May 2017 marks Cakewalk’s 30th Anniversary, so we’re throwing a year-long party—and everyone’s invited! We’ve lined up some cool freebies, specials, and surprises you’ll be seeing over the next 12 months, starting with 30 free, expertly crafted presets for the QuadCurve EQ to kickstart your mixing and mastering projects. What’s more, by popular demand we’re bringing back the eZine, and taking it to the next level as a new publication—Tech+Music. Each month’s issue is packed with news on the latest program updates, as well as tips, product reviews, articles on studio techniques, and more.

To celebrate our past and honor our loyal customers, we’re happy to announce the release of a long-time feature request for SONAR: Ripple Editing is now included in the SONAR 2017.05 Update. This month’s release also brings other new features along with fixes & enhancements to many key elements of SONAR.




Ripple Editing allows for a convenient way to rearrange sections of a song and maintain the sync relationships without leaving unintended gaps between the clips. When adjusting the position of a clip in the Track view, SONAR will automatically adjust the start position of all subsequent clips to compensate for the change. You can choose to ripple edit just the selection, or all tracks plus meter/key changes, tempo changes, and markers. Supported gestures include; Cut, Copy, Paste, Move, and Delete. You can use these gestures on Tracks or Buses and the automation will follow along with markers and meter changes when using Ripple Edit All.

(Platinum and Professional)



Available as a DLC item to the L-Phase Standalone application.

The Adaptive Limiter is a professional look-ahead brickwall peak limiter that is designed for both mixing and mastering now available in the Engineering Suite. It feature Inter Sample Peak (ISP) detection, 4 different limiting “Character” types, LUFS Loudness & K-Metering, as well MP3 codec preview, and real-time dithering. These different limiting types allow the engineer to have control over how transparent or aggressive the limiter behaves so it can be catered for different material making it a great track limiter and a perfect mastering limiter.




Working with a pen can be incredibly useful on a computer because of its precision. It is also a great workflow enhancement when you combine it with touch and keyboard shortcuts. Using a pen is now a great way to use SONAR’s Piano Roll view. The PRV now offers enhanced support for a pen’s eraser functionality and pressure-sensitive tip when drawing Note events and continuous controller data. You can also use the button on the side for opening menus and lassoing notes in the Piano Roll. Adding a pen to your workflow will be intuitive to adopt and can greatly improve your efficiency.

(Platinum and Professional)



To kick off our 30th Anniversary, we're giving away 30 free QuadCurve EQ Presets. The QuadCurve EQ provides the functionality you need: it’s versatile, surprisingly kind to your CPU, and conveniently enough, built right into the ProChannel. These 30 presets provide a variety of ways to use the QuadCurve with instruments and other audio material.

Learn More


We're bringing back the eZine, and taking it to the next level as a new publication—Tech+Music. Each month’s issue is packed with news on the latest program updates, as well as tips, product reviews, articles on studio techniques, and more.

Read it Now


○ Enhanced Touch support for zooming, scrolling and resizing of Track / Piano Roll view
○ Enhanced Touch support for resizing MultiDock, Browser, and Inspector in the Skylight interface
○ New installs of SONAR will now have real-time Dithering turned Off by default. If you are using the real-time dithering in the Adaptive Limiter, we recommend turning this setting off in Preferences | Playback and Recording
○ Using the FX Assignable Controls for some VST3 audio plugins could previously change the wrong parameter

○ Clicking between two marks above the timeline will now create a timeline selection between both markers
○ The Bus pane Expand / Collapse button has an updated look to match the ○ PRV Controller pane Expand / Collapse button
○ Clip separations are now easier to see in Folder tracks

