Why, after 8 years, I'm ready to ditch Sonar.

I've spent 8 years struggling with Sonar. EIGHT YEARS.

Yea, I know- Sonar's got a lot of strengths. I've learned how to work with sound in Sonar, I've learned how to process signals, bla bla bla.

But now I'm tired of all the crap.

Some basic things in Sonar are waaaaay too difficult: automation of synths, getting parts to line up (WHY, when I pasted to measure 13:00:00, does a part start at 13:00:132, or some other arbitrary place?!), etc. But all DAWs have their flaws.

My biggest issue is performance. I'm tired of working for hours on a synth patch, only to start Sonar and have the patch- which hasn't changed- not work. To have a sub-bass part suddenly sound like static at 2 Hz. And to not be able to fix it. I'm tired of having corrupt project files that "aren't compatible with this version of Sonar." EVERY TIME I OPEN SONAR I HAVE TO FIX *SOMETHING*, and I'm tired of it!!!!

I'm switching to a DAW that can offer reliability. 

Peace, Sonar.

Actually, I've posted here nearly 400 times since 2004. 

Regardless, I spoke out of anger last night, and I am truly sorry to any DAWs who had their feelings hurt. 

I could never leave Sonar. Sure, we have our ups and downs- what DAW-user relationship doesn't? But in the end, Sonar is always here on my computer, waiting for me to cool down and try again.

I've experienced the same sentiments at times. Problem is that every other DAW has a comparable number of flaws and missing features. To switch means exchanging a set of bugs, quirks and omissions that I know about for a set of bugs, quirks and omissions that I'd then have to discover. Might as well stick with the devil I know.

X2 (DAW 2.1) will fix everything.

fif4lifefif


Actually, I've posted here nearly 400 times since 2004. 

Regardless, I spoke out of anger last night, and I am truly sorry to any DAWs who had their feelings hurt. 

I could never leave Sonar. Sure, we have our ups and downs- what DAW-user relationship doesn't? But in the end, Sonar is always here on my computer, waiting for me to cool down and try again.

I got rather angry at my Marshall head one night at a gig when the fuse blew, and of course who carries around spares (besides me, now). My fuse blew. Looking back I realised it happened once out of hundreds of uses. Of course it happened at a rather inopportune moment...Sonar sometimes treats me the same.

mudgel

I've never had the fuse in SONAR blow. I'm glad for that because I haven't got a clue where to find it. Its not mentioned anywhere in the literature.
 

They long ago replaced fuses with modeling software, aound version 4 I believe. Sonar still sounds good but it just doesn't quite "feel" the same. Maybe it's not convoluted enough?

 

I always bring a spare bass player, mine has known issues!

talyhoe


I tried Studio One software but came back to Sonar 8.5. Don't like X1 too much though.

I have Studio One v2 on my Mac Book Pro. It's cool and recording is easy, but I can't seem to wrap my head around the mixing console. Maybe if I had a lot of templates and such. The sounds on the included virtual instruments range from meh to lame. I haven't loaded Studio One on my studio PC because there's no provision for hardware synth instrument definitions like Sonar has. I just use Studio One for mobile recording applications. I absolutely detest Pro Tools, so Studio One (and to a lesser extent, Reason 6.5) are my Mac DAWs of choice. I just bought Sonar X1 at long last (will be eligible for the free X2 upgrade when it happens).

My needs as a straight forward hard rock /metal guy are simple. I don't need half the things it does, probably why it's always worked for me.