As a hobbyist composer I started off with cakewalk express way back in 1999. I then moved on to home studio 2002. I've been focusing more on the technicalities of music composition than on the technology that enables it. Last year I upgraded my mixing knowledge and figured out that I've been using an outdated version of Home Studio. Last month i entered this exciting world of plug-ins and learnt how music is made these days. Obviously i felt the need for a robust DAW that would help be improve my productivity as a composer and mix engineer. I did a research on industry standards and it didnt take me long to figure out that Sonar is one of the top five in the industry today, though it is on the lower end of the spectrum (protools, cubase, logic and live being the others). Since I was already familiar with home studio i decided to stick to Cakewalk. The only downside that i see is that Sonar is not available for Mac. Most of the professional studio run on the Mac. So if i decide to move to Mac in the future, the dependency on Sonar is going to be a problem.I hope Cakewalk fills this gap.

I bought the Sonar 7 Studio Edition recently and is very exciting to learn a new feature everyday, be it the Step Sequencer or the Audio Snap...its fun working with Sonar!

Hi Gerry,

I've actually opted to hold onto Cubase Studio 4 for much the same reasons. It offer's an easily accessable upgrade path should Steinberg amaze everyone, but it's looking rather slim. They are blatantly going to miss the next 4.x update before pushing out a version 5. Likewise, Sonar 7 does so much for me now that I'm not sure quite what they could add to v8 to tempt me. To be honest, some bug fixes to problems that are annoying me (glitches with the tabbed view, "follow snap settings" greyed out in dock view, envelope issues etc.) would make me upgrade to 8 in itself.

Cubase is currently just not installed any more. I can't do with the distraction of 2 hosts when I have a song in my head and debating which to use. Currently boxed up with dongle & manual and looking pretty in my bookshelf (and stopping some huge art books from falling off the edge... ).

But it's also £25 to transfer a licence, so I'm best keeping it in a bookshelf for now.

ORIGINAL: Gerry

ORIGINAL: arkiruthis

Hoooo boy... where to start. Suffice to say I've made a bad mistake.

SONAR 7 was perfect, aside from a few issues. However, given the lack of a demo, I was swayed by the possibility of getting Cubase 4 very cheaply... just to settle my speculations that it might be better at some things. The opportunity came up, I had a bonus that month... and decided to leap for it.

I won't bore you with the details, but I was amazed to find:

1. You can't read VSTi note names from Drum Machines like RMIV, Battery etc. Odd, given Steinberg created the VST format!
2. The MIDI editing is actually worse in many respects. SONAR's Smart MIDI Tools for the win!
3. Nothing even comes close to ACT.
4. The score editing 'improvements' are nothing to write home about. Symbols like marcatto etc. just have options to affect velocity. That's it. You can't assign crescendos to CC1, CC7, CC11 etc.
5. No mousewheel scrolling.

On the plus side, it does have a MIDI arpeggiator that actually works. (Cakewalk, the MFX Arpeggiator needs a FIX, not another glossy graphical tweak, heck, the one in P5 works, can we not have it in the flagship??)

Yeah... I know.... I should've known. But in this instance curiosity killed the cat. (but at least it's sellable...)

*points finger at Cakewalk forum and puts on ghostly voice*

"Beeeeeewaaaaaare...."

Just going through the same operation and managed to pick up Cubase 4 really cheaply my motives and no pun intended are having a Motif Rack ES and also getting an 01X, so greater integration between the DAW and hardware is something I am looking for. I'm keeping an open mind at the moment but it will be interesting to see on future releases what I actually do. Sonar 7 works fine for me and to be honest I do not use anything like its full potential so if 8 comes loaded with more bells and whistles I might just give it a miss. More bells and whistles meaning possibly more problems. Cubase 4 has at least one more update so I shall be interested to see how that works out and also interested to see what is planned on their next release.

