Not new to Sonar, but with that said... the subscription platform was a super idea, andhaving AD2 is a plus. I have Professional at the moment and am laying in the cut to see what Platinum brings to the table next time.
I'd be in 7th or 8th heaven if the bundle was a Waves bundle ( input a demon grin here )
VSTs are a plus, but I also aquired Akai's Advance hard drive, so for me more mixng and mastering tools would tip my scale to buy without a second thought.
I also have the Reaper DAW and would like to see the same processing speed as that from Sonar ( even though I realize Reaper is somewhat barebones to Sonar in comparison). For me it could be the learning curve. I find myself needing to be more tedious with Sonar.
All in all, I hope they keep up the good work, bring a bit of everything for everyone in the next set, annd make my upgrade price as compatible as someone upgrading from X3. But mixing and mastering would make my cup runneth over.

Chop lots of raw almonds, at least a cup+
using an 8 inch pan, fry in lots of butter on low heat, careful to not burn
add lots of chili powder, stir, add more butter if needed
when almonds are happy, add 2-3 planks of white fish, turn
cover and turn-off burner
let sit for 10 minutes
 
======================
 
new nutrition report released this week:
   cholesterol in food has no relationship to cholesterol in blood

mudgel
Don't use Addictive Drums so I couldn't care less about them as a freebie. I don't find many of the freebie add ons as incentives.

FWIW I hadn't paid that much attention to things like Strum Acoustic, AD, Blue Tubes, etc. But I started dipping into them and there are some elements to all those things that I really enjoy now. For example, I'm not that much into "vintage" sounds but am finding some really appealing aspects to the Blue Tubes plug-ins. And Strum Acoustic has that MIDI chord readout feature that's great...anyway, while I wouldn't upgrade specifically for those, I always end up being glad they're included. To me it's like when you have a really good meal, and just when you expect the maitre d' to bring the check, he brings some excellent after-dinner drink and says "compliments of the house." 

YouDontHasToCallMeJohnson
Chop lots of raw almonds, at least a cup+
using an 8 inch pan, fry in lots of butter on low heat, careful to not burn
add lots of chili powder, stir, add more butter if needed
when almonds are happy, add 2-3 planks of white fish, turn
cover and turn-off burner
let sit for 10 minutes
 

 
Mmmm... sounds yummy. Not quite as good as free drums, but...  I'm glad I skipped looking at this thread until now, and jumped to the last page.
 
Thanks,
Dave
 

Dave Modisette
The Vocal align feature is somewhat interesting but I've always thought that the human interplay of a doubled vocal is more interesting.  To each, his own.

 
I think the concept was invented primarily for video ADR, where it shines...the vocal benefits fall into the "hey, it works here too!" category. The main use I find for it with sung vocals is aligning words at the end of phrases so they end together, and lining up sibilants to avoid a kind of "slapback" effect.
 
 

One thing that I will also say is that the Sonar update absolutely blows the Pro Tools update away (from what has been revealed) for satisfying user feature requests.

 
My favorite example of that is Mix Recall. I think Noel had already come up with the idea, but when there was a forum thread about "wouldn't it be great if...," I'm sure that gave him the incentive to finish it/add to it. Have you had a chance to check it out? The more I use it, the more I like it. 
 
Also I don't think you're a loop library guy, but the recursive browser search thing has changed my life when I'm looking for a specific loop or one-shot.
 

Anderton

Drone7
Waiting for Studio One 3, any day now, apparently it's gonna be huge.

I was told at NAMM it's still a ways off..."later in the year."

Thanks for that. Looks like Presonus know they've got stiff competition. Sonar Professional here I come.

PS: Any idea when Cakewalk will have 'physical media' ready? Won't buy until then.

BobF

Drone7
Do i detect disingenuous overtones? You're a funny man. Anyway, just for starters...
 
Try Samantha Jade "Firestarter". And not AAC or MP3 if you wanna hear it properly.
 
Try Ellie Goulding "Burn". And not AAC or MP3 if you wanna hear it properly.
 
Try Nicki Minaj "Pound The Alarm" (not the 'explicit' version). And not AAC or MP3 if you wanna hear it properly.
 
