COLUMN: As a long time user of Cakewalk’s (formerly Twelve Tone Systems) flagship DAW, SONAR, I’ve been anxious to see “what’s new” in this Fall’s iteration of the software. Yesterday, we discovered numerous new features to be found in Sonar Producer 8, including new synth instruments, new FX plug-ins, and more. The full features won’t be announced until the week of Sept. 22nd, but here is a preview. New features in Cakewalk Sonar Producer Edition 8 (aka Sonar PE8) include Beatscape Loop Instrument, and Cakewalk’s ROMpler/synth Dimension PRO is now included in the package. Hopefully there will be a staggered upgrade path for those of us (ahem, me) who recently purchased the full version of Dimension.

Most notable for recording and mix-heads is the TL-64 Tube Leveler, which presumably does what it sounds like, but most folks are always cautious when the word tube is put into the context of a virtual plug-in, since obviously there is no actual tube circuitry, which is the hallmark of some pretty expensive modern and vintage gear. The TS-64 Transient Shaper is another addition.

For those who wanted a piano as part of the Sonar family production kit, the newest version of Sonar includes the 4Front TruePianos AMBER module. I currently use two of these modules myself and find them to be lively and realistic piano simulations, and this should not disappoint those who have perhaps wanted to noodle with piano, but hadn’t yet opted to purchase one of the many virtual piano sims on the market.

Guitar Rig 3 LE is now included, which should benefit those playing guitar or who are trying to simulate a guitar environment with virtual instruments or samplers. While not exactly an exciting new feature, this does at least provide some parity with the “bundles of LE” products included with some other vendor’s DAWS.

Of particular interest will be the promised “lower latency high track performance” claim, and loop explorer view for audio and MIDI. A Channel Tools plug-in should bring more options for mixing and recording in traditional mixer forms.

Other features previewed include “integrated synth tracks” which could be almost anything, which we’ll discover next week.

[tags]Cakewalk Sonar Producer Edition 8[/tags]