CAKEWALK SONAR 7 - NOW WITH CONCLUSIONS!

[ross g]

Because (IMHExperience) Sonar and X2 don't get along too well. Sonar frequently suffers the White Screen of Sloth when I load X2, and sometimes just doesn't make it, forcing me to "kill app" or even to reboot. Then loading one of E-MUs copy-protected (C-Dilla) libraries is the next hurdle. I actively avoid using X2 with Sonar, unless it's the only way to achieve something. In fairness, I have heard no-one else complaining about this, although many users seem to have problems with Proteus X2, which I presume shares a lot of code with Emulator X2. Sorry to respond so late to your post!

 

 

so far i haven't noticed any problems...X2 seems to load pretty slow all the time for me ...

[garrigus]

No I haven't, but I think it's likely that PC Audio Labs already applied it unless it just came out within the past couple months. Do you know where to find the patch, and also, how to tell if it's installed on my machine? Thanks again.

 

 

Hey Craig,

 

Check out this link:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=60416

 

Best,

Scott

 

--

Scott R. Garrigus - Author of the Cakewalk Sonar and Sony Sound Forge Power book series. Get Sonar 7 Power & Sound Forge 8 Power - Today! Go to: http://www.garrigus.com/

 

Publisher of DigiFreq - free music technology newsletter. Win a free Absynth 3 or Kontakt 2 DVD Tutorial, go to: http://www.digifreq.com/digifreq/

 

Publisher of NewTechReview - free consumer technology newsletter. Win a free WWF Slam Cam digital camera, go to: http://www.newtechreview.com/newtechreview/

[Anderton]

Thanks Scott! I'll check out adding the hotfix.

[pbognar]

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.

 

 

I almost thought I had a second chance to upgrade to Dim Pro for $99 from the Dim LE which came with my Sonar Home Studio 6 XL with a confusing 5 day offer from Cakewalk, but it appears that you have to also buy/upgarde to Sonar 7 to qualify.

 

How is the content which comes with Dimension Pro out of the box? I know this is subjective, but if it is really that great, maybe it's even worth the normal customer price of $149 - but I have nothing to compare it to.

[rcorujo]

Hello everyone,

I am new to this forum and was hoping that I could get some answers to the following questions:

1) Does SONAR 7 allow you to create a professional sounding recording using strictly MIDI (e.g. no audio input from keyboards)? I have an $80 software package called Magix Midi Studio and the standard patches don't sound very realistic so I was wondering if purchasing the more expensive SONAR 7 instead of a super expensive workstation like the Roland G70 is enough.

2) Does SONAR 7 have a vocal harmonizer and is it any good?

3) Does SONAR 7 have anything to enhance your vocals like, for example, automatically adjust the vocals should you momentarily go out of pitch?

4) Does SONAR 7 have anything to alter your vocals like make a man's voice sound like a woman's voice, for example?

5) Does SONAR 7 do MIDI to WAV without you actually having to take the output on the sound card and feed it into the input on the sound card? Magix MIDI studio does something called "bouncing" but only on audio tracks, not MIDI tracks. The Magix FAQs say that you can't bounce MIDI. Does SONAR 7 have a way to do this?

6) Does SONAR 7 have real electric guitar sounding patches and does it mimic downstrokes and upstrokes?

7) I assume that, in the end, the realism of the sounds really depend on the sound card. What sound card would best produce realistic sounds from MIDI?

8) Can SONAR 7 change your voice from one key to another without speeding up or slowing down the recording?

Thank you.

Rigoberto

[garrigus]

1) Yes, you'll find some acoustic sounds in Dimension LE and DropZone, however, if you're looking for super-realistic (as in 24-bit samples with many different articulations, you'll have to invest in an expensive sound library like the ones available from East West). Either that or you can also use audio loops that provide pre-recorded realistic performances.

 

2) Not something that is automatic, but you can experiment with the included V-Vocal to create your own harmonies.

 

3) Yes, the built-in V-Vocal processor.

 

4) No, not really. Again, you can experiment with V-Vocal to change the pitch and formant of the vocal part to get various results.

