With the death of Sonar and Cakewalk, what are people moving to?

dhbailey

New member
I'm one of the suckers who fell for the Sonar "lifetime upgrades" from Cakewalk a year or so ago and who now are stuck with software that won't ever be upgraded again. Unless some other company steps up to the plate and buys it from Gibson.

What are people moving to as an alternate? I don't really want to mess with Steinberg's licensing system, although if I have to in order to continue to have a great DAW I will. I realize that some others also use a USB dongle and I'd rather not have to mess with that. I know that Steinberg's soft-e-licenser can eliminate that but I really want to have software that will work on both my desktop and my laptop without having to remember to either bring the dongle or de-activate on one machine so I can re-activate it on the other.

I've downloaded Reaper and will be investigating that in the coming weeks.

What other suggestions have people found to move forward with? I'm on Win10 64-bit computers (both my desktop and laptop) and use both midi and audio in my projects (sometimes each alone and other projects with both midi and audio mixed together).

Thanks for any insights anyone can share -- I'm heartbroken about the loss of Sonar and Cakewalk. I've been using Cakewalk since the days when the company was known as Twelve Tone Systems.
 
Reaper for me, moved over last year from Sony/Magix Vegas edit Pro. They have tons of tutorials on their site. Can't beat the price. Was easy for me as it is much like the Vegas DAW as far as functions and commands go. If Reaper goes under I will jump to Pro Tools and be done with it.
 
Thanks Songsj! I've downloaded and installed Reaper and will play around with it to see how it works for me. I also took advantage of the $149 special for Magix Samplitude Pro X3 and will see how that works for me. I really don't want to go to Pro Tools after what Avid did to Sibelius. I will spend the next few months trying to find my way through these new options. It sure seems like many people are making great use of Reaper, and the price is definitely excellent!
 
I have a couple more years to decide. Reaper is certainly high on the list of options.
 
I've downloaded Reader and have been checking out the videos and other resources at the web-site -- wow, those folks are thorough! I'm definitely purchasing it. That kind of support tells me they're in it for the long-haul. Thanks for the insights everybody!
 
I know some of you are opting for Reaper, and hey, it has a lot of fans, and is a great deal for $60.

That said, I want to once again mention that anyone who is looking for something new, or to move to from Sonar, you should check out the Samplitude Pro X3 Suite sale that has been extended to Dec 19.

For $149...you get all this:

Pro X3 Suite with a massive Independence sample library.
Melodyne 4 Essential, integrated with ProX
Pro X3 Sounds and Loops
Sound Forge Pro 11
iZotope Nectar Elements
iZotope Mastering & Repair Suite
Spectral Layers
Birdline Platinum Pack v.14. custom skins (with editor).

ProX alone is a very robust DAW application...but with all the extras, it's got to be one of the best deals I've ever seen.

Oh...go for the boxed version if you get it...it's only 3 days shipping from Germany, and much better than doing the massive downloads.
 
I use Presonus Studio One, version 2.65. The rest of the world has moved on to 3.0 ++, but I have no need to. It was apparently built by ex-Cubase people but is less mind-boggling and is very straightforward and well thought out, IMO.
 
I know some of you are opting for Reaper, and hey, it has a lot of fans, and is a great deal for $60.

That said, I want to once again mention that anyone who is looking for something new, or to move to from Sonar, you should check out the Samplitude Pro X3 Suite sale that has been extended to Dec 19.

For $149...you get all this:

Pro X3 Suite with a massive Independence sample library.
Melodyne 4 Essential, integrated with ProX
Pro X3 Sounds and Loops
Sound Forge Pro 11
iZotope Nectar Elements
iZotope Mastering & Repair Suite
Spectral Layers
Birdline Platinum Pack v.14. custom skins (with editor).

ProX alone is a very robust DAW application...but with all the extras, it's got to be one of the best deals I've ever seen.

Oh...go for the boxed version if you get it...it's only 3 days shipping from Germany, and much better than doing the massive downloads.
I did. Box' ver. Thanks again for the head's up.
 
I am still using Sonar Producer 8.5 have for several years...it is a boxed version so i can always install it... if i do ever have to get something else i would lean towards MOTU Digital Performer... i run PC format Windows 7 Pro and MOTU works both windows or mac
 
Will continue to be on SONAR (has been since -99), but will still use REAPER regardless. If I suddenly stop dancing the Cakewalk, it will be all REAPER. Since their staff implementation there really isn't any other valid option.
 
I bought Sonar X2 Producer in 2011. Never went in for any upgrades. It worked and sounded great so stuck with it.

What if I don't want to learn another DAW?

If you download all the zips and burn them to a DVD, can't that serve as an install for life?
 
I bought Sonar X2 Producer in 2011. Never went in for any upgrades. It worked and sounded great so stuck with it.

What if I don't want to learn another DAW?

If you download all the zips and burn them to a DVD, can't that serve as an install for life?

Windows updates and overall operating system upgrades often break functionality in robust applications like Sonar. I'm not even sure X2 will run properly in Windows 10, I believe X3 does though. But once Windows 11 hits the streets, who knows.
 
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