Tommy Byrnes

Sonar does not look like a serious piece of software anymore. Rectangles with a center line for fader caps? Really? Look at the custom fader caps in the above CbB theme (thanks to Panu and the old Duckbar). I know that's not possible anymore but can't we have something that at least 'looks' like a fader?

Earlier today, when a client saw his project pulled up in Sonar instead of CbB he commented that its flat look was more like EDM software. He's a retired session mandolin player from Nashville working on a solo project and he knows his stuff. The two console views in the above post are two of his tunes. He said it looked unappealing in comparison and chided me again for not using ProTools or Studio One. 

And using external inserts caused a pause in the audio engine toggling on/off so I couldn't use outboard  gear with him here. Embarrassing. I had to switch back to CbB for the rest of the session. Not a good look to a pro and a final nail if it's not fixed before CbB goes belly-up.

No numbered hash marks on the meters. That is not a good design choice. I don't look at the numbers at the bottom I look at the meters, like I've been doing in software and hardware for over 50 years. "Somewhere around here" doesn't work for me. 

The Tungsten theme is the only one that highlights the active plugin in the FX bin so now in a busy mix I can't just look quickly at the FX bins to see which one it is. The other dark themes are pretty meh and the light ones are like looking into the sun. I'd use Cosmic but no active plugin highlight. And, the text and the numbers are kind of blurry.

This all bums me out. Since 2007 I haven't really been disappointed in a Sonar release but this one may have broken me.  The whole look and feel is so underwhelming. With my studio booked out I need to have a DAW that is both rock solid and inspiring. CbB  is  both for me. We'll see about Sonar.

I thought the switch to vector was supposed to be a big step up. I have image bleed and audio stutter when scrolling. Upon loading a project I get the Project Open dialog and then there is 15 to 20 seconds of blank screen before the images in the project load, many in the wrong place as in the pix below. What is up? Also, notice the difference between the console view in CbB and Sonar. Everything is much easier to read and much easier on the eyes. And, why don't the meters have hash marks? 

Graphics bleed:

Console in CbB:

Console in Sonar with Tungsten theme (I dislike all  the orange but it's the only dark theme that shows the active plugin in the FX bin)

Thanks for the idea, Jorge but it's not enabled.

Hi folks,

Since the announcement of the free tier of Sonar and since CbB will be deactivated in August I decided to show my support and signed up for a year membership. I use the software for 8+ hours a day and I make a significant portion of my income from my studio. I have used this program professionally for nearly 20 years and I loathe to think of learning another DAW. I have CbB customized perfectly for my workflow.

I will eventually adjust to the new look (not a fan of flat and lack of customization) but there are a few troubling things in Sonar that I've found that are giving me pause. The first is with the External Insert. In previous versions I could toggle the On/Off to check the external effect in real time. In new Sonar there is a 1.5 to 2 second pause in the audio engine before playback resumes. This is unacceptable. In fact, the whole audio engine now seems, well, clunky. 

Another thing that is happening is an issue with the graphics and the way they interact with the audio. When I slide across the tracks in the Console View from Track 1 to the end track, either by the slider bar or the Page Up/Page Down command, the audio stutters. I got a weird look from a client yesterday who thought it was a problem with the recording. I was a bit embarrassed. This used to happen in 8.5 but stopped for me somewhere in the X Series, IIRC. In fact, in this Sonar when going from the top to bottom of a track it moves like it's built from frames. They don't move smoothly up and down but click by click.

To be honest, with the way it looks, the lack of customization and audio issues it feels like a downgrade from CbB for me. Of the hundreds of bugs supposedly squashed since the new Sonar release none affected my day to day work. I would gladly pay a yearly fee to keep CbB active in its current state. It does everything I need it to and looks better.

I have been doing this professionally for nearly 30 years and I know this software inside and out from the thousands of hours I've spent with it. I have hundreds of personalized key bindings/templates so using the software is muscle memory. My system is completely optimized and runs like a top. All drivers are updated and I regularly back up the .ini file and the Cakewalk Content folder so I know there is no discrepancy between the different versions. When moving between CbB and Sonar there is a definite difference in performance.  Any suggestions or ideas on what or why this might be happening? 

As usual, thanks in advance for the help.

I don't care if they offer it for $19.99 a year. I'll never sign up for a software subscription. It is beyond absurd there is no perpetual license yet. 

If you have an Apollo this is a great plugin. I track electric guitars through it with the Unison preamps and it's amazing. I then put it on the guitar track in my DAW. Tracking and mixing through the same console.  It ain't subtle. If you need a scalpel this is a spoon. It's a bucket of paint and that's why I love it. This is a top 5 UAD plugin for me.

It's also useful on other things besides vocals. I use it on electric guitars often because of the three layers of parallel compression and the de-ess can tame some of the harshnes that can be present.

This is a great plugin!

https://www.musikhack.com/

I found Sound City to be very CPU intensive, though I thought it sounded good. It taxed my machine during regular production after only a couple of instances. I LOVE Fame and use it in every production. The plates, chamber and the iso booths in it are also really great. It's the sound of  fairly small rooms, which I prefer for ambience. I put an instance on each of my instrument busses, choose a room placement setting, make a few adjustments and I'm in a great sounding room.

I use Sound City as well, more for a larger, rock-style sound. It's plates and booths are also fantastic.

19 minutes ago, PavlovsCat said:

UAD Sound City is also $34.66. I think I'm going to get it. That's Waves plugin pricing for a superb plugin without the WUP scheme (scam).  @cclarry I take it there are no discount codes that worm with this, right? 

