Merger with music industry giant paying off for Cakewalk Sonar and customers with new, more powerful DAW

Sonar X1

Update – Sonar X1b now ready for prime time

Roland will be releasing a new and easier to use version of Sonar’s X1 digital audio workstation software on December 8, 2010.

The recent merger of Cakewalk with music equipment giant Roland has given Cakewalk Sonar a shot in the arm and the new release is eagerly anticipated by Sonar users.

DAW software from simple programs like Garage Band to Apple Avid’s ProTools 9 are allowing musicians to record their own music without paying huge fees to studios. Along with the internet, DAW software is fueling a revolution in music. ( Update – Avid owns ProTools – the program sticks in my mind as Apple since it is meant to run on Apple OS)

Sonar X1 promises a new and improved user interface for Sonar 8.5. This will be a big boost for current users. Sonar is as powerful as any of the top DAW’s but it’s interface has become cluttered over the past decade with annual feature updates.

In many ways Sonar has pulled ahead of the pack with native support for 64-bit processing and an early jump on the Windows 7 platform.

The Cakewalk announcement says “SONAR X1 Producer has everything needed to deliver the polished, “radio-ready” recordings – all in one box. Included are all of SONAR’s cutting edge music creation tools plus an unparalleled collection of world-class instruments and effects. From the innovative Skylight interface to the legendary, “big-studio” sound of the ProChannel console strip, SONAR X1 Producer is the ideal choice for anyone serious about music production.” Roland  

Sonar has been working closely with Intel and Microsoft to smooth out processing of the huge amount of data in audio recording. In 2009 Sweetwater demonstrated 96 simultaneous track recording, using an i7 Intel computer, with 120 track simultaneous playback. On a stereo mix of 75 tracks, Sonar could handle 375 bands of EQ and 375 bands of compression simultaneously. Those are awesome numbers and beyond what most people need to record a song, although Jack says he uses up to 96 tracks to record Pomplamoose.

Sonar X1 introductory video

My only complaint with Sonar is remembering all the nooks and crannies where important features and switches are hidden.  Sonar X1 promises a new and cleaner work-flow which will be a boon to many of the non-professional recording studios that use it. Recording studios who use Sonar everyday find no problem with the complexity since they have memorized the program.

Sonar’s other strengths are the ability to loop clips and tracks which is popular with the hip-hop and re-mix group. Sonar is definitely into electronic music with midi features and sampling.

I would also credit the strong Sonar user community for saving my skin more than once. The Sonar online forum is an excellent place to get advice and help. You can vette new gear (second only to Gearslutz for hardware) and get help tweaking the software in any music genre.

Maturing software

All software gets cluttered over two decades of updates. Users want more features and more features mean more buttons to press. Microsoft Office faced that dilemma with Office 2007. Microsoft completely fell on their faces with an interface change that confused their existing customer base of hundreds of millions of users. It took Office 2010 to simplify the product and bring the user community back onside.

With Roland’s marketing muscle, Sonar hopes to make gains against a crowded field of older programs like Steinberg Cubase, Sony Acid and Apple compatible ProTools from Avid and newer programs like Ableton Live and Presonus Studio One. The newer programs are a direct response to the complexity and clutter of software that has become feature rich and hard to learn.

DAW software is often sold given away as add-on to various computer devices. Buy a sound card and they add a free copy of an entry level program, hoping you will upgrade. It’s the foot in the door strategy. However, most people who have mastered the more complex versions tend to stick with what they know. I’ve met people who swear by their fave DAW software despite it’s limitations. The learning curve to change is simply too high.

Sonar is popular with recording artists to use in their own studios, artists like Brooks and Dun, BB King and many artists in RAP and Remix. Sonar has an extensive library of loops and electronic music elements to make it a studio-in-a-box. Sonar has also been making inroads into the bigger market with use in games like Call of Duty Black Ops.

Apple Avid ProTools is the industry standard DAW with deep roots in the recording and movie industries. M-Audio (now Avid) and Apple’s early dominance of sound and audio editing on a unified platform has paid off with the blessing of most major movie studios.  For users that comes with a slightly higher cost and dependence on Apple for hardware and upgrades. For me it was the difference between a $2,500 Windows workstation for Sonar and a $5,000 Apple workstation for ProTools.  ProTools does run on Windows but in a very limited selection of hardware. For most people ProTools equals Apple hardware and OSX.

Apple owns Logic Pro which is a competitor to ProTools and another DAW.  Another popular product is Steinberg Cubase which had an even worse interface than Sonar three years ago and required a hardware dongle to work. As a matter of principal, I never use programs that implement software protection with a dongle. The dreaded dongle is the weakest link in your computer system and will fail at the worst moment. Lotus 123 used a dongle and where are they now eh?

Sonar X1 is $99 as an upgrade or $399 to purchase.Sonar X1 is also available as Essentials and Studio with somewhat lower feature sets to make learning easier.

First look video with a little less hype!

With updates Dec 2, 2010