Cakewalk SONAR 7 Producer Edition - Windows

by Cakewalk

Product Features

• Box Contents - Sonar 7 Producer Edition DVD
• Control and automate your virtual instruments with the enhanced Synth Rack. Group controls from multiple instruments together for ultimate tweakability
• Connect any Windows-compatible MIDI devices, control surfaces, and WDM or ASIO audio interfaces
• Make music with thousands of amazing instruments sounds from Z3TA+ waveshaping synthesizer, Dimension LE (including Garritan Pocket Orchestra), Rapture LE, Session Drummer 2; TTS-1 and Groove Synth (with genuine Roland sounds); PSYN-II subtractive synth; Drop Zone and RXP REX samplers and more
• Record and edit unlimited tracks of audio and MIDI with effects on input

Product Details

• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• ASIN: B000W8EYOI
• Date first available at Amazon.com: September 20, 2007
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,020 in Software (See Top 100 in Software)
  • #2 in Software > Video & Music > Software > Sound Editing

Product Description

SONAR 7 Producer Edition offers a remarkable experience that excels at every step of your production-from its inspiring, open and customizable environment, to intuitive music creation and editing tools, to polished mixing, editing and delivery-with the recognized best audio quality in the industry. Get the perfect take with the best comping, editing, and take management tools available Create and edit MIDI in new and intuitive ways with an integrated Step Sequencer, Smart MIDI Tools, and other extensive MIDI enhancements Upload songs directly to the Internet and build song players for your website, with Cakewalk Publisher Burn your mixes directly to CD with integrated CD burning Score to video with a thumbnail track and output to 1394 FireWire devices Deliver audio and video in virtually any format including Sony Wave-64, AIF, CAF, FLAC, SD2, WAV, QuickTime, MP3, WMA. Export to OMFI and Broadcast WAV for collaboration with Pro Tools and other DAWs New Features - Integrated Step Sequencer view provides the most innovative step sequencer feature set available in any DAW today. Complete MIDI overhaul with Smart MIDI Tools and dozens of other new features True linear phase mastering plug-ins Internal sidechaining Delay compensation for external hardware Pitch to MIDI functionality with Roland V-Vocal 1.5 Operating System Windows XP / Recommended Windows XP/Vista (32 and 64-bit), can be run on Mac OS X with Boot Camp

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great product for the pro's, June 4, 2009

By 

Rexomus "59 Fender" (Jacksonville) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Cakewalk SONAR 7 Producer Edition - Windows (CD-ROM)

I have used Cakewalk products for about 10 years now. I have always been impressed with how user-friendly their software is and it is great that a company out there makes PC-specific software. I have used other software and have found that Cakewalk's is the most logically (pun intended) set up.

The reviewer who has commented that they had trouble opening the program also stated that they did research before they ever purchased a single program, implying they are new to the computer recording world. I wouldn't recommend a Ducati to someone who just started driving a bicycle. One need's a foundation before stepping up to the next level. I would suggest that if you buy this software you'd better have some foreknowledge of audio technology. Also, if you are just starting, then look at Sonar's Home Studio products first. They are much more affordable and can do much of what this product does minus the effects, soft synths, and processing power.

Also, you will need a powerful computer and audio interface (not just any sound card will do) to run this software. If you do buy this, make sure you invest in a high quality sound card too, otherwise what's the point? It'd be like buying a great stereo receiver and connecting it to two-inch speakers, then wondering why it doesn't sound like the awesome stereo your neighbor has. You need the proper equipment to run this, it's not end-all-be-all product, and neither are the other DAW's.

I highly recommend this product. I have had great results using it, but it does require a lot of knowledge. I also highly recommend you purchase a user guide to help exploit all this product can do. Check out "Sonar Power" they have always been helpful.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Simple but not easy, October 6, 2008

By 

Michael D. Ralston - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Cakewalk SONAR 7 Producer Edition - Windows (CD-ROM)

If you buy this software you should:

1)Have a solid understanding of midi
2)Have a solid understanding of signal flow
3)Have a solid understanding of signal processors
4)Have a solid understanding of digital and anologue synthesis.
5 you should have experience working with sequencers.

An awesome tool for creating anything you can hear in your head. My only complaint is the the notation module is not very sophisticated.

2 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Powerful but Not Easy, August 24, 2008

By 

G. Christensen "Composer" (Utah, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Cakewalk SONAR 7 Producer Edition - Windows (CD-ROM)

I bought Sonar 7 PE because I heard it was the best, and I didn't want to waste my time on the less expensive versions, as I figured I'd end up upgrading eventually.

Sonar 7 has a lot of cool features, and it's very powerful. That's where the 3 stars come in.

Unfortunately, it is maddeningly frustrating to learn. Here's an example. I hit play and get about half a second of sound before getting a "dropout" - basically an error saying that the program has encountered an error and can't play my music. After researching for an hour and trying all the suggestions I could find, I noticed that I did not have the Audio Engine button pressed in. It's sort of like I had the software "unplugged." Couldn't the designers come up with a better message than "Droput" in red?

That's just one example. I have spent many, many hours trying to get my copy of Sonar working consistently. At the moment, it works about every other time I open it for any given project.

I'm not real familiar with Cakewalk's competition, but I'd recommend taking a good look at it before purchasing this product.

Edit: I've now used Sonar 8 PE extensively. It still has a learning curve but I find it to run much more smoothly and it's more intuitive. If you're considering Sonar 7, get Sonar 8 instead.