Sonar's audio engine is bar none the best in the business. They were the first to incorporate end to end 64-bit processing and it shows. Very pristine sound, you definately better have a good mic collection to go with this DAW because it has got one heck of a pristine engine.

More than I know to do with. I record raw audio for bands and solo artists, I never use groove clips and very rarely MIDI instruments so there's a lot I haven't been able to explore yet. But pretty much anything you want a DAW to do, Sonar 8 will do it! No track or effects limitations like some others (pro tools). Once you get the hang of the layout and the features you can dish out good music fast!

I'll admit, Sonar 8 is very very in depth. Maybe not as simple looking as Pro Tools, but it's capabilities outweigh that by far. It's like riding a bike, it takes time but it's worth the learning curve! I moved from Cubase (VERY simple user interface) to Sonar and it took me a year of recording people and working with it to really get it down, but now that I do I'm soooo glad I switched!

Simply can't beat it. I want to own a professional studio in the future (I'm only 20 years old) and I absolutely plan on basing it around Sonar, I just love it way too much to part with it. Sure DSP processing in Pro Tools is helpful, but intel's CPUs are getting better faster, and with DSP effects by SSL and UAD the DSP track processing will soon become obsolete. Just a note, track counts at high sample rates don't tax CPU's very much, it's the effects plugins at high sample rates that do.

$500 is a steal for this quality of a DAW program. Completely capable of epic pro standard recordings.

Haven't had to contact them, the help section works great for that.

Couldn't live without it.

seasoned drummer/guitarist, recording engineer

All things METAL, hardcore, hard rock

64 bit Floating engine?, That's the highest quality available on ANY DAW, and you get it for 499.99, You get 42 Audio FX, you get Guitar Rig LE for anyone who doesn't want to mic there amp, you have FX that sound realistic and GOOD!, You get Dimension PRO, which has an abundance of patches for every type of music, You get to bounce files to OMF, meaning someone who sends you a logic, cubase, or digital performer file, you can open it in Sonar 8, and you can bounce the file to send back to them, so the sound, and flexibility is amazing !

The features on this thing are endless, the editing tools which are so intuitive and flexible, the fact that you have unlimited audio and midi tracks, the fact that you can throw in video clips clean the audio in the video, the busses, the immense amount of audio fx, the feature list is endless, but the best feature is the improved mix engine, which runs 10 to 20 times more efficient on your machine, using less resources of your cpu but delivering the same power, not only that but it works PERFECT with vista, no issues what so ever.

This program is easier than people say, people don't sit long enough to understand that, Everything is programmable if you like protools shortcuts you can set the shortcuts to protools on your sonar, its simple, you can share files with logic, cubase, and DP users, you have an easy mixer with easy routing features, this program gives you everything without complexity, all you have to do is give it a chance, and you will not be dissapointed.

The quality on this thing is amazing, you know that cakewalk puts their best foot forward on their releases, I've been a protools user for years, but discovering sonar was a blessing, having a powerful machine goes for anyone, you will never go in to a protools HD rig and see a macbook, you will see a 8 Core Mac Pro with many gigs of ram, so if you want efficiency invest in a powerful PC, they are inexpensive, and easy to maintain. Thats all you need for Sonar, a high grade PC.

The fact that you get great tech support, a great DAW, several FX, Dimension Pro, Guitar Rig LE, Unlimited tracks of Audio and Midi, A full on beat of a program that doesn't eat your CPU memory, and all this for 499.99? its a no brainier, Protools requires their hardware and an extremely good PC, i had a pc of 1 gb of ram and pentium 4 with an mbox mini, i couldn't even run Protools, i used my mbox mini with sonar 6 at the time because even that was more efficient. I moved on to an RME fireface and sonar 8, and haven't looked back once, as a musician entering the software realm the DAW is where it starts, buy this product, learn it, use it, and you wont be dissapointed.

Cakewalk has the best support out of all the software companies, being they have a forum, where the employees look at the problems, and implement them in the software is great, they go to the source which is us the consumers, and figure out ways to make their product better, releasing upgrades, and bringing out better versions every year. The tech support for someone who has sonar is great, they will stay on the phone with you until you are up and going, and if you have to call back that is no problem, Cakewalk is trying their hardest to make the customers happy, and that's something that's important especially for someone who's just starting this music thing.

