Cakewalk^® Announces SONAR Power Studio™ 250 and SONAR Power Studio 660 Music Production Systems

—Complete music production system featuring SONAR 5 Studio Edition, integrated Roland® V-Vocal™ technology, and the first Cakewalk audio/MIDI interfaces—

Anaheim CA, WINTER NAMM 2006 (booth 6800), (January 19, 2006) — Cakewalk, developer of the best-selling music and sound software, announces SONAR Power Studio 250 and SONAR Power Studio 660 integrated music production systems, the newest additions to the SONAR product line of feature-rich recording tools. SONAR Power Studio music production systems are designed for musicians who need a complete production solution that couples high-quality hardware and software with the added benefit of portability, and without the compromise of LE versions of software.

SONAR Power Studio production systems contain the critically-acclaimed SONAR 5 Studio Edition and integrated Roland V-Vocal technology, paired with the high-quality Cakewalk SPS-66 24-bit/192 kHz FireWire audio/MIDI interface in SONAR Power Studio 660, and the Cakewalk SPS-25 24-bit/96 kHz USB audio/MIDI interface with SONAR Power Studio 250.

Both solution offerings take just minutes to setup, and provide a seamless, integrated production system that frees customers to create music whenever, and wherever inspiration strikes.

Real tools made simple

What sets the SONAR Power Studio production system apart from other products is the uncompromised feeling the user will get of complete integration between Cakewalk hardware and software, starting from the ease of the installation process, and continuing with the speed of starting a recording project.

• SONAR Power Studio ships with an easy to understand 4-panel Getting Started Guide with clearly illustrated instructions, one User’s Guide covering both the hardware and software, and there is one installer for complete setup of all software and hardware drivers and components.
• SONAR Power Studio includes a special configuration of SONAR Studio Edition where all audio and MIDI device settings come pre-configured for the included Cakewalk hardware, so all the user has to do is enable a track and click “record.”
• And because this is one integrated solution from Cakewalk, customers have one phone number to call in the unlikely event that they need tech support, rather than get bounced back and forth between separate hardware and software companies.

SONAR Power Studio 250

SONAR Power Studio 250 combines powerful audio software with reliable, great sounding audio hardware to form a complete, affordable, and portable USB music production solution.

• Record, edit, and mix unlimited tracks of audio and MIDI using unlimited instruments and effects
• Cakewalk SPS-25 audio/MIDI interface offering 2-In/2-Out 24 bit/96 kHz performance
• Take SONAR Power Studio 250 on the road with USB bus power
• Record pristine audio with 2 XLR/TRS combo jacks, professional-grade mic preamps, +48V phantom power, +4 dBu balanced output, and built-in analog limiter
• Get perfect vocal takes with Roland V-Vocal VariPhrase technology offering pitch correction, phrase adjustment, harmonization, and more
• Get great guitar tones with the included Amplitube LE guitar amp simulator
• Mix and record with 29 professional audio effects and 8 MIDI effects
• Perform and record with 5 built-in software instruments including the Roland TTS-1 and Roland Groovesynth
• Create backing tracks fast using MIDI groove clips and ACID™-format loops
• Achieve highest-quality mixes with SONAR’s cutting edge, end-to-end 64-bit double precision floating point audio engine
• Export to industry-standard formats for mix delivery and collaboration with other studios: WAV, Broadcast Wave, AVI, OMFI, QuickTime 6, WMA 9, MP3, and more

SONAR Power Studio 660

SONAR Power Studio 660 combines powerful audio software with reliable, great sounding audio hardware to form the perfect FireWire music production system.

• Record, edit, and mix unlimited tracks of audio and MIDI using unlimited instruments and effects
• Cakewalk SPS-66 Audio MIDI interface offering 6-In/6-Out, 24-bit/96 kHz performance or 4-In/4-Out, 24-bit/192 kHz performance
• Take SONAR Power Studio 660 on the road with FireWire bus power
• Record pristine audio with 2 XLR/TRS combo jacks, professional-grade mic preamps, +48V phantom power, +4 dB balanced input and output, and built-in analog limiter
• Get perfect vocal takes with Roland V-Vocal VariPhrase technology offering pitch correction, phrase adjustment, harmonization, and more
• Get great guitar tones with the included Amplitube LE guitar amp simulator
• Mix and record with 29 professional audio effects and 8 MIDI effects
• Perform and record with 5 built-in software instruments including the Roland TTS-1 and Roland Groovesynth
• Create backing tracks fast using MIDI groove clips and ACID™-format loops
• Achieve highest-quality mixes with SONAR’s cutting edge, end-to-end 64-bit double precision floating point audio engine
• Export to industry-standard formats for mix delivery and collaboration with other studios: WAV, Broadcast Wave, AVI, OMFI, QuickTime 6, WMA 9, MP3, and more

SONAR 5 Studio Edition

SONAR Power Studio contains a full version of the acclaimed SONAR 5 Studio Edition providing a complete tool set for recording, arranging, editing, and mixing—all in a tightly integrated workspace.

