iRelevant
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Could the CbB DAW Mix console be considered to be the best in the world ?
It is the best I've seen, but that's just me. Any thoughts ?
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reevant
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Re: Could the CbB DAW Mix console be considered to be the best in the world ?
2018/04/19 10:26:44
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I must admit to preferring the Cakewalk by Bandlab mixer panel but then that is what I am really used to. I find Pro Channel so very handy. Also setting up busses etc very simple in Cakewalk. When all the kaffuffle over the demise of Sonar occurred I purchased Reaper and spent the first few weeks trying to at least get the Master track to behave similarly to Sonar. But now I'm back to olde faithful Sonar under its new name.
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reevant
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Re: Could the CbB DAW Mix console be considered to be the best in the world ?
2018/04/19 10:26:48
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I must admit to preferring the Cakewalk by Bandlab mixer panel but then that is what I am really used to. I find Pro Channel so very handy. Also setting up busses etc very simple in Cakewalk. When all the kaffuffle over the demise of Sonar occurred I purchased Reaper and spent the first few weeks trying to at least get the Master track to behave similarly to Sonar. But now I'm back to olde faithful Sonar under its new name.
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gustabo
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Re: Could the CbB DAW Mix console be considered to be the best in the world ?
2018/04/19 11:57:54
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pwalpwal
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Re: Could the CbB DAW Mix console be considered to be the best in the world ?
2018/04/19 12:24:26
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what is it that makes it the best for you?
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iRelevant
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Re: Could the CbB DAW Mix console be considered to be the best in the world ?
2018/04/19 12:44:56
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pwalpwal
what is it that makes it the best for you?
I really like the features and visual style of the Pro channel. Particularly the Console emulation and Tube feature.
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reevant
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Re: Could the CbB DAW Mix console be considered to be the best in the world ?
2018/04/19 12:53:19
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I think if you were to ask a Pro Tools fan the answer would be Pro Tools is better, ask an Ableton fan the answer would be Ableton is better. I believe that what you can drive the way you want would be the best in your eyes. I like Cakewalk's mixer but I'm more familiar with it than any other but most from what I have seen are similar. What Sonar has to set it apart is the Pro Channel but then one can do similar in other products with a bit of work.
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sharke
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Re: Could the CbB DAW Mix console be considered to be the best in the world ?
2018/04/19 14:23:45
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I have to admit that since switching to Reaper I vastly prefer its mixing console. The reason being is that it's just so much more configurable. There are so many different layouts and sizes for the channel strips, and you can configure them separately on a track by track basis. So if you want to, for example, keep all of your drum strips narrow, and all the others wide, you can do that. And of course folders in the console, something Sonar could really do with. I also like how Reaper has a separate "monitoring FX" chain between the master bus and the outputs, so you can throw all of your ARC2 and Sonarworks type stuff in there without having to worry about turning it off for the export, and without having to create a new bus to route the master through like you do in Sonar to achieve a similar effect. Hope Cakewalk takes on a few of these ideas in the future.
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dubdisciple
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Re: Could the CbB DAW Mix console be considered to be the best in the world ?
2018/04/19 15:49:11
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I think it is very subjective. I certainly prefer cakewalk mixer to most mixer views, but for pure straightforwardness, hard to beat Harrison. I think customization is somewhat overrated. Obviously it's not always the case, but most of the people I know that delve deep into customization spend more time playing with colors and layouts than actually making music. The most productive people I know make a few minor changes that adress core functionality and then leave it alone.
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Cactus Music
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Re: Could the CbB DAW Mix console be considered to be the best in the world ?
2018/04/19 16:12:18
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What I do not like is that it does not retain the layout with a saved projects. If I have 20 tracks I have to go to each one and make it Narrow so I can see them all on my second monitor. Save screenset,,, save lens... close and open they are all big again and the Buss pane is overlapping again. Huge time suck. Possibly I'm missing something which is typical for Sonar as many good features can allude you because they are not very obvious. But the way I see it the Console is not very customizable. I've played with a few other DAW's including Cubase and MIx Bus and I really don't see a big difference. I only open it in the final mixdown stage.
post edited by Cactus Music - 2018/04/19 16:39:05
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conklin
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Re: Could the CbB DAW Mix console be considered to be the best in the world ?
