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Sonar vs. Ableton (Switch to Sonar Questions)
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| DjStephenWiley |
| Heavily considering a switch here. Not a total switch...will still use Ableton for some things, but I just am not happy with Ableton overall and I have checked out various programs and Sonar looks to be the most appealing. I've got a feeling (and hoping) that Cryophonik will have a great reply to this thread but I'd like to hear everybodies opinions here. The main reason I am considering the switch is I am struggling with arrangement of tunes and I feel Ableton is "overloaded" with features. That may sound dumb, but I'm just not a very big fan of all their built-in features. Could anybody touch on the learning curve transition and positives and negatives? Would be greatly appreciated.. |
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| MrJiveBoJingles |
| Overloaded with features? Honestly Ableton strikes me as pretty minimalist compared to Logic, for example. I've never used Sonar, though. |
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| DjStephenWiley |
| Well I use external everything....I like Reaper but I want something more like Sonar, although I have been using Reaper and like it. |
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| cryophonik |
| quote: | Originally posted by DjStephenWiley
The main reason I am considering the switch is I am struggling with arrangement of tunes and I feel Ableton is "overloaded" with features. |
If you think Ableton is overloaded with features, you'll probably despise Sonar. Don't get me wrong, I love Sonar and I use it for 90% of my DAW needs, but when I want simplicity (e.g., something to use as a scratchpad), I turn to Ableton or Project5. That said, I find that most of the features in Sonar are very usable, particularly if you work with both audio and MIDI and even more so if you work with external gear. The plugins that come bundled with the Producer 8.5 edition are excellent (Sonitus, VC-64, transient designer, drum/vocal channel strips, etc.) and a bunch of very nice instruments (e.g., Z3TA+ and Dimension Pro [full versions of both], Rapture LE and bunch more). Its core functionality is actually excellent for EDM - particularly its new step sequencer. It has a few new features that are designed for EDM, but I think sorta missed the boat and don't use - in particular, Beatscape and the new Matrix View, which is essentially a hokey version of Live's Session View. Many people think Sonar has a steep learning curve, but I find it very intuitive, even more so than Cubase, FLS, etc. A few others that I have turned onto it have agreed, one being my collaborating buddy Avery Parker (TA member justjabbin). So, it really depends on how you approach production as to whether Sonar's workflow makes sense to you.
One last point I'll make is that, as a long-time Cubase user as well, I typically view the difference between the two as, generally speaking, Cubase seems to be designed for engineers/technical-minded producers, whereas Sonar is designed for musicians. Again, that's a broad generalization, but over the years, whenever I've pointed that out to people who have substantial experience with both, I usually get a lot of agreement. |
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| Acton |
| quote: | Originally posted by DjStephenWiley
I am struggling with arrangement of tunes
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How are you struggling with the arrangement of tunes? |
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| Zombie0729 |
| Stephen you just gotta stick to one thing man and learn it. You're a 'grass is greener' kinda guy and it's keeping you from fully exploring what you've already got. pick a few all-around plugins, spend your time and learn what you've got inside & out(read cover to cover your manual). you can do whatever you want after that. i think i could do really effective tracks with no more than 3-5 external plugs outside of abletons built in ones |
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| Existo22 |
| quote: | Originally posted by DjStephenWiley
Heavily considering a switch here. Not a total switch...will still use Ableton for some things, but I just am not happy with Ableton overall and I have checked out various programs and Sonar looks to be the most appealing. I've got a feeling (and hoping) that Cryophonik will have a great reply to this thread but I'd like to hear everybodies opinions here. The main reason I am considering the switch is I am struggling with arrangement of tunes and I feel Ableton is "overloaded" with features. That may sound dumb, but I'm just not a very big fan of all their built-in features. Could anybody touch on the learning curve transition and positives and negatives? Would be greatly appreciated.. |
Just switch to cubase from the get go. Many people use it for making music. Unless you want to switch to sonar and then a year later switch to cubase. I am heavily considering moving from logic to cubase on a mac. |
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| DJ RANN |
| quote: | Originally posted by Existo22
Just switch to cubase from the get go. Many people use it for making music. Unless you want to switch to sonar and then a year later switch to cubase. I am heavily considering moving from logic to cubase on a mac. |
I have no idea why you'd suggest such a thing - they both do exactly the same thing in different ways apart from logic is optimized for mac. |
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| Fledz |
| Logic 9 arguably has better onboard synths too |
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| Acton |
| quote: | Originally posted by Fledz
Logic 9 arguably has better onboard synths too |
From the limited time I have had on Logic, I must say they are very impressive.
But when it comes to on board synths, Ableton's Operator gets me sexually excited. |
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| Alekos |
Sonar vs. Ableton (Switch to Sonar Questions)
don't do it! stick with ableton, or switch to logic.
sonar will drive you insane |
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| justjabbin |
Cryo turned me onto Sonar a couple years ago. I did not find the learning curve too steep, and I absolutley love it. I also have ableton but use it mainly for djing and do all my production in Sonar.
IMO cyro seems to have the most experience with cubase, sonar, ableton, fl studio, project 5 etc. What I mean is most opinions you are going to get on here are from ppl that have only spent a lot of time with one of the programs, where as cryo has spent extensive time with all of them. |
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