I will certainly keep Cubase 4 mainly to use for obtaining a decent upgrade price on future releases. Despite Steinbergs apparent problems I do not honestly believe that they are sitting back and giving up on the race. May the best DAW win as competition is good for the end user I just think its premature to declare Steinberg the loser and certainly not in our real interests that it is.

Lastly apart from the fact you can sell Cubase it does give you the option of switching platforms, possibly no big deal for most people but just having the choice or option is a major bonus for those considering doing so.

Gerry

ORIGINAL: Gerry

Was your comparison made between Sonar PE and Cubase Studio?

Yes, just Cubase Studio (and I know it's unfair to compare to Sonar PE in it's range), but I didn't really feel there was much in the full Cubase that would appeal to me. I really thought the Score View in Cubase (which was apparently updated) as advertised would allow more depth with regard to MIDI than it actually transpired.

I'm very fond of Geniesoft Overture (who used to work with Cakewalk, oddly), as you can have keyswitches for Kontakt Instruments and mod wheel data for libraries like Garritan Personal Orchestra actually represented as score symbols on the staff which keeps everything wonderfully clean. I guess I'd hoped that Cubase's new Score View with Midi Meaning would be similar, but it transpired that the MIDI Meaning was limited to note lengths and velocities.

There's no music shops round here that demo Cubase and I didn't know of anyone who had a copy I could look at so I jumped on the opportunity to get into Cubase.

Spent tonight composing a song with Sonar and I'm really happy with it, so I don't really know what to do with Cubase other than hold onto it.

Oh Wow! I started with Cakewalk Ver 1. Although I have produced thousands of pieces of music over the years and I use Cakewalk almost every day, I cannot imagine using anything else! I have tried other programs, and there s nothing like Cakewalk (Sonar). Its' the best!

ORIGINAL: Mr Clean

Been having fun recording music since I first started learning guitar, first recording on to old tape recorders, playing one and playing along to overdub while recording on another. Those were the days, cheaps mics and loads of hiss, but it was recording. lol

Hi there Anthony, welcome to the forums

I'm a Guitar Tracks user just passing through but your comment above just took me back to all those years ago!

I had two cassette players, an ITT and a stereo Fidelity radio cassette - the main problem was, I didn't own a mic and only the Fidelity had built in stereo mics. It meant playing back the recorded track through the other player which played at a slightly slower speed that the Fidelity - hence I had to tune my strings down about half a step to be in tune every time!

Great fun all the same - thanks for bringing that memory back for me.

Steve

Greetings!

First I want to thank all cakewalk team for their great job.

Long time ago I tried cubase 3x + reason(for drums) and found it very uncomfortable with my emu usb card, I had a dropout whenever my cpu loaded up to 30%.
Then I found Sonar which is IMHO best daw available now. I don't want to enumerate the box of its benefits because of laziness :) I just think that it is amazingly flexible for personalization and customization without loosing usability advantages which are very important for music making. You can create the whole "dimension" for yourself. Also bouncing, freezing, archiving for saving ram are great functions. The audio on\off button is great !!))) Everything is great - key bindings, menu layouts, plugin manager etc etc etc..

I tried the new daw Reaper recently - it's nice but Sonar better ). The main thing that pushes reaper is that the guys who are bosses there, have the same concept as web 2.0 startup has(the endless beta huh), hence the whole feel and look of that daw is like if it was a some kind of a web startup (as I know, it is even written on java) - light weight, pleasant colors, VERY USABLE AND INTUITIVE etc. I think that these merits are very important today and wish Cakewalk to implement them more even. With reaper I have the same count of dropouts as I had with cubase..

I also tried the recent version of fruity loops and found it also very nice fun and usable.

But IMHO Sonar is the best daw for now because of its reach functional advantages in split with total control over the menus, colors etc. It is mature and serious but not so much as cubase is(which feels like severe music production program). Its friendly, quite usable, quite simple, stable, very logic and supports hardware very well (I have no dropouts with my usb emu card anymore). It is exactly how the serious creative environment should be.

