Craig Anderton on Cakewalk SONAR at Sweetwater
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- Опубліковано 12 тра 2016
- Mitch Gallagher sits down with industry veteran and Executive Vice President of Gibson, Craig Anderton, to talk about Cakewalk SONAR DAW software. Craig talks about his role with the Gibson brands family, and demonstrates some of the highlights of Cakewalk SONAR software.
Learn more about Cakewalk SONAR DAW software here: www.sweetwater.com/store/detai...
The Sweetwater Minute, Vol. 339
Sonar! My favorite DAW ever!!
You seen the news? Thanks Gibson!
And it's back. Thanks BandLab!
I've followed Craig for years and know what a wealth of information he is. I think I still have one of his early pedal project books somewhere in my studio. His endorsement of Sonar is definitely enough to make me take a second look at my current DAW and start looking at Sonar. I never knew he was involved with Cakewalk. Knowing that he is working behind the scenes is a huge endorsement for Sonar and Gibson in my opinion.
I've been following Mr. Anderton for 30 years now and this man is practically a genius.. I've learned a wealth of information from him.. When he speaks I listen... And you should too.
very impressive guy right here in Mr Anderton, he is also one of the nicest guys out there. a lot of the things he is saying are 100% true with me. when I used to write back in the 90's it would take hours to version a song. re record parts, change a solo. this is now so easy to use cakewalk to version different songs. speeds up song writing and can still be very productive.I use sonar platinum because I like it. I like the features and most of all I like the company, the people, the forums are always active to answer questions. could sonar be better ? sure it could. there's always room for improvement. but im happy with it.
Yeah, and Gibson have just dropped Cakewalk.
Really enjoyed this discussion. Thanks!
Dude, good for him! What a legend!
Grew up reading these guys' articles. I love how articulate they are whether in writing or speaking. Mitch Gallagher is one of my favorite music/technology resources and I love Craig Anderton (and his special "if you dig in" tips) because I've been a loyal Cakewalk user for the past 23 years. Oh, and I'm happy Sweetwater has been with us all these decades. Thanks for this! Please do more. Maybe an educational video channel with you two as hosts? :)
Mayjor Pet Peeve: With each Sonar release, you need the most expensive PC set-up to benefit from the new features. I'm always about 3 years behind in upgrading because buying new hardware just to make the software run smoothly is not cost-effective.
2 national treasures... thank you!
Craig has always been a reliable source of information and all around nice guy. He always has time to give advice on line. Loving learning Sonar, coming from analog gear it makes sense once you learn how to patch in it. Any software that stays out of the way of, or adds to the creative process is fine with me.
I started with Cakewalk as a MIDI sequencer that came on floppy. Since then it has constantly evolved as I have aged. It's been a faithful companion. In those early days who could have imagined you could work with audio tracks at all, let alone drop in the unbelievable guitar FX and all the other amazing magic? The updates are reassuring. Windows 10 was never going to be a compatibility challenge with software that updates monthly. If this sounds a bit like fan-mail that's okay.
I love Craig Anderton, Pope of Technology. I've loved him since my Guitar Player Keyboard player EM days in the 80's. DX7s, M1s, midi and triggers. I'm glad you are with Gibson and you know what to do! Sorry gotta run ;) God bless you!
+TheShawngeetar I really wanted to build Craig's Quadrafuzz (sp?) in GP, but I never got around to it. He mentions multi-band distortion in this video.
Sonar.. freakin awesome.. using it for years
One of the greatest minds in the misic business
Woow, how things have changed in two and a half years.
OK I haven't heard of Craig in 20 or 30 years but I used to build projects from his books, and Electronic Musician and the other publications he was involved with in the eighties onward help me get my studio career off the ground. Cool to see you are now active at Gibson.
I still have (and built many of) Craig's Electronic Projects For Musicians book.
Craig has really been around. I got into home recording after I read his book Home Recording for Musicians. I also built some of his projects and a lot of other stuff from PAIA Electronics. I still have his "Craig Anderton Music Tape" on cassette.
I've been a Cakewalk enthusiast for over 23 years!!!! (Anyone still remember TwelveTone Systems?) Just bought my lifetime version of Platinum. Money so well spent. I felt great about dropping the cash. Sonar continues to be different in the same way that I always felt differentiated it from ALL other DAWs, and that's culture. I feel like the developer is both scientist and artist. The releases are usable and stable. I can't tell you how many times I encountered a session issue and really wanted to blame Sonar, but more often the troubleshooting showed me the real culprit. Craig does an outstanding job of exemplifying the "new" Cakewalk and how the legacy of great development continues! Thanks to all at Cakewalk for a lifetime of software that keeps me ahead of the pack and even my own imagination!
