Sonar 2025.02 Feedback

[Johnny Tsao]

The UI Color Scheme is in Dark, and when loading, the Processing status color is consistent with the overall theme.

 

However, in Mercury, the Processing status colors are inconsistent. Can they be modified to make the overall appearance better?

Thank You! 

[p-w-m]

Hi, I have to confirm the severe degradations this latest update of Sonar has introduced to the overall stability of the UI.

I saw the app crashing and also running into an instable status where I am not able do any operation and my only workaround was a complete new start of the intire system. This has at least stabilised the software again and was able to continue with the project.

I did not see such instabilities for a long time in Sonar/Cakewalk.

I hope to see a new release with a fixed UI very soon.

Best regards,

Peter

[msmcleod]

2 hours ago, IgoRr said:

Good day!
I have just checked - I also have this plus sign very weakly, I use the Tungsten Classic theme (always). In the latest versions of modern Sonar, problems with the graphic display of some elements have become almost commonplace, I have repeatedly described here problems with the display of texts in some sections. But I see that users are simply forced to switch to Windows 11, despite the fact that the developers deny it. Although, judging by the design of the screenshot, AndrewMcMechan has Windows 11 installed, and the problems with the display also remain. In Cakewalk from Bandlab this icon is very well visible in all themes, I am attaching screenshots:

The darker plus signs are meant to indicate that it's disabled - and it's disabled because you've not selected an articulation map to add to your project.
 

[IgoRr]

Just now, msmcleod said:

The darker plus signs are meant to indicate that it's disabled - and it's disabled because you've not selected an articulation map to add to your project.

Yes, that's true, I checked that too, of course, but to be honest, the contrast of some elements in light themes is not very comfortable for the eyes if I work in daylight, even with intentionally increased brightness settings on the monitor, sometimes you have to make a noticeable effort to see them.

[Graham Smith]

With the latest upgrade I'm getting frequent crashes. Under very similar circumstances (Project type, plugins etc.) things worked fine before, with the exception of a long-standing conflict when using Waves Abbey Road TG Mastering plugin.

At the moment Sonar is unuseable when working with clients.

[IgoRr]

4 minutes ago, Graham Smith said:

At the moment Sonar is unuseable when working with clients.

I think this is the strangest statement possible, for I have Sonar working perfectly fine, except for a few graphical issues (for my particularly), but the rest of the functionality is fully functional and reliable. I used Waves Abbey Road TG Mastering plugin for several years, and it worked in all previous versions of Sonar/Cakewalk by Bandlab, I can't say now, because I don't use it now. From the outside it looks like you have problems in your system, since there were conflicts with this plugin and Sonar itself doesn't work for you.

In what specific cases do you have Sonar crashes, at what actions, at what combination of plugins, can you post a dump file here, so we can try to reproduce your specific situation with crashes?

[Jonathan Sasor]

3 hours ago, Graham Smith said:

With the latest upgrade I'm getting frequent crashes. Under very similar circumstances (Project type, plugins etc.) things worked fine before, with the exception of a long-standing conflict when using Waves Abbey Road TG Mastering plugin.

At the moment Sonar is unuseable when working with clients.

If you're getting crashes please obtain dump files and log a case/cases for development to investigate. 

[Michael Crepps]

The last 2 patches have messed me up bad with the piano roll view. I posted about it. If you have piano roll open and your working in that window your fine but if you go to track view for instance you cant control sonar. Its sluggish and sometimes takes up to 10 secs to stop playing after pressing stop. This only happened when piano roll window is open in the background.   So I had to close that window every time I went to another window. Very frustrating. But today with this new patch it seems to be fixed back like it always was. I been using cakewalk /sonar since 1997. Never had that problem till those last 2 patches. Now hopefully fixed. Thank goodness!

[Milton Sica]

13 hours ago, Michael Crepps said:

Os últimos 2 patches me atrapalharam muito com a visualização do rolo de piano. Eu postei sobre isso. Se você tiver o piano roll aberto e estiver trabalhando nessa janela, tudo bem, mas se você for para a visualização da faixa, por exemplo, não poderá controlar o sonar. É lento e às vezes leva até 10 segundos para parar de tocar depois de pressionar stop. Isso só aconteceu quando a janela do rolo de piano está aberta em segundo plano. Então eu tinha que fechar aquela janela toda vez que ia para outra janela. Muito frustrante. Mas hoje, com este novo patch, parece estar consertado como sempre foi. Eu uso o cakewalk / sonar desde 1997. Nunca tive esse problema até os últimos 2 patches. Agora espero que corrigido. Graças a Deus!

Where is the "new patch" ?

[Thisllub]

Disappointment is probably the best description.
I stumped up the bucks for the subscription and thought as it was included  I would try a couple of features in Next.
I laid down a basic drum beat as a metronome and threw some guitar down with some piano roll bass & piano in Sonar.
Unfortunately I'm travelling and only have a travel guitar with me, no keys.

Export to Cakewalk interchange and fire up Next.
Enough said.