○ Resolved an issue where the PRV / Keys and Grid could become misaligned
○ Vertical Nudge no longer allows for notes in the PRV to be moved to a different track unexpectedly
○ PRV | View | Show Multiple Lanes setting is now remembered on project save and reload
○ Resolved a possible crash when drawing in the Controller pane on non english installs of SONAR
○ Ad Hoc Filter from Selection: Easily add selected tracks in the Piano Roll to be Filtered by Right-Clicking the selected track(s) and selecting “Add Selected Tracks to Filter”
○ Create Filter from Selection: Quickly create a filter now from selected tracks by Right-Clicking the selected track(s) and selecting “New Filter from Selection”
○ New track selection options in Track pane for Selecting All Track, Clearing Track Selection, and Inverting Track Selection by Right-Clicking the track number.
○ Tracks menu is back with commands for Select All Tracks, Clear Track Selection, Invert Track Selection, and Focus Previous/Next Track.
○ The Single lane Controller pane now supports scrolling for tracks that have more controller types than can be displayed
○ The Transform tool now features tooltips for better usability
○ Auto Track Zoom in the TV no longer interferes with selection in Track Pane
○ Track pane Filter is no longer disabled when enabling Show Audio Tracks
○ Enabling Show Audio Tracks with a Filter enabled, previously didn’t always show the audio tracks contained in the Filter properly
○ Controller type label draw correctly now when resizing to very small dimensions
○ Tracks could become hidden from the Track pane when collapsing a folder in the Track view
○ Aim Assist is now always cleared when moving the mouse outside of the view
○ Shift + C to adjust the Control Bar height is no longer grabbed to show / hide Controller pane
○ Resolved an issue where some FIlter menu items could be unintentionally grayed out
○ Using the Up / Down arrow keys in the Track Pane to focus tracks, will now wrap around like it does in the TV
○ Transform Tool no longer changes selection size unexpectedly when using it with Auto-Focus

○ New Keyboard Shortcuts in Preferences for Piano Roll view. Now includes Auto Lock On/Off, Filter On/Off, Select All Tracks, Clear Track Selection, Invert Track Selection, and Focus Previous/Next Track.
○ Screensets are now available in the Global Bindings list in Keyboard Shortcuts

○ TH3 has been updated This update supports changes the plug-in locking for SONAR and prevents the plug-in from going into demo mode for new versions of SONAR.
○ Ultra Analog Session 2 has been updated in Platinum. It includes various fixes for stability
○ Melodyne | Follow Host Tempo command now works properly
○ Softube Console 1 UI now updates to indicate the new track number after a track above it is deleted

There have been some scattered reports of the following:

○ A track with automation is automatically deselected after performing a Ripple Edit Selection drag. Workaround: Re-select the track.
○ In the PRV, on rare occasions changing focus from a drum track (diamond / percussion notes) to a standard MIDI track may continue to show percussion notes until the view refreshes. Workaround: Refresh the view.
○ Note On sometimes executes when adjusting Velocity in the PRV and may fail to shut off. Workaround: Click the MIDI Reset button.
○ When using Drum Maps, after opening the PRV the first click for adjusting Velocity may cause the value to unintentionally "jump" slightly. Workaround: Click again and adjust.

Expand your creative palette with 2 brand new expansion packs for Rapture Pro & Session! Digital Sound Factory’s B3 Tone Wheel Organ brings iconic organ tones, while SampleTekk’s Classic Grand pack offers 81 variations of the Steinway D Hamburg piano. Enjoy these and our other available packs for 20% off until May 22nd.

http://store.steampowered.com/app/637350
http://store.steampowered.com/app/629070
http://store.steampowered.com/app/596860
http://store.steampowered.com/app/400050


Want to create your own packs or expand the flexibility of Rapture Session? Sound designers can create a signature sound with Rapture Pro's Edit mode - which features extensive layering and mixing capabilities that let you stand out from the crowd. Rapture Pro includes nearly 1,000 new sounds that span all music genres.

Rapture Pro for New Users

Rapture Pro for Upgrade Users

Hi Everyone,

In celebration of CA-2A's return to Steam we're running some great deals on our premium Prochannel Modules!

ProChannel Concrete Limiter - 75% Off!

ProChannel S-Type Channel Compressor - 80% Off!

ProChannel S-Type Expander/Gate - 80% Off!

Offer Ends: May 1, 2017 10:00am

This month’s release for SONAR Platinum and Professional bring new features along with fixes & enhancements to many key elements of SONAR.




New to the Controller pane is the Transform tool. The Transform tool provides a new and unique way to edit in the Controller pane, by allowing for easy sculpting and manipulating of data. It has 2 main modes, Hard (Default) and Soft. These each control the way it interacts with nearby data. While the Hard mode provides crisp and precise edits, the Soft mode blends new changes with other nearby data. This is similar to how 2 audio clips can crossfade between each other. With its Mask mode, users get improved redrawing of data but only in the area of the mask. This makes redrawing only a specific section incredibly easy when paired with the Soft mode. Additionally, the Transform tool also has the ability to follow note selections with the “Auto-Focus” and Auto-Focus Monophonic modes. Now you can simply select the CC data you want to work with by selecting the associated notes.


