GreenLight

By the way, to follow discussions about the developments of the new Sonar, is this the best thread for that?

Thank you for this thread! I noticed the very same weird CPU load issues (with CPU load staying even after the project was closed!) and narrowed it down to the SSL Bus Compressor 2 and then searched and found this thread. I upgraded SSL Bus Compressor 2 from the problematic v1.2.3 (that was the latest when I bought the plugin in July 2023) to v1.5.5, where the CPU issue seems fixed! As a bonus, somewhere between those two versions a GUI zoom was implemented. 👍😀 By the way, is there any version history or "What's new" available for the SSL plugins? Maybe in the SSL Download Manager? (I don't use that, currently.)

By the way, will the new Sonar have the possibility to freely scale ("zoom") the user interface size? Something like what is available in Live:

I can't believe anyone would type that, ever. Even less typing it without realizing how it makes one come across.

Thank you @Bristol_Jonesey ! Wow! First impression: I really like it. Cakewalk/Sonar goes modern!

Could someone please post a few screenshots of the new Sonar? I'm super-curious but don't have the time or possibility to try it out myself yet... Thanks!

Ah, thanks for the tips, Glenn! Now that you mention it, I've done it that way too (soloing/muting the MIDI tracks). I was "in the zone" and totally forgot about that workaround. Will also explore exclusive solo. 👍 Still, it would make a mighty fine feature request, or waddayasay?

Hi all! Every time I solo one output of a multi-output instrument, all outputs are solo'd. It's driving me nuts. Is it possible to disable this? Thanks!

Thanks for the info and for posting the release notes here! Much appreciated. 👍

Ok, you had me at Offset mode visualization! This alone one will be worth (almost) any admission price! By the way, has there been an official announcement thread about this "Backstage Pass" release? Or is it a silent launch? What's the release status, is it a public beta?

Yeah, the slowness of the Keyboard shortcut window has been a drag for years. If I remember correctly, I once had Sysinternals Process Monitor running, and apparently Cakewalk scans all the shortcuts from the registry every time (or something along similar lines).

This is an interesting aspect that you bring up, Noel. But to be fair, the tables were somewhat reversed when CbB was introduced: many users expressed a lot of concern about the "free" product on these (and other) forums. They wondered how on earth that was possible, and what the catch was. (And to be a bit philosophical, what really was the catch? Is it the discussion of an expiring CbB that we're seeing now?) It wasn't maybe explicitly stated, but from my memory I would say that it was heavily implied, several times. Maybe not intentionally? Or maybe we users read stuff you didn't say into what you said? Anyway, as you mentioned in another reply, a permanent CbB version for those who aren't interested or maybe invested in following along the new Sonar path would definitely "feel good in the belly". That said, I myself am looking forward to the new Sonar!

...apparently one should never underestimate the Bakers, who clearly sweat the small stuff and listen to the community. Check out the 2024.02 Early Access!

I think the message has been delivered quite effectively by now. Each start of Cakewalk – for users who use either the complete OS or just specific processes offline – has the user waiting at least 20+ seconds extra before they can start making music. If we assume that Cakewalk has maybe 300 000 users, and that each user starts Cakewalk once a day, that makes 6 million seconds, or 100 000 minutes or 1 666 hours per day... ⏲️😅 And to be fair, if I'm not wrong there is no upgrade path available (yet), so we can't pay to remove the nag screen, either... If you keep the nag screen, could you please let us be able to close it immediately, without the countdown? Thanks for an amazing product, looking forward to the new Sonar!

Thanks for your input, much appreciated! Yeah, I've been busy producing music, I guess I missed that part. Sweat the small stuff? The devil's in the mouse clicks- sorry, details!

