CAKEWALK SONAR 7 - NOW WITH CONCLUSIONS!

[Anderton]

I think you’re really going to like this example…let’s check out sidechaining with the Sonitus:Compressor. In this setup, the tracks and assignments are the same as for the noise gate, except that compression is being applied to a jazz double bass loop (courtesy Big Fish Audio).

The first audio example is the sound of the bass compressing itself. In other words, the bass signal controls the compression – this is the way compression normally works.

In the second audio example, the drum part provides the control signal for the compression. This means that compression happens only when the drums are playing. So, some offbeat hits come through louder, making for a more dynamic part. Also note that despite being more "present" this part doesn’t “step on” the drums at all, because it’s compressed when the drums hit.

[Anderton]

Now, this is where it gets interesting. The third audio example plays the first and second examples at the same time, but with one flipped out of phase so you can hear the difference between the two tracks more clearly. You’ll notice lots of bass peaks – this is how much louder the bass peaks sound on the track where the compression is controlled by the drums. Interesting, eh?

This is of course just one example of sidechained compression at work, but it's a concept that lends itself to experimentation. Just have a bus set up and ready to go to at any time, and you can check out sidechaining using the type of setup we've described.

[Anderton]

The VC-64 channel strip also has a sidechain input, and the two compressors as well as the EQs all have Key switches which, when enabled, allow them to be fed with the sidechain signal. The instrument routings that use compression work like the examples given above for the Sonitus:Compressor, and are useful for the same types of effects.

 

However, with the VC-64 you can "double" the effect. For example, you could load a VC-64 patch that incorporates two series compressors (like the Instrument Setup), and make the effect even more radical by keying both compressors to the sidechain. In the audio example, you'll hear just that: Drums double-compressing an organ loop, with a short attack time so that there's almost an "attack delay" effect from the drum hits temporarily squashing the signal to near-nothingness.

[Anderton]

Using sidechain with EQ is a different matter, as the results depend on which EQ you have set to Key, and the routing. The following isn't mentioned anywhere that I could find in the documentation, but here's the way it works.

 

Instrument Setup: Sidechain replaces input signal if EQ1 and/or EQ2 is set to key.

 

Vocal Setup: Sidechain replaces input signal if EQ1 or both EQs are set to key, and mixes with input signal if EQ2 is set to key.

 

Two Band Compression: Sidechain replaces input if both EQs are set to key, or mixes with input if one EQ is set to key.

 

Filtered Compression: With EQ2 set to key, the sidechain signal goes to EQ2 on the way to controlling the compressor. With EQ1 set to key, the sidechain signal replaces the input signal.

 

Mix and Master Setup: Setting EQ1 and/or EQ2 to key replaces the input signal with the sidechain signal.

 

Parallel Compression: Same as Mix and Master Setup.

 

Selective Compression: With EQ1(or EQ1 and EQ2) set to key, the sidechain signal replaces the input signal. With EQ2, the sidechain signal gets mixed in after going through EQ2.

 

Selective with Sidechain Filter: Setting EQ1 to key does nothing. Setting only EQ2 can produce some really interesting compression-meets-gating effects, depending on how you adjust the C2 compressor settings. The audio example has the organ kind of gating along with the drums (and to make it more interesting, I'm sweeping the EQ2 frequency too). As far as I'm concerned, this setup is the most convincing argument for the VC-64 having a sidechain in. Setting EQ1 and EQ2 to key mixes the sidechain and input signals, with the sidechain going through EQ2.

 

Split Stereo Setup: With EQ1 set to key and EQ2 off, the sidechain signal comes out of the left channel and the input signal comes out of the right. With the opposite EQ key settings, the sidechain comes out of the right and the input signal out of the left. With both EQ1 and EQ2 on, the sidechain signal replaces the input signal.

 

Mid-Side Setup: This does various combinations of mixing and stereo effects. In the audio example, EQ1 is set to key, so the sidechain (drums) signal is mixed in with the organ. The organ is going through EQ2, which has the same automation as in the Selective with Sidechain Filter example.

[Anderton]

I found another good use for Boost 11: To bring up room sound mics. I just tried this on a classical harpsichord recording (I'm serious). There's only a dB or two of reduction, but the slight boost helps it co-exist better with the direct harpsichord sound.

[Anderton]

Hi Craig, Going back to the external insert plug-in, have you been able to get good results with the plug on a bus?

I've spent several hours tonight messing with the external insert and buses. For whatever reason, I can't break it. I keep referencing to another track that has just the audio without any processing, and I'm using drums to make it easier to determine audibly if there's any slapback delay. But it's working just fine. Maybe one useful tip is that I ping when the effect is bypassed.

