Sonar Vs. Pro Tools

[luapleba]

I have been a Cakewalk user since version 6. I am Currently on Sonar 4 Producer and I Love it! I have no intention of switching, however, my question is what is the advantage of Pro-Tools? Why do most pro studios use it? Does it sound that much better? Is the interface better?... on and on and on with questions

 

[minofifa]

in my opinion...

i wouldn't say that pro tools is any better or worse than cakewalk per se. I think its fair to use the Mac/PC analogy. cakewalk,cubase,mackie etc are like the PC world, lot of different kinds. pro tools are like Mac, proprietary and and pretty standard. Many professional studios choose pro tools because of this standardization and familiarity. You are limited to a few hardware choices with digidesign/protools and to many this is appealing because it removes the headache of researching gear and frustrating incompatibilities. pro tools is a good product, but like mac, if you are looking for diversity and independant advances, it probably isn't the way to go.

 

[luapleba]

in my opinion...

Many professional studios choose pro tools because of this standardization and familiarity. You are limited to a few hardware choices with digidesign/protools and to many this is appealing because it removes the headache of researching gear and frustrating incompatibilities. pro tools is a good product, but like mac, if you are looking for diversity and independant advances, it probably isn't the way to go.

Thanks Minofifa,
I do understand that mentality because I originally was a Mac guy that used MOTU's Performer and the eventually Digital Performer (I started using a computer to make music in 1985). I was alway impressed at how the MOTU software was so integrated with my midi setup. In fact, about the time that I stopped using DP they had developed a OS layer that would detect and read any midi instrument that was connected. It was pretty slick. That being said, even back then I was not aware of Pro Tools. It seemed that Pro Tools came out of nowhere to become the standard. That is the thing that I am really questioning. Why? How? Your answer clarified some of it, but why not MOTU DP? Ya know what I mean?

 

[ds21]

Depends on which ver. ProTools your talking about, ProToolsLE (which is in most small studios price-range) is comparable to Sonar in that it's native (uses CPU power to process)

You can say "I have ProTools" and most clients won't know about the different versions and go WOW.

You can work on ProTools files that are brought in.

Now the "Big Studios" most likely use the Hardware version, and that's a different ball game.

I've got an M-audio card and use Sonar, but thinking of getting the M-Audio powered version on ProTools, because it's cheap and because of the two points made above, I would probably still use Sonar for everythng though, You know educate the client about the advantages of Sonar.

 

[bennychico11]

there is no such thing as a hardware version of Pro Tools. Pro Tools is a software program, not hardware. ALL versions just happen to have certain hardware bundled with it that is required in order to use the software.

the real reason Pro Tools became a standard is because they cornered the market a long time ago, and still pretty much do so now. Because you were required to use their hardware, the TDM systems were not only built very well, but they came out with processing cards that would relieve the strain of CPU usage. This was definitely important back in the early 90s when computers were still struggling. Even today, the number or I/Os available on an HD unit combined with TDM processing power, plus, for post production editors, the ability to be integrated with Avid systems, is pretty impressive....but it also makes it costly. But if you're going to spend several hundred thousand dollars or a million dollars on a recording console.....i'd say an HD system is chump change in comparison.

 

[ds21]

Thanks for refineing my answer. That's why I didn't really go into it, it's too expensive for me so I havn't really thought about anything buy the native system.