I live in Germany and used "Cubase Score" and partly "Sonar 1" a long time ago.
Since 2 years I' more active and upgraded to Sonar 5 and Cubase SL3 to decide which one to keep.
I can say that ease of use, hardware compatibility, features, apperace for creative flow are all better in Sonar 5
so I kept Sonar and sold Cubase.

In the meantime I use Sonar 6 Producer Edition and am enthusiastic about the possibilities and also the sound of the result, e.g. using V64 or Lexicon Pantheon reverb. You can create "magic" in music with it.
I think with Sonar 6 and 7, Cakewalk is way ahead of Cubase SX4, at least considering the things I use.
It's hardly understandable for me why Steinberg is still Nr. 1 in Europe and nobody seems to notice Sonar here.
Well I'm happy using Sonar and can produce much easier and better then others with Cubase, "Pro Tools" (I had experience in a studio where I recorded 3 songs) or Logic (which gets more unstable with every version according to that studio) so why worry ;-)

I moved from sonar 6pe to 7pe, does this still count ?! :) I mean, I did not moved over to another app, so... :)

I’ve been a Logic user since 4.7 and upgraded to 5x about 6 months before Apple bought the company and…yeh, well…
I have stuck with Logic since then but support for the platform has been slipping away and the 1gig ram limitation was starting to affect other software requirements on my non-music partition…then last month my motherboard died.

That being the motivation I needed, I updated my PC and started scoping around the web looking for something to suit my needs. Lo and behold, Sonar 7 was released. The new MIDI tools and step sequencer look perfect for my composition style and the software is obviously deep enough for me to lose myself in for a good couple of years (I’m a slow learner, heh).

Let the games begin! I expect I’m going to be searching and posting on this forum a lot in the future! Yoroshiku onegai shimasu (as we say around my way).

I've switched in recent weeks from Cubase. I was originally a Sonar user back in the Sonar 2/3 days but jumped shipped due to the Automation bug in one of those versions (I can't remember which one).

I recently returned to Sonar due to Steinberg not disclosing the omission of certain features that are critical to my workflow, in the new Cubase Studio 4 that I purchased. Now I have no problem with them removing what I would expect to be "standard features" (this includes the ability to pan sends and support external hardware) but this information was not detailed in their production comparison documents which I researched prior to purchasing. The upgrade cost to full Cubase 4 from CS4 is almost that of a full retail license. With resentment burning in the pits of my stomach...I duly bought a Sonar 6 + Sonar 7 package from Digital Village.

This is where the story twists again.....Having had this software installed for less than a week, I have had nothing but issues with both the external hardware support features in S7 and the audio engine itself. It simply does not seem to want to co-exist with my Fireface on any reliable basis, not does the External Insert function work properly when you assign the insert to FX bus. Not good news to someone who relies on parallel compression on a regular basis. The audio engine itself appears to be "unsettled" and buggy and in the last 24 hours crashes have developed on a regular basis.

I might add that while Steinberg aren't my favourite company right now, I've never had a single issue with either my external hardware or my audio interface in Cubase SX3.

In light of the above, I'll be re-installing Cubase and trying to get some work done.

ORIGINAL: sparkyness
This is where the story twists again.....Having had this software installed for less than a week, I have had nothing but issues with both the external hardware support features in S7 and the audio engine itself. It simply does not seem to want to co-exist with my Fireface on any reliable basis, not does the External Insert function work properly when you assign the insert to FX bus. Not good news to someone who relies on parallel compression on a regular basis. The audio engine itself appears to be "unsettled" and buggy and in the last 24 hours crashes have developed on a regular basis.

I can't speak to the external insert function, as the only outboard effect I still use is a compressor I sometimes put in ahead of the A/D. But as someone who's been using RME gear (Multiface and 9632) with Sonar since Sonar 2.2, I'm somewhat surprised that you're having such problems with the FireFace. Which driver model are you using, ASIO or WDM/KS?

If you've already de-installed and gone back to Cubase, that's cool, but one of the things that really is different about Sonar is the collective will of Cakewalk and the user community to help people out. No guarantees, but I'd give you more than even odds that people here can help you solve your interface problems. As for the external insert, it's a new feature and I wouldn't be surprised if it had some limitations somewhere. But if it's flat-out non-functional on FX buses, it'll get fixed.

ORIGINAL: KevinK

ORIGINAL: sparkyness
This is where the story twists again.....Having had this software installed for less than a week, I have had nothing but issues with both the external hardware support features in S7 and the audio engine itself. It simply does not seem to want to co-exist with my Fireface on any reliable basis, not does the External Insert function work properly when you assign the insert to FX bus. Not good news to someone who relies on parallel compression on a regular basis. The audio engine itself appears to be "unsettled" and buggy and in the last 24 hours crashes have developed on a regular basis.

I can't speak to the external insert function, as the only outboard effect I still use is a compressor I sometimes put in ahead of the A/D. But as someone who's been using RME gear (Multiface and 9632) with Sonar since Sonar 2.2, I'm somewhat surprised that you're having such problems with the FireFace. Which driver model are you using, ASIO or WDM/KS?

