Hi Sonar friends,
 
Recently I saw a tutorial on mixing with Sonar X3 EQ together with Analyst Spectrum on each track and later I figured it out that it is exclusive for the Sonar X Producer. I have a X 3 Studio version. Is it possible to buy that module separately?
 
Thank you

I don't think so. Zoom is exclusive to the Producer edition. However there are options for spectrum analysis, like Voxengo Span. Also I'm pretty sure the analyzer that used to come with Sonar is still part of the installation, it just doesn't install by default.
 

Ooops :(
 
Thank you very much Anderton.
 
Best regards

Voxengo SPAN and Meldaproduction's MAnalyzer are my favorites, and both are free. The latter is part of a free bundle that has gobs of other cool goodies in it too.
 
There are also multi-channel versions of both of these that aren't free but aren't expensive, either.

Do not buy to much into using a spectrum analyzer for mixing. I think there pretty useless as you can make  EQ changes and the spectrum will not identify any changes in its graph. Mix with your ears, not your eyes. Soon enough you will be able to hear what frequencies need attention
 
CJ

Don't listen to CJ. He has much better ears than you do.
 
Using analyzers will actually help you get to where he is, able to distinguish whether the kick and bass are in conflict at 60 Hz or 70 Hz. How he knows what's happening below the lowest frequency his speakers can reproduce, that's a mystery, but I'm sure it involves super-hearing.
 
Just joshin' ya, CJ. Ears do win out ultimately, but no matter how good your ears are they can always use some help.

Agreed. They're no substitute but having a second sense organ on the case can help quite a bit with surgical work. that's why doctors use stethoscopes! (sort of)
 
 

My two cents...people always say "don't mix with your eyes," but the more senses you can get involved in a process, the better. Devices like spectrum analyzers can be an important part of ear training, like when your ears tell you that something sounds "muddy"...but the spectrum analyzer shows you the mud is somewhere around 300-400Hz. You're now in a better position to correlate EQ settings to what you hear, and dial in the right setting without having to refer to the spectrum analyzer.
 
Another example of ear training is delay. Back in the days of the Echoplex, if you'd asked me how much delay I was hearing, my answer would have been "I dunno." But since the advent of digital delays, I've learned what delay times sound like and can come pretty close to identifying delay times.
 
A final example is modeling with EQ. Give me nine bands of parametric EQ, and I can make guitar A sound like guitar B to a degree of accuracy where a guitarist can't tell the difference in a blind test. But give me a spectrum analyzer, and I can do it in 15 minutes. If I have to do it by ear, it takes a whole lot longer - but I've already gotten much better about getting frequencies "in the ballpark" because of what I've learned from using spectrum analysis.
 
So, while a spectrum analyzer won't necessarily help you create a better mix, it can definitely help train your ears by correlating what you hear to specific physical frequencies and characteristics...and that will help you create a better mix eventually.

I think mixing with your ears is overrated, mix with your feet instead.
 
Ugh!... I hope I haven't put my foot in it saying that.

Sorry to disagree with Mr. Anderton, but most of the mixing, and especially editing problems that I've witnessed have been the result of people using their eyes instead of their ears.

I will agree that a spectrum analyzer is a fantastic training tool, so is an oscilloscope. But trying to use them to edit or mix misses the point, I think. While I would not give up the many advances that DAWs provide (especially the undo button) I would argue that I can still make a more musical edit, more quickly, with a razor blade. AUdible scrubbing is one probably the only thing I still miss about tape decks.