I used Master Tracks Pro on the Atari ST back in the late 80's while in college... they had a music course there which used that program.

I didn't buy into anything for use at home till way later, the late 90's actually. I bought Guitar Tracks, (might have been GT2... can't remember!) but a while later I heard you could upgrade to Sonar for a certain amount of $$.

I received Sonar 4 Studio in the mail soon after , & now I have Sonar Studio 5.
Hopefully soon I'll get 7.

Great support, great program, & I really like these forums which are very helpful.

well, seems like its been a long time since some one posted in this topic, but i will try to keep with the thread, anyways.

The only DAW i have used was since i found electronic music was Fl . i started with 4, now im using 6, but at this point, its taking on my nerves . you cannot rely on anything from that DAW i dont know how many people still uses Fl. the audio is horrible. anyways. im finally moving. i tried to use ableton once. but i couldnt figure how to use it. even with manuals... l o l ...

im trying this DAW hope it works good ..
and i dont know from where to start also

i switched from cubase4 because it sucks! from the moment i got it, it was impossible to operate in.
work flow nonexsitent, the people over at the forums were absolutely mean as hell, if you were some one like me, {no degree in computers} you were made fun of, and or just made to feel inadequate.

i learned more in one month in sonar then i did in the two years on cubase

i will never switch again!

junkflesh,
aka. digger stone

I switched to SONAR because...

I've always liked the Cakewalk mindset as to layout, quality of recording, etc...
I bought Cakewalk when it was a brand new concept hailed by PC magazine...

I used various versions through Pro Audio 9 when I finally gave up trying workarounds to help PA9 and Windoze think alike.
Things would go awry at the touch of a button often causing huge project delays...

Over time I found a combination of Cool Edit (now Audition 3), ACID Pro, FL Studio to have a combined production punch that made money for me...

I tried a demo of SONAR 3... it still had audio interface problems and GREAT GOD... all those "buttons"....
No interest until SONAR 6 came out...

I had SONAR 6 installed on the "junior" production station... I loved the look and feel.. I was simply overwhelmed with learning curves...
so I played with SONAR while still using my BIG 3 to make money...

After a lot of hand holding from a friend well versed in SONAR I decided to install the program on the main workstation....
It kept getting used albeit on non professional projects...

I just upgraded to SONAR 7... I started using all the new features "right out of the box"...
right now I'm working on a commercial music bed using the step sequencer, DimPro, Rapture, zeta3... EZ drummer and live instruments...

Maybe it's just me... the overall sound of this project using SONAR 7 is brighter, crisper and the workflow is somehow "better"...

SOON... Sonar 7 will be my main production platform for broadcast audio and video production.

ORIGINAL: Russell.Whaley

I started recording music with Adobe Audition 1.5 ....
Cheers,

Russ

I started using the same program as a Radio DJ and I still use it to cut commercials. Awesome and Simple.

I just started using Cake 7.0 Yesterday, because as I remix music it gets harder and harder to make tracks that
don't float in Adobe. I noticed a buddy of mine using Cake and he said he liked it. So I'm giving it a shot.

One thing I;ve noticed is that the videos included with the software are NOT "NEWBIE" friendly. Alot of the menus
that your experts use are easily pulled up because there screens are customized... not in the default view.

Also alot of terms and tricks are thrown around as if I've already used this program for years.

Im sure I'll get the hang of it eventually but these are my thought after only using it for a day.

I starte using cakewalk in 1987 and upgraded to cakewalk 6 for windows. I stoped using cakewalk when I purchased a firepod with Cubase LE.

LE worked but I missed some of the features I had with cakewalk. The ability to score. I also had Cakewalks Orchestrator which I crossgraded to Siblius. With cake walk I could use the score feature and if I need a more elaborate scoring I used Seblius. with Cubase LE I had to use Sibelius save it as a midi file and open it in cubase. what a hassle.

I was looking at upgrading cubase when I saw the offer for Sonar 7 Sudio and jumped on it.