Do you get consistent pings every time?

No, sometimes if I ping repeatedly I get different values. Basically I ping and if it works, fine (this happens most of the time). If it doesn't, I ping again.

Have you tried it with several other plugs in the same effects bin?

I've tried it with other software plugs in the bin, but have not tried inserting multiple external inserts because it makes more sense to me to just string any external effects together, and treat the collection as one insert.

Bottom line is that while every now and then I'll get inconsistent pings, that's pretty much the only anomaly I'm getting with external inserts. I have no idea why I'm not experiencing problems, maybe my computer just likes me

[Anderton]

BTW I'm thinking of doing the included instruments next, then the V-Vocal MIDI capabilities. Before moving on, do y'all have any questions on material that's already been covered?

[Anderton]

In case you wondered where I've been...a couple days ago, the motherboard in my faithful ADK Athlon x2 machine finally bit the dust. All my data was intact (and backed up, of course!) but it was time for a new computer and I am now running a PC Audio Labs dual quad-core Intel machine. Yes, that's right, eight cores! This is a whole other world, frankly. Performance with Sonar is stellar. Check out the attached image for a picture of what eight cores look like in the Transport's CPU meter...

The PCAL computer has a removable OS drive, and Vista is on the second one. So this is also the computer I'll be using when we reach the Vista portion of this Pro Review.

Of course, I'm going to fix the ADK because it still performs just fine. And now that Sony Vegas does distributed rendering, I have a serious reason to network the two computers and really save some time when doing videos. But in any event, from now on, I'll be reviewing Sonar 7 on an eight-core machine (and loving every minute). Now, on to the instruments that are new to Sonar 7.

[Anderton]

Rapture is one of my favorite soft synths (check out the Pro Review of Rapture for details about the instrument with lots of audio examples), so I have mixed feelings about the LE version. It can play back any standard Rapture patches, which is great, but if someone judges Rapture based on the LE version, they won't be getting an accurate picture of what the instrument can really do.

To give you some background on the full version, Rapture (first attached image) is based around six "elements." Each one loads a waveform or multisample, and the audio engine is exceptionally good in terms of minimizing aliasing. Note that each waveform or multisample can be "multiplied" within an individual element to as many as nine voices, spread in stereo. That's a lot for one element.

You can do keyranges for the elements if you're into splits (layering is inherent: just add more elements). There's also an extensive DSP section with filtering and various processors including distortion, bit reduction, sample rate decimation, and the like; what's more, these can be patched in a variety of fixed configurations, including series, parallel, and series/parallel.

The middle section is where the modulation action occurs, with step sequencer, envelope, and LFO. Each of these is available for Pitch, Filter Cutoff 1, Resonance 1, Filter Cutoff 2, Resonance 2, Pan, and Amp.

Continuing down the signal chain, there are three EQs for each element along with insert effects. A mixer chooses level and pan for each element, but there are also additional pages. A Global page has two sets of global effects, master effects, three more EQs, and left/right Global Step Generators that affect the overall sound. Another page presents a modulation matrix, and there's a virtual X-Y pad controller.

So what do you lose with the LE version (second attached image)? Although there's still a section in the upper left section that shows key ranges, transposition, tuning, polyphony, and so on, you can't vary any of these, except for pulling in different waveforms. I can understand Cakewalk not wanting to give away the store, but at the very least, tuning should have been adjustable-using Rapture LE with acoustic instruments could be asking for trouble if the players tuned to each other rather than concert pitch.

The DSP section remains intact (including the 20 different filter responses), which is appreciated. But modulation is cut down to step sequencing only-no envelope or LFO. While the step sequencing is a very cool aspect of Rapture LE, having only that is a limitation. Also gone: All effects (including the ones on the global page), the modulation matrix, and X-Y controller. You still have the mix/pan/on-off switches for the mixer section, of course. Finally, note that there are fewer programs for the LE version (third attached image).

The bottom line is that it's great that Rapture LE can play back any patches designed for the full version, even if you can't edit them, especially because Cakewalk is putting a major push on support and additional patches/samples for their soft synths. So if you subscribe to the "I don't want to program, I just want to play" philosophy, Rapture LE makes a lot of sense and is all you'll need. But if you're a tweaker (or need to do fine-tuning!), then you'll want the full version of Rapture. (One other fine point: I may be mistaken, but it seems that Rapture LE actually requires a bit more CPU power than Rapture).

