As Seen On TV: Cakewalk Featured in 'Gear Spotlight'

Guitar World’s Gear Spotlight is a new segment about the latest and greatest gear available to guitar players, airing now on Comcast’s On Demand programming. The segment aired for the first time this past Friday, featuring Cakewalk’s new USB Audio & Midi Interfaces; UM-1G, UM-2G, UM-3G, and UA-1G! The segment will air on Comcast’s Life & Home channel until Monday May 4, 2009.

For those of you sans Comcast, see the video clip here on Guitar World’s Gear Spotlight

For more information on the products seen above, visit the Cable Products web page.

News from Germany: Musikmesse 2009

It’s the first day of the Musikmesse Show in Frankfurt, Germany. It’s the world’s biggest tradeshow for musical instruments, live music and the music business.

Cakewalk is excited to share some major product news from this year’s show. Follow along on the Cakewalk Blog from April 1 to April 4, 2009 to get all the latest coverage:

The New Portable Music Production Studio: The SONAR V-Studio 100 Is Here

The second product in the SONAR V-Studio line of integrated hardware and software from Cakewalk and Roland provides a compact, feature rich, music production studio that enables musicians to create, record, produce, and perform music with or without a computer. The new SONAR V-Studio 100 integrates a USB 2.0 Audio Interface, DAW Controller, Digital Mixer, SD Recorder, and VS Production Pack for Mac & Windows!

Visit the SONAR V-studio 100 Website

See the full Press Release

Now Going Solo: The SONAR V-Studio Console (VS700C) for SONAR 8 Producer

In response to customer demand, the VS-700C V-Studio Console, the centerpiece of SONAR V-Studio 700 production system, will be made available separately as a standalone control surface for SONAR 8 Producer.

See the full Press Release

Now Shipping: New Line of Portable Cable-Based Interface Products

The new Audio Interface and three new MIDI Interfaces, announced at NAMM in January, are now available. These interfaces allow musicians of all levels to easily connect instruments to their computer via USB and are Mac and PC compatible.

See the full Press Release

SONAR REAC Recording System Driver Gets New Updates

The Roland Ethernet Audio Communication (REAC) Driver Version 1.1 for SONAR REAC Recording System provides Vista x64 support and compatibility with SONAR 8 Producer. The driver update also provides monitoring support through SONAR V-Studio 700’s VS-700R I/O.

See the full Press Release

New Rapture 1.2 Update

Free download for registered customers includes new Envelope Generator and Tempo features, Vista x64 support, and many usability enhancements. The free Rapture 1.2 Update will be available to registered Rapture customers ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­late April, 2009 at www.cakewalk.com.

See the full Press Release

Cakewalk® Expands Worldwide Distribution

New distribution arrangements extend the company’s reach in Asia, Australia, Latin America, the Middle East, South America, and other regions worldwide.

See the full Press Release

Cakewalk Prepares for Musikmesse 2009

Cakewalk is preparing for Musikmesse 2009 – Live for the Music! starting Wednesday April 1, 2009 in Frankfurt, Germany. As suspected, we have some huge announcements that are once again going to shake up the music industry. In addition, we are pleased to announce that SONAR 8 has been nominated for a MIPA (Musikmesse International Press Award) in the Recording Software category and SONAR V-Studio 700 has been nominated in the Recording Hardware category!

Cakewalk will be exhibiting at:
Edirol Booth, Hall: 5.1 Walkway: B Stand: 65
Ludwig-Erhard_Anlage 1, 60327 Frankfurt
April 1 – 4, 2009
More info on this year’s show!

SONAR 8 Featured on Intel's Gaming Microsite

As the annual Game Developers Conference gets under way in San Francisco, Intel releases a new portion of its website to coincide with their Gaming Industry magazine called Visual Adrenaline. SONAR is one of two featured products on the new site for its superior performance using multicore processors.

Intel’s new site features an article entitled “Composing Audio for Video Games – Art Enabled By Science and Cakewalk Software,” which discusses how the software is used to score and edit audio for games. There is also a solution brief on how to optimize your DAW for superior performance written by Cakewalk’s CTO Noel Borthwick and a video interview with Cakewalk’s VP of Marketing Carl Jacobson and Director of Business Development Gina Garda.

SONAR’s popularity among today’s most-acclaimed video game composers is evident as the new site also hosts interviews with award-winning, SONAR-using composers and audio engineers including Doyle Donnehoo, Shawn Clement, Justin Lassen, Rob King, and Timothy Michael Winn.

The :90 Music Show Explores V-Studio 700 and Cable Interfaces

In a recent episode of The :90 Music Show, presented by Music Connection magazine, host Scott Austin gets an exclusive look at SONAR V-Studio 700 and UA-1G cable interface recorded live at The NAMM Show 2009. Regularly airing on Youtube, The :90 Music Show captures exclusive interviews with top industry players and emerging artists.

Scott Austin is a regular contributor to Music Connection magazine. He writes ‘Insider Commentary’ for aspiring musicians exploring the music business. As one of the industry’s youngest CEOs, Austin manages Authentik Artists, an artist development company in Los Angeles, California. Austin is also credited with discovering musicians such Michelle Branch, All-American Rejects and music/tv/film heavy-hitter Tyler Hilton (Austin’s first signing to Madonna’s Maverick Records in 2002).