Kurt Ackerman I still have my original Twelve Tone Systems DOS diskettes from 1988. When Windows 3.11 MME came out, what an eventful time! Digital audio on a PC 🕶
I know you mentioned this a year ago, but I just had to say, I too had those DOS diskettes that were actually floppy back in 1990! I did great stuff on my Korg M1 and the early Cakewalk. I have only had two versions since them, the latest in 2005. The Sonars demos look fairly similar when all is said and done to my 12 year old Cakewalk. The graphics are really cool. I hope I will not feel technically overwhelmed.
I got SUCKED into the lifetime version too ... and now Cakewalk is OVER ... shutting the doors ... what a deceptive thing they pulled on those who have been with them from the beginning ... Gibson ... shame on you ...
Thanks for making it what it is today because I would have never even touched it if bandlab didn’t get it and give it to me.
love sonar
Fascinating interview with some great insights. Thank you Sweetwater and Craig. I could listen to Craig for hours talking about my favourite DAW! I've been a loyal and happy Cakewalk customer since the mid 1990s. One criticism, though - the screenshot zooms and pans didn't help, especially the extreme close-ups. Full screen would have been easier to watch.
I hope that they merge Cakewalk's software with Tascam's hardware. Can you Imagine Sonar's vst plugins inside Tascam's DSP series digital mixers?
I'm confused about what he was doing to get the guitar timing into the bpm window. at 5:00 he mentions 'drag it to the timeline' but I didn't see anything being dragged. He also mentioned that he had addictive drums 'on' at the same time. Do you HAVE to have the drums up in order to accomplish this setting the song to timing? and how do you open that window at the bottom in the first place?
i freakin love my sonar roland scared the shit out of me when they took over BUT so far so good
15:24 - 20:43 - Holy $#!T...I had no idea this even existed; I mean, I knew it did but I had no idea you had control of upsampling on plugins that don't let you control it. I thought it only existed within the plugin if available, not from within the DAW.
🤯
I go to NAMM every year ask about this. They always say its coming one day. You're giving us everything we never wanted except the ONE thing we always ask for.!!!!!
Well, you're getting your Mac version afterall.
Hell I heard the first version for Mac is free... So yeah go dump Logic in a bin and get Sonar...
I've got x3 studio but can't get a tempo map by dragging an audio file to the timeline. WOTS RONG?
The follow feature at 4:40- will it also work for a vocal line to follow a drum loop below it? Just wondering. Call Craig A and ask him please. lol.
Good comment on being creative people rather than spending time on distracting things in the process while using the software and wiring
it used to look like the ever popular Studio One. I must say I like the new look.
go hard, craig anderton
I like the new look Platinum looks similar to the ever popular Maschine.
starlight waltz
i wonder what craig has to say about cakewalks shutting down?
What a let down ....
Looks like its not dead. ua-cam.com/video/0YHaY7YYThA/v-deo.html
Diplomatic description there of life at Gibson!
did gibson get rid of craig when they screwed cakewalk
I have been using Sonar in my studio 10 years. That problem that most people have with Sonar is why do they limit them selfs to just PC. Its time for a Mac version of this DAW. Whats the problem.???
they actually just released an alpha version for OSX earlier this month
I find this 'almost' 'deceit by omission' in parts. For example the
routing abilities, it is almost like it is being put across that Sonars
new routing are a 'first' and or 'superior' to everything else, no
mention that REAPER has had this ability for many years and it still has
far superior routing capabilities and flexibility available than does SONAR.