 

5) Yes, you can easily bounce or freeze a MIDI track that is driving a software synth, which converts it to audio automatically.

 

6) Same answer as #1.

 

7) No, it depends on the quality of the sample library of the soft synth that you are using for MIDI playback. However, a good soundcard is needed for high-quality audio output of your final production. Cakewalk has a list of recommended cards on their site at:

http://www.cakewalk.com/Tips/audiohw.asp

 

8) Yes, you can use V-Vocal for that.

 

I'm sure you'll get some more info from others here as well, but suffice it to say, Sonar is an excellent piece of software.

 

Scott

 

--

Scott R. Garrigus - Author of the Cakewalk Sonar and Sony Sound Forge Power book series. Get Sonar 7 Power & Sound Forge 8 Power - Today! Go to: http://www.garrigus.com/

 

Publisher of DigiFreq - free music technology newsletter. Win a free Absynth 3 or Kontakt 2 DVD Tutorial, go to: http://www.digifreq.com/digifreq/

 

Publisher of NewTechReview - free consumer technology newsletter. Win a free WWF Slam Cam digital camera, go to: http://www.newtechreview.com/newtechreview/

[Healing Spirit]

Hi

I'm brand new to this forum and to Sonar 7, having escaped from Cubase which I found tough to get on with. I almost gave up but was told that Sonar is far more intuitive.

Thanks so much for this thread - I've learned a lot from it.

I have also ordered Scott's book, which I'm sure will also be a great.

I'll not ask any questions yet, as I havent finished the user's guide and I know how irritating questions can be when the obvious answer is RT(F)M!

I am confused, however. Several posts have referred to a 'VST folder'. Looking at my Sonar 7 folder in Windows Explorer, I can't see it as a first level folder; I'm worried that I may have not installed everything correctly, but will keep looking.

Thanks again to everyone; I must say that a) not having to use a USB dongle, b) the laid back and friendly attitude of everyone compared to the Cubase forum, c) the readability of the user guide and d) Cakewalk's generosity in the competitive cross-grade price, have all made for a great first impression

[Anderton]

Hello everyone, I am new to this forum and was hoping that I could get some answers to the following questions:

 

 

Scott pretty much covered the answers, but here are some additional comments.

 

 

1) Does SONAR 7 allow you to create a professional sounding recording using strictly MIDI (e.g. no audio input from keyboards)?

 

 

Scott assumed that by "realistic" you mean acoustic sounds, but be aware that Sonar lets you make a lot of realistic synth sounds, like Minimoog emulations.

 

 

2) Does SONAR 7 have a vocal harmonizer and is it any good? 3) Does SONAR 7 have anything to enhance your vocals like, for example, automatically adjust the vocals should you momentarily go out of pitch? 4) Does SONAR 7 have anything to alter your vocals like make a man's voice sound like a woman's voice, for example? 8) Can SONAR 7 change your voice from one key to another without speeding up or slowing down the recording?

 

 

These all relate to the V-Vocal vocal processor. Remember that these types of products can only do so much. If you want to transpose your voice a fifth above, you're not going to get very realistic results but if you just need to fix some pitch issues here and there, it works just fine. Also in terms of enhancing vocals, Sonar has compressors, equalizers, reverb and the like, which can also improve the sound of vocals.

 

 

7) I assume that, in the end, the realism of the sounds really depend on the sound card. What sound card would best produce realistic sounds from MIDI?

 

 

You might be assuming a sound card with built-in sounds...but with Sonar, the TTS-1 synthesizer provides a decent set of General MIDI sounds (piano, guitar, strings, brass, etc.) so you want a sound card that's optimized for audio quality.

 

In addition to looking on the Cakewalk site, I've found the Line 6 KB37 to be an all-around useful interface. It includes audio interfacing but also a keyboard that's useful for entering MIDI parts.

[rcorujo]

Thank you Scott and Craig for your very informative answers.

