Customer Reviews

SONAR 5 Power!: The Comprehensive Guide

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4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
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1 star:		(1)

 

 

The Power! Series of books have always stood out as great sources of information that go beyond the scope of user manuals, but yet retain "regular-folk" readability and utility. In this sense, "Sonar 5 Power!" is definitely a winner! The book begins with a general introduction and overview of both the software and hardware aspects of home recording, and ends with finalizing projects in different mediums, including CD, the Web, and others. The no-nonsense, non-technobabble writing style helps make digesting this much information not only palatable, but enjoyable as well, as Scott throws in humorous zingers every once in a while just to keep you on your toes!

If there was any shortcoming to this book, it would be that it contains TOO much information ...but that is not so much an issue with the book, as much as it is the scope of the topic itself, as Sonar 5 has a HUGE feature set which can be daunting to the home musician and even the professional alike. However, Scott is able to pull it all together in a clear concise manner which allows for easy discovery and access to the information he has presented. I also appreciate the fact that Scott goes beyond the "click here to do this" style of writing, which many (if not most) similar books religiously adhere to, but actually discusses the relevant theories and underlying concepts related to the various settings and actions he describes throughout the book.

I would consider this a definite "must have" Sonar 5 reference guide!

Sonar 5 Power! is my 3rd Sonar Power! book and I have to say it continues the tradition of excellence that Scott has set, and for me, in many ways, is the best yet. It is well laid-out, uses nice, understandable language, and has something for everyone, be you a noob or a seasoned vet to Digital Audio Recording and MIDI Sequencing. It is not a replacement for, but rather the perfect companion to, the Manual that comes with Sonar 5. Scott helps you get to the next level. He sheds a lot of light on the built-in tools and the effects and softsynths. Of particular value to me in this edition were his tips on Editting and Customising Sonar (a continuing tradition for me from his books).

Quite honestly, I could not imagine operating Sonar without the Power! book.

Thanks Scott for putting these out for us.

I've bought all of Scott's previous Sonor Power books and never been disappointed. They complement the offical manual superbly and Scott also writes in a more 'user friendly' manner. He dwells more on the Sonar's soft synths which I find very useful and he places short, but very relevant, exercises at frequent intervals which help you understand topics and techniques. The book is very well produced on decent paper (I'm an inveterate book sniffer..) and at over 650 pages is excellent value for money. 'Nuff said, I'm off to browse another chapter..

If you are a Sonar user then this book is as essential as all the other gear in your studio.

If you are thinking about making the jump from Pro Tools or Cubase to Sonar for it's deeper feature set, this book will give you a guided tour of not only the application but also the superb plugins and soft synths that ship with it.

Since I've had this book I've used it as a reference during every single Sonar project I've completed.

Buy this book now!

"Sonar 5 Power" by Scott R. Garrigus if amazing! The writer has written a compelling book that is extremely helpful, a "must-have" for users of Sonar 5 music software. The writer invests painstaking effort into helping the reader understand everything there is to know about Sonar 5. As one who has been using other versions of Sonar, this is the untimate, the best book the author has witten yet. Through his books, Scott has become like an old friend who is in the room for me guiding me through every step of the use of this product. Whatever you need to know, Scott is there every step of the way. My copy had a very helpful CD-Rom that gave me extra insight as well. Don't pass on this.

Scott has done it again ! It is my educated opinion that, if it weren't for Mr. Garrigus, music-making would be years behind where it is now. The Cakewalk family of products provide more bang for the buck than most other music building software yet there is a dearth of good literature dedicated to the various products that make up the line. Scott fills that void admirably ! Since (and because)he's been covering the group of products from the beginning, Mr. Garrigus continues to provide the reader with clear up to date instructions so that they may extract the maximum value from their investment not only of money, but even more importantly, their investment of valuable time. The reader of Scott's books can come away feeling confident that they will be able to access the features of Sonar to their fullest in the shortest time possible. Virtually every aspect of the program is covered in a language that even the neophyte can understand. That's important!I highly recommend this book.

George

I am an audio engineer. I have been recording bands into computers for over 10 years now. I still learned a bit from this book. If you have Sonar 5 (and unless you are hitched to pro tools I dont now why you wouldnt) you need this book!
I simply had no idea how easy it was to do fade ins and fade outs on clips for instance. Or how powerful envelopes were.
My favorite nugget was learning the difference of trim vs volume in Sonar.
(trim is pre effects/eq, volume is post fx/eq).
I just got Sonar 6 power!
cant wait!

Wonderful piece of work-a great aid to this compu-klutz in learning a deep and complex program. I didn't realize Sonar 5 was so powerful until I started reading Scott's book.

Hands down, the SONAR Power! series of books are always the best resource for SONAR users. Scott does a great job of presenting the information in the most useful fashion, with great hands-on tips & tricks.

I had bought an earlier version of this book and didn't find it worth the money. At times I felt like I was better off going through the help file in SONAR than reading this book as it looked like the book was doing just that. It's just my opinion. Other people may find it useful. So, there's my 2 cents...