Wow, $499 for a programme that doesn't export an MP3 :0(

Graeme McTaggart
Wow, $499 for a programme that doesn't export an MP3 :0(

If your comment was about Sonar - they have a licensing agreement with the developer of the MP3 encoder, which is why they have to charge the $20.  That encoder is available separately for free, and you can add it into Sonar - for free - and it is the same one - choose either way - get it through Cakewalk for $20 or download it for free and follow the instructions for adding an MP3 encoder into Sonar.  Your choice.
 
I export projects to MP3 format ALL the time, using the $20 encoder version from Cakewalk - works great, never have any trouble.
 
IF I want to simply create a conversion MP3 from an existing wave file, I would NOT normally choose to do it in Sonar, because Sonar would be WAY overkill for a simple conversion.  Instead, I use the free version of the YTD Video Downloader, and it does a great job of reading a wave file or even video files, and can convert those formats and others to produce an encoded MP3 file - for THIS task, it is far faster to do outside of Sonar.
 
But exporting audio from a Sonar project to MP3 is something I DO do all the time, with no problem.
 
So, I disagree with your conclusion - if it was describing something you think Sonar cannot do. :)
 
And Vlada, I happen to have 785 plugins, and Sonar opens quite quickly, as it only is scanning new plugins, AND the plugin scan process is spawned as a completely separate parallel background process for several releases now of Sonar, so even if it is scanning you can still proceed to do whatever you wish in Sonar.  So I am not sure what your plugin scanning issue is - unless you are literally doing a full scan every time you open Sonar - which is NOT needed and quite a waste of processing power.
 
Bob Bone

I understand what is meant, thanks.
Like, you, I normally export a finished track in Mp3 format, not Wav.
I use Audacity to convert Wav to Mp3 (Lame).
It just seems mean to me that for a flagship product, a $20 fee isn't included in the purchase price of Sonar Platinum.
I will investigate the option you mentioned above, thanks for that, although I suppose a 320kbit Mp3 will be fine via Audacity.
It's just more software and slightly more hassle than rendering directly from the DAW.

Its really simple to export multiple wave files to MP3 in a batch using SONAR's MP3 encoder. I do this all the time. Here are the steps:
 
Open a new blank project - you can use the blank project template
Open the browser and navigate to a folder that contains your waves to be encoded.
Select and drag them all into your project on separate tracks each starting at time zero
Now choose Edit | select | None  (its important that you do not select anything or it will export all tracks at the max length)
File | Export | Audio
Select Source category Tracks - this will pick all tracks in the project
Select Files of type MP3
Select Bit depth 16
Sample rate 44100 
Enter something in the file name like "mp3export". This is just used as a prefix since multiple files will be exported.
Click Export
The MP3 encoder dialog will be displayed for each file to be exported
Enter any metadata you want and click OK. Depending on how many tracks are present you may have to enter the data multiple times.
 
Thats it - each wave will be exported independently at its original length in parallel if you have the MP engine on.
For convenience you can save these settings as an export preset so that next time you just pick the preset.

Thanks for the tip!
 
Tom

Yup - and again - Sonar DID make it so that you could manually insert the exact same MP3 encoder that they offer for sale, and you could do that for free, as the encoder IS out there legitimately offered for free.
 
It is only because the developer of that encoder worked out a licensing deal with Cakewalk, where they can offer the encoder for download - but only for that $20 fee.  That fee gets passed on to the developer.
 
If you don't want to have to locate the free version, or don't feel comfortable manually adding it to Sonar, you can alternatively purchase the $20 license and it will do that install/authorization for you.
 
It really is not any kind of big deal - and has been like this since time began, many many years back now.  :)
 
To be honest: 1) I am happy with the offered $20 encoder, and 2) I REALLY like that Sonar allows you to hook any MP3 encoder you want to into Sonar, so if you like a different one better, you can make that one just as seamless to use as the one they offer.  That's pretty nice of them.
 
Bob Bone
 

Graeme McTaggart
Wow, $499 for a programme that doesn't export an MP3 :0(

There are many ways to convert to MP3 (for example, iTunes), and because Cakewalk has to pay a license fee for the codec, it makes no sense to force all the people who don't need MP3 export to pay for it.

Anderton
There are many ways to convert to MP3 (for example, iTunes), and because Cakewalk has to pay a license fee for the codec, it makes no sense to force all the people who don't need MP3 export to pay for it.

IMHO that's a very short-sighted view.  Most audio product have MP3 support tightly integrated.  This is a really stupid move by Cakewalk.  It makes the product seem cheap and amateurish, period. 
 
In addition to the cost and hassle of setting it up. the lack of integration makes saving as MP3 extremely slow.  I paid the $20, but it is so blasted slow, I just generate WAV files and convert using a batch utility.  Really half-assed aspect of the product.
 
Thinks like this make Sonar appear unprofessional compared to other commercial products.

For me, the ENTIRE MP3 encoding thing - no matter what anyone feels about it one way or another, is such a ridiculous and infinitesimally small part of it all, it is not really worth this level of discussion.
 
If you believe that Cakewalk passing their $20 license along to only those who choose to pay for it makes Sonar cheap, then I would likely conclude you really don't have any depth of knowledge on what its actual capabilities are, or how much many folks appreciate all the 'freebies' they DO throw in, like the synths, the effects, etc.....
 
I'm not at all trying to engage in a debate with you over it, and I certainly respect your opinions, I just have some alternate viewpoints on the matter.
 
I am quite happy with Sonar's creation of exported audio files in the multiple formats it supports, including MP3, and will cheerfully continue to be so for the foreseeable future.
 
Good luck with all of your endeavors, 
 
Bob Bone
 

Yes, a one-time $10 fee (at least that is what I see in the store at the moment) for a perpetual license to unlock all future versions of SONAR is not worth a lot of discussion time. Cakewalk also provide a mechanism to chain any command line conversion utility to SONAR via the External Encoder Configuration Utility.