Excellent and masterful production Peter. I enjoyed every 11min 27sec of it.

The easy answer is the fan boy gravitation to mac.   So many young guys who want to get into any sort of 'technical' trade that involves using a computer fully believes that it has to be a mac or it cant work.
 
So once you adopt mac...  naturally you have to start to adopt a DAW that is available on mac.  These DAW's become guilty by association(or I guess...innocent by association in this case).
 
some of the other DAW's get a rep of being good.....  simply because the end user is primarily a mac user.  In some cases, the DAW is only available for mac.  So that bias kicks in.  Mac is better and this DAW lives on mac so its better than anything on windows.
 
And other gullible folks believe it, so the cycle continues.
 
 One of my other hobbies is car stuff.  I like drag racing.  The exact same thought process is alive and well in that endeavor as well.  Certain products are treated like the plague simply because it isnt brand xyz.  Then the myths and rumors begin to develop that you cannot do XYZ with a certain brand product.  You NEEED "this thing" if you want to be able to compete.  If your car runs the number with non-worshiped items....you're practically accused of lying.  "No way you're turning 6800 rpm with a big block chevy using an HEI with hydraulic roller lifters and running bottom 10's in that heavy car".  "Thats either an MSD and solid rollers or you have nitrous hidden somewhere."  If there are any car guys out there..you will get it.  
 
too long of a story short....   if sonar would deploy something on the mac platform, that would do worlds for increasing its credibility.
 
Folks will quickly learn that it is one of the most elegant DAW's out there.  I do think expanding to mac is the first step towards dusting off some of the stigma

Sonar unfortunately has less users than many of the other daws. Polls have shown that over and over. Why? Good question as it's been around for a very long time. Only rhing I can think of was the lack of apple support for all these years. For a long time, apple was the defacto standard for music computing. Also, clearly avid really knows how to market their stuff. Personally I don't care because I think sonar is miles above the others. I read recently that protools is now boasting about Track freeze. Sonar has had that for years along with fast offline bounce and many other great features. Everything but apple support which now that sonar has it might help but we need much better marketing to convince the music community sonar is a SERIOUS piece of software

it also doesnt help that if you want to search youtube for a video on how to employ a certain mixing technique or how to use a particular plugin, or mastering tips....etc....  almost no matter what you come across...  the guy in the video is likely using protools.
 
Some of these websites are mainstays on youtube, doing videos weekly and always putting up new mixing and mastering tips and tricks.  Im sure seasoned vets can find some usefulness in these videos, but often they are geared to the new guys on the block trying to learn new techniques just to get their feet wet.  And those impressionable minds get bombarded with protools.  The newbies are probably using a free daw from somewhere with limitations, and as they learn their way around and get a little better with the assistance of these vids....  the next logical step is to invest in a real DAW if they start feeling like they really want to make a go at it.  And of course they are gonna buy the one they saw in all the vids.
 
Id be approaching those websites(if I were sonar) and essentially sponsoring them a copy of the latest and greatest version of platinum and asking them if they'd consider to start making their weekly/monthly videos using sonar.
 
Id probably release it for mac first though and then go that road so that folks dont have to turn sonar down cause they are mac users.
 
If all those guys already have contracts to display somebody elses product....  produce your own general mixing and mastering vids with current techniques.
 
Dont make it a "how to use sonar" video.  Make it a "how to use parallel compression the right way video", and just happen to be using sonar as people watch.

bobernautI wonder why the song is so long?

 
Really? 
 
I mean no disrespect, but have you not listened to any progressive rock, jazz, electronica, classical, or any of the other many genres that feature compositions longer than the 4 minute pop song?
 
This song calls to mind some of the longer instrumentals from the likes of Alan Parsons (who also has produced plenty of pop songs). 
 
Well done Peter!
 
Chris
 
 

greg_moreira
it also doesnt help that if you want to search youtube for a video on how to employ a certain mixing technique or how to use a particular plugin, or mastering tips....etc....  almost no matter what you come across...  the guy in the video is likely using protools.
 
  [ ... or some other more popular (and probably Mac based) DAW ...]
 
Dont make it a "how to use sonar" video.  Make it a "how to use parallel compression the right way video", and just happen to be using sonar as people watch.

 
^I think this is a big one right there.^ I know the Cakewalk team has made videos, but they're just not coming up enough on seaarches. 
 
If every time someone googled "How do I do [certain audio engineering task / technique]" and just added "in Sonar", they should get at least some Sonar-centric videos on the subject. Often/usually, there's just nothing for Sonar that relates at all.
 
If you don't have full-time staff that does that all year long, you should. They could of course work with other departments such as marketing, but if a big part of their job description was "Make popular audio engineering videos using Sonar tools that ARE EASILY DISCOVERABLE on the web, it might go a long ways to helping shed this stigma.
 
Also, as long as I'm here and fantasizing that an actual employee is read this: you guys really need a doc manager, one that CYCLES through the docs all of the time updating them as product goes through upgrades, major AND minor. Because what you have up there now is stale. Nothing kills user confidence in documentation better than finding plenty of obsolete content.
 
