SONAR's Year in Review

Hi,
 
A handful of us at Cakewalk weighed in on our favorite SONAR features this year. Click on each person to read more comments and we'd love to hear what your favorite features were as well. Please share here on this thread!
 
http://www.cakewalk.com/products/SONAR/Year-In-Review
 
 

bitman
Aux tracks, Performance Enhancement, Upsampling & Synth Recording.

You sound like Noel :)

 
I like most of everything done, but sticking to a top for each update:
 
Allston
 - Control Bar enhancements
Braintree
- Piezo amp sim
Cambridge
- Fixes/Enhancements
Dorchester
- Scrolling multidock (Mix Recall enhancements are a very close second)
Everett
- Fixes/Enhancements
Foxboro
- Fixes/Enhancements
Gloucester
- Fixes/Enhancements
Hopkinton
- Start Screen
Ipswitch
- Synth recording
Jamaica Plain
- Patch points (Aux track)
Kingston
- Speed improvements
Lexington
- Fixes/Enhancements/Performance
 

Am downloading Lexington. Can't believe how well Cakewalk have kicked Sonar into shape this year. X3 was so good I almost decided I would never upgrade again- just keep a solid static system... But Sonar2015 is snappier, more reliable, has new useability and music creation features that are now crucial. So after 12 updates  I'm not asking "will i get another 12 months?" but "I wonder what they will give us over the next year?" . Even the Year in Review page is terrific!

I would say that the "under the hood" things have been my favorite this year. I cannot seem to break it
This has been a great year to be SONAR user.
All the best to the Bakers, and the rest of you fellow SONARians.
Merry Christmas

Aux Tracks/Patch Points.
 
 
 
...And everything else.   
 
Seriously though, I do use AT/PP the most but have used so much of everything else introduced in 2015 I would never want to "settle" for just one thing.  Fortunately with SONAR I do not have to!     Bring on SONAR 2016...
 

I remember the days when reaper users used to come onto our forum and boast about the regularity of their updates.  With SPLAT, we are getting much more significant updates/upgrades than they ever did.
 
Some of the monthly updates have included more significant feature enhancements than some competing product's yearly, expensive version upgrades.  I don't know how the bakers have been able to keep up the frenetic pace and how they can pack in so much every month or two.
 
All I can say is that the team at Cakewalk should be heartily congratulated.  You guys deserve a break - have an awesome Christmas!

oh yeah...virtual controller... forgot about that.  Use it to get quick sound ideas.

Patch points and Aux tracks would top my list.
 
Thanks to the Bakers and Admin staff at Cakewalk for a fantastic 2015.  Have a great Holiday season.  You deserve it!

Mix Recall is far and away the best of all features and there's many to choose from.

What I've found most useful from the last year's updates are . . . new customizable Control Bar, Command Center, Prochannel REmatrix Solo, FX Stacking, ARA Improvements, Rapture Session, Start Screen, Recyclable plugins, improved Audio Snap detection, the monthly Ezine, the Monitorizer plugin, better VST3 compatibility, and all those little things that have added up to making the program snappier, more stable, and an honourable mention for the many miscellaneous bug fixes.
 
When you add in all those additions from this past year that I haven't found that useful . . . well, there's been a lot added to Sonar in this last year, something for everybody I hope. Much thanks and praise to the baker programmers, and let's hope 2016 brings many more Sonar advancements. Happy New Year to all Cakewalk staff and this amazing Forum community !

Synth recording, Mix recall, virtual keyboard, speed improvements, PRV improvements, command centre.
 
Just signed up for 12 months after a delayed upgrade from X3. Looking forward to future goodies!

If I had to choose one , Synth Recording does it for me..

This year has been amazing for SONAR. I've been using it and its predecessors since version 1 for DOS on a 4.25" floppy, and the enhancements this year alone stand out.
 
If I had to pick a favorite, it would be the performance related improvements. For someone who puts a lot of hours in using the program, that extra speed and solidity means a whole different experience.
 
I'm actually worried that the pressure to bring out enhancements once a month will lead to rushing out changes that aren't really "done" yet. At the same time, the big recent coding changes lead me to suspect that Gibson is putting more resources into the company; they're going to want a return on that investment, which is fine with me.

backwoods

anxiousmofo
My favorite part was the "special surprise."  Whatever that was.
 

Drum replacer

I don't recall that being a special surprise, but to each their own.  If that's the case, it wasn't my favorite part.
 
I'll go with the speed improvements then, I reckon.