SONAR 8.5 Released..

[TAFKAT]

SONAR 8.5 - New in Version 8.5: Matrix View, Step Sequencer 2.0, Session Drummer 3, AudioSnap 2.0, per-track Arpeggiator, Media Browser, PX-64 Percussion Strip, VX-64 Vocal Strip, engine optimizations & stability improvements, improved VST plug-in compatibility, Native REX loop support, BitBridge XR technology, Windows 7 ready & recommended; and upgrade available via download for the 1st time—

Boston, MA—Cakewalk, the world's leading developer of powerful and easy to use products for music creation and recording, announces a feature packed upgrade for SONAR Producer, the leading choice in digital audio workstations and SONAR Studio the most powerful digital audio workstation in its price range. SONAR 8.5 continues to innovate with new capabilities including enhanced beat creation and arrangement tools, a new drum instrument loaded with stellar kits and patterns, an enhanced audio timing toolset, new multi-stage effect plug-ins for drums and percussion sounds and vocal tracks, engine optimizations and stability improvements, and many additional workflow and technological advances, notably Windows 7 compatibility.

Full Press release Here (http://www.cakewalk.com/press/09-15-09-Cakewalk%20Announces%20SONAR%208.5%20Producer%20&%20SONAR%208.5%20Studio%20Now%20Available.asp)

One of the main things that caught my eye..

Open Support — Cakewalk has been, and will continue to be, a proponent of open standards in software and hardware. SONAR 8.5 brings a variety of compatibility improvements for VST plug-ins, as well as for Cakewalk's BitBridge technology, which allows for access to classic 32-bit "x86" VST plug-ins in a 64-bit "x64" environment. SONAR Producer customers can take advantage of the new BitBridge XR, which automatically provides up to 32 BitBridge servers, each capable of using up to 4GB of RAM, for a total of 128GB of RAM access from 32-bit plug-ins!

[shanabit]

SONAR gives me option anxiety. Theres just TOO MUCH crap in that app

[TAFKAT]

I found this interesting..

In the new Sonar 8.5.1. there is a new configurable load balancing system integrated.

Improved Multi-Core load balancing

SONAR has supported scalable load balancing for multi-core computers since SONAR 3. In 8.3 we spent some time researching different techniques to improve our task scheduler (the internal component that distributes the project workload across multiple threads). The new scheduler mechanism allows for a more even load across all cores on a multi-core system. Not only that but the new mechanism consumes less CPU and is more power efficient. We haven’t measured this yet but it should actually consume less battery resources on a notebook than SONAR 8.0.2! SONAR goes environment friendly :-)

Since all systems are not made equal we decided to make this new scheduling mode configurable.
From the help file, the new aud.ini option to control this is:

ThreadSchedulingModel=<0 - 2>
Type Integer
Default 1

This variable goes in the [Wave] section and controls the interaction of the main audio thread and worker threads on multiprocessor systems when the Use Multiprocessing Engine option is enabled. Depending on the system, a particular model may result in less glitching and better overall performance. The values are as follows:
0 = Same as previous versions of SONAR.
1 = (default) Better thread balance. Model is more efficient and can provide cycles for other tasks.
2 = Additional worker thread is created. This may result in improvement with Quad processor systems or higher. Not recommended for Dual processor systems.

---------------------------------------------------------------

Who says they haven't been listening... :D

[TAFKAT]

SONAR 8.5 Under bonnet details directly from the lead developer.. Here (http://www.cakewalk.com/whatsinaname.asp?utm_source=email_marketing_system&utm_medium=email&utm_content=6640681&utm_campaign=Why%20not%20SONAR%209%3F%20%20What%27 s%20in%20a%20name%3F%20--%20Download%20SONAR%208.5%20Producer%20Today)

Imagine if Steinberg had the same approach.. , yeh I know, click my heels 3 times.. :eusa_whistle:

[dcwave]

Looks interesting.

[dcwave]

SONAR 8.5 was tested on early Windows 7 betas right through to the final release candidate, and we are pleased to recommended Windows 7 as a great platform for SONAR 8.5. Additionally, SONAR 8.5 was evaluated at an independent Microsoft application compatibility lab and officially passed Windows 7 compatibility testing.So what audio i/o are they using; their expensive controller thingy? ASIO or WDM?

[LEX]

Imagine if Steinberg had the same approach

I almost wet myself when I read this. Steinberg. Be upfront, honest and open?

Maybe? Got to get rid of many people first though.

LEX

[resonator]

I will buy Sonar as soon as my budget allows it. I'm way into multi-track editing of drums using these time-streching algos, and AudioSnap is excellent quality-wise (I tried it in Sonar8.3), even better than Warping in PT8 and WAAAY better than FlexTime in L9. And apparently they've made it just as usable as PT. Any truth to that, has anybody here tried it?

By the way, if you both use Sonar and Cubendo, what's the thing you're missing the most?

[fandango]

By the way, if you both use Sonar and Cubendo, what's the thing you're missing the most?

I've used both, and in general I prefer Sonar (little things like VST note names for Drum VSTi on the piano roll, Smart MIDI tools), however there's a lot I miss from Cubase. Mostly things that are related to doing more orchestral work in the sequencer. This can be stuff like being able to color-by-pitch and color-by-channel (you can't do this in Sonar), which can make working with various sample libraries a bit tedious. Also, CC editing is generally better in Cubase which shows continuous values for CC changes (in SONAR, a CC10 change back at measure 1 still affects measure 100, but you'd have to scroll all the way back to find it). Also, being able to use parabolas, etc. in the CC editor is nice. I also miss having access to things like Cubase's Tempo Track which makes smooth tempo automations a doddle. Sonar's Tempo view is pretty basic and is unfortunately separated from the Track view.

In Cubase, I found that I missed ACT quite a bit. Until you use ACT, it's hard to describe quite how usable it is. Switching between different plugins and track views but your MIDI controller assignments update automatically depending on where you are. I guess you can get pretty close by mapping your controllers to the Quick Controls in Cubase, but you only get 8 controllers to use. Also, I like the way you can rename Synth Rack entries in Sonar. In Cubase I might have entries like Kontakt 4 1, Kontakt 4 2, Kontakt 4 3 , etc., whereas in Sonar I'd give them names like "Woodwind", "Brass", "Strings", etc.

[TAFKAT]

SONAR 8.5.2 Update Here (http://www.cakewalk.com/support/kb/reader.aspx?ID=20091119&DL_Engaged=Producer)

List too long to fit into one post.

Lets compare that list to Steini latest effort, shall we... :eusa_whistle:

[Rome]

Don't be unfair - Steinberg worked very hard too in the last six months to create a brand new UI for Cubase's Amp Simulator...

:eusa_whistle:

[nikki-k]

I wish I could love Sonar. 8.5 brought a lot to the table, but C5 still feels more "homey" to me :(