MP3 export is now available in all versions of SONAR at no charge. Recently the patent royalties associated with MP3 encoding expired. Cakewalk is excited to offer MP3 encoding free of charge in SONAR.

• Display only selected tracks on opening the PRV using the “Filter To Selection On Open” menu item in the view menu (Defaults to Off)
  
• Show or Hide Audio Tracks in the PRV Track pane using the PRV View menu (Defaults to Off)
  
• TAB-to-Note now auditions the note
  
• Improved selection and multi-select in the Track pane
  
• Smart Swipe in the Track pane is now more reliable
  
• Auto scroll is now possible in the Track pane from drag selecting & smart swiping
  
• A filter can now be updated using the Save menu item from the Filter tab in the Track pane
  
• Hover effects have been added to the Track pane buttons
  
• Hiding tracks from the Track Manager will hide tracks in the PRV Track Pane
  
• The Track pane now displays the header icons for tracks for easy access to connected synths
  
• Adjusting the color of a track is now possible from the Track pane using the Color Picker
  
• PRV notes are now displayed as a flat color when they are not focused for improved visibility of low velocity notes
  
• Snap Override no longer expands when opening the PRV
  
• Velocity could previously become hidden in the Controller Pane, with no way to easily turn them back on. This is now accessible from the Add New Controller button

• Clicking a track name will now set track focus
  
• Fixed a warning message that was cut off in MIDI > Playback and Recording for German
  
• Updated PRV Solo button tooltip for Japanese
  
• In some languages the Help Module window would display with a white background and no text

This month’s release for SONAR Professional and Platinum brings new features to the Piano Roll view and introduces MIDI Bluetooth Support using the new UWP MIDI Engine. This release also contains additional fixes & enhancements to many key elements of SONAR.

Piano Roll View Enhancements



Cakewalk reaches back to its MIDI sequencing roots to optimize SONAR’s core MIDI editing for today’s generation of virtual instruments. The SONAR 2017.03 update addresses modern MIDI music production needs through a redesign of the Piano Roll View (PRV) Track Pane and the Controller Pane. From efficient, simple controller editing to clean and focused MIDI track selection, SONAR has transformed MIDI editing from tedious to transparent.

You can now click any MIDI track to bring that data into focus, while Auto Lock prevents you from accidentally editing MIDI data from other tracks. Color-coding relates tracks to data for easy identification in complex projects. The re-designed Track Pane displays twice as many tracks in the same amount of space as before, and now allows you to take advantage of SONAR’s unique Smart Swipe feature that lets you select, mute, solo, or arm multiple tracks with a single, quick gesture.

Streamlined Track pane: The redesigned Track Pane now displays in single-height rows with track-color boxes and new controls for filtering, as well as an additional mode to Auto Lock tracks that are selected but not being edited. The Track Pane now also supports collapse and expand via the same controls as other views in the Skylight interface. Auto Lock and Filter Mode are exclusive to SONAR Professional and Platinum. Also, creating custom Filter Sets is exclusive to Platinum only.

Improved Controller Editing with Single Lane mode: It is is now possible to have a much larger editing area for controllers while also having access to many controllers on the same track. Switching this mode is done with the View menu by selecting Show Multiple Lanes. Single lane mode is now the new default when opening the Controller pane.

Select next/previous Note Event: Just like Tabbing to Transients in an audio track, in the Piano Roll view it is now possible to use the Tab key to select the next note or Shift+Tab to select the previous Note event.

Two-tone Color-coding of sharps/flats: When using the Piano Roll view, we’ve now made it easier to identify different notes by adjusting the hue of different Sharps & flats. Gb, Ab, and Bb are now shaded slightly different from Db and Eb to better separate them when editing. (taupe-color for Gb, Ab & Bb, blue-color for Db & Eb).

Aim Assist support for Controller pane: When Aim Assist is enabled it now extends into the Controller pane for improved feedback when editing the Controller data for a note.

