I've been cheating on you, baby. And I want you back.

So, even tho I'm one of the people that believes that sonar will contine to work for quite some time, I made some major purchases around the holidays. 
Some research showed that the new Series III StudioLive mixers are designed to be tightly integrated control surfaces for Studio 1.  These digital mixers are usb 3 interfaces and control surfaces all in one unit.  I ordered one and took the crossgrade offer.
 
The unit is very well designed. I've never been able to do so much mixing without touching the mouse.
 
The software is good (studio 1) but it is not as feature-rich as sonar.  It does ARA just as well as sonar, but the settings dont go as deep, and visually, it's "muddy".  The track view in Sonar combined with the multidock is extremely well implemented.
 
The one thing studio one does better than sonar is time and pitch stretching.  Sonar has always been a little behind the curve in this area (even if they made some ground in recent years).
 
If i had my way, i'd be using sonar with this StudioLive series III.  Instead of the FAT channel, it'd be the pro channel.
 
I've always been willing to pay top dollar to buy a control surface that could handle most DAW parameters.  I owned the Mackie MCU and C4, but these never were well or fully implemented (at least in sonar).  I want plugin control.  I want to neglect my mouse.   I want the flexibility of digital, with the feel and workflow of analog.
 
So, I've been cheating.  The Presonus hardware (series III) is amazing, but  I miss my sonar software.  I'm discovering more and more things that were easy in Sonar that are needlessly complicated or hidden in Studio 1.  
 
I still hope that Sonar is bought by another company.  It makes no sense for it to die.  None.

michael diemer
Don't worry, she's not going anywhere...

..and hasn't for some time.

Yep. Cubase 9.5 Pro leaves me more than a bit cold... 

BlixYZ
So, even tho I'm one of the people that believes that sonar will contine to work for quite some time, I made some major purchases around the holidays. 
Some research showed that the new Series III StudioLive mixers are designed to be tightly integrated control surfaces for Studio 1.  These digital mixers are usb 3 interfaces and control surfaces all in one unit.  I ordered one and took the crossgrade offer.
 
The unit is very well designed. I've never been able to do so much mixing without touching the mouse.
 
The software is good (studio 1) but it is not as feature-rich as sonar.  It does ARA just as well as sonar, but the settings dont go as deep, and visually, it's "muddy".  The track view in Sonar combined with the multidock is extremely well implemented.
 
The one thing studio one does better than sonar is time and pitch stretching.  Sonar has always been a little behind the curve in this area (even if they made some ground in recent years).
 
If i had my way, i'd be using sonar with this StudioLive series III.  Instead of the FAT channel, it'd be the pro channel.
 
I've always been willing to pay top dollar to buy a control surface that could handle most DAW parameters.  I owned the Mackie MCU and C4, but these never were well or fully implemented (at least in sonar).  I want plugin control.  I want to neglect my mouse.   I want the flexibility of digital, with the feel and workflow of analog.
 
So, I've been cheating.  The Presonus hardware (series III) is amazing, but  I miss my sonar software.  I'm discovering more and more things that were easy in Sonar that are needlessly complicated or hidden in Studio 1.  
 
I still hope that Sonar is bought by another company.  It makes no sense for it to die.  None.

I too bought Studio One 3 and I can't say I am happy with it. I have started using it but with an eye to the future. For now I find Sonar more than reasonable for the work I wish to do. Studio 1 just does not seem very intuitive to me. Many others like it and I am glad they have found a DAW they like.
 
I am on the brink of also trying Mixcraft 8. 

Keni
As long as I don't update their driver, I still have vsl which is a major item for me... zero latency multiple monitor mixing even with the audio box is necessary for me as I don't always have the studiolive hardware to do this.

Still hoping for some Sonar savior to come out of the darkness!

Those VSL drivers stopped me cold when I was looking for an interface with built-in reverb. I had to read up on just what VSL was and it left me feeling like I just had been to a sleazy used-car salesman. I went with a Motu and am glad I did.
 
I've gone over to Cubase since I'm mostly about midi, but I still use Sonar for some mixing duties and for tracking. The prochannel sounds good as always, and I'm used to multiple takes behaviors.

BTW, Anderton is posting articles on the Studio One site.
 