From Cakewalk's perspective, I'm not sure if Rapture LE is the best possible advertisement for the full version because you won't know what you're missing if all you use is Rapture LE. I think it would be really cool if you got to use the full version of Rapture for 30 days after buying Sonar, and then you had the option of scaling back to the LE version or purchasing the whole enchilada.

[Anderton]

This is a cut-down version of Dimension Pro, and my opinions regarding Rapture LE vs. Rapture pretty much apply here as well: Great that it plays back all Dimension Pro patches, but in terms of editing, it's much more limited.

Dimension Pro (first attached image) is simpler architecturally than Rapture, as it's designed more for sample playback than pureplay synthesis. It has four elements, again with mixer, but in addition to level and pan there are two FX buses and the ability to select an FX sub-page for these buses with two effects category choices: Modulation (chorus, phaser, symphonic, chorus/phaser) and Reverb (seven algorithms). Like Rapture, it has a comprehensive modulation matrix and a virtual X-Y controller pad.

As to modulators, you can apply an envelope or LFO to each element, which can affect Pitch, Filter Cutoff, Resonance, Pan, and Amp. Each element also has three bands of EQ and an insert FX (with 24 algorithms-delays, reverbs, pan, distortion, etc.), and there are three DSP sections: Lo-fi, Filter, and Drive.

Dimension LE (second attached image) loses the modulators, EQs, insert effect, X-Y controller, modulation matrix, and ability to vary the parameters in the upper left like key range and (again) tuning. Also note that as with Rapture, there are fewer patches included (third attached image).

So my conclusions are the same as for Rapture. Dimension Pro and Rapture are truly excellent soft synths; they have a clean audio engine, and Rapture in particular is rich in programming options. It's very cool to have playback engines that can play back the increasing sets of patches available for these two instruments, but I suspect that many users will choose to upgrade to the full version of at least one of these synths.

[Anderton]

The z3ta+ (which the People of Cakewalk pronounce "zeta") is a full version, not a lite version, of a synthesizer that's been around for several years (first attached image). Although you can see that a lot of its architecture provided the foundation for Dimension Pro and Rapture, it's a different kind of synth that makes its own contribution to Sonar 7. As it is a full version, we'll cover it in more detail than the Rapture LE and Dimension LE instruments.

Don't expect a ground-breaking type of synthesis; you've seen almost all the elements before, like oscillators, filters, effects, LFOs, etc. (Well, you probably haven't seen anything like the waveshaper or the morphable LFOs, but we'll get to those shortly.) However, the z3ta+ takes each of those elements far further than the average synth. The oscillators don't have a few waveforms; they have 59. Each filter has a limiter to tame resonant peaks. There's not just one block of delay effects, but three. Phase-lock options abound, and the z3ta+ isn't content to ring modulate or sync just a single pair of oscillators: A novel "circular" structure allows the oscillators to modulate each other in a way I haven't seen before.

There are two main pages, one with sound generating parameters, and one with effects (second attached image). The two have a common Master Section, which contains several buttons: output limiter on/off, switch between main pages, bank and program management, and open spectrum analyzer window. A pop-up Options menu lets you choose from 11 velocity curves, enable audio input through the processors (cool!), and see a listing of which controls are tied to which MIDI controller numbers, along with ranges and control polarity.

The Master Section also shows the master level control with metering, and five parameters: control name (pass your mouse over a control, and the detailed name shows up here), control value (provides useful feedback, in real units like dB and Hz, when editing a parameter), draft/normal/high rendering quality, polyphony, and number of voices in use.

As to the oscillators, although there are 59 waveforms, it's possible to warp those in so many ways (e.g., the waveshaper shown toward the right of the first image, as well as the fact that waveform width is independently modulatable for each oscillator) there are, for all practical purposes, an infinite supply of waveforms. You'll find the usual controls for each oscillator: semitone and octave transposition, fine tuning, phase control, and level. But a Multi mode (like the voice multiplication feature in Rapture) converts each oscillator to eight oscillators (four stereo), with a detune control-much like the Unison modes of old

Multi isn't the only mode; others allow the oscillator phase to start at the point specified by the phase control setting with each note-on (or phase can be inverted), or free-run so the phase doesn't restart. (Even the Multi option can be phase-synced or free-running.)

The sync/ring modulation options are richer than Bill Gates, as the oscillators can form a modulation circle where oscillator 1 modulates oscillator 2, which can modulate oscillator 3, which can modulate oscillator 4, etc. Oscillator 6 can even "close the loop" and modulate oscillator 1, so all the oscillators are doing perverse things to each other. Each oscillator pair can have a different modulation type: ring, hard sync, phase modulation, and frequency modulation. You can get some frighteningly complex sounds with these routings.

