Protools vs Sonar or reaper

[Diccer]

Sonar is great, it uses this thing called Midi, and allows you to use a plug in language called VST.. amazing

[john5193]

I use Reaper 4.0 and Sonar X1 Producer. I'm actually newer to PT and prefer it hands down over the other two. It is more intuitive and the elastic audio preservation is handled much better in PT. If you are VST and MIDI heavy then use one of the other daws and bounce into PT for the final mix and master. It's what I do.

[matthias.matthias]

Reaper is truly amazing in what it allows you to do with it. I found the learning curve a bit steep though and with some basic functionality I like the workflow in Pro Tools better. But definitely checking out.

Sonar is what I originally used before I changed to Nuendo and now Pro Tools + Reaper. It's a fine program too, but especially working for video seemed a bit limited and clumsy to me.

[spenner]

Prefers Pro Tools, +5.

Switched to Reaper or Sonar, 0.

Let me add another +1 for PT. I have Reaper and used Sonar extensively with an online production course. Also Cubase was my first DAW, then I learned Logic and operate them both well. Knowing how they all work, and what they offer, I prefer PT.

This is why trying Reaper and Sonar was suggested. Simply reading comments on the PT forum will not help your decision. Matter of fact, if you ask the same question on the Reaper or Sonar forum you'll get complete opposite answers. You may find that you absolutely love Sonar or Reaper (or not) once you try them.

[dccarson]

I have used Sonar (even back when it was Cakewalk). I now use Nuendo and PT9. I still have Sonar 8.5 I also have logic, live, Reason 5, FL, Acid....I can go on. But, I also have a fantom x, a Roland MV-8000 and Jv-1080, Akai MPC3000 ans S2000, Korg Triton, Emu E-64 and more. THEN, I have Komplete, Sampletank, oh heck, too many plugins and softsynths to list. Wont even get into the guitars or other instruments.

Here is the point. All those things are tools. Some of those tools list are almost 20 years old, some a day old (just got the slate VCC for 1/2 off on cyber monday). But these days, the marketing behind these companies make us think we have to have this or that as well as our need to feel like we are a step above (or at least on par) with everyone else. And protools is a clique within a clique. PTHD vs PTHDN vs PTN vs PTMP with everyone wanting to be PTHD and some have sold there kidney to get it, lol!!

The reality is that the craftsman is the master, not the tool. Pyramids werent made with caterpillar tractors nor was Big ben crafter by black and decker. PT10 is more than enough. So is Sonar. So is reaper. One thing I can say about protools is it has the best support community if you have a problem. It also has more training videos and books created for it. That is a huge plus to someone starting out.

If I were to give advice to anyone is to first, you need to know if this is a calling or just something you like to do. Are you good at it? do you have potential? Are you average? If its just for fun, post another topic asking the question what you need to get to make music. If you think you have the goods, then get something you can grow into and I would lean towards a protools rig for compatability and support. I would play with a demo of other software when you can. The best thing you can do is learn the craft of creating music and have fun doing it. If you do that, no matter what you have you will be fine.

[Ant B]

Make a list of features you want that you don't currently have.

Make a list of DAWs that have those features.

Compare the DAWs to each other on paper to see what you'd lose by say switching to Reaper as your primary vs PT

Once your list is narrowed demo the winner and see if you actually are comfortable using it.

[JayNocturn]

It also depends on what you are using the program for.

Reason is great, however it doesnt allow for 3rd party plug ins. It is the most stable audio program I have ever used (I've tried logic, PT HD and non HD, acid, cubase). To be fair, this isnt a comparison of the latest versions of each mentioned.

Acid isnt great... however for putting fades over chunks of audio, it is very quick.

[musicman691]

I use Sonar 8.3.1 (amongst other daws); it was my first one. The only reason I keep it around (along with it's requisite Windoze machine) is because of old projects I may need to revisit. Sonar X1 is a disaster that was flawed out of the starting gate and it still has flaws that need to be fixed. The only thing going for Sonar (any version) is it's 64 bit.

Sonar's advantages over PT - unlimited tracks, no worries about latency compensation, no proprietary plugins and it's cheaper. Sonar's MIDI is second to none - as stable as a rock. Sonar's disadvantages re PT - Eucon still doesn't work right, especially in 64 bit. You're pretty much limited to MCU protocol control surfaces. And no Varispeed.

PT's advantages over Sonar - automation and TCE. Sonar has a program called Audiosnap that's supposed to come close to doing what PT does but it's been a disaster with people getting inconsistent results (and very often system crashes). PT runs on both Macs & Windoze computers.

[Dizzi45Z]

I was a die hard Sonar fan for years (from Pro Audio 9 to Sonar 8.5). I ran my business with Sonar for 1.5 years. Sonar has some really cool synthesizers and great features. When I switched to Pro Tools HD on a Mac, I did it with clenched teeth. I hated Macs at the time and I hated Pro Tools (I owned a Pro Tools 7.0 M-Powered version). But after about 1 month of really diving into Pro Tools HD, I was sold. Here are the reasons why I would not go back to Sonar...at least commercially.

1. Stability. Cakewalk releases very buggy upgrades. Really buggy. Pro Tools upgrades are not perfect, but I have yet to see an upgrade as buggy as some of Sonar's upgrades have been. The buggiest upgrade for Pro Tools ever was version 8.0 and that was still usable. It was common for me to upgrade and then have to revert because projects wouldn't even open. This is likely due to the extensive beta testing Digidesign/Avid does.

2. Seemless Autosave. Pro Tools is the only program I am aware of that has such a seemless autosave. I haven't checked out Reaper yet, but Sonar's audio engine would always stutter every time an autosave happened.

3. 3rd party support. 3rd parties like Waves did not support Sonar very well. I had a lot of Waves Plug-ins that had GUI problems, problems running with multiprocessors on and etc. Waves had very little priority fixing problems with Sonar since they were probably a small part of the market share. Waves plug-ins have always worked flawlessly in Pro Tools for me.

4. Features work in Pro Tools. This sounds dumb, but I can't tell you how many times I would be trying to use a deeper feature of Sonar and run into really buggy stuff. I was shocked the first time I used a deeper feature in Pro Tools and it worked just as expected. I didn't realize that all features, including deeper features were suppose to work without problems because they often didn't in Sonar.

5. I LOVE TDM/HD. Love it! I don't plan to run a native system for a long time. I don't believe the Pro Tools HD Native hype. I am a huge fan of tracking with plug-ins enabled and always knowing I have the power I need to track vocals, with plug-ins on a HUGE session. So this one isn't against Sonar, but in favor of having processing cards that reserve the power you need for the end of your project.

[WinTaper]

Dizzi45Z hits it on the head.

I've used Sonar extensively, have 8.53 installed on my Windoze machine. Its great for the player-producer but not so good for the engineer. And often features are buggy or unusable - much more than pro tools.

I basically keep it around for post-production editing of (lengthy) live performances so i can take advantage of its high-speed rendering.

I haven't used Sonar's latest version - X1 - so I cannot comment on that.

-Dan