I have yet to demo Sound City, but I will now. A lot of our community members have posted really good things about it. 

https://everyplugin.com/sound-city-studios.html

I demoed this a month ago and although I liked it the cpu hit was pretty extensive so I chose not to get it.

It's interesting that the UAD Apollo version has a different look than the UADx. Many more controls and also includes the calibration tone generator.

Version 1.6.1

June 4, 2024

Fixed

Resolved an issue that could cause Export Mixdown to fail when deactivated tracks were selected for export

Significantly decreased the memory usage of LUNA Poly and LUNA Razor Blade Warp algorithms

Resolved an issue that could cause some Native Instruments plug-ins to crash Windows LUNA when instantiating

ASIO device channels now show correctly on the Settings > I/O SETTINGS screen on Windows

Resolved an issue that occurred in Windows LUNA when importing audio from an exFAT formatted drive

Resolved a crash that could occur during offline mixdown on Windows

Resolved a repeated "Driver_Windows_MidiIO" issue that could occur when launching LUNA on Windows

The close button location for plug-in floating windows has been corrected on Windows

There's no way I would have considered this if not for using it as a Unison insert in Apollo. I'm pretty much done with getting the UAD plugins as I have all the ones I want and use. The only  exception has been for new pres/strips that are Unison enabled. This is a good one, IMO. I just tracked stereo acoustic guitar XY'd and used it the way I used to use the LA-610, with the 610 pre, no EQ and light comp with the LA and about 3-7 dB of gain reduction. Sounds wicked good; to my ears it behaves like the hardware.

I sold my LA-610 8 years ago to buy a firewire Apollo 8, figuring I'd have the 610B preamp and an LA2A x 4 with the Unison pres. It never quite felt the same. Close, but the hardware gave tracks a kind of weight the plugins didn't. Close though, so I was and still am happy with that trade.

I demoed this new plugin and I have to say it's really, really close to the hardware. I haven't gone back and looked at some old call-back sheets from the hardware to compare (I will as soon as I have some time) but it works like I thought it would in a quick test. It's $49 for me so I grabbed it.

I loved the LA-610 on acoustic guitar and wind instruments and I have an acoustic session coming up so I'll put the plugin through its paces.

1 minute ago, Bapu said:

I restarted the computer after install. I fired up LUNA and the splash screen came up for about 5 seconds and went away. No LUNA. I set desktop shortcut to Run As Administrator. LUNA splash screen came up and now VST scan is happening veeeeery slowly for just over 20 minutes now. Hmmmmmmm.

The initial VST scan took forever but after it opens in about 10 seconds.

I've been playing around with it a bit and I like it. I'm sort of used to the layout as it's similar to the UAD console. The MIDI implementation is not very elegant but it's fun to track audio. If you have an newer Apollo (I have an old firewire Apollo that won't integrate with Luna as it's Thunderbolt only) it's a pretty seamless ecosystem to work in, I would think. I could see me using this more if I had a Thunderbolt Apollo and was tracking bigger live projects than most of my clients are recording.

Lots of stuff I haven't figured out how to do yet, like multi-outs for VSTIs but I find it easier to get around in than MixBus, which I keep upgrading and never use.

This will not replace CbB/Sonar as my main DAW. After all the years with it it's all now just muscle memory and I can't imagine working without it. But Luna is kinda fun.

18 minutes ago, Aaron Robinson said:

I'm working on getting a decent video recording setup going, but keep running into driver stability problems.

Will be sure to post it here once I get something worth sharing.

Thanks, Aaron. I'm intrigued by the concept.

Aaron, I still just can't quite wrap my head around this compressor. I've had it since the inital release but its operation is not intuitive to  me. It would be great if you would make a tutorial video.

I was thinking about this and searched around to see if the subject was already covered. Has this been discussed? Most other major DAWs are.

6 hours ago, CSistine said:

In some daws it does, but not in CbB/Sonar! But you can also move the VST3s out of the subfolders if you want, it shouldn't destroy anything.

Yep, that's what I had to do.

I love the rooms, especially Studio 2 for drums but the secret weapons are the plates, the chambers and the booths.

29 minutes ago, jesse g said:

You are missing something, but I am not sure what your are missing,  In cakewalk I see it listed as itself, I don't open T-Racks to get to the plugin.

I did a reinstall of TRacks and now it's there.

I grabbed it but I don't think it has a standalone vst. I've only been able to run it inside TRacks. Am I missing something?

19 hours ago, mibby said:

You can set up profiles for each speaker system.  But I guess if you have them all running a the same time...  On the other hand, it's really only when you're mixing that you need the correction, so maybe you could use it for your control room?

Wouldn't that require a monitor controller as well as the Studio box? That may be an added expense some folks may not want. It only has one ST I/O. I would think you'd have to run mains out to the box and then to a controller to switch between different speakers. Also, you would then have to open the software to switch profiles. A bit clunky for a multi-monitor setup. A system-wide software solution is a more elegant solution, I think.

I still think Arc Studio is a great idea for a one monitor pair setup. Perfect for a little workstation rig.

3 hours ago, DeeringAmps said:

RME UFX (here)

that’s “best practice”

BTW, that “MainBuss” or MASTER as I label it, is what is used for all exports.

That way you don’t have to remember to bypass ARC.

t

 

That's how I do it, sort of. All tracks and AUXs come into the SubMix, where all the bus processing is. That feeds the Master, which has meters and HP sends (after 2-bus effects, before correction), which feeds the ARC bus, where the correction plugins are. That outputs to my mains. When exporting, I just turn off the FX bin on the ARC bus.