Cakewalk Sonar Home Studio

[Johnny Lenin]

I just want to say that Sonar Home Studio is the buggiest commercial software of any kind that I have ever used. Ever.

I have had no end of problems with this program.

• I installed it well enough and it worked reasonably well except that it kept dropping out whenever I had my WiFi card on. Then, a couple of weeks ago, it just stopped launching. I'd get the splash screen and then... nothing. The only thing I did between the time the program worked and it didn't is I imported a MIDI file so I could print scores.
  I called Cakewalk tech support, and they suggested that I reinstall it, which I did with no change. Then I wiped the HD, reformatted, reinstalled Windows and Sonar, and it worked.
  Then I tried to do the MIDI notation thing again. Same result.
  So I wiped and reinstalled Windows and Sonar again, and it works -- I will NOT be printing any notation from this program.
  But now, I can't mixdown. Not to WAV. Not to MP3. Not to WMA. I mean, I could yesterday. But now, when I "export audio," the program gives writes a 4 kb file with nothing in it. The funny thing is that I made absolutely no changes to my computer between yesterday and today. It just stopped being able to mixdown.

Cakewalk Tech Support has been useless. I've been told "sometimes the problem is with your computer's configuration." Fair enough, but that wouldn't explain why things work one day and don't work the next. And despite promises of a 48-hour email turnaround, I still haven't heard from Cakewalk about an e-mail query after ten days.

The thing is, I like the features and workflow of Sonar. If it worked, I would be really happy.

So.. what's a good, easy-to-use DAW with firewire support in the Sonar Home Studio price range?

[crystalmsc]

what version of Sonar you are using? Sounds like a hardware incompatibility, or may be try different type of windows. I'm using XP and always use a pentium based processor. hope you have a good luck with it, because if run well, you already got a more than good daw.

[Johnny Lenin]

what version of Sonar you are using? Sounds like a hardware incompatibility, or may be try different type of windows. I'm using XP and always use a pentium based processor. hope you have a good luck with it, because if run well, you already got a more than good daw.

I'm using XP with an Intel PC. I doubt it's a hardware incompatibility because it worked just fine for four months before it stopped working. Hardware would have been a consistent problem. And it's v. 6.

[Overgear]

Sorry to hear of your Sonar troubles. Unfortunately, I can only back up your statement of it being buggy. I find it gets more and more bloated with every version. They add new features while breaking old ones. I gave up on customer service in 2000. It seems they won't even acknowledge a problem unless it is backed by an angry mob with burning torches.

I've learned "workarounds" for many ongoing bugs. Enough to make it usable. The same bugs persist through multiple pc rebuilds, both amd and intel processors, at least 10 XP Pro installs, multiple audio and midi interfaces, everything. I bought the v7 upgrade early December. I haven't installed it and I am almost afraid to. Why? Because, despite the much needed improvements in 7(sidechaining for one), v6 is working right now. I don't know if v7 will, and if it doesn't will I be able to go back to v6 without having to reinstall windows. I got v7 in a cross promo w/ UA which saved me money on the ridiculous upgrade fee($189, 6pro to 7pro). They also threw in Pyro(useless to me) and "Sonar 7 Power!"(here's my review of the 600+ pg brick - I weep for the trees...). They probably have tons of stock on those two. Oh, and another thing, v7 came out in Oct '07. They're already at 7.0.2. The two patches, together, are 162 mbs.

When I bought Kontakt2, I tested it in Sonar using a Les Paul sample set from the Kontakt library. I did a decent amount of pitchbend automation on the Sonar midi track to emulate bends and unique vibratos. It played back perfectly in real-time. When I went to Export/Mixdown, Sonar couldn't handle a single measure. It would just go nuts with the pitchbend automation. Total c**p! I exported the midi track with all the pitchbend data as a .mid file. I loaded it in Reaper and set up Kontakt the same as in Sonar. It played back just as good as it did in Sonar. I exported/rendered the track(using Reaper) and it did it flawlessly! That's how I was able to finish the track in Sonar! Load the rendered file from Reaper into Sonar. That's just stupid.

Check out Reaper. I really like the whole idea and it is constantly being improved. Some people don't like that there can be updates almost weekly. After paying for Cakewalk "updates" for years, I find it refreshing and it shows a certain passion I haven't seen from Cakewalk since the mid 90s. I'm just waiting for a few midi issues to get worked out within Reaper. Once they're remedied, I'm switching.

I agree, Sonar could be a great DAW. It's a shame. It just feels like they want my money more than they want my business. Does that make sense?
Why do I keep using Cakewalk/Sonar? I've used it since '94. It's what I know.

[Overgear]

Forgot to mention this. It sounds like you know your way around Sonar. I found exporting to be a pain in the a*s, at first. It took a while to get any result(bouncing tracks, too). When I would get no file or a very small file, I found I hadn't selected the tracks and time properly. Most of the time, I hadn't "selected"(or highlighted) the time ruler above the track view to the length of the song, including fx tails at the end. When you mentioned the 4k file, it made me think of this. Though, it would not surprise me if it was just Sonar.

Are you using the "What U Hear" preset in Export?


I am interested to see Rolands involvement. I just don't think it will amount to much. Who knows...

[crystalmsc]

what about windows service pack 2?

[killedaway]

So.. what's a good, easy-to-use DAW with firewire support in the Sonar Home Studio price range?

i was leaning toward Sonar but ultimately chose Tracktion 3 for my first DAW. the price was right, and it seems to do everything i want. i am new to DAWs, so i may not have the best perspective, but the software is incredibly stable and dead-easy to use. almost everything is condensed into one screen, meaning you have access to audio & MIDI tracks, VSTs, mixing, loops & samples, etc... all up front on the same screen. this was the part of the software that really stood out to me; i can't stand sub-menus and having to drag windows around to get at what's behind them.

sorry to hear about your troubles. here's hoping you find a solution!

[Johnny Lenin]

I didn't have any of the preset options, let alone "What you hear."

So... I did a full reinstall from Windows [XP... SP2] on up, and voila, there are the export presets. I seem to be able to mixdown now, but I'm a bit hesitant to install anything else on the computer -- like Sibelius or the FantomX editor/librarian, or a sysex client -- lest it create some kind of incompatibility. That's a major pain.

I'm seriously considering giving Reaper a try. It looks promising and the price is right.

Thanks for your help.

[Overgear]

Glad to hear you were able to make some progress. It just sucks that it takes so much to achieve a semblance of basic functionality. I hate installing XP! I was able to escape that option twice in the last month. It's taken me a year to figure out a way to get around the "10-Entry Limit" issue in XP without reinstalling XP. Mind you, not a year of constant work.

I wouldn't really be hesitant to install other apps. Sonar usually doesn't branch out with its problems. I have had apps not work properly in Sonar, but work everywhere else, even standalone. It shouldn't interfere. Windows is more likely to do that.

I'm seriously considering giving Reaper a try. It looks promising and the price is right.

And it's community driven. It progresses by input from its users. It also feels more ASIO compliant. Sonar still feels like a VST wrapper.

[crystalmsc]

I did a full reinstall from Windows [XP... SP2] on up, and voila, there are the export presets. I seem to be able to mixdown now, but I'm a bit hesitant to install anything else on the computer

Glad to hear that things are getting better there. if this is the first time the SP2 is being installed, it's could be more of an OS matter rather than the Sonar. My experience with many version of Sonar, it supposed to be no problem now to install above apps. But it's not a recommendation, since I assume that you might know more about your system. good luck.