New Collapse button for Controller Pane: The Controller Pane now features it’s own collapse and expand button similar to the Bus Pane. This can be opened or closed by simply clicking the button or using the shortcut [Ctrl] + [C] when the Piano Roll view is in focused.

UWP MIDI Engine & Bluetooth MIDI Support



Microsoft have introduced a new API standard for using MIDI on Windows as part of the Universal Windows Platform architecture. With this comes many new advantages including Bluetooth MIDI support and Multi-Client access to MIDI ports. UWP MIDI provides a modern way to communicate with MIDI devices and can be extended to support newer MIDI protocols/interfaces. To enable this in SONAR go to, Preferences | MIDI | Playback and Recording and set the MIDI driver mode to UWP

• Double-clicking a track could fail to maximize strip height in some situations
  
• Track view no longer flickers when reordering tracks in large projects
  
• Adjusting Take lanes height longer allows the Edit Filter to overlap other controls
  
• Excluded synths no longer show in Instruments plug-in lists
  
• SONAR no longer disappears behind other programs when switching Lenses
  
• Help will now correctly launch from Preferences | MIDI | Playback & Recording
  
• Exporting as Raw Tracks - No Automation/FX now preserves the Comp on an audio track
  
• Fixed a possible crash when dragging a MIDI clip to Matrix in localized versions of SONAR
  
• The power indicator for a FX Bin will now stay in sync with the Frozen/Unfrozen state of a track
  
• VST3 plug-ins now display correctly in the registered Plug-ins list in Plug-in Manager
  
• Aim Assist now displays correctly when using the arrow keys to scroll in the PRV
  
• The mouse position no longer displays only in the PRV when Aim Assist is turned off
  
  To learn more about this update visit our Knowledge Base using the link below: http://www.cakewalk.com/Support/Knowledge-Base/2016000060/SONAR-2017-03-Update-Fixes-and-Enhancements

Reuse existing Take lanes when recording

SONAR will now place newly recorded clips into existing Take lanes during loop recording or whenever possible. The result is that less lanes are created and tracks with lots of recorded clips when loop recording will have less lanes to manage.

Improved lane resizing

When resizing the height of Take lanes, the clicked lane will now anchored to its current position, ensuring the lane is always visible. This make working on Tracks with many Take lanes easier to manage and feels more intuitive.

Muted Take lanes are hidden in parent track when collapsed

When Take lanes are collapsed, any muted Take lanes are no longer shown in the parent track strip. This only applies to muted Take lanes, not muted clips. This provides a cleaner UI and lets you focus on just the clips that are audible.

Maximize / Restore lanes

Similar to track strips, you can now double-click a Take lane or Automation lane strip background to maximize/restore the lane

Additional Comping Improvements:

• Recording, stopping, resuming recording is now sample accurate
  
• Comping with the Smart Tool is now clearly delineated by the middle point of the clip
  
• Cursors no longer get incorrectly changed if the Help Module is open
  
• When comping with Melodyne, cropping clips now updates the ARA regions
  
• Fixed an issue where fades sometimes appeared on muted clips

• MIDI Port assignments are now saved with the project and will map to the same device on another machine
  
• Resolved a possible crash when Auto-deleting synths via Track-delete
  
• Auditioning with Note Chase plays notes from excluded clips
  
• Custom names of VSTs not saved
  
• Browser Notes do not allow to tab between fields
  
• Loop recording in different sections resulted in many additional Take lanes
  
• Muted takes are displayed in collapsed track
  
• View Scrolls Away When Zooming or Enlarging Lanes
  
• View wasn’t correctly scrolling when Maximizing Track or Bus Strips.

Hi Everyone,

Due to the widespread Amazon S3 issues earlier this afternoon, we'll be releasing the February SONAR update tomorrow.

SONAR 02.2017 is now available in the early access beta branch.

Users can Opt in to the Beta Branch by:
1) Right-Click on SONAR in the Steam client
2) Go to Properties
3) Go to the Beta Tab
4) Select the 'early-access-beta'
5) Allow SONAR to update, then launch!

My name is Lance Riley, and I'm one of the Product Managers over here at Cakewalk. We are reaching out to customers who currently own SONAR to talk to them about their experience and how they use SONAR.

