Sonar features, another look , good stuff...

Tony Prior · Post by **Tony Prior** » 15 Jul 2009 4:50 am

I had been thinking of going back to a dedicated workstation but have clearly changed my mind. here are 3 things which are easy as pie and pretty much made me stay right where I am.

I am using Sonar 7 Home Studio with an MAudio 2496 2 in 2 out full midi card. I have not yet begun to use PRO 8. Each recorded track has dynamic processing and effects as required, unlimited and can get out of control real fast . Keep it simple, less is more. I mostly use the Cakewalk written presets, written by people in the know.

NOW...

Fader Automation, right click the fader and turn on Automation in the box that appears. Play the track and adjust the fader. It's that easy. Do this for each track and that's it, all faders will auto respond during playback which means they are active during the final 2 track pre-mastered mix.

Now during the two track mix play back, add the LP64 EQ to the effects patch. Select a preset EQ or write your own. Or just move the graph with the mouse.

Then add Boost 11 to the effects patch , this is the Peak Limiter, they call it a Limiter but in actuality it is a very variable compressor. Set the input as desired to a nice level,keep the overall total level below the 0DB point then set the output as required to even out the track, perhaps start in the 2 or 3 db range.

It's almost like magic..

I'm not a pro at this stuff but I am getting better.I am bringing my PC to max RAM which will also help with the chugging along.

here's what they look like...

Fader Automation, you can see the pop up window for one channel and the Bass Channel Fader is highlighted in RED which means it is active.

LP64 EQ and Boost 11. The pre-mastered two track stereo mix can be seen behind the two windows.

each of the effects and mastering functions can be applied to any track at any time, it can be PRE mixing/mastering or post. Your choice, whatever works best. No limits.

I have spent something like 30 minutes with these features and the final results are like night and day to the master two channel track.

Bob Martin · Post by **Bob Martin** » 15 Jul 2009 2:35 pm

Hey Tony, now is a great time for you or any one interested in upgrading to a new and more powerful version of Sonar. You can upgrade from your specific version for a great price to Sonar 8 PE or Sonar Studio qand then when Sonar 9 comes out yoy will get that for free as well.

I would say that the economy has caught up with Cakewalk too. This kind of an upgrade deal is unprecedented I have been dealing with Cakewalk and other DAW manufacturers since the middle 80's and have never seen such an upgrade policy.

Just to give you and idea I can upgrade from Sonar 7 PE to 8 PE for 179.00 which is the normal upgrade price. Sometimes if things are slow they will give you a special upgrade price for 99.00 but that still isn't nearly as good as their latest deal and it is usually close to the time for the newer version to be released but never close enough to get the next version for free

for you to get the next version for free you have to buy the older upgrade within 15 days I believe but please don't quote me on that fact it might be 30 days.

Tony I didn't look but they even have upgrade pricing for your version too. You can find these pricing policies at www.cakewalk.com One more advantage if this is your first time buying cakewalk products there is also a 100.00 rebate for you.

Bob

Tony Prior · Post by **Tony Prior** » 15 Jul 2009 3:08 pm

Hey Bob, good info, I have Sonar 8 PRO but don't use it yet. I ended up with 7 Home Studio and 8 Pro at the same time ( not sure how that happened ) and just started out using 7 Home Studio to get my feet wet, it is way less cluttered to me but I suspect I will start using 8 soon .

I also ran one of the earliest versions of Cakewalk back around 90 or so on an old IBM dual floppy PC. Back then it was a Tascam 80-8, a 16 channel stereo board with a midi link to Cakewalk, an early DX7 and a Korg synth module to boot. Now it's a PC, monitor, mouse , a 25 key midi keyboard, a dual channel tube preamp and a guitar !

I would say we have made some progress !

thanks

tp

Gwyneth Morgan · Post by **Gwyneth Morgan** » 16 Jul 2009 9:10 am

I just upgraded from Sonar 6 pro to 8 Pro and I have to say I'm liking it a lot. I discovered that Boost module and went just a bit nuts with it

The next variant of this mix I'm working on, I'll have to back it off a bit and retrieve some dynamics.

Great program, though. One of the things I finally learned to make use of is the "freeze" function for VST instruments (we use a lot of synths in our work). It frees up the CPU and gives more work to the disk, so I can use more inline processing.

Fun!

Bob Martin · Post by **Bob Martin** » 17 Jul 2009 11:50 pm

I just ordered my copy the day I made my last post about it 7/15/ I believe and it came today already. I love the fast shipping.

I want to make one part of their special pricing very clear because I've seen a lot of grumbling on different forums. The 100.00 dollar rebate is for 1st time buyers only and long timers like me and the rest of us that have been using it for a while only get the upgrade to version 8.3 and then the next paid upgrade for free. There has also been a lot of grumbling and speculations that the next paid upgrade will be something like 8.5 instead of a full point upgrade. Here's what I think about that. It doesn't matter what they call the darn thing as long as it's free to me from this deal and it has new and usable features.

Most of the folks raising a stink about this deal are owners of version 8 that don't qualify for the special deal. Well here's the way I look at it the users that upgraded when it first was released last fall meaning ver. 8 have had the pleasure of using it for almost a year now and I am having to pay the full upgrade price that they did back in the fall which was 179.00 and so I'm just now reaping the benefits of using it so Cakewalk in trying to get rid of the leftover stock of ver. 8 before ver. 9 or what ever they call it comes out offered us late adopters a free upgrade to the next version after 8. Now is that fair or not????? You be the judge but if I would have had the cash last year I would have upgraded then and to tell you the truth I would have rather been able to have been recording with it for a year and not be eligible for this deal.

Big Bob

Tony Prior · Post by **Tony Prior** » 18 Jul 2009 1:54 am

Considering that the list price of these PRO packages is under $500 they are still a bargain for what they offer. I didn't even know about the freeze function but I did acquire PRO 8 because of the added VST for vocals and the additional powerfull features over Home Studio. I still have not reviewed the entire package yet. I guess it's time.

YouTube has excellent tutorials for Soanr packages and when I learned of Boost 11 I was quite surprised and went back and remasterd the few projects I have completed, who ever thought of this was Gold, Gold Jerry , thats Gold !

I also got the free download for the VST Fender Amplitube program which is pretty dang unbelievable, it really is like have a plethora of Fender amps right in front of you with full control over every aspect of the amps and all of the Fender Guitar effects that are part of the program. My favorite so far is the 57 Deluxe with a gentle overdrive.

More memory on the way !

T

Bob Martin · Post by **Bob Martin** » 18 Jul 2009 5:02 am

Tony, did you get the VST Fender Amplitube package with an upgrade special from Cakewalk? If so that's a great deal. I'm not sure of the exact price of the Fender Amplitube package but I'm thinking it way over 100.00 bucks and I have heard a lot of good things about it!

If you do any projects using it let us hear it .....

Bob

Tony Prior · Post by **Tony Prior** » 19 Jul 2009 2:03 am

I believe Fender Amplitube sells for around $200 and it is well worth it I would say.I do not have it yet , just the free download which are outstanding. You can get a 30 day trial I beleive from Fender at no charge. It loads up in seconds but it is a memory hog if you run it on more than 1 track, they say 2 gig ram minimum.