But there are still several things that want some more attention such as

- The envelopes editing should be much more smooth and obvious(simple).
- Something like reaper's fx chains.
- Some kind of mixer layout switcher window to select custom mixer layouts without any right clicking and ticking..
- To disable(maybe I didn't find how) the sounding when you draw things in piano roll view.
- To have several (e.g. 3) nested folders levels.
- there are some more, but I can't remember them right now :)

It appeared that I became not only Sonar fan, but also Cakewalk's musical instruments.. ))
I think that the concept behind the rapture and dimension pro (with modulations) is the smartest and the most usable, intuitive and powerful suggestion.
I found zeta+ the best synthesizer of any available. I also like psynII))). I love dropzone for its simplicity and endless possibilities. These instruments are not so "stupid" or "alien" or "strange" or "junk" as all the others (my strange associations))). I was very surprized and happy finding out that all cakewalk's instruments are skinnable ))))

I used tone2 firebird, vanguard, sienth1, blue and many others(up to 15-20 synths and samplers), but now I just have NI battery, rapture, dropzone, zeta+ and psynII =)) These five allow to get endless original electronic stuff which is my need. Love rapture because it is a type of "chameleon" that can be anything from analog synth to distorted drum sampler :)

Well this is all I wanted to say, thanx again to all cakewalk team and wish you to stay on top in future.

Btw my styles of music are rhythm'n'noise and dark electro

Well, I'm very much a Logic user but before using logic I used Cakewalk 1.0 when it was dos! Upgraded all the way up to Cakewalk Pro Audio 8. Cakewalk pro audio 8 didn't work for me so I switch to Emagic Logic 4.0 for the PC until Apple bought it. Got Cubase 1.0 and then upgraded to SX 3. I still use Logic Pro 7 on my G4 but I still like to use my PCs. Cubase SX 3 is as far as I'm going to go with Cubase (use on my laptop and G4) because the latest version is so buggy. SX 3 works good but not the greatest on some laptops. Well, I want to stay up - to - date with technology I upgraded my Sonar LE (bundled with a midi controller) to Sonar Home Studio 6 XL. I was so impressed with Sonar LE and Home Studio that I upgraded to Sonar 7 Studio when Cakewalk made me an attractive upgrade offer. I'm not sorry that I upgraded!

Not unlike Psychobillybob, I'm a relic from the days of the analog tape sessions. (TASCAM Porta-One, recording demos on cassette in hopes of booking the band.) Many years later, I bought a program called Magix MusicMaker 2005 DeLuxe. It's a loop-based "studio" and it got me over my fear of the Personal Computer. Then I discovered that everything I've done with that software is not my property. What a waste. Still looking for a way to record, I went to the Zoom MRS-802 digital eight track recorder and embellished it with the Boss DR-5 drum machine. But with that ever longing to go hi-tech, I received a bootleg copy of cakewalk pro nine from a friend but it wouldn't install. That's how I stumbled on to Sonar 7 Producer on eBay. What sold me was the You Tube video of the V-Vocal. "At last! I'll be able to tolerate my singing," I thought. Upon first run, I was acutely aware that I was in way over my head. Enter Digital Music Doctor's Know-It-All video. I'm still miffed that a search for "Sonar 7 Tutorial Video" didn't link me straight way to the SWA vid on which I just spent yet another thirty dollars on the pursuit of Sonar Education. Well, I'm still impressed with this DAW and hope to be able to maneuver it soon. I have an album sitting around waiting to be put "in the can." Come on Sonar! Baby needs a new pair of shoes!

cake 09 to sonar producer 4 . its good for editing but the midi curve is huge.i have to keep installing synths after reopening the program. even the demos dont seem to have midi assignments.ill eventually figure it out. nice program ill be getting a new 10+10 firewire soon. see how that works. james

That's excellent, Matt! Congratulations!

