Another introduction!

Welcome aboard, Jon! Can't say what you should choose for your DAW, but SONAR definitely has plenty of features available.
 
Scott

--
Scott R. Garrigus - http://garrigus.com - SONAR X2 Power! - http://garrigus.com/?SonarX2Power
* Author of the Cakewalk Sonar and Sony Sound Forge Power book series: http://garrigus.com/?PowerBooks
* Author of the Cakewalk Sonar ProAudioTutor video tutorial series: http://garrigus.com/?ProAudioTutor
* Publisher of the DigiFreq free music technology newsletter: http://digifreq.com/?DigiFreq
* Publisher of the NewTechReview free consumer technology newsletter: http://newtechreview.com/?NewTechReview

Welcome! Good luck in finding a DAW. X2 is great value for money and the user base on this forum is more helpful than most.

Bibs

And here's aforementioned signature!

jonboyuk
And here's aforementioned signature!

That's a good signature JB....and YES, give Sonar a whirl...
You CAN download the full version of Sonar X2 Producer here and use it for 30 days..

http://www.cakewalk.com/Products/SONAR/Web-Trial.aspx

It's probably my favorite of all the ones I use...but, it's really about getting the job done..
rather then aesthetics...to me...

bapu
Welcome aboard Jonboyuk.
 
Try not to confuse yourself with Jonbouy (who is also from the UK, go figger)

I'm not 'from' the UK.  I'm still 'in' the UK.
 
Hi JonboyUK
 
It doesn't matter what DAW you use as long as garrigus has a book to explain how to use it.  Scott is the man to get you going to make sure you get the most from your software investment.  He writes good books!  And you'll be up and running in no time.
 
Seriously though the biggest investment you'll make will be the time you spend getting familiar with your weapon of choice and Scott certainly put me on the right track with his knowledge of Sonar.
 
That's just my two pence worth, from a name you know you can trust...
 
 
 
 

Awesome, thank you all. I think the device will arrive tomorrow so I will have to twiddle my thumbs until then!

This is more confusing that routing in Kontakt.
 
Welcome to the forum.

Haha, that's a genius comment bitflipper. I will give a few of them a go see which 'feels' right!

Welcome JonboyUK. I don't see us confusing you with anyone.
 
 
X2 Producer is the one to go with and will give you as much trouble as it did to the rest of us. After all it also includes the "kitchen sink". At least some think this is a good place to sell kitchens. 

are the buffer settings 512, 1024 etc .. the same for all the things you changed ? you might find that is the difference.
 
 
 

jonboyuk
I just want to say - the quad capture has arrive and it's AWESOME!!!!!!!! It works perfectly on both of my devices under USB 2.0 & 3.0!
 
One thing I don't get is something with the latency. Any insight would be great.
 
- At a sample rate of 48kHz, I get a return trip of 5.6ms
- At a sample rate of 96kHz, I get a return trip of 4.2ms
- At a sample rate of 192kHz, I get a return trip of 3.5ms!
 
No hiss or pops or crackles (as long as I have 'Reduce CPU load' ticked).
 
I prefer 96 but I get a better latency when it's higher. Why would this be? Logic says it should be the other way around!

That does seem backwards, but my RME Multiface does the same this as I just checked...that's very cool.  I'm not observed that before.

Latency is measured in samples. The closer the samples are the less latency there is.

Bibs

No it probably isn't right, I googled it :-)

jonboyuk
I just want to say - the quad capture has arrive and it's AWESOME!!!!!!!! It works perfectly on both of my devices under USB 2.0 & 3.0!
 
One thing I don't get is something with the latency. Any insight would be great.
 
- At a sample rate of 48kHz, I get a return trip of 5.6ms
- At a sample rate of 96kHz, I get a return trip of 4.2ms
- At a sample rate of 192kHz, I get a return trip of 3.5ms!
 
No hiss or pops or crackles (as long as I have 'Reduce CPU load' ticked).
 
I prefer 96 but I get a better latency when it's higher. Why would this be? Logic says it should be the other way around!

Sample-rate is the number of samples per second:

• 48k is 48,000 samples per second
• 96k is 96,000 samples per second
• 192k is 192,000 samples per second

If the sample-rate in Sonar is set to 96k, it's playing back 96,000 samples per second.
 
 
There are two sources of latency with a host-based DAW:

• Your audio interface
• Any latent plugins

 
Let's say your audio interface is set to a 64-sample ASIO buffer size.  That buffer size is static (doesn't change).
The higher the sample-rate (more samples played per second), that 64-samples will have less latency.
You can calculate the latency of the ASIO buffer size (at any sample-rate) using algebra.
 
ie:  Using a 64-sample ASIO buffer size at 48k
64 (ASIO buffer size) divided by 48,000 (sample rate) = x (latency in ms) divided by 1000 (there are 1000ms in a second)
solve for x
The latency of a 64-sample ASIO buffer size at 48k is 1.33ms
 
Let's double the sample rate to 96k and do the same equation.
64 (ASIO buffer size) divided by 96,000 (sample rate) = x (latency in ms) divided by 1000 (there are 1000ms in a second)
solve for x
The latency of a 64-sample ASIO buffer size at 96k is 0.67ms
 
 
Round-trip latency is the sum of the following:

• ASIO input buffer
• ASIO output buffer
• Latency from the A/D converters
• Latency from the D/A converters
• The audio interface driver's hidden safety buffer (this is the x-factor with audio interfaces)

 
Using the example of the 64-sample ASIO buffer size at 48k you get the following round-trip latency:
ASIO input buffer 1.3ms
ASIO output buffer 1.3ms
Latency from the A/D and D/A converters (very roughly 2ms)
The driver's hidden safety buffer (varies from very small to huge depending on the audio interface's driver)
The end user typically has no control over the hidden safety buffer (so there's no real way to mitigate its latency).
The best audio interfaces offer sub 5ms total round-trip latency at a 64-sample ASIO buffer size/48k
 
 
 

Wow Jim, I think I'll have to read that a few times to understand it....but I do get the gist. 
 
Therefore in each case, 5.6/4.2/3.6 are actually all very respectable latencies and I should be over the moon? (I am incidentally)!