ORIGINAL: SeanTX

Hi, Eratu,
Great job! But I have the last question: Which, Sonar or Cubase, is the better for a professional musician and a amateur sound engineer?
I have used Sonar for years, however, the sales of my music shop is trying to convince me to change to Cubase.
I knew, I am asking you to tell me: Which, apple or banana, is the better? I just need to know.

LOL! The page is outdated, but I promise I'll update it as soon as I can. All those have gone through big releases now...

Look, DAW software is just so amazing I am blown away by what you can do nowadays. The decision to use one DAW over another is very personal. I happen to use all of the following quite regularly: Sonar, Cubase, Live, REAPER, Vegas and ProTools. The ones I have used (in some cases quite a bit) previously include Logic, Samplitude, Tracktion, Digital Performer, and probably two or three more. I just have not used those for a while. But I respect what they can do.

My personal favorite for the type of work I do most of the time is Sonar. Cubase is very important in my work too, although I do not enjoy being jerked around by Steinberg AT ALL. Live is wonderful and sometimes just inspiring, but I don't use it nearly as much as Sonar or Cubase. ProTools is just here because I have to use it for some clients. And REAPER, well, REAPER has won a place in my heart for some reason. There are some audio comping/mixing jobs I now do just in REAPER. Editing multiple audio tracks is unusually easy and fast in REAPER for me. Your mileage may vary. But I use them all because each one has something special to bring to the table, and they compliment each other.

In other words: I am not a single DAW guy. I like using the best of what each offers, and I just love technology. Upgrading them is not that expensive once you get into the cycle, especially if you decide to skip one cycle each time. And cross-grades make it easy to get into a platform too. I update most of the time, but have not updated to the latest Live yet, for example.

I cannot say which will be better for you. I would simply say, use both! They play well together. My main workhorse DAW has Sonar, Cubase, Live and REAPER on it and there are NO conflicts whatsoever. And I love going between them when I want to try something new.

What it boils down to is how you want to work. In the case of working with clients, the only thing I can say is that you have to use what you have to use... if a client requires ProTools, why fight it? I gave up fighting that issue so I could get the client and use the tools needed for the job. (What I do sometimes is secretly do most of the project in Sonar or Cubase then deliver what I have to ProTools... hehehehe.) So I recommend you get the tools that you need to do what you need to do. Hope that makes sense!

Good luck, and just remember that the most important part of any DAW is you. If you're talented and have a great ear, I believe any of these tools will take you mighty far.

As for Sonar, I will admit to a special preference for Sonar. I like the people, I like the engineering team, I like the spirit and attitude of Sonar and Cakewalk in general. For me, that does make a difference as well.

Wow, great work Eratu!!!. I missed this when you first posted it.

ORIGINAL: SeanTX
The sales sold me many VSTs such as Ministry of Rock, Stylus RMX…etc, and the sales himself could not make them work with Sonar.
It was his points that he asked me to use Cubase instead. I guess the reason is Cubase has instrument track.

This is more a statement of the salesperson's incompetence than anything. SONAR is perfectly capable of loading and running VSTi and DXi plugs. You would just record the MIDI into a MIDI track, and load the instrument into an audio track's FX bin. Point the MIDI track output to the desired plug, and you're in.

IIUC, S8 now has the capability for instrument tracks now. It's even backward-compatible with the old MIDI+Audio track way, so you can switch back and forth.