Cakewalk
Nov 1, 2001 12:00 PM, By Dave Hill Jr.
Outta the deep and into the street, Sonar — the daddy of all Cakewalk Pro Audio upgrades — offers a new name, freshly rewritten code, and a host of added frills and thrills that will impress more than a few PC music-making enthusiasts. After diving headlong into Sonar's deepness, I have to admit that deep is the only way to go.
Sonar is a powerful MIDI sequencer and digital-audio recorder with 21st-century-caliber looping and time-synchronization tools. The well-designed software offers hundreds of savable, user-customizable layout settings. Sonar's screens can look just about any way you want them to. You can expand, collapse, or resize any window or horizontally aligned track and save your screens for quick recall in the heat of audio exploration. You can even spread the screen layout across two monitors.
Other tantalizing Sonar features are the included real-time effects and the brand-new Cakewalk virtual instrument format, DirectX Instruments (DXi). Four DXi come with Sonar: Dreamstation DXi, LiveSynth Pro SE, Edirol VSC (Virtual Sound Canvas), and Tassman SE. But before you get too excited, read the fine print. Tassman SE is a lite version of the modular analog-style synth. The full version, Tassman 2.0 DXi, comes bundled with Sonar XL and is a powerful, multifaceted machine worthy of its own review. LiveSynth Pro SE, a SoundFonts synthesizer, is not only lite but also merely 30-day shareware. The full version is available for $64.95. When you use either of these synths, an annoying pop-up “Remember to register” window often appears once you launch the software. However, Edirol VSC, which is reminiscent of Roland's popular Roland Sound Canvas tone generator, and Dreamstation DXi (the same DirectX Instrument included with Fruityloops 3.0) are full versions.
Most functions of Cakewalk DirectX effects are automatable, though it did take me a minute to figure out how to use the automation feature. The trusty manual helped me see how effects like compression, gate, reverb, chorus, flanger, and more can be automated to liven up any lilting jam. The amp simulator featured in the included version of Alien Connections' ReValver SE is a sweet treat for those who like dark and organic sounds. Effects can be chained within a channel or bus (aux) send. Also, you can process DirectX Instruments by simply adding an effect after the instrument in the Effects tab. Latency on DXi depends greatly on the sound card and drivers you are using. (For more DirectX Instruments and plug-ins, check out www.thedirectxfiles.com and www.thepluginlist.com.)
If you dig SoundFonts, Sonar is your champ. SoundFonts are RAM-based samples with relatively low MIDI latency. However, the selection of SoundFonts samples on the market is somewhat slim. Fortunately, Sonar comes with some tasty electronica samples by Sonic Implants and several cool-sounding drum and music samples from Sampleheads.
Cakewalk has smartly integrated many of Pro Audio 9's coolest features in Sonar. You'll find straightforward-yet-handy MIDI effects like Echo Delay and a versatile Transposer that can align your pattern within a key, scale, or custom intervallic range. There are also some slightly useful but a little cheesy add-ons like Chord Analyzer and Session Drummer, which provides preprogrammed generic MIDI drum files for your production pleasure. The Arpeggiator, Event Filter (for limiting MIDI playback), and Quantization effects are what you would expect in a MIDI application of this magnitude.
Cakewalk offers two different versions of the software: Sonar ($479) and Sonar XL ($739). Both versions feature unlimited audio and MIDI tracks and Acid-like loop previewing and time-stretch functionality. Also, Sonar provides MIDI music notation; the ability to edit audio associated with AVI files; frame-accurate SMPTE film/video synchronization; and real-time monitoring of audio effects. Sonar is optimized for Windows 2000/ME/98 SE systems, multiple processors, and even dual monitors.
Another welcome improvement in Sonar over Pro Audio is the doubling of MIDI timing resolution to 960 ppqn (pulses per quarter note). The increased resolution helps you retain the feel of your original performance.
DIVER DOWN — MAKING TRACKS IN SONAR
When importing audio into Sonar, you must determine whether the program sees the audio as looped or not. Large audio files are automatically categorized as hard-disk audio, which means that the file will not loop and will be played from the hard disk rather than via RAM. If at any time you decide you would like to loop your file, simply double-click on the audio clip to launch the Loop Construction view and left-click on the Enable Loop button or type Control + L. You can also perform time stretching and pitch shifting in this window by deselecting the Enable Loop button (if selected) and left-clicking on the Enable Time Stretching button. Then you are free to slide the desired pitch and tempo controls or adjust the original loop tempo (which is displayed in grayed-out letters before the time-stretching feature is activated). After you have made your adjustments, you must click once in the loop region to hear the results. I found that Sonar's time- and pitch-manipulation algorithms hold their own against those of any competing product.
TWO APPS ARE BETTER THAN ONE
Sonar's Track view is sample-accurate, allowing you to zoom in to the bit level to cut and splice waveforms at the zero-crossing point. However, if you plan on doing a good deal of waveform editing, you will also want to use an audio or WAV editor like Sound Forge, Cool Edit Pro, or Wave Lab with Sonar. Each time you open your WAV editor, you will have to turn off the loop's groove-clip functions and then reset them after editing — an added chore. I came across a few other glitches when testing Sonar, but considering the frequency at which Cakewalk puts out patches and fixes, these problems may be solved by the time you read this. The problems included sometimes losing effects settings for a channel when deleting a section of audio and encountering a system crash when calling up audio from the Loop Preview window while audio is already playing.
