Sonar 2025.06 Feedback

[Noel Borthwick]

On 6/29/2025 at 4:56 PM, Tez said:

Start Screen Issue:

When Sonar is opened for the first time in a windows session the Start Screen is non-functional, Sonar has to be closed & reopened before the Start Screen functions normally. This maybe system related I wouldn't know.  

This is most likely system related where Windows is delaying access to something. If you can reproduce it capture a dump file of Sonar in that state from task manager using "create memory dump" and send a link. That will pinpoint whats causing the delay/hang.

[Larry T.]

1 hour ago, Noel Borthwick said:

Sounds good. Note that the current upgrade promo is the lowest its ever been so it may not be around when you do upgrade

So, you think my current PC with the I7-4770 CPU at 3.40GHz with only 8GB ram will run a full Sonar install ok?? 

Thanks again 👍

[FDD]

Greetings all...

Long-time user of Cakewalk here, back to the late nineties.  Purchased almost every version made in that era and still have CW Music Creator 2003 running on my Win10 system (just because I can ) but have been using CbB for over a year now since I realized it was still available (and free). 

Have dl'd the new Sonar and it is great ... so far.

However, I have noticed that everytime Sonar starts up, within a fraction of a second of the splash screen appearing, it  creates the empty folder tree "Cakewalk Content\ Audio Library\Audio Export" on my C:\ drive, but in my Preferences/Folder Locations, I have changed all file paths to E:\--relevant pathname--  with the exception of the Export Audio Files filepath which is "%PROJECTFOLDER%\Audio Export" . 

If I delete this empty folder tree on the C:\ drive that Sonar creates, it comes back the second Sonar starts up again.  

I don't want to change %PROJECTFOLDER%\Audio Export to a hard-coded  e:--pathname--\Audio Export because I want that export folder to "float" with the particular project.

Its interesting that Sonar creates these folders before a project has even been selected or loaded. It seems as if Sonar is a little too eager to check folders.

By the way, this also happens with CbB, as well.

Maybe you guys could fix that this time around.

 

Thanks for the great update, though... 

 

--
Frank

 

 

 

 

Edited 14 hours ago by FDD
change for clarity

[Noel Borthwick]

39 minutes ago, Larry T. said:

So, you think my current PC with the I7-4770 CPU at 3.40GHz with only 8GB ram will run a full Sonar install ok?? 

Thanks again 👍

If its already running Cbb then its a very good chance it will work as well or better.
You can easily verify for yourself by downloading Sonar and running the Free tier with your largest project.

[Noel Borthwick]

On 6/28/2025 at 10:48 AM, Wayne Bangert said:

I miss the feature that Cakewalk / Bandlab has in the startup screen. The ability to show PLAT LIST SET files. This is very handy for grouping projects together and for live performance.

This has been addressed for the next release.

[Tez]

7 hours ago, David Baay said:

Sonar never automatically deletes an audio file once a project has been saved with a track referencing it

Typically I never save bounce data with the project which will change on further project work, I'll  extract  the current mix audio & close without saving which deletes the bounce data..  it didn't occur to me  that deleted previously saved audio tracks persists when the project is again saved. So once again thanks for the info! Oh & CbB does the same, I guess I should have known....

[msmcleod]

9 hours ago, Larry T. said:

So, you think my current PC with the I7-4770 CPU at 3.40GHz with only 8GB ram will run a full Sonar install ok?? 

Thanks again 👍

FWIW - I'm running a i7-3770 @ 3.4GHz... I've now got 32GB ram, but was running on 16GB for years.  I'm typically use an ASIO buffer size of 64 on my Focusrite interface ( I can use 128 on my RME, as its round-trip latency is better).

8GB will work up to a point, but performance will drop considerably once Windows decides to swap memory to/from disk. 

To avoid this happening, try to make sure Sonar is the only application running (a web browser with lots of tabs open is a killer!); avoid multiple VSTi's that use larger sample libraries (things like TTS-1, the SI Instruments, AIR XPand! 2, Synthmaster - even Omnisphere are probably ok, Kontakt probably isn't).  Also stick to 1080P for your diplay resolution, as 4K will use 4 x the memory for graphics rendering.

