{"id":10309,"date":"2012-12-21T15:33:27","date_gmt":"2012-12-21T19:33:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/noelborthwick.com\/cakewalk\/?p=10309"},"modified":"2012-12-21T15:33:27","modified_gmt":"2012-12-21T19:33:27","slug":"a-deeper-look-at-sonar-x2a-native-windows-8-and-touch-support","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/noelborthwick.com\/cakewalk\/2012\/12\/21\/a-deeper-look-at-sonar-x2a-native-windows-8-and-touch-support\/","title":{"rendered":"A Deeper Look at SONAR X2a – Native Windows 8 and Touch Support"},"content":{"rendered":"

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A few months ago I wrote an\u00a0article about Windows 8<\/a>\u00a0and how it applied to music applications like SONAR. \u00a0In this article I will mainly cover what\u2019s changed or new in our Windows 8 support as of SONAR X2a.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s New<\/h1>\n

~ We shipped SONAR X2a<\/a><\/strong>, our brand new Windows 8 native version of SONAR. This was exhaustively tested with Windows 8 and specifically takes advantage of new Windows 8 specific features like multi-touch. More about this below.<\/p>\n

~\u00a0Windows 8 is widely available in the mainstream and appears to be selling well – even better than Windows 7, based on media reports from ZDNet<\/a>. As of end November Microsoft had sold 40 million Windows 8 licences in a month (more than its predecessor Win7)<\/p>\n

~\u00a0There is a large proliferation of Windows 8 PC\u2019s available in the consumer channel, including several Intel Ultrabooks, hybrid\u2019s and convertibles, laptops that can switch to tablets etc. Microsoft\u2019s surface RT is also now available, although the much awaited Surface Pro (the version that can actually run classic Windows desktop applications) is yet to be released. There are also several interesting mobile solutions scheduled for early 2013. Its definitely an exciting time for users interested in mobile music platforms, since many of these have powerful Intel CPU\u2019s and specs that are easily capable of running DAW software. It can also be confusing – there are so many products out there that you will have to do your research and look for something that fits your needs best.<\/p>\n

~\u00a0Metro, the new application model from Microsoft which runs on both Intel and ARM CPU\u2019s, is no longer called Metro. Perhaps not the most logical name, but the new official name for Metro Style Apps<\/a> is \u201cWindows Store Apps\u201d. Windows Store Apps are not the same as Desktop Apps – they have somewhat limited capabilities, at least from a DAW user standpoint.<\/p>\n

~\u00a0Many hardware vendor\u2019s have tested and released Windows 8 compatible drivers for their supported hardware. (Although Windows 8 did not mandate any changes to driver\u2019s, many vendors have to update installers and do compatibility testing before releasing their products)<\/p>\n

~\u00a0Microsoft released its its latest Visual Studio development platform for building Windows applications. Applications like SONAR X2a built for Windows 8 typically use this platform for application development.<\/p>\n

SONAR X2a<\/h1>\n

<\/strong>SONAR X2a is Cakewalk\u2019s latest update for SONAR X2. While SONAR X2 and X1 are compatible with Windows 8, SONAR X2a is the first DAW release specifically designed to take advantage of new Windows 8 specific features such as multi-touch support. X2a was also built with the latest development tools and Windows SDK\u2019s, bringing over various fixes from Microsoft. X2a is still fully compatible with Windows 7 and will continue to install on Vista (though not officially supported anymore).
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\nX2a \u00a0includes the following:<\/strong><\/p>\n