Let's look at the waveshaper a bit more: This lets you twist, bend, fold, staple, and mutilate waveforms with functions such as bit reduction, symmetry change, high or lowpass filtering, overdrive, and several others too bizarre to even attempt to describe here. You can even copy shapes to other oscillators, and any transformations get stored with the program.

The filters are fairly conventional, with one big difference: Tthe 24dB/octave filters consist of two 12dB/octave blocks, and the separation between the cutoff frequencies can be modulated (the 36dB/octave lowpass has three blocks with a similar separation option). Probably the coolest filter trick is wiggling the cutoff in formant mode to get highly "vocal" effects, although the resonance boost switch, which gives whistling self-oscillation effects, is pretty wonderful too.

I wouldn't consider the filter sound as particularly warm; it falls more on the clean, precise side of the fence. However, using the Smart Shaper option in the Distortion effect can add a nice roundness if you turn the distortion tone all the way up, and keep the distortion gain under about 6dB or so.

[Anderton]

Of the six LFOs, four are global and affect all voices, while two are local, with each note having its own LFO. Each LFO can have two waveforms, which can morph from one to the other over a variable amount of time, or be subject to mathematical functions, such as add to each other, subtract from each other, choose the first half cycle from one and the second from the other, multiply their values, take the lowest or highest instantaneous value of the two, and more. Other controls include offset amount (changes the LFO "baseline" level), delay, fade-in, rate (when not being tempo-synced), and phase (alters the phase angle, in 45 degree increments, for the waveform's starting point with each note-on). Phase can also be turned off for free-running LFO effects.

The LFO section may seem like overkill, but think beyond vibrato and tremolo: with all these options, it's possible to generate very complex control signals that evolve over time. You can make patches that are like little electronic music compositions, where you just hold down a key and listen to all kinds of weird things happen over the next minute or two.

The final LFO page contains an arpeggiator. It's fairly simple, but is tempo-synced and tracks tempo changes (or runs free, if that's your thing). Settings are stored with the patch, making it valuable for rhythmic, pulsating effects. Patterns are somewhat limited (up, down, up/down with either last note repeated or dropped, and my personal favorite, random), but the range extends from one to six octaves, a length control sets the note duration, and there's a velocity control that determines how the arpeggiator will affect a patch programmed to receive velocity.

The six general purpose envelopes and single amp envelope share the same parameters: Delay before envelope onset, attack time, slope time to attain an adjustable slope level, decay time to a sustain level, and release time. The overall envelope amount can go positive or negative, for inverse envelope effects. Furthermore, the attack, slope, decay, and release curves can be linear, concave, or convex.

The pitch envelope page is similar, but has controls for delay, start level (initial value after the delay is complete), attack time, attack level, decay time, release time, release level (final level after note off), and amount. Note that the start and release levels can be positive or negative.

As to routing all these modulation options, there's a modulation matrix with 16 "slots" where you can link up modulation sources to modulation destinations, and process the source through different curves and controllers. The choice of control curves is extensive. Some examples are bipolar processing, unipolar processing (with reverse options), "slow" (the source will be applied to a lesser degree when control values are small), pitch curves that cover a specific pitch range, and so on.

Some destinations are notable for their absence: you can't modulate any envelope parameters, the only modulatable LFO parameter is speed, delay feedback isn't supported, reverb has only one controllable parameter (level), and for the oscillators, your only options are pitch and pulse width. For example, if you want to control the envelope decay time by keyboard note number so times get shorter as you move up the keyboard . . . sorry. The mitigating factor is that almost every parameter has an easy-to-use MIDI learn function, so you can at least automate those changes and build them into the sequence. But you can't build them into the patch.

[Anderton]

On-board effects include distortion, modulation, compressor, delay, reverb, and equalizer/simulator. Distortion has six different algorithms, with my favorite being Smart Shaper because the drive characteristics change depending on the input signal. Distortion is applied to the filters, so if filters aren't used in a patch, distortion has no effect. Finally, a post-distortion tone control takes out some of the "bite" to warm things up.

The compressor has a choice of fast, mid, or slow attack, with separate controls for threshold and ratio. Unfortunately, the latter two use virtual sliders, so you can't see their values in the master page readout. Like the distortion, this is good for setting up some quick effects, but it also is useful when processing external audio signals.

