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Joined: Nov 2008
Posts: 897
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Joined: Nov 2008
Posts: 897 |
Well, I AM an owner of Sonar Producer 4, and I received an email from Cakewalk that, as a registered owner, the upgrade price for the full-blown Sonar Producer XI now set at $99 price for download (with a serial number)...an offer I don't think I can refuse! Mac, if you happen to read this, respond to this new upgrade level. I'm thinking you, and some others, have successfully used BIAB with this latest version!? Also they seem to offer purchasers of Sonar 8.5, with an additional free upgrade to XI Producer edition, thrown in. I've been concentrating on BIAB/RealBand but with the Version XI almost completely "refurbished", I think I'll use them all, going back to using Sonar Producer XI for it's comprehensive also use of audio/midi and other doo-daahs! Wish I could also afford the newest Soundforge, but not now. I remember, back in 2001, during the "MP3.com" website showcase for musicians, I produced 6 Albums with Sonar, Soundforge, Acid Prod. Used Sony's Soundforge for a lot of finishing and normalizing before the final cuts...but to get Soundforge's latest version..mucho dinero! Maybe I'll celebrate my 77th next month with a new album: "Be Happy--Use a Pacemaker ifn you need one!?"  
Yamaha...Motif ES-8, Motif Rack, CS6X
Korg...Karma,Triton Classic, PA-80, M-1+
AkaiSampler-S5000, Roland.. X5080 Rack/G-1000 Arranger
Various Guitars/Basses Amps Pedals Rec.Equip.
Plus, BIAB 2015 and Sonar Platinum 2015 Upgrade from Cakewalk's Sonar X-3
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Joined: Aug 2006
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Joined: Aug 2006
Posts: 8,730 |
With all the problems that are being discussed at Cake over the X1 product i think i will just stay with Rb and add a couple extra plugins. So far i have not found anything it won't do with the exception of jamstix
HP Win 11 12 gig ram, Mac mini Sonoma with 16 gig of ram, BiaB/RB 2026, Reaper 7, Harrison Mixbus 11 , Presonus Audiobox USB96
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Joined: Mar 2009
Posts: 193
Apprentice
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Apprentice
Joined: Mar 2009
Posts: 193 |
The Cakewalk X1 Sonar forums have been in turmoil since it has been released back in December. As an owner of Sonar 8.5.3 Producer, I decided to upgrade to X1 to see the new "workflow" that was introduced in X1. I have been on the fence about it since there were some things left out from 8.5.3 and bugs were prevalent.
I am hopeful that Cake will squash the bugs and bring back some things that were overlooked in a the X1b release. I have been using some form of Cakewalk since the turn of the century that I feel more comfortable with it than Real Band. I know that you cannot do things in it as you can in RB but I am more comfortable in Sonar than I am in RB. That is what BIAB is for.
Good luck in whatever you decide to do.
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Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 27,505
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Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 27,505 |
I have upgraded to SONAR X1a and it works very well for what I do. Drag & Drop from BIAB is smooth.
Yes, there are perhaps more than the usual number of SONAR forum posts about problems, but the new version works fine for many who have not complained. I also look forward to update X1b, due in February.
As I understand it, the price for the upgrade to X1 varies with the version you have. This table is on the Cakewalk store:
SONAR X1 Producer: Site Price
Download for SONAR 8.5 Producer Customers $99.00
Download for SONAR 7 or 8 Producer Customers $149.00
Download for SONAR 1-6 Producer or any SONAR Studio Customers $199.00
Download for SONAR LE, and SONAR X1 Essential Customers $299.00
Download for any Registered Cakewalk Customers $349.00
The retail price for new users is $399, which is two hundred less than it used to be. The Studio version is less.
BIAB 2025 Win Audiophile. Software: Studio One 7 Pro, Swam horns, Acoustica-7, Notion 6, Song Master Pro, Win 11 Home. Hardware: Intel i9, 32 Gb; Presonus 192 & Faderport 8, Royer 121, Slate VSX, Adam Sub8 & Neumann 120 monitors.
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Joined: Feb 2003
Posts: 2,427
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Joined: Feb 2003
Posts: 2,427 |
As a Sonar 8.5 user (and having a large investment in cash and learning since Sonar 2) I've been following the anguish on the Cakewalk forums with growing concern. However, yestrday I weakened and ordered the upgrade to X1. I figured that it will cost me a lot more money and toil to swap over to another DAW so I might as well go through the pain barrier with X1's GUI changes. At least I'll know my way around most of it.
NOW, having said that... today I find that Presonus are doing a NAMM three-day only download only deal on their Presonus 1 Artist DAW at 90% off! That's £15.59!! That's a no brainer backup in case I decide to jump the Sonar ship so I'm off to get my credit card. (They'll want to tempt you to upgrade to the Pro version for £182 or so, but looking at the extra features I'm not sure I'll need them, but if I did the total price is still way below the price of starting anew with another DAW).
