Prior to the Kingston update, and for many years, my so-called fast, audio-only computer took it's own sweet time loading samples, particularly some of the 3rd party Kontakt instruments such as Orange Tree Samples guitars and keys, etc. It would then take nearly 5 minutes to load a project if several instances of Kontakt, and the aforementioned instruments, were involved. I chalked this up mostly to my standard HDD, and have seriously considered upgrading to SSD's for this reason. I might still do that. However, I've noticed after updating to Kingston (SPLAT), my projects, and the sample instruments, etc. are loading very fast by comparison. I have to assume this is due to some improvement within Sonar's engine, because nothing else has changed. Some projects are loading within a minute, even. This is heaven compared to before. If Sonar's update has anything to do with it--and I believe it must--I'd like to thank whoever at Cakewalk is responsible for this. It is definitely speedier overall, and keeps me from having to upgrade my computer hardware for a while.
Anyone else notice this phenomenon? Or am I just blanking out when I open a project, and I just think it's loading faster?  

The Kingston eZine explains that much of this update results in better and faster performance.

At the start of the year the Baker's said they were pulling out the knives to hack out old and obstructive code that had been building up over the years (and perhaps decades) which were preventing certain development goals and and slowing down the program through bloat.
 
This seems to be directly related to the renewed rigor/support from the Gibson acquisition untying their hands to do such slicing and dicing.
 
With Kingston it seems the major surgery has been completed and now it's just a matter of the wounds healing (by way of some "antibiotic" patches).
 
This is complete speculation from an outside observer (but one who's been paying semi-close attention to official/semi-official statements, the progressive updates and the user response on the forum)... so of course I have no idea EXACTLY what's up.
 
However, to me, it seems like they set some SERIOUS goals for the year and have met them so the program can start kicking some SERIOUS arseticles.
 
Rather impressive IMO compared to how I was feeling by the end of the X2/Roland cycle (which was essentially "ABANDON SHIP!").
 
Now, hopefully, they get their heads into some long needed functionality improvements (*cough* automation *cough cough*).
 
/pompous knowitall arsewad

The speedup is not that unexpected... There are many optimizations in Kingston that allow faster and more optimal loading of projects and heavier synths like Kontakt. Especially if you had multiple tracks using multi-outs from Kontakt.

And Thank You, Thank You, Thank You!!

Allow me to clarify--my use of the word "unexpected" was not a slam on Cakewalk at all, it was just that I always thought my issues loading projects were due to a spinning HDD trying to load a zillion samples.  So just to be emphatic--I am thrilled and delighted at the increased spead of loading and scanning in general in the Kingston update. Previous updates did not necessarily give me much perceptible speed increases, so this one was "unexpected" by me, but I will certainly pay attention from now on to the release notes re: speed boosts and performance upgrades. I've used Sonar since Cakewalk was at v.3 for Windows in the 90's. I want to stick with it, too, so all these improvements really help.

thepianist53
Allow me to clarify--my use of the word "unexpected" was not a slam on Cakewalk at all,

I didn't take your post like that. I was just rambling/pontificating/mumblinating.
 
Hopefully this...
 
"/pompous knowitall arsewad"
 
...didn't make you think I was referring to you. I was referring to myself (well... that particular post anyway).
 
The backslashie is a silly programmer meme (to indicate "end").

It is faster across the board. Its very noticeable.  

Same here! A couple sips of coffee and my project is loaded!

I have also noticed a pretty good improvement in speed in Kingston. And have for the last year seen it get better and better for me. Well done Bakers