I write and record music with Sonar Produce X2.  My drummer has a laptop and sometimes will record midi drum tracks with his e-drum kit but also writes some guitar melodies, etc.  He currently uses Cubase but he'd like to get something super simple for doing basic midi and audio recording that can be compatible with my Sonar Producer X2.  Will that work? He could buy Sonar X1 Essential Crossgrade for about $20 more...but he's a newbie so simplicity and ease of use is definitely more important than horsepower at this point.  Thanks.

Scaryfast


I write and record music with Sonar Produce X2.  My drummer has a laptop and sometimes will record midi drum tracks with his e-drum kit but also writes some guitar melodies, etc.  He currently uses Cubase but he'd like to get something super simple for doing basic midi and audio recording that can be compatible with my Sonar Producer X2.  Will that work? He could buy Sonar X1 Essential Crossgrade for about $20 more...but he's a newbie so simplicity and ease of use is definitely more important than horsepower at this point.  Thanks.

Hello Scaryfast,


I just downloaded Sonar Producer X2 trial and opened a native MC6 file in it. The audio loaded perfectly, but  there were plugin issues (See below):






I'm not sure why. Maybe someone more proficient can help more.


Regards,


Lee.

yes, the cake family of products have forward and backward compatibility. 

The only issue you will encounter is a warning message that everything may not work...... just click OK and proceed. 

Generally the things that may not work would be if you open a project created in X2 in MC6.... since MC6 will not have the features that are in X2..... but the project will still run.  You may need to assign a different synth to some midi tracks... that's generally what that warning message means. 

Also if the two computers do not have the same exact FX plugs there will be a "plug in missing" message. No big deal.... simply delete the FX from the project and insert one that does exist in that particular DAW.

I was able to open a project created in CW8P (really old DAW from cake) and it ran perfectly... in both the MC series and the X1 series of DAW's.

Thanks.  I don't ever see us sending anything from X2 Pro to MC6.  He's not as proficient and doesn't want to spend the money that I have so this may be the best scenario.  Thanks.

It might just be easier for your drummer to save his midi drums seesions to just a midi file. You can import the midi file into any of the cakewalk products, plus the midi file itself will be much smaller and easily sent via email.

What is his OS?
X1 Essential is no longer available(he would have to get X2 Essential).
My understanding is that X2 patched/updated will not run on XP/Vista machines. If he has W7/W8, it is a non-issue.
If he has XP or Vista, MC6 is the best choice, as that will run on the older platforms.
As mentioned, project files should transfer fine, with the noted exceptions.
He could also save individual tracks as wav or MIDI files, and those could be used in Cubase or Sonar.