This is more of a curiosity question than anything.  It is not intended to Sonar bash, as I've been a Sonar user for years.
 
I just have to wonder if they've lost their direction.  I see lot of new tools that have come out and/or are due to come out, but none seem to be focused on actual songwriting.  They have a lot of great editing/mixing tools added to the collection but I find myself gravitating toward the songwriting focus of Cubase and Studio One, especially as of late.
 
Am I incorrect in this assumption?  I'd be interested in hearing all points, especially from the Cakewalk staff.
 
Thanks,
 
RKSon

Ya, why do the soundtracks to all their instructional videos sound like vd movies from the 60's and 70's?! :D:D

kson
This is more of a curiosity question than anything.  It is not intended to Sonar bash, as I've been a Sonar user for years.
 
I just have to wonder if they've lost their direction.  I see lot of new tools that have come out and/or are due to come out, but none seem to be focused on actual songwriting.  They have a lot of great editing/mixing tools added to the collection but I find myself gravitating toward the songwriting focus of Cubase and Studio One, especially as of late.
 
Am I incorrect in this assumption?  I'd be interested in hearing all points, especially from the Cakewalk staff.
 
Thanks,
 
RKSon

I think it's not a "lost vision" but a shift in vision. Guitar-centric versus midi-centric (not to bash, judge or complain). I complained too - about a lack of focus on things like notation view, and implementation of user requests for things like an arranger view/track and tempo view improvements. But I've looked at what the competition offers and realized I could put up with Sonar's short-comings because of all of its strengths. Still hoping Cakewalk eventually gets to the improvements I am hoping for, but in the meanwhile, will make use of whatever else I need to augment SPlat and fill the holes as needed. Haven't (yet) found anything that tips my balance away from SONAR but I think the shift in focus is based on where the majority of Sonar's users want it to go. C'est la vie.

I got started on the Atari based smpte track, which was really great, because you could build a song section, then copy the song section and add other parts to it, then string all the sections together. It made it where you could construct a song very quickly
I still miss that way of building a song

There will be some folks who will disagree with you, but I agree. Although I don't particularly need these features, I'll be happy if the next set of future updates includes arranger tracks, staff view improvements, etc. because these help songwriting and have been requested by many. Drum map improvements, auto clip-merge MIDI recording would be nice, too (I need these). Also, things that help both songwriters and non-songwriters and both new and seasoned users would be nice as well. Even a very simple feature like nested folders would be great news to many.

dannyjmusic
I got started on the Atari based smpte track, which was really great, because you could build a song section, then copy the song section and add other parts to it, then string all the sections together. It made it where you could construct a song very quickly
I still miss that way of building a song

You might find this tip from week 76 of "Friday's Tip of the Week" helpful.

Thanks for that Craig...seems like it would work...
 
I used the Atari for years , even when programs with much more funtionality  appeared...I used it until it just crapped out only because of this feature...and it used a floppy dics! I never found another program that utilized this type of song mode structure.
 
It does seem like it wouldn't be that hard to make a song mode in Sonar, that would allow you to create sections, 
name them, go to song mode, and just drag the sections into the list. In this case you're basically just telling Sonar to "go to " this time in the timeline, "play to" another time in the timeline, and select the particular tracks of that section you want played in that section...such as  Intro 1 would be not only be a section in the timeline, but also the tracks you previously selected. You might also have intro 2, which is the same time section, but you could highlight a different set of tracks to be played in that section. This way, you could use Intro 2 after the 1st Chorus, but it could build by adding more instruments, making the arrangement more interesting. It's so easy to just drag a name around in song mode without having to deal with a large group of tracks moving around your track view. The other thing is, when scoring to picture, a section isn't always hitting on a bar...it might be just ticks, or portions of a measure. 
Doesn't seem like it would be that hard to program.
Which brings it around to Sonar becoming more "video friendly", where you could at least import an mp4, and be able to move it around on it's track...but that's another post LOL
Again thanks for the tip Craig...I'll give it a try.

 
Though I am a dedicated lover & user of Sonar and appreciate all the great new features and also the way Sonar is growing, the development & update model, etc., I would be inclined to agree with the intent of the original post and what it means.
 
I would put it this way... rather than "change of focus", what is likely required is a "partial diversion of focus to songwriting areas". I myself being more of a MIDI and soft synth composer than a direct audio recordist (other than vocals of course), I can relate well to what this thread was started for. I sure think its time for more arrangement tools, better and advanced scales/chords/composition tools and the likes.
 
Having said all above, I would still want focus to be retained in audio engineering, editing and core interface improvements as that's where Sonar is pretty strong and I guess scores better than most other DAWs.
 
Lets face it though...it can't be expected overnight. I guess it will have to be a more than near-term laid out plan for development if the bakers go for it. I just hope they do go for it... or have they already ? 

yea...my old Atari program couldn't even record audio! Sonar today is light years better , but that simple little song mode could be added to what already exists, along with a small amount of video attention. That would make a HUGH addition to an already great program....just my 2 cents

I talked with Noel some time ago about adding a new type of "Play Now" marker. I saw this as more of a live performance feature that would also work for arranging. If you selected a marker, SONAR would play starting from that marker up to the next marker. If no new marker was selected during that time, SONAR would loop the section. If you selected a different marker during that time, SONAR would jump to it after playing through the section. For arranging, you could make a list of the markers and SONAR would play through them sequentially. He liked the idea, but thought it would not be possible for these transitions to occur gaplessly.
 
However I think there may be a way to do something like this within SONAR's existing framework...I'll try it out and if it works, I'll write it up as next week's tip.