Sonar feature requests thread...

[Monarch]

Other Host specific feature request threads exist so why not one for Sonar?

If you do want to post your request directly to Cakewalk then you can actually post it here but if you don't want to fill out the form......then post your requests here on this thread. If the Ableton feature request thread is anything to go by, maybe Cakewalk might browse this thread and take some ideas on board...

So...

Do you have any feature requests for Sonar?
a. Maybe you are using Sonar already, happy with it but have a lorry load of things you would still like added to it. Please share.

b. A user of one the cheaper but very good quality offerings out there? Podium, Cubase Essential, Reaper, Tracktion e.t.c anything in your current host you would like to see in Sonar?

c. Ableton Live User...like the features in Sonar but not the workflow? What would you change?

d.Maybe you are a user that makes heavy use of Audio Editing features in Sonar or other apps like Samplitude....where do you think Sonar comes up short for you? What aspects would you like to see added?

e. Midi? The changes to Sonar7 were quite broad regarding Midi...do you have any additional features you would like to see? Maybe your existing hosts handles some aspects much better than Sonar, would you like to see those features in Sonar? What are they?

f. Currently in the market for a new host...? You like Sonar but want some key features added before making the switch, what are those key features?

Getting the ball rolling...

1. I like the interface and the flexibility of Sonar...but I would not mind seeing an overhaul along the lines of Logic 8 or even Cubase graphically. I don’t need it to look just like those hosts...no. But some icons and other areas could do with a graphical refresh. I would not necessarily want it to look exactly like Sonar home studio 7 either (which is quite nice) but some kind of graphical update would be nice.


2. Red book CD burning. Currently only Track at once is offered. I would like to see Disc at once.


3. Session Drummer 2, Dimension Pro (VSTi), Perfect Space, all updated to x64bit native.

[RedDavid]

Deferred disk writes would be a nice addition. It's an x64 app, so why not make the most of it, and make it possible to record all tracks to memory, and write them to disk at the end of recording? It'd reduce disk IO heavily, and would make multitrack recording a far easier process for the system to perform. Writing 24 24/96 tracks to disk isn't easy for a computer. It can cause dropouts. Deferred writes could cause dataloss, but probably fewer than you'd get with IO stalls, so they could be a rather handy feature.

It can't be too hard to code in, either. Windows' Sound Recorder has been doing it for years.

[Monarch]

Interesting point.

Cakewalk clearly put more emphasis on better performance for Sonar as this page shows...so there may very well be more optimisations to come for Sonar in future. They do appear to want to really make it as efficient as possible.

[RedDavid]

And this is why I always buy Sonar. I get the impression that Pro Tools and Cubase are able to totally live by their name alone, whereas Cakewalk seems to be the only company actively fighting to be the best. With every new generation, they get considerably better, too.

By the way, now I've got a little more time (ended up being twenty minutes late for work, oops) on my hands, here's some numbers to justify the madness of my previous post.

One track of 24bit 192KHz = 24*192,000 = 4,608,000bps = 562KBps


Assuming a drive with a write speed of 40MB/s, that's 14ms. If you're using a single drive, add about 12ms seek time. RAID would offer a shorter write time, but the increased seek time would balance this out. So, you're looking at roughly 30ms to write a second of audio data to disk at 24/192. Multiply that by 24, and you're up to some 740ms write time per second of audio data. Well above comfortable range.

Not only does this cause extra CPU consumption, but it also causes latency spikes across the system as all this data has to be qued, and sent across the same bus being used by your audio interface. This is where you get dropouts and lost takes.

By comparison, 24 tracks at 24/192, each lasting 300s will consume a touch under 4GB of memory. Time to write the data to disk, being about 100s. Or, 50s with a RAID array. Less still with faster drives, which tend never to improve upon latency times (10 to 20ms latency for a random seek has been standard for more-or-less forever), but that always manage to write a little faster than the generation before.

Ultimately, it wouldn't be an ideal solution, but for the sake of £40 worth of RAM, I'd definitely choose fewer dropouts over near-instant stop & playback times.

[Monarch]

Very in depth calculations there RedDavid ...you mentioned x64 do you use an x64 version of Sonar?

[fog]

if you post direct to cakewalk or on the forum.. more likely they see it..

errm "feature request"

http://www.cakewalk.com/Support/FeatureRequest.asp