That sounds very much like anecdotal evidence. Most of the people I work with in studios work with Logic and never do any video stuff.
Plus, again, it's easy enough to get Sony Vegas once the need arises.

Yeah... this is what I was saying earlier. Look at (and please forgive me for using actual competitors product names here which I generally try to avoid) Cubase vs. Nuendo. You can get the top tier version of Cubase for a little more than you can get Sonar for and it, like Sonar Producer, is a full on professional audio production application. If you want the pro VIDEO stuff (and apparently some networking things that I don't really understand) you have to pay SIGNIFICANTLY more for Nuendo.
 
I have a family member who does video stuff (exclusively) and he has to pay through the nose for his stuff. Like WAY more than I do for my audio stuff. I've also worked (as a manual labor droog) at a film production company and the rigs and accompanying software they bought was just unfathomable amounts of money to a guy like me.
 
Personally I am ecstatic that I can purchase a pro software package like Sonar for almost half of what I could have bought an old Fostex/Tascam cassette based multitrack deck a mere 15-20 years ago that can do CRAPTON more and get FAR better results. Granted I have to provide my own interface and computer which can be quite costly if you want absolutely no barriers but with liberal use of resource saving features and techniques you can use the program no problem on a $300 computer through a $100-150 interface which would basically bring the price back up to what those old multitracks cost back then anyway (not even accounting for 20 years of inflation).
 
I also don't have to have a drumkit, tons of expensive mics, a special room to record in, a bunch of amps or even a herd of unreliable drunken musicians to babysit.
 
If I need to do video stuff... well I'll just have to either figure out a way to buy the right programs, use some of the freeware solutions or just admit to myself that perhaps video isn't my thing and get someone else to do the heavy lifting for me and use the tools I DO have to create my score.
 
As it stands I'm not even sure what kind of barriers even exist in this day and age in regards to splicing together video considering all the options out there that are free, come with any crummy little camera you buy or are just plain inexpensive enough to snag for a hundred bucks or so. I mean unless you need to create CGI stuff or have some weird high end demands all the cheap/free stuff works at the same resolution and file formats as the pro stuff so what's the difference? If the actual producer/editor isn't finished their job to the point of scoring the audio guy shouldn't even have the project yet or if they are just fleshing stuff out then you should be getting a revised final copy of the video to tighten up your part anyway.
 
So basically that's a really long, and perhaps douchey, way to say... Sonar isn't a video editor.

Not everybody who uses pro tools becomes a 'pop star'.

If your reason for buying any recording software is to become a pop star, then youre doing it completely wrong.

I bought Sonar because I've been playing the piano my whole life and have countless compositions and songs written that I never knew how to produce. I am not interested in producing those ideas to become a pop star, I'm interested in producing them because I want to.

And you put it completely incorrectly. If you want to use sonar and do video work, you can still do that by purchasing Sony Vegas. Your analogy is similar to saying Sonar is a bad DAW because I don't own a PC to run it on.

As for TV / Movies / Publicity, all of that has been replaced in the current age by youtube and social media. You can, if you work hard it and have good material make it large entirely online.

Sonar is without question as professional as any other DAW and completely capable of making hit records.
 
Regarding instruments and plug-ins:
• Yes on plug-in effects
• On instruments, it depends on what your music requires, although Sonar has more bundled content than most or all others.  For what I do, I need added guitars (at a minimum) like RealGuitar, RealLPC, and RealStrat.  If the acoustic guitar is not exposed, you could use the bundled AAS.  For orchestration, the stuff that comes with Sonar will cover the basics, but you probably need to add other instruments for very serious orchestral scoring.  I have other basses and drums, but what comes with Sonar is great.  I think the SI-Elec Piano is really good.
 
In my opinion, Sonar comes with more instruments and plug-ins than its competitors (if you go with Producer) and that is one of the main reasons to buy it.
 
If you going to make an album of acoustic guitar and voice, almost anything will work if the interface and mic are good.

I did not read anyone else's resposnse.
 
But my answer is yes.

One thing that can be added is the PRO CHANNEL. I think it made audio processing not only very easy, but also more similar to real hardware recording. I love the integration of so many nice features in just the Pro Channel area.
Enjoy making music! 

Westside Steve
And it probably doesn't hurt to have George Martin at your side.

And he did wonders with the Live at the Hollywood Bowl album. The raw tapes were close to useless and Phil Specter couldn't make them work as an album.

zblip
 I was head sound designer for Ubisofts Batman revenge and we were receiving tones of clips, sometimes one second long, clips we had to loop for the purpose doing ambiance loops, many scenes in one single clip, that we had to cut in different individual clips etc etc... 
Never would I have been able to do this inside the present form of Sonar's video app. 

what I don't understand why you even asked your original question in your OP
"can sonar produce a professional album" ?
 
if you were a head sound designer, shouldn't you already know the answer to questions like that ?
I would think a head sound designer, (someone that oversee's the audio score)
you know digital audio workstations are all the same except the features and hardware.
 
or do you not know that?
 
I wouldn't buy sony vegas for its audio features, I surely didn't buy sonar for its video features.
 
as you also pointed out, almost everyone you know started with dreams of being a pop star has moved on to TV jingles.
(forgive me if I interrupted that wrong)
but everyone I know started out with dreams of being a pop star but now are producers in professional recording studios using digital audio work stations for audio not video.
everyone is different and though in your corner of the world you may think the perfect daw includes all video support.
In my corner of the world I think the perfect DAW is for Audio. with some support for video score, like it is now.
 
I do hope you find what your looking for though ;-)
 
 

Sound designing for a video game is an entirely separate thing to making a music album.

Anderton

CakeAlexS
Sonically Sonar is no different to Pro Tools. It's your hardware that matters. The work flow isn't that different either.

Agree with the first part, disagree with the second. I've run sessions on just about all DAWs and find that the workflows vary considerably depending on what you want to do. For example I always recommended Pro Tools when people wanted to transition from 2" 24-track to a DAW, as the workflow was the most similar. Reason is like a fully-realized MIDI sequencer with digital audio for those who want it. For composition, songwriting, and creating sample libraries and other content, I haven't found anything with more fluid workflow than Sonar.

 
You chopped off my full point (feel like I've been taken out of context  ):
 
Sonically Sonar is no different to Pro Tools. It's your hardware that matters. The work flow isn't that different either. A DAW is a DAW really, quite boring and they all more or less do the same thing, just with different flavours. Decide what is best for you.
 
What I've highlighted in bold sort of emphasises your point really.
Anyway I don't disagree with your points at all so the point is moot.