That Sucks Beep, I have been in that position way to often. This is the first time I have updated in years. I still have my version of Pyro. Maybe I will go load it and get the update. 

What you might do is take a run over to Izotope and get there free pdf on mastering. While it uses Ozone for the examples you can substitute the modules for some of cakewalks plugs. when you read about stereo widening use channel tools and check it out with the free vst Gonio 3.

http://www.kvraudio.com/product/gonio_by_ukm 

I use the meter all the time to check the stereo Image. It is a great companion to channel tools. It allows you to see what channel tools is doing.

reading through the guide will give you a better understanding of how to use Cakewalks stuff. I got my list of free VST plugs that I like too.

 

@Marcus... Yeah I think I've been getting some good results with the stuff that came with Sonar and I barely know how to use them so I don't think not owning Ozone is gonna be a major tragedy but it sure does look purdy. ;-)

After messing with R-Mix a bit on that one acoustic track I did I'm thinking that's going to be really useful for getting rid of unwanted noise and frequencies so it should make my mixing a little easier. I find when I'm EQing I'm trying to get rid of stuff instead of accentuating the sound so not having that nastiness in the way will be cool. I also have room for my outboard gear to be set up so in theory I'll have better raw signals to work with as well. Between the Line6 Duoverb and my console I'm hoping for some major improvements. I also have room to mic my amp if I want but I'm not so sure how well that'll turn out. Add to that I've only scratched the surface of TH2 and... well pretty much everything I'm lookign forward to what new sonic adventures await me.

Still slogging through a bunch of other crap though and am hell bent on reading the manual from start to finish.

Cheers.

Oh and thanks for the link. I'll check it out. I've got a bookmarks folder for Mastering stuff that I've been trying to fill up. It's currently pretty sparse.

After Looking at it I got Pyro 2004. I am not even sure if it will work in Windows 7. Since then there has been Pyro 5, and the last Version Pyro Audio Creator. Pyro Audio Creator is actually The 6th version. 1.5 is in reference to Pyro Audio Creator. I don't think my old version will work. 

Let me know how well your version works and if you have any issues.

Pyro is better than Audio Creator for doing CDs.  I never figured out how to edit in AC.  I use Sound Forge instead.  But Pyro can make quick CDs (I use it for comping CDs, mp3s and old vinyl.  Easy to adjust volume between tracks.

@

Beepster,
The version we just got is 1.5. Check the setup file.
If you open the Editor, and click Help>About.. you will see 1.5.
For some reason, the MP3 activation only seems to work if you select Pyro 1.0. That doesn't really matter. Once you have the key, you have it.
I did download the 1.5.2 update on my desktop PC, and it now shows 1.5.2 in the About.. screen.

After considering some of the sample libraries, I went with Pyro because I just don't have anything quite like it.
And like yourself, it's going to be a while before I can spring for any new toys.
Aside from the obvious encoder, burner stuff, I kind of like the idea of having a simple environment, away from the somewhat busy Sonar interface, to finalize a track.
A few choice effect in the bin, and minimal distractions. And it can use the 64 bit double precision engine.
I'm pleased with the call, and it was a good way to spend $20 I wouldn't have had to play with.

AT I'm confused here I have Pyro Audio Creator. I picked it up with one of those CW sales earlier this year. It seems to be a decent product and as far as I can tell it does what its supposed to do. I had a version of Pyro many years ago and could never get it to work. So what is better about Pyro. Also my version is 1.5.2. I did not have to update it either.  

Yeah, sorry. It's actually Pyro Audio Creator I picked up. I didn't realize there was a program called just Pyro until I was poking around the forum. Is that just a CD burning thingy without all the other stuff?

Anyway I was glad to see Pyro AC was Redbook compliant... at least I THINK the article was on AC. Guess I'd better double check.

lol... so confusing.

I use Pyro and think it could do more and a few things better but what software doesn't have that need?

I use for:
1. Ripping
2. Burning
3. Simple editing
4. Recording web stuff
5. My favorite is the encoder - set up as many as you like and DOD a file. E.g. I share demo mp3s with my band and will typically reduce the file from whatever it is to 128khz. It automatically saves it to the same folder.

4. Recording web stuff

How are you going about this? Does it snag the audio directly into the program or do you have to do some physical routing? Hadn't thought of it for this purpose. Cheers.