cityrat
Any plans for a "jazz" style amp?
 

You mean like this? 
 

 
It's included in the set of 16 for SONAR. I was aiming for a Jazz Chorus-meets-Polytone kind of sound, with the option for a little extra clarity (the Presence button) or grit (the Bite knob). Enabling Open Back cabinet gives a "tighter" sound. Turning on Compress is great for doing Wes Montgomery-style octaves. I think you'll dig it.
 
BTW I'm pretty sure the amps are included in all SONAR versions, not just Platinum.

Here are some more amps. Sparkle is kind of Vox-meets-Magntone inspired. The Vibrato (instead of Tremolo) is a nod to the old Magnatone amps, and has a miking option for cone/edge which to me was an important part of "that" sound. The reverb is intended to be "springy." Hard Rock is like a Marshall-type sound, but intended to be really smooth...it's almost like the GR-300 synth guitar. The animation control emulates what happens when you move around in a room while playing. Bass Growl for is nasty rock bass sounds. It also has a room option for more of a "live" sound.
 

Anderton

jb101
The Acoustic Guitar amp sounds interesting..

It's nothing radical, just an "amp" designed for acoustic guitars that use piezo pickups (whose sound I generally do not like). I guess the coolest thing about it would be the Vocal Mode switch, which uses a combination of EQ and dynamics to open up space for vocals. 
 
After it's done I want to do a simplified version where you can just click different buttons to tailor (ahem) the acoustic guitar sound.
 
I have a few more guitar amps I want to do, but I also have some ideas for synth and keyboard amps. I often run synths into amps instead of direct, and there are some sounds that really work for me...I want to put those into a plug-in.

Thanks Craig!  This is neat sounding stuff!  I really don't use Amp sims but running a vox track through one.  Hummm...
 

Anderton
Cool, but wait until you get the final versions in a few days.

So the Sonar will not be released today...

I like that sonar tries to innovate. I work with other engineers using a variety of DAWs (mostly pro tools and logic and Adobe audition). Always seems that sonar is the 're-headed step child (I apologize if anyone is offended). I always constantly finding myself defending Sonar against others and usually without actual arguing. I let my work prove itself and find that more of the regional artists come to me. Thank you cakewalk for hard work and great programs. Also and excellent review Jb can't wait to try the new shiny things myself.

jb101
 
There is much that I have not touched on yet - AD2 (I am an invertebrate Toontrack user)

Grow a spine and get Addicted

Woodyoflop
Always seems that sonar is the 're-headed step child (I apologize if anyone is offended). I always constantly finding myself defending Sonar against others and usually without actual arguing. I let my work prove itself and find that more of the regional artists come to me. Thank you cakewalk for hard work and great programs.

The tide is turning. I've talked to quite a few people lately who almost flaunt using SONAR, almost as if to say "Yeah, I use this program you dismiss...and look what I'm doing with it. Have a nice day."

Overall, the new release is fine. The UI enhancements are pretty nice, and the primary functionality enhancement (mix recall) seems to work pretty well, albeit bass ackwards it seems. The transition for me, was relatively seamless, I installed the new version and it worked, no problems whatsoever. The new AD2 adpacks from XLN were probably worth the price of the upgrade, I got all the weird kits and percussion sounds I could find, plus their best snares.
With the exception of Craig's new amps, vocal align, and the new reverb, there has been no content change whatsoever. If you have X3, you can literally install just the program, help files, and new amps and have everything up to date. More of a point release.
I'm sure that there has been significant improvement internally but beyond a few UI tweaks, not much is visible externally. The first time I brought up the PRV, I LOL'd at the clown mode, but once I zoomed to a normal scale, it was pretty much equivalent to what everyone else does. It's ok, get to parity, fix the infrastructure, then innovate, it's all good. I guess we'll get to see the good stuff once the hard work put into this release is no longer the primary task.
No complaints, the upgrade was worth $150 but it isn't a killer app, yet.
 

What about AD 2. That didn't come with X3. I got AD 1 with an offer to upgrade to AD2 when it came out but I didn't bother.

I reckon we got what we wanted. Stability, more work on the core program and features that improve workflow. Mix recall is a gem and for my thinking it operates intuitively. There are a score of little things that have been refined and while there are not some set off the fireworks kind of geatures I think as a package it's the most stable and mature version of Sonar ever released.

Anderton
 
It's nothing radical, just an "amp" designed for acoustic guitars that use piezo pickups (whose sound I generally do not like). I guess the coolest thing about it would be the Vocal Mode switch, which uses a combination of EQ and dynamics to open up space for vocals. 
 
After it's done I want to do a simplified version where you can just click different buttons to tailor (ahem) the acoustic guitar sound.

Now this would be interesting.
 
I, like you, have never liked the sound of piezo pickups in an acoustic guitar. So even though I have an acoustic guitar with piezo pups on it, I have never even thought about using it on a recording. I may have to re-think this position! : )