The Subscription model, it IS a Subscription, Cakewalk only choose to name
it differently to try and trick people into not thinking it was a
Subscription, pure semantics (Which a Cakewalk forum host, JOHN,
actually said in a post, "semantics aside" something like that). As for
not being like a Subscription because the product doesn't stop working
if you stop your subscription, this is only true AFTER the first 12
months, during the first 12 months if you choose to pay via a monthly
subscription as apposed to a one time payment. and you stop paying, your
software WILL cease to work, EXACTLY like a SUBSCRIPTION. AFTER THE FIRST 12 MONTHS YOU ARE AT THE VERY LEAST SUBSCRIBING TO UPDATES, IF YOU STOP PAYING YOU DON'T GET UPDATES, SO AT THE VERY LEAST IT IS A SUBSCRIPTION, A SUBSCRIPTION FOR UPDATES, which ever way you cut it, it's a SUBSCRIPTION. As was noted in the video it is very similar to a magazine subscription, I would go further and say it is the same as a magazine subscription. It IS a SUBSCRIPTION, everybody knows that, and everybody knows that calling it a membership is nothing more than semantics designed to try and smooth over (read trick) those who would otherwise be turned off by a SUBSCRIPTION model, and the continuing denial only turns others away and looks ratherridiculous. Just remember they sent out a survey prior to going down this SUBSCRIPTION road which included a question about how people felt about a SUBSCRIPTION model, the overwhelming consensus, at least by comments in forums etc was a big NO. They went ahead with it however, of course changing the word SUBSCRIPTION to Membership . . . tricked us al . . . LOL
Another thing not mentioned when discussing the new
features etc, is the buggy state they are released in, just have a look
at the new mastering plugins, have a read of the forums regarding those,
then there is the CCC itself, although now somewhat better, when it was
released it was bugged out, it keeps changing your settings for things
like sample data location, the location of your "Cakewalk Content"
folders without notice, which creates a huge mess if you don't catch it,
you have to be on guard for this every time there is a CCC update. The
'new start screen' was an absolute abortion upon release, practically
unusable for most for a long time and on and on it goes, just check the
forums for issues about the new 'features' past and present to see that
more often than not they are released in a bugged out state. It is my
belief that they use the 'rollback' feature as a safety net, and more
than that, as a reason, an excuse if you will to release 'features' in a
state less than satisfactory, because hey "you can just roll back" The
Drum replacer, one of the 'BIG GUNS' from earlier on, recently a
Cakewalk employee wrote in a reply to a post from a user that he would
be better of using Drumagog than drum replacer (just do a search on the
forums for Drumagog in a post by a Cakewalk employee and you will find
it . . . Oh that's right, the search function on the forums is bugged
out . . . lol, so try the workaround and use the google search with the
'site cakewalk' whatever it is.
Workarounds, there's another thing, Sonar seems to be just one big workaround for all the bugs, there is workarounds for everything, again, just read the forums. I always
wondered what the abbreviation CW everyone used stood for, I thought it
was Cakewalk, but no . . . it's stands for 'Complete Workaround' or 'Can
Workaround' lol . . . seriously, you should see some of the crap
workarounds suggested in the Fridays tips and tricks for features, functionality that
other DAW's have that SONAR lacks, they are just half arsed long winded
impractical hacks, but hey, if insert this, then insert that, then route this
to that, hold down ctrl/shift while pressing F5 and T simultaneously while doing an
Irish jig with a rose stem in your mouth, flower end to the left of
course, is preferable to a simple key stroke, then hey, you got yourself
a winner workaround.
Oh and Rapture Pro, not Sonar exactly, but following in the Cakewalk trend of releasing very buggy software that is no where near ready for prime time, it was an absolute abortion on release, still was 10 months latter, people are still having issues with
it, people are still not being able to use it or authorize it today (Mac users
anyone? windows users as well in some cases) more than a year latter. I could not in all good conscience recommend SONAR, or for that matter Cakewalk in general to anyone, it's just to flakey, to buggy, and the state in which they release stuff is
appalling. It's bloated, it's far more resource hungry than any other
DAW I use, I am so thankful I found something far better than SONAR and
moved away from it, just check out the forums again for all the people
having issues with SONAR dropping back into DEMO Mode while in use,
imagine having that happen in front of a paying customer, and that is
far from being an isolated case, have a look for yourself.
SONAR enjoys the reputation it has in the audio/recording world for a good reason,
people don't take SONAR seriously for a good reason, SONAR isn't seen as
'professional' for a good reason, when you mention SONAR to other people you get that dumbfounded, stupefied blank stare for a good reason
OH, don't forget the 'new bugs every month on the month' feature . . . lol, it is LITERALLY like that, new BUGS EVERY MONTH . . . you don't know from one month to the next if something that worked last month is going to work this month. Reliability at it's best, but then reliability hasn't really ever been SONAR's or Cakewalks strong suit has it. LOL
the 'converts' are amusing. seeing the incredible passion of their hundred line paragraphs, one can't help but think that they finally realized what the rest of us already knew - the grass is not as green on the other side as it first seems. so they keep lurking around with their feet on both boats. stay content with reaper5 or presonus studio3 or whatever you use. you did make a couple fair points, but most others are just misinformed. there's a reason why cakewalk stayed more than 2 decades, it's not by accident.
