Published 22/9/08
The latest version of Cakewalk's DAW software
Details of the new version of Sonar Producer Edition, Cakewalk’s Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) software for PC, have been announced. As well as some slight cosmetic differences (as you can see from the screenshot), version 8 of the MIDI + Audio sequencer sees a number of significant changes in functionality.
First off, Sonar now has a dedicated virtual instrument track, which enables the user to insert a soft synth on the same track as the MIDI control data. (Previously, a separate MIDI track had to be assigned to the virtual instrument in order to control it via MIDI.) Cakewalk say that this new function works equally well with both mono and stereo instruments. The Loop Explorer, which has been a feature in Sonar for some time, has been updated (it’s now called Loop Explorer 2.0) so that MIDI grooves, as well as audio loops, can be previewed, then dragged and dropped into the track view.
There’s a new tool called the Aim Assist Cursor, which gives a visual guide to help the user line up multiple tracks, and multiple clips can be grouped together after each recording pass, to make multitrack comping easier. These, along with a Free Edit tool, which can perform edits by clips or by time without the need for a modifier key, should help to make the editing process less complex.
Users can now render the output of plug‑in effects and instruments into audio in real time, using a new Live Bounce feature, and audio and MIDI tracks can be armed and unarmed while Sonar is recording or playing, making manual punching in and out possible. What’s more, tracks can be hidden from the track view and the console view, and the two windows can be sync’ed so that if a track is hidden, it disappears from both windows. Cakewalk have spent time tweaking the source code to streamline the software, too. As a result, they claim that Sonar 8 has “improved performance at high track counts and low latencies, faster launch time, and the ability to change audio devices without restarting”.
As well as these improvements, there are also a number of new effects and instrument plug‑ins that come bundled with the Producer Edition of Sonar 8: Beatscape — dubbed a “loop‑performance instrument” by Cakewalk — has 16 virtual trigger pads that each features a REX file player, a step sequencer, effects processors, and slicing tools, which can all be combined to create and manipulate loop‑based grooves on the fly. Of course, being part of Sonar, it’s integrated such that users can drag‑and‑drop samples and loops freely between the track view window and its GUI, and there’s 4GB of dedicated content included on the install discs for Sonar 8.
Channel Tools, also new, is a utility plug‑in that can be used to alter the placement of a signal in the stereo field, change its gain, reverse the phase and decode imported Mid/Side material. It can also add sample‑accurate delay, so will be useful when tweaking effects busses, double‑tracked vocal channels and tracks that feature multi‑miked instruments.
Two fresh ‘64’‑suffixed plug‑ins are also shipped with Sonar 8: TS64, a transient‑shaping tool, and TL64, a ‘tube leveller’, and the ‘Pro’ version of Cakewalk’s Dimension software synthesizer is now included in the software suite (in Sonar 7, only an ‘LE’ version was bundled). Furthermore, users now get Native Instruments’ Guitar Rig LE as part of the package, as well as the Amber Module from the TruePianos virtual instrument.
Sonar 8 is available in two different configurations: Producer, which costs £349 in the UK and $619 in the USA, comprises all elements of the bundle, while Studio (£219/$369) has some feature limitations, and doesn’t include all the effects and instruments plug‑ins. We recommend that you visit the Cakewalk web site for full details of their feature sets. Both are shipping now.
Keep your eyes on the SOS news pages for some even more exciting Cakewalk news in the coming weeks!
Edirol +44 (0)870 350 1515
www.edirol.co.uk
www.cakewalk.com
Details of the new version of Sonar Producer Edition, Cakewalk’s Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) software for PC, have been announced. As well as some slight cosmetic differences (as you can see from the screenshot), version 8 of the MIDI + Audio sequencer sees a number of significant changes in functionality.
First off, Sonar now has a dedicated virtual instrument track, which enables the user to insert a soft synth on the same track as the MIDI control data. (Previously, a separate MIDI track had to be assigned to the virtual instrument in order to control it via MIDI.) Cakewalk say that this new function works equally well with both mono and stereo instruments. The Loop Explorer, which has been a feature in Sonar for some time, has been updated (it’s now called Loop Explorer 2.0) so that MIDI grooves, as well as audio loops, can be previewed, then dragged and dropped into the track view.
There’s a new tool called the Aim Assist Cursor, which gives a visual guide to help the user line up multiple tracks, and multiple clips can be grouped together after each recording pass, to make multitrack comping easier. These, along with a Free Edit tool, which can perform edits by clips or by time without the need for a modifier key, should help to make the editing process less complex.
Users can now render the output of plug‑in effects and instruments into audio in real time, using a new Live Bounce feature, and audio and MIDI tracks can be armed and unarmed while Sonar is recording or playing, making manual punching in and out possible. What’s more, tracks can be hidden from the track view and the console view, and the two windows can be sync’ed so that if a track is hidden, it disappears from both windows. Cakewalk have spent time tweaking the source code to streamline the software, too. As a result, they claim that Sonar 8 has “improved performance at high track counts and low latencies, faster launch time, and the ability to change audio devices without restarting”.
As well as these improvements, there are also a number of new effects and instrument plug‑ins that come bundled with the Producer Edition of Sonar 8: Beatscape — dubbed a “loop‑performance instrument” by Cakewalk — has 16 virtual trigger pads that each features a REX file player, a step sequencer, effects processors, and slicing tools, which can all be combined to create and manipulate loop‑based grooves on the fly. Of course, being part of Sonar, it’s integrated such that users can drag‑and‑drop samples and loops freely between the track view window and its GUI, and there’s 4GB of dedicated content included on the install discs for Sonar 8.
Channel Tools, also new, is a utility plug‑in that can be used to alter the placement of a signal in the stereo field, change its gain, reverse the phase and decode imported Mid/Side material. It can also add sample‑accurate delay, so will be useful when tweaking effects busses, double‑tracked vocal channels and tracks that feature multi‑miked instruments.
Two fresh ‘64’‑suffixed plug‑ins are also shipped with Sonar 8: TS64, a transient‑shaping tool, and TL64, a ‘tube leveller’, and the ‘Pro’ version of Cakewalk’s Dimension software synthesizer is now included in the software suite (in Sonar 7, only an ‘LE’ version was bundled). Furthermore, users now get Native Instruments’ Guitar Rig LE as part of the package, as well as the Amber Module from the TruePianos virtual instrument.
Sonar 8 is available in two different configurations: Producer, which costs £349 in the UK and $619 in the USA, comprises all elements of the bundle, while Studio (£219/$369) has some feature limitations, and doesn’t include all the effects and instruments plug‑ins. We recommend that you visit the Cakewalk web site for full details of their feature sets. Both are shipping now.
Keep your eyes on the SOS news pages for some even more exciting Cakewalk news in the coming weeks!
Edirol +44 (0)870 350 1515
www.edirol.co.uk
www.cakewalk.com
