[Bill Saunders]

My DAW of choice for the past 10 years has ceased to be. No more development ever! Only a matter of time before Windows updates mean it no longer works...

No rush, but I wonder which DAW is the closest to Sonar - i.e. The shallowest learning curve for me!

And here's a thought to those it really affects - all the guys at Cakewalk that have made Sonar the wonderful DAW it is. Terrible time of year for this kind of news. All the best guys.

[Yodasdad]

Hi Bill,

I use Logic Pro X but by the sounds of it you're on Pc and I'm pretty sure it's only available on Mac.

If you did decide to go down this route though, I find it quite straight forward and to be honest if you've been using any DAW for 10 years, the learning curve probably won't be that steep no matter what you switch to.

If I was to choose a new DAW myself I think I would go with Pro tools, again I think this might be Mac only though, not sure.

Well I'm sure that hasn't helped you at all has it.

Go and switch your automatic updates off and hold on as long as you can.

Yodasdadd

[Neil C]

Bill,
Thanks, thats a pisser Gibson Ceases Development Of Cakewalk Products – Synthtopia
Still at least I've a job.. and the software still work.

'Cakewalk's servers will continue to operate, you will still have access to all of your online assets, and your software will continue to work normally"

I'm on X3 studio I think better check and get the latest version..

 
neil

[Boydie]

This is terrible news for the guys at Cakewalk - there are not many companies where the Chief Technical Officer (Noel) regularly interacted with users on the Sonar forum

I have been a very heavy Sonar user for many many many years and wrote the review of Sonar X2 for FUTURE MUSIC magazine so I have a really deep relationship with Sonar

Looking forward I would say the first thing to do is not panic - at this moment in time it is only the updates that will stop. The software will continue to work "as is"

I believe Studio One is the daw most like SONAR - but it is also worth checking out Cubase and ProTools

The only positive for me personally is that my main mixing and mastering workflows rely on some key 3rd party plugins from Waves, FabFilter and Izotope so as long as I can load these up the actual host DAW becomes less and less important to me

It is truly a sad day 

[shadowfax]

Studio one 3.5 is currently on sale at 50% off until coming Monday I believe, defo recommend it..a fab DAW
I have been using CUbase for a long time but am moving over to Studio one because it's light years ahead of Cubase.....Cubase has just had a major upgrade which includes a lot of stuff they've nicked from Studio one..
dumped Mixbus..just too steep a learning curve..though it's a very nice sounding DAW and is available for 29USD at the mo..well worth it..
changing DAW's is scary so I'm doing it gradually..probably over the next 10 years or so  

I would say Studio one has the shallowest learning curve coming from Sonar

[adamfarr]

I've only ever used Reaper, so I can't compare, but I didn't find it at all hard to get into. For the price hard to beat on functionality and it has a great community and forums etc. for any questions (and there are a few of us on here too). Stock plugins are not pretty but totally functional. Doesn't really have any instruments so you have to find those elsewhere.

[Bill Saunders]

Like Boydie, I rely quite heavily on third party plugs, especially Waves, so that's a positive. Erring towards Studio One.

Before Sonar, I used Tracktion, which went without development for a number of years before being rescued. But from that experience, I honestly think working with Sonar (and switching off Windows updates) is NOT the way to go.

Time to move on.

[Neil C]

I'm going to stick for a while. And get my songs/tracks properly organised and backed up etc.
But the web site is very slow, I guess people are downloading latest versions etc..
 
neil

[Boydie]

Someone heard that they are uploading some "final versions" of the software 

I think sticking for the time being is a good strategy

Presonus will be announcing a special deal on Tuesday to tempt Sonarians over to Studio One so that could be interesting as a "back up" to start learning

Cubase are also circling - but they do not have ARA integration with Melodyne, which is a deal breaker for me - Studio One does though...

[Neil C]

So Boydie, how do you approach backing up Sonar?

I'm think about Bundled Files, .cwb. But also going through and getting rid of all draft projects for each one and just bundled the final mix and master for each?

I have been lazy and because I had large disk space never thought about it but I do have a few 100GB's so probably best to get organised.

Thanks in anticipation.
 