+zeebazu Oh the grass is most certainly GREENER, been there for just over 10 months and there is no sign of the grass browning off, in fact is keeps getting GREENER :) and no, it's not REAPER, REAPER is my second DAW.
I don't actually 'lurk' at the forums as such, the main reason I still visit the Cakewalk forums is for the Software and Deals forums, they are very useful in picking up deals or finding out about software I may not be aware of. Plus seeing as my SUBSCRIPTION is still active until late January next year, I also get some good benefit there, a few weeks ago I picked up the FULL AAS Ultra Analog VA-2 for $49, and today I picked up the FULL AAS Lounge Lizard EP-4 for $49, all thanks to my still active SUBSCRIPTION, both good bargains and help make me feel I am getting some good value out of my SUBSCRIPTION which I no longer have use for, from where I stand with these 2 AAS instruments I am actually ahead even though my SONAR SUBSCRIPTION is of no value to me:)
The other, only minor reason I visit the forums is for entertainment value, watching the antics of the insecure overzealous fanbois as they try to defend SONAR when people rightly so point out SONARS many bugs and limitations and short comings. So there you go.
+Zac Walters I said "It's a feature that was introduced several months ago." I was talking about SONAR, and when it was introduced in SONAR. Calling that "deceit" is a stretch, to say the least.
+Zac Walters you criticize the concept of cakewalk's subscription yet you went ahead in the next comment to precisely describe how useful it has been to collect the added value even though you don't need the main software simply because you had your subscription running. that puts two of your arguments on a direct contradiction. you not liking the idea of subscription is not what I am objecting to at all. I am questioning the contradiction.
Two years later he hawked his shit off to Bandlab for some Candycorn and couple of Jolly Ranchers😂🤣
21:51 ...pay up or your sequencer goes away.... you know... tee hee hee...
1 year and 6 months on... Gibson cease all support of Cakewalk Sonar. A 30 year old DAW finished just like that!
Year later they'll shut down Cakewalk... Great job, Craig
Goodbye Sonar.
Sonar is the worst DAW I have ever used and I have used quite a few. It is buggy and slow compared to the others, very temperamental, it crashes a lot and has a lot of audio engine drop outs which was very annoying. Sonar feels like a house of cards to me, just waiting to fall in a heap, the core code of Sonar is so old and they just keep pilling stuff on top of it making it very bloated and very unstable, and unreliable. Dealing with the older bugs was bad enough, but now with all the new bugs being added at regular intervals it really is getting out of hand. Sonar almost needs a complete rewrite from the ground up getting rid of all the old inefficient, poorly functional and performing code and bring it into the current era. I have no trouble or problems at all with the other DAW's I use, but Sonar is nothing but trouble, a very poor product in comparison.
If you are looking for a DAW, you would be well advised to look elsewhere unless you are a masochist and enjoy the frustration of never ending interruptions due to a never ending supply of bugs, both major and minor. Sonar is in all honest a complete mess and there are many other far better choices out there.
+John Sebastion It didn't hold back Joe Kraemer, who scored "Mission Impossible - Rogue Nation" with SONAR. Then again, he probably has a computer that's up to the task, and knows the program well.
What would you know about whether or not my computer is up to the task or my knowledge of the program you arrogant, condescending individual? JFYI I run an Intel i7 4790 @ 3.6ghz, 32GB RAM with all SSD's and an RME UFX, more than enough to run your precious SONAR Platinum, I also have been onboard since the Pro Audio days, so I know my way around. The fact is that SONAR is noticably sluggish and slow when compared to the other DAW's I use and own, that is a FACT. Due I believe to the fact that SONAR is running on top of decades old code, which is inefficient, plus the fact that the program itself has become quite bloated from all the addon crap that they just keep bolting on without actually fixing things first. Just a cursory read of your forums should be enough to show these facts. It will also show that you have been caught out more than once being, shall we say less than honest in your role as chief Cakewalk/Sonar apologist. You seem to blame SONARS/Cakewalks problems on anything but themselves, seemingly thinking SONAR is the epitome of perfection. I notice your lack of comment and almost complete silence during the Rapture Pro debacle, only to say later something like "you may have noticed that I didn't comment about Rapture Pro . . . because I didn't use it . . . bla bla bla" why not just come out and tell the truth? you didn't comment on it because what could you say? it was an absolute mess and should never have been released like that, it was as if it was not tested at all, and you didn't use it quite frankly for the same reason many others didn't use it, it was unusable by many for a long time, still is by a number of users, they can't even authorize it more than a year latter, what will you blame that on? 3rd party plugins? Pilot error? LOL. You should have a good look at yourself and be honest at the very least. Good day to you sir.