John
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Joined: Nov 2008
Posts: 897
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Joined: Nov 2008
Posts: 897 |
Thank you so much for that no-tif-ick-ca=tion.... Bought into Prosonus on your recomendation...and I guess Sonar producer #4 will be my only fallback to the good ol' days. I can't see any DAW Devotee, that hasn't taken advantage of the Prosonus offer, wouldn't. Oh, yeah!! Another interesting opportunity, this time for $99 bucks is East/West sampler with a free 1 Terrabyte HD....you can keep, if you don't want to move into their software "for real"! EastWest/Quantum Leap Terapack Test drive the entire EASTWEST/QUANTUM LEAP collection for the cost of the 1TB high performance Western Digital Black Caviar hard drive and replication! The TERAPACK includes all products as trial versions. Try each product for 10 days. Each product can be activated at different times. Purchase a full license online at any time at a discount. Fast installation, there are no samples to install! http://www.soundsonline-forums.com/showthread.php?t=30755now $99 buckerooos instead of the ol' $129 http://www.soundsonline.com/EastWest-Quantum-Leap/ 
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Joined: Nov 2010
Posts: 506
Journeyman
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Journeyman
Joined: Nov 2010
Posts: 506 |
Quote:
Presonus are doing a NAMM three-day only download only deal on their Presonus 1 Artist DAW at 90% off!
Here's a link:
NAMM Special
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Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 676
Journeyman
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Journeyman
Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 676 |
Thanks for the tip and link! Personally, I've been taking a closer look at the Presonus Studio One (Pro version) after seeing the large number of Sonar X1 and Cakewalk e-store complaints. Studio One Artist is a good place to start and see if it's what I want. I mean, 20 bucks for a nice DAW? You must be joking!!!
I'm not happy about learning a new DAW, though. I love Cakewalk Sonar and it has always worked great for me (I use Studio 8.5). What has me reconsidering Cakewalk now is the seemingly silent company response to the problems. I can't stand companies that ditch customer service - especially in a bad economy! I'm not sure that's going on with Cakewalk, but it has me concerned. My upgrade price is $200 for the Producer version, so if I'm going to part with the cash, I want to know the product will be delivered reasonably fast and will work as stated. Sorry, but $200 is still a lot of money in my world.
That, of course, is why I LOVE PG MUSIC!!! I bought the BIAB/RB upgrade for $100 last night and I started to download it immediately. No problems, no lost email messages, no major deal-breaking bugs. Just a product that does what it has always done!
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Joined: Aug 2006
Posts: 8,730
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Joined: Aug 2006
Posts: 8,730 |
The Presonus Studio one deal, (artist version, not pro) from what i have read is a limited version they are giving away almost to promote the version 2 that is soon out. Not a full on version.
Heck everyone wants to go buy expensive DAW software to go with BiaB, when RB is FREE!!!!! not one red penny, shilling, centavo, whatever. BiaB is the same price structure as before and you get a 100% compatible DAW in the package that you do not even have to drop and drag, you can open BiaB files directly.
I have been a cake user for years. I first bought Home studio 3.0 on floppy disk years ago, I then bought four successive versions of MC (1.0, 2003, 3.0, and 5) I never made the jump to sonar, because every version, it seemed was complained about for the bugs that never got fixed. I know that in the cheap version it had bugs and they never would address them at all.
I know Sonar works well for most folks, and it is a very deep rich DAW, and most of the ones having big issues are one that dig deeper into it and use maybe more complicated tasks. But there are some on there that are pro type users that use it for studio work with clients, and they are having some serious issues.
I guess i find it interesting how here, so many post when every other DAW in the world releases a version or has an upgrade, but i do not see folks running over to Sonar's forum to announce when BiaB has a new version! I find it kind of unfair to use PG's site to promote it's competitors. Having a different product in your signature is fine it let's others know what you use and are capable of. Just a view point, nothing that really matters.
Last edited by Robh; 01/15/11 10:32 AM.
HP Win 11 12 gig ram, Mac mini Sonoma with 16 gig of ram, BiaB/RB 2026, Reaper 7, Harrison Mixbus 11 , Presonus Audiobox USB96
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Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 676
Journeyman
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Journeyman
Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 676 |
Well, first off, I don't think anyone would deny that there are nice features in Sonar that are either not available or limited in PT/RB. Even PG Music understands the users desire/need for other DAWs and they have that built into their software (plugin mode, for example). Also, even the Studio edition comes with some nice plugins that make it worth it to me. Overall, there is a benefit to having both PT and something like Sonar or Pro Tools. For me, the biggest problem that I've had with PT is the ASIO problem with my system. I have to do a workaround for PT to enable input monitoring. It's not a complete deal-killer, considering that PT is so inexpensive, but I have ended up prefering Sonar for my tracking and mixing because of it. As others have mentioned, there are VSTs and other programs that don't work at all in PT. That's not something to dismiss. If you've purchased or been given a program like Jamstix, you have no choice but to use something like Sonar to run it correctly. As for DAW announcements, well there are many DAWs out there that people use for whatever reason, so obviously there will many posts here about them. I don't think it's fair to assume that people are being disrespectful by mentioning another product that many of us use. Also, people do promote PG Music products outside: (From the Cakewalk Forum) http://forum.cakewalk.com/tm.aspx?m=2147048
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Joined: Mar 2009
Posts: 272
Apprentice
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Apprentice
Joined: Mar 2009
Posts: 272 |
I would caution anyone thinking about investing a lot of time (as well as money) into another DAW to also consider what kind of experience you might encounter when you (inevitably) run into problems. Studio One looks like a very enticing DAW concept. My experience with Presonus's tech support with another of their products however leads me to believe that they might be a company to avoid if there are other viable alternatives. I know of others in this forum who have had a similar experience with Presonus.
Terry
BIAB/RB 2018 PlusPak. Dell Inspiron23 running Win10, 12GB RAM, 2.5GHz i7, Presonus AudioBox USB interface.
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Ask sales and support questions about Band-in-a-Box using natural language.
ChatPG's knowledge base includes the full Band-in-a-Box User Manual and sales information from the website.
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The office will be closed for Christmas Day, but we will be back on Boxing Day (Dec 26th) at 6:00am PST.
Team PG
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