SONAR Home Studio

SONAR Home Studio 6 gives you everything you need to turn your PC into a complete music production studio. Record live instruments and vocals and mix them with studio-quality audio effects. Edit audio, MIDI, and music notation. Build backing tracks or entire songs with hundreds of included instrument sounds and tempo-syncing loops. SONAR Home Studio 6 is the complete solution for creating and sharing your music.



Create & Record

64 audio tracks and unlimited MIDI tracks
Record your whole band with support for multi-input audio interfaces
Pristine audio quality up to 24-bit/192kHz
Start your projects faster with Track Presets and Project Templates
Use ACID™-format loop library to create backing tracks
Includes real, playable instrument sounds: drums, bass, guitar, keys, orchestral, and more
Expand your studio with VST and DX synths and effects, and ReWire™ compatible applications including Project5™, Kinetic™, and Reason™
The Synth Rack provides a control center for all of your virtual instruments
MIDI Input Quantize corrects your MIDI performance as you record

Arrange & Edit
Edit Audio and MIDI from one central view
Edit and print music notation
Powerful non-destructive editing: fades and crossfades, multi-clip editing, slip editing, more
Organize your projects with Track Folders and Track Icons
Freeze instruments and effects to save CPU power
Zero in on edits and navigate quickly with Fast Zoom
Score soundtracks with video thumbnails and video window
Easy-to-use controls can be customized to suit your way of working

Mix & Share
Responsive mixing with a 32-bit floating point audio engine
Automate your mix on the fly with powerful automation tools
On-screen mixing console with integrated Sonitus:fx EQ on every track
Mix your tracks with professional effects including reverb, delay, dynamics, modulation effects, tape, amp simulation, and more
Use your keyboard or other MIDI control surfaces to control effects, instruments and your mix with ACT (Active Controller Technology)
Export your mix: WAV, ACID-format WAV, AVI, MIDI, MP3 (30-day trial MP3 Encoder included), Windows Media Audio (WMA), and Windows Media Video (WMV)
Upload your songs to the Web and build your own song player for your website, MySpace page and more with Cakewalk Publisher
Burn your mix directly to CD


1. Easy as Plug-n-Play

Recording any instrument is easy. Just plug in, check your levels, and hit record. Confidence Recording will draw the audio on screen as you record so you know you're getting the take. Hear internal effects on input, even while you record. If you need help getting a project started, use Track Presets for access to hundreds of sounds that will help ignite your creativity. Once you have recorded your tracks, you can visually arrange, edit, and mix your music with point-and-click ease—all in one view.


2. Create Backing Tracks Fast

Create backing tracks in a matter of seconds. Find the perfect loop or sample in DropZone or the Loop Explorer, then click and drag it to start building your arrangement. You can chop up your beats, add dynamics, and create remixes with just a few clicks of the mouse. The enhanced Loop Construction View allows you to take control of your loops—tweak the pitch, pan, and gain of slices in any ACID™-format loop.


3. Edit with Powerful Tools

Edit and arrange audio and MIDI together in one view with simple tools that give powerful results. Zoom in and make pinpoint edits to your project. Change the tempo and pitch; normalize or reverse the audio; preview, move, extend, or cut certain sections; add track envelopes. Use many of the same powerful features found in SONAR Producer Edition including multi-clip edits, loop-rolling, fade drawing, and more. And with SONAR Home Studio 6 you can feel free to experiment with non-destructive editing and unlimited undo/redo.


4. Mix & Share Your Music

Mixing in SONAR Home Studio 6 is easy with Track Icons—no more guessing which track contains guitar or which track has the vocals. Mute, Solo, Pan, and change the Gain all in one view to achieve the best mix. Add effects to your mix, and A/B them with just a click of a button. Professional metering provides the visual feedback you need for better real-time mixing. Mix in a more traditional studio console view or use your own control surface hardware to get the feel of real knobs and faders.

Audio & MIDI Recording

Everything is laid out in an intuitive interface that lets you quickly record, edit, arrange, and mix your music. Record guitars, keyboards, vocals, live turntable scratches, CD samples, or any other sound. Even correct timing of MIDI performances while you play with Input Quantize. SONAR Home Studio puts it all together seamlessly.