Chris
 
 

yep agreed.  Its those little things that sadly matter so much.
 
the sonar team sometimes resembles the mad scientist capable of curing disease and saving the world.....yet he's eccentric and not presentable.
 
so.....folks hire the guy with the nice haircut and harvard degree instead, even though he might only be good at smiling and looking put together.
 
the nice part however is that the mad scientist usually gets his revenge and ends up proving himself to be revolutionary

stxx
Sonar unfortunately has less users than many of the other daws. Polls have shown that over and over. Why? Good question as it's been around for a very long time. Only rhing I can think of was the lack of apple support for all these years. For a long time, apple was the defacto standard for music computing. Also, clearly avid really knows how to market their stuff. Personally I don't care because I think sonar is miles above the others. I read recently that protools is now boasting about Track freeze. Sonar has had that for years along with fast offline bounce and many other great features. Everything but apple support which now that sonar has it might help but we need much better marketing to convince the music community sonar is a SERIOUS piece of software

the lack of a mac version has been the excuse for sonars lack of respect etc for years, i don't think it is as simple as just "lack of apple support", i think it goes deeper and back a long way. i think a few places a long the track sonar (or predecessors) have got a bad rep, and you could argue for good reason, there have been some stinkers (x1 etc) from what i read around the traps and from experience a lot of people see all the long standing bugs, the quirks, the need for far to many workarounds to get things to function properly which otherwise don't (we all know what they are) the support issues wouldn't have helped and that has been discussed ad nauseum around the traps, we have all read about these things many times, and i think it is going to be hard to recover from those missteps, the buying public have long memories.
 
i read a post just the other day on another forum where someone was talking about sonar's stability, or lack there of, and perceived stability. the reasoning was that maybe the majority of vocal sonar users were long time users, and as such have had years to get to know sonars quirks, long standing bugs and issues, and therefore the multitude of workarounds required to side step these things, they know what buttons to push and what buttons not to push, and therefore sonar is stable to them, forgetting that it is years of experience that has taught them what not to do, where as a new user not knowing all of this may find themselves continually hitting these 'quirks' 'bugs' 'issues' whatever because they don't know about the need for workarounds and such, they are just following the manual, and as we know there is a lot in the manual which is out of date and or just plain doesn't work as described. i thought about this for a while and i can see where they are coming from, for me it was a valid comment. don't shoot me, i am just relating what others are thinking. I have used cakewalk products since pro audio 9, left when the magnificent x series began (x1), returned for x3e, then departed not long after platinum was released when i found something which to and for me was better, i had no stability issues myself with x3 or platinum, (and am a lifetime member), but then again, i did know how to avoid certain things which newer users may not. i can see where they are coming from, and no allegiance to any company or daw, i just use what i think is best and suits me the best.
 
anyway, i don't think it is as simple as a mac version, playing the devils advocate, what say in 2 or 3 years time, after a mac version of sonar has been released, things are still the same? sonar still isn't getting the recognition users think it deserves etc, what are we going to blame it on then?
 
as to the pro tools boasting about track freeze yada yada, you might say sonar is now boasting about ripple editing, but wait on reaper has had that for years, see what i mean? so what? sonar users also made a big who har about the new routing in sonar, reaper has had superior routing than sonar for years, and some would say still has, so what? (i'm no pro tools fan, and reaper isn't my main daw, just saying)
 
as i said i have no allegiance to any company or daw, i use what i think is the best for me, what suits me the best, i see things as i see them and don't apologize for that, some people think cakewalk/sonar is terminal, and well that may be the case, i think it will take a lot, more than just a mac version to turn things around, there is a lot of dislike, hate even towards cakewalk/sonar out there, for whatever reason. it may well be that a side effect of the development of the mac version is that the aging core of sonar (perhaps the exterior as well) and everything will get a kick and hit a home run, i certainly wouldn't mind, if it turns into what i think is a better daw than what i use now, i win , and my lifetime updates/membership pays off, if not so be it.
 
it's just how i see it, my opinion, which like anyone's opinion neither makes them right nor wrong

It's all about perception IMHO. pro tools is what you typically find in a big name studio (the few that are left). Sonar typically resides on a laptop in a corner of a bedroom.
 
That's the perception, but evidence that it's not far from the truth is given by Cakewalk themselves, see eZine 2016.08 ... which was a fairly striking revelation: top 2 are non-interfaces, #3 and #4 are consumer interfaces with plenty of documented quirks, pro audio interfaces come in at #5 and thereafter (I wish they would have listed percentages)
 
#1: ASIO4ALL ASIO4ALL was used for far more sessions than any other output option. Maybe it’s because a lot of people are using laptops, or maybe it’s because they don’t have a proper interface, but suffice it to say no one expected that ASIO4ALL would hit #1.
#2: Realtek High Definition Speakers Yes, this option is #2 and begs the same questions as above. Maybe this is a laptop world.
#3: Focusrite USB 2.0 Audio Driver When it comes to actual audio interfaces, Focusrite rules with more “output share” than any other audio interface. But nipping on its heels, you’ll find....
#4: Roland Octa-Series Interfaces These hardy perennials continue to be the interface of choice for quite a few SONARians.
#5: RME Fireface USB Whether analog, SDPIF, or ADAT outputs, the FireFace is a workhorse—in fact Fireface fans are the most prolific users of the ADAT outputs. (However note that overall, the USB flavor predominates: Cakewalk Analytics confirm that FireWire is definitely in its twilight years, at least for SONAR users.(
#6: MOTU MOTU’s line of interfaces holds a solid position in the middle of the pack, particularly in terms of audio outputs although there are quite a few people using S/PDIF outputs as well.
 

The Grim
i read a post just the other day on another forum where someone was talking about sonar's stability, or lack there of, and perceived stability.

 
that's probably strongly related to the above paragraph. try running pro tools, cubase, you-name-it on realtek and push it to the limits, then share your experience about long term stability ...
 
 
But as I said before: I couldn't care less. Sonar works fine for me. I know it inside out and it does everything I need. Period.

Anderton
 A lot of people have asked me what I use in SONAR to get the sounds in my projects.

But...but...that's 'cause you're THE Craig Anderton.