Hi, Marcus.

Your scenario is similar to mine musically, as I'm a guitarist with embarrassingly limited keyboard chops. I tried the Roland MIDI guitar setups, but that didn't really work for me, either.

I now compose my bass, keyboards, orchestral parts, etc. in Sonar's staff view. One of the features I like about it is the audio feedback. As I drag a note across the staff I can hear each note as the position is changed. This way, I can compose by ear without having to think about the music theory end of it and translate in my head (a fine approach for classicly trained musicians, but I'm a simple kinda guy). This opened up a huge world of music production for me, as I can now hear it in my head, drop it into Sonar, point it to a synth or module, and I'm ready to rock.

The only thing that hasn't been intuitive for me using this method is drums, which are important to me. Tried writing the parts, and even tapping them out on a keyboard, but it was very clumsy for me for some reason. I recently bought a Korg PadKontrol (there are several similar creatures from competitors) for tapping out the drums, and it's made all the differece in the world. And of course, I can then quantize the parts to compensate for my lack of being a natural drummer.

As a software developer, I can tell you that audio to MIDI conversion is non trivial, and you may be waiting a long time for someone to work this out. You might experiement with dragging notes around on the staff view and see if that becomes a more intuitive way for you to get the various supporting parts you need into the mix to accompany your guitar work. it's the reason I keep coming back to the Cakewalk products.

Hope this helps!

Christopher

I used to use the MIDI sequencer called Cakewalk when the product was called Cakewalk and the company was Twelve Tones. This was a LONG time ago. At the time I was a patch / voice developer for Ensoniq synths and there was no sequencer that even compared to Cakewalk. Since then I have moved through Cakewalk Pro to Cakewalk Pro Audio. I'm sorry to say I got side-tracked by ProTools and Cubase (SE and VST) for a while.

Today I'm a worship musician / worship leader and music teacher. My main use for a DAW is to break down and demo MIDI and audio loops that can be used to train musicians in music theory, ear training, intermediate and advanced instrument technique and to help them learn songs. My experience in performance, instrument modeling and patch design gives me the skills I need but I was lacking the proper tools to become truly productive.

About 2 years ago I purchased Ableton Live and started enjoying that but was always VERY diappointed by it's MIDI editing and loop processing capability. It just seemed that Live was weak where I needed it to be powerful and filled up with features I just didn't need.

About a month ago I began to wonder what happened to the Cakewalk product line. My research showed me that it was alive and well, not to mention "all growed up" in Sonar. I downloaded the demo for Sonar 6 Producer and I was hooked. I went out and purchased Sonar 6 Producer locally two weeks after downloading the demo.

Features I'd like to suggest? Well, in the demo, you could add some way to quickly get used to the interface. I have to tell you that I was almost ready to give up when I finally made a breakthrough in understanding the interface. It's powerful, but I didn't find it intuitive when it came to signal flow. You could really improve your documentation in this area for the demo and the purchased product.

As others have mentioned, an arrangement view like Live's would be handy to me, especially during rehearsals. An easy switch from session to arrangement view and a few live performance features view would eat Ableton's lunch.

The right-click context functions other mentioned would be great.

I know you are trying to make a product for everyone, but I'd like more emphasis on stability, VST, MIDI anf Aaudio rather than see you focus on video features. I'd suggest that be a separate product, but then again, I'm not on your board or creative team.

One last thing, making it easier for me to take advantage of the crossgrade option through a local vendor would have been GREAT!

well my first setup was an event gina and cool edit pro wanting something more, and more universally compatable i bought a digi001 and had acid for loop based stuff, then all these cool soft synths came out(vsti's) and reason(rewire)and had no way of intigrating them into my setup arggg!!
then digipoop droped development on the digi001 and i was off to find a new DAW....saw SONAR 3 and read the reviews and took the leap,have to say i've been very happy with your develpment and intagration of new technology as it becomes available!!now i'm sitting at SONAR6 and awaiting the release of SONOR7.....very happy customer !!!!

hello - first post here....i was a die hard mac user (from 1995) until recently. i had been using Logic Express on an iMac G5 which worked quite well really. However, at some point recently I needed to sell the iMac and a few months later found myself looking at getting a new PC/Mac - i went for a PC (built one, actually). For about $500 i ended up with an Athlon 64 3200, 2X300 GB SATA drives, DVD burner and usb audio device (lexicon alpha) and m-audio midi interface. Then, i splashed on S6PE. I say splashed.........it's better than Logic Pro and half the price. My main issue is actually drivers for my hardware. It's not top of the line BY ANY MEANS but I just wish the darned companies would release drivers......
I love Sonar. It is way better than any Mac recording software I had used. The joke is, for just over a grand I ended up with a system that would have cost 2000 + if I had gone with a Mac.

