Cheap Sonar 5: Producer Edition (Software) (Windows XP) Price

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Customer Reviews of Sonar 5: Producer Edition

Not upto the mark
I agree with ZXC here. He/She has pointed out some important points. Luis may be you should read the review you are commenting upon a bit carefully. I dont understand how removing the spyware like you suggested from ZXC's system would improve the tech support of the company and make a toll free number available. Have you been on dope? BTW let me mention about myself, I am a software veteran, 15 years in the industry, and professional apps is all I work with, and I have a very professional hardware in my box here. I dont think this app (CakeWalk sonar) is yet upto the mark of being put next to the professional apps which exist out there in the market as you mentioned. The user-interface is old style, I remember using the CakeWalk 3 and the most of the UI is still the same old, just repainted with different colors. I agree again with ZXC many things are not intuitive, and I had to lean on the online-forums to get answers myself. Programming the Synths is very sophisticated job if you know the differences in the Synths like the analog synth Vs FM Synths and the documentation which comes with this software does not even talk about programming the Synths which are included with the software like the PSYN, the Roland-GrooveSynth Pentagon and others. May be you are a type of "composer" who makes music from simple acid-loops and canned sounds which are dime-a-dozen sine they all sound same, and never understood the power of synths'. I can see why new users (I m assuming) like ZXC would get frustrated. And just because the app is a professional dosent mean it should be more complicated. It is like saying (example) oh its a sports car so the stick-shift handle is located in the trunk (and we are not going to tell you that either).

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Producer / Composer
Hey ZXC... <
>I suggest that maybe you should try reading the manual before you use the software.. <
>It seems to me that the problems that you have with the software are pure lack of knowlege. <
>As you see, this is a professional software... <
>Also maybe the computer you're using is not working good enough to run professional multimedia apps... simple things like getting your Windows XP system to work good. <
>Get rid of the spyware you have in your hard drive... and all that stuff that's making your computer act funny... 'cause the problems that you have are completely no sense.

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Kills creativity due to problems & missing documentation/tech support.
I purchased this product (Producer edition actually which is this + some software synths) just 2 weeks back. And it is a nightmare when it comes to work in it. Will annoy you about every 20 mins, and if you try to contact the tech support you will not have a toll free number, and will have to wait loooong time to get someone on phone (what happens after that ? I don't know because I could never get someone to pick up the phone.) So check it out on there web site, and read about there tech support policy yourself. <
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>After spending 500 US$ I learned it hard way though. <
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>1) Not a robust product, and doesn't behave in predictable manner in many cases. Like if you add the Session Drummer to the track, and after working for some time, if you closed and came back to the project it won't always play back the drum track at all !!!. I have to do some opening and closing of the session drummer window thinking may be something will reset it and then sometime (at random) it starts again. <
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>2) The user interface needs several improvements. Intuitiveness is strongly missing. You cant guess things most times, and sometimes there are technical bugs and many other time the documentation is missing. For example when I insert a new audio track (by bounce the track feature, which is converting the midi to sound), the track display is simply grayed out. I keep looking for the waveform to get the sense of where the signals are, but it won't show. Turns out that it doesn't refresh by itself, like how you would expect to drop a file in windows explore and then the file should appear in the folder where you dropped it. Here nothing, After getting frustrated, and trying various menu actions and not getting anything, suddenly by chance I move the window size a little bit & then the wave form display suddenly comes up. Duh!!!. It's a bug. <
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>3) No STARS TO DOCUMENTATION. It has a basic book, which does explain the basic tracking features. BUT THE SYNTHS & EFFECTS MANUALS ARE MISSING. The book is a common one for the Studio & Producer edition and lacks almost all the features exclusive in producer addition. The Cyclone grove sampler is blank when I start it. There is like 5 line description each on a total of about 6 pages of documentation which doesn't not tell how to load sound in the Cyclone and use it. I am still searching for a step by step guide to the RXP, SFZ the sampler, and other things. I cant save the modified patch in the GM MIDI1/2 basic synth TTS 1 by my own name, so basically cant save synth with my own parameters. <
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>4) Many other issues, basically out of the box, many things don't work. Like PerfectSpace effect doesn't work in, it wouldn't show the fancy graph like in the brochure but just a dumb empty screen and no effect on the track. I am still working on that one to find what is really missing. <
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>5) Poor QA/Testing behind the product & Disastrous tech support. I felt really sorry for my 500 US$ when I installed there update the 5.01 from there web site. Turns out that all the 4 projects I created in last 2 weeks won't play. I mean totally frozen, no sound, no movement. I tried to uninstall the update pack, found out that they did not include any uninstaller for the update pack. I wanted to call the tech support, turns out !! no toll free number, and I had to wait long time, until I ran out of patience. I called there sales, where they sure have the toll free, and they pick up the phone immediately. And I explained my problem, they took down my number, and said they will call me back, and it has been a week and no reply. Anyway I had to uninstall the complete software and install the 5.0 again (don't try system restore it will give you more probs). <
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>For a 500 US$ software I would expect a tech support which answer phone and at least be toll free. (based on what I know it costs companies less than 50 cents per 10 mins for toll free line). <
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>Many small things which will come in your way when you do day to day work, and drive you nuts and destroy your creative spirit, and make you fight with the technical problems, and missing manuals. Once a while you can resort to forums for answer, but that is not very productive having to learn so many things about the software, synths, settings, etc etc etc. <
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