More Content from Cakewalk

Yes, digimidi. What a GREAT idea! You really nailed a hot topic!

Signed, Ghost of digimidi...

Yeah, mgh, you're right. It just seems funny that some topics one posts can get immediate response and others don't. It's just my feeling that there will always be technical problems with a program as complex and evolving as Sonar, but a larger offering of content would still be welcome.

Ugh. Personally I could care less about a loops collection.

There are so many... SO MANY free loops available out there, that it really wouldn't interest me. Besides, anyone making their own music or music for $$ is probably going to stay away from the most common loops sources. Content collections are great for looping tools, performance tools, and entry level programs. Their value is not nearly as high in best-of-breed DAWs.

Now some more tutorial videos makes some more sense. I could definitely see more short videos that demonstrate function-specific things in SONAR. Especially because explaining something like Audiosnap is very difficult on paper, and much easier to see visually.

As far as demo projects... to be honest I've never ever looked at them. Even the Public Enemy one that came with an earlier version of SONAR. Never even occurred to me to open it.

But perhaps what they could do is, in addition to having short videos that are function specific, is build a large tutorial that builds an entire song up from scratch. This way you can see the process from start to finish. Granted, no two song are alike, but I'm sure they could include many of the major features in a work-up of a project. Currently their longer demos are for tradeshows and the like, and the amount of pre-work they've done can create a disconnect to a user who doesn't understand where the MIDI part came from or whatnot.

as for content.. hmmm

it's always the angle over quality over quantity.. even to a point to what's usable in real life. Some things sample cd wise I have do showcase xy and z , but as for their usability.... nope, they are fx'd to a point where you can't use them in your own music.

I'd rather have more fx units etc, than samples.. with DnB sample cd's, the de facto is to put at least one variant of the amen break on the disk.

It don't even come down to the size of the files.. lets pad them out so they are 24 bit samples instead of 16 bit samples etc..

the most usable samples / sound banks I have, are sometimes the smallest..esp.. with reason refills, I make much more use of 3rd party thor patches which are a lot smaller than my bigger libraries.

I guess it's the same with anything, even albums..2 or 3 tracks that are good, the rest is filler. There isn't many albums I listen to as complete works that I can say are great.

If you want loops, just go out and get them. I have no use for them and im glad there not included, because it would be a waste of space on my hard drive. The way i see it, is that Sonar is used for recording what you make, not having ready made music for you. Thats your job.. Theres millions of places for loops
Cj

i think digimidi is after example projects, where you could study how and why good results were achieved.

ORIGINAL: digimidi
I'm also still pushing for user Sonar song submittals somewhere within the Forum to study (and admire).

Songs Forum.

being that i`m just a singer and just started to learn to play keyboards anything that`s for free like loops is for me until i can make my own. i feel rather dumb cause i sang in 3 different bands from 18 to 25 and never bothered to learn an instrument other than my vocals. now i`m 42 and it`s not easy, but for a little help the $29.95 SWA video for sonar is quite helpful and i`d really like to learn from CJaysMusic cause his mixes and songs are kick ass.

ORIGINAL: digimidi

ru is right. I'm MAINLY interested in sample projects and tutorials, although a few loops thrown in for good measure wouldn't hurt. AudioSnap is one example, as noted in previous posts to this thread, is where I could stand more guidance. I have plenty of audio recordings on 4-track and even on 8-track tape that I would like to import into Sonar to tighten up, especially drums, but I, like many others, have a problem getting a grasp of AudioSnap. Many of the earlier videos were on YouTube and sometimes were hard to see distinctly. I'm also still pushing for user Sonar song submittals somewhere within the Forum to study (and admire). The idea of a song from scratch is good as noted in this thread.

I transfered all of my 8 track tapes from the 80's and 90's into sonar. I found that setting now time using audio snap worked the very best for me. Takes about 30 mins to an hour or so per song to align the grid and then slicing and dicing whatever needs it. I sure others have a better solution but again, I had several dozen songs and it worked well.

Danny

ORIGINAL: tcaylor
I agree with Wicked. A large tutorial of a complete song working through tracking, midi, mixdown and mastering would showcase the product and tie everything together.

This model worked extremely well for the MiLaR DVD. Putting things in context is very helpful sometimes, even when there's a million ways to do something, seeing someone's whole process is as valuable as an overview on 5 ways to solve a specific problem.

RE: Audiosnap. Between the Youtube vidz and Craig Anderton's in-depth dissection on his pro-review I learned more than I ever possibly could via manuals and the help. Don't get me wrong, I'm actually still pretty "duh" with Audiosnap, but I know a few basics that make figuring out other aspects of it a lot easier.

With programs like this getting deeper every version, a "manual" as we know it is sure to fade in importance over videos and interactive tutorials. I seem to recall GURU having a very nice one, but that could've been the sexy British female voice doing the narration....

Just from SONAR3 PE to 7PE there were 14 complete SONAR productions included. I have them all on my project drive and admit to looking at them occassionally. They cover a wide range of styles and techniques but it would be good to know which was a good example of a particular thing so I could load that one up for a lesson on subject X.

I've noticed in recent years that the market for software training is expanding. eg I have the whole Adobe suite and the amount of material available for training is mind boggling. Very little of it free though. they've realised there's more to selling software than selling software. there's all the support material like training and other resources.

As for resources like sounds, plugins etc. enough already. But there's room for better training provided through DVD's and online materials which would of course include example material to work on as you watch the video.

There are quite a few generic training vids around that look at things like mixing, eq, mastering etc but are far to general for my liking. They're informative but while somethings translate across DAWs others don't for example. Use of various software tools and functions. What I'd like to see is professional quality vids on using the special features in SONAR. 1 video for 1 tool. V-Vocal, AudioSnap etc.

Then others on production techniques. Everything from setting up your studio, even making the connections between gear, to recording a band or a set of drums, or mixing down and mastering.

BUT. Is there a big enough market for these things? Why would Cake make all these vide when we provide such a stellar support service here. LOL

Just think though, wouldn't it be great to download a video that showed you how to connect all your gear together...thiking of all the recent newbies that keep asking the soundblaster questions. For goodness sake, the last garden shed (Lawn Locker) I built had an instructional VHS Video that came with it. Just as well too because I couldn't make sense of the poor Chinese to English translation of the manual. Still the point is that there could be more material to help us make sense of it all. Whether that's more songs/projects or videos I don't know.

I agree in Re: Video tutorials the whole process start to finish just to see how other people work, I am sure this has been discussed previous to this thread. I know people work in different ways but it would be good for sonar to show of its capabilities in this way and at the same time make it more accesible to potential customers. I know they have a demo of Sonar so please dont remind me I have reminded myself

Stone Age? Version 3? Holy Crap! I've been a user since ProAudio 8. Was that before the Big Bang?

But yeah, it would be nice to see more example content. I, for one, would like to see demo projects of variuos styles, much like what Reason does. maybe some user submitted stuff?