Enhanced Synth Rack

Use the new Synth Rack to control the VSTi and DXi instruments in your project from one easy to manage window. Find instruments quickly with customizable Synth Icons and display customized controls for each instrument, putting the most needed controls right at your fingertips. Get more synth sounds by patching Project5™, Kinetic™, Reason™, ReBirth™, and other ReWire compatible synths.

Instruments

SONAR Home Studio 6 includes four new instruments with thousands of sounds ranging from drums, bass, and guitar to keys, horns, and strings. Spark your creativity and layer your tracks using these new instruments:

DropZone Drag-n-Drop Sampler—Perfect for creating remixes or for building the perfect hook for your song. Includes real instrument sounds, drums, vocals, REX-format loops, and more.

Roland GrooveSynth—Get sounds from the classic Roland synths and beat boxes that shaped hip hop and electronica.

TTS-1 GM2 synth—A high quality, multitimbral, multi-out GM2 synthesizer with a Roland® synth engine to generate amazing, expressive sounds. Includes high quality reverb, chorus, delay, and EQ

Square 1—An easy-to-use vintage analog synthesizer, oriented to the serious music enthusiast. High quality sound with a warm and easy layout, perfect to learn synth programming.

Remixes

Just drag and drop a sample into DropZone, and make it part of your beat. Perfect for creating remixes or for building the perfect hook for your song. Includes real instrument sounds, drums, vocals, REX-format loops, and more. You can also preview ACID™-format loops in the tempo and key of your song, and quickly drag them into your project to create layers of tracks.

Video Soundtracks

SONAR Home Studio provides a fast and effective way to create, edit, and dub soundtracks for digital video files. Just use SONAR Home Studio to import and sync any Windows AVI or MPEG video. With video thumbnails and easy video export, you can quickly score, edit, and share soundtracks and sound effects for band videos or home movies.

Music Notation

SONAR Home Studio integrates notation tools that allow you to create and print your own musical scores. Record and transcribe performances using any MIDI instrument, or just point and click to edit notes directly on the staff. Print up to 24 staves per page, with chord charts and symbols, lyrics, dynamic markings, and more.



Effects

Make your tracks shine with studio-quality effects. SONAR Home Studio 6 has you covered with 10 new effects that can be used to mix your tracks or can be used while you record, in real-time. Effects include:

Sonitus:fx EQ integrated into every track
Alias Factor
Tempo sync modulation filter
Tempo sync delay
High frequency exciter
Tempo syncing classic phaser with feedback
Studio reverb
Multi-voice chorus/flanger
2-band parametric EQ
Compressor/gate


Active Controller Technology

Using your favorite MIDI controller or control surface has never been easier with new Active Controller Technology (ACT). Easily control and automate effects, instruments, and your mix from MIDI controllers by automatically remapping controls to whatever has the focus. It includes templates for some of the most popular MIDI controllers and control surfaces on the market today.

System Requirements

Windows XP
Windows XP/Vista/Vista x64*

Processor Speed
Intel® Pentium® 4 1.3 GHz, or AMD™ Athlon XP 1500+ or higher
Intel® Pentium® 4 2.8 GHz [EM64T], or AMD™ Athlon 64 2800+or higher

RAM
256 MB
1 GB or higher

Graphics (resolution, color depth) 1024 x 768, 16-bit color 1280 x 960, 32-bit color
Hard Disk Space
100 MB for core program
2 GB for program and content

Hard Disk Type Any EIDE/Ultra DMA (7200 RPM) or SATA
MIDI Interface** Windows-compatible Windows-compatible
Audio Interface*** Windows-compatible WDM- or ASIO-compatible, including WaveRT for Vista
Optical Drive DVD-ROM, DVD+/-R, or DVD+/-RW for installation, CD-R or CD-RW capability required for CD audio disc burning
Web Server Access**** Available web server space with FTP access priviledges

* Required to run 64-bit edition of SONAR 6 Home Studio
** Required to connect to external MIDI devices
*** Required for audio playback. See www.cakewalk.com/PCresource/ for a complete list of recommended audio devices
**** Cakewalk Publisher requires you to have available web server space with FTP access privileges. An internet connection is required for music uploading. A broadband connection is recommended

Note: SONAR does not support Windows 95, 98, ME, 2000, or NT. QuickTime support requires QuickTime 6 or higher.