-Susan

Hi Guys and Gals -

New to, well, everything. I'm a PC user who had been using ProTools (is that like a curse word around here? LOL). I've had some PC issues and compatibility issues with chipsets, mobo's, turning this windows function off, yada yada. It takes longer to prep the PC for PT than it does to load the program.

But I digress.

I actually can't say anything horrible about Digi and PT, they are quite supportive and their forums have some really talented and helpful folks. The product itself it a bit....clugey for me. I wanted something with a simpler way of doing things, something that didn't seem so damn technical when recording, which is turn sucks the creativity out of a session. For me anyhow.

That being said, I have a new fancy dancy PC that I built from Alienware. I love it, the thing screams, lots of stats (2 quad @2.2ghz, 3gigs RAM, 500g hd - all of which runs through a 32" Samsung, etc.) but at the end of the day, it just won't work with PT. So I've sold my Digi002r and PTLE and I just purchased CAKEWALK PRO SUITE SOFTWARE STUDIO BUNDLE and the FOCUSRITE SAFFIRE PRO 10 I/O from musiciansfriend. I don't require the 26 at this point.

Based on what I've been reading this seems like a good combo. I can't wait for Fedup or UPS to show up with my new goodies and start cranking out some tunes!

Oh and course, meeting lots of new forum buddies ;-)

Hello everyone. Just wanted to introduce myself and start looking around. I am jumping ship from Cubase 4. I purchased it specifically for its Instrument Definitions…I spent allot of money for nothing, its support was as sparse as the available definitions. I have a Roland JP-8080 and Waldorf Micro Q. I was encouraged to see Sonar 7 Supports these right off the bat…..Cubase …nope. I was also giddy when I saw the new step sequencer added in…this actually was the main feature that sold me. Up until now I used Fruity Loops Studio to program beats and baselines and Cubase for my audio…it was a Rewire mixing nightmare. I just purchased Sonar 7 Producer…and I am eagerly looking forward to exploring this software package. To be honest I have let technical difficulties completely stall me and rob me of any creative desire. I am hoping after getting acquainted with Sonar it will be reawakened in me…lol.

Looking forward to getting to know all of you!!!!

Von

Yes I did I was a Cubase Logic User from the age of 17 to about 26 always looking for the perfect DAW trying many out even up until now but Im eventually switching back to Logic Pro 8 Maybe Hers why

Workflow Workflow Workflow Ive spent so many years on Sonar its an excellent Idea like Logic was but ideas dont get work done I also use an Axiom Keyboard it dont work in Sonar I used to rewire Live 6 it dont work in Sonar Loops dont play in sync in Sonar
ALL I WANT IS TO MAKE MUSIC MAN

I also use Protools With my MAudio sound card but that program just dont cut it they are riding on their Old status with that Dinosaur Were Pro tools you must buy us or die attitude.
Too basic no cool features not really inovative at least Cakewalk tries but it version 8 its time to get it right Cakewalk I just use Protools to give Protoolers projects in their own formats
But Im gonna hold on for a couple more months then Im switching and never looking back

Just an observation The average age of the Sonar user is like 15 years older compared to some other DAWS most of the guys even on this forum are in their 40s + not ageism Im in my mid 30s Sonar needs to get with the program

Heres the program
Workflow Workflow Workflow
Tutorials Like Live Only Much better Step by Step
Anyone under 35 hates manuals
Make it User Friendly

Forget about most of the current users and what they think
They only want things to stay the same when the change comes theyll
complain then praise you later like that show Renovate My Llife
Renovate my DAW its clunky stale and old fashioned the foundation is there
Stop letting other DAWS steal your Glory Make Sonar 8 great
No actually make it so great you have to change the name and truly become
The top DAWG
Sonar DAWG - Digital Audio Workstation Gods

Longtime lurker, first time poster

I switched to Cakewalk sometime in 1991, I think, maybe a little earlier. I am not really sure of the exact date. Anyway, I have a copy of Electronic Musician from August 1991 that I seem to remember using to make my product choice (the article also had a selection of sequencers for the Macintosh, Amiga, and Atari platforms). Or maybe I was using the article to check the features of my sequencer against the competitors. I recently found some copies of .wrk files that indicate the were last modified in January 1992, but I am not not sure how accurate that is. Those files have been dragged around from computer to computer and saved and resaved. Maybe there was an earlier .ext that I don't remember. I remember that my first Cakewalk had 120 ppqn and ran just fine on my 486 50 machine.