Exactly, the more threads we have, the better chance the Bakers get the signal. We love Cakewalk, we're thankful for the free product during these years and we support the Bakers 100%. But it would surely have been sufficient to show the nag screen ONCE, and then no more. And/or to make it optional after the first display. Someone had a bit of "bad luck when they were thinking". But that can happen to anyone, it sure happens to me a lot. 😆

Music software developers need to constantly strive to reduce the number of mouse clicks when introducing new features. This teaser popup just increased the amount of clicks ➕ at each Cakewalk start... (Another example, the relatively recently revamped Bounce dialog is no longer possible to close just by pressing Enter. Another added mouse click. ➕ ) Bakers - please always think of the child-, sorry, mouse clicks! ❤

So the new Sonar isn't ready yet, despite the popup? ⁉️ UPDATE: It's popping up each time you start Cakewalk, and it's trying to go online as well via msedgewebview2.exe:

So true! The more people understand that, the better. We would be more likely support feature requests for implementing features for workflows different than one's own. I mean, I'm all for Cakewalk supporting many different kind of workflows.

Good idea, Rene! S "sound on sound" recording mode for MIDI would save us some more clicks! Faster workflows for everyone! 👍

@Glenn Stanton My feature request concerns the plugins that don't have a "Set as default" setting that you mention, so that you (and I, and everyone else) don't have to select a default preset manually like you describe. I'm trying to make Cakewalk/Sonar faster for us all, removing one click at a time! @Terry Kelley Yes, semantics are interesting! But the basic aim of my request was to not always have to manually set initial settings each time you instantiate your plugins, like ratio, attack and other compressor settings on your compressor plugin (and similar for other types of plugins). It's nice to immediately have a useful starting point by default, minimizing clicks. Obviously you always have to fine-tune stuff manually. Check out the Cubase and Live screenshots above. This only concerns plugins that don't have a "Save as default" settings, like those Glenn Stanton refers to. My request doesn't concern VST instruments.

Maybe I misunderstood you, but I don't think preset saving is a struggle for people? Exactly as you do, I save presets to the project folder all the time to future-proof projects. I save them to either .fxp (VST2) or .vstpreset (VST3) files in the file system. It's a good habit! My feature request is about saving/restoring "initial settings" for VST effects, to speed up workflow by getting a flying start when inserting a new VST plugin.

Cakewalk can load VST presets saved with projects - I'm thinking this could be implemented in a similar way. The settings wouldn't necessarily have to be stored as a preset inside the VST.

Thanks for the input, guys! I hear you, it's not possible right now. The use case for VST default presets Sure, I use project templates and track templates. And of course beginners in music technology don't realize that there are many settings that are unfeasible to store in presets, a compressor's threshold being a prime example. But it would still be time-saving if, say, your favorite compressor can come with a pre-configured ratio and other settings that you often use, or if your EQ can be set with a specific low-cut setting that you almost always use. The competition / similar features in existing hosts Both Cubase (more info) and Live (timestamped YouTube link) have the feature to save default presets, see links and pictures below. Admittedly, I believe it's only for their built-in effects, but still. In Live, third-party VST settings can be saved as presets that are visible in the Browser just like VST plugins. This makes it almost transparent: instead of dragging a VST you might as well drag a configuration file to the track. Same end result achieved. Cubase - Save as Default Preset Live - Save as Default Configuration Hypothetical Sonar feature: save VST default preset So let's think outside the box for a minute. Cakewalk can obviously save VST plugin settings in projects. So why not create a system where settings can be saved globally, to be used for default instances? Put "Save as default preset" option in the VST top-bar menu (GUI mockup will be added soon) A few hypothetical solutions to using default presets for third party VST:s Associate a specific preset name ("Sonar default preset") within plugins for Sonar to automatically load whenever that plugin is instantiated Or if the above isn't feasible, Sonar could save the default preset settings externally from the plugin, and make Sonar keep track of associated presets and load them at plugin instantiation. These settings could be ignored whenever the plugin version is updated, to ensure compatibility. I think we need to innovate with new and workflow enhancing feature to keep up in the DAW space! 😁

Thanks for your input! Interesting, but I'm not sure I follow - what do you drag from the browser to the FX bin? The FX chain .fxc settings file?