Cakewalk Sonar 2XL any good ?

I use Sonar 4 Studio. It was more than what I needed when I started out but, I've gotten a bit better at it now.

Not sure about 2, but 4 has the DXi and you can use VST's. You have to activate the VST using the Cakewalk VST Adapter in the program folder. Once you do that, right-click in the box where your effects are and select the option that has your VST's in it.

The more you use it the better you'll get.

I like Sonar. But this is an area where what you're used to really has an impact on what you like.

I'm just getting introuced to CakeWalk & the Sonar line myself - I downloaded Sonar 5 Proucer edition trial version just to get a taste. For me the interface looks a little cluttered at first try, but maybe thats just cos all i've used to date has been audacity and melody assistant (another freeware). May take a little getting used to. I haven't tried anything with VST/effects yet. I'm still trying to figure out why I cannot acvtivate the [r] record option on the audio, and when i do it in midi - dont get any sound played back! Looks like a steeper learning curve from the freebies!!

woops, looks like Sonar 5 does not support certain soundcard drivers, like mine (SigmaTel Audio)?

Hi Kachman
Sonar 2 works for me, did some test recordings .

In Sonar 2 under Options,Audio , General there is something called Wave Profiler that checks the soundcards WDM driver. And under Drivers it tells what soundcard input and outputs that can be enabled/disabled.
Set sampling frequency to 44.1 kHz and file bit depth to 16, if you set it to 96/24 your soundcard may not support it and will not be enabled for recording.

I'm just getting introuced to CakeWalk & the Sonar line myself - I downloaded Sonar 5 Proucer edition trial version just to get a taste. For me the interface looks a little cluttered at first try, but maybe thats just cos all i've used to date has been audacity and melody assistant (another freeware). May take a little getting used to. I haven't tried anything with VST/effects yet. I'm still trying to figure out why I cannot acvtivate the [r] record option on the audio, and when i do it in midi - dont get any sound played back! Looks like a steeper learning curve from the freebies!!

Choose your inputs and outputs and then click on the "R" in the track you want to arm and then at the top middle there is a red circle that you click on to start recording. If your input is selected correctly and you arm the track (R) then you will see the meter work when you strum.

Hi Kalle,
thanks as always for your quick help. I think I have the settings right. 16 bit driver depth, 44.1KHZ sampling frequency under options/audio in the general tab. In the advanced tab, I/O buffer size is 128 KB, Driver mode - WDM/KS, Dithering POW-r 3.

When i run the wave profiler, I get an error message saying "the audio driver(s) either do not support the audio format, or are in use by another application". So there's something funky going on. I dont have any other audio software running at the same time so i'm wonering if therer are certain soundcards/driver(s) that are not compatible with sonar. I may be asking a dumb question here since I'm not sure yet what the difference is btw WDM drivers, ASIO etc - that may be the problem. Any thoughts

PS: D'you like sonar 2 so far? Any big jumps in capabilities from your freeware?

Thanks Mike, I'm actually past setting I/O options and pushing [r] on the track and main record button:)

I'm more of a Cubase user myself but Sonar should do everything you'll want, espescially if you hadn't had much complaints about Kristal. DXi shouldn't be that much of an issue, all VST plugs I bought all have a DXi version on disc.

Kachman
For the simple Audio recordings I am doing so far ( max 6 parallel audio tracks and no midi) I find KAE (Kristal Audio Engine), with the ASIO4ALL driver, easier to use and doing the job good enough for my need.

But as I´ve got my hands on a "free copy" of Sonar 2, I wanted to see what a more proffessional SW could do, and it can do much more than KAE.
The main thing is more audio tracks than KAE´s 16 tracks and midi track handling.
One thing that I want to test, is using a MIDI "orchestra" background and record vocal and guitar in audio and then export everything as an .wav or .mp3 file.