I wasn't really on any sequencer software when I switched. I had been out travelling in bands playing bass during the late seventies and early eighties (the "disco wars" period, when men fought againt the tyranny of the steady thump thump thump thump of the Altec A7 sound machines and their evil minions, the DJs), and I finally gave in and left the road to return to college. My father was a community college computer teacher and he had Orch 90 on his TRS-80, but that had to have been in the mid-to-later eighties (he died in November 1987) and I just messed around with that when I was at my parent's home. I do still have one file that I painstakingly transferred over to Cakewalk that was originally on the Orch-90. The "solo" on that piece is an interesting construct, very angular and disjointed; I think the input method probably influenced the outcome on that solo.

Anyway, in the period just before I purchased my first Cakewalk I was just using Cool Shoes Drummer to jam with. It was great to have a reliable, albeit if a bit stiff, rhythm partner. Getting Cakewalk really allowed me to add chords and lead lines. I just used it as a "jam machine" for a while then started writing midi pieces.

From there, my story goes like this: played in various bands, 1993 got married (me age 37 wife age 22-she asked me to marry her), 1994 stopped playing b/c wife wanted me at home (swore this would never happen), 1995 still jamming and writing midi pieces, 1997 less jamming, still writing midi, 1998 got Pro Audio, not really able to use the audio b/c my computer was not up to date, got a better computer in 1999 but my wife and I started playing online RPGs, still writing midi, but more into gaming, wife became one of the top players on her server (in DAOC),

10/16/05 wife told me she was leaving me for another "l33t" gamer, and on 10/30/05 I upgraded to Sonar 5 Producer and decided to learn to play guitar and devote the rest of my days to writing and creating music. 06/01/06 wife moved out (she was nice enough to take the SUV and leave me the house) and I started playing music as a 'fulltime" avocation. I work my 9 to 5 and then come home to play. I am back playing in a band also, but have been converting all of my old midi files to Cakewalk projects and switching the sounds to use Dim Pro, Rapture, et. al. and MiroSlav Philharmonik. I started the conversion process in late 2007; the files are arranged in alphabetic folders: last night I finished the T song folder. I tend to get involved with writing new sections and expanding the pieces so it is slow work. And the there is always the temptation to jam.

The last time I counted there were over 800 files. These range from 8 bar drum patterns (not many of those) to eight minute pieces. I try to average writing or significantly rearranging one (song, work, piece, jam) per day. 99% of these things have only been heard by me, God, and the cat (who was part of the reason I got to keep the house).

I am seeing the light at the end of the rearranging tunnel and hope to someday post some songs somewhere on the internet. I have blues, funk, rock, latin, etc. pieces and a lot of attenpts at writing orchestral pieces. Most of it is still just midi, but I have been learning to record audio. As I indicated above, I have been lurking on these boards for a long time, and I have learned a tremendous amount from so many of you. This to me is a very special community.

I'll level with you, I bought sonar because I pirated it to try it out and I liked it a lot more than cubase. Companies that focus on copy-protection are being anti-consumer given that people like me who would prefer to try a very expensive program before buying cannot do so and hence will not buy added to the fact that their mentality is generally selfish and self-righteous. I'll be honest with you companies have never lost sales through the lack of copy protection, it earns respect from people and they buy it out of principle. Invasive or extensive copy protection deters people and it is an inevitability that it will be cracked.

Anyway that's my 2 cents, very controversial I'm sure many will disagree but the main thing is I bought sonar and I love it, I love the support (which is necesarry for me with audio programs, murphy's law) and I don't regret buying it.