 

Keni
Presonus did great with a first release (and updates) and maybe in another 10-20 years they will catch up to where Sonar is. But they have now dropped vsl for their hardware because OSX 11 will no longer support it. As a windows user (who also has a Mac), that changed my ability to trust them.

??? Oh only 10-20 years? PMSL.

Dropped for OS-X but not Windows? Do you really think Presonus and the Illuminati were plotting against users? Obviously Apple withdrew programming libraries making it hard or impossible for Presonus to develop that simple. Stick with your old apple computer or use a Windows PC. Everybody knows "Old" hardware and software gets dumped all the time by Apple.

Perhaps you should look up how Roland/Cakewalk "dumped on" V-Studio 700" users. Not sure their problems got fixed...

The topic is "I've been cheating on you". Just sayin'.

Hi All-
I've started using Reaper - I actually bought personal, small business license for $60. Also, I'm pleased with the many video tutorials available on their site.
Also happy to hear that Anderton is active on the Studio One site.
All the best,
Ray

Get a faderport 16 to go with the live mixer.  It has more features and isn't redundant for sure.  You can control 3rd partly plugs with it too.  Better zoom controls, track arming on the fly....lots of stuff.
Btw, I'm liking Studio One just fine and it's something new and different for me.  I'm guessing in a year or so, there will be major improvements (GUI?) that will making looking back at Sonar, less likely.

z1812 said: “I am on the brink of also trying Mixcraft 8.”

For me the news about Sonar has forced me to rethink how I do things and although this won’t be a common view here, I realised that Sonar is wwwwaaaaaayyyy too complex for my needs. I bought Platinum and I think I’ve probably used only 10% of its capability. What I’ve discovered in the weeks since the announcement is that what I needed was a comprehensive yet not over-complicated DAW with loads of plugins and synths bundled - and not something with a ton of stuff that I wouldn’t use. That was the case with Sonar and me - I kidded myself that I would use all of its ‘treasures’ one day, but the truth is I won’t. I really don’t need to.

I invested in the crossgrade offer with Mixcraft 8. You can see that it’s not as feature rich as Sonar but it’s absolutely fine and very capable. The bundled synths and effects are really very good and there’s absolutely loads of them - including Melodyne, iZotope mastering essentials, Bass Studio Devil and a really usable guitar sim. The same week I purchased Mixcraft I bought Hybrid plus EIGHT expansion packs on Plugin Boutique for £1 each. Absolutely tons of stuff at a laughable price. I also got VacuumPro x64 (free I think). Some great stuff at a bargain price.

I’m not writing this to disrespect Sonar in any way. The software is great and the support on this forum second to none. All DAWs, at their most basic, all do the same thing. It’s things like workflow, value for money, functionality, aesthetics and a load of other stuff that influences our decisions. Also I’m only a hobbyist - many of you guys pay your bills through your musical endeavours so I can totally understand the anxiety this could potentially cause.

Good to see a large proportion of you sticking with Sonar. I don’t think it’s going anywhere fast. For me however, the closure news gave me a much needed kick up the posteria. I’m really enjoying Mixcraft and it’s certainly revitalised my enthusiasm!

Dave

Personally, i HAD to migrate, because my composition studio is in high traffic time, and I cannot rely on a platform with zero support.  I have to often purchase other software, that at times may or may or may not play nice.  I HAVE to have someone I can call. 
I went the avid route - because many of the other producers I work with also use it.  Its definitely been a learning curve.  My favorite thing about it is, it really sounds great, and Im able to produce very nice mixes with it.  Many people on forums claim it is not possible to have 1 daw platform sound different than the other, yet for some reason Im getting more depth and clarity than on other platforms.  Perhaps its the lack of easily available processing?  (I doubt it) without the pro channel involved?  Regardless, my ears are telling me that things sound more grandiose and clear, and my stereo imaging is much more intenional.
 
It is however SEVERELY and unnecesarily complicated, and completely behind the curve from a workflow point of view, having just released track templates with their most recent updates, something thats been around for almost a decade.  Midi sucks in PT in comparison.

I gave Ableton Live a 30 day demo spin when it was on sale for the ver 10 release and I liked it for being really different and figuring it out wasn't so traumatic but I didn't like it $350 much.
 
I'm going to try Reaper next and now we know there will be some new visioning of Sonar so that will be something else to try.  If they keep the old Sonar accessible I'm willing to go the polyamorous route and see where it leads.