vladasyn
I always use MIDI and AUDIO tracks for Soft Synth. I would not even know how to open synth in Instrument track. I go to "Insert soft synth" in the top menu and it makes me 2 tracks and opens synth window. Was I supposed to insert them differently?

In the Synth Rack, there are 4 buttons above your synths, the one at the right is the Insert Synth Options, where you can choose what tracks are created when you open the synth. Useful for creating multiple tracks for multi-output samplers and synths. If you don't see it, it's because Ask Every Time is unchecked. That being said, do not use instrument tracks. For now, we have to live with separate audio and midi tracks in a folder. Instrument tracks are the worst feature in Sonar. You there at Cakewalk, who made the instrument tracks. Shame on you.

Wow this thread sure grew overnight. Vladasyn, I did not mean to imply that I go 90 percent 3rd party with my plugs and synths just from Sonar. I also use Ableton and Logic and it's the same deal. Each of them will have a few good plugs but if I really want "a great compressor" I buy a great compressor that I can use in any DAW. I want the DAW people to focus on workflow, not plugins.

yevster
no ability to auxes/sends next to the tracks that feed them (they're confined to a separate pane for no good reason - this limitation is unique to Sonar).

Forgot about this one. To send audio into a track (effectively turning the track into a bus), create a new audio track, and insert the Sonitus Gate. If your prochannel is set to Pre and you want to use it, create a fx chain in it at the top and put the gate in there, otherwise you can put it in the fx bin, it doesn't matter. Set the gate's output to Sidechain, just above the output meter. Now you can set the output of another track, or create a send, towards the sidechain input of the gate. The gate in sidechain mode is fully transparent and will not affect the sound in any way. You can save a track template (or fx chain with filters for frequency splitting which is what I did) so you don't have to do the setup again.
 
Just please don't noob out on me and destroy your monitors, or ears, with a feedback loop.

vladasyn 
                I remember Cakewalk looking for new Software engineers. Did they hire anybody promising? Why not have “Creative Staff” page with pictures, biographies, resumes, and work experience of the programmers? Any music software company has the pictures of their “creative force” members.  

I hate it when tech companies post "PR resumes" of their employees.  It plays into one of the problems of software engineering culture.
 
I don't need to see pictures of the developers.
 
 

I can't think of any reason why creating EDM in Sonar would be any more difficult than creating any other style of music. But I will say that I stay away from simple instrument tracks, mostly because I am so used to coming from an external hardware synth that Sonar's synth rack just feels like a natural extension of the hardware world.
 
There are so many really great software synths available now...it truly is an embarassment of riches. I personally don't want or expect Cakewalk to spend development costs or distract the core Sonar team into developing soft synths. I want the core DAW made better. Now, if they want to hire a separate team, or acquire other company's synths, I'm okay with that.
 
Regards,
Dan

Thank you for all the replies. It is hard to address everybody by name. Sonar as a DAW already works. For basic recording it has enough and needs no improvement (other than "Undo" button- lol). For the company to create revenue, they should use every possibility. If it takes to hire one person part time with $20,000 salary a year, that can create a product that would make company $50,000- it would be worth it. I would definitely not want coding team to get distracted creating better forum or worrying how to place Sonar on Steam- this can be done by web designer, not by software engineer.
 
Muggel, I do not know what inspire you, but I do not see any big difference n New Sonar. I am glad they have Vocal sync- I wanted to buy it 3rd party and it was not affordable- hope it works as well. But I am a vocalist (not so good vocalist) and I need all vocal tools I can get, but many don't care about vocals so it will not be exciting. You mean Snap to Grid improvement excites you? Or you saying, Bug fixes are exciting? Yey, my Sonar did not crash for a week! I am not embarrassed in front of 5 people who came to record when it freezes and hangs and not working and I have to restart computer. Yey- so inspiring!

I came across this new software toy this morning. Check out the video down on this page: It feature a melody maker and demo is in Abelton. They use Z3ta 2 as output synth. You can hear what I mean by Z3ta being grainy if you watch this video. Also note how easy it is to insert software synth in Abelton- it is one click operation. In Sonar we need to select MIDI tracks, audio tracks- it would not even insert with "Master" for output by default- always wants to be Output 1-2 instead of Master and we have to change it every time manually. Note how easy it is to configure MIDI plugin's output to go in to  Z3ta 2. In Sonar it takes3 tracks. Midi out should be sent to Z3ta, Zeta's in should be set to "Midi Madness In" and so on- it takes good 10 minutes to set up, and then you have no sound at all some time because some button is not on or you missed something. Or it leaks in to another software synth for no reason...
 
 http://midimadnesssoftware.com/midi-madness/ Video is down the page.

vladasyn
I came across this new software toy this morning. Check out the video down on this page: It feature a melody maker and demo is in Abelton. They use Z3ta 2 as output synth. You can hear what I mean by Z3ta being grainy if you watch this video. Also note how easy it is to insert software synth in Abelton- it is one click operation. In Sonar we need to select MIDI tracks, audio tracks- it would not even insert with "Master" for output by default- always wants to be Output 1-2 instead of Master and we have to change it every time manually. Note how easy it is to configure MIDI plugin's output to go in to  Z3ta 2. In Sonar it takes3 tracks. Midi out should be sent to Z3ta, Zeta's in should be set to "Midi Madness In" and so on- it takes good 10 minutes to set up, and then you have no sound at all some time because some button is not on or you missed something. Or it leaks in to another software synth for no reason...
 
 http://midimadnesssoftware.com/midi-madness/ Video is down the page.