Rigoberto

[garrigus]

I have also ordered Scott's book, which I'm sure will also be a great. I'll not ask any questions yet, as I havent finished the user's guide and I know how irritating questions can be when the obvious answer is RT(F)M! I am confused, however. Several posts have referred to a 'VST folder'. Looking at my Sonar 7 folder in Windows Explorer, I can't see it as a first level folder; I'm worried that I may have not installed everything correctly, but will keep looking.

 

 

Hi Healing Spirit,

 

Thanks for purchasing my book! I hope you enjoy it.

 

To find the VST folders that Sonar is using on your system, in Sonar choose Options > Global > VST Plug-Ins. That box lists all the VST folders that Sonar looks to find any VST plug-ins you are using. You can also change the folders, add new folders, etc.

 

Scott

 

--

Scott R. Garrigus - Author of the Cakewalk Sonar and Sony Sound Forge Power book series. Get Sonar 7 Power & Sound Forge 8 Power - Today! Go to: http://www.garrigus.com/

 

Publisher of DigiFreq - free music technology newsletter. Win a free Absynth 3 or Kontakt 2 DVD Tutorial, go to: http://www.digifreq.com/digifreq/

 

Publisher of NewTechReview - free consumer technology newsletter. Win a free WWF Slam Cam digital camera, go to: http://www.newtechreview.com/newtechreview/

[Anderton]

Be aware that programs often install their own folders for VST plug-ins. For example, Cubase will install one in the Steinberg folder.

 

What I do is create a single VST plug-ins folder within the Programs folder on the root drive (i.e., C:\Programs\VSTplugins). When I install a program, I always choose that as the place to install VST plug-ins, and tell the programs that's where to look for VST plug-ins by setting the file path (as Scott describes above for Sonar).

 

Another consideration is that most programs let you specify more than one VST plug-ins folder. This is very useful if you encounter plug-ins that work in some programs but not in others: I have a "problematic plug-ins" folder that some programs look in for plug-ins, but which is excluded from other programs.

 

However, in that respect, note that Sonar has sophisticated plug-in management options that let you exclude, rename, re-order, etc. plug-ins. This is part of the extensive customization that Sonar allows, and to me, is one of the program's strongest points.

[Healing Spirit]

Thank you kind sirs!

I look forward to hours of fun learning this prog... I'm sure I'll be asking for help before long!

[Anderton]

Well, you've found the right place to ask But let me also remind you that the Cakewalk forums are excellent. Many people consider them a valuable extra "feature" of the program.

 

And again, props to Scott for his participation!

[garrigus]

And again, props to Scott for his participation!

Hey Craig,

No problem. I'm glad to help out...

By the way, nice job on the December issue of EQ. I really enjoyed your Sounds of the Psychedelic Era article. Very groovy, man...

Scott

--
Scott R. Garrigus - Author of the Cakewalk Sonar and Sony Sound Forge Power book series. Get Sonar 7 Power & Sound Forge 8 Power - Today! Go to: http://www.garrigus.com/

Publisher of DigiFreq - free music technology newsletter. Win a free Absynth 3 or Kontakt 2 DVD Tutorial, go to: http://www.digifreq.com/digifreq/

Publisher of NewTechReview - free consumer technology newsletter. Win a free WWF Slam Cam digital camera, go to: http://www.newtechreview.com/newtechreview/

[Anderton]

Thanks Scott, the December issue of EQ is getting a very strong and favorable response so you're not alone!

We now return to our regularly scheduled programming. Let's get into how V-Vocal does pitch-to-MIDI....

[M4Ever]

In the meantime, ACT has pretty much replaced that older method for assigning hardware controllers. It's not too difficult to use. It's just the initial setup that can be a little confusing. After that, you make controller assignments in a similar manner by using ACT Learn. Turn it on, mouse over some controls then move some hardware controls (in the same order you want them assigned), turn ACT Learn off and confirm the assignments when Sonar asks. That's it. There's a section in my book about ACT so you might want to take a look at that and see if it helps to get you going with it. Scott -- Scott R. Garrigus - Author of the Cakewalk Sonar and Sony Sound Forge Power book series. Get Sonar 7 Power & Sound Forge 8 Power - Today! Go to: http://www.garrigus.com/ Publisher of DigiFreq - free music technology newsletter. Win a free Absynth 3 or Kontakt 2 DVD Tutorial, go to: http://www.digifreq.com/digifreq/ Publisher of NewTechReview - free consumer technology newsletter. Win a free WWF Slam Cam digital camera, go to: http://www.newtechreview.com/newtechreview/