Neil

This is what the sonar support says:

Per-project Audio Folders
If you are using per-project audio folders you can create a copy of the project folder and its audio subfolder. This method is an exact copy of your project, preserving all clips and pathname information.
Consolidate Project Audio
If your project references audio from multiple folders, for example you have a library of loops that you share between several projects, you can gather all the audio for your project into a single folder using the Consolidate Project Audio command. The Consolidate Project Audio command copies every audio file your project references into a backup folder beneath the projects audio data folder. Creating a copy of all your project’s audio may take a lot of disk space.
Allows you to create a complete backup of all project audio even if the audio is in multiple locations. Creates a new folder which you can move or delete without fear of losing the original audio files.
Bundle Files
A bundle file is a single file that contains all the information—except video—used in a project. A bundle file includes everything that is stored in a normal project file, plus all the digital audio that is used in the project. Creates a single file for ease of portability.

[montydog]

This is a bit of a nightmare for little 'ol me 

I have an ancient version of Sonar 7 Producer Edition which by some miracle of sheer luck, runs on my newish Windows 7 equipped PC. I'm not one for having to learn a new piece of software so I'm toying with the idea of buying the latest version of Sonar Professional for £160 in the hope that it will buy me another few years of functionality.

By the time that it's not compatible with whatever OS I'm running in the distant future, I'll be too old and crozzled to sing anymore.

Any comments/ideas?

M

[tone]

That could work. Or you could 'lock down' your current system and use it as a dedicated recording machine until it physically malfunctions. In other words, disconnect it from the net, disable all operating system updates, and just keep using what you know. Get a cheap refurb laptop for emails/whatever.

If you're actually going to spend money, and keep a computer current, I think you'd be better off going for something with longevity. You're not THAT old, mate

[Boydie]

So Boydie, how do you approach backing up Sonar?

This is actually a bit of a tricky one

The ideal solution (as TONE has said) is to keep an environment where SONAR is working, which will then enable you to open old projects

If you are using "per project folders" then the audio for your projects will be in an audio folder within the project file, so you could re-assemble the track in another DAW - but these will be the original, UNEDITED, files

You could save each file as an OMF file, which can then be opened by another DAW - if it supports OMF (Studio One does NOT currently support OMF)

You could export each track as a WAV file to preserve the editing and then decide if you want the export with or without fx etc. (Or export a version of each)

This will be a VERY lengthy process and would taken some time if you had lots of different projects - I have waaay too many to do this process for each one!

My current thinking is therefore:

Carry on with SONAR and keep a version to pen older projects for as long as possible

If SONAR breaks and I ever want to work on an older project (possible but unlikely) I will then dig in to the project folder and reassemble the track - or it may even be easier to start from scratch in the new DAW

I'm not one for having to learn a new piece of software so I'm toying with the idea of buying the latest version of Sonar Professional for £160 in the hope that it will buy me another few years of functionality.

I would strongly advise against this - I would personally suggest checking out STUDIO ONE PRO as I think you will be able to do everything you currently do with an easy learning curve as it is very similar to SONAR - there is a demo if you want to have a play. I hear there is a special offer coming on Tuesday for SONAR users to convert to Studio One

Once this is known I will be looking at options

[shadowfax]

Studio one 3.5 pro is very easy to learn/use, everything just seems to fall into place, I think today is the last day to get it half price...hanging on to something that has been dumped is not a good idea!

Alan mate..for just another 40 Quid you can get Studio one...

[shadowfax]

Someone heard that they are uploading some "final versions" of the software  

I think sticking for the time being is a good strategy

Presonus will be announcing a special deal on Tuesday to tempt Sonarians over to Studio One so that could be interesting as a "back up" to start learning

Cubase are also circling - but they do not have ARA integration with Melodyne, which is a deal breaker for me - Studio One does though...

Hi Paul..what do you mean by 'Cubase is circling'? please..

and cubase doesn't need Melodyne it has it's own version which for general purpose use is just as good,
I have both and it's impossible to hear a difference over 4 tones... within a mix..of course..
and Melodyne works fine in Cubase..

however, I would not recommend Cubase to anyone..too expensive and a very steep learning curve..
it's also a click fest, which Studio one isn't