I'd certainly be delighted to do it all inside Sonar. That would take the Cake! (however you look at it)
A best of Sound Forge (8 for me), CD Architect and iZotope? All in Sonar? Superb!
Michael
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

cryophonik

stac
I say: Less focus on content, (much) more on workflow!
 
In other words: I don't need any more plugins (most of us have a big arsenal of third-party plugins anyway), but a mastering suite like in Studio One (or better) would be nice, as would freely moveable bus channels in the console, interrupt-free editing in the tracks view while the song is playing, a greatly improved bounce dialog, track versions like in Cubase (aka playlists in Pro Tools), macros, etc ...

A big +1 to this.  I currently use Wavelab 8, but I really don't care for it and would love to have an integrated/dedicated mastering environment built right into Sonar ala Studio One.  As for content, I think it would need a suite of nice metering tools to really be usable for most people.  Personally, I would stick with my Flux metering system.

I have for a long time coveted the mastering section of Studio One. I would give this a big plus 1. We have already took the Melodyne feature introduced first in Studio One, so we might as well adapt the mastering feature into Sonar. Lets not forget the wave editing features too while were at it. It's not stealing, just good features to have.

synkrotron
I'd still end up using SF, though, for final trimming and MP3 creation, because I have had SF longer than Sonar has given us the possibility to export to MP3. So it's just a habit I have gotten into 

I used to do the same, but I've changed to bouncing the entire mix to a new track, trim, fade, final EQ, etc and bounce/export from there to the format(s) I want.

Thatsastrat
 
I have for a long time coveted the mastering section of Studio One.

For me, Studio One's mastering section is really a "CD assembly" section, which it does really well. It doesn't quite hit the same editing functionality as Wavelab or Sound Forge. I'd rather see SONAR go in more of a Wavelab direction, if for no other reason than because CD assembly is becoming less important in "the age of singles."
 
I always thought Studio One's integration of the mastering page with the multitrack page was really slick, but I think that would need to be integrated from Day 1 of the code spec...I assume retrofitting to an existing program would be difficult at best. However, I must say Mix Recall is not only the next best option, in many ways it's better, like being able to export multiple mixes and plug them into a CD assembly program without having to go back and forth between two program sections.

Beepster
I may be wrong but did my Noise Reduction thread inspire this thread?

Yes, but I wanted to be polite and not hijack yours.

I would like to see this feature set.
 
By the way, in reference to the Boost 11 comment, I find that tool to be very program dependent: for me, it works great on some songs and destroys others.

Boost 11 can't be pushed too much. It can't handle the truth! Concrete Limiter can be pushed and will still sound good. 
 
I'm not sure about adding more plugins for mastering. At present there are plenty of third party plugins for doing that. 

I tend to opt for Universal Audio's Precision Limiter which is pretty transparent, yet shows no sign of break-up even with lots of gain. If you need to add around 10dB of gain to get a recording at a commercially acceptable level then you need to look back at the mix process.
 
Also I have Precision Maximiser which turns your harmonics into something more musical if this is the aim of your finishing process. 

A good SF/Audition-style noise reduction function is something Sonar should have had ages ago. Noise is a problem pretty much everyone has to deal with at some point and I'm always surprised that it hasn't been included when new Sonar versions are launched.
 
A replacement for Roland's Rmix would be useful as well (I've got it installed still but X2015 rejects it at the plugin scan stage. Maybe also an exciter, the old Cakewalk one is getting very long in the tooth now.
 
Boost 11 and the Concrete Limiter work fine for me for volume maximising and peak/RMS level setting, no problems there. And I'm drowning in compressors and eqs already.

Anderton

Beepster
I may be wrong but did my Noise Reduction thread inspire this thread?

Yes, but I wanted to be polite and not hijack yours.

You have free license to do whatever you want in and to my threads but I'm glad this is being discussed.
 
As far as Boost11...  it is a cool plug but it is NOT transparent or gentle in any way. It's good for increasing volume and touching peaks but once it starts limiting it is quite hard and crunchy. This can be a good thing and desirable if you want rip shiz up. If you want smooth/gentle/transparent limiting... it ain't the tool. The Blue Tubes limiter was a very nice freebie addition and the Concrete Limiter has been worth the dough I tossed at it. Of course the Sonitus Suite has limiting options as well (and the CA2A can be set to Limiting but I've never really used it for that). Then of course there is all sorts of other third party stuff.
 
Kind of strange how such a seemingly simple process (turning things up without breaching a threshold) that in theory should not cause different results yet somehow does with different tools. Stupid 1's and 0's making me feel stoopid.