Hello

I have Sonar PE 7.0 and just got an Edirol PCR-800. It was really easy to set up for ACT. I started to learn about how to assign buttons, faders and knobs to plugins. I practiced ACT Learn on Sonitus fx Gate and i assigned 2 faders S7 and S8 to Gain and Threshold. It was very easy.
But then i wanted to undo it, since i don't want to keep these assigments (it was just for practicing).
And here comes my problem. I can't figure it out, how can i unassign anything or how can i delete a whole ACT layout for a plugin if i wnt to change it? I didn't find anything in the help file, the Sonar manual or anywhere else about undo an assigment in ACT Learn. I asked that on the Cakewalk forum but no answer yet.
I tried the same thing in Sonar PE 6.21 with the Sonitus Gate and Izotope Vinyl plugins. So easy to assign them, but can't find a way to unassign anything. It's just strange to me that there is no info about it at all (or i'm just so blind
Probably it's a very simple step, just i'm missing something here.
Please someone help me!

[garrigus]

In Sonar, use the Tools menu and choose the control surface you are using from the list to open the Properties windows for that surface. Then click the Options tab and use either the Default button or Clear MIDI Learn button to erase your control assignments.

 

Scott

 

--

Scott R. Garrigus - Author of the Cakewalk Sonar and Sony Sound Forge Power book series. Get Sonar 7 Power & Sound Forge 8 Power - Today! Go to: http://www.garrigus.com/

 

Publisher of DigiFreq - free music technology newsletter. Win a free Absynth 3 or Kontakt 2 DVD Tutorial, go to: http://www.digifreq.com/digifreq/

 

Publisher of NewTechReview - free consumer technology newsletter. Win a free WWF Slam Cam digital camera, go to: http://www.newtechreview.com/newtechreview/

[King Conga]

Craig,

Was there anywhere in your review that you commented on the chipsets, and/or the MOBO that you used to test Sonar (either ver 6 or 7)? If so, pardon me for revisiting it; otherwise could you enlightened me. I'm researching the issue as diligently as I can.

Thanks for the help,
KC

[Anderton]

I used a dual-core AMD Athlon computer from ADK for the Sonar 6 review, and am using a dual quad-core Intel computer from PC Audio Labs for Sonar 7 as it lets me evaluate both the 64-bit and standard versions of Sonar.

[M4Ever]

In Sonar, use the Tools menu and choose the control surface you are using from the list to open the Properties windows for that surface. Then click the Options tab and use either the Default button or Clear MIDI Learn button to erase your control assignments. Scott -- Scott R. Garrigus - Author of the Cakewalk Sonar and Sony Sound Forge Power book series. Get Sonar 7 Power & Sound Forge 8 Power - Today! Go to: http://www.garrigus.com/ Publisher of DigiFreq - free music technology newsletter. Win a free Absynth 3 or Kontakt 2 DVD Tutorial, go to: http://www.digifreq.com/digifreq/ Publisher of NewTechReview - free consumer technology newsletter. Win a free WWF Slam Cam digital camera, go to: http://www.newtechreview.com/newtechreview/

 

 

Thanks for the reply, Scott!

 

I tried the default button before and it doesn't do anything with the plugin control assigments as far as i can tell. If i press F1 for the help file it says: "...Defaults button--click this button to restore all the fields and checkboxes on the Options tab to their default values...." which has no effect on the blue boxes (plugin assigments) on the Controllers tab only for the green boxes (they can be set from the Options tab).