I installed Sonar easily and without a hitch on my 700 MHz Athlon PC with 256 MB of RAM running Windows Millennium Edition (ME). At the time of this writing, Sonar's most recent version was 1.0.2. If you have an earlier version, I wholeheartedly recommend immediately downloading the 8.5 MB upgrade file from Cakewalk at www.cakewalk.com to fix several editing and effect functionality issues. Unlike many audio applications, Sonar is compatible with Windows 2000 and ran quite steadily (crashed only twice) on Windows ME once upgraded.
LOOP DADDY
In some ways, Sonar feels a bit like Sonic Foundry's Acid Pro built upon Cakewalk's Pro Audio MIDI interface. The Sonar interface features visible and easy-to-edit envelopes for controlling volume, panning, and effects levels. The way Sonar handles loops will delight Sonic Foundry Acid heads. First, more than one audio loop can reside on one track at a time. This eliminates Acid's requirement to create a bazillion tracks whenever you add a few smidgens of spice to a stagnant loop. Like Acid, Sonar handles midtune tempo and key changes very well. Sonar's Loop Explorer Preview window is another feature that Acid Pro users will appreciate. All imported audio can be converted into “groove clips” for precise tempo alignment and pitch shifting. A simple double-click calls up the Loop Construction window, which looks similar to Propellerhead's ReCycle.
You can set up the Loop Preview window to automatically play sounds as you scroll though them. The only glitch I found was that this window can preview only 16-bit or lower-resolution sounds. The lack of 24-bit previewing shouldn't prove too much of an obstacle, because most loop CDs and CD audio are 16-bit. But if you have crate upon virtual crate of 24-bit homemade loops and sounds, you'll have to skip the preview and drop them in on the fly.
FORMATS AND SAVING
Sonar can handle 16- or 24-bit audio with 96 kHz resolution and supports multiple file formats, including WAV, AIFF, MPEG, MP3, MP2, AU, and SND. You can save Sonar projects either as WRK files, which leaves audio and MIDI information in their original folders, or as a more centralized BUN file that copies all imported and found audio and MIDI information into the same folder as the Sonar file. By using the BUN option, you will never have to worry about an accidental destructive edit, provided that you save each day's work into a new folder or alternate between several different folders.
Sonar's audio-export function is both versatile and efficient, allowing you to work with stereo, mono, or separated stereo WAV, MP3, WMA, and RealAudio formats. You can omit certain portions of the recording, such as track or effect automation, or include previously muted tracks.
WHO'S DRIVING?
In the near future, WDM (Windows Driver Model) supported sound cards will be available from Aardvark, Creative Labs/Emu, Digigram, Echo, Ego Systems, Emagic, Frontier Design, Mark of the Unicorn, Midiman/M-Audio, Soundscape Digital Technology, and more. WDM offers the advantages of significantly reduced latency and compatibility with Windows 2000. Still, the older MME (Multi-Media Extensions) driver protocol works fine with Sonar. If you are lucky enough to have a sound card with vendor-supplied WDM drivers, by all means use it.
SOUND OFF
While many hardcore music-making professionals felt that Cakewalk Pro Audio fell short of the mighty Pro Tools or VST- and ASIO-empowered applications like Steinberg's Cubase and Emagic's Logic Audio, Sonar deserves a fresh look. And for the Cakewalk faithful, now you too can loop, change a sample's tempo and pitch, monitor real-time effects on input, and so much more.
If you should decide to build your studio around Sonar, Muska & Lipman Publishing (www.muskalipman.com) has released Sonar Power ($29.95), a 480-page book written by Scott Garrigus (author of Cakewalk Power and Sound Forge Power). With product endorsers like Dr. Dre, Marilyn Manson, and 'N Sync beginning to trickle in, Sonar should enjoy a nice run of supporting second-party DXi and Sonar-specific tools. A user guide like Sonar Power is an excellent indicator of Cakewalk's belief in Sonar as an application with staying power.
Former Seattle multitasker Dave Hill Jr. has worked extensively with drummer Michael Shrieve (Santana) and is currently drumming, programming, and composing in New York City.
MINIMUM SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
Windows 98, 98 SE, ME, or 2000 with at least a 400 MHz processor; 64 MB of RAM; 100 MB of free hard-drive space; 800×600 screen resolution with 256 colors; CD-ROM drive (for installation); MIDI interface or Windows-compatible sound card
Product Summary
CAKEWALK
Sonar
$479 (Sonar XL $739)
PROS: Excellent combination of MIDI and audio recording with powerful loop-handling features. Real-time effects. Includes DX Instruments. Multilevel undo. User-customizable screens. Well-written manual and online help.
CONS: Lacks dedicated WAV editor. No ASIO or VST support (except through VST DirectX software adapter). Some DirectX Instruments and plug-ins are demos or lite software versions.
Overall Rating (1 through 5): 4.5
Contact: tel. (617) 423-9004
e-mail sales@cakewalk.com • Web www.cakewalk.com
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