2018/04/19 16:55:50
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☄ Helpfulby olemon 2018/04/22 12:24:37
sharke
I have to admit that since switching to Reaper I vastly prefer its mixing console. The reason being is that it's just so much more configurable. There are so many different layouts and sizes for the channel strips, and you can configure them separately on a track by track basis. So if you want to, for example, keep all of your drum strips narrow, and all the others wide, you can do that. And of course folders in the console, something Sonar could really do with. I also like how Reaper has a separate "monitoring FX" chain between the master bus and the outputs, so you can throw all of your ARC2 and Sonarworks type stuff in there without having to worry about turning it off for the export, and without having to create a new bus to route the master through like you do in Sonar to achieve a similar effect. Hope Cakewalk takes on a few of these ideas in the future.
Yeah, this. As far as visuals go I really do prefer the console in Cakewalk over Studio One. With tired eyes and long sessions Cakewalk just looks, I don't know....it just looks right. And by default too. Reaper would be a very very close 2nd.
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iRelevant
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Re: Could the CbB DAW Mix console be considered to be the best in the world ?
2018/04/19 20:37:58
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From what I can see from this small sample space we have : 4 yes, 4 it subjective, and 1 No. I interpret that as there are grounds to think that my initial proposition could be true :) Not bad.
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Kev999
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Re: Could the CbB DAW Mix console be considered to be the best in the world ?
2018/04/19 21:10:04
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Lately I'm preferring Mixbus32C. Groups of tracks and buses can be shown/hidden via a single mouse click. That's a boon.
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doncolga
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Re: Could the CbB DAW Mix console be considered to be the best in the world ?
2018/04/19 23:28:54
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With all due respect, no. I have great respect for Sonar, for the long time I spent with it, but I like Studio One and Mixbus much better, especially Studio One. I was shocked how much better I liked it and how much faster everything was. I found track navigation way faster and easier in Studio One. Also, when I go back to the Sonar console, the faders seem impossibly short.
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BenMMusTech
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Re: Could the CbB DAW Mix console be considered to be the best in the world ?
2018/04/19 23:30:08
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☄ Helpfulby olemon 2018/04/22 12:25:33
Sonar's (I refuse to call it CBB) mix screen has always been one its selling points I think you will find. Once people use Sonar's mixer - there tends to be a lot of people who say the same thing as the OP. Even those wedded to other DAWs. It seems to be for the fact, that the mixer indeed behaves and looks like a proper mixer. Two of the best functions of Sonar's mixer are the gain knob - allowing the mixer to set gain structure after the fact. Also the mix recall is another handy function.
The gain knob though is really important. What most who start mixing don't get is that to get a mix sounding right in the digital - you still need to set the gain stage throughout the signal chain. I think because other programs don't have this knob on their mix channels...mixers forget that the gain knob is an important tool within an mix engineers' tool kit in regards to having consistently high signal levels (important for some analouge emulation plugs).
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noynekker
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Re: Could the CbB DAW Mix console be considered to be the best in the world ?
2018/04/20 01:36:59
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After using Cubase for a while, I really prefer Cakewalk's console . . . everything's right there, it has the feel of a real mix console, EFX bin and ProChannel, so useful . . . but, one thing the Cubase mix console has going for it is the horizontal scale ability. You can scrunch or enlarge the console view horizontally with a simple key command.
(Probably not as useful with large projects with 30+ tracks, 'cause you can only scrunch so much, but it works great for smaller projects)
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chris.r
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Re: Could the CbB DAW Mix console be considered to be the best in the world ?
2018/04/20 01:44:30
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☄ Helpfulby backwoods 2018/04/20 03:47:24
Coming from Sonar's world it's easy to forget how important the gain knob is. Recently I was looking closer on some other DAWs after Gibson shut down Cakewalk and I realized it's really hard to find it on the other consoles indeed.
