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Noel. thanks for responding. I use a MOTU 828x for my interface; and, for both CbB and Sonar, I've always used ASIO for driver mode. Almost all of my projects run at 48KHz and 24 bit depth.

Wookiee, thanks for the advice on uninstalling CbB and upgrading to solid state drives. Returning to my questions about CPU usage in the Performance module: the info in Windows Disk Management indicates my C drive is 81% free space at ~440 GB and the D drive has 94% free space. I believe the Performance module is indicating only 6% of the drive has been used. Page 1370 in the old CbB Reference Guide explains the data shown in the Performance module. If this information holds for Sonar, my system is probably working efficiently as I've never seen the Disk Load icon turn red.; it seems to stay at 0.00%. I'm thinking the flurry of CPU activity I observed a couple of days ago, not connected to the internet, nothing being loaded, played back, or recorded, was likely caused by some activity going on in Windows.

Wookiee, thanks for responding. My computer has two drives: the larger D drive (1900 GB) contains the Audio, Cakewalk Content, and Cakewalk Projects folders. Under Preferences>File>Folder Locations, all of the folders listed except Sysex and Cal Files are on the D drive, typically within D:\Cakewalk Content\Cakewalk Core\. I believe CbB and Sonar are sharing these folders, though I rarely use CbB anymore and plan to delete it soon. I've also noticed that when I save a project, the third core from the left tends to spike for a split second. Please advise if there is something I can do to improve the efficiency of my system.

When I initiated Sonar (v. 2024.09) this evening and began working on an old project containing only two recorded MIDI tracks, I noticed an unusually high level of activity among the cores in the Performance module. Two cores went into the red and stayed there. My System Performance was roughly 10%, Engine Load approximately 0.5%, Late Buffers stayed at 0. I opened four other projects including one that was simply a blank template and observed the same activity. When I opened a sixth project everything had calmed down; System Performance averaged 1%, Engine Load 1.1%, and Late Buffers remained at 0. As I continued working on several other projects, everything remained very calm in the Performance module. I don't believe I was running any other programs when I started Sonar unless Windows was running something in the background and it didn't seem to affect playback or the sound from any of my tracks, but I just wondered if anyone knows what could have caused this. This never happened when I was using CbB. Additional info: Disk space = 6%, System Mem. = 8%. My P.C. has an Intel i7-8700 CPU @ 3.20GHz., with 32 GB RAM, 64 bit , Win 10 O.S.

I've been working with Sonar for about a month now and have tried several of the new themes, but decided to stick with Classic Mercury as the darker themes make it difficult to see features and details in both clips and console strips. I'm using an HP monitor with 1920 x 1080 resolution and have seen only a slight improvement in sharpness of Sonar over CbB. However, there are several fields of data in the Sonar U.I. that are definitely more difficult to read. In the time block within the Transport Module (Classic Mercury theme) the data appears almost black against a light cyan background. The colors are fine, but the data in the rate/beats per min. field and the data in the beats per measure field is difficult to read and needs a larger, black font. The MIDI Reset symbol is far too faint, please darken and make easier to identify. Also, the font used for the time display on the left, above the track headers is too small and appears slightly fuzzy on my screen. The font used in the original Mercury theme in CbB was larger and sharper. When switching from Clip to Volume automation in Track View, the lighter colors of the notes in a clip become much darker and more difficult to see against the black background of the clip. Notes should retain their light color to be easily seen against the dark background of the clip when switching to automation. In the meters in both track headers and console strips, the colors for background, the green indicator bars, and meter markings are very muted and difficult to read. Giving users the option of changing colors of various data and background fields is not just for esthetics. Making the U.I. more attractive will certainly attract potential customers; however, from a practical standpoint, being able to alter colors it makes data and information much easier to read reducing errors and user fatigue. Please take steps to improve the above-mentioned parts of the U.I., it will make my work easier and potential customers will spot these improvements immediately. It's bound to improve sales/subscriptions.

