Mark Morgon-Shaw

When I was younger I never would have believed my music would end up on MTV Sadly it's in the background on crappy reality TV shows 😆 ...who knew.

Brand doesn't matter that much as long as it does what you want. Have you checked out Framework? They do laptops that are modular and upgradable which is fairly unique.

Melodyne is a much better tool for the job.

Right click it on the taskbar and then select it

Seems fine here , I've not come across any patches that cause it to glitch. CPU use is on the higher side for sure . Some of the complex patches consume 20- 30% Engine load at 128 sample buffer playing 3 -5 notes ( Ryzen 5950x - 16core + RME Babyface )

Cakewalk Sonar is still pretty poor as far as legibility goes. I wish they'd just hire someone to fix it -I don't see this with other DAWs

No Cakewalk Column

Yeah should be a huge improvement but there were loads of reports of stability issues with that chip so maybe do some research to see if things have improved or look at something like a Ryzen 7950x

With a gaming PC you'll likely be spending over the odds because of the powerful GPU that you don't really need fow DAW use but can be the most expensive part of a gaming system. Better to buy from a music PC specialist or build your own ( it's not that hard and there are some great build guides out there like on Linus Tech Tips Youtube )

Humanise would be more useful, it's a giant omission in Cakewalk/Sonar's midi editing feature set in 2024 ( apart from using CAL )

Nice cover. Guitars sound really good. My only critique would be the vocals sound unsupported. You have a nice tone for this but it's a little uncomforatble to listen to as you sound like you're running out of breath.

I do remote sessions with singers for my production music songs and we've found the easiest way is via the Bandlab App on Desktop

I'm not really sure who it's aimed at ? I am guessing it was meant to be a bridge between the BandLab App and Cakewalk Sonar ?

I don't know music theory, but my music's been in over 1,000 TV episodes.

Yeah it's been requested for years - see my 5yr old post - The first reply is a link to a similar request in 2016 - I suspect they go back further. At least we have the X-sampler now which is a start - Hoping they will use this as a starting point and build out from there. At least it's an acknowledgement that not every Cakewalk user is some hairy old hobbyist sat in a basement churning out synthesised drivel for a few forum likes. Some of us actually use it to make contempory music that gets used professionally and make income. Back in the day I had a hardware sampler but I've done it for so long now I can work around these shortcomings you mention. However, if you've ever worked with younger musicians they have an expection that all this stuff just works seamlessly, and if it doesn't they will just use a different DAW and probably never come back.

Or maybe they are not hitting the numbers they expected. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ If everything is wrapped up in one al encompassing BL membership do they even know who's using the various Apps it includes? Maybe it doesn't matter to them whether it's the existing Sonar users or new Bandlab / Next users.

I know right ? And really it confirms what I've felt since this Cakewalk Sonar announcement. The Devs are beavering away but whoever decides how this DAW is sold and marketed doesn't really seem to be at all connected to the users.

Okay so Mike has doubled down and gone into more detail in a new video....Very interesting and chimes with my thoughts on the marketing side of things. Have linked it at the most interesting part

The least offensive IMHO

Yes it's definitely better, some long standing bugs seem to be fixed.

None of them are bug free...my Cubase mate is always complaining, just look at the Cubase 11 debacle. The problems led to a lot of backlash, and Steinberg later committed to improving their system, including ditching eLicenser for a more modern licensing solution. My Logic Pro owning composer friends were all high fiving each other this week because ' THEY FINALLY HAD A WAY TO SEARCH FOR PLUGINS !!! ' I mean WTF....we've had the Browser since 2011 !!! So although we sometimes look enviously at other DAWs that are more popular and have more swanky new features, the grass isn't always greener. That said I think we no have the ugliest GUI, many agree and I wish they'd improve it. I trialled Cubase 14 and the clarity of the GUI is s night and day. However it doesn't suit my Workflow so I am staying put.

I know like 2 people who use it in my world out of hundreds

The difference is if you don't care for the upgrades, what you already paid for becomes no longer useable. It becomes crippleware. I was happy on Sonar 8.5.3 for a almost a decade, right up until CbB. None of the new X-series features bothered me much until they added ARA in Sonar Platinum. As a semi-pro I can't have access to my files held to ransom. This week a music company wanted a track I wrote 3yrs ago and had to deliver stems and altenative mixes for example. I don't mind paying the sticker price of the App either up front or over a time period but I believe that once it's paid for you should have the right to use that version with full functionality even if it's not the latest and greatest. I should be the one who decides whether new features will benefit me and pay accordingly.

CbB or Cakewalk Sonar. Over time they will diverge and if the only way is a subscription plan then will you still always use it?