Sonar 3 features several changes and upgrades when compared to its predecessors. Perhaps the biggest is the improved mixing interface. The previous version of Sonar had a virtual mixing board that was very serviceable, if slightly inflexible. The new board allows the audio to be routed just about anywhere. New busses can easily be created to sum multiple audio channels. In other words, if you have six vocal tracks between your lead and backing vocals, and you'd like them all to have the same effects and use a single fader to alter their volume, they can be summed to their own buss by merely creating a new buss and then toggling each track's audio signal to point to it.

Beginning with Sonar 2, Cakewalk began shipping Cyclone with the program. Cyclone is a flexible and easy to use plug-in that allows for easy slicing and dicing of Acid-ized .wav files. So if you'd like to drop an extra bass drum hit into your drum loop, or cut out a high-hat swish, you can do so via Cyclone. Or just load up a bunch of drum hits, and play them via any MIDI-equipped synth.

In edition to the standard version of Sonar, Cakewalk has created what they call "a Producer Edition" of the program, which ships with, among other things, a virtual Lexicon digital reverb-the first plug-in ever created by Lexicon, a long-standing name in recording studio technology.

And speaking of plug-ins, a firm called Izotape has created mastering plug-ins that can be automated via Sonar. But Izotope is a separate addition, available separately (and will be the subject of its own Blogcritics review-coming soon!).

So What Does It Sound Like?

Take a listen to "Adrift", a tune I recorded earlier this month on Sonar 3. I played all the parts, recording into a Windows 2000-equipped PC in my den. The guitar lines were played on my Les Paul, recorded via Line6's GuitarPort USB interface. The bass line was played on a Fender Precision Bass, and the organ was a Reason sample played via Roland's guitar synth-to-USB interface. And the percussion and backing vocals were a combination of Acid loops, a few of which were run through Cyclone.