This product is sexy, the design of sonar is very modern the look of the mixer is very sleek and the colors mesh very well together, you cant possibly not like how this interface looks. Protools looks like something from the 60's like before color TV was invented, yet a majority of people use it, but sonar, they try to improve the look of the DAW as much as possible so that not only does it run amazing, but it looks amazing as well.

Recording Engineer

World, Hip Hop, RnB, Rock, Alternative

The hardest thing I have found in getting the sound right is setting the buffer size and sampling rate. Once the magic settings are found it sounds great. This program takes some tweaking to get where I want to be.

I am using Sonar 6 Producer Edition. This program is loaded deep. It is a little intimidating for a novice user such as myself and has quite a learning curve. I should get some of the tutorials available for this heavy weight audio production software. The manual assumes that the user is a recording engineer. Once I get the hang of doing something it starts to get really fun.

Like I said this program is deep. The hardest thing I have trouble with is setting up my Native Instruments software synths in it. Especially Battery 3. Not finding much help in the forums on that matter. But once I figure things out (a time consuming process) it starts to get really cool. The interface get crowded in a hurry but it has a lot of tools to get the job done. I also have difficulty editing midi in the editor. But I have this problem with any midi editor I try so it must be more me than Sonar. It just seems to try to think ahead of me and guess (wrongly) where I want notes. (Even with quantinizing turned off.) I have a lot to learn so I won't blame Cakewalk. Taking the time to figure things out has proven worthwhile as this program has shown me that it is more than capable of doing what I need it to do. This software is very powerful.

Had some problems running a duo core Athlon CPU that was fixed with an update. The program seems stable and appears to be very well engineered, especially considering it's massive depth.

A lot of bang for the buck. Saving up for Sonar 7.

Very Good.

I think Sonar is a truly awesome piece of software. Being a novice I may have dove in deeper than I expected to. But taking the time to learn how to use has proven to be the most worth while investment in both my time and money that I could have hoped for and I love using this program.

Hobbyist, wanna be.

Hard Rock

hard to rate this in a category. Love it

The features in this software are a godsend. Great sounding included plugins, easy to navigate interface. Logicly setup and highly intuitive. (Not sure what that one guys was talking about)

Everything has a learning curce. However I have found it to be extremely easy to use. Logical setup, things do what you would expect them too.

Here I have a real bone to pick witha couple of the reviewers previous. I've found this software to be fantasticly stable, and easy to use. A couple others have complained about crashes and other things they did not list. Remember this: Audio tasks are resource intensive. If you have a weak spot in your hardware it will be magnified using any audio product. Invest in quality hardware and NON HACKED OS and software. You wil find it works very well.

Would have paid twice the price. In My view this is the best available. yes Pro tools is a defacto standard, but it also requires expensive proprietary hardware if you want a pro style recording.

Have never needed it.

I have it. Would not give it up.

Musician, recording engineer, producer

Rock, pop Folk Funk

64 bit floating processing engine... do I have to say more? Using a mid to high level PC you can produce high quality music. I'm sold on Cakewalk Sonar 6 Producer Edition. I believe that the negative reviewers here had shoddy PCs or hardware that just didn't work with Sonar. I'm producing music for many artists with my PC and mid-level audio hardware interfaces.

VC-64 compressor is worth the price of admission. You have to know what you're doing with these plug-ins to make the most of any DAW. AudioSnap is great as well. Busses are excellent. I don't know what these people are talking about. This is a fantastic product.

It's called Cakewalk for a reason. It's very intuitive. You don't have to look far for what you need. I'm accustomed to ProTools HD. With a little study, I'm working Sonar with no problem.

One of THE best DAWs out there right now. Make sure you're working with quality hardware and PC and make the music you know you can make. It's that good, really.

I'm impressed with Cakewalk's dedication to their customers. When they put out an update, you know it (if you've registered the product). Support is available and ACTUALLY helpful. They are on your side, people. Don't believe any fakers or detractors.

