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Kevin Kern Augments Late Night Laughs with SONAR

kevin kernIf you’re late night TV fan, you’ve probably heard Kevin Kern’s music flowing from your television set. A pianist, composer and recording artist, Kevin’s music was recently featured on the Late Show with David Letterman during a parody featuring smarmy comedian Chris Elliott in The Curious Case of Bennington Butterworth.  No stranger to the television scene,  Kern’s music has been heard as part of Live! With Regis and Kelly, Oprah, NPR, PBS and more. Legally blind since birth, Kevin relies on SONAR’s assistive technology to record and produce his own music.

Hear Kevin’s latest tracks as part of his new podcast on Itunes, Piano Stories (click on the News tab to subscribe).

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Brooke Hogan's 'Redemption' Is A SureFire Hit

Brooke HoganBoston’s Surefire Music Group landed a role in mainstream TV this summer as their music was featured on the first 4 episodes of VH-1’s Brooke Knows Best (Season 2).  While Brooke’s television popularity continues to grow, Surefire Music Group is also responsible for 2 songs on the reality TV star’s brand new album, Redemption.  Surefire produced the sexy pop banger Handcuffed, and a heartfelt classic, One That Got Away. Brooke’s producers state that “this album is quite different from her last release, this time encompassing the drama of Brooke’s life on and off the television screen while showing her niche for infectious pop melodies and captivating stories within quality lyrics.”

Surefire Music Group use SONAR 8 Producer in studio, pointing out that V-Vocal and SONAR’s audio and midi capabilities make it a “very powerful platform”. Visit Surefire Music Group online for more information.

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Blog Critics Calls The V-Studio 100 A One Stop Shop!

VS-100-Front-Top-ReflectionThere was a time when building a studio meant that you needed a lot of space and a lot of equipment. Today, depending on your needs, there are plenty of ways to create a working music studio without exhausting space and money. T. Michael Testi explains that with the V-Studio 100, you can record, edit, mix and master your tracks with one space-saving device. Not only it is expandable but the V-Studio 100 is flexible, integrating nicely with all major DAWs on Mac and PC.

“Through the Mackie Control Support you can use (the V-Studio 100 with) other DAW software to handle the load. When you are in Active Controller Technology (ACT) mode you will have more advanced control with the SONAR software. All you have to do is press the ACT button and you will be able to control the parameters of plug-ins that support the ACT function.”

Continue reading “Blog Critics Calls The V-Studio 100 A One Stop Shop!”

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FiXT Remix Community Looking For New Talent

Fixt RemixIf remixing is your thing, check out the latest contest at FiXT Remix! If you can put the best spin on Celldweller’s Louder Than Words, you could win a whole new arsenal of recording gear and sound effects!

Over $5,000 in prizes will be awarded to the top 3 remixers including Cakewalk’s SONAR 8 Producer and Rapture as well as sound effects by FabFilter and OhmForce. Sign up for the FiXT Community today as the contest opens for entries on September 28, 2009.

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SONAR 8.5 May Convince You To Try A 64-bit OS & Windows 7

cdm_logo_LRCreate Digital Music’s Peter Kirn was one of the first to cover the launch of SONAR 8.5 as it happened yesterday. In his initial review, Peter took a look at some of the most compelling functionalities being offered in the new version.

Among his favorite features are the argpeggiator and step-sequencer included on every track, the audio manipulation tool (AudioSnap 2.0), the strips for percussion and vocals (PX-84 and VX-64, respectively), and SONAR’s compatibility with x64 and Windows 7!  Here are some of our favorite quotes. Click the link below to read Peter’s full review.

Continue reading “SONAR 8.5 May Convince You To Try A 64-bit OS & Windows 7”

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Chuck Carr Mixes The Hoff's Vocals for Video Game Release

Producer and Songwriter for video games, Chuck Carr, posted this video to his YouTube account and we wanted to share it with you. In the video, Chuck uses the brand new VX-64 Vocal Strip (included in SONAR 8.5 Producer) to tweak The Hoff’s rendition of ‘Do You Really Want to Hurt Me’ for an upcoming release of the Playstation 3 game, PAIN.

