Craig Anderton & Greg Hendershott

31.03.2006

Today’s the day of the big Cakewalk, Edirol, Microsoft, and Intel party. We’re sharing cocktails with members of the press and our friends in the industry to celebrate our successes with 64-bit computing for musicians. With all the news I’ve heard here at the show, and leading up to it, I feel confident now in saying that x64 is truly a viable platform for musicians. There have been a lot of announcements from hardware and software companies here at Musikmesse about shipping products with x64 support. Really, too much for me to mention here, but x64 support is, with a few notable exceptions (ahem…other DAWs, so no worries SONAR users) more or less industry wide now. We’ll have a major update to our x64 pages next week that summarizes the current state of 64-bit computing for musicians, you’ll be pleasantly surprised.

Expression Engine, the Heart of Dimension Pro & Rapture
One of the things that sets our virtual instruments like Rapture and Dimension Pro apart from the competition is the quality of their multi-sampling engines. Almost unanimously, we’re hearing this back from the press and users alike. We’ve recently dubbed this technology which is at the heart of Cakewalk Instruments, Expression Engine, and prepared a document that further explains this technology for distribution here at the show. I know many of you reading this will not be in Frankfurt this week, so we have posted the Expression Engine document for your reading enjoyment.

Jazz Mutant Lemur Supports SONAR
One of the most interesting things I’ve seen here at the show is the Jazz Mutant Lemur. This may not be news to our more savvy readers, as the Lemur is not new, but this was the first time I had seen it. What is new and of interest to SONAR users, is the Lemur now supports SONAR through their Mackie Control Emulation. The Lemur is a multi-region touch-screen control surface, offering a creative new approach to controlling SONAR, your virtual instruments, and effects…plus its looks score high on the cool factor. Check it out yourself at http://www.jazzmutant.com.

	The ultra-hip Lemur
	Applied Acoustics Systems shows the Lounge Lizard 3 using SONAR

30.03.2006

Well its official, SONAR 5.2 is going to be the first DAW to support the VST 2.4 specification. Honestly I was expecting an announcement of a similar sort from Steinberg, but they’re silent on the topic…strange…anyway, the response here in Germany has been amazing, not just at the show, but in general over the last few years.

Cakewalk Nominated for Numerous Awards
Greg, Steve Thomas and I attended the Leser Awards ceremony last evening. The Leser Awards are given each year by PPVMedien, the parent company of Keys magazine here in Germany. SONAR 5, Project5 Version 2, and Dimension Pro were each nominated in their respective categories. This is the first time Cakewalk has been nominated for so many awards in a single awards show in Germany. Even though we did not win, we’re just happy for the recognition of our efforts.

Rapture ignites fire in Germany
Oh the irony…We were running a huge project yesterday on the x64 version of SONAR that included 22 simultaneous instances of Rapture…the sounds were hot, too hot I am afraid. “Am I imagining things or is that smoke I am smelling?” It wasn’t my imagination; the power transformer in the booth had become overloaded, and started to catch fire. The electricians arrived in a flash, and a disaster averted…Synthesis Ignited indeed.

Rapture – Entzückendes Monster
As Steve has been meeting with the press, they have been bringing the latest issues of their publications and many have positive reviews of Rapture. The headline above is the headline from the review in Keys and it translates loosely into “Charming Monster.” We’ve also seen reviews from Sound & Recording, and MusicTech magazine. My German colleagues tell me that the reviews of Rapture are very positive. MusicTech, a UK publication gave Rapture 9/10 stars and had the following to say:

Rapturous Applause
Soft Synths live or die by their sound quality, and Rapture’s sound is truly excellent. It’s accomplished enough to go from piercing trance sequences to dirty, lo-fi dance basses. Rapture is primarily aimed at the dance and electro fraternity, but certainly has the flexibility as a sound design tool to appeal to a wide range of musicians composing in other genres.

Solid State Logic adds SONAR Support
Responding to the wide adoption of SONAR in the pro studio market, SSL has announced tight integration with SONAR through new control protocols introduced in their new AWS 900+ console. The AWS had previously only supported Pro Tools, so we are very pleased with this news. You can read about it here.

Rapture – Entzückendes Monster

SONAR 5
Brandon demos a 150 track SONAR project on Windows x64.

Rapture
Steve Thomas showing 22 instances of Rapture running simultaneously.

SONAR 5.2 Available Early April

In the coming weeks, SONAR 5.2 will be available as a free download to registered SONAR 5 customers. This update includes the most sought after feature enhancements by customers like you, including VST 2.4 support, MIDI output data support from VST plug-ins, and updates to how automation is handled by VST plug-ins. In addition, we’ve blown away SONAR’s 16 track ReWire channel limitation by raising it to 4096! If anyone needs more channels than this, please contact us we’d love to check out your hot-rod PC. Read the SONAR 5.2 press release for all the details.

Amazing Sounds, Endless Possibilities coming soon to an Intel-Mac near you
The Dimension Pro update originally announced at Winter NAMM has been further enhanced with Intel-Enabled Mac Support. This update will be available early April as a free download to registered Dimension Pro customers. Read the Dimension Pro 1.2 press release for all the details.

Rapture 1.1 Announced
Hot on the heels of Rapture shipping last month, we’re happy to announce that Intel-enabled Mac users won’t have long to wait before they can get their Synthesis Ignited. Cakewalk will be making a free 1.1 update available to registered Rapture customers in Q2 of 2006. Read the Rapture 1.1 press release for more details.