Got it. You need to get it. At this price range, you can't go wrong. You can make it look and function however you want it. She can be sexy and look the way you want her to look. She's here for you!

Active Producer/Musician 18 years

Soul/R&B/Jazz/Progressive

Cakewalk Producer 8's sound engine is PRISTINE. Nothing will go unnoticed with the 64 bit sound quality. Having used the current version of every other DAW out there, Sonar has really stepped up the game and beaten their competition here. The built in plug-ins also sound great. Rapture is an absolute beast! Rich analog, filthy, warm, whatever you need. Dimension Pro is simply one of the best synths out there with something for every (and I mean every) genre of music out there. Beatscape kills, the preset kits are so good that you'll never want to use anything else for your tracks! Of course, Pentagon is also here, and exceptionally rich sounding synth, and the dirt PSYN II! Guitar Rig LE was genius add-on, and the Amber True Pianos module sounds better than the Boston grand we got for 20k upstairs! The processing plugins are first-class, and you can churn out a professional level mix using the provided channeltools, TS-64, ect. in no time! Sonnitus plugins also sound great, and will help you achieve equally professional results every time.

In terms of instruments Sonar has filled their one missing gap by introducing Beatscape with Version 8, a dedicated rhythmic powerhouse. Still, many other DAWs have more bundled content (Ableton with a massive 48gb, and Logic with...god knows how much). This shouldn't deter you though! Guitar Rig LE was also another necessary add on, as almost every other DAW has added some form of decent guitar-processing plugin. With Sonar 8, it feels like I could produce, mix, and master an entire album using just what the DAW has to offer. Still, a more customizable guitar plug-in, and a better focus on live performance would vastly enhance Sonar's overall appeal and use (a la Logic's Main Stage, or an Ableton-like interface).

Sonar 8 has been VASTLY improved in terms of ease of use. Arming tracks on the fly, the new Instrument Track feature, and more enhanced compatibility with audio and MIDI devices means that unlike so many other DAWs, you'll spend little time figure out HOW to get things to work, and more time playing and making music.

Second only to Reason in terms of stability now I believe. The bugs are minimal, unlike with previous releases. Authorization is an absolute breeze, and no dongle or "interface" scam.

Sonar is just as feature laden as Cubase, far less expensive than Ableton Suite, and more expansive and deep than Reason or Fruity Loops. Indeed, only the new Logic Pro gives Sonar a run for its money in terms of bang for buck.

Sonar's support is second to none. They reply quickly, succinctly, politely, and are more than willing to work with the customer regardless of how trivial the issue may be. I might even go so far to say that they treat you almost like family.

Sonar has a less polished interface than Cubase or Logic, albeit far less dreary than Ableton, but looks aren't what counts. Sonar is a top quality DAW now, capable of everything its competitors can do and more, and with the sort of instruments, effects, and tools that people need to create great music. Working with Sonar 8 is a pleasure, and with the new Beatscape, TS-64, and Tube Leveler plug-ins how can one resist?

Active musician

Jazz, drum and bass, hip hop, big beat, classical, film, techno

The 64 bit audio engine is truly astounding ... even on a 32 bit PC

Easily the best DAW around for ease of use and workflow. Flexible bussing, auxilliary peak indicators, all great.

Rock solid reliability, especially since the 5.0.1 patch was released.

better than products costing 50% more

Fully customised colouys ... cool!

recording engineer

Acoustic

64-bit mix engine. what more do i have to say? new dithering features for final mixing or mastering are top-notch.

will read OMF, Acid, all audio formats, all MIDI, uses VST, VSTi, DX & DXi plugins. Control surface support for most major manufacturers & a "generic" template you can program yourself. Sonar has the best bussing arrangement of any of the DAW programs I have used. Included Sonitus plugins in the Producer version are killer, along with a lexicon reverb and another reverb that does convolutions. Also includes a few softsynths and a REX player. it also doesn't lock you in to using any particular hardware. any audio interface with a WDM or ASIO driver will work.

if you can operate windows then you can operate sonar. everything is laid out in a logical, straightforward manner and there are programmable hot-keys for just about everything.

Sonar versions 3, 4 and 5 have been absolutely rock solid. No crashes, no lost data, nothing.