The reverb is okay for its intended purpose-just don't expect Reverb of the Gods. The four algorithms are small room, mid hall, large hall, and plate, with parameters for size, damping, low frequency EQ, high frequency EQ, and wet/dry blend. The 7-band EQ, on the other hand, is a home run. The most innovative feature is that there are 12 EQ modes available, which change the band frequencies. For example, the "wide" settings spread out the bands uniformly over low to high frequencies, while the "high" setting places bands at 5, 6.3, 8, 10, 12, 15, and 18kHz. A separate "simulation mode" parameter basically creates curves you can't do manually to obtain specific effects-15" speaker, radio, generic amp, high frequency stimulator-30 in all. This is an extremely useful module (and the slider for each band can be a modulation destination).

The Modulation section also scores highly with mono, stereo, and 6-voice chorus; mono and stereo flanger; mono and stereo phaser; quad phaser; and chorus/phaser. Finally, the delay section offers three individual delay modules, each with four modes (stereo delay, ping-pong, cross delay, and LRC delay) along with sync to tempo options, a feedback control, and three EQ sliders, whose center frequencies are set by one of the six EQ modes. When not syncing to tempo, there are individual controls for left and right delay times.

[King Conga]

Craig,

Hate to be late to class, but I never read the Sonar 6 review/tutorial just because at the time I knew I couldn't afford it, so why get hot and bothered for nothing. However, I just got a new, and much better job, and will be upgrading my entire system. I promise I'll ask more pertinent questions when I come back if you could be so kind as to post that link again.

Tanx,
KC

[Anderton]

 

Craig, Hate to be late to class, but I never read the Sonar 6 review/tutorial just because at the time I knew I couldn't afford it, so why get hot and bothered for nothing. However, I just got a new, and much better job, and will be upgrading my entire system. I promise I'll ask more pertinent questions when I come back if you could be so kind as to post that link again. Tanx, KC

 

 

It's right here in the Pro Review section at http://acapella.harmony-central.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1438357.

 

Sonar rocks...I don't think you'll be disappointed.

[pbognar]

This is a cut-down version of Dimension Pro, and my opinions regarding Rapture LE vs. Rapture pretty much apply here as well: Great that it plays back all Dimension Pro patches, but in terms of editing, it's much more limited.

 

 

Craig, you mentioned that Dim LE plays back Dim Pro patches, but how do you get the Dim Pro patches if you don't own Dim Pro?

 

Are there other people selling Dim Pro patches? I got Dim LE with Home Studio 6 XL - I suspect that the Dim LE which came with Sonar Studio/Producer came with much more content (I was underwhelmed...)

 

And now I come to find that the Proteus Packs, including Proteus 2000 are compatible with Dim LE.

 

What to do for bread and butter sounds? Wait for Dim Pro to go on sale again for $99 (more than I paid for SHS6XL), get the Proteus 2000 pack for $79, or find Dim Pro content / patches elsewhere?

[flatfinger]

Probably the only thing you could do is buy the expansion packs ( CW or 3rd party ) these also have the waveforms you need to run the patches.

By the way , I agree with Craig that you need the ability to tweak those patches ! It's quite rare indeed to find one that just happens to fit in your mix. Lots of them are spectrum hogs , and although you can carve them down with eq, it's not the same.
Lots of times you'll find one thats in the ball park and then makes some small changes, like say in the attack or lfo speed , then it works much better.

[Anderton]

 

Craig, you mentioned that Dim LE plays back Dim Pro patches, but how do you get the Dim Pro patches if you don't own Dim Pro? Are there other people selling Dim Pro patches? I got Dim LE with Home Studio 6 XL - I suspect that the Dim LE which came with Sonar Studio/Producer came with much more content (I was underwhelmed...) And now I come to find that the Proteus Packs, including Proteus 2000 are compatible with Dim LE. What to do for bread and butter sounds? Wait for Dim Pro to go on sale again for $99 (more than I paid for SHS6XL), get the Proteus 2000 pack for $79, or find Dim Pro content / patches elsewhere?

 

 

Cakewalk is getting aggressive about expansion packs for Dimension Pro and Rapture. Apparently the instruments are doing well, and Cakewalk wants to "fuel the fire." I have no idea whether the original Dim Pro patches will be made available separately, but if the instruments continue to do well, I expect that you will see more support for them.

[Anderton]

Hey, here's an idea: Why doesn't Cakewalk add a world-class sampler to Sonar 8 by offering E-Mu something for the Emulator X2? Just a thought. Meanwhile, we have DropZone, which is a basic sample playback instrument.

Previous versions of Sonar (as well as Sonar 7, of course) had the SFZ player, which could play SFZ, WAV, and Ogg Vorbis files and had the additional advantage of being multitimbral-you could stick a sample (or SFZ multisample) in each MIDI channel. According to the help, it also has a multimode filter, envelopes, and other synth-type modules, but I've never been able to find them and I suspect that the help is out of sync with the product itself. Whatever.

