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Not Liking the look of the New Sonar Interface


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11 hours ago, sjoens said:

Color strips are OFF by default.  Same place as before but you have to check the box to see 'em.  Preferences > Customization > Colors > Track Strips.

I think this was turned off in an earlier version of CbB if I remember correctly, and I had to go find that option as well. So this isn't anything new to Sonar.

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OK I guess I will have to read the manual. 

I now see that this was also always part of  Cakewalks preferences.    I didn't notice the slider either. Jeeze. When do we ever stop finding hidden gems like that! I always found the colours a little too loud and after all these years I could have quieted them down. 

This one little thing makes a huge difference for me. Now the tracks are easier to define. Thank you to all those of you who are much smarter than me for mentioning this. This actually makes a big difference to the way Sonar looks now. 

 Screenshot(437).thumb.png.cd87a2058386faebabeeb7ffc333e1d5.png

Hey! Another revelation,  I finally figured out how to make images smaller,, its a left click, not right. I'm on a roll!  

And I now see that the spectrograph hasn't changed and that the only difference is you can now disable it. In CbB that menu is not available. 

 

Edited by John Vere
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13 hours ago, John Vere said:

I finally figured out how to make images smaller,, its a left click, not right.

Which images can you make smaller?

Edited by sjoens
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4 hours ago, John Vere said:

And I now see that the spectrograph hasn't changed and that the only difference is you can now disable it. In CbB that menu is not available. 

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.

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14 hours ago, Bristol_Jonesey said:

For those of you struggling to see the NEW spectrum analyzer, go into Console View. Under Options > EQ and Plot > Show Spectrum Analyzer

You can also right-click the ProChannel EQ module screen to select it.

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I use the Tungsten theme in Cakewalk and I like it. But the one in Sonar is bad. Lots of missing details and colors making it look like a mod of Ableton interface instead of the award winning Cakewalk skylight interface.

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Quite liking the look and feel of new Sonar, also took me a while to realise that I could download and trial, without subscribing straight away, albeit without ability to save (fair enough).

completely agree with all comments so far, at least a dark red dot on the track REC buttons would be nice, doesn’t have to be massive!

Only problem I seem to have run into is that I seem to have lost the Pro Channel Saturation Knob. 
And the only thing I think I could have done, was during the install I did press OK (for a cakewalk core directory) when it mentioned to keep something default press CANCEL. 

all other installs since pre X1 have been, and still remained intact until this, with all original VSTs not on CbB still available (on an old 2 core machine aswell ?) which makes me wonder why just this plug in has been a problem for me on the new SONAR install. 

 

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1 hour ago, Hillmy said:

I use the Tungsten theme in Cakewalk and I like it. But the one in Sonar is bad. Lots of missing details and colors making it look like a mod of Ableton interface instead of the award winning Cakewalk skylight interface.

I think the two existing attempts to replicate Tungsten and Mercury are a bit... unfinished, perhaps is the generous description. I think the default "dark" is actually a better take on Tungsten, if you give it a chance. Takes a bit of time to adjust of course.

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6 hours ago, John T said:

I use the Tungsten theme in Cakewalk and I like it. But the one in Sonar is bad. Lots of missing details and colors making it look like a mod of Ableton interface instead of the award winning Cakewalk skylight interface.

I opened a project on both CbB and Sonar and compared my default CbB Tungsten theme (which is the one I use) to both the Sonar Dark and Tungsten themes.  The CbB Tungsten is far better.  Why?  Better contrast between the backgrounds and the control text.  Also a lot easier to pick out a channel strip on the CbB Console View.

I also think that the move to more 'cartoon' like knobs is a step backwards.

I also had a very careful look at the rendering of the text, let's take the example of the word 'Gain' on the Console View channel strip.  On my monitor it is clearly sharper on CbB compared to Sonar.  Overall I am finding the text on the Sonar displays more fuzzy.  I am running two BenQ GL2450H  24" monitors with a resolution of 1920 x 1080.

I think it would be fair to say that the CbB (and its Sonar Platinum predecessor) UI had a deserved reputation as being one of the best DAW GUIs available.  I still think it stands up well to anything else out there (having just spent a couple of days evaluating Cubase which has a hopeless GUI).

I would suggest that the new Sonar Tungsten theme is reworked to get it as close to the CbB Tungsten theme as possible.  I am more concerned about text rendering which doesn't look great on the new Sonar at the moment, at least on my monitor.

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1 hour ago, norfolkmastering said:

 I am running two BenQ GL2450H  24" monitors with a resolution of 1920 x 1080.

Welcome to the club, the exact setup I use on my test machines, which were my previous main machines. If I decide to give Sonar a run after evaluating all the feedback etc (in no hurry) that's the setup I'll be running it on.

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5 hours ago, norfolkmastering said:

On my monitor it is clearly sharper on CbB compared to Sonar.  Overall I am finding the text on the Sonar displays more fuzzy.  I am running two BenQ GL2450H  24" monitors with a resolution of 1920 x 1080.

That's interesting. My overall impression is that the new version is the sharper one. I'm on dual monitors, both HP, both 1920x1200, which is native resolution. Windows display scaling is 100%.

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What is still a mystery to me is this new vector graphics is obviously not as clear and easy to use for a lot of people reporting so far. So in what way was it deemed to be an upgrade? 
I was expecting something weird and different but it actually comes across as making Sonar worse than Cakewalk not better. 
Didn’t the beta testers complain? 

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50 minutes ago, John T said:

That's interesting. My overall impression is that the new version is the sharper one. I'm on dual monitors, both HP, both 1920x1200, which is native resolution. Windows display scaling is 100%.

Cakewalk like most DAWs have to display a ton of buttons and controls. I don’t think there is any resolution where they don’t look crowded. The new Sonar is sharper to me. I’m too running a pair of HP 27” at 1920. However the themes aren’t at all helpful.

Edited by Terry Kelley
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1 hour ago, GreenLight said:

Could someone please post a few screenshots of the new Sonar? I'm super-curious but don't have the time or possibility to try it out myself yet...

Thanks! :D

SonarStartScreen.thumb.png.17e1d37eafa5161cc6d11d50aec34437.png

 

Here is a screenshot for you... This is what I get every time I re-start Sonar after closing a project... Of-coarse my MOTU has not been disconnected and I do not get this with CbB, only with the new Sonar...

 

Another bug/issue... Perhaps someone else can duplicate... On the "Start Screen" select "Local Projects"... Then select "All" ... Right after selecting "All" click on a project... Every time I do that Sonar crashes to the desktop... If I wait about 7 seconds for the little spinning circle then it doesn't crash and will open the project... Seems selecting a project needs "disabled" for a few seconds until the list is re-populated...

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10 minutes ago, SirWillyDS12 said:

Here is a screenshot for you... This is what I get every time I re-start Sonar after closing a project... Of-coarse my MOTU has not been disconnected and I do not get this with CbB, only with the new Sonar...

 

Another bug/issue... Perhaps someone else can duplicate... On the "Start Screen" select "Local Projects"... Then select "All" ... Right after selecting "All" click on a project... Every time I do that Sonar crashes to the desktop... If I wait about 7 seconds for the little spinning circle then it doesn't crash and will open the project... Seems selecting a project needs "disabled" for a few seconds until the list is re-populated...

I can't repro either if those issues on either my desktop DAW with PCIe MOTU interface or my laptop with a USB Roland interface. But I have noticed that the Win10 spinner (hourglass in Win11)  persists for a long time when the Start Screen is opened though it doesn't seem to interfere with launching anything.

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