JBS

First, thank you for continuing to maintain and improve Sonar! I purchased my first Cakewalk license in 1991 -- yes, MIDI-only, pre-audio capability I’ve operated a professional recording studio using Sonar for the past 20+ years. Sonitusfx Compressor vs. Core Compressor: Before I allow the “Replace if possible on project load” option to convert the Sonitusfx plugins as I open projects, I'm doing some side-by-side comparison of the legacy Sonitusfx Compressor and new Core Compressor. Test Case Construction: I have hundreds (maybe thousands) of instances of the Sonitusfx compressor in hundreds of projects, and need to make certain that the Core compressor isn’t going to change existing projects mixes.. For my test, I created a simple project containing a single instrument (electric gtr) utilizing the Sonitusfx Compressor, and to keep it simple, included no other effects or buses. I then made a copy of said project. I opened the original project with the "Replace if possible on project load" disabled so it would keep the Sonitusfx plugin and it’s settings. Then I opened the copy of the project after enabling the "Replace if possible on project load" so the Core plugin would be loaded instead. Then I copied the Core plugin (with the “transferred” settings) to the original project, to a cloned track, so I could observe the behavior of the Sonitusfx compressor plugin side-by-side with the Core compressor plugin. So, now with two identical tracks, one with the Sonitusfx compressor, and one with the converted Core compressor, here are some observations: TEST RESULTS: A possible bug in settings transfer: The "Attack" amount did not transfer accurately. In Sonitusfx Compressor, the attack is 2.5ms, and in Core Compressor, it is 15ms. I inverted the phase on one of the tracks, and there is some relatively low volume audio remaining (vs. a complete cancellation). This seems to indicate that the plugins aren’t performing identically. Note: when I adjust the attack to be the same for both plugins (either by changing the Sonitusfx plugin to 15ms to match the Core plugin, or vice versa), the result appears to be full phase cancellation. So, it appears that it may be just a simple fix to the parameter transfer/import process. Other observations: 1) I'm not seeing the "TCR" button/function in the Core compressor. (Note: I’ve always left this in its default “on” position, and never adjusted it) 2) I'm not seeing a Bypass function in the Core compressor (not a big deal to me) 3) I'm not seeing an Output meter in the Core Compressor (the Sonitusfx Compressor has output meter with clip indicator, and levels that can be reset by clicking) 4) I'm assuming that the vertical meter beneath the "Limit" button in the Core Compressor plugin is the input level (?). The values on this meter are reading significantly different values than the input meter in the Sonitusfx plugin (5-10db +/- different, perhaps?). 5) I'm not seeing an Output meter in the Core plugin I'm happy to provide more details, and Cakewalk Bundle file of this test project if helpful. Thanks, George

slartabartfast - the Intel Rapid Storage Technology (RST) motherboard hardware/SATA RAID1 option that I tested is enabled in BIOS (and configured via an app). It behaved similarly to the WIN10 raid and "storage spaces" configurations.

I'm building a new Win10 workstation for Cakewalk, and have been doing some testing of RAID1 (Mirroring). I've tried three scenarios: 1) Win10 native software RAID1 2) Win10 Storage Spaces 2-way mirror 3) Intel Rapid Storage Technology (RST) motherboard hardware/SATA RAID1. Note: In all scenarios, both drives in the mirror are Seagate Iron Wolf 7200 rpm. Test Cases: In each off the three RAID configurations above, I created a test Cakewalk project, armed an audio track, clicked "record", waited approx. 10-15 seconds, then unplugged the power cable to one of the hard-drives in the mirrored pair, to simulate a drive failure. In all three test cases, Cakewalk continued to run for approx. 3-5 seconds after the power was unplugged from the drive, then I got the classic "Audio Engine Dropout" message, and the Cakewalk application hung up for awhile. Objective: In a perfect world, I'd like to have Cakewalk keep running, recording to the surviving drive in the mirror pair, and be alerted so that I could replace the bad drive later, but allow the current tracking take to continue without disrupting Cakewalk (i.e. Audio Dropout + application hang-up). Glyph: I talked to Glyph today about their 2-drive solutions. Sounds like it's not a sure thing that Cakewalk would continue running with their mirrored pair arrays either--not sure if I want to invest in one to test or not, but might have to get a unit to test if I want to find out for sure. RAID 5 (or 10) options: I also wonder if perhaps a 3-5 disk array running RAID 5 (or perhaps RAID 10) might provide more continuity and not disrupt Cakewalk,/cause the Audio Dropout and application hang. I'd love to hear any experiences that folks have had using and actually testing RAID. Thanks