I will agree with you that Sonar's midi routing is a head scratcher sometimes, but I've always gotten it to do what I want, lol. However, when I insert a new synth into the synth rack, the output is always set to Master by default, not that it matters because I will always bounce to a separate track later when I start mixing.
 
Regards,
Dan
 

vladasyn
I came across this new software toy this morning. Check out the video down on this page: It feature a melody maker and demo is in Abelton. They use Z3ta 2 as output synth. You can hear what I mean by Z3ta being grainy if you watch this video. Also note how easy it is to insert software synth in Abelton- it is one click operation. In Sonar we need to select MIDI tracks, audio tracks- it would not even insert with "Master" for output by default- always wants to be Output 1-2 instead of Master and we have to change it every time manually. Note how easy it is to configure MIDI plugin's output to go in to  Z3ta 2. In Sonar it takes3 tracks. Midi out should be sent to Z3ta, Zeta's in should be set to "Midi Madness In" and so on- it takes good 10 minutes to set up, and then you have no sound at all some time because some button is not on or you missed something. Or it leaks in to another software synth for no reason...
 
 http://midimadnesssoftware.com/midi-madness/ Video is down the page.

If Z3ta is "grainy" to you, then don't use it. The guy in the video is using Ableton, which according to you seems to be the second coming of the christ, yet he chooses to use Z3ta, above all the 1000 other soft synths he can use. He probably likes the sound of it. I don't think the patch he chose sounded "grainy" at all. Just make sure your z3ta is always set to 2X oversampling in the options, and it will sound nice. If you don't like "grainy sound", turn off the distortion, turn off ring/fm/am/sync modulation, turn off resonance feedback, turn off basically anything that can make a synth patch interesting for dance music, and don't use saw waves. I don't know what else to tell you about that, really.
 
The procedure to make this midi plugin work in ableton is exactly the same as in Sonar, so I don't know where you're coming from. He has to create a track to send midi input into the plugin, just like in sonar. He has to configure his synth's midi track to receive midi from the plugin, just like in sonar. He has to make sure the input echo button is activated on both tracks, just like in sonar. He does it in 30 seconds, not 10 minutes, because he did it hundreds of times before and knows what he's doing, just like I would in sonar. Oh, and once you have it working, just save the configuration as a track template, you will never have to do it again.
 
Your synths do not output to the master but by default because you did not right click on your master and check "Set Default Bus".
 
About leaking into other tracks, make sure your instruments don't have MIDI output enabled when they don't need to. Uncheck it when you insert the synth unless you specifically need it. You should not have any problems then. Unless you use the step sequencer which is currently broken, and should not be used. This you can complain about.
 
I'm all for helping people but you really have the wrong approach coming in and basically typing a paragraph long rant that basically amount to "sonar sucks and the other daws don't" when in reality you need to realize that such software are complex professional tools and that reading the manual throughout once or twice wouldn't hurt you at all from what I can tell. Or at least first ask if there's a better way to achieve what you want without jumping to conclusions.

vladasyn
 
 I do not read/watch tutorials.

 
Maybe you should then you'd know how to play two synths at the same time.
 

vladasyn
It has very little to do with my workflow.

 
Learning how to use the software doesn't dictate your preferred workflow
 

vladasyn
I already know how to do what I am doing.

 
Evidently not.
 

I am using it and not something else. But all the marketing is catered toward new buyers. It does nothing for us, who already has Sonar. I would like a new product if they want more money. I can not pay for the same product I already have. For some people $150 is not much, for others it is a lot. When I buy something, I should get new software synth or new effect or new arpegiator or new samples- I can not even verbalize what the new updates are for. There was nothing wrong with Transport and nothing wrong with Snap to Grid- it was fine. There was and IS a lot wrong with Staff view, with Piano Roll, step sequencer and several other things that should of been addressed first.

 
I personally always find at least something useful in each new release. I haven't always upgraded though. Of course it's not compulsory. If there's nothing there for you skip the upgrade until there is.
 

For example Midi Through is not working properly. A lot of times it will send MIDI notes to software synths that assigned to different outputs. Plugins (Beat Tweaker) start randomly play because it receives command from somewhere that was not sent, and there is no way to play on more than one MIDI track simultaneously. Only active channel plays. So if you have 2 keyboardists or keyboardist and electronic drum set, 2 people can not play at the same time. But you would not experience all this instability if you are a guitarist and record live guitar.

 
I can assure you that playing more than one synth at the same time is possible. Of course you need to know how to set the tracks up. May I humbly suggest you do watch a tutorial video such as this one and learn how to do it.
 

 
I missed the "meet the bakers" event, and this is exactly my point: there should be a web page that talks about new developments and staff. Not everybody has time to stay on the forums and hear release rumors. My Sonar did not change from the day of release. And now they want additional $150 for the same Sonar X3 with different name, vocal sync and new transport. All the other features on the list are not applicable for me.

There is. It's called the cakewalk blog. Although if you haven't got time for the forums I can't see how you'll have time for that either.