Hello,
 
I've been absent from Sonar for a few years and recently installed X3 Producer. However, I now see a large list of Soft-synths and effects -- many of them seem redundant and perhaps from previous Sonar versions. Is there a sorted list of the best/most-recent choices for soft-synths and effects (e.g., best compressor or best strings) that come with Sonar X3 Producer?
 
For example, I assume most people would chose Addictive Drums over Session Drummer 3 by default these days. However, both drum kits are shipped (along with the really old kits in the older Cakewalk soft-synth). I want to make sure I'm choosing the latest-and-greatest effects and sound engines -- hard to tell if I'm not yet familiar with all of them or know how old they actually are.
 
Also, I couldn't find a resource for a quick demo/overview of all the soft-synths and effects (preferably video) that I can choose from. Otherwise, I'll have to play around with each one which could take a much longer time. Anyone know of such a resource?
 
thanks!

you shouldn't be worried about GAS and "the latest and greatest" unless you can justify using it.. in this months computer music, the bloke in it was still using his atari st with c-lab up to 6 months ago..20+ year tech.
 
might wanna look at rapture and get free muz3um for it off patch arena..  although it's available for other cake synths
 
 

Interesting question. I must say over time if you have all the versions of Sonar on you computer you would end up with a rats nest of plug ins. But most of us move on and update our systems too. So the best solution is to start fresh on a new Hard drive and OS, install the latest version of Sonar X3e.
 
And then only install the old versions of Sonar when you see what plug ins are missing. 
Then you install your old versions but do a custom install and uncheck almost everything but the few missing plug ins. I just did this with 8.5 only to regain True Piano's and Lexicon. I unchecked the rest. 

With the Producer, you'll want to use the Pro Channel Eq and Compressors.
 
Lots of getting started videos here :
 
http://www.cakewalk.com/CakeTV/SONARU.aspx

If it works, it works, but some of the newer "premium" synths and FX with Producer X3 are;
TruePianos
SI-Strings
Addictive Drums
Z3TA+ for modern synth sounds and "analog" stuff
The ProChannel Quad Curve EQ
The ProChannel Compressors
Breverb2 Sonar
TH2 Sonar (guitar ampsim)
Dimension Pro for random bread and butter sounds
Lounge Lizard Session for Rhodes
Nomad BlueTubes for a bunch of "coloring fx" (most of them simulate some tube warming)
Melodyne as a V-Vocal replacement - get the deal on the upgrade from Celemony, if you can afford it and do any kind of vocal repair.

Most of these are new since the X series, some of them since X3.

Cactus Music
Interesting question. I must say over time if you have all the versions of Sonar on you computer you would end up with a rats nest of plug ins. But most of us move on and update our systems too. So the best solution is to start fresh on a new Hard drive and OS, install the latest version of Sonar X3e.
 
And then only install the old versions of Sonar when you see what plug ins are missing. 
Then you install your old versions but do a custom install and uncheck almost everything but the few missing plug ins. I just did this with 8.5 only to regain True Piano's and Lexicon. I unchecked the rest. 

Good info and I like that idea. ^^^Think I'll do that.

Am I mistaking True Pianos with something else? I don't have 8 but am pretty sure I have something with a similar name (I usually use some NI piano though).

Yes, TruePianos Amber has been bundled with Producer for some time, including X3 Producer. Those purchasing X3 Studio however would have to rely on a previous version of Producer to get the synth.

Right so no need to install from 8.5

It may be a good idea for the OP to check out which plugins were touted as new or high quality during his last version, check which of those are missing in X3, and install those while leaving the rest. E.g. R-Mix from X2 Producer.

I don't want to sound like a talking cliche but see wha tworks best for you.  Someone just recently posted on this forum on how he spent tons of money trying to keep up with plugins and his recordings never got any better.  I'll leave Cakewalk's marketing spiel on the site to list the complete latest and greatest included plugins.  Keep in mind that some of the older ones are still great .  I think any competent audio engineer could use the Sonitus Suite alone for effects and create a commercial quality recording. of course "better" plugins exist, including some of the new toys in Sonar.  I guess my point is to taske a good look at all the tools at your disposal, new and old. For example, overall, I would say Addictive Drums is superior to Session Drummer 3, but for certain styles of music, SD3 has advantages.  In genres that rely heavily on custom drum samples, AD is useless since you cannot use your own samples.  With synths, I often find people making the mistake of judging them solely by presets.  Many of the kids i work with simply want the synth used on [fill in a pop song]and there is nothing inherently wrong with that if emulating the latest pop hit is your goal.  The same goes for those buying vintage styled synths/fx to emulate retro styles.  As long as you understand that "best" is going to be highly dependent on what you are using it for. 
 
With that said Zeta+, Rapture and Dimension pro are a nice set of all-arounder synths that can be used ina wide variety of genres.  Zeta is fairly popular among non-cakewalk users but many sleep on Rapture.  Not only does Dimension pro have a decent set of electric pianos, Cakewalk also comes with a version of Lounge Lizard  that sounds great IMHO as well as one module of True Pianos. 
 
As for effects, the quadcurve EQ may be the only eq you ever need.  The Nomad suite gets mixed reviews but IMHO the plugins that shine happen to be areas that were needed like the delay effects.