This is where Sonar really shines, you are getting a true professional DAW at this price. Download the demos of Sonar, Cubase, and Protools LE and compare what you get.

tech support people are very knowledgeable. easy to get in contact with on the phone and know the product inside and out. email contact is generally slower but in my experience that is common with many software companies.

of course i want it. i already have it and use it every day.

Musician, Recordist

Blues, Rock, Experimental

Like anything this can be gold or crap depending on your use of plugins and sound tools. But for me SONAR gives u what u put into it X10.

Great commands and workflow features. The Cakewalk people actually seem to listen to its users and try to give the consumers what they want.

Great sound in 48k. Look Ma No Pro-Tools.....

I love this program.

excellent and flawless. They had a patch for the new program ready in record time to address customer concerns and CPU usage issues.

Oh you want it, I know you do..... Get it now.

Producer, Sound Engineer, 6years.

Hip-Hop, R&B, and Dance

Great Plugins, Lexicon reverb sounds good.

Great mixer, midi editing is easy, groove clips are fantastic!!!

Havent crashed on me once

First sequencer, but its doing everything I could ever dream of, and lots more.

never used it.

Great value, and works like a champ!!!

Jazz, funk, pop

As far as the sound quality for recording it is just as good as any DAW out there. Now I use soft synths from Native Instruments so I can't comment on any included soft synths. Although I will vouch for Cakewalks new Dimension Pro software. It is still new to me but so far it has excellent sounds.

The other software I use is Magix's Samplitude. Sonar is less user friendly for recording than Samplitude but it does alot more. The best feature that is not in my other recording software is the Tempo Snapping. Overall the features are great.

The GUI is pretty good, although I have not yet learned all of the keyboard shourtcuts yet so it still takes me a while to get around compared to what im used to. Yet it is very similar to other of its kind and can be manuvered as such.

Given all the aspects of the software, ass long as your have other products up to par(ie. sound card, mic, synths) all the aspects of this software will create a very solid, clean, and professional product.

The price is good although i would always love to see it cheaper. Yet the price is worth the program.

I have not had to use the company for support (yet) but all of the help documents are very in depth and functional.

I stumbled upon the product by accident, I don't know any other producers with this product. I started using other cakewalk products and then found this. Their advertising could be better, but overall I think it is worth writing a review about ;)

Producer

Hip-Hop/R&B

I've used Cakewalk for midi back in the Cakewalk 6 days, then audio at 8.1, using outboard samplers for loops. I found the sound fine for what I do. With proper recording techniques (good outboard gear and top notch ADDA stuff)I have made some very clean recordings with wide dynamics and little noise. GIGO as they say. I've read TAPE OP where the golden ears of the industry say they can't hear the difference from 24/48 and 24/96. I can't. And in the end it all gets dithered to 16/41 anyway (but don't dither it in Sonar! Get some mastering software for that).

The software synths are awful. Latency is so bad you cant play them real time. DirectX plugins are pretty bad except for intentionally trashy effects. The looping functionality is bad as well, with aliasing being nasty and unuseable, and processing a looped track takes way too many resources. How come Acid does this so intuitively and with minimal CPU strain? And the MIDI stuff hasn't chnanged since the dawn of creation. Hey Cakewalk, there are still MIDI folks out here. And you should have a closetfull of StudioWare panels by now. You havent changed that for like version 8.

I went from tape to this. Select the input. Arm the track. .Adjust the level. Hit record. Stop. Rewind. TO tell you the truth, the slip editing thing is not my fav. I was much quicker with 8.1, and moved up only because it didnt have realtime fx monitoring. Okay, recording and routing is pretty easy. But things like setting up MIDI intruments, DXi samplers, automating fx... arrgh. Someone really has to revamp the whole midi world. Why are we still given MIDI controallable equipment with "implementation charts" that read like element tables? I dont have the time to deal with LSB's!

I read that some folks say it does nothing as intended. I have Ableton, Gigasampler, Samplitude, Digital Performer, Cubase etc. They all have thier quirks and learning curves. I had a ton of stability problems with Sonar 1.3, and 3. 4 was pretty stable, and I have not had serious crashes with 5 that I have not had with other programs. 99% are from plugins from different companies that disagree. I dont use alot of these (hardly any) so maybe thats why. I also have a fairly fast machine with lots of memeory and, the key, nothing on it but Sonar. No internet, no network. Stripped OS. I run software samplers on another computer from Sonar via midi.