Switched From Voyetra's Digital Orchestrator Pro to Sonar 3.1.1

The Smartest thing I've done musically in my life.

I primarily switched to master my first album. . . PLUGINS! I love them so much I could marry them.

Afterward the entire interface and the flexibility thereof made me sonar religious!

I've tried other DAW's and nothing comes close. Even Compared to Pro-Tools Sonar Kills because of it's simplicity, non-intrusive behavior on system resources, and everything I need or want to do with it is right in my face. I love not 'having' to memorize shortcuts and drilling through crryptic icons and overloaded menus to get to special functions like the mixer, piano roll, etc . . .

I just wish Normalize was a right-click function on a track instead of being in a menu.

But that's trivial compared to all the other benefits.

woohoo!

Dapper D

I upgraded from Home Studio to Sonar 6 and I just hate it. I can edit my old stuff but still have not been able to record. I also upgraded to a new Acer w/dual processor and 2 gig ram and 145 gigs of memory and Vista OS. So now I'm recording on my old computer and editing on my new one.
BDJ

Hello all.

I switched from FL Studio 7, Samplitude 2 and N Track Studio 4 (and some other audio programs - mostly cheap ones or freebies) to Sonar 5 Producer Edition. I felt it was time to get "SERIOUS" and researched the larger DAWs. Nothing out there had the feature set, sound quality and overall MUSICALITY other than Sonar.

I am MASSIVELY glad I switched. It is now my GO TO DAW. I just cannot get results out of any other program that I get with Sonar. I use my own hand-built PCs and have zero problems. No crashes or glitches other than a stray vst that was poorly programmed. I use almost 100% virtual instruments and Sonar handles them like a pro. But, it's the SOUND QUALITY that really gets me. It is so easy for me to create, record and master on Sonar - I just don't need anything else!

Here is a link to my website that shows off music I have created using Sonar 5 Producer Edition:

http://www.mfelkerco.com/wcm/documents/45.html

Click on the different categories above to hear different moods of music.

Also, I did the opener for this website using Sonar 5 Producer Edition:

http://www.successforhispanics.com

At this point, I cannot live without Sonar and will NEVER use anything else again!

Mike
aka Karmacomposer

ORIGINAL: BigDaddyJoel

I upgraded from Home Studio to Sonar 6 and I just hate it. I can edit my old stuff but still have not been able to record. I also upgraded to a new Acer w/dual processor and 2 gig ram and 145 gigs of memory and Vista OS. So now I'm recording on my old computer and editing on my new one.
BDJ

Hi, you really need to call tech support. That sounds like a simple configuration issue to me.

I've only been using DAWs for the last year or so. After having been away from music and recording for nearly 15 years. So I dive in with a recommendation from a buddy of mine to pick up Cubase. Oh what a mistake that was. I found it to be cumbersome, counter intuitive, and just down right hard to use.

After reading a review of Cakewalks Guitar Tracks Pro 3 in one of the guitar mags (can't remember which one) I decided to get it and give it a whirl. Low cost, low risk, didn't have to explain it to the wife. You now the drill. Well I was so impressed with the way it works and how intuitive it was I sprang for an upgrade to Sonar Home Studio 6 when Cakewalk offered it. Well long story short I had a problem with the installation was taken care of by the really great technical support team. That sold me.

Steinberg's support is difficult to deal with and demeaning to boot. I'm no computer dummy and know my way around a PC real well, and they treated me like I was an idiot. The Cakewalk support team and I worked hand in hand to determine what my problem was and fixed me right up. Like I said that sold me! So I took the next upgrade offer and moved up to Sonar 6 PE. Best move I could have made.

And again with Sonar 7 PE out, the Marketing and Sales guys put together a real good offer for existing users with the engineering team putting together some real great features. So now I've upgraded. I'm waiting for the upgrade to arrive as I have just ordered it. But knowing Cakewalk I doubt that I will be disappointed.

Kudos to all the folks at Cakewalk for a superior product that is easy and intuitive to use, includes a lot of bonus features and a support team that has to be the best in the business!

In order of use this is what Ive used to make music before Sonar --- Basic Programming on a Vic20/commodore 64 (yes you could program music back then), Octamed on an Amiga, Logic Audio Silver 3.5, Cubasis VST 1.0, Logic Audio Platinum 4.5 (on PC)

The reason I made the shift to Sonar 1.0 was, I saw the demonstration by Cakewalk at Sound Control in Edinburgh and was so impressed by seeing something that took me 15 minutes to do in Logic being done in a few seconds on Sonar that I jumped ship with a crossgrade as soon as I could.