FWIW,  I've run Sonar on an Intel J4125 @ 2.0Ghz with 8GB RAM, recording 16 simultaneous audio tracks whilst playing back 32 audio tracks without issue.  No VST's were involved however, as it was just a tracking session.

If you do start to see performance drop and upgrading your machine is not an option, consider upgrading your RAM to 16GB while they're still available - it's relatively cheap nowadays.

Other techniques such as freezing tracks when they're "complete" can help considerably too. For tracks using sample library based VSTi's, make a copy of the frozen track (so the copy is a pure audio track) and archive the original synth track / disable the synth in the synth rack.

It's worth mentioning that Sonar will not run on Windows 7, as it relies on Windows API's that are only available in Windows 10 and above.

[Max Arwood]

14 hours ago, Noel Borthwick said:

It works perfectly here. How are you doing it. You have to CTRL-double click to open a plugin if you want it pinned. After that opening other plugin windows will leave that window open.

 

I had the plug-in windows open over my console view on a second monitor. For some reason, the new version places the newest plug-in loaded on the top window. But, if you load a second or 3rd - all older ones are moved to the back underneath the console view. It does not happen with plug-ins on the 1st monitor.

All plug-ins load on top of console view on second monitor in all previous versions from Sonar X1-Platinum, CbB and Sonar until this last update. I do not use the MultiDock if it makes a difference.

 

[GBTBassist]

I just posted this in the general forum to get some help so apologies for double posting but thought it should go here too:

I took the plunge and its a mixed bag TBH. I like the fact that side-chaining now works, that there is a spectrum on each track/bus, EQ/pro-channels seems to work properly at last, that font seems to be clearer but I am less than impressed/absolutely stuck with:

Load nag screen that has a time out telling me I have an evaluation copy. I have updated to 2025.06 just in case it was pre free tier but its just the same. Is this normal behaviour? fwiw - updating to 2025.06 crashed part way through initially (my fault due to security restrictions I have on my PC) so I did a complete reinstall from product manager but its just the same.

Latency on all controls - there is a small but significant delay in changing any setting which means I am constantly having to reset fader/knobs on the DAW as well as plugins as i overshoot or undershoot where I want to be. I have tried with/without spectrum analyzer display per track just in case that was the cause but it's just the same.

Bus effects text - for some reason the names of the effects are harder to see as the buses seem to have less horizontal space (possibly centered text rather than left justified?). I always 'narrow' my tracks and busses so it's not that I am not used to having a narrow display.

The completely out of character 'File, Open' dialogue box which seems to be a windows 7 style, all square and ignoring colour preference of the main app. Really!!?

Track colours were switched off by default so had to be enabled in preferences.

Also, sorted now, location of projects/audio was not copied across in preferences so when I first started I was presented with a blank open dialogue. Manually changed in preferences (and a clean pair of underpants:))

GBT

(windows 10, fully patched to latest version, 32Gb RAM, CPU - Ryzen 7 3700, 8 core, 16 processors, 4050Mhz, mobo TUF B450-plus, no drive has less than 300gb free)

[msmcleod]

17 hours ago, Hotel California said:

Colour issues, Play List issues, and Project Windows opening in a completely different size and area behind Play List?

1. The image is the playlist of the Sonar by Bandlab (Previous version). All looks fine, and the Project that loads, loads correctly in size and area placed in window. Now look at #2 image.
2.  The image is of the NEW Sonar Playlist. Notice the top of playlist menu. Menu Buttons are cutoff and hard to press onto. Also look at the Project Window. See how it's really small hiding most of the project area, and behind the Playlist.
3. Customization/Colors: Notice that the text are all scrunched up and impossible to read.
4. Playback and recording area does not change once you change and save what you want on or off. (Sorry no image for that)

The issues for both the Play List View and the Color Preferences page have been fixed for the next update.