The only disapointment I have is the installlation on only one computer. I use a laptop with the Firpod for remotes. then transfer that to a desktop PC atached to several synths. I also have a all in one computer that I use for internet and whatever as ideas pop up. so that is 3 computers.

Sibelius allows several computers for me alone to use.

Other than that I like Sonar.

ORIGINAL: chiorb2
The only disapointment I have is the installlation on only one computer. I use a laptop with the Firpod for remotes. then transfer that to a desktop PC atached to several synths. I also have a all in one computer that I use for internet and whatever as ideas pop up. so that is 3 computers.

You can install Sonar on multiple machines as long as you only use it on one machine at a time.

ORIGINAL: tarsier

ORIGINAL: chiorb2
The only disapointment I have is the installlation on only one computer. I use a laptop with the Firpod for remotes. then transfer that to a desktop PC atached to several synths. I also have a all in one computer that I use for internet and whatever as ideas pop up. so that is 3 computers.

You can install Sonar on multiple machines as long as you only use it on one machine at a time.

This is absolutely true. Here is my documentation of this info, taken from a phone call to Cakewalk customer service: EULA Questions Answered by Cakewalk

Why I swtiched to Sonar:

I started on a Fostex 4-track cassette machine years ago. Upgraded to a Tascam 1/4 all in one reel system with 8 channel mixing board. From there I bought a 16 track-1 inch Tascam reel to reel with a 20x8 board from a friend. I used this for quite some time and then of course had to bump up to 24 track 2 inch. But none of these had auto-punch and it really was becoming a nightmare. I can still remember holding long sustained notes on my guitar while trying to press play/record at the same time to punch in right. LOL!! Or trying to punch in drums instrument at a time. Total nightmare that I don't miss to be honest. One day, I was in Staples and was checking out software. I saw this Cakewalk program (version 3 I believe) that sounded pretty cool. It was on floppy disk's at that time, and I loaded it up but never really messed with it much as to me it was a totally new learning curve that somewhat intimidated me.

One day a friend called me and was bragging about Cakewalk. I told him I had it too and wasn't crazy about how all this stuff was coming at me each time I opened the program and was happy with my tape stuff. He laughed at me and said "let me come over dude...by the time I leave, you'll never want to use that tape machine again!" He came over, showed me how to really use Cake, we hooked up some SMPTE as well so I could still use my tape machine along with Cake, and the rest as they say...is history. I still have my tape machines but they rarely see any action these days. Kinda taking up room but they look nice when I take the covers off them and fire them up. LOL!! God, I remember when we couldn't use effects in real time with Cakewalk. Constant "previews" and you didn't get much preview time. Cluttered newsgroups for help through outlook express at the time, and posts by members that were more entertaining than a live concert. Hahaha! Ah the goodl ole days...we sure have come a long way with this stuff. To be honest, I'm so content with Sonar 5-7 and all the gear I have, I'd be a happy man if nothing else came out after. The user group here on this forum is better than actual tech support at times because they are so vast and live this program, they don't just "use it". So my thanks to Cakewalk for where we are now and for giving us this forum...which kills the old newsgroup thing I used to use! :) For any die hard tape users still out there that are weary of taking this plunge, do it and don't look back. Once you get the learning curve down and experience what you can really do, you'll most likely lose your wife, your kids, your job and everything else in your life because it's just too darned addictive and challenging...not to mention with the right pc, nearly limit-less!

ORIGINAL: xianex@email.com

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

Voyetra

Dear friend,

I am in a similar situation as you have been in the past. The only sequencer that I have any experience with is Digital Orchestrator Pro from Voyetra. And now suddenly I have landed up with a licence of Sonar 5 Producer (sorry no money so cannot upgrade any further).

I fear a major learning curve from DOP to Sonar. Could you therefore please tell me as to how you learnt using Sonar and how much time you took?

I have seen some courses available but again they cost a hell of a lot of money. And having used DOP for about 6 years, I thought it better to go alone.

It would be great hearing from you.