 
Remember, listening to the AAC or MP3 version is not conducive to displaying the "well-produced" aspect of it, just in case you needed to be reminded.
 
 

OK, I tried Samantha and Ellie via youtube.  Once I muted them, I fully enjoyed watching both
 
JK - Those examples are very good 

Simplicity plus vibe always get a tick in my books. Not sure what you're into but if you can do better then send me a link.

I must agree with the original premise that the add-ins shouldn't be the main reason for upgrade $$.  Many users are asking for better functionality of the core program (Sonar); in my case, I would like to see improvements in Midi editing.
 
In terms of AD, it is actually my go-to drum processor with Sonar and has been for a long time.  However, I purchased AD1 long before it was included in Sonar and upgraded to AD2 well before this version was included in the latest Sonar.  I find it works well with my Roland kit and is easy to program but would defer to other, more expert users wrt to the quality of the sounds.
 
Regarding Midi editing, I have been in the game since the Commodore 64 and Atari ST were around.  Since then I have used a couple of very good midi editors in Windows that, unfortunately, are no longer supported.   My perception is that some of these had much better editing functionality.  That said, I think Sonar is a great product!
 
R

kevmsmith81
Actually what I'd like is better drums for electronic music.  I'm just dabbling in electronic music at the moment, and there's nothing there with the kind of power I was hoping for.  Everything sounded too weedy.  I got round it by finding some royalty-free single hit samples on the internet and then putting each drum type to an individual track, but this doesn't seem a particulary intuitive way of doing things.

Get Kontakt and that will open up a whole world of samples, including EM drums.
 
Regards,
Dan

Mystic38
At the end of the day, I have absolutely zero interest in a subscription model that drip feeds new features and new bugs along with old bug fixes. This has the byproduct of forcing multiples ongoing updates and reduces both confidence and stability in my studio system.

But you're overlooking that you've also been given a boatload of fixes, on an accelerated schedule. Overall, this has improved core stability. The relatively small (and limited number of) issues that have been introduced during an update have been fixed in the next update. For example, when the virtual controller was introduced, there were some tweaks in the next release. However, any issues in the virtual controller didn't affect the rest of the program. 
 
There will always be bugs introduced with a software update. How Cakewalk is addressing it is one option. The other option is to have all the bugs introduced once a year, then sort them out over several months. I prefer having multiple, regular bug fixes along with some new functionality, with any bugs that result sorted out in a month or less.
 
However nothing prevents you from waiting a year, installing the complete update, and benefiting from the fact that most of the bugs would have already been dealt with over the previous year instead of having them all introduced at once. So even if you wait, it's a better system because most bugs will have already been fixed shortly after they were first discovered.

Anderton
What puzzles me is why people have a problem with more choices. There are more choices now in how you can buy software, and you're given a choice on how and when you want to update the software. You can follow the same procedure as always and do one big massive update, wait until you finish a project before you update, jump on the latest update (and roll back if there's any problem that actually impacts your workflow), update every few months, whatever. Cakewalk isn't forcing anyone to do anything. The only real difference is this time around, you get two years' worth of updates but pay for only one. I guess I just can't grasp why people have a problem with a system that gives control to users over how they choose to pay for and consume the software.

Craig,
 
Most people have their world view perception that generally does not extend beyond their self imposed four walls (be them physical or mental).
 
Case in point, Mystic38 (a cool guy in my book) chose to call the new SONAR purchase plan(s) a "subscription" model when for months Bakers and users alike have been clarifying (ad nauseam) that it is not a subscription plan.
 

Mystic38
Personally i feel the OP has a point.. in prior Sonar upgrades, there were real, tangible improvements in functionality, and when Splat appeared, my view was "is that it?" and so I pretty much saw it as $149 for AD2, and for the first time in 6 years delayed my upgrade as i did not see a valid rationale.
 
