Cakewalk announces a feature packed upgrade for SONAR Producer, the leading choice in digital audio workstations and SONAR Studio the most powerful digital audio workstation in its price range. SONAR 8.5 continues to innovate with new capabilities including enhanced beat creation and arrangement tools, a new drum instrument loaded with stellar kits and patterns, an enhanced audio timing toolset, new multi-stage effect plug-ins for drums and percussion sounds and vocal tracks, engine optimizations and stability improvements, and many additional workflow and technological advances, notably Windows 7 compatibility.
New features and workflow enhancements
- Matrix View—simple and flexible cell-based, non-linear audio and MIDI arranging with live triggering capability.
- Step Sequencer 2.0—the most powerful step sequencing capability in any DAW.
- Integrated Arpeggiator—trigger Arpeggiations on MIDI or instrument tracks with in-depth control over all arp parameters. Includes hundreds of presets.
- Session Drummer 3—latest version of Cakewalk’s virtual instrument for easy and fast creation of drum tracks with a new UI, stellar sounding kits and patterns from top sound designers and drummers, more.
- AudioSnap 2.0—updated audio quantizing and time shifting technology with new look and refinements to all the core controls, significantly improving workflow, plus improved offline rendering.
- Media Browser—the new hub for content access within SONAR; supports multiple formats to preview and import all your loops, grooves, and MIDI patterns; features presets to quickly grab content from your favorite locations.
- PX-64 Percussion Strip—seven-stage processor designed specifically for use with drums and percussion.
- VX-64 Vocal Strip—seven-stage processor optimized for shaping and sculpting vocal tracks.
- Windows 7 Support—tested, ready, and recommended for use.
- Engine optimizations and stability improvements for recording audio, and while looping.
- “Hotswap” audio and MIDI devices, including control surfaces, without restarting SONAR.
- VST plug-in compatibility improvements.
- Native REX loop support featured in Track View, Media Browser, and Matrix View.
- BitBridge XR—run 32-bit plug-ins in 64-bit environments, with memory access now extended up to 128 GB RAM.
- And much more.
SONAR 8.5 Studio
SONAR 8.5 Studio offers the best creative tools, and the most power of any digital audio workstation in its price range. Built upon the same core feature set as SONAR 8 Producer, SONAR 8.5 Studio gives you the edge in your productions—from recording audio and MIDI, composing with virtual instruments, remixing with loops, mixing with professional effects, to delivery of a polished final track—with the recognized best audio quality in the industry.
SONAR 8.5 Studio contains all of the features of SONAR 8 Producer minus the following Producer exclusives: Matrix View, Lexicon Pantheon Reverb (Studio includes Pantheon SE), LP-64 EQ, LP-64 Multiband, TS-64 Transient Shaper, TL-64 Tube Leveler, VC-64 Vintage Channel, Native Instruments Guitar Rig 3 LE, Sonitus Surround Compressor, Dimension Pro 1.2 (Studio includes Dimension LE), DSF Classic Keys Expansion Pack & Hollywood Edge FX for Dimension Pro, TruePianos Amber VSTi, Beatscape Looping Instrument, Z3TA+ Waveshaping Synthesizer, Surround Mixing, and POW-r dithering.
Europe’s recommended retail price for SONAR 8.5 Producer and SONAR 8.5 Studio are €499 and €299 RRP inc VAT respectively; U.K. pricing is £435 and £265 RRP inc VAT respectively, and are available at select music and sound retailers around the world. Registered SONAR 8 Producer customers can download the SONAR 8.5 Producer upgrade for £89, €99 and SONAR 8 Studio customers can download the SONAR 8.5 Studio upgrade for £69, €79, directly from Cakewalk.com. Registered SONAR 8 Producer customers can purchase the boxed version of the SONAR 8.5 Producer upgrade for £109 / €119 and SONAR 8 Studio customers can purchase the boxed version of the SONAR 8.5 Studio upgrade for £89 / €99 directly from Cakewalk.com or a Roland and Edirol distribution partner. All SONAR V-Studio 700 customers and those SONAR customers who purchased or upgraded to SONAR 8 after July 1st (worldwide excluding Japan) are eligible for a free download of the 8.5 upgrade.
For a total and complete overview of Sonar 8.5. please visit the Cakewalk website.