Sonar 8 begins shipping October 2nd

Hey M!

Well, first ... I'm up to 8.1 as of this point and it's back to rock solid. I've not had any glitches since the bug fix ... knock knock knock on wood ...

My favorite new pieces are actually the new piano they included (True Piano, I believe), and the Tube Leveler plug.

What I like about the piano is it uses very little CPU power, it sounds good and I can get latency low on it.

Previously, I needed to use an offline hardware piece to approximate the piano ... record the midi ... and then I'd swap in Ivory or Steinberg at mix down. This one better allows me to work right w/in the program to start.

I'm using the Tube leveler both on individual tracks to warm them ... as well as occasionally across the two bus for the same purpose. It depends on the sound I'm going for ... but it's a good plug for that usage.

I wish I could say I'm using the surround sound stuff ... but I'm still very much in stereo land w/ my rig.

Kev-
 
Running it here as well.

The bad stuff:

It just would not run on my ASUS P5B Motherboard but neither would Sonar 7. Fortunately my MB blew up while I was switching a card trying to get better performance, and, after putting in a more current model and upgrading to Quad from dual core, Sonar 8 screams.

There are a few interface glitches which don't inhibit working but they need to work on like buttons that are transparent, colors that aren't consistent with counterparts on the same GUI etc.

TruePianos is not that impressive or useful to my ears. I have Art Vista Grand 2 and I have not heard much better at or above its price range. Can't see using TP much, at least the module that comes with this software. Possibly they have better sounding modules.

The Good Stuff:

After the MB swapout I discovered my stalling, pops and crackles were not caused by my graphics card, soundcard or UAD1 cards. It had been a poorly designed buss structure on my early model 64bit capable MB from ASUS. I have had very good luck with ASUS MBs in the past and thought I would try them again. I did not want any board with an overemphasis on the chipset i.e. big pipes, cooling units or special cooling fans. I went with the ASUS P5Q-C which has some large heatsinks but nothing fancy beyond that. Turns out this was a good choice.

Sonar is breathtaking to use especially now that I can turn back on Aero in Vista 64. The Xray windows are very cool looking (not necessary but it's a status thing). I am just amazed how much power to craft a song or mix is at your finger tips. Need strings? No problem, pull up Dimension Pro. Need a catching rhythm to build your song around? Pull up Beatscape with native and world instruments to build upon. Are you a loop and synth type? There are multiple synths, loop capabilities etc to cater to creative interests.

Here are some of the more impressive additions - Beatscape, basically a mini RMX type program with some very cool uses for creating a rhythmic vibe. Dimension Pro, can you say "score a movie". This software has authentic instruments, synths, drums, sound effects and, if you look through the myriad of sounds, possibly the kitchen sink. The Channel Tool is a subtle but amazing little addition which provides Mid/Side processing or delay. I have been using it to split the final mix and process the middle of the mix separate from the two sides. Very handy.

The stability of the program is much better than the previous version but that is somewhat attributable to my old funky MB. I am getting latency down to .7ms which is unheard of. Even after a large project is up to 24+ tracks and loaded with plugins I am only at 5.8ms. This is very handy for adding midi tracks late in the game and not having significant delay when you press a key on the keyboard.

The Tubeleveler is extremely handy for warming up a vocal or overall track; takes the digital hardness out of a mix and takes it toward a tape sound. There are a few more 64 bit plugins as well which is nice. They also mix well with 32 bit plugins that have to use their Bitbridge technology.

Overall its pretty outstanding DAW and now seamlessly works with UAD1 cards both PCI and PCIe. Also it works extremely well with the LynxIIA soundcard. Couldn't be more pleased with Sonar 8. My experience has been extremely positive.
 
I run a dual Opteron rig on a Tyan board, and w/ XP Pro (32 bit), even though the system is 64 bit ... and all the releases have been very stable.

I DID have a strange quirk reappear on one of my new projects though ... where playback stops completely and then resumes about half a minute later ... it's minor, but still odd.

Yeah, I'm not in love w/ the sound of the True Pianos either ... mostly the playability and the fact it allows me to stay in the box to work. I still swap out for better sounding units.

I've been thinking about putting together a dual boot system for just running Sonar in 64 bit mode. I bought Vista Ultimate when I got another computer recently (the upgrade was cheap), and it comes w/ the 64 bit version included.

I'd have to pump up my RAM though ... as I'm only running 2 Gig ... and Vista will natively ask for more ...

btw ... the bitbridge only works w/ VST, is that correct?

Thanks!

Kev-
 
A word of caution...Cakewalk's customer support is at an all time low. Sure they're taking orders and the discs are getting delivered but getting serial numbers to you can be a problem. A lot of people bitching about their lack of responsiveness. They ship your discs out but don't send the serial numbers with the product. Supposedly you're to go to their website to get the serial number so you can install but I'm on week two and still nothing. Check out their forums for more. There are several threads where people are waiting for weeks after having paid for the product and having recieved the dics but still cannot use the product. I've tried to call several time and the wait times are rediculous! Some have had better luck than others. I wish I could say better things as I've been a loyal customer for years but ever since Roland bought them up, what a pain in the ass!

4 emails to customer support in two weeks...not a single response. Several extended hold time phone calls but frankly I can't sit on the phone all day. They're not open after hours or on weekends either.

Sonar 7 .... great product for me. I'd really like to see how version 8 works but can't seem to get there.:mad:
 
Thanks for the input, good Sirs! :)


I still don't know what to do. Now with my new soundcard (M-Audio Fast Track Ultra 8R, it's absolutely great) Sonar 7 is "rock solid" (at least 99%), but then again I'm a techhead...
 
ah crap!
I just started with this whole PC recording marlarkey and took the plunge an bought Sonar power studio 250 with Sonar 6, does this mean i've just bought a lemmon?
 
Nah...Sonar 6 is a good version....they're all pretty good really. IMHO 7 tossed in some little bells n whistles and some additional plug-ins. 7 had it's quirks and appears that 8 was to be a fixup for 7.

Six is a good verion. You should like it just fine.
 
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