The VST3 implementation if most welcome as is ARA and I'm glad Melodyne Essential is included (I've already got Editor but I'm happy for others). Take lanes massive overhaul - thank you very much.
 
One question: The ad mentioned better color customization. Could one of the Cakewalk folks expand on this just a tinsy bit? I'm very curious.
 
Thanks,

I have bought ever y version of sonar since pro audio 8. add it up. and it was a steal, a bargain! I got a fully functioning recording studio full of incredible tools. I've made lots of records and lots of friends and lots of money in that period. of every Mic, instrument, rack gear, and peripheral in my studio, nothing beats the bang for the buck of the DAW. these whiners are just spoiled rotten. I can't wait to get x3!

I'm surprised the Bakers have reached out to Blue Tubes and not Plug&Mix. P&M plugins, with their extremely simple UIs, would be perfect candidates for Pro-Channel-ification. Perhaps that will come later.

I got my money out! Let me buy it already!

Noel Borthwick [Cakewalk]
X3 has very deep ARA integration with Melodyne (or any other future plugins that support the ARA protocol). Both ARA and VVocal fall under the region FX umbrella and are equally supported. So VVocal will work exactly as before (in fact in some ways it works better). As long as its installed from a prior version of SONAR old projects containing it will load fine.
Take lanes have gone through a massive update and the implementation is light years ahead of anything in prior versions. There are new tools, and commands. If you do a lot of audio comping, this new comp tool will be very useful. Don't go by the sparse info in what you saw. There are tons of deeper features in X3. There will be marketing videos and articles that go into much greater depth with the features soon.

Thrilled about ARA! This is significant for the whole industry, as it's no longer a single-host format. Presonus&Celemony published the format some time ago, but only now does it look like a legitimate contender for broader adoption. Kudos, Noel and all.
 
As for VST3, this is definitely a step in the right direction (for one thing, Sonar users can now fully exploit sidechaining in Waves plugins, such as C1SC and C6). The real question is whether or not X3 includes the add-on features that VST3 enables. Listing and searching softsynth patches and presets in the browser? Multiple dynamic IO support on surround tracks (i.e. a VST3 plugin placed on a surround track would automatically process the right number of inputs and outputs)? Per-note automation for softsynths that support it? Expression maps? Ok, the last two are only applicable to Steinberg plugs and are clearly long shots. The rest are not.
 
It's interesting to note that sidechaining support is now ahead of Cubase. Sonar can now support sidechaining in Waves et al, but Cubase doesn't support sidechaining with VST2.x plugins, such as all of the NI/Softube compressors in Komplete Ultimate.

bigboi
I left Sonar after X2....went with Studio One and eventually landed in Cubase. I have to say I am extremely happy with it.

I hear you about cubase. Studio One not so much.  I do a lot of collaborations with folks who use other DAWs, so I've invested in Reason, Cubase, Finale and Sibelius over the last few months.  Sonar is my main DAW still, and that will probably be the case with x3.  The others are very good at some things... reason's routing and cv is very cool because i learned synthesis on a 70's moog modular beast that was about ten feet wide and three feet deep.  Cubase has their amazing media bay (with loads of metadata for the librarian in me) that makes field recording archival a snap, but i find myself loading samples and then saving as omf files and opening in sonar to work with... and i just recorded a vocalist friend of mine who was in toulouse, france using vstconnect without a hitch.  
Sonar has its weaknesses, but the whole "grass is greener" adage was never more apparent now that i've built my little studio for the next couple of years.  Sonar's midi editing is way way easier than cubase or reason for the simple idea that you can view multiple tracks at the same time in one prv screen.  This makes harmonization and timing super super easy - it's the best and most intuitive i've used.  try opening multiple tracks in reason (umm... you can't) or cubase (ummm... how do i know which note goes with which instrument????).  i've said it before, and i'm saying it again - sonar has the potential to be the DAW of the future, and i think that going with gibson, esp now that anderton is there, is a portent for greatness. 

SteveStrummerUK
 
Does anyone know if there's a list of plug-ins that come in VST3 versions anywhere?
 
I tried KVR as the most obvious place to look but they don't seem to have such a list.

Good question. I have far too many plugins and I don't think any of them are available in VST3. VST3 is certainly not a deal clincher for me.

bigboi
I left Sonar after X2....went with Studio One and eventually landed in Cubase. I have to say I am extremely happy with it.

LMAO!!! I did exactly the same thing.

yevster

 
Sonar can now support sidechaining in Waves et al, but Cubase doesn't support sidechaining with VST2.x plugins, such as all of the NI/Softube compressors in Komplete Ultimate.

Um, you can definitely SC with 2.4 vst's in cubase 7 - bascially, it involves creating a few extra busses. No biggie (I've always had side-chaining nightmares on Sonar, especially with mono key signals/outputs). Anyways - I don't what to think about this update - seems kinda like "what were you guys doing for the last year", TBH. Nothing mentioned re: the audio engine itself. Hmmm.

oh, one more thing... 
on the other forums i see a lot of this....
 
op -"i have this problem - i can't figure this and that out..."
re1 -"have you tried this... "
op - "nope that didn't work"
re2 -"have you tried that"
op - "didn't work either"
op  - "ok i figured it out!!!" (3 days later)
re1 - "what worked for you???"
re2 - "how'd you get it???"
re3 - "hey, i'm having the same problem! how did you fix it???"
re4 - "hey, i'm having the same problem! how did you fix it???"
op - silence, disappears from forum for two months, and then reappears with a new problem which mimics the last
 
'nuff said.