I'm lucky that I started with version 6 and have watched for cheap upgrqdes through the years. 8.1 were great values at the time, and as each upgrade was <$200 I have been happy. Would I be happy slapping $500 down on this? Hey, I once paid $800 for an SEK'D ARC 88 card. I view value through a different prism. New stuff is (*&&^^ awesome pricewise.

They responded (a plus) farily quickly (another plus) and actually with an answer that pertained to the question. I haven't had the need to contact them much. I try not to fuss with anything once it is working

The interface is blah. I know you can tweak 12 ways from sunday, but someone needs to come up with a new vision, like a KAOSS pad of recording or the Ozone interfaces. I dont know what it is, but i'll know it when i see it. And what good is surround sound without the encoder to burn it?

small studio Recording Engineer

comatose trance

Very high quality. On par with any leading audio host program. (i.e. ProTools, Cubase, Inuendo, Digital Performer, Logic, Live, etc.)

Lots of great features. I particularly like the integrated metronome. ProTools does not have this.

Excellent. I have been using Sonar 4.0 PE for about 1 year now and have not yet had any lock-ups, crashes, or even error messages. Very stable program.

Great bang for you buck. If you want to save money, the Studio edition is only $299.00 and it has almost everything the Producer edition has, except the Sonitus plug-ins.

Haven't used customer support yet. I hear it's very helpful though. I have used the Sonar online forum though. It is extremely helpful. Many experienced users that don't mind answering questions. I have learned a great deal about Sonar and recording in general from the Sonar forum.

The interface is complex but not overcomplicated. It looks very cool. But the emphasis was very obviously put on functionality and performance, over looks.

Guitarist, Drummer, Singer and amateur recording engineer.

Contemporary Christian / Country / Bluegrass (if that makes sense)

The upgrade was targeted for 64bit Vista but none of the 64bit Cakewalk softsynths would run on my Vista64 with that exact same audio engine and drives producer 8 ran in. I had to uninstall it and go back to 8.

The upgrade simply did not run properly in 64bit.

No matter how I configured the audio drivers, the cakewalk synths would not run.

Studio owner

Whatever they want to record

I had written and posted an extensive, honest review of this product here (twice), but it keeps getting pulled down, most likely at the request of the manufacturer. These "reviews" should not be trusted. If you read carefully, it's obvious who planted them. If you're an amateur, this software is fine, but way to expensive for you. If you are a musician, look elsewhere.

nice virtual instruments

usability testing anyone

Cakewalk ships beta quality software. Then, there comes a patch that fixes about 400+ bug, and then comes another patch that fixes more bugs. During this time, if you have problems, Cakewalk will tell you that it's your hardware. ..and then comes a new version, and the cycle repeats

this is harsh. it's not the worse (there are some good components in there), but I'm bitter.

The software runs great, just make sure you reformat the hard drive, install a fresh copy of XP... still problems? It's your hardware. Oh, and keep checking their website for the next 400+ bug fixes release. Yes - it's still your hardware.

no you don't want it

recording engineer, musician

i record everything

Sound crystal Clear.

Great FX and mixing utlities. Convolution Reverb is the way to go.

Ease of use equals your recording experience overall. There is a learning curve no matter what DAW you are working with.

Can't go wrong.

Its the best there is.

I own it. Looking forward to its GUI skins in the next version.

Recording engineer

Classical, Orcestration, Movie Soundtracks/mock ups

I purchased this software because it is one of the few that is 64bits and I'm using Vista 64. In order to get the update to version 8.5, you have to create an account on the store part of cakewalk's website and purchase it for 0.00. Then a webpage is displayed which is timed and gives you 160 minutes to d/l the files which are the update, a patch and a pdf qoupon. At close to 3 gigs this takes a long time. I installed 8.0 and the rest of the dvds according to directions. During the installation of dimension pro and content, it sounded like the dvd drive was going to explode. Then I installed 8.5 update and patch. What I wound up with were 2 installations of sonar 8 and 8.5! The update does not remove the previous version. None of the plugins, dimension pro, tts, etc would run. Even though 8.5 appears to be a stand alone program, it refuses to install unless 8.0 is installed. I was able to get dimension pro and some other plugins to work by reinstalling the beatscape,dimension pro and content. But other plugins which come with sonar cause a crash dump. I have wasted an entire day installing producer and I still don't have it completely sorted out. I shouldn't have to go through this.

