which sonar ?

[newkid]

Okay

Getting close to spending some hard earned money.

Sonar has won out over cubase (damned dongles) and PT for my use.

But which version should it be?
Dont want to shell out 600 for the top end
if the middle is going to do it for me.
I am guessing the low end may not quite do it -- but if it does then I do have better uses for another $200 bucks not spent.

I will mostly record 1-2 tracks live and use midi.
larger groups would be recorded in stereo not tracked separately.

Want to print out scores with finale or sibelius.
And use them to play the scores while I tweak compositions.

So -- which sonar does the job?
Is there any reason to move up to the big one anyway?

Does it matter whether finale or sibelius is used?
Do they both play nice with sonar or is one better?

Thanks

[michaelrb]

I've been using sonar/cakewalk products for over a decade. I personally do not update everytime one comes available. I am on Sonar 6PE and will update when sonar gets to be version 10 or so. This version suits what I do fine. I am not familiar with Finale or Sibelius although I can tell you that even the newest Sonar product has no interface to use either product, nor is Sonar in ant way a product that will print out scores for you.
Good luck and enjoy.

[Danny Danzi]

Originally Posted by newkid

Okay

Getting close to spending some hard earned money.

Sonar has won out over cubase (damned dongles) and PT for my use.

But which version should it be?
Dont want to shell out 600 for the top end
if the middle is going to do it for me.
I am guessing the low end may not quite do it -- but if it does then I do have better uses for another $200 bucks not spent.

I will mostly record 1-2 tracks live and use midi.
larger groups would be recorded in stereo not tracked separately.

Want to print out scores with finale or sibelius.
And use them to play the scores while I tweak compositions.

So -- which sonar does the job?
Is there any reason to move up to the big one anyway?

Does it matter whether finale or sibelius is used?
Do they both play nice with sonar or is one better?

Thanks

Grey area really...me personally, I always like to have more than I need because if I ever need it, it will be there for me. I had a friend going to buy one of those all in one hardware units. I talked him into Sonar and he was a bit intimidated by it. But, he took the plunge and went for the studio edition. He outgrew it in about a year and switched recently to Sonar 8 PE. He's so happy with this change that I've not heard from him since other than the mp3's he sends me every week showing me his work. LOL!

I think PE is the way to go if you have the money. I'll put it to you this way man, and I sincerely mean this. If I got told tomorrow that I would be stuck with Sonar 8.5 PE and my current recording pc for the rest of my life, I would just say "ok" and go back to work. One cool thing about PE that blows me away is you can record an entire song without even owning an instrument and have it sound pretty pro. It has just about every tool known to man and if you don't want to use those tools, you simply don't.

Imagine having a DAW that has all you need even if you don't use all the stuff. And one day, you decide that you are going to try and learn something new about it once a week. Sonar PE 8.5 will keep you busy for about a year just learning and using everything it has. It's like having a sports car...you may not want to drive it like a lunatic....but it sure is nice to flex your muscles and have the power if you want to. That's the best way I can describe it really.

[newkid]

Originally Posted by Danny Danzi

Grey area really...me personally, I always like to have more than I need because if I ever need it, it will be there for me. I had a friend going to buy one of those all in one hardware units. I talked him into Sonar and he was a bit intimidated by it. But, he took the plunge and went for the studio edition. He outgrew it in about a year and switched recently to Sonar 8 PE. He's so happy with this change that I've not heard from him since other than the mp3's he sends me every week showing me his work. LOL!

I think PE is the way to go if you have the money. I'll put it to you this way man, and I sincerely mean this. If I got told tomorrow that I would be stuck with Sonar 8.5 PE and my current recording pc for the rest of my life, I would just say "ok" and go back to work. One cool thing about PE that blows me away is you can record an entire song without even owning an instrument and have it sound pretty pro. It has just about every tool known to man and if you don't want to use those tools, you simply don't.

Imagine having a DAW that has all you need even if you don't use all the stuff. And one day, you decide that you are going to try and learn something new about it once a week. Sonar PE 8.5 will keep you busy for about a year just learning and using everything it has. It's like having a sports car...you may not want to drive it like a lunatic....but it sure is nice to flex your muscles and have the power if you want to. That's the best way I can describe it really.

Thanks

If the extra stuff is not all wasted then I will find a way to budget for the PE version.

i think you are right, I will need it eventually, or at least wish I had it to use.

The only other question may be should I start small and then upgrade which depends on their upgrade pricing policies.

Sometimes you can do that and learn cheap and then buy the full package at a smaller price when you are ready to use the advanced functions.

Way back when I got the full ms office for somthing like $99 instead of $499 cause I had something else they took for an upgrade price.

[fHumble fHingaz]

It may not be relevent to your thread, but have you already got some other software you're not keen on? The way I got into Sonar 7PE was through the "crossgrade" deal. I already had Ableton Live 6LE & it really wasn't my style (even though I have German heritage!), but I came across this deal on Sonar - Cakewalk
This was cool because it got me into a top-shelf DAW for a lot less than the usual price.
I'd recommend you download the trial version of Sonar 8.5 - It's fully functional for 30 days - see how you like it.

[bozmillar]

Hey, if you are worried about using your hard earned dollars, I don't think you should pass up trying reaper. I've been using sonar for the past few years. I use sonar 7 PE and I think it's great. However, the more I use reaper, the closer I get to completely making the switch. It actually has more routing capabilities than sonar.

don't get me wrong, I love sonar. Like Danny said, if someone told me I had to use sonar for the rest of my life, I wouldn't feel to bad about it. But I do find reaper to have almost all the features that I use in sonar, plus some, and it's only $50 and free to try.

That aside, you should look at sonar's website to see what the differences are between PE and whatever is under it. I think they strip some plugins and the pitch correction thing and maybe take out a few other features. If I know you, you probably won't want the extra add ons that much anyways.

[newkid]

Originally Posted by bozmillar

Hey, if you are worried about using your hard earned dollars, I don't think you should pass up trying reaper. I've been using sonar for the past few years. I use sonar 7 PE and I think it's great. However, the more I use reaper, the closer I get to completely making the switch. It actually has more routing capabilities than sonar.

don't get me wrong, I love sonar. Like Danny said, if someone told me I had to use sonar for the rest of my life, I wouldn't feel to bad about it. But I do find reaper to have almost all the features that I use in sonar, plus some, and it's only $50 and free to try.

That aside, you should look at sonar's website to see what the differences are between PE and whatever is under it. I think they strip some plugins and the pitch correction thing and maybe take out a few other features. If I know you, you probably won't want the extra add ons that much anyways.

thanks
looked at reaper

cubase and sonar made the short list
PT was in between
reaper and live and a bunch more didnt make the cut for me.