I have an older version of Studio one and I qualify to upgrade. I'm waiting for Presonus to offer an upgrade deal on SO3. So far those seem to be few and few in between lately.
 
I like the way the basic UI works to get ideas into the box fast. It doesn't take a new user long to get the basic functions down. It has been said the software sounds good. I think it has a different sound. I'm not into the inner workings, a better summing mixer maybe? 
 
The project mastering features are really handy.I would love to try the arrangement features in SO3. Export on SO2 was slightly fustrating for me since you need to define markers, either between a loop or start/end. With Sonar you simply export and it stops when the music stops.
 
Craig brings up a lot of the things they DON'T tell you in the Presonus marketing hype. Sonar already has many things that would either need to be done in other software or bought as an add on in SO3. A similar statement could be said about a few of the things Sonar doesn't have or does differently, however Sonar Platinum has way more than SO3. Any direct comparison feature for feature would show this to be true. A new user might be fine with SO until they need one of those things that Sonar already has. 
 
Maybe this is simply my lack of skill in using timing correction features, and is one reason I was looking at the SO3 upgrade as an alternative for timing correction. I get frustrated easily with trying to use  groove extraction, line up timing etc. I have a tough time if I have a feature engaged. There's no notification that anything has happened when I use a feature. I read the manual and it doesn't help since most of that goes back to X2. I'll record a take and it might have one or two small places where it needs some attention. In theory it should be easy to do. In practice I'm not getting on well with it at all. I spend more time trying to make the time correction work than if I had just recorded another take. I don't know if this would easier to achieve in SO3?
 

Starise
It has been said the software sounds good. I think it has a different sound. I'm not into the inner workings, a different summing mixer maybe? 

Fixed it for ya...(just kidding Tim, lol...)
 
Dan
 

Anderton
I don't think you're telling the whole story. Studio One is no different from SONAR: You have to specify the time over which it should export.

With SO, you set the markers once and never have to deal with it again.  With Sonar, getting the ruler set right must be done EVERY TIME, and it is like playing whack-a-mole. Everything you click changes the ruler settings.
 
Maybe I am more dense than the average user, but I just know I waste an awful lot of time with that. IMHO, it is a lousy design that causes the user to have to accommodate the software and not put all the focus on the music.
 

Anderton
My guess is the reason why you think SOP is so easy is because your songs don't last longer than the default song time,

 
Not at all..  It just takes one click to set the end marker PERMANENTLY.  It never moves unless I want to move it. This is what makes SONAR so blasted tedious. You have to go back and set the ruler every time.  Or I guess if you are very careful to select nothing, that may work too.  But the ruler keeps changing every time you do just about anything.

dcumpian
It's now called "Always Stream Audio Through FX".

 
Thanks.  I never would have guessed that one. Mine was set off.  The "play tails" thing was supposedly on by default. It seems maybe this new option is off by default to save CPU/
 

cparmerlee

Anderton
I don't think you're telling the whole story. Studio One is no different from SONAR: You have to specify the time over which it should export.

With SO, you set the markers once and never have to deal with it again.  With Sonar, getting the ruler set right must be done EVERY TIME, and it is like playing whack-a-mole. Everything you click changes the ruler settings.

 
You're acting as if what you're saying is the only way to do select a region in the timeline for export, but you're simply describing the worst way to do this. Re-read what I wrote about setting an end marker in SONAR. It just takes one click prior to exporting. No ruler setting, no dragging. And if you have lots of markers between the start and end so you can't just do the one-click thing, SONAR can snap to the end marker and you just drag to the left.
 

This is what makes SONAR so blasted tedious. You have to go back and set the ruler every time.

 
This is simply not true. I don't understand why you have chosen the least efficient way to do what you want. If it's because of unfamiliarity with SONAR, then say so and I'll walk you through the right way to do this in a subsequent post.
 
Also, if you have reverb that spills over the end marker in SOP, you have to move it. I know you said that SOP will preserve tails, but as far as I can tell it is not true that SOP can automatically shift the end to accommodate reverb or delay spillover. If you've found a way to make this happen, I'd like to know what it is. 

Starise
Sonar already has many things that would either need to be done in other software or bought as an add on in SO3.

I agree with that. I used the mastering page in SO3 last night for the first time.  The work flow is great, but I found the plug-ins to be relatively primitive. Most of the "go to" plugs like EQ and MB compressor seem to lack the spectrum display, which is pretty much state-of-the-art in all plugs these days.  If I were using SO3 for my own projects, I'd ignore the Presonus plugs and use Izotope or whatever. But in my case, this is a collaboration, so we want to limit ourselves to the Presonus kit.
 
What I will probably do is use Izotope to get it sounding as good as I can, then try to carry similar settings over to the Presonus plugs manually.

dcumpian

Starise
It has been said the software sounds good. I think it has a different sound. I'm not into the inner workings, a different summing mixer maybe? 

Fixed it for ya...(just kidding Tim, lol...)
 
Dan
 

 Summin' like that :)
 
I kid you not. People say it sounds better. I can tell a difference. I say it sounds different, not necessarily better. It seems to have a softer sound, lends itself to a more glued together feeling at the mix bus. 
 
When I first heard it I didn't believe it either.
 
 

Anderton
Also, if you have reverb that spills over the end marker in SOP, you have to move it. I know you said that SOP will preserve tails, but as far as I can tell it is not true that SOP can automatically shift the end to accommodate reverb or delay spillover. If you've found a way to make this happen, I'd like to know what it is. 

No, I'm just saying that because most of my work is either editing live recordings or else working with previously tracked material, the songs almost never grow. And I would probably never have a 10-second tail. So if I set the end marker a few seconds beyond the rightmost track, I never have to change it.
 
I will try the "select none" work flow in Sonar now that I know the option to stop moving the tails to the head of the next file.  That might be easier than what I have been doing.  If that doesn't work, then I guess the next choice is the marker technique you suggested.
 
It is clear from this discussion that some users see value in all those export options (I do not, but that is just me.) But it is also true that others find the export process quite tedious. This tells me that there is probably a way for Cakewalk to make the default export behavior much more intuitive so as not to drive off people who have not grown up on Sonar.
 

Does Studio One have a Staff View?  I am not planning to change, but I am curious.  I do 80% of my work in Staff View.