Sonar vs Home Studio

BluesMeister

BluesMeister

Occasional Poster
OK Peeps,

I need the benefit of your experience.

I really need to move up from CW PA7 and I've been told elsewhere on this BB that Sonar will do everything that I want.

In a nutshell I want to be able to fire up my MIDI backing tracks and record guitar overdubs. The whole shebang is then mixed and saved as an MP3.

However, Sonar is a trifle expensive in the land of the Boxing Kangaroo. Home Studio on the other hand seems far more affordble - certainly so far as Mrs BluesMeister is concerned ;)

Clearly there must be compromises if I go for HS. If anybody has advice and/or experience with both progs, it would be gratefully received. Particularly so far as what HS can & can't do.

TIA

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BluesMeister
 
Still None The Wiser...

Thanks Brzilian,

I had already looked at the comparison on CakeWalk's web page. I really wanted to know if anybody had used both programs and what their opinions were. Specifically the features that are more basic in HS compared to those in Sonar.

For example, is it easy to edit and create MIDI files in HS? Currently I use PA7 and if HS's MIDI editing is similar to PA7 then alles gut!:)

Also mixing and applying effects, how do they compare?

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BluesMeister
 
BluesMeister, I have a DAW that is setup for both midi and audio. It has asoundblaster Live! for midi and a delta 66+omni for audio. And I use HS2002. I can record audio & midi together, I can enter midi with Virtual Piano or an external keyboard, I can go to Piano Roll View, call up sondfonts and enter midi as data. Or in staff view as notation.

The only restriction is that it won't let me record more than two tracks simultaneously, but thats not an issue for me cos I only do one at a time anyway.The fx are adequate, more than the old cakewalk express that I used to have, so I can unreservedly vouch for HS 2002 as a way of keeping both Mr and Mrs BluesMeister happy:D
 
I haven't looked, but you might check out ebay or the like. I know about 'Mrs. BluesMeister'. Used gear always gets positive attention.

Good luck!
 
HS 2002 does not have the following features found in Sonar:

-Groove quantizing
-DirectX automation
-multi input card recording
-Studioware authoring
-less total number of FX that can be used at once
-pretty much all new features found in Sonar 2 (HS2002 still makes use of Sonar 1.xx code)


Other than that, I see no difference between the two. I use HS2002XL myself and have played around with Sonar. Cakewalk says HS2002 does not support multiple monitors, but all I do is stretch the window across both of my monitors.
 
Muchas Gracias Amigos...

This BB is first rate in my book! :)

Thanks Paul881, this is just the sort of information I was after. One track at a time is good for me too! I own a very basic two-channel mixer, so if ever I needed to record two guitars at once I could utilise that and mix it down to a single input.

And Brzilian, I'd probably never use Groove Quantisation. Sloppy playing is part of my charm ;) The other features you mention I'm really not familiar with - therefore I would hardly miss them :)

Gascap I must admit I'd never though of that! Good point.

It really looks like HS is the way to go for me.

Gentlemen, you have my gratitiude, please take a collective bow!

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BluesMeister
 
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