Today - in a couple hours most likely - I will purchase the Studio 1 Professional 3.5.2 Cross Grade. I will then officially be - both technically and from a marketing standpoint - a "Studio One Based Production Studio". Other than the occasional "peek" out of curiosity to see what's happening here, I'll be done with these boards. I've never been a big poster here -although more than my stats indicate as I apparently changed usernames at some point - but regardless - I would come here to research quite a bit and see what was going on.
I've used SONAR for over 10 years, and have loved it most of the time. I am sad, but not too surprised, to see it go. I wish I could say I will miss it horribly, but it is more like "miss it nostalgically" a little bit.
As a pro studio, things like reputation, marketing positioning, and such are as important to me as the technical part. I don't need the weight of a "Dead DAW" hanging around my neck from a marketing standpoint, regardless of how long or well it may technically work.
ANY DAW - the main ones - would allow me to accomplish what I want to musically and in production for my studio. I have been up with Studio One's demo for a few days now, and frankly, I feel proficient in it enough already to use it officially - starting now. I don't intend to do a comparison here, but suffice it to say that it does everything functionally I need it to do - much of it as good or better than SONAR, is very intuitive, and so far, has been rock solid and smooth. A funny thing happened. After S1 for a couple days, I went back to SONAR and found myself trying to do things the S1 way! I actually couldn't remember a couple of SONAR shortcuts - and this - after only a few days!
Would Cubase or Reaper or PT ore something else be "better"? Maybe in some ways - maybe not in others. However - I am tired of researching, reading posts, watching videos, playing with demos, etc. I NEED TO DO REAL WORK STARTING NOW, and Studio One is allowing me to do that. In fact - I've ported over my current "tracked only" projects and am mixing them in S1. I plan to do all future recording in S1. SONAR is there for an emergency if something goes horribly wrong with S1 and until I get fully comfortable with it, and I will keep SONAR around for a long time - as long as it works I guess - for legacy project purposes that I might have to revisit from time to time.
I have wasted - no not wasted - USED - a ton of time this last week - figuring all this out. At this point I'm doing it more as a spectator and from curiosity than for research purposes, and that's the sign that I need to get on with it. It's become a distraction from making my living at this point.
Anyway - adios .... I wish all of you well in your search for the next step for yourselves - whether it be Studio One, another DAW, or sticking with SONAR, or giving it up and taking up fishing or golf LOL! I considered that myself!
Thanks All - So Long - Farewell,
Ken Matson
Sound Works Recording & Productions, LLC