keith cclarry
One of the MAJOR benefits to VST3 is Sidechaining...
Which is implemented in many a VST2 plugin just fine and dandy... something waves refused to do.
First of all, not "fine and dandy". There are very few professional compressors that will sidechain in Sonar. If it's all "fine and dandy" then you should have no trouble naming a dozen third party compressors that can sidechain in Sonar. Please do...name some. While you're at it, please name some third party professional Surround Sound plugins that will work in Sonar. On the other hand, several companies have been stating for a few years now that they will eventually use Cakewalk's "workaround" for sidechaining yet few have delivered.
Why should they? Why should other companies bust their butts and spend serious money to make plugins "Sonar compatable" when they can instead code for existing formats such as VST3 which is supported by:
FL Studio
Cubase
Nuendo
Adobe Audition
Presonus Studio One 2
Sony Acid
(that I'm aware of off the top of my head...)
Other major Daws support AU or TDM which offer essentially the same benefits of VST3:
Protools
Logic
MOTU Digital performer
Garageband
Spending money to code plugins -specifically- for Sonar is probably not a wise choice for any developer.
Also VST 3's are idle when no signal is passing through the plug.
Unlike VST2.x in which the VST is always operative and therefore
always using CPU resoursces...
Which is something the host should be doing for you... not blindly passing zeros through an FX bin, then EACH PLUGIN INDEPENDENTLY DETERMINES WHETHER IT SHOULD PROCESS THE ZEROS. Here's an idea... don't pass zeros through a FX chain. Done.
Irrelevant comment - clearly the host, which is Sonar, is NOT doing the job you suggest it should as it continues to load down the CPU with plugins that are idle. Still boils down to a Sonar problem.
Sonar X2 is not looking good at all. I refuse to upgrade to X1 and X2 is even further out of the question as it stands. Very sad actually. A simple example is the fact that Sonar does not come with a single functional sampler, period. That is pathetic compared to other DAWs.
All the new included semi-functional trial version kid toys and they still haven't solved basic issues of functionality, another sign of dumping the pro demands to satisfy the hobbyist tweakers who love the toys under the Xmas tree but never actually use them. Oh well, if Cakewalk continues to chose to chase that market and neglect the basic needs of professionals then pros will continue to choose other products.