 

Here is how i did my set up, maybe it clears up what i'm doing wrong:

1. Turn on the PCR-800 (connected via USB), then start Sonar 6.21 or 7.0 (same thing in both case)

2. Options Menu / MIDI Devices /

Input:Edirol PCR 1 and Edirol PCR 2, Output: Edirol PCR

3. Options / Controllers-Surfaces / Add New Surfaces

I choose the Edirol PCR-300 template, Input Port: EDIROL PCR 2, Output Port:--None- (I read it from Brandon Ryan in a post to set it to none but it doesn't make any different if i set it to EDIROL PCR)

4. Now i go to Tools menu and click on Edirol PCR-300 - 1 . It opens up and now the control assigments visible on the Controllers tab. There are blue and green boxes.

The blue boxes are assignable to plugins. I insert the Izotope Vinyl plugin in the Master Bus track Fx bin (or any other plugin into any other fx bin) The sliders and knobs are assigned immediately into those blue boxes on the Controllers tab. But I want them in a different setup. So I set them up the way I want them. And here comes my question.

In this example I assigned accidentally (or just change my mind later on) S7 and S8 sliders to control the same button (Vinyl: RPM) in Izotope Vinyl (see picture below). How can I clear S8’s blue box, so if I move the S8 slider on the PCR-800 it won’t control the Vinyl: RPM button in the plugin? I can assign it to a different button or slider in the plugin with no problem but I don’t know how to “empty” it completely if I don’t want the S8 slider to control anything within this plugin!

 

The only way I found it to do is to edit the xml file in the ACT Data folder but it has to be an easier way to do it from within Sonar, I suppose. However I couldn’t find anything in the help files, the manual or even the Sonar 6 Power! Book about this so far! It’s always only how to assign controllers but not how to dump unwanted assignments.

 

Any suggestion? Thanks in advance.

[K705]

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!

 

 

Hi Craig,

 

I evaluated Sonar7 for the past two weeks (and ordered it today). Your review has been an important help to sort out what I want and what Sonar delivers. Especially the instruments section was useful as they don't show up in the demo version. Thanks a lot. :-)

 

K705

(still reading here)

[garrigus]

Thanks for the reply, Scott! I tried the default button before and it doesn't do anything with the plugin control assigments as far as i can tell. If i press F1 for the help file it says: "...Defaults button--click this button to restore all the fields and checkboxes on the Options tab to their default values...." which has no effect on the blue boxes (plugin assigments) on the Controllers tab only for the green boxes (they can be set from the Options tab).

 

 

Ah... okay. I see what you mean. Well, it looks like Cakewalk assumed that people would want all their controls assigned, because it looks like the only way to totally delete an assignment is to do what you did... edit the XML file.

 

Scott

 

--

Scott R. Garrigus - Author of the Cakewalk Sonar and Sony Sound Forge Power book series. Get Sonar 7 Power & Sound Forge 8 Power - Today! Go to: http://www.garrigus.com/

 

Publisher of DigiFreq - free music technology newsletter. Win a free Absynth 3 or Kontakt 2 DVD Tutorial, go to: http://www.digifreq.com/digifreq/

 

Publisher of NewTechReview - free consumer technology newsletter. Win a free WWF Slam Cam digital camera, go to: http://www.newtechreview.com/newtechreview/

[zinoff]

I remember reading somewhere, but can't figure out where...

..That there was a shortcut combination in Sonar7 that would allow you to slow down the screen updates in order to free up even more CPU resources, I remember as well reading that there is no indicator that shows whether this option is active or not.

Does anyone know more about this? How to enable/disable this functionality?

Thanks a lot!

[Anderton]

Use the QWERTY keyboard'sPause key, and yes, there is no indicator other than a sluggish GUI - the UI gets updated only once per second in this mode, but it saves quite a bit of CPU power.

Thanks for reminding me to mention this!

[Surfer11May]

Regarding the Roland V-Vocal 1.5, now with Pitch to MIDI conversion:

Will this work for polyphonic tracks?
Can four part harmony be picked out of a vocal audio track?
What about a few trumpets, a vocal, and some strings?

On another topic, I'm picking up a new computer with quad core and preinstalled Vista Home Premium. For a second boot drive, should I try XP 64 or Vista Ultimate 64? Or would XP Pro and Vista Ultimate 64 be a better combination for a removable dirve two boot system?

Thanks for the Thread.