Community Forums Archive

Go Back

Subject:Is Sonar PE a good replacement for acid4?
Posted by: dabb
Date:5/21/2004 7:19:14 AM

I'm thinking of switching to sonar for mixing my loops, does sonar have the same audio capabilities as acid. Basically can Sonar do everything that Acid 4 can?

I've just done a fresh system installation, and installed Acid 4f. I have no problems loading acid, but when I try saving or exiting the program just freezes (mouse and all) my system. This only happens with acid. This is the first time my system actually crashes like this. I've tried updating all my drivers, etc. Its too bad acid is so unstable its a nice application....
I'm running, winxp pro, FlStudio.


Subject:RE: Is Sonar PE a good replacement for acid4?
Reply by: xxFT13xx
Date:5/21/2004 7:35:08 AM

Sonar can do similar looping like Acid, but i wouldnt switch if i were you.

Sure, it does DXi's and Acid doesnt, but who cares. There arent enough DXi's out there to justify it.

Stick with Acid and youll be happier

Just my $.02

-Sin

Subject:RE: Is Sonar PE a good replacement for acid4?
Reply by: JohnnyRoy
Date:5/21/2004 10:17:29 AM

Dito. I just purchased ACID Pro 4.0 over Sonar 3 because, while Sonar tolerates loops, ACID is a much better looping environment. (e.g., auditioning, chopping, creating, etc.) I have Vegas for killer audio so no need for Sonar.

Just my $0.02 (now you have 4 cents) ;-)

~jr

Subject:RE: Is Sonar PE a good replacement for acid4?
Reply by: DKeenum
Date:5/21/2004 11:17:34 AM

We've just had several threads similar to yours. I don't think acid is your problem. Do some searching here on the forum and you'll see what I mean. People here as pretty nice and they will help you sort out your trouble.

But just to be clear, I use acid pro4.0f all the time with no problems. And I have an older machine with only 256 meg ram.

Subject:RE: Is Sonar PE a good replacement for acid4?
Reply by: spinweb
Date:5/21/2004 1:10:19 PM

<< I have Vegas for killer audio so no need for Sonar.>>

Why is Vegas for killer audio and ACID not?

Subject:RE: Is Sonar PE a good replacement for acid4?
Reply by: Jessariah
Date:5/21/2004 1:31:48 PM

Sonar and Acid are two different apps. If most of what you are doing is loop-based, stick with Acid (and get sound forge). If you are tracking, use Vegas or Sonar. If you want MIDI support that you can actually use, get Sonar.

I have & use all 3 and wouldn't want to part with any.

Subject:RE: Is Sonar PE a good replacement for acid4?
Reply by: JohnnyRoy
Date:5/21/2004 4:40:47 PM

> Why is Vegas for killer audio and ACID not?

Sorry, just bad wording. I was comparing the looping of ACID and multi-track capabilities of Vegas to Sonar. You could argue that you still need Sonar to do multi-track recording but Vegas can do that. I did not mean to imply that ACID doesn’t have killer audio as well (although I realize it sounded that way now that I read it again). ;-)

~jr

Subject:RE: Is Sonar PE a good replacement for acid4?
Reply by: Iacobus
Date:5/21/2004 8:09:01 PM

As JohnnyRoy mentioned, ACID (Pro) does make professional audio; I'd suggest Vegas if you wanted to do true multitracking. I'd suggest Sound Forge in any capacity for its digital audio editing (and its ACID loop creation toolset).

I've heard SONAR's loop stretching capability isn't as good as ACID's, so if quality of audio is important, I'd stick with ACID.

dabb: Can we have a little more info on your system? What do you have installed? Anything running in the background?

Iacobus
-------
RodelWorks - Original Music for the Unafraid
mD's ACIDplanet Page
Guitars 4 Kids

Subject:RE: Is Sonar PE a good replacement for acid4?
Reply by: spinweb
Date:5/21/2004 8:33:22 PM

Why would I care about true multitracking? Does one get too many tracks in big ACID projects? What's the real advantage to true multitracking?

Also, can you give an example or two of how Sound Forge is necessary for digital audio editing?

Thanks!

Rick

Subject:RE: Is Sonar PE a good replacement for acid4?
Reply by: JohnnyRoy
Date:5/21/2004 10:36:40 PM

> What's the real advantage to true multitracking?

We are referring to Vegas’ ability to simultaneous record multiple tracks. In ACID you can only record one track at a time but Vegas is only limited by the number of analog inputs on your sound card. This has nothing to do with how many tracks can playback simultaneously.

SoundForge allows you to edit down to the sample level. If you need really precise editing, it is easier to do it in SoundForge. There are also ACID Looping tools in SoundForge as well as sample looping tools. So if you had a pad that you wanted to loop but you got a click at the end, SoundForge can modify the loop point with sample accuracy so that the ends crossing at the zero mark or it can apply a crossfade to make the loop ends transition smoothly. It’s just a Swiss army knife of audio.