If you've already de-installed and gone back to Cubase, that's cool, but one of the things that really is different about Sonar is the collective will of Cakewalk and the user community to help people out. No guarantees, but I'd give you more than even odds that people here can help you solve your interface problems. As for the external insert, it's a new feature and I wouldn't be surprised if it had some limitations somewhere. But if it's flat-out non-functional on FX buses, it'll get fixed.

Well said Kevin.

SONAR 7 is rock solid in my studio. Lynx, RME, M-Audio interfaces... they all work great with SONAR 7. I'm loving the internal side-chain capability. Like others, I'm having issues with the External Insert functionality. Been requesting and waiting years for this... so I can wait a little while longer while Cake sorts it out. Based on past experience (read... Audiosnap)... they will get this right in the first or second FREE point release.

Hang in there Sparky. You'll see.

Did some more tracking this afternoon and am starting to understand the quirks between Sonar and my Fireface. Changing an input or an output tends to kill the audio engine until I either close and restart the project or delete the aud.ini fil, in extreme cases. I'm using the ASIO drivers at the moment. WDM wouldn't work at lower latencies.

As I've mentioned in other threads, my gear works flawlessly in Cubase so I'm at a loss as to why there's some general "flaky" behaviour in Sonar. I'll keep persisting and hope the patch sorts out the External Insert issue.

Commodore 64 with Passport midi interface > using Dr. T's software. Midi tIming was terrible.
Atari 1040 ST w/4MB Ram. > Hybrid Arts SMPTE Track, THe absolute best midi timing of any sequencer I ever tried.
IBM P/S 2 486SX COmputer > Cakewalk Pro 3.0

Been using Calkewalk products ever since, I am very satisfied with every release except for Pro Audio 5.

Recently added Pro Tools into the mix, but I still compose and do solo projects on Sonar. PTLE is great for recording bands and such, but not for composition or anything using midi.

CA

I'd love to get started on Sonar 7 but for some odd reason you guys seem unable to provide a serial number for me and , yes, I'm a bona fide customer!

ORIGINAL: mytify

It's hardly understandable for me why Steinberg is still Nr. 1 in Europe and nobody seems to notice Sonar here.
Well I'm happy using Sonar and can produce much easier and better then others with Cubase, "Pro Tools" (I had experience in a studio where I recorded 3 songs) or Logic (which gets more unstable with every version according to that studio) so why worry ;-)

+1

My story:
Started in the 80s with Cubase on the Atari. Everything was recorded analog on a tape machine synched with the Atari via SMPTE.
Later in the middle 90s, when the PCs started getting fast enought for harddisk-recording and decent soundcards became available, I still used Cubase on the Atari as sequencer, but used the PC for recording the audio.
Then I tried Cubase VST on my PC, but was disappointed by the performace and the stability. The worst thing was, that the MIDI-timing was very unsteady. Maybe I was spoiled by the straight timing the Atari offered.
But I wanted to use that fancy new VST-stuff, so I synched the PC as MIDI-slave by the Atari. It was quite inconvenient, but it worked...

Then I got remix-files from a friended band. After unpacking, it was a single file with a strange format "BUN". So I asked them, what progam I need to be able to open the file. Until then, I never heard a single word about "Cakewalk". Because time was short, I installed a (admitted ) warzed copy of Pro Audio. I think it must have been v9.
I was flatted by it! The plainness of the workflow, the rock-solid MIDI-timing... But I was a bit disappointed that one couldn't use VST instruments that days...
So after finishing that remix, I got back to Cubase - which after supplying the 100th update or so - at last had a half-decent MIDI-timing. So I lost sight of Cakewalk for many years.

Then some years later, a friend of mine called me on the phone and was frantic about "the new Cakewalk version", which was the 2nd release of Sonar. I tried to get a demo version somewhere, but didn't find any. So I again installed a warez copy of Sonar 2. I played around a bit with it and after a few days I decided that this is a "must have".
So I tried to find any dealer here in Germany that sells Cakewalk products. But had no luck...
I contacted CW sales and they told me I should get in touch with Edirol Europe. I did so, but somehow they also were not able to deliver. (I don't remember what the problem was, but I think it had something to do with the credit-cards).
A long time later, someone told me that "Thomann" now has Cakewalk products in stock, so I decided to order Sonar 3 there - which was the current version that days.
Right at the moment I wanted to order, Sonar 4 came up with even more exiting features. So in the end I waited until it was available at Thomann and then ordered Sonar 4 Studio Edition.

For a long time I did not upgrade Sonar, simply because v4 had all I needed and the only two things I was missing (better MIDI editor and sidechaining) were not addressed in the later versions.
This now has changed with S7, so ordered an upgrade to S7SE. I'm still waiting for my packet to arrive, but I'm already sure I won't be disappointed.

cheers,
Chris