I have always been a Cubase user ever since Atari era but to be honest: Cubase used to be user friendly some years ago; but the big versions such as Cubase 4 have become far too complicated for a hobby musician like me and the beginner versions such as Cubase SE have too much restrictions.

So today I ordered Sonar Home Studio 6 XL - this is the wrong forum I know - to replace Cubase 4. I have read several tests about HS6XL and I hope it will satisfy my needs..... Finally I want to start making music now.........

So my expectations are very high!!!

Would cake walk be kind enough to give a figure of your crossgrades, upgrades and new customers. if that is not too private a matter.

Way, way back I evolved from using a drum machine to a computer sequencer on stage. A band mate had a brand new DOS PC/Roland MIDI interface and Personal Composer by Jim Miller as the sequencing software. Back then there was no drag and drop. Everything was key commands and I got good at programming patterns of notes into a macro and building parts pretty fast. The program had a glitch that happened if the notes in a measure exceeded the time allotment for that measure. On sequenced bass parts that glitch helped me created some very nice slap bass parts when connected to a TX-7. Later on the band picked up Texture by Roger Powell to replace Personal Composer.

Once I was making decent money I bought my own computer and my favorite music dealer sold me this great new software he had, Cakewalk vs. 1. After using those other programs I was in heaven with Cakewalk. I’ve upgraded about every other version since then, always getting the largest package whether it was Cakewalk Pro Audio Delux or Sonar Producer. I will admit that I have strayed a bit during that time, considering Cubase, buying Logic Pro 7, and working with Acid, Reason, FruityLoops, Live and Orion Platinum. But, I always end up back with Cakewalk/Sonar. The recent updates to Project5 have helped to cement this relationship. It is now the perfect “Sonar lite” to put on a laptop and throw something together away from the distractions of the studio. (Or in the recliner in front of the TV.)

Robert

I switched to Sonar after Pro Audio 9

Moved to PA6 from Dr T's on a Mac LE. To be honest, back in the day, the promise of hard disk audio recording was a joke on Windows 95. I cursed the day I believed the hype and switched to PC. But now I wouldn't go back to a Mac even if I had all the money in the world. The best thing about Cakewalk and Sonar was the MANUAL. Was sorely disappointed with Sonar 6's manual (last version I had was Sonar 2).

I very much appreciate Cakewalk after sales - not that I've contacted you for many years - when I had a tech problem. Try getting a reply from Steinberg!! Terrible snobs they are.

I'd like to see a right click in midi pane open up a tools menu. But most of all, please PLEASE bring back Munch's "The Scream" as the panic button, á la Pro Audio 6, and the mad tips "Pizza goes well with beer."

And I did not move to Sonar. Cause I don't have enough money for it. Peace.

Here is my evolution so far:

1987: Midimac sequencer (opcode)
1988-89ish: Opcode Vision
1993ish: Cubase 1.x on windows 3.1 (complete disaster)
later: Cubase 2.x on windows 95 (more disaster)

(period where I didn't do anything, my DAW didn't work)

2000: Digital Performer on Mac 9.x and later OSX (loved it, but decided to go back to PC's eventually)
2003: Emagic Logic 6 Platinum (tried it, but didn't like it)
2003-present: Sonar 3 through 6


Summary:

Due to experience in 90's will never buy another product from Steinberg again as a principle. Though I have seen SX3 in action and I am quite impressed with the feature set and GUI. I still read bad reports about midi timing on Cubase FWIW. Sonar works well, can't think of a good reason to switch, though lately I'm being enticed by Samplitude, mainly because of its superior Staff view and non-flat gui. If I ever go back to mac I will absolutely go back to Digital Performer which I loved. (I kept my license for it)

I made the switch to sonar 7 studio editions on 9/26/07. I came from protools m-powered. been on pt for about three years. I mainly switched to sonar for the midi improvement over ptmp. The fact that sonar is designed for windows only is a plus also. I look forward to learning sonar and hopefully I won't ask to many questions.

My first sequencer was one I wrote myself in C and assembler and ran on a Z80-based industrial computer with AD/DA cards cabled up to my ARPs, some time in the early 1980s. In 1988, I converted it to send and recieve MIDI on an Atari ST, but it was very primitive and keyboard command based. I looked at what it would take to put a GUI on the thing, looked at how much I could make using my programming skills elsewhere, and asked myself how long I'd have to work before I could afford the very best sequencing environment available for the ST. At that time, it was C-Lab Notator, and it was a whole lot less than I could make in the time it would have taken me to perfect a GUI. So I abandoned my home-brew and went C-Lab, who became part of E-Magic, and Notator, which was ultimately replaced by Logic.

I migrated from the Atari to the Mac, but had to start investing in PC hardware for other projects. At about the point where I had to declare my pre-PowerPC Mac truly obsolete and useless, Apple took over E-Magic and announced the end of support for Logic on a PC. So I had to change. Cruising various forums, looking at feature lists, and playing with demos, I came to the conclusion that Sonar was probably the next-best-thing to Logic on a PC. That was Sonar 2.2. I was pretty disappointed with the MIDI capabilities of Sonar in those days, and taught myself how to write MFX plugins ( see http://www.paralogos.com/music/ ) to get around some of the limitations. Sonar has continued improving over the years, to the point where it's much better than Logic in a number of regards. A pity it's still so awkward to do polyrhythms!

I started with Cakewalk 8 - which I found very intuitive, but I wasn't able to get what I felt were good sounds (no fault of Cakewalk - the voices just weren't there at that time)

A few years later I tried Plasma - I found that very confusing

Then Cubase VST - hmmm - better. So I bought Cubase SL 1.0 - upgraded to 2.0

Just when I was settling in I tried a (ahem) version of Sonar 3.0. WOW! Everything worked. It was SO intuitive. Say what you want about cracks - but it made me buy Sonar 6.0, which I have upgraded to 7 this week.

I've given Steinberg about $3,000 - and I use none of it. Cubase, Halion (there's unintuitive!), Groove Agent 1&2, Virtual Guitar2. I repeat - I use none of it - it's not even installed on my newest machine.

With Sonar 7, Ez Drummer, Real Guitar, Real Strat, Guitar Rig and all (and there are many) goodies in Sonar, I can (after 15 years and setting up 4 different home studios) produce music I like to hear

Thank You Cakewalk & keep it up

I bought Cakewalk for DOS in about 1991 (don't recall the version), and have been upgrading ever since. I'm currently on Sonar 6 Studio, and am considering the upgrade to Sonar 7 Producer. From about 1991 thru 2003 I used Cakewalk as a MIDI sequencer with a Tascam 38, using the SMTPE chase lock option. Around 2003 I dumped the 8-track and started recording digitally (Sonar 2, I think). The product has come a long way in 16 years.

Patrick
Urban Cheese Records
60 calories from fat. 100% cool.
http://urbancheese.com