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Get Amazing Add-Ons With A SONAR 8.5 Producer Upgrade

MatrixView

If you’re ready to take the ultimate step to SONAR 8.5 Producer, there has never been a better time to upgrade! SONAR 8.5 Producer includes all of the innovations, instruments and effects that were included in version 8 plus a host of new features including:

 • Matrix View – simple and flexible cell-based, non-linear audio and MIDI arranging with live triggering capability
• Session Drummer 3 – latest version of Cakewalk’s virtual instrument for easy and fast creation of drum tracks with a new UI, stellar sounding kits and patterns from top sound designers and drummers, more
• PX-64 Percussion Strip – seven-stage processor designed specifically for use with drums and percussion
• VX-64 Vocal Strip – seven-stage processor optimized for shaping and sculpting vocal tracks

We would also like to let you know that there are a number of Elite Upgrades available to existing SONAR 8 Producer customers at an incredible price! For years, SONAR has been a completely open system, meaning you can add virtually any third party software program to your studio with the peace of mind that it will work flawlessly with SONAR. In that spirit, we have partnered up with some of the industry’s top third party manufacturers (including TruePianos, IK Multimedia, Native Instruments, Notion, Izotope) to create special upgrade options in hopes of rounding out your SONAR experience!

You can find more information on these Upgrades here

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The Next Version of SONAR… Is Here!

S8_Producer_3D_boxFor the past month,  we’ve been ‘tweeting’ about the new features found in the next version of SONAR. Well, the wait is finally over! Cakewalk today announces a feature packed upgrade for SONAR Producer and SONAR Studio.

SONAR 8.5 continues to innovate with new capabilities including enhanced beat creation and arrangement tools,  a new drum instrument loaded with stellar kits and patterns, an enhanced audio timing toolset, new multi-stage effect plug-ins for drums, percussion sounds and vocal tracks, engine optimizations and stability improvements, and many additional workflow and technological advances -notably Windows 7 compatibility.

Plus… for the first time ever… We’re offering it as a download!

New Features & Workflow Enhancements:

·  Matrix View—simple and flexible cell-based, non-linear audio and MIDI arranging with live triggering capability.
·  Step Sequencer 2.0—the most powerful step sequencing capability in any DAW.
·  Integrated Arpeggiator—trigger arpeggiations on MIDI or instrument tracks with in-depth control over all arp parameters. Includes hundreds of presets.
·  Session Drummer 3—latest version of Cakewalk’s virtual instrument for easy and fast creation of drum tracks with a new UI, stellar sounding kits and patterns from top sound designers and drummers, more.
·  AudioSnap 2.0—updated audio quantizing and time shifting technology with new look and refinements to all the core controls, significantly improving workflow, plus improved offline rendering.
·  Media Browser—a new hub for content access in SONAR; supports multiple formats to preview and import your loops, grooves, and MIDI patterns; features presets to grab content from your favorite locations.
·  PX-64 Percussion Strip—seven-stage processor designed specifically for use with drums and percussion.
·  VX-64 Vocal Strip—seven-stage processor optimized for shaping and sculpting vocal tracks.
·  Windows 7 Support—tested, ready, and recommended for use.
·  Engine optimizations and stability improvements for recording audio, and while looping.
·  “Hotswap” audio and MIDI devices, including control surfaces, without restarting SONAR. 
·  VST plug-in compatibility improvements. 
·  Native REX Loop support featured in Track View, Media Browser, and Matrix View. 
·  BitBridge XR—run 32-bit plug-ins in 64-bit environments, with memory access now extended up to 128 GB RAM.

Read the SONAR 8.5 press release here
Visit the SONAR 8.5 web pages for exclusive specs, images and more

Here’s the first SONAR 8.5 feature video on Session Drummer 3 to get your creative juices flowing:

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Creating Soundtracks For Video With SONAR

At last year’s AES Conference, Cakewalk’s Robin Kelly gave a presentation on using SONAR 8 for creating a soundtrack to a video. Watch Robin’s tutorial to learn how to use SONAR’s included instruments – Dimension Pro, Session Drummer 2 and Z3TA+ – to create great sounding music tracks for your home movies. Robin also shows you how to export your final project so that you can share it with friends or publish it to your favorite video-sharing site.

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Carmen Rizzo & Huun Huur Tu Reach Global Audiences

Electronic Musician & Record Producer, Carmen Rizzo – an avid Cakewalk softsynth user – just released a new album in collaboration with the indigenous throat-singers, Huun Huur Tu. Hailing from the Republic of Tuva (a remote area 2,500 miles east of Moscow, Russia), Huun Huur Tu’s music highlights rare native instruments and preserves what is arguably some of the world’s oldest forms of music making. The group’s unique vocals combine with Rizzo’s modern electronic production to take listeners on a lush cinematic journey.

The album is now available at all major online outlets including Amazon.com. Catch Huun Huur Tu live this fall in select cities across the US including New York, Minneapolis and Richmond, Indiana.