So I tried Mixcraft 8 demo today.  I thought that it was ok. I was able to figure out how to do most stuff that I wanted. I inserted a couple of soft synths and messed around with the midi stuff. I also recorded a few audio tracks and did some "comping" and overdubs. I had their "manual" up but it seems a bit sparse so it was hard to find some things.  It seems like it is fairly capable and with more time with it I am sure it could do most of what I currently do in Sonar.
 
There were a few things that I couldn't figure out.  I couldn't get the play head to return to the previous location when you hit stop. Probably a setting somewhere that I didn't find. I couldn't figure out how to drag copy a midi note. I had to copy and paste or just add a new one in.  I did like that in the Midi editor screen that it showed the note value on the midi notes.  I also couldn't figure out how to select controllers and delete them.
 
On the audio side I was able to time stretch a clip, record several takes, do looping etc. I couldn't figure out how to do cross fades between takes in their lanes or how to select parts of overlapping takes. I could mute and unmute the clips but didn't know how to move the split point. When editing/timing audio clips I like to split them and then use the "alt-shift" to move the audio date around in the clip window rather then moving the whole clip. I couldn't figure a way to do this.
 
They also have the idea of a send track. It seems like a bus but one that is specifically for sends from tracks. When you add a send track knobs show up on all tracks to send to it kind of like a console. I don't really like that since most of the time I only want to send a few tracks to a bus, unless it is a global reverb, and the knobs on each track seem to clutter things up.
 
Finally, I couldn't seem to figure out how to route the tracks to anything else other then the "master" output.  I probably needed to add a bus or something else.
 
I am sure if you dig into this it would be a fine DAW and hopefully will keep getting developed.  The UI seems not quite as polished and as mentioned before a bit more "cartoony" for lack of a better word.
 
Just some more information for those looking into this.

Thanks, Kenny. Good stuff.
 
If you don't mind sharing, what is it about the Performance  Panel or Mixcraft itself that you like better than Ableton? Is it just easier to use?

telecharge
Thanks, Kenny. Good stuff.
 
If you don't mind sharing, what is it about the Performance  Panel or Mixcraft itself that you like better than Ableton? Is it just easier to use?

 
Cool Beans telecharge .
 
My reference about Mixcraft was that it has a decent Performance Panel that I definitely like much better than SPlats Matrix View ...
I was an early adapter of Project 5 ( 2006 ) and I still to this day think that Project 5  runs rings around what they did with SONAR's Matrix view and P 5 style of integration ...
On one hand SONAR contains much of what P5 had ...the devs ported over much ...the thing they did not port over was the simplicity and ease of the P 5 workflow   
 
Having said that let me go w Ableton Live first ...
I have Live 9 intro . I happen to think that Ableton Live is a fantastic program ...for me to bump up to Live Standard the general upgrade price would come in at around $350 unless it was on Sale ...
I can currently bump up my Live version up to Standard since Ableton is having a sale ...for $ 250 ish I can get that and when Live 10 comes out I will also be able to get that as a courtesy since Ableton is offering this deal currently.
Long before the recent news of Gibson dropping Cakewalk I can admit to have being tempted ..This deal is still on the table and I am actually considering it because I will get Live 10 when it is available ...
One of the things I do not care about in Live is it is an either or w the views ...
example ...
Either

Or

 
Not a combination of both .
 
Mixcraft on the other hand will allow me to keep both views in sight ...the performance section including the track view ...once again I'm winging it w the pic ...the performance panel is not populated ...

the performance panel can collapse w one click so I can see my session

 
Now that might not sound like such a big deal but I came up using P 5 ...Project 5 was that simple ....
The workflow was and still is astoundingly fast  as it would be for a seasoned Live user 
 
BTW , I would post comparison screen shots of Project 5 . I would then have to swap computers to do that ...
 
