It has been a little over a year since the announcement that Gibson was sending Sonar to its grave. But it's been exactly a year since I took advantage of the cross-grade pricing from Sonar over to Presonus Studio One and while it hasn't been the most prolific year, I've learned a lot, moved on successfully, and have learned that Studio One IS still my preferred DAW over the (now) Cakewalk by Bandlab offering.
A lot has transpired since the purchase of Studio One for me. Forget about the announcement that Bandlab was reviving Sonar into Cakewalk by Bandlab (some time in April 2018). I have since sold some equipment and bought new with the proceeds and have since been able to record a single song in Studio One, successfully, and with a result that I think it sonically better than many of the things I did with Sonar in its various versions. Considering that I've only been using Studio One for a year and had MANY years of experience with Sonar, that's saying something. Especially when you consider that I got a new Audio Interface (the Presonus Studio 1824), a new control surface (the Presonus Faderport 8), a new drum module (the Pearl Mimic Pro), and a new guitar (the Epiphone Les Paul Traditional Pro-II).
Once could say that it's hard to make a comparison with that much new gear: true. But with all that new gear and the learning curve of a new DAW, the new FX that built into it, and other factors, combined with the fact that my IT Business has expanded to a new location and done a full build-out in that same period, I' am surprised with myself that it all happened at all!
You might have read my other post about loading up an old song in Cakewalk by Bandlab and finding how difficult it was just to do some standard things. I had that experience again tonight. So I copied a few midi tracks and an audio track out of there for a song I was working on and imported them into Studio One.
Again - surprise how easy it was to pull the tracks in, get them associated with their correct instruments, and just do some basic "stuff" with them, with very little friction along the way. In Cakewalk, I was struggling just to get the master fader to work with my PCR-800, fighting with the export process, and other things that made the experience less than fun.
I want FUN. My DAW is part of my hobby and if it is a pain in the ass, so is my hobby - and that's not cool!
That is all for now - just a quick rant and update at my one year mark.