The Sonar instruments don't work and I had to replace all the plugins, create new instruments and move stuff around.

Then there is no console.

I'll be disappointed if part of my subscription is going towards that.

Never again.

As for Sonar.

It works fine and I'm happy to pay for what I know and am happy with.

I've had some pretty sophisticated patches and networked MIDI

The two reasons I would try something else are

#1 registration.
I want a completely offline studio.

Not even a network connection after the install.
That way I can turn off virus protection etc and optimise the machine.
Nagging registration annoys me.
 

#2 is Linux capability

I have a bunch of old computers and I'm not sure how many mixers and guitar effects units that are class compliant.
My aim is to set up 2 or three of them as soft synth workstations and keep the main computer for audio and MIDI only.

I've done it with the Bandlab version and it works fine.

As far as I can tell Reaper is the only DAW that will do this with Linux
Why do I need a DAW?
Soft synths load once as standalones, multiple times if they are in a DAW.

Rant over.

I guess I'll know when I get home and get the inevitable 30 more tracks onto this little project.
 

[Waynebo]

Beginning with the December update and continuing with this one there is severe glitching and drop-outs. The only thing that mitigates it is dialing the driver buffer size up to at least 1024 samples.  This introduces too much latency for me to play anything live. I can mix like this, but I cannot record.

This was not a problem prior to December. Changing from ASIO to WASAPI fixes the latency but I still get glitches.

[Promidi]

5 minutes ago, Waynebo said:

Beginning with the December update and continuing with this one there is severe glitching and drop-outs. The only thing that mitigates it is dialing the driver buffer size up to at least 1024 samples.  This introduces too much latency for me to play anything live. I can mix like this, but I cannot record.

This was not a problem prior to December. Changing from ASIO to WASAPI fixes the latency but I still get glitches.

What else have you tried?

I am assuming you have uninstalled and reinstalled your audio interface drivers (also checking the manufacturer's website for any updates).

Also, you might want to put your PC specs in your signature....

Note, I am not experiencing any severe glitching and drop-outs (PC configured as per signature).

[Neil Scott]

Since the update I’ve had some crazy issues but managed to work around them until today. Everytime I open a vst3 instrument Sonar crashes. Sometimes it opens to a black screen, sometimes it opens then crashes or it will crash when you touch it with a mouse. This was rock solid before the update. 

[Neil Scott]

Since the update I’ve had some crazy issues but managed to work around them until today. Everytime I open a vst3 instrument Sonar crashes. Sometimes it opens to a black screen, sometimes it opens then crashes or it will crash when you touch it with a mouse. This was rock solid before the update. 

[Aaron Doss]

2025.02 is not stable, after 10-15 minutes the UI slows down and becomes unresponsive, it also crashes randomly.  The previous version was stable

Can we get the installer for the previous version?  I would like to run that while this version is being fixed

 

Thanks

 

Aaron

[IgoRr]

Hello!
In the latest version of Sonar, when opening the mixer (console), the ProChannel power buttons are displayed as not enabled. After selecting tracks, the display becomes normal. This is repeated constantly each time the mixer is opened.

[Wookiee]

@IgoRr just purely as an experiment, don't select all the channels first just try turning one on first.  I had a similar issue it was a display issue, the channels were on, just not displayed as such.

If it works report to support@cakewalk.com with the project and the graphics driver details.

[IgoRr]

1 hour ago, Wookiee said:

the channels were on, just not displayed as such.

Yes, I understand that ProChannel is enabled but not displayed, and yes - when you press any "ON" button, all other buttons also start to display. That's why I published this GIF here, because in the previous version of Sonar this did not happen. And it happens in any project, even in an empty template, I don't even know what to send in such a case. At the moment, some problems with graphics continue, one thing is fixed, but other failures appear. I work on the integrated Intel UHD Graphics 630 graphics, on which absolutely everything else works completely normally (including Adobe Photoshop and the latest version of DaVinci Resolve), the latest driver is installed in the system.

[Wookiee]

@IgoRr I note you mention DaVinci Resolve, did you follow the instructions for updating the C++ etc libraries? As there is a known issue with Resolve installing corrupt libraries? 

As reporting it's simple. 

1. Zip up the project, less any actual audio, to a zip file. The physical audio is not needed and just makes for an unwieldy large file.

2. Send an email to the address provided adding the zip file as an attachment.

3. Detail, the exact version and build of your OS and the exact version of your graphics device and its driver.

They can then examine the meta data of the file and see if there is an issue with the GUI build and draw instructions. 

[IgoRr]

48 minutes ago, Wookiee said:

Send an email to the address provided adding the zip file as an attachment.

Yes, I have already updated the C++ libraries several times directly from the source using the bakers' link in the Sonar discussion. I updated these sets before using DaVinci for the first time (I have a portable version), and after using it, after installing Adobe Acrobat, after reinstalling Sonar, etc., I am sure that this can be excluded from the reasons. And regarding sending the project file - I can send an empty project (template), in which I have everything exactly the same as on the GIF, does this make sense?