Sonar alternative Cubase 9.5 Pro
dear @chris.r ,
here are the anwers for Chris.r
In Detail, my answers for Cubase 9.5 Pro are marked bold:
unlimited I/O, audio/MIDI tracks, busses and VSTs - 256 i/o’s, unlimited audio/instrument, midi tracks, 64 VST instruments (rack) slots
opening 32bit VST in 64bit Sonar - this is not required by Steinberg to do this, but i do this with jbridge, and this works great. On the other hand, i do not use 32 Bit Plugins in new projects, it makes no sense for the future (stability and performance)
resonably good VST handling - I have read that even Steinberg's (who invented VST right?) Cubase is having issues with many VSTs (and no 32bit VST in 64bit host at all AFAIK) whereas Sonar seem to work fine with most I've tried so far --> I cannot really confirm this, i know only one 3rd party developer that doesn't work for a long time, Plugin Alliance Plugins. But these are working now with the new update.
VST is working great under Cubase, i use for example, all NAtive Instruments VSTis, VSL, Toontrack, XLN, IKM, AIR, GForce, SONiVox, UVI, Waves VSTis, Slate Digital, and Dimension Pro by Cakewalk :;
I use the following fx 3rd party plugins without a problem:
2C-Audio, Abbey Road Plugins (32 bit via jbridge), AIR, BlueCat, Cakewalk, Eiosis, Exponential Audio, Fabfilter, HOFA, IKM, iZotope, Lexicon, Magix, Melda, Nomad Factory, P&M, PSP, Slate Digital, Softube, SoundRadix, Soundtoys, TDL, Voxengo and Waves (Mercury) and maybe some more 😉
ability to switch off automatic VST scan during starup - very useful
Cubase scans always at the start, but there is no problem. I think it is a advantage, so you know if there is a problem with a new plugin or a installed plugin you forgot ;)
Since C9 Cubase got Plugin Sentinel function, not well programmed plugins comes into a blacklist.
plugin load balancing - that one is Sonar specific I believe... and it's awesome
Goal is to have a well performed DAW, Cubase uses CPU power very balanced.
There could be one problem with CPUs more than 6 (physical) cores. But there is a patch to avoid problems.
As i said, it could be.
I have a 6 Core and use this one without a problem, as well a lot of my colleagues, they use 8 cores w/o a problem, i just want to be honest :)
Skylight interface - great docking/floating options, on/off switching and expand/collapse of different views with press of one key
With C9.5 there are a lot of new docking options, but i work more with screensets...
dynamic control bar - efficiency vs economy
Don’t know by now what it is…
smart tool - ease of use... excellent feature
No, but to be honest, i more use the shortcut function to change between the tools.
So, i have more control, just a matter of taste.
track templates, screensets
Yes!
track folders
Yes, and recursive, you can have track folders in track folders, very nice if you have a bunch of tracks, my new projects have 50 Backings Vocals, so it is fine to have the overview :)
convenient interleave (mono/stereo), phase switch and input echo on/off switch on every track
In Cubase you have decide it when you create a track if it is mono or stereo, this is not ideal, I’m with you, but i can live with that.
phase switch, input echo and so YES!
quick group and smart swipe - editing across multiple tracks with one click... maybe not essential but very proficient
You have the possibility of group editing in track folders, this is nice for drum tracks
combined midi/audio tracks (make instrument track)
Yes it is called instrument track in Cubase, i use this for 90%
expandable fx & sends (in Inspector/Console view) - again not essential, but... ;)
The Whole Insepctor/MixConsole is more flexible than in Sonar.
MixConsole is fully changeable in view and far more, you have to see this to understand.
One great thing is, you have special "Zone Views you can tack on the left and right sight.
For example, you can tack LEad Vocal Channels on the left, and LEad Vocal signal path (fx send, group etc.) on the right. You can save this and can change from Vocal, guitar and so on view!
patch points, aux tracks
aux tracks yes, patch point?
mix recall - sooo useful
No this feature is missing
dim/exclusive solo - workflow! nearly essential
Yepp, via Control room and far more!
Snap To/Snap By switch - essential for me... does any other DAW have something like that?