Previously, Sonar was pretty much guaranteed to be stable and solid by April/May of the following year in its current incarnation.. (which was why i updated in May) never perfect of course, but a clear well known status.
So now, having recently upgraded in May from X3e to Splat D, with install issues, bugs and within 2 weeks the E release (needed for at least one bug) there is already yet another release E1 fixing issues related to the new E release, so i am at 3 installs in a 4 wk period... 5 months after Splat was launched.. the very scenario i wished to avoid
 
This is not how i wish to proceed.
 
At the end of the day, I have absolutely zero interest in a subscription model that drip feeds new features and new bugs along with old bug fixes. This has the byproduct of forcing multiples ongoing updates and reduces both confidence and stability in my studio system
 
which leaves me in a pickle...
 
Of course I do not need to update to the F, G, H I etc however as new bugs can (and are) being drip fed with updates, then the pickle is that at any time i choose not to continue to get the "latest and greatest" release, i can very well be left with recently introduced bugs...
 
and i dont like pickles....

First off, thanks for your purchase. Appreciate it very much. I have read through your comments and while I understand your points, I am not sure I agree. SONAR is getting better with each version we roll out. We are 100% committed to improving the product in a more agile release cycle that ultimately benefits the customers. The goal is to release new features and enhancements when they are fully ready and tested. At the same time, we tackle issues that come up in the community with much greater speed. This is still relatively new but I think as we move along, you are going to see SONAR getting even better. When we released Drum Replacer, we found some issues that definitely needed to be addressed. But we didn't wait long to fix it and I think that shows our commitment. The system is designed to update SONAR on your schedule. So when you have time and feel like doing it, you can do the upgrades (which will be much faster to install), and if for some reason you need to rollback, that's very easy to do. The intention is not to introduce new bugs with every release and I don't think that's what we are doing. But if that happens, fixes will be imminent so it doesn't carry over. I think in your situation, where you don't want to mess with your studio set-up much, finding a build you like that is working for you and keeping it for 6 months might be a good idea. Then 6 months later, after a bunch of releases, you can upgrade and test out the new version to your satisfaction and decide if you want to run with it or roll back. I think either way the system benefits you. If you want the new features, they are ready and if you want to wait, you'll have something to look forward to at a later date.

RD9
I must agree with the original premise that the add-ins shouldn't be the main reason for upgrade $$.  Many users are asking for better functionality of the core program (Sonar); in my case, I would like to see improvements in Midi editing.
 
In terms of AD, it is actually my go-to drum processor with Sonar and has been for a long time.  However, I purchased AD1 long before it was included in Sonar and upgraded to AD2 well before this version was included in the latest Sonar.  I find it works well with my Roland kit and is easy to program but would defer to other, more expert users wrt to the quality of the sounds.
 
Regarding Midi editing, I have been in the game since the Commodore 64 and Atari ST were around.  Since then I have used a couple of very good midi editors in Windows that, unfortunately, are no longer supported.   My perception is that some of these had much better editing functionality.  That said, I think Sonar is a great product!
 
R

 We've made improvements to the MIDI engine, PRV and general MIDI workflow (like the Pattern Tool). Also, how much do you think vocal alignment or drum replacement tools would cost? You can check out competitive products and see what they are going for (and they aren't integrated directly into your DAW like they are in SONAR). Also Mix Recall is a pretty cool feature that really improves core program. So you start adding this all up and the price doesn't seem too bad. 
 
Unrelated to your post but a general observation: I think software is often devalued. People don't realize that it takes a lot of time and investment to develop software. For example, LA-2A emulation softwares often give you similar results with sometimes even more flexibility for a fraction of the price. Yet people scoff at paying $99 for a product that has a hardware equivalent of thousands of dollars. Same with DAW software. How much is studio time these days anyway? You can buy a DAW for the price of a few hours of studio time and get very similar tools that studios pay thousands and thousands of dollars in investment. It seems everyone expects apps to be $0.99 or free or whatever. But the reality is these products take time to develop and test. Again, what would a good vocal alignment or drum replacement plugin cost? Console emulation? A good EQ? Quality synths? Addictive Drums 2 is only one part of the price (and a pretty good deal if you ask me). Upgraders pay a fraction of the actual cost to develop. On the plus side of software, there isn't material cost in most cases so you can charge less as it gets absorbed across a larger audience. But the value is still there regardless.