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Audio Gear Hands On Reviews...
A generation ago, Alvin Toffler's brilliant book (Future Shock spoke of how the increasing speed of technological development had as much, if not more impact, than the development itself. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the professional audio realm, where the last few years have seen our beloved recording studio, replete with its expanse of racks and stacks of synths, virtualized at an ever-accelerating rate. It's been a long journey from the MIDI sequencers of the Neanderthal '80s, but recent years, in particular, have seen the computer literally evolve from being a box in the studio to the studio in a box.
Cakewalk is one of the few companies with roots in those nascent days, and it is unique in its early adaptation of the PC platform. Back when the major players of the day were arguing over Atari, Amiga, and that new Apple thing, Twelve Tone System's Cakewalk for DOS may have been somewhat of an anomaly, but, in retrospect, it seems almost prophetic. In fact, Cakewalk's lengthy experience in the Windows PC world is nearly unrivaled, and the accelerated evolution of the current generation of SONAR 2 XL clearly bears that out.
At its most basic, SONAR can be described as a DAW, inasmuch as it integrates multitrack audio and MIDI sequencing in a virtual studio environment. What sets SONAR apart from the crowd is...