AB9

I think you meant 8.5.3. By the way, I loved the look and performance of 8.5.3.

Do you have the latest version that was issued yesterday. 2025.02 Update 1 (build 31.02.0.074) The reason I am asking is that it is still 2025.02, but it is an update to it.

That is great news! And they did it so fast!

Personally, I want them to focus on stability over toys.

Yes - the threads could be a sticky. And fine for splitting between instruments and effects. And frankly, it would be nice to have subtopics such as reverb, compressors, limiters, eq, etc.

Maybe a thread with a list of free decent plugins that are available would be helpful. I saw this link to free plugins that are claims to be very good. https://www.joehagenmusic.com/post/a-comprehensive-guide-to-high-quality-free-plugins-that-you-ll-actually-use And more: https://blog.landr.com/free-vst-plugins/ And I am sure there are more! I personally would rather have Sonar development people working more on stability, audio engine, the PRV which needs great improvements imho, etc. P.S. All in all, I am very happy with Sonar.

I am not Bristol. But It may be that your es8 connection to the computer has more latency than your computer keyboard. Make sure you have a short and great cable between your es8 and the computer. Also, I found that for myself, if I increase the sample rate of the project, that the latency of playing the external keyboard (like an es8) goes down. All the best.

We should feel insecure that without financial support, a business entity will not have the means to sustain great support/improvement staff that needs money to live on. While I would prefer a purchase (licensing) model, the rent model at least works. The fact that Bandlab has gone from a free platform to a fee system, should add to the sustainability of the product. And to be really technical, even a purchase option is no guarantee as operating systems can change over time and there can be a time when the purchased product has serious glitches with newer operating systems, plugins, etc. So, I look at the history with Bandlab. First, Bandlab saved Cakewalk and offered it free for years. Was that sustainable when it was free? No! Did people complain? Hardly anyone complained when it was free even though it was not sustainable. Like in every good contract, if there are not benefits to both parties, it will not last very long. Now that the company has decided what they think is sustainable, some people are complaining because they do not like subscriptions. That is understandable. But it is certainly no less a sustainable product than when it was offered for free. As a long time user since the 90s, and with many files from decades ago that I can open in Sonar, and given the low fee for the subscription, I just cannot complain. Add on top of that this great forum and staff people. There are probably a lot of happy users that just do not post at all.

By the way, it is about $177 from Jrrshop if it is a crossgrade and you use the FORUM code.

East West having a bundle sale here: https://www.jrrshop.com/eastwest-world-instruments-bundle Gypsy, Silk and Ra. Older libraries, but they work great with Sonar and there are some great sounds. At this special price, it is worth having.

Almost anything by Eduardo Tarilonte is top notch and works with Cakewalk/Sonar. Sometimes you can find a sound or several in libraries from East West that also did a great job with some world instruments (even going back to Gypsy and Ra - though some of the instruments are not all that great.) https://www.bestservice.com/en/ancient_era_persia.html

The VI forum is a great place to check on these "world" libraries. I have tried quite a few and never had a problem with Cakewalk/Sonar for many years and variations of the program. So, first I would choose based on the sound selection and sample quality that you want. https://vi-control.net/community/forums/sample-talk.32/ All the best on your endeavors!

Great news! Maybe a good idea to add "solved" to the thread title!

As I understand it, the Bakers are working on a new Theme Editor that will work with the new Sonar. They changed the type of graphics for something that they believe will provide more longevity or use of this product, but apparently the new type of graphic approach does not work with the prior theme editor. So, they have promised a new theme editor. I have to believe this is on their list, so some patience will be needed. Maybe the Bakers will chime in with more information (or a correction) from what I just stated.

Thanks for your review.

https://tapeop.com/reviews/gear/164/cakewalk-sonar-4-daw/ I love Tape Op. They might be able to print a correction of the Sonar name for their on-line review. The hard copy magazine likely already went out. In any event, anyone interested in Sonar from the review is likely to figure it all out.

Agreed. Maybe it was written by their insurance company!

Interesting. In my past experience with them, it was not about buying anything from them. It was about getting some advice. Maybe they do not do the "advice" thing any more. (I spoke to Ethan there and he was very helpful but this was years ago and things might be different now.)

I have had good luck in the past speaking to the people at this link: https://realtraps.com/ They may have some good advice for the OP.

Yes - Cakewalk Sonar is different from Cakewalk by Bandlab and Cakewalk Next. And Sonar should also come with the bandlab subscription. I hope this helps you. If you have a bandlab subscription, you should be good to go. The "new" Sonar is awesome. Cheers!

I have no issues with Kontakt.

Bandlab - here is an opportunity! Buy Finale! Then figure out how to incorporate it in Sonar!!!

Another email today with changes to the Finale Announcement: Dear valued Finale customer, Earlier this week, we announced the end of development on Finale. Based on your feedback, we have these important updates to our original announcement: Finale authorization will remain available indefinitely We've heard your concerns. They are valid. We originally announced that it would no longer be possible to reauthorize Finale after August 26th, 2025. But as a result of our community’s feedback, Finale authorization will remain active for the foreseeable future. Please note that future OS changes can still impact your ability to use Finale on new devices. Finale v27 to be included with Dorico Pro Crossgrades We are currently working on a solution for all customers who have purchased or intend to purchase a Dorico Pro crossgrade to be able to download Finale v27. This will ensure that you can export your Finale files using MusicXML 4.0, the most robust version of MusicXML available. Thank you for your patience, we will provide more information soon. We hope these updates will help make your transition to Dorico even easier. We will continue to provide updates about the Finale sunset as more information becomes available. For the latest information and all updates about this change, please refer to this letter from MakeMusic President Greg Dell’Era:

Yes - August 2025 is when it can no longer be authorized on a new install or new machine. Finale was such a pain to learn, perhaps it is time to learn a different program. But it would be nice if another program could read finale files.

Just got an email that Finale is final. Sounds funny but it really is not. For us folks using Finale for a decade or decades, it is super bad news. And buy the way, these products were purchased. Anyone else here affected by this? I assume so.