Snap to grid, yes
copy entire clips as linked clips (siblings) - you can edit just one MIDI clip and the rest gets the same edits automatically
MIDI events chase on play
YES
X-Ray feature
No
video handling
Yes
non-destructive audio & MIDI editing
Yes
Ripple editing
No
take lanes & speed comping - both highly essential
Yes, and very comfortable
Cubase has track versions (like ProTools Playlists) on board, this feature is hell!
clips auto-crossfade
Yes
bounce to clip(s) - essential
Yes
audiosnap - transient-based audio editing... essential for me
No
Melodyne - ARA support, got it bundled with Sonar - great! How about other DAWs...?
No ARA support, but Cubase got avery fine function, call VariAudio. I use this for mono material with the same
result as Melodyne (i have Melodyne as well).
But polyphonic in VariAudio is not possible.
You can use Melodyne as an Insert, but as i said, i use VariAudio for monophonic material withgreat results.
drumreplacer - a great feature, and got it bundled with my DAW, no need to buy anything 3rd party! essential I think
No, iuse Slate Trigger if i have to use it.
vocalsync - bundled... again! essential (not going to pay for VocAlign alone same price as I paid for SPlat with lifetime upgrade)
No, a big feature request in the cubase community!
clip FX rack (clip based fx) - nearly essential for me
Yes ! New in C9.5
clip/track: apply effects (process in-place) - very useful if not essential
Yes!
freeze/unfreeze track - essential!
Yes!
groove-clip looping functionality - essential I think
I don't know by now
matrix view, step sequencer
Step sequencer yes!
sfz/rxp file handling
Don't know by now...
radius algo for pitch/strech audio - I find it of excellent quality!
elastique pro algo, excellent!
export selection to audio - select clips/tracks and time region and export (bounce) to audio file
yes and far more!
MIDI view/editing directly in Clip pane
Yes!
step recording (MIDI)
quantize + swing ability - a must
Yes, Cubase is the midi master with a lot of midi FX you never know by now ;)
groove quantize - awesome feature, especially when combined with audiosnap transient pool
Yepp...
Length/velocity scale - a must (in Sonar you have a command in menu but also you can drag clips/selected events with mouse)
?
find/change (interpolate), select by filter - both are very essential features for me
event list, markers and tempo editing
Yes
MIDI effects (mfx)
save as MIDI format 0 and 1
SysEx
Yes
CAL - I find it lifesaving sometimes! I know there's no alternative for that in the world... or is it?
The best data management system in the DAW World is in Cubase.
You can delete non-used clips / file safely!
In Sonar and other DAW you have a bunch of non-used audio files you can't delete safely!
ProChannel - Sonar exclusive, I know, but are there any good alternatives?
The internal Cubase plugins are really good, but Sonar has more special plugins no question
QuadCurve EQ - love this one not only for it's sound... in other DAW bundled EQ must have the spectrum analyzer
Yes, Frequency by Cubase is far more flexible (switch linear to non linear on every band !!!
Tape Emulator
Yes
Tupe Saturation - it's great! and I got it bundled... ha!
Yes
FX Chains
Yes
Sonitus suite
Blue Tubes suite
Both no, but not needed
L-Phase plugins/Adaptive limiter
This Cakewalk FX plugs works under Cubase
AD2/Session Drummer 3 - a quality drum engine bundled with DAW
No, but you can use the license in Cubase, its just a vsti
Cakewalk TTS-1 - quick lightweight GM module
No
Lounge Lizard - valuable rhodes piano bundled
See AD2
Truepianos - valuable piano
Yes via bundled HALion SE
Breverb Sonar - algo reverb of excellent quality bundled
Yes and Convolution Reverb!
Rematrix Solo - valuable convolution reverb (love this one)
z3ta+/Dimension Pro/Rapture - some (very) good synths
Dimension Pro yes, other one i have to figure out
Tone2 Bifilter - a vintage filter!
Vintage filter? --> Yes!
Puuhh, that was a long yourney 😊
As someone wrote before, you have to re-think you're usage, what is really important and what is what you don't know right now?
Cubase has a lot of fine features like multiple Marker Tracks, a lot of workflow time savers, like you can directly go to a marker position in the arrangment via shortcut.
This is awful in Sonar, you can't go directly to the point of interest ;)
You have Chord Track, Arrangement Track, simple Sampler Track , VCA-Fader (great!), VST Expression and many more...