Noel Borthwick

Yes there are plans to have purchase options outside of backstage pass which was intended to be the quickest way to get it right now. When details of it are known it will be announced.

Talking about promos, bandlab has 30% off membership including backstage pass that includes both Sonar and Next for 104.99 for the first year. It doesn't get any better than that for pricing.

Nice. Yes this notification is now masked during app startup. What happens is when the sample rate changes some ASIO drivers request a driver reload leading to that spurious notification.

We’re looking into other package options. Anything like that involves back end, and has a lot of other moving parts which is why there is a delay in information being made available.

It includes both Sonar and Next at no extra fee which is a great value if you do the math. Also included are all the standard BandLab membership perks like distribution promotion etc.

Sign in is complex because it relies on the browser handshake. If something in windows blocks it there isn't a whole lot we can do. It's not a bug in our code so I can't help you with that in this scenario. Using offline auth via product center to activate from a different machine is the easiest solution. If sign in fails even from product center then you have a more fundamental problem with your account or credentials.

Can you be specific about exactly which areas you find difficulty with? Post screenshots if necessary.

Thats a generalization since its not a black and white choice. There are many people who are equally driven by aesthetics as much as function and would not consider using a product that didn’t look and feel clean and inspiring. Everyone is different has has varying tastes when it comes to an interface. Personally, I lean closer to favoring function but I am very affected by visual clutter. I hate using products with so many options in the UI that it causes paralysis. That said, the design team takes all of this into account.

More color customization will evolve. There won't be a theme editor since there are no bitmaps to replace. We have some themes not released yet that will fill these gaps when it's complete.

Nothing will change that will break compatibility. Both sonar and next are not beta software. Backstage pass has more to do with the delivery of the software than the software itself.

I can assure you that it is not.

Logging in to bandlab.com is irrelevant. You have to sign in from within CbB. When the Web browser opens sign in there with your bandlab credentials. That's all there is to it. If it fails then something on the system is blocking it. You can attempt offline with using a different PC if so.

Are you running the app online and signed in? You normally don't get these prompts if so. Nothing nonsensical about it. It's the requirement for running the free version.

To add to this the “flat” look is intentional. Sonar theming is generally not going for a 3d look on buttons for definition. I suspect thats what you are comparing and finding different. It may take a little getting used to but its not less defined even to my eyes and I’m not young by any stretch of the imagination

That was a preexisting issue that was also in CbB. In the next update as shown in my video this should be improved a lot.

Technically they are external to the application since they are plugins. We may get around to refreshing their UI at some point.

Both the now cursor and playback meter responsiveness has been greatly optimized for the next update. Look for it in the next drop. Not only is it smoother, but it is adaptive and will efficiently self throttle to create more UI bandwidth when needed. Here is a size by side video comparison showing cbb vs Sonar just playing an empty project. Cbb is on the left. You should be able to see how much smoother Sonar's updates are. I recorded it at 60fps so hopefully it should be easy to see. I recommend downloading the video since it may be jittery over the google photos web viewer. (press shift-D after you click on the video to save it) https://photos.app.goo.gl/282wMfqgqTAtTCiZ7

Exactly. This is a driver issue where a change in sample rate results in the driver broadcasting a disconnect notification to Windows. Probably because they unload and reload the driver.

@SirWillyDS12 I fixed an issue relating to this recently. We'll be releasing a new build next week. Please try it and let me know if it still happens. I was unable to reproduce it here with the latest.

@SirWillyDS12 there is no change in this regard. If you don't see it in cbb you have the option to ” show audio/midi device change notifications" disabled in cbb that's all. It's in preferences, customization, display. The reason for the notification is the driver is telling windows that it was removed. Not something we can fix. Turn off the notification if it bothers you.

@Kevin Walsh what are you specifically referring to when you say UI lags behind? Also can you share some info about your displays and windows settings for display resolution and scaling?

The spectral view was never available on track or bus strips in prior versions. It was only available in the fly out prochannel eq which meant you could only ever see it on a single track at a time. In Sonar you can have simultaneous tracks and buses all showing the spectrum in the console view. It's a completely new feature.

It's not a beta - it has been in ongoing internal beta for over a year. The feature set is complete now and the app is completely usable hence it's being offered for early access as part of the bandlab membership which is not free.

@sjoenswhat specifcally is “glitchy”? Perhaps you could submit a bug report from the help menu or include a video showing the problem you are encountering…

Right, you can't show a third party analyser on all tracks in the console.