SoundForge also comes with a plugin called WaveHammer which is really good during the final mix (i.e., mastering process). Lots of people like to do their final mastering in SoundForge but you can do it in ACID as well. I didn’t buy SoundForge for a while because I though it just duplicated function I already had but after I bought it, it just made life a lot easier. I wouldn’t want to be without it now.

~jr

Subject:RE: Is Sonar PE a good replacement for acid4?
Reply by: jardeano
Date:5/22/2004 3:36:23 AM

I perfer acid for music and loop composition,, Then I bring everything into cuebase or sonar to finalize the song..but the one thing I find extremely intuitive in sonar is when previewing loops they trigger at the given beat in the measure,, if I'm listening to my song and I'm previewing a fill loop I can hear many variations (starting points) of that loop coming in on the 1,2,3,4, beats,, Acid only comes in at the begining of the following measure,,I sure wish acid would offer this feature....

Subject:RE: Is Sonar PE a good replacement for acid4?
Reply by: JohnnyRoy
Date:5/22/2004 6:17:47 AM

I’m not sure I understand what you mean. In ACID you can slip edit the loop to start anywhere in the loop you want using the ALT-LeftMouse button (i.e., without moving the physical loop). You also can move the ends of the loop and the loop itself physically so I don’t think this is a missing function. If Sonar has a nice way of doing this on the measure than that’s a nice convenience I agree, but ACID still has this ability. Or did I miss what Sonar is doing?

Does Sonar have anything like the Chopper where I can half a selection, insert it twice, half it again, insert it 4 times, etc. to build a dramatic climax from a regular loop? I’m not familiar with Sonar. I downloaded the demo, found it very cumbersome to use with loops (compared to ACID) and then bought ACID Pro.

I thought this was a fair comparison for me because I was working with two demos and in one I was productive right away (ACID) and in the other I was lost (Sonar). My objective was to make music, not learn how software works.And that should be a big part of the buying criteria (at least for me) Finding software that works the way you do.

~jr

Subject:RE: Is Sonar PE a good replacement for acid4?
Reply by: jardeano
Date:5/22/2004 7:25:00 AM

Hi johnny,,,What I'm talking about is when previewing the loops in either explorer(acid) or loop explorer (sonar)as your listening to your song ,, not when the loop is in the timeline.... all said I agree with you about acid,, I use acid as my main composing tool it's extremely intuitive,,, to answer your other question (about halfing ) yes sonar has the loop construction view,,,,,, and a dxi (cyclone) which works good for arranging loops on the fly......

Subject:RE: Is Sonar PE a good replacement for acid4?
Reply by: dabb
Date:5/22/2004 11:38:58 AM

I have acid set up on a P4 3.0Ghz with 1gig ram. My audio card is a delta 1010lt and I'm using winxp. I'm not sure at this time if I'm going to continue to use acid or not! If I knew for sure that they (sony) where still developing this software I may stay on for a while...but they are not even saying weather or not a new version is on the horizon. I have my doubts.

dabb

Subject:RE: Is Sonar PE a good replacement for acid4?
Reply by: Iacobus
Date:5/22/2004 11:44:28 AM

JohnnyRoy: Don't forget digital inputs (if the soundcard/audio interface has them). ;o)

Multitracking is ideal if you have more than one person performing and you want to record those tracks separately. If you're the type that works solo, this might be a moot point.

I'd recommend Sound Forge as JohnnyRoy suggested just to give a project some polish, whether it be for mastering or creatively mangling. In addition, Sound Forge has some tools of its own (like the FM synthesis tools) to create some sounds of your own design.

Iacobus
-------
RodelWorks - Original Music for the Unafraid
mD's ACIDplanet Page
Guitars 4 Kids

Subject:RE: Is Sonar PE a good replacement for acid4?
Reply by: Iacobus
Date:5/22/2004 11:50:20 AM

I've heard Joel and Peter mention development on ACID 5.0, so put your doubts at rest. I highly doubt they'd continue to develop Vegas and Sound Forge without developing ACID, as the three were meant to compliment each other.

You didn't mention what video card you had. Believe it or not, video accounts for most of computer problems, even for DAW software.

Have you tried different video card drivers? Try also reducing or turning off video acceleration to see if that helps any.

Iacobus
-------
RodelWorks - Original Music for the Unafraid
mD's ACIDplanet Page
Guitars 4 Kids

Subject:RE: Is Sonar PE a good replacement for acid4?
Reply by: SonyJennL
Date:5/25/2004 1:15:39 PM

dabb,

Have you contacted tech support about your problem?

-Jenn

Go Back