A peculiar anomaly occurred yesterday that I thought I should report. I had finished making some changes in the Colors section of Preferences, clicked on Apply, everything seemed to be working fine, closed the Preferences dialog box then a toast message appeared indicating I needed to restart my computer because of a change in Language(?). When I restarted and re-initiated Sonar everything in the U.I. came up in German! I've always worked in English and have never touched the Language section in Preferences. The problem was easy to correct, but I've never seen anything like this occur in all the versions of SONAR and Cakewalk by BandLab that I've used. I'm working with Sonar v. 2024.09, build 105 running with Windows 10; please advise.

Wookiee, thanks for responding. I tried the Reset and re-scanned all my VST plug ins, but neither TH-U or ProChannel Concrete Limiter appeared. Went to the Cakewalk Products site and was able to find and download TH-U; I probably won't need the Limiter plug-in. I'm a little confused about your advice on solving the problem of no off-line help by downloading Documents(?). Where will I find the Documents file or folder to download for Sonar. I thought it was part of the Sonar program. Please advise.

I recently downloaded and installed Sonar 2024.08, Build 571. I'm running Windows 10 on my DAW computer, and the installation went smoothly. I opted to have Sonar use the same settings in Preferences that I use in CbB and again everything seems to be working fine so far, but I have encountered a few anomalies. When I click on Documents for offline help in the Help menu, I get a "Failed to Launch Help " message. I've checked " Always use local Help" in Preferences, so is Local Help available in Sonar? Oddly enough I also get this same massage when I click on Keyboard Shortcuts in the Help menu, yet Keyboard Shortcuts is working fine. Second problem: I don't see TH-U or ProChannel Concrete Limiter listed in the Plugin Manager, even after doing several plug-in scans; Sonar can't find them. Can you provide me with a path?

Thanks so much for sharing this wonderful interview with us, Criag. The growth of electronic music and the genesis of the early synthesizers back in the late fifties, the sixties, and seventies--it was an incredible time. I was lucky to have personally known a couple of these people and some of the students or engineers that worked with them. I'm grateful for being around then, if only as an enthusiastic observer, supporter, and experimenter.

I'll always have a soft spot in my heart for Francis Lai's beautiful theme for A Man and a Woman (Claude Lelouch, 1966). This film (winner of the Cannes Grand Prize and Oscar for Best Foreign Film) and Kubrick's stunning 2001: A Space Odyssey were my primary inspirations for becoming a film director. Among the more recent releases, I highly recommend Daniel Pemberton's haunting love theme from Edward Norton's neo-noir, Motherless Brooklyn. Sorry, I don't have any pictures of artwork to post.

Glenn and Tom, Many thanks for responding. I've taken notes on your suggestions; I know they'll come in handy when make the transition.

I'm planning on making the transition from CbB to Sonar a few weeks from now, but have a few questions. Has a new Reference Guide been published for Sonar or will one be coming soon? What is the best way to preserve and transfer your old Cakewalk Content and Projects to the new Sonar. Does the Cakewalk website offer advice or a video on how to make a good transition such that nothing is lost that you want to keep?

I like the new automation smoothing feature; hope the developers continue to make improvements that make automation easier to use. Also want to wish Mike well and hope to see many more of his excellent videos on the new Sonar.

I prefer to work with my DAW computer offline most of the time. The pop-up ad for Sonar that I experience doesn't interfere with the program in any way; it's just an annoying 19 sec. delay (count-down to Close) every time I initiate CW. Is there any way to prevent the pop-up from recurring while you are working offline?

I received an e-mail today informing me and other subscribers that the August issue of the digital version of Electronic Musician magazine will be the last. The printed form of EM was phased out about a year ago. I was sad to see it go, especially the printed version. I had subscribed to it since the late eighties and it had been my one of my favorite magazines--great articles, interviews with musicians and composers, and excellent reviews of both music-making hardware and software. In its early years, there were often articles on DIY projects; Bob Moog was a contributor and one of the last articles he wrote was "Build the EM Theremin". As I recall, EM had its roots in an earlier periodical called Polyphony that was published by PAiA Electronics. If you remember PAiA synthesizer kits you go back a way. Back in the seventies, DIY projects (some of you may remember Electronotes) and kits were the only way some of us could get started in electronic music. It was exciting and fun to build your own gear, especially when it actually worked, and EM grew out of that tradition. For the future, some of EM's writers may be contributing to a thread at the MusicRadar site, but I'm going to miss EM magazine.