But the clean ProTools look and Harrison's natural workflow are great too.
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garyhb
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Re: Could the CbB DAW Mix console be considered to be the best in the world ?
2018/04/20 23:53:56
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+1 for MixBus32C workflow and sound. Sonar +1 for midi composition and synths.
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dubdisciple
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Re: Could the CbB DAW Mix console be considered to be the best in the world ?
2018/04/21 00:55:56
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chris.r
Coming from Sonar's world it's easy to forget how important the gain knob is. Recently I was looking closer on some other DAWs after Gibson shut down Cakewalk and I realized it's really hard to find it on the other consoles indeed.
But the clean ProTools look and Harrison's natural workflow are great too.
The lack of gain knob in studio one pisses me off. used to piss me off in logic too, but they addressed it finally
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Jeff Evans
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Re: Could the CbB DAW Mix console be considered to be the best in the world ?
2018/04/21 01:12:12
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☄ Helpfulby Marshall 2018/04/21 19:46:17
Gain knob is not required in Studio One. What you can do in Studio One is simply edit the volume of any audio event on a track (individually which you cannot do with the gain knob effecting a whole track so its actually better) by simply grabbing the gain handle and raising or lowering. Unlike Sonar you can see the changes in waveform height immediately. After a while you can get pretty savvy at just looking at waveforms and getting all their rms levels very consistent. Before you start a mix.
If you track properly as well using a VU meter you will also never need a gain knob either. It is when you get material from someone else that has done the tracking that you are more likely to see inconsistent rms levels on tracks. In that situation I tend to open them all up one by one in an editor and with a VU over the tracks make all the adjustments there. It is far more accurate than fiddling a gain knob.
As far as the mixer is concerned it depends on who you are talking to. I don't like the Sonar mixer at all but love the Studio One mixer. So sorry it is not the best mixer in the world! Mixbus mixer is also pretty cool too.
Specs i5-2500K 3.5 Ghz - 8 Gb RAM - Win 7 64 bit - ATI Radeon HD6900 Series - RME PCI HDSP9632 - Steinberg Midex 8 Midi interface - Faderport 8- Studio One V4 - iMac 2.5Ghz Core i5 - Sierra 10.12.6 - Focusrite Clarett thunderbolt interface Poor minds talk about people, average minds talk about events, great minds talk about ideas -Eleanor Roosevelt
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doncolga
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Re: Could the CbB DAW Mix console be considered to be the best in the world ?
2018/04/21 05:33:49
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Jeff Evans
Gain knob is not required in Studio One. What you can do in Studio One is simply edit the volume of any audio event on a track (individually which you cannot do with the gain knob effecting a whole track so its actually better) by simply grabbing the gain handle and raising or lowering. Unlike Sonar you can see the changes in waveform height immediately. After a while you can get pretty savvy at just looking at waveforms and getting all their rms levels very consistent. Before you start a mix.
If you track properly as well using a VU meter you will also never need a gain knob either. It is when you get material from someone else that has done the tracking that you are more likely to see inconsistent rms levels on tracks. In that situation I tend to open them all up one by one in an editor and with a VU over the tracks make all the adjustments there. It is far more accurate than fiddling a gain knob.
As far as the mixer is concerned it depends on who you are talking to. I don't like the Sonar mixer at all but love the Studio One mixer. So sorry it is not the best mixer in the world! Mixbus mixer is also pretty cool too.
+1000. Totally don't need a gain knob as Jeff pointed out. Select all the audio and use the gain handle to adjust it all at once at once if you like, instead of one track at a time. Also, its super fast in Studio One is to set up a macro to normalize all audio to whatever level you want to drive your plugins in your template at optimal levels and strip silence for all tracks. Do all this in one step for all tracks as part of mix prep with the press of one key. Again, no trim knob necessary. It would actually slow you down alot. And how about a console track list in Sonar? Before I really switched to Studio One and MixBus, Sonar console navigation was really slow and frustrating on high track counts projects. Also, from what I can tell, track folders don't appear on the Sonar console, and again, the faders are insanely short.