In any event, DropZone is much more sophisticated than the SFZ player. It can load WAV, SFZ, and Ogg Vorbis files, but also AIFF and REX files. With the latter (see first attached image), you can trigger the full REX loop, or individual slices, depending on where you play on the keyboard. It also comes with a bunch of SFZ multisamples and programs, so you're not limited to rolling your own.

The samples get loaded into one or both elements, and each has a lot of options: One of 16 different filter types (with cutoff, resonance, and cutoff response to velocity, keyboard note, and mod wheel), and separate ADSR envelopes (with depth and velocity response controls) for pitch, filter cutoff, and amp. The LFO, also separate for pitch, filter cutoff, and amp, has 9 different waveforms, frequency and depth controls, and the LFO depth responds to velocity, keyboard note, and mod wheel. The second attached image shows the filter options.

Each element has a volume and pan control, as well as the option to set keyrange, velocity range switching, root note, fine tuning, keyboard tracking, and polyphony limit. You can set a start and end time for the sample, but more importantly, you can loop any portion of the waveform (the sound plays through to the loop, then loops). Once you've established a loop, you can slide it left or right in the waveform, as well as change direction (forward, backward, forward/backward) and set a crossfade time to minimize any clicks caused by the loop repeating.

Finally, you'll find a virtual X-Y pad that controls pitch and vibrato. It has "virtual spring loading" so you can "flick" it with your mouse, and it will return to center with a certain amount of inertia. You can see it to the left of the filter drop-down menu in the second attached image, which also shows an AIF waveform being forward/reverse looped.

[Anderton]

One of Dimension LE's strong points is that it can read the Garritan Pocket Orchestra library that ships with Sonar 7. Garritan's sounds are always welcome, and while the breadth of instruments doesn't come close to the Garritan Personal Orchestra, it's a nice taste of orchestral sounds.

I've already mentioned that Rapture LE and Dimension LE are great because they can play back content, but they're obviously limited compared to the full versions. Not so the z3ta+, which is the full version. It's a very tasty, capable, and underrated synthesizer that adds considerable value to the Sonar 7 package. DropZone is not going to make the designers of Kontakt/MachFive/EX24/etc. lose any sleep, but once I got into it, I will say it's a fast way to grab a sample, loop it, and play it. The main way I use it is for developing grooves when I'm in a hurry.

Ultimately, if you have a good collection of soft synths, this aspect of the Sonar 7 upgrade probably won't get you too excited. Even if you have Dimension Pro and Rapture, though, the z3ta+ makes sounds that aren't quite like anything else. And as more and more content appears for Dimension Pro and Rapture, they'll be increasing value in having these playback engines.

My one complaint involves patch storage and organization, which I find highly confusing. For example, the DropZone content (including multisamples) is located in the DropZone folder in the VSTplugins folder. Fair enough. But if you want to deposit some custom Rapture patches for Rapture LE to read, I found content for Rapture LE in Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Cakewalk\Rapture LE\Programs. But the Multisamples it reads from go in Program Files\Cakewalk\Rapture LE\Multisamples-and if you have Rapture installed, its multisamples go elsewhereWhen I created some patches for Rapture, I couldn't figure out where to put them so they'd show up in both the Rapture LE and Rapture browsers (answer: you can't get them to show up in both places, or at least I don't think you can, unless you put the programs in two places where both Rapture LE and Rapture can see them). Documentation for the instruments is scattered around as well.

From what I understand part of this patch chaos is Windows-related, in order to work with Vista. Still, there's gotta be a better way to organize patches and multisamples for these excellent instruments. Does anyone have a solution? Or can someone from Cakewalk explain the logic behind where different instruments store their patches?

[Anderton]

I said we'd close out this review with testing Sonar 7 on 64-bit Vista, but although we still need to cover some additional aspects of Sonar 7 (the export and delivery enhancements, for example, and some of the "smaller" updates), I wanted to move up the Vista aspect a bit in the review because I'm finding it pretty interesting.

First, the basics. I'm running Vista Ultimate in 64-bit mode on a PC Audio Labs computer with dual quad-core Intel 3.0 GHz processors and 8GB of RAM. In other words, if this was a car, it would be a Lamborghini. However, the graphics card is a Matrox triple-head, which is great for audio but is not deemed sufficient to run Aero (the Vista feature that gives fancy, glassy graphics). In fact, solely because of the audio card, this computer scores a "1" on Microsoft's "Windows experience" scale of wonderfulness. No matter; I'm more interested in performance than the Windows experience, and the Matrox performs very well. Besides, once you've used multiple monitors, you don't want to go back.

