For those of you who use dedicated Audio Editors...

What do they do that SONAR just can't do?

• (Sound Forge) "Noiseprint" noise reduction and the Wave Hammer multiband maximizer.
• (Wavelab) Level balancing when comparing processed and unprocessed versions of sounds.
• (Sound Forge, Wavelab) Create waveforms with sustain loops and do exports to samplers
• (Audition) Multiple clipboards
• (Most) Pencil tool for waveforms
• (Most) Pitch stretch/transposition with finer resolution than semitones

 
 

Sound Forge Pro - A stereo editor for waveforms, and what Craig stated.  Also to do Red Book prep for burning a CD with all the metadata.
Vegas Pro - A true video editor which is easy to sync the audio and burning DVD's with menu and metadata.
Finale - notation edition and printing sheet music.
 
And as ShellstaX stated, a thank you to Dan for thinking outside the box for Sonar.
 

WaveLab - Phase scope
 
...prolly lotsa other stuff...but that's what came to mind that didn't get mentioned already.

1. Per sample editing
2. Better waveform viewing
    I can view waveform in sonar, but it is pretty limited. Zooming options are insufficient for it. And I mean Track View. Now I've realized that I even can't zoom by wheel in Loop Construction view, and there is no cursor? I think that's one of the reasons I don't use Loop Construction view at all. And if I zoom in it too much it breaks.
   Representation of samples by bars may be useful, but sometimes I want to see interpolated waveform.
   Per sample representation in Track View is inaccurate. If I zoom in and set ruler in samples, ruler doesn't exactly match audio clip's samples, and sample number flowing label doesn't match them both. Also it doesn't show, and it is next item -
3. Sample Value
4. Spectral View
5. Playing very small selected part of wav file one time or in loop
6. Easy and clear wav conversions

Soundforge is my editor of choice. When mixing, I never export a file directly from Sonar. I bounce to track, use the "Utilities" menu to load the bounce into Soundforge, check RMS levels, run a spectrum analysis, then save the file from there. That makes it a little easier to jump right back into the project and tweak as needed. Also, if I master something myself instead of shipping it off to our regular mastering house, I use Soundforge, since again, Sonar doesn't have native tools for offline RMS/spectral analysis.
 
Sure would be nice if Sonar had something like Soundforge's "Statistics" command....hint hint.... ;-) Y'know, select a track or clip, go to the Process menu, and be able to check that selection's RMS/peak/DC levels. That would be a massively useful tool, both for mastering purposes and tracking. Say you're trying to balance two guitar tracks: one with lots of low end but not much transient info, the other with lots of transients but very little energy below 150Hz. Being able to analyze their respective RMS levels in place would be really useful to confirm (or not) what your ears are telling you.

Audacity does stuff... For free...

I have deleted a post in this thread because it was reported as being offensive.  Please follow the CoC and keep the conversation clean.

BTW every DAW I've seen has a usable and decent drum maps UI as well, I'm on my hands and knees, can I please beg to get the existing functionality that isn't doing too well... running really well first before we move onto even more new features . I appreciate it may not be...as exciting... from a development standpoint, I fear existing functionality in need of a revamp/improved workflow is being left behind much like the Roland days and the concentration is focused mainly on new functionality. It would be depressing to think these issues are still hanging around in 2016. Sonar is a great product but the flimsy areas of functionality let it down. Thanks.
 
That aside I'm looking forward to the routing improvements you are peddling for future release....
 
OK the rest of you can ignore this... back to topic..

Sound Forge - Batch processing, define regions, process according to regions.

Use Sound Forge with all the abilities already described.
Sound Forge crashes using the Sony Dxi tools as an Insert FX plugin. But wait, I just tried them. The issues and crashes 'seemed' to have gone away.
Is this a Gloucester improvement?
Last time I tried was with the first release of Platinum, and as always it had been, it fried the Sonar engine.
Is something cooking?
Then again Sound Forge10 I have is 32-Bit.

Believe it or not, I use Cool Edit 2000 to:

• Create noise profiles and use them as input to FFTs to remove noise from sections of audio
• Generate graphs of waveform statistics and perform frequency analysis
• Create specialized filters and preview or apply them to sections of audio
• Build "batch" processes to process wave forms through sequences of available functions
• Spectral analysis of waveforms to identify "hot" frequencies
• Normalize sections of audio
• Draw waveforms

Since it's in Sonar's "Utility" menu, I simply select the range that I want to process and click "Cool Edit" in Sonar's "Utility" menu.  When done, Sonar replaces the selected area with the clip processed by Cool Edit.  Very convenient.
 
Paul

In Wavelab after I do whatever editing I need, I do the "mastering". I like to use the Audio Montage to align all of the songs for burning to CD. Set the spaces between songs, CD markers etc. The awesome part to me is that you can name the songs and the disc and the artist's name as well. When that plays on a modern CD player all of that info is displayed on the screen. You can do this with MP3s as well so that the info shows up on the myriad of MP3 players, phones, etc. that are out there. The naming part, I have no clue if Sonar will do that or not. I have never even checked. I am so accustomed to doing this in WaveLab that I never have tried in Sonar.

For me, if the level of Audio Editor integration that Cakewalk end up adding into Sonar isn't at the level of Sound Forge they might as well not bother as I will still have to go to SF for whatever is left out.

Please don't waste the time doing a few things and leave us still having to use an external editor, because quite honestly I don't mind using an external editor at all. Also to get a Sonar audio editor to that level will be just too big a deal. I would rather you make the integration between an external editor and Sonar a little tighter so that a region can be passed back and forth not just a whole file/track.

I'll echo a several of the points made in previous posts...
 
Sound Forge

• Noiseprint noise reduction
• Average RMS normalisation
• Waveform pencil draw