My Test: I tried Sonar 4.02 Studio with the latest
drivers (PatchMix 1.71, driver 1.8)) for my emu 1820M, with asio drivers ticked. I had no
problems with it. This was not true with earlier emu drivers.
However, while running emulator X (1.51) I had a graphic problem. The soft
sampler appeared top have the jitters redrawing the screen with every mouse
click. It still worked, but it was a bit disconcerting to see. (1.52
still has redraw issues, but the jittering has stopped) . But
anyway, that is an emu problem I think, not a sonar problem. Other DXis I tried
did not have any issues. I tried several of the cakewalk and project 5 plugins
and they played nice. One song where I had used project 5 in rewire loaded
project 5 with the song--that was cool.
On the whole, the application was blazing fast.
Audio loaded fast. Drag N drop audio files worked great. Inserting and
removing big plugins on the fly was not a problem. Effects can be put as
an insert in the mixer or destructively applied to the track from the main
screen. Fast renders. This reduced the need for a dedicated audio
editor, which Sonar still does not have. if you are trying to figure out
an important difference between Cubase and Sonar, its right there.
Cubase gives you an audio editor and process history, Sonar has a loop
construction editor. Its an effective solution for setting loops to tempo,
moving hit points, setting loops to project pitch. For those of you
using beats, that's what you need. Using loops in Sonar is easier.
Making complex loops is a good task for Cubase.
Over on the left you see the new features in
Sonar 5. Lets talk about a few that I like.
New in Sonar 5
Roland Variphrase (Producer version
only) a nice and unexpected addition. You can correct
the intonation of your vocals and do some other cool things, like
slowing down and speeding up phrases to make them fit. Pitch
correction is becoming a sequencer staple. Logic has its own.
Digital Performer uses a variant from another industry leader, Melodyne.
PSYN II and Pentagon, Groove Synth
Perhaps following Logic's lead,
Cakewalk is including more software synths. This means the new
user does not have to have a hardware synth to get going making sounds.
Inline Audio and MIDI editing
Definitely following Cubase's lead
here. This allows you to carry on editing functions without
changing to new window
New in Sonar 4
Track Folders is
something logic users have long had. It basically allows you to store
stuff in folders, out of view of your main sequencer, and gives you some
flexibility in how you work. For example, after you record your midi
tracks as audio you can put the used midi tracks (which are no longer needed)
into a folder where they are out of the way. Mute the folder and they
don't play, but are still there if you decide later that the F# on your bass
hook really needs to be a Ab. You can also store stuff in folders and
save to a default song so they are always in your new song. Stuff like
drum patterns, favorite audio loops, arpeggio patterns, sysex banks for you
synths, or a folder of "creative ideas" so you have some stuff to fall back on
if inspiration is not forthcoming.
Freeze tracks. Everybody else has it and
its a requirement in this day and age, so you can render CPU eating soft
synths to temporary audio files to give you back some processor time.
Yeah!
Enhanced bounce. As a Logic user I am
envious as all get out that Sonar has this before Logic. Bouncing MIDI
direct to an audio track is a feature one will use every song.
Slip editing and nudge are two needed additions
for getting audio inside tracks to line up correctly. Sure beats cutting
and pasting when you just need to move things a small amount.