We want to take these customer insights and make using SONAR a better experience and focus on building the most meaningful features for our customers.

If you're open to a 30 minute call with me, please send me a friend request and a message that you are interested. I will then reach out to you to schedule a time.

We appreciate any information you would like to share with us, and thanks again for your business!

Best,

Lance Riley
Product Manager
Cakewalk, Inc.

• All Install languages updated to the latest local offline help
  
• All Install languages will now deliver a copy of the SONAR Reference and User Guides.
  Note: If localized versions of the file(s) aren't available, we provide English copies for the time being.
  
• When a 'SONAR - [Version] Help' DLC is selected, Steam will provide a SONAR User Guide and SONAR Reference Guide pdf launch options.
  Note: If you've upgraded between versions, you may want to deselect redundant help dlc's from the respective lower versions.

SONAR is a large application and localization can sometimes take longer than an update cycle. Moving forward we will sometimes be taking a "tick/tock" approach to updating the core SONAR features and then supporting documentation. This reduces download sizes, efficiently utilizes testing assets, and allows us to be a bit more agile in deployment dates.

• ProChannel Presets - Approximately a dozen re-added
  
• FX Chains - A few were missing from the Anderton Collection
  
• NYC Showroom Impulses - How to Use
  
• Anderton Synthetic Impulses - How to Use

We've pulled in some content from the 2015 Season so users don't need duplicate installs.

The Impulses responses now live under /Cakewalk Content/

We've moved the Polybius Soundboard Project into the new '/Cakewalk Content/Demo Projects/' folder location introduced in Update 11.2016.

Users will now see this project as a possible choice in the Audio & MIDI Setup Wizard.

We're currently remixing our "Portal 2 - Want you Gone" demo project originally included with Music Creator 6 Touch. This will have updated style dials, plugins, and synths currently available with our entry level product SONAR Home Studio. It has been removed for the time being from the tutorials DLC.

Once this is done, we'll be reintroducing it into the 'Demo Projects' folder mentioned above for all Steam SONAR users.

We've made the LP-EQ and LP-MB plugins even better. Current year (2017) Professional Season Pass and Platinum Lifetime Pass holders will receive the standalone 'L-Phase Plugin Suite' in their Steam account.

Users will need to download and authorize these updated plugins directly through the Steam client. These updated plugins now include VST2 and AAX support.

2016 Pass holders can continue to use the existing LP-EQ and LP-MB plugins delivered via SONAR.

The L-Phase plugins will eventually be offered for Sale directly on Steam as well, but we're limiting the scope for this release only.

January's update is the first updated distributed under the Lifetime Pass DLC. Users who have this should be prompted to register their new CD Key. If users have any issues with this, please review our troubleshooting guide


Professional '17 Pass, Platinum '17 Pass, Platinum Lifetime Pass

You can now start playback from the middle of a MIDI note and the note event will trigger and sustain for the remainder of its duration. You no longer need to start playback before the note start time in order to trigger the note.

• To enable/disable MIDI Note chasing, go to Edit > Preferences > Project > MIDI and select MIDI Event Chase on Play and Include Note Events.
  
  
• When Include Note Events is enabled, SONAR analyzes the project and includes MIDI Note events that start before the point where playback begins. If Include Note Events is disabled, only MIDI Note events that begin after the playback location will trigger.

A. Start playback from here B. These notes will only play if Include Note Events is enabled, because the note start times occur before the playback location C. This note will not play because it ends before the playback location D. These notes will always play because they start after the playback location 

MIDI Note chasing is very useful in different situations where note events overlap the point where playback begins, including:

• When starting playback on a measure boundary, and the project contains syncopated notes that occur slightly before the downbeat.
  
• When starting playback in the middle of a project that contains long sustaining notes that trigger a synth pad or arpeggiator.

Professional '17 Pass, Platinum '17 Pass, Platinum Lifetime Pass

Matrix view cells are now editable using the Step Sequencer or the Loop Construction View. Editing a cell is easy: simply double-click on the cell to open it.

-Edit Cell Content

Individual MIDI cell content can be edited with the Step Sequencer, and audio cell content can be edited with the Loop Construction view.

To edit a cell, do one of the following:

• Double-click the cell background.
  
• Select an audio cell and press ALT+7.
  
