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SONAR is unquestionably the DAW of “more.” But whereas some of its flagship competitors have tacked-on additional tools or bundled items, much of that “more” is also integrated with the host itself. When it comes to editing, production, mixing, and routing, you’ll certainly never say, “I wish I could…” or “if only editing worked like.” More often than not, some tool with just that editing method is nearby. Fortunately, you can turn a lot of this off and use other shortcuts, and the quantity of icons represents a number of useful features, many of which have come from user requests. But switch off some extraneous toolbars, learn some keyboard shortcuts, and get used to the “packed workbench” set of tools, and SONAR can grow comfortable more quickly than you’d think. The UI is still a little harder to look at than I’d like – not aesthetically, but in that the UI can become cluttered, and it’s easy to wind up with a lot of floating windows. Clever tabs introduced in recent versions help keep everything within reach.
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You can switch off and customize nearly any element of the interface. All the way back to the DOS days, Cakewalk has had a history of giving you more of everything, then allowing you to turn on only what you want. Whereas Ableton prides itself on a minimalist approach, and Apple and Digidesign have slapped on layers of slick gloss and shine, Cakewalk remains, behind the occasional pretty icon or knob scattered here and there, a tool that looks like a piece of software.īut don’t necessarily let this surface complexity turn you off. I’ve actually started to work SONAR into more of the projects I’m doing, so I speak personally about it.įeatures like a Matrix View and Step Sequencer may be familiar in other apps, but it’s the way they interact with SONAR’s linear timeline that make them feel more like Cakewalk features.įrom the moment you fire it up, SONAR screams DAW tradition, as in, “welcome to the cockpit of my 747 jet plane.” Yes, it’s got rows of squint-worthy icons on its toolbars. I have had a personal reaction to certain tools, though, and too often in reviews, we don’t get to talk about that subjective experience. Even when they perform tasks in very different ways, any number of tools can achieve the same results. It’s worth saying that we have a lot of exceptionally good choices from which to select tools. With lots of affordable alternatives – not to mention competition from stable, previous versions – the question with any full-freight, top-of-the-line DAW is whether it can “buy” your loyalties with enough extras? And, for that matter, might it even convince you to enjoy running Windows? SONAR has tempted me before, but 8.5.2 reaches a new level of maturity – and a new level of pack-in goodies to sweeten the deal.Ĭhoosing a DAW is an immensely personal decision. When it comes to finishing a track from beginning to end – not doing live PA-DJ hybrid performances or racking up modular synths and effects or programming intricate cellular beats – sometimes the conventional approach can be welcome. There’s something to be said for the traditional digital audio workstation, its linear arrangement view, and all its editing bells and whistles. “Point five” may sound like a minor update, but – particularly with the polish added in 8.5.2 – it brings a lot to the table. The traditional Digital Audio Workstation still has plenty of appeal when it comes to polishing tracks and scores.