Learn SONAR Online with Berklee College of Music

Learn SONAR online with Berklee’s renowned faculty from anywhere in the world! Enroll with BerkleeMusic by March 16th and get exclusive access to student-only offers, including deep educational discounts on SONAR software, and $100 off any online course or program.

Visit BerkleeMusic.com for Information on Online Courses and Certificate programs.

The Fine Print II: Updates Released for Cakewalk's SONAR Platform

Here’s an excerpt from Cakewalk CTO Noel Borthwick’s report on the new features that exist in Cakewalk’s SONAR 8.3 and SONAR V-Studio 700 1.1 updates.  To view the entire discussion, Visit the Cakewalk Forums.

We’re happy to see so many of you enjoying SONAR 8.3. I know some of you enjoy the trivia that goes into a release so here is the unabridged version of what went into SONAR 8.3 aka “the making of SONAR 8.3” aka the 8.3 fine print. If details aren’t what you like wading through, just go ahead and enjoy using the product and skip this – what you don’t know wont hurt you 🙂

Disclaimer: This text is not an official Cakewalk endorsement of any features in 8.3 and has not been officially proof checked for accuracy, so I reserve the right to edit the content at will. The sole purpose is to provide more detail on the depth of some of the features in 8.3 that some of you have requested and to hopefully answer some common questions.

8.3 was a particularly intense point release for us and everyone involved spent a lot of long hours and effort to make this happen. Special thanks go out to our beta testers on this who spent long hours trying out all the new risky stuff. Posts from beta testers and Cakewalk engineers going into the wee hours of the morning attest to some of the dedication in this cycle.

As most who have been our customers awhile may know, the typical Cakewalk product lifecycle goes somewhat like this:
– We work on a major release
– Post release we typically do a quick minor point release to address any immediate or urgent issues that might arise
– We then hibernate a bit and do a major point release that makes some feature improvements and addresses any old or new issues that are common customer complaints.
– The cycle repeats

This time around when it was time to do our point release we wanted to continue working on the optimization theme we started in S8, but also revisit some common complaints and workflow issues with some of our existing features that needed some TLC. So we identified the following broad areas that we needed to work on in 8.3:

1. External Insert Improvements
2. Optimization and multi-core enhancements
3. VS-700 updates
4. New/Enhanced Features
5. Bug fixes
6. New content

Read Noel’s Fine Print In Full at Cakewalk.com

More Sounds, Features, & Better Performance in SONAR 8 & V-Studio 700 Updates

Cakewalk today announces free updates for SONAR 8 Producer, SONAR 8 Studio, and SONAR V-Studio 7.

The updates, for Windows XP and native Vista (32bit and 64bit), are available as FREE downloads to registered SONAR 8 and SONAR V-Studio 700 customers.

The SONAR 8.3 update adds classic Roland sample content for Dimension Pro and Dimension LE, drum kits for Session Drummer 2 and new usability enhancements and engine optimizations. The SONAR 8.3 update also addresses performance issues reported by customers after the initial release of SONAR 8.

Sound On Sound highlights a few of the latest improvements to SONAR 8 including Snap Presets, an External Insert facility and new content for Dimension Pro and Session Drummer 2.

Additionally, since the initial Winter NAMM update announcement, numerous enhancements are now included in a version 1.1 software update for SONAR V-Studio 700 and a firmware update for its onboard Fantom VS hardware synthesizer.

Click on the following links to download the SONAR 8.3 Update and SONAR V-Studio 700 1.1 updates.

Tune Up Your Production Skills with SONAR 8 Help Guides

StreamWorks Audio Offers Complete SONAR 8 Video Tutorial

Whether you are a beginner, just learning the ropes, or a more seasoned veteran of SONAR, this video tutorial leaves nothing out and offers lots of valuable information to get you up and running quickly.

You will learn how to setup your computer for optimal performance, master SONAR’s new user interface & advanced recording and editing techniques, use effects, dial in software instruments, mix down tips & techniques, and much more!

StreamWorks’s SONAR 8 Tutorial: Now Available in HD

SONAR 8 Power! by Scott Garrigus

SONAR 8 Power! is the ideal reading companion for SONAR 8, featuring detailed information that even the most experienced user will benefit from. New users will start from the beginning and learn everything they need to know to use SONAR 8 for recording, editing, producing, mixing, and bringing their music to the masses. Upgraders will learn all about the new features in SONAR 8 as well as enhancements made to existing features that may affect their current production workflow.

Learn how to use AudioSnap, Session Drummer 2, and V-Vocal

NAMM Show 2009: Blogged by Cakewalk

Day 5: Well that’s it. The NAMM show is a wrap. Today is Sunday and while it is the last day of the show, there is definitely an air about the place that says the show is finally over and foot traffic is much lighter than it has been the whole rest of the show.

At 5pm when they finally turned the lights down, you could hear a wave of exhibitors clapping and cheering. If I were to tell you it was a quick show, I would be lying. But it was definitely a good show and we were able to reach out to a lot of people with all of our products including our new USB hardware devices and of course, our baby: The SONAR V-Studio 700.

Everyone here did a wonderful, professional job this week and I know we’re all proud of what we’ve accomplished.

As I wrap this up, I look forward to touching down at home in Boston and sleeping in my own bed. Though as much as I don’t mind the 80 degree weather in January, I think it’s the nasty winters at home that really make you appreciate the nice weather when you get it. Although, we could be another 4-5 months off from weather like this at home.

C’est la vie, thanks for reading, oh and scroll down the page to see our videos from NAMM:

Enjoy!

Ian: Out

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