• Select a MIDI Step Sequencer cell and press ALT+4.

If you want to edit MIDI cells that don’t contain Step Sequencer content, you must first convert the MIDI data to Step Sequencer data. To do so, select the cell(s) you want to convert, then right-click the cell and select Convert MIDI Clip(s) to Step Sequencer on the pop-up menu.

To create a new Step Sequencer cell, right-click an empty cell and select Create New Step Sequencer Cell on the pop-up menu.

-Insert Instrument Row

To insert a new MIDI row routed to a new Instrument track, right-click a row and point to Insert Instrument Row on the pop-up menu, then select the desired instrument.

Stability
• Resolved a crash when opening the Staff View in a Normal project template
  
• Resolved a crash when re-assigning a send to a new Aux track
  
• Resolved a crash when Exporting Audio
  
• Resolved an issues for plug-ins with a sidechain could cause SONAR to hang on load
  
• Resolved a crash on deleting tracks with project that contain hidden tracks
  
• Resolved a crash after copying Step Sequencer clips
  
• Resolved a crash using Aria Player
  
  
  Audio Engine
• Resolved a playback issue in WASAPI Driver Mode while Dynamic Arming is enabled
  
• Patch Points were adding 6dB of gain in some situations
  
• Export Clips > Follow Source now properly exports clips as Mono
  
• The ProChannel now follows the The Global Bypass All Audio FX without disabling the individual modules
  
  
  Editing
• Splitting an audio clip could occasionally fail in SONAR Projects
  
• Recording multiple passes of audio creates no longer creates overlaps
  
• Resolved an issue where Slip-stretching the end of a clip could alter the clips start time
  
• Updated an error in documentation for clip stretching Midi
  
• Split tool now works as expected on step sequencer clips
  
  
  Plug-in Support
• Selecting MIDI In/Out in VST Soft Synths now works properly
  
• Enable MIDI Output no longer displays in the Default Soft Synth Options.
• This depends on the synth and cannot be configured as a default but previously appeared as an option
  
  
  Step Sequencer
• Step Sequencer doesn't scroll as expected after expanding row
  
• Step Sequencer frame is now fully themed
  
• Step Sequencer clips copied to new tracks now link properly to the original
  
• Expanded Step Sequencer rows are now themed as expected
  
• Resolved an issue where bouncing Step Sequencer & MIDI clips together could result in data loss
  
• Empty Step Sequencer cells in matrix do not update in duration
  
  
  Matrix
• No Undo for Delete of Empty Matrix Row
  
• Resolved an issue where Matrix View cell could be delayed during playback
  
• Stop All Cells now properly stops playback for cells edited during playback
  
• Ctrl + click will toggle cell selection in the Matrix View
  
  
  VST Scan & Plug-in Manager
• Existing VST2 plugins in Plug-in Manager's folder tree look as if they are grayed out
  
• If a VST3 plugin's name is changed in an update, VSTScan now no longer creates duplicate menu entries
  
• VST2 plug-ins in existing custom plug-in layouts blank
  
  
  Synth Rack
• Synth Rack Collapses After Adding Synth with "Open These Windows:
• Synth Rack View" enabled
  
• Synth Rack keyboard shortcut is now consistent with other views
  
• Undocking the Synth Rack and disabling floating could cause the view to not reopen
  
• Synth Rack related keyboard shortcuts now respond properly
  
  
  Lenses
• The Virtual Controller when deselected in the lens, will no longer appear as an optional input
  
• Reduced the amount of UI flicker when switching lenses/screensets
  
• Improved highlighted Text in Lens Manager's drop-down
  
  
  Control Surfaces
• Adding a Marker from a Control Surface would fail
  
• Multiple Control Surface plug-ins could cause the ACT mapping XML file to become corrupted
  
  
  Project & File Handling
• Track templates no longer expand / open Inspector
  
• Add Track flyout would occasionally appear on Project Load
  
• Track name in Properties Inspector now updates as expected
  
• Instruments assigned to a Drum Map now open as expected from the track icon
  
• Resolved an issue with .WRK files loading in SONAR
  
  
  UI
• Improved the displayed text in the Browser after searching and then clicking away
  
  
  Steam Specific Fixes
• Resolved an instance where SONAR would not personalize content on launch