Note: I am not a pro nor do I work for Cake or get compensated in any way for any endorsements I make. I am a beginner/intermediate Sonar Producer user who has been trying to make sense of all the doohickeys it contains. The following is purely personal opinions on a product I have found useful.
So I bought this vid a couple months ago on special because although I've studied general overviews of what effects are what and what they are supposed to do (thanks to the Groove3 series FX Explained) looking at the rather massive list of effects in Sonar Producer and then all the confusing dials, buttons, doodads, displays and general dorkery on said effects when they were open was rather intimidating. The help files on these effects aren't exactly helpful aside from dry descriptions of the controls (which you kind of have to know a lot about to even understand the descriptions) and most certainly not inspiring.
So basically I said when I bought it I would let you guys know what I thought and my thoughts are...
1) This is a very useful vid for learning general principles of what effects are supposed to do what. Not Sonar specific principles but what common things like EQ, reverb, compression, gates, etc actually do and how they are commonly used as well as weirder stuff like modulation type effects. He gives audible examples of what pretty much all the parameters do and since he covers all the included effects (which Sonar seems to have at least two of everything) and organizes them by type (all reverbs together, all choruses together, all compressors together) you get a good idea of varying terminology that can be applied to other non Cake/Sonar effects. I mentioned the Groove3 FX Explained vid which was extremely helpful to me as a beginner but it left a lot of unanswered questions and since they used a lot of plugs I do not have was harder to visualize and impossible to put into practice (without buying those plug ins). I think Karl has gone above and beyond with that here and my GENERAL knowledge of effects has/is being expanded vastly.
2) Setting effects up in Sonar. He doesn't go into great detail here but the snippets he provides are concise and will give you multiple options of how to approach the ProChannel, FX Bin, presets and Sends/Busses within Sonar without distracting from the real subject of the vid which is the actual effects. When he broaches these subjects they happen quickly but provide enough info to get going. For more in depth set ups I still like Craig Anderton's X1 Advanced Workshop series which is a little outdated but still extremely relevant in many cases (I just rewatched both those vids too and it they are a goldmine of really cool stuff I can't wait to try out).
3) Thorough in regards to detailing every control of pretty much every effect included in Sonar X2 Producer. I've spent a lot of time just tossing plugs around willy nilly just to see what they are and gotten absolutely nowhere because there are so many of them and within each one there are so many specific controls with varying names (many of which do the same thing but just have a different label) that I got frustrated and just thought I was too dumb to use them. The Sonitus plugs are a good example. That stuff is COMPLICATED if you don't know exactly what is going on. Every time I opened one of them up I just shook my head and opted for something simpler... besides, they're ugly. They couldn't possibly be as good as something a little more sleek and pretty, right? Now I appreciate just how in depth and valuable those Sonitus plugs are and although it's gonna take some work I know I can make them do a lot for me. Also due to those particular plug's complexity compared to the simpler ones with prettier interfaces by understanding them it seems like I will understand other plugins better. Really I like the way he mostly focused on them and what they can do and then applied it to the other plugs which although flashier looking do not have nearly as much depth in many cases. On that note he was smart enough to use the Breverb VST to show reverb concepts before dealing with the Sonitus reverb plug because Breverb (in VST form) is seemingly more in depth than the Sonitus. Perhaps that was not his intention but still it works out better for the viewer IMO. I had also given up on Breverb because I found it heavy handed and annoying. Now I know I was just using it wrong and know to use the VST instead of the PC module to satiate my finicky reverb tastes. Point is he goes so in depth with ALL the controls of ALL the plugs and provides relevant audio examples as he goes so you can experiment yourself whereas many other vids I've seen give rigid examples to produce specific results for specific purposes which isn't very useful unless you just want to use the "paint by numbers" approach to audio production.
4) I think unless you have spent a ridiculous amount of time studying all the effects included in X2 and know exactly what every dial, knob, switch, doodad, whatever does on every single effect you could probably benefit from this vid as a Sonar user. As a beginner or intermediate user it's a no brainer. One of my fine friends here mentioned he bought the video after I initially posted I was buying it even though he's been a Sonar user for years and knew the effects in and out/backwards and forwards he said he STILL learned a few new things. I'd say considering that it's still on special for $8 even the old timers would find value in it.
5) Production value and conciseness without confusing the viewer. I have always like Karl's teaching method and I am glad Cake got him to do some vids. I've watched a lot of videos on Sonar in the past year or so and for the way my brain works Karl just makes things click. He doesn't veer off topic or skirt over details yet he doesn't lollygag and pontificate unnecessarily. All the pertinent info is there in extreme detail without rushing the subject nor lingering too long pontificating on personal preferences or opinions. It also seems he has taken great lengths to get the best takes possible and overdubbed crucial information. Most vids I've seen showcase Sonar's little quirks or glitches (even the official Cake vids) which can be distracting. Either Karl has the best system in freaking world for Sonar or he spent a lot of time getting things right. Some folks complain he's a little dry or boring and if you prefer a more bombastic teaching style then perhaps this isn't for you but for me I like it that way. The info is there, presented logically and with stunning brevity. I could see other presenters I like taking 10 hours to describe what he's done here in two. Different strokes and all that but if you can pay attention and make use of the rewind function it's all there.
So there it is. A long winded review but I did say I would provide one and I don't think this vid is getting enough love. Frankly I'm surprised to see it is still at such a reduced price. $8 is peanuts for what this vid contains.
Cheers.
http://www.store.cakewalk...ductid=10-X2AW1.00-20E