a local dealer who can guide the person through for any hardware/software problems.

For most who are familiar with DAW (no offense to para-di or other local distributors), and can work out the issues (or comfortable with working with their online support and forums), then it's cheaper to get it direct from the developer.

For hardware, definitely try to get it from local dealers because of warranty issues. I would pay the extra for hardware just for the warranty and support.