Now do I think that Mixcraft 8 Pro is better than Ableton Live ...
No I wont say that but I can say that Mixcraft Pro 8 packs some very heavy tools under the hood ....all for very little money ....
The time I have spent using Mixcraft eased the pain of not having a full version of Live and I was very great full that I could get that type of workflow back w out having to spend big coin ...at least Mixcraft afforded me that  
 
In any case , I'm only here to share my experience , strength , and brain damage with you guys ....
My only real pay off here is to be hanging out w you guys in this thread and putting out a little info ....
As I said before I had picked up Mixcraft a while back and I enjoy using it ...speaking strictly for myself , I certainly feel I got more than what I paid for 
 
time for the $64,000 dollar question
Do I think that  Mixcraft 8 Pro is better than SONAR SPlat ? Honestly speaking I won't say that it is ...
We all have different needs & creative musical out looks & workflows ...one size don't fit all ...
Please remember I started using Mixcraft 7 and 8 at a time when SPlat seemed to be here for good ....
I was not under duress , I bought it because I wanted it ...I'm happy I did ...
The people from A.../ Mixcraft don't even know that I am a Mixcraft user or who the eff I am
Also To be perfectly honest , there were many things about SPlat that were overly complicated for no apparent reason that  I could justify ...In Truth , I have been looking to break away from SPlat for a long time ...
BTW I don't mean this in a negative way ....SPlat is more that I will ever need ...I always felt that I was totally behind the eight ball when it came to SPlats constantly changing learning curve ... 
If you have ever heard me play you will know that I have put in the years &  hours on my guitar even if you don't like my playing or music .
I don't always want to have to climb a Mt Everest sized learning curve just to to be able to record my guitar playing and music . It became a tug of War ...I spent more time working on learning SPlat than I did playing my guitar and creating music during a lot of my musical time ...so in that sense , for me personally I have loved my experiences using some of the simpler DAWs that are out there ...I love Mixcraft 8 Pro , I'm gonna continue using it &  when ever I play something I dig ..if I feel I want to take it to the next level I will export my dry tracks and create a SONAR Project ...I'm very used to treating my music as if I was collaborating w other people that use other DAW's
Heck some of my best musical collab mates are all figments of my imagination  
 
nice talking w you ...I do remember you asking me when I was going through a rough time if it involved way too many choices ...Yes that plays into it largely to a degree . 
 
all the best ,
 
Kenny
 

Nice write-ups Kenny

ZincTrumpet
Thanks Kenny, useful information.
 
I am trying the demo of Mixcraft and I am finding it quite nice albeit I understand the comments from reginaldStjohn. It has come a long way since I tried version 5 but it's not as deep as Splat. Then again I might be missing something as I am only on day 2 of the demo.
 
Is it possible to do the equivalent of the CTRL-SHIFT drag thing in Sonar to stretch/shrink audio? I use this a lot to fine tune alignment of doubled tracks as VocalSync usually doesn't work as well as I would like.
 
I was also unable to find a way to route the output of a MIDI track to Harmony Evo inserted on an Audio track or to change an existing instrument track to not play an instrument but send its MIDI to a different track. Also I noticed that the drop down to enable MIDI input on the Harmony Evo (HE) UI is missing (there's no way I can see to select it). However, when I play my MIDI keyboard with the audio track selected HE does its thing and generates harmonies. 
 
The demo also did not pick up my full version of Melodyne Editor so it does not appear on the audio editor menu bar as shown in Kenny's post above or in the manual. 
 
I think that I have pretty much decided to stick with SPlat for now and pass on Mixcraft. I already have backups in place when I need them...Studio One Pro 3, Cubase Elements 9 (upgrade to 9.5 is £17) and Reaper. 

Hi Zinc Trumpet ,
 
I will answer what little bit I can ...
Yes , I get it it ,  leaving SONAR would be a tough one .
In all fairness a few hours trying out a demo , means theres only so much info about a new DAW that can be digested in such a small amount of time  ....
 
Yes you can Time stretch the audio using the exact method you mentioned ...in my screen captures there was a little double hand that is not showing ....
Yes, using Ctrl shift works just like in SONAR
 
first pic un-stretched audio

second pic , stretched audio , in this case the audio plays at a slower tempo 

third pic , shrunk audio , notice the time line  ...audio plays faster

 
If you are on a Mixcraft 8 demo , I have no idea if it will allow you to incorporate your melodyne or not ..
sorry I just don't know ...the Mixcraft forum may have the answer to that ....good luck
 
BTW, thanks for the kind words
 
Kenny
 
PS , Reapers time stretch ability while keeping pitch is with out equal 

Shame the Staff view is so limited, only one clip at a time, I was looking quite favourably at this, the support guy also did not know what ARA integration was.