Hi everyone. I am on a quest to make surround mixes for my own songs. I'm not sure where to start because I've made it 3 songs into an album with nothing but a tiny behringer uca 222 and a Samson g track usb mic on a HP i3 notebook with a stock soundcard. Latency is terrible, but I'm an ace at nudging clips. Ideally I want to be among the first to mix in 10.2 with Bluedio Victory 12 driver headphones via spidf optical and a focusrite scarlet 12 output interface, but I'd be happy to start with 5.1. and a 200 dollar Logitech Walmart system, IF I can get it from PLATINUM to a playable commercial format. It just seems like there's no point in investing in anything that caters to Sonar if we cant separate multiple outputs in the box and export them to a format that can be played on a home theatre system. I really don't know what path to take, but I already know how to use the surround panners and surround bus, set up outputs in preferences, all that even though I can't hear what it's doing. I just need guidance on how to get it into those 12 driver headphones with true separation (not a bunch of stereo clones or BS "virtual" surround), then export my mix down the road and play it on the widest possible selection of consumer home entertainment systems. I refuse to believe we are too far ahead of our time, too small a niche... that there are too few of us to justify Cakewalk making surround development a priority again like in the Roland sonar 8 through X2 days that I totally missed out on. I invite every Sonar owner to join my mission to strive for surround production development. I don't want to have to abandon Cakewalk after 10 years, buy a MacBook pro, Protools 12, Waves and Dolby Atmos plugins, ILOK, oh God the list goes on and on. That will take me another whole year or more to save up for, buy and learn. Half the reason I bought a subscription to Platinum this time around is because I had x3, pro audio 9 and music creator, so its familiar, easy to use and I'm a die hard loyal Sonar fan... but the other main reason I bought it is because it PROMISED SURROUND and I leapt before I looked. The more I research, the more confused and cheated I feel. What's up Cakewalk? Sonar owners unite! We want surround! How can I get this on a budget? Again, 12 driver bluedio victory headphones show a picture on their website where they're plugged into a focusrite scarlet optical out. If that implies true surround, I WANT THAT. No third party unsupported proprietary cobbled together garbage. Sonar platinum >>> 12 driver Bluetooth headphones >>> playable 5.1/7.1 CD / DVD. I welcome any advice. Thanks.

kauaicaregivers
Hi everyone. I am on a quest to make surround mixes for my own songs. I'm not sure where to start because I've made it 3 songs into an album with nothing but a tiny behringer uca 222 and a Samson g track usb mic on a HP i3 notebook with a stock soundcard. Latency is terrible, but I'm an ace at nudging clips. Ideally I want to be among the first to mix in 10.2 with Bluedio Victory 12 driver headphones via spidf optical and a focusrite scarlet 12 output interface, but I'd be happy to start with 5.1. and a 200 dollar Logitech Walmart system, IF I can get it from PLATINUM to a playable commercial format. It just seems like there's no point in investing in anything that caters to Sonar if we cant separate multiple outputs in the box and export them to a format that can be played on a home theatre system. I really don't know what path to take, but I already know how to use the surround panners and surround bus, set up outputs in preferences, all that even though I can't hear what it's doing. I just need guidance on how to get it into those 12 driver headphones with true separation (not a bunch of stereo clones or BS "virtual" surround), then export my mix down the road and play it on the widest possible selection of consumer home entertainment systems. I refuse to believe we are too far ahead of our time, too small a niche... that there are too few of us to justify Cakewalk making surround development a priority again like in the Roland sonar 8 through X2 days that I totally missed out on. I invite every Sonar owner to join my mission to strive for surround production development. I don't want to have to abandon Cakewalk after 10 years, buy a MacBook pro, Protools 12, Waves and Dolby Atmos plugins, ILOK, oh God the list goes on and on. That will take me another whole year or more to save up for, buy and learn. Half the reason I bought a subscription to Platinum this time around is because I had x3, pro audio 9 and music creator, so its familiar, easy to use and I'm a die hard loyal Sonar fan... but the other main reason I bought it is because it PROMISED SURROUND and I leapt before I looked. The more I research, the more confused and cheated I feel. What's up Cakewalk? Sonar owners unite! We want surround! How can I get this on a budget? Again, 12 driver bluedio victory headphones show a picture on their website where they're plugged into a focusrite scarlet optical out. If that implies true surround, I WANT THAT. No third party unsupported proprietary cobbled together garbage. Sonar platinum >>> 12 driver Bluetooth headphones >>> playable 5.1/7.1 CD / DVD. I welcome any advice. Thanks.

Thank you, that was a funny post!
Budget? Have you ever priced the AC3 encoder?

No. How ridicoulously expensive is it?

I have about $2000.
 

What are you using to monitor your 5.1 mix with? Adam AX7 stereo monitors?
 

kauaicaregivers
What are you using to monitor your 5.1 mix with? Adam AX7 stereo monitors?
 

I don't

For music, the surround sound format has been an unmitigated failure. I remember when it first came out, every classic rock band worth their salt mixed their classic albums for the surround format...to no avail, because people couldn't be bothered or afford the specialised equipment to decode and play the new format. Even today, a lot of people prefer a sound bar and fake surround for home cinemas.

I've been experimenting with 'fake' surround sound for headphones as the OP put it, and IMO this is the way forward for the music surround format. You have to know where to put things in regards to music and the placement of sounds in the 360 degree field otherwise it sounds like a gimmick. There's no point in having drums panning around the 360 degree sound field. What I've done is use 'fake' surround sound plugs on sfx busses, time effect busses, and on individual sounds that need a spot somewhere other than the front of the mix. I also use a spatial panner to also give the front instruments depth, width and height...which creates very effective 'fake' 3d mixes for headphones. Which again IMO is a superior way to introduce surround sound to music...because we listen to music mostly on headphones these days. The other great thing about this technique is it requires no special decoders either, and if you sit in the sweet spot between a set of real world speakers you will hear the surround effect too...neat!

BenMMusTech
I've been experimenting with 'fake' surround sound for headphones as the OP put it, and IMO this is the way forward for the music surround format [snip]...because we listen to music mostly on headphones these days.

...and you don't have to figure out where to put five speakers in your living room 
 
 

Didn't Walt Disney use 24 track tapes each with it's own output and speaker for the Pirates of the Caribbean? 
 
Anyhow if your audio interface ( the one you don't seem to own) has say 8 outputs, you simply send 4 stereo busses to those and then you muck about assigning various tracks.  The 8 outputs would drive 8 powered speakers of various function, like 1 as a sub and 2 a full range. The possibilities are endless.  Sonar can output as many channels as your interface supports. All DAWs can. 
 
 

The original post seems to suggest that SONAR can't do surround, which would be untrue. Surround support has been included since SONAR 4. 
 
Nobody here does it, but it's not because we're SONAR users. It's because proper monitoring is expensive, and nobody's ever going to actually hear your multi-channel masterpiece unless you invite them over to your studio.
 
But maybe you know some audiophiles who have the necessary playback gear, have been contracted to do an IMAX movie soundtrack, or just like a challenge. If that's the case, go for it - it won't be SONAR that's holding you back.