Available since April of 2001, Sonar is Cakewalk's latest addition to the world of MIDI/Audio production software for the Windows environment. While it lies at the forefront in the evolution of Cakewalk's Pro Audio software line, Sonar is much more than Pro Audio 10.

The Track view—with Track pane on the left, Clips pane on the right, and Bus pane below (click for larger view).

The "New" Interface
One thing I've always liked about Cakewalk is the user interface. Track information in the main "track view" is laid out horizontally, not vertically. That means that I can view the entirety of track information while I view the tracks. I can, for instance, change my fader (MIDI) volume on all of my drum tracks by placing my cursor on a volume box, adjusting the value with the +/- or [] keys, and then just use the down arrow key to highlight the same parameter on the next track. I can do this with any track parameter.

Console view, opened on top of Track view (click image for larger view).

Sonar has taken this a step further. The only drawback in previous Cakewalk versions, was that I really couldn't access all track parameters unless I scrolled or extended the screen divider (though I could modify the order in which the track parameters are viewed). Sonar has included tabs at the bottom of this part of the track view so I can instantly pop into a different "set" of parameters, such as "All," Mix, FX, and I/O. This is very convenient.

You can also open up a particular track's parameter view (The Expanded track in the "Track pane," in Cake-speak), by clicking on a standard Windows maximize button. I could immediately see this as an improvement on what I considered an already superior interface style. Those who are used to vertical layouts should find this easy to deal with, and the minimize/maximize feature is handy. I didn't immediately acclimate myself to maneuvering within it, however, simply because visually and logistically it was new. Once I had worked in Sonar for a little while, I was grooving on my new sense of navigational power.

Another addition to the main view, or "Track pane," is the Bus pane. The Bus pane shows the main and aux busses, with the ability to show or hide this view with the click of a button. All editing views can be selected and a corresponding pop-up window opened from the main toolbar, which is modular and user configurable as it was in Cakewalk's Pro Audio software. The Console view can be opened in this manner, with the Track view (Track pane, Clips pane, and Bus pane) in conjunction with the Console view being the main working environment of Sonar. The Console view has replaced rotary faders with slide faders for aux sends, which are generally easier to control with a mouse (thank you, Cakewalk), plus take up a little less real estate.

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