Which Version of SONAR is right for me?

Which version of SONAR is right for me?

Between SONAR Home Studio 7, SONAR Home Studio 7 XL, SONAR 8 Studio, and SONAR 8 Producer we are certain that there is a version of SONAR that's absolutely the right choice for your level of experience, music production needs, and budget. Although having choices is great you might be confused about which version of SONAR is the right one for you. To help you see how simple it really is, we've prepared the following comparisons to help you make the right decision.

SONAR Home Studio 7

If you're a musician looking to build your own music studio, an MC looking to record and make your own beats, an educator, a video editor, or podcaster who wants to edit and record audio, or just looking to get started with digital recording, SONAR Home Studio is the best entry-level digital audio workstation on the market today.

Based on Cakewalk's award- winning SONAR technology, yet with the easiest interface in the Cakewalk family, it offers you the fastest way to get powerful results.

SONAR Home Studio 7 XL

SONAR Home Studio XL gives you all the functionality and ease of use of SONAR Home Studio 7, but with the addition of more tools, effects, and virtual instruments. You get additional capabilities to create a more polished final product. SONAR Home Studio XL is perfect for aspiring producers, musicians who need a backing band, or anyone who's looking for more value.

SONAR 8 Studio

SONAR 8 Studio offers the best creative tools, and the most power of any digital audio workstation in its price range. If you used an earlier version of SONAR Home Studio, SONAR 8 Studio's user interface will be familiar to you but it will take your productions to the next level with unlimited tracks, advanced editing and mixing capabilities, more effects and instruments, and higher quality audio. Built upon the same core feature set as SONAR 8 Producer, SONAR 8 Studio is perfect for producers, engineers, and musicians who do not need the additional effects, instruments, surround, and mastering capabilities of our flagship SONAR 8 Producer.

SONAR 8 Producer

If you're serious about your music production, there is no better solution than SONAR 8 Producer. SONAR 8 Producer features our best creative tools, our leading technology innovations, an unmatched recording and mixing environment, the most effects and instruments in our product line, and it is all backed by the industry's leading 64-bit audio quality throughout. SONAR 8 Producer gives you what you need for recording, composing, editing, mixing, and mastering, and is used daily by Grammy and Emmy-winning professionals in the music, film, TV, gaming and post production industries.

What do the product managers have to say?

Watch Samara Krugman, Cakewalk Product Manager discuss the vision for the new SONAR Home Studio 7.

Watch Alex Westner, Cakewalk's Director of Product Management discuss the main themes of SONAR Producer & Studio and the goals for version .

Basic Comparison Chart


	SONAR Home Studio 7	SONAR Home Studio 7 XL	SONAR 8 Studio	SONAR 8 Producer
User Interface	Simple	Simple	Professional	Professional
Number of Tracks	64	64	Unlimited	Unlimited
Included Virtual Instruments	4	7	11	14
Included Audio Effects	10	12	31	42
Maximum Audio Quality	24-bit/96kHz	24-bit/96kHz	24-bit/384kHz	24-bit/384kHz
Internal Audio Engine	32-bit	32-bit	64-bit	64-bit
Creative Tools	Good	Good + More Plug-ins	Better	Best
Editing Capabilities	Intermediate	Intermediate	Advanced	Advanced
Mixing Environment	Basic	Basic	Advanced	Advanced including Surround
Mastering capabilities	None	Basic	Intermediate	Advanced
Upgrades start at	$59	$79	$99	$179
Estimated Street price	$99	$159	$299	$499

Need more details? High Level Feature Comparison

The chart below details some specific feature differences between the versions of SONAR Home Studio 7, SONAR 8 Studio, and SONAR 8 Producer. Please note, this chart only provides highlights and is not a complete comparison. For a more detailed feature specification, we suggest you read through the specific product pages for these products.


	SONAR Home Studio 7	SONAR Home Studio 7 XL	SONAR 8 Studio	SONAR 8 Producer
Active Controller Technology	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Video Thumbnail Track	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Simple Instrument Tracks	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
New Loop Explorer View	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Step Sequencer	No	Yes	Yes	Yes
AudioSnap audio quantize tools	No	No	Yes	Yes
V-Vocal Vocal processor	No	No	No	Yes
Mastering Features	None	Boost 11	Boost 11, Windowed Sinc Sample Rate Conversion	Boost 11, LP-64 mastering FX, TL-64 Tube Leveler, POW-r Dithering, Windowed Sinc Sample Rate Conversion
Track Comping Tools	No	No	Yes	Yes
External Hardware Inserts	No	No	Yes	Yes
Dimension Synthesizer	None	LE	LE	Pro
Beatscape Loop Instrument	No	No	No	Yes
Z3TA+ Waveshaping Synthesizer	No	No	No	Yes
TruePianos Amber VSTi	No	No	No	Yes
64-bit version for Vista 64, more RAM access, 64-bit processing	No	No	Yes	Yes
Smart MIDI Tools	No	No	Yes	Yes
Per-clip effects	No	No	Yes	Yes
User-customizable interface	No	No	Yes	Yes
Internal Sidechaining	No	No	Yes	Yes
Cakewalk Publisher	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Integrated CD Ripping & Burning	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
	More Detail	More Detail	More Detail	More Detail

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