Anyone have any thoughts on whether sonar x1 or x2 is worth it? I've read some Cakewalk forums and some folks don't think so. That it's just an attempt to garner more bucks with upgrades that aren't really an improvement, or are even a step backward. They do include Breverb reverb, and I was thinking of doing the upgrade just for that, but now I'm not so sure. Also, my machine may not be powerful enough. They recommend a quad core and I only have a dual core.
Mike in Maine
I am sure you already made up your mind to go for it or not. However, maybe others are in the same boot, thinking about it...
So, one persons opinion who got X1 should not be not be the deciding factor, but it may help.
Frankly, I do not think it worth the money. As you said, Cakewalk do this (too) often, have great sales pitch to entice you to upgrade. To me, there are no major differences since Sonar 6 and some of the good features became more complicated to do in X1. Small improvements, like having page setup choices are handy.
It all depends what you are doing. For me, composing is very basic and straightforward, most of the features I never use, and never will. The other question is stability, and I must say it is not very stable. Regular "A fatal error occurred" is happening and I gave up on their Tech-Service completely. I will never upgrade to X2 or any other versions with Cakewalk.
Sorry being negative, but these are my experiences and feelings..
Thanks for your input. I have decided not to do the upgrade. sonar 8.5 is working fine for me. If it ain't broke, don't fix it!Originally Posted by tedvanya
I own Sonar x3 and it is like buying a music store with many vst's included. It also includes a staff although its not going to be like Copyist or Finale or Sibelius. All these programs have a learning curve and you can wait until it goes on sale for $200 a year Safari Books online which has not only Scott Garrigus excellent Sonar x3 Book but also has a Virtual training Company course on x1. So you can join that. Otherwise VTC is $30 a mpnth, but Safari's half price sale is $200 for the year which is really worth it because it has books tutorials and videos on every one's software. Sonar is also like being able to visit multiple recording studio. They offer several virtual hardware consoles that sound different
https://www.cakewalk.com/Documentati...lug-ins.1.html
Will give you an idea of what Sonar has. There are also several youtube videos on the Piano Roll view. Sonar works by viewing the area you want to work in.
My take on software is
Biab Pg music for Music History, This is hands down a historical program. It brings artists and introduces you to many styles made famous by well recognized musicians. It also has a staff view
Cakewalk Sonar is like buying a music store, many VST's come with it as well as many effects and different studio's are even involved. It also has a staff view.
Reason is lots of toys to play with but its a closed system but Thor is excellent No staff view at all only a Piano Roll view.
Cubase is close to Cakewalk in terms its like buying a music store with many effects and a few synths-- Sonar has more. But there are video's for it ADSR tutorials has some for Cubase and the score editor may be tighter than Sonar.
Logic Also has a nice score editor and many loops and some instruments. Made for Mac. Which I don't own but I have seen tutorials of it. Also Logic's scoring gfacilities are probably better than Sonar's
Orion Synapse Audio like Reason but no score editor, but full of vst's.
Prosonus, not sure what it's advantage is seems like I am buying a recording studio only. Not including any VST's
Ableton LIve has many loops
Reaper includes a lot of freeware synths and effects but it is not on the same level as Cakewalk Sonar
These are the only ones I know about.
That;'s all I know about
oops I forgot Fruity Loops is like Reason and Orion Synapse.
I have in the meantime transitioned to Reaper. It's great. Can do all I did on Sonar 8.5. Don't let the 60.00 price tag fool you, it's a full-featured DAW and the most customisble of any DAW, which makes it the most powerful. As for effects, it comes loaded with them. I can also use some of my favorite Sonar effects and VSTi's like Dimension Pro, wit it. As for sample libraries, I use third-parity anyway, so that is irrelevant to me. Dim Pro and TTS-1 were the only synths I used in Sonar (love that TTS-1 Tuba). And it has a staff view far superior to Sonar's. even though it is less than a year old. And unlike Sonar's, it will continually evolve. sonar's is pretty much dead in the water.
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