The info on their website is bogus

Plenty of sounds to choose from!I give it a 8 because the sounds could be more authentic, but hey my sound card sucks!

The audio snap is perfect for live playing! And it's pack with plenty of sounds!

They pretty much answer any question I have, plus the website discussion section is very helpful and it comes in handy believe me!

Cakewalk never fails in this section!They are masters at putting a realstic software together, but making it easy enought for first time software users like me!

The best for the price, plus they offer free downloads on their website.

Didn't need anything!

Looks realistic, beats FL and Reason!!!

Great sound engine, especially in 48k.

I tried logic pro, sony acid, flstudio, protools, dp5 and cubase. Right now sonar is in the lead.

I learned How to setup midi and route sound in 5 days on my own. I can't however listen to my vocals on the headphones. Just the instro. But it sounds clean as heavon when I hear the vocals on playback.

Has everything that everyone else and then some. They listen to there user base. Anyone having issues with this program hasn't downloaded the lastest update or has issues with learning this software daw in paricular. It rocks. The vintage channel strip is hot man. The sounds in the instruments sound tight. Add some effects to manipulate the sound the way you want to.

You better read the reviews on line sonar is ahead of the pack. Great value for the product.

Never used it

I'm using it now for recording and mastering.

I think this mostly depends on your hardware. In a case where it would depend on software would be if it had a bad exporter which in Sonar's case it doesn't. Since the Cakewalk 7 days(yes I've been using it that long) to Sonar 5, I've never had a problem with bad audio quality and if I did it was more than likely hardware.

Definitely the top feature for me is the bus routing. With Sonar5 you route almost anything you want to almost anywhere. I have tracks going to an effects bus out to a pre-out and then to my main outs. That's how I do it and it works great for me having those options.

This should be the reason why someone would buy Sonar in my opinion. It has a very intuitive work flow. I've tried Cubase... aaarrrgghh. I really tried to be open about Cubase but at the end of the day I can work much faster in Sonar's environment rather than in Cubase. From selecting inputs, enveloping, bus routing, fx plugins, snapping, time sig changes, fading/crossfading, you name it and it's probably right at your fingertips. Just don't buy it for the V-Vocal processor it's garbage. V-Vocal=artifacts.

Cosmetically the sofware has seen some pleasing changes and some not. The work space IMO is very pleasing and works well together. You don't have to constantly fight with different windows to see the important thins. Of course if you do use a bunch of fx and are constantly using the console(mixer) you will definitely wanna think about getting an extra monitor or at least a really wide one.

Worth every single penny. Like I said I've seen how others work and I really don't think that there is anything like it in it's price range. I haven't tried anything above this price range because I simply can't afford it. If I ever get a chance to work with something more expensive maybe my review will change then. In my ten years experience of using computer recording it is definitely not the amount of money you equipment costs as much as your understanding of how to use what little or how much you have.

Never had to deal with support so I can't give a bad score. I own a delt1010 and it's always worked okay. I've always have to do some tweaking here and there and definitely make sure all my hardware drivers are good ones.

For me(an avid Cakewalk user and definitely somewhat biased) I would say it almost calls to me. Even if you stripped it of it's extra plugins and free reverbs and it's limited virtual instuments, the very usable user interface is cool to look at. Hey I haven't become bored of it since Cakewalk 7 so they must be doing something right.

Church band director, Recording Studio, Pianist

Contemporary Christian Rock, Jazz, R&B

The software has just about every feature you could imagine, but in this case, that

I've made better sounds with a trash can lid.

Did nothing it was supposed to.

Sub-par at best.

I would've given this a -14 if I could.

Non-existant.

Hell no.