Second, about Vista. It has not been a smashing success the way XP was, and I doubt that its sales (and the number of people upgrading) have met Microsoft's expectations. This is both understandable and unfortunate. Understandable because XP has proven itself to be a reliable, sturdy system with a huge amount of hardware and software support. And, Microsoft didn't help matters by releasing several versions of Vista with varying capabilities (not to mention 32- and 64-bit versions), thus confusing the marketplace, and pricing the software relatively high. Nor did they fully manage to communicate what advantages Vista offers over XP, which I believe in some ways is due to the "moving target" nature of Vista: What it was promised to do several years ago falls short of what we actually have in our hands. As one example, the whole premise that Vista would have a database-driven file system that would radically change how we find and manage files turned out to be unattainable for now. The reality we're left with is a search system that just barely manages to catch up to the Mac's spotlight function, and even then, doesn't organize the search results as elegantly as the Mac.

The unfortunate aspect is that Vista doesn't deserve the way it's been dismissed. Although some of it reeks of "Mac envy" (Sidebar is just like the Mac widgets), overall I find it a cleaner, more developed (albeit initially more confusing) system than XP. The built-in speech recognition capabilities are excellent, the search function is at the very least a big improvement over XP, the system is much more secure (I actually felt okay hooking my music computer up to the net), and some of the consumer-oriented aspects--being able to make movies, DVDs, and organize photos--are convenient. Stability is as good on this initial release as it was with XP, if not better. Furthermore, you know Microsoft isn't going to go down without a fight. When the service packs start arriving, and there's more support, people will feel more comfortable with Vista.

But what's of real interest here is the 64-bit aspect, MMCSS, and WaveRT-all of which hold great promise for the future for pro audio, even though that potential is not yet realized. At present, 64-bit computing represents a transitional point, and transitions are never easy (just ask the Mac fans who endured the switch from System 9 to OS X, and from PPC to Intel--yet despite the difficulty of the transition, I don't think anyone would want to go back to the way it was). 64-bit Vista requires 64-bit processors and drivers designed specifically for 64 bits. I certainly didn't like seeing my beloved Creamware SCOPE system become useless in a 64-bit world, nor did I like not being able to use the Line 6 KB37 interface (a very, very cool songwriting tool)--sorry, 32-bit Vista only.

However, support is on the way...here's what I experienced.

[Anderton]

The first thing I needed was an audio interface. Having found MOTU's interfaces to be rock-solid in the past, and having had good luck with the MOTU Ultralite on both XP and Mac, I downloaded the Vista 64 bit drivers. But while the Ultralite showed up in the control panel sounds, device manager, and Sonar, and everything seemed to be in order, I couldn't get an output from Sonar or Windows Media Player. I'm assuming it's pilot error of some kind (I thought maybe it was the FireWire chip set, but it's a TI set as recommended by MOTU) but rather than pursue it, I thought I'd move on.

 

Next up: The E-Mu 1820m. E-Mu has beta 64-bit drivers on their site, and they work very well. The PatchMix DSP runs under a 32-bit shell, but it's functioning well, too. And I must say, it was a kick plugging a mic into it and using the speech recognition function to control Sonar. Both ASIO and WDM worked surprisingly well, given the beta nature of the drivers; although some users report problems with ASIO under Vista 64, and think WDM works better, I was able to get fairly reliable latencies around 2-3 ms with ASIO. I throttled back to 10 ms for security's sake and Sonar has performed very reliably.

 

PreSonus has real, signed, ready-for-prime-time drivers for the FireBox and other PreSonus products, so I installed the FireBox drivers. This required a firmware update, but in typical PreSonus fashion, they've made the updating process painless and obvious. Both ASIO and WDM were solid, although there were two WDM quirks: I couldn't get latencies under 12 ms, and Sonar defaulted to the wrong stream so my initial tests gave nasty, spiky, unuseable audio. The fix is simple-go Options > Audio > Driver Profiles tab, and change stream to 32-bit PCM, left-justified.

 

One advantage to WDM is you can use multiple interfaces simultaneously (something that Mac fans think was invented by Apple with the "aggregation" process in Core Audio, but was available long before that on Windows).

 

Interestingly, for some reason, "10 ms" latency in Vista 64 seems more consistent than "10 ms" latency in XP. It might be my imagination, but I don't think so. Hmmm...

[Anderton]

After a bit of effort and head-scratching, I was "on the air" with 64-bit Sonar in a 64-bit world. As much as I'd like to report I had a religious experience, Sonar ended up working pretty much as it does under XP. It seemed a bit zippier, actually, and even a bit "smoother," but there was no fantastic change that made me go "wow, this 64-bit stuff is fabulous!" And not being able to use some of my favorite hardware was a major drag. And yet...

