What makes anyone here think Steinberg wants to grant their biggest competitor a VST3 license? Ever consider that?

John T: actually the side-chain is the whole point of being able to automatically ride the level of the plugin. Without the side-chain, you basically got another compressor/limiter. Using the plug to manually write volume automation is useless because you can do that with the track fader. No matter how you word it or try to put it, no VST3 support is a short coming of Sonar.

Vocal Rider without sidechaining still has merits as it keeps the vocal level steady RELATIVE TO ITSELF!  Maybe not to the entire mix but there is  obviously (as least to me) tons of value to that as is.   It smooths out the vocals own peaks and valleys which then makes other adjustments to the mix a hell of a lot easier and fewer as well!  Do you get what I mean??  BTW, It is NOT another compressor limiter as it does not color the sound, only makes straight volumn enhancement.   I'm surprised at the number of folks that don;t see the value in using VR with out sidechaining.  Its does what it says it will do quite well!  Then you just have to make small mods to the automation where the vocal really conflicts with the mix.  

Hey folks,
 
I thought I would chime in on this one.
 
Vocal Rider works just fine without a side chain. It's no different than setting a compressor on a track and letting the audio of that track dictate how it reacts... according to how you set it of course. Except, it's not raising the noise floor throughout the mix on the track it is used on. Only on the softer parts it raises according to your settings... unlike compression.
 
No doubt it would be nice to have the side chain input working in Sonar for more dynamic music tracks. So the rider will adjust to the music rather then the vocal itself... BUT ...
 
Seriously, This is STILL a step up from compression even without the side chain... Most music isn't dynamic enough to matter. The softer parts of the music aren't actually quiet enough, compared to the louder parts to matter.
 
IF someone needs, they could still duck (side chain) the music from the vocal track that is using Vocal Rider. In other words.. use VR on a vocal track THEN send to a SC input on compressor/limiter on a "pre-master" and the compressor/limiter will limit the music when needed. If you set it to only work at the loudest parts there will be no noise floor raising and rather than the vocal getting louder the music will get quieter.
 
 
Vocal Rider is worth the money even without the side chain working!!! Try the demo, you'll see!!
 
Have fun,
 
Rob

I see that Vocal Rider is only $99 these days, too...