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More features as well, as this is basically a full paid version what Sonar Platinum was minus a few 3rd party plugins. The stock plugins though remind me of Reaper as in they look pretty basic and have an old Windows XP era looking interface, much like Reaper's plugins do.The Virtual instruments were kinda meh, although the strings one was really nice and had a cool interface. The drums and sample/synth ones were less nice.For free, I think this is a great DAW. I think it is even a better deal than the $60 Reaper costs, but I also think Reaper was a little easier/intuitive to learn and use. So that could make that $60 a worthy investment. I think Cakewalk though, for anyone willing to put the time in to learn, is a ton of bang for literally no buck!But it really comes down to workflow.
I am so used to Studio One that all other DAWs feel clunky and sluggish to me now, so I can't really comment on the comparison between Cakewalk and Reaper on that front other than what I said about Reaper feeling a little easier to use. So to sum it up, Cakewalk is more advanced with more features but Reaper is a little more user friendly. Well that is it.
Reaper is a lot less daunting to use. I actually found Ableton was the worst for me to use.
But that is all subjective and really comes down to what you are using it for, actual recording vs electronic stuff. Some are nicer to work with for different types of recording.I get the Cakewalk layout because it isn't too dissimilar looks-wise to Studio One or Logic, but had I not already known what I was looking at, I would have given up trying to figure it out in Cakewalk. Reaper has that advantage of being simple and tidy looking. A lot less intimidating.I think though that Logic and Studio One do that style of layout better than Cakewalk. Cakewalk felt a little dated and clunky to me.
But there are people out there that love it.Pro Tools is one that I haven't tried yet. Part of me wants to try it, but on the other hand, DAWs are like a pair of shoes or something. Once you get used to them, others feel a little uncomfortable.
I hear ya.I used to record using a Tascam 4 track cassette recorder, and then later a Tascam Digital 8-track recorder. When I got to recording on the PC, Ableton came with a Fender Mustang amp I bought. I was so lost. I got a few songs done with it, but it was painful to do.
Had I known Reaper existed back then, I might have had more success as it is a lot more like recording with a hardware recorder than Ableton is. I think that is why it is good to try out as many DAWs as you can. They all do the basic things, but how they do them in relation to what you are trying to achieve makes all the difference in how successful you are when using them.Studio One does recording takes in a neat way. Basically anytime you set a loop and record in that loop, every loop becomes a take.
Then you can expand all the takes, and when you highlight any part of any take, it copies it onto the main track, making comping parts really easy. I sometimes use that feature when writing and arranging. Say I had 3 takes of a guitar part, and decided I wanted to add a second guitar playing the same part, I can take one of the takes, make a new track and use that instead of recording another part. I do the same if I want to add a lead somewhere else.
I might have an alternate take that will fit in another part of the song, close enough anyway for demo purposes. I think Studio one saves audio even without doing that, but you have to dig through the files in the file pool to find them. Those are more auto-save back up files though, not really meant for that sort of use. I didn't go through it in much detail, but just a few things I did notice were Cakewalk has an amp sim, drum sim, some other virtual instruments as well. Some mastering stuff, some workflow stuff, a few plugins that I don't think Reaper has like a multi-band compressor for example (I could be wrong about that one, it has been a while since I fired up Reaper).
I mean Reaper is good as it is, Cakewalk just has more stuff in it. How useful or important that extra stuff is to someone is totally subjective though. Not being defensive or anything, just genuinely interested:)Reaper has the Mega drum kit, you have to download it separately but it's free. Ridiculously massive. Apart from that I'd agree that virtual instruments are Reaper's biggest drawback. Reaper actually has very good multiband compressor, ReaXComp.
I'd definitely say that in order to get the most out of Reaper, you need to be prepared to invest in 3rd party plugins, but the ones it comes with do seem to cover the majority of use-cases, particularly if you delve into the JS plugins rather than sticking to the VST plugins. It's all good!I had no idea about the Mega drum kit.