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Jeff Evans
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Re: Could the CbB DAW Mix console be considered to be the best in the world ?
2018/04/21 06:48:37
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Plus the fact the Studio one faders can be set to any height as well. Forgot to mention. When the Studio One mixer is open on a second screen it can be fully vertically extended as well showing all inserts and sends at once. Presonus plugins as well can be put into a little thumbnail mode right in the mixer. Parameters can also be tweaked without opening the plugin. The fader also has a little meter to the side showing gain reduction when compressors are inserted. Mixer can be put into narrow or normal mode as well. The Faderport 8/16 can bank mixer channels real easy making navigating a huge mix very easy and fast.
The more you think about it the Sonar mixer seems less and less like the best mixer in the world.
Specs i5-2500K 3.5 Ghz - 8 Gb RAM - Win 7 64 bit - ATI Radeon HD6900 Series - RME PCI HDSP9632 - Steinberg Midex 8 Midi interface - Faderport 8- Studio One V4 - iMac 2.5Ghz Core i5 - Sierra 10.12.6 - Focusrite Clarett thunderbolt interface Poor minds talk about people, average minds talk about events, great minds talk about ideas -Eleanor Roosevelt
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tenfoot
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Re: Could the CbB DAW Mix console be considered to be the best in the world ?
2018/04/21 11:48:55
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Such a subjective question. There is no 'best mixer in the world'. All will have their fans and detractors, though some fans have certainly proved more evangelical than others:)
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Jeff Evans
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Re: Could the CbB DAW Mix console be considered to be the best in the world ?
2018/04/21 14:25:46
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☄ Helpfulby Zargg 2018/04/21 14:45:43
The best mixer (for you, not in the world) is the one you know.
Specs i5-2500K 3.5 Ghz - 8 Gb RAM - Win 7 64 bit - ATI Radeon HD6900 Series - RME PCI HDSP9632 - Steinberg Midex 8 Midi interface - Faderport 8- Studio One V4 - iMac 2.5Ghz Core i5 - Sierra 10.12.6 - Focusrite Clarett thunderbolt interface Poor minds talk about people, average minds talk about events, great minds talk about ideas -Eleanor Roosevelt
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Kamikaze
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Re: Could the CbB DAW Mix console be considered to be the best in the world ?
2018/04/21 14:38:17
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It would be nice to have fader throw lengths in 2 or 3 different sizes, and t put the buses with with there assciated tracks, but other than that, I'm happy with console View styling.
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paulo
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Re: Could the CbB DAW Mix console be considered to be the best in the world ?
2018/04/21 15:50:39
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It could be by some, but then some other people wouldn't agree.
HTH
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stratman70
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Re: Could the CbB DAW Mix console be considered to be the best in the world ?
2018/04/21 16:01:11
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I agree but I also will continue to call it Sonar's mixing console. When Bandlab "enhances" and "adds functionality" like some mentioned above, I will then refer to it by the other name.
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bapu
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Re: Could the CbB DAW Mix console be considered to be the best in the world ?
2018/04/21 17:39:13
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Jeff Evans
Mixbus mixer is also pretty cool too.
Or in my world the best mix console. But I do miss this from my hardware days. 
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sharke
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Re: Could the CbB DAW Mix console be considered to be the best in the world ?
2018/04/21 17:40:21
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BenMMusTech
Sonar's (I refuse to call it CBB)
Why? That's what it's called now. Might as well refer to things by their actual name, yes?
JamesWindows 10, Sonar SPlat (64-bit), Intel i7-4930K, 32GB RAM, RME Babyface, AKAI MPK Mini, Roland A-800 Pro, Focusrite VRM Box, Komplete 10 Ultimate, 2012 American Telecaster!
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bapu
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Re: Could the CbB DAW Mix console be considered to be the best in the world ?
2018/04/21 17:41:14
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Jeff Evans
The more you think about it the Sonar mixer seems less and less like the best mixer in the world.
Even when I mix in SONAR/CbB I still only work in TV after all these years.
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