 

Getting back to the car analogy, I felt like I indeed had a Lamborghini, but in a world where there were few roads. Sure, it was great to gas the accelerator on a straightaway, but I would need two things to make this system really zoom: An interface with WaveRT drivers (which I'm convinced have the potential to revolutionize how we deal with audio on computers), and the ability to turn some of my RAM into a virtual drive so I could record and edit in that--no hard drive required. (The MMCSS scheduling service is another important element, but it has more to do with keeping other programs from hassling Sonar than improving Sonar's performance per se.)

 

The Big Deal about WaveRT is not that it lowers latency--that depends on how many sample buffers you're using--but that it promises to lower the latency you can get without stressing out your CPU. I'm sure many of you have had the experience of setting a low latency value, only to find that as you started adding tracks and instruments, the CPU started red-lining and you had to increase latency. The promise of WaveRT is that you will be able to run low latencies without needing excessive CPU resources.

 

Some have said that WaveRT will never take off because it's a Microsoft standard. Yet it's a standard that was developed in close cooperation with the audio community, not something where Microsoft said "here, take it or leave it." It deserves a shot at becoming a standard.

 

The ability to access huge amounts of RAM, another Vista goodie, holds promise in two areas: Samplers (no more streaming from hard disk, unless you want to) and the possibility to record right into RAM and edit there as well. Between that and WaveRT, we can expect to see a day--hopefully before too long--when the CPU and disk meters don't register very high, even with fairly complex projects.

 

Ultimately, other aspects of Vista come into play: A better search function will make it easier to find files, projects, and samples, and the built-in backup and imaging functions should make it increasingly difficult for people to use the "I didn't back up my data!" excuse. And if you're not afraid to put your music computer on the net, that makes the whole online collaboration thang a lot more believable.

[Anderton]

I don't have to make that decision, as the PC Audio Labs computer comes with a removable system drive so I can boot into XP or Vista 64. You could also have a dual boot system with separate partitions (I prefer the removable drive approach, because if a hard drive fails, you can carry on with the other system until you restore your imaged backup.)

However, a crucial consideration here is that Sonar is a bit different from the norm: It's a complete 64-bit system with some bitchin' instruments and plug-ins, as well as the sequencer itself. There are many times I don't need to go "outside" Sonar to do a project, and for those times, there's no reason not to go 64-bit. It is the way computing is going, so why not get a head start?

Having said that, though, I think the majority of people are going to stick with XP and 32-bit Sonar until they see some demonstrably obvious advantage to going 64-bit. That could be when WaveRT drivers hit, when their current hardware gets updated drivers, or when more programs start appearing that take advantage of 64-bit operation, like TASCAM's GigaStudio 4.

I'm in a somewhat unusual situation because there are two aspects to my musical life: The purely musical, "I-need-to-hit-the-Fed-Ex-dropoff" part, and the "journalist-exploring-new-frontiers" part. Each one now lives on its own boot drive . I don't find Vista anywhere near as puzzling as others do; it seems to me like a logical evolution of XP, although you do have to wrap your head around some changes. And when I boot up in 64 bits, I can't help but feel I'm on the threshold of the next era in computing. I'm not exactly sure where it's going to take us--and who knows, maybe it will end up being the computer equivalent of the SACD and fizzle in the face of consumer resistance--but I have high hopes.

Meanwhile, given that Sonar can install as a 32-bit or 64-bit application, you can find out for yourself whether the next step is worth taking (assuming, of course, you have a system that can support 64-bit operation). "Always in motion, the future..." I'm digging the 64-bit thing, but that doesn't mean I recommend it--especially if you have a system that works just fine, and you have tight deadlines to meet. But I do think that one day, you'll end up in a 64-bit world. And it may very well be AMD...although that's a separate discussion!

[Anderton]

Every Pro Review has a different gestalt, but this one puzzles me a bit. We have over 36,000 page views, which means a lot of people are reading this review...yet there are very few questions or comments. I haven't seen Alex from Cakewalk poke his head in here for some time, either. Maybe this means I'm doing such a wonderful job no one feels the need to ask any questions, and the lack of comments simply means that everyone agrees with me. But this is in the internet! You're supposed to be making suggestions about what should be in future versions, telling me what I don't "get," and describing some of your own experiences.

As long as the page views keep increasing steadily, I'll keep posting but please, if you have anything to say, don't be shy!

We'll be wrapping this up soon as we delve into the remaining new features in Sonar 7, and then we'll present some conclusions.