Have you seriously validated these issues? Validation is a lot of work and you feel so pissed the entire time you're troubleshooting, so I understand the frustration and I have the broken furniture to prove it! I'm a DAW guy for over two decades and still worship Sonar. That said, yes, it's bloated. I tell people new to the DAW world that the benefit of having deep capabilities is that they're there during that critical 2% of the time that you must use them. I've never been in a jam that Cakewalk couldn't get me out of. The learning curve is steep, but with dynamic online help, good documentation and some patience, eventually you'll know the deepest tool out there. Would you rather be limited by the inability of simpler software or work to create a custom interface that hides the many abilities of Sonar?
Sounds like it's your computer and not the software. If it were the software there would be thousands of complaints like yours.
I hate frustration as much as the next guy, but Sonar has been rock solid for me for years now. Sounds like it might be a hardware issue, I don't think it's Sonar that is crashing or having dropouts.
Ticked off about Sonar and Cakewalk closing their doors ... I have been a Cakewalk user since 94 3.1 DOS ... and to think they just sucked me in to buying a "lifetime"of updates and license ... KNOWING they were going out of business ... the EXACT same kind of deal they did with the flagship DAW "Opcode" ... Gibson, you should be ashamed ... you were NEVER committed to the software ... Never used a better interface and features .... too bad some slackies had to bring this wonderful DAW to a close ... times are sure changing ... you can trust NO company anymore ... sad day for Sonarians ....
Agreed about the deceptiveness by omissions comment stated above [or below], as well as the routing with reaper being far superior, and pre dating that of Sonars by many years prior, and still being far superior today, the drag and drop thing has been in Studio One for longer and it is far superior to Sonars, you actually install expansions etc via drag and drop, no need for anything like Cakewalks pathetic and troublesome Command Center. As far as drag and drop goes Studio One is all over Sonar, as it is in a lot of areas. Then you have this hole album created via the staff view, notation, I mean how transparent can these people be, it is so obvious, they have been coping flack about the pathetic state of the staff view and notation in Sonar for years, and only last year there were more very lengthy threads created about it's bugginess and lack of functionality as the subject flared up again. This is obviously an attempt to say to people look its not so bad, this dude has made an entire album primarily with Sonar and it's staff view, notation. Well let me just say this, I could drive interstate in an old wreck of a car with a V8 motor only running on 6 cylinders, with no seats sitting on a milk crate, I could do it, but it certainly wouldn't be as fast or near as enjoyable and far more frustrating than the alternative, same thing goes for Sonars staff view and notation, it';s a mess, everyone knows that. Could it also be a coincidence that this is coming out around the same time as reaper is about to release their version of reaper with notation, which will totally wipe the floor with Sonar's decades long effort in developing notation, staff view in one fell swoop? I think the coincidence is more than just a coincidence. Am I the only one who thinks this whole video is a bit contrived? it seems very scripted and more like a setup between old mates doing each other a favor, and just think about it, Anderton is the vice pres of a company who owns Cakewalk, so basically he is a salesman, and how many honest salesman do you know? they are all about omissions, embellishments, stretching the truth, whatever it takes to make the sale, no difference here.
+Pumpkin Pete Given your past "history" in the SONAR forums, you must have read by now that I use Ableton Live for live performance, Studio One for album assembly, and SONAR for everything else. Different DAWs exist to fulfill different needs. I would never be so rude as to go into Reaper forums, or crash UA-cam videos about Reaper, and point out all the functionality SONAR has that Reaper doesn't have. If Reaper does what people need and that like it, that's what they should use. I would also never be so arrogant as to assume they have the same needs I do, and therefore should use the same programs.
1) Confusing title. "Cakewalk SONAR by Sweetwater" sounds like the software is by Sweetwater, or that there's a special Sweetwater version. 2) Mitch seriously needs to slow down his speech. Relax, man.