I totally forgot about ReaXComp. It has been ages since I messed with Reaper.I agree with the the 3rd party plugin thing. There are some great stock plugins, but there are always ones that feel better to use. I also agree that either one, with stock plugins, will handle the job for a lot of people. I just think Cakewalk, you get a little more mileage from the stock suite of plugins than you do in Reaper, but at the expense of user-friendliness.Either way, there are a lot of great options for under $100 these days. I would recommend either over any lite version of any other DAW out there.
Hi Jpaul, Basically, the differences are all of the improvements and enhancements made to the product over the past 18 months or so. Sonar has gone from great to GREAT!! There have been many 'under the hood' tweaks to the speed and efficiency of how Sonar operates and continues to be improved to better handle multitasking. Then there are all of the 'goodies' that have been included and offered. Many new tools.and very useful tools at that. At the end of the day - the whole thing has been lifted to another level. I KNOW you would favor Platinum over X3.
Jpaul Hello, I've been away from my DAW for a while and was wondering about the differences between my Sonar X3 Producer and the latest Sonar Platinum version. I was considering the lifetime upgrade, but wanted to learn what's new. However, it seems that Cakewalk removed any comparisons between X3 Producer and the latest offerings some time ago, so I couldn't find them with a web search. Any links or information would be appreciated.
Thanks, PaulSimple, everything listed on this page: (except the very few things that have ' Only available in ' inside the description box). Cakewalk is still one of the best software company's as far as multiple installs go. It's different now with the on line active registration system. But they will still allow you to install on multiple machines within reason.
I have X3 on my old DAW and my new one. Then I have Platinum on my main DAW and my Laptop. What they said is now they can keep an eye on how many installs you do and will possibly inquire if you get carried away.:) With the old serial number system it was way to easy to pirate. I bet half the copies of Sonar 8 in use were pirated. So I like the new system as it gives us legitimate users multiple installs and kills piracy. Hey jpaul - just wanted to throw another vote in for 'do it'.
I just came from a similar spot where I haven't really used my DAW in a while and had X3 Producer. Since I was able to see the additions over the past 2.5 years since I updated last, I found enough value in that for the lifetime update to be worthwhile. Now I look forward to the additional changes that will come down the road. A few things that stuck out for me: TH3 Cakewalk Edition, Application themes (color), fixes and performance improvements, Melodyne improvements (that don't work for me at the moment due to a Celomony issue), the free Addictive Drums kits (even though I have a very capable Roland e-drum kit (in my profile pic), the additional synths like updated Lounge Lizard, the Analog Session synth, new things (I think) in the ProChannel, and others.
Cakewalk Sonar Platinum Free Download
I have been playing around with the new version for the last week and I've not yet even touched a bunch of stuff - still trying to get back 'into it'. Hope that helps push you down the road to new inspiration like it has me. I KNOW you would favor Platinum over X3. I certainly don't prefer Platinum, because of these bugs which exist in Platinum but not earlier versions: 1) 2) You might want to wait until those bugs (and any other Platinum-specific bugs that have been reported on the forum) are fixed. As of 1 June, Cakewalk is allegedly focusing on making existing customers happy, which means adding back customisation and fixing bugs. If I were you I would wait a bit to see if they follow through with that. Don't wait too long, though, as the lifetime updates offer goes away 31 August.
So my suggestion is: wait until mid-August before deciding whether to purchase Platinum. There should be an update or two between now and then. Keep a close eye on the forum, to see if bug fixes and customisation are indeed being prioritised. If they are, then get Platinum. If, on the other hand, Cakewalk continues to pump out new features (which are marketing bullet points) rather than fixing existing features (which does not aid marketing), then you might want to consider another DAW. In other words, give Cakewalk 2 months to follow through with their pledge to fix problems.
Give them time to prove or disprove whether their pledge to improve the robustness and customisability of their products is legitimate or just lip service.