SONAR Studio Edition features include: pristine audio quality with 64-bit end-to-end signal path and mix engine running on 32-bit and x64-compatible PCs; Roland GrooveSynth™, TTS-1 GM 2 synth, Cyclone™ groove sampler, and SFZ Soundfont player; Sonitus:fx suite of professional-grade effects; Lexicon Pantheon LE Reverb; integrated VST and VSTi support; ReWire host compatibility; Bus and Synth Waveform Preview; Clip-based effects, editing, and effect automation; integrated inline audio and MIDI editing, arranging, and mixing all in one view; Track Templates for one-click setup and recall of all track properties; Track Icons and Tabbed Edit views for fast workflow; and more.

Additional Creative Tools including Roland V-Vocal

In addition to SONAR 5 Studio Edition, SONAR Power Studio includes additional tools to maximize the customer’s creative experience.

Roland V-Vocal Variphrase Technology

This powerful vocal processor features state-of-the-art Roland VariPhrase technology—a producer's dream for working with vocals. SONAR Power Studio customers can use V-Vocal to create perfect vocal tracks, accomplishing edits they never imagined possible.

• Based on VariPhrase technology—a unique technology developed at Roland that allows control of the tempo and pitch of audio phrases in real time with virtually no sound quality degradation
• Powerful vocal processing: automatic pitch correction, vibrato, and more
• Adjust the phrasing and dynamics of vocals or rephrase an entire audio region
• Easily add harmonies or choirs to projects

IK Multimedia Amplitube LE

SONAR Power Studio customers can plug-in to a special edition of the hottest guitar processing effect to get true, real-time tones from several amps, cabinet models, and other effects.

US Pricing and Availability

The SONAR Power Studio 250 and SONAR Power Studio 660 will ship in the United States with SONAR Studio Edition and Cakewalk hardware. SONAR Power Studio 250 has an estimated street price of $449 U.S., SONAR Power Studio 660 is $599 U.S. Both will be available at select music and sound retailers April 2006. For more information, visit Cakewalk on the web at www.cakewalk.com; or call 888-CAKEWALK, +1 (617) 423-9004 outside U.S.

International Naming, Pricing, and Availability

Outside North America, the SONAR Power Studio offerings will be marketed as SONAR Power Studio 25 (USB version) and SONAR Power Studio 66 (FireWire version); The software ships with English, French, German, and Spanish versions of SONAR Studio Edition, and the Edirol UA-25 (SONAR Power Studio 25) or FA-66 (SONAR Power Studio 66) audio/MIDI interfaces, all contained within one box respectively.

The international versions of the SONAR Power Studio software components have been optimized for the included Edirol Hardware. There is one multi-lingual getting started guide and one User’s Guide that covers both the hardware and software, and customers only need to call one company for tech support.

Available through Cakewalk’s Roland and Edirol distribution partners, Europe's suggested retail price for SONAR Power Studio 25 and SONAR Power Studio 66 are €479 and €669 (including VAT) respectively; U.K. pricing is £329 and £459 (including VAT) respectively; and will be available February 2006. For localized pricing and availability visit:

• Edirol Europe (United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, Austria) www.edirol.com/europe
• Roland Australia http://www.rolandcorp.com.au
• Roland Brazil http://www.roland.com.br
• Roland Canada http://www.roland.ca
• Roland Central Europe (Belgium, France, Netherlands & Luxembourg) www.rolandce.com
• Roland Eastern Europe www.rolandee.hu
• Roland Switzerland http://www.rolandmusik.ch
• Roland Iberia (Portugal, Spain) www.rolandiberia.com
• Roland Scandinavia (Denmark, Norway, Finland, Sweden, Russia, and Iceland) www.roland.dk

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Founded in 1987 and based in Boston, MA, Cakewalk is an international, industry-leading provider of software for music and sound creation. The company's award-winning products are used worldwide by more than 1,000,000 users, for applications including audio CD production, film/TV soundtracks, live stage sound, club remixes, computer game sounds, multimedia applications, and Internet delivery. For more information, contact Cakewalk, 268 Summer Street, Boston, MA 02210, (617) 423-9004, www.cakewalk.com.

Cakewalk is a registered trademark and Power Studio, SONAR, and the Cakewalk logo are trademarks of Twelve Tone Systems, Inc. V-Vocal, Edirol, GrooveSynth and TTS-1 are trademarks of Roland Corporation. Lexicon Pantheon is a trademark of Lexicon Pro, a Harman International Company, ASIO and VST are trademarks of Yamaha Corporation. ReWire, is a trademarks of Propellerhead Software, AB., ACID is a registered Trademark of SONY Pictures Digital, Inc. Other trademarks mentioned are held by their respective owners.