The best plug-in addition to X3 Producer is Melodyne Essential, the basic version of Melodyne Editor. As to plug-ins, Cakewalk has never been shy about adding more for each release, including third-party software. This is one of those little enhancements that can save a lot of time if you constantly add to your plug-in collection. SONAR X3 finally adds VST3 compatibility, and now automatically detects new plug-ins without re-scanning your entire collection.

Those were still available, of course, while X3 adopted my personal settings from X1 and X2 with minimum muss and fuss. The upgrade process went smoothly I simply installed X3 over the two earlier versions on my computer. Cakewalk has settled on a methodology for working and is tweaking, not overhauling, their baby.

And unlike the previous upgrades of SONAR X, the 'what's new' list doesn't read like a Russian novel and involve major changes in workflow. It certainly looks less intimating and cluttered to a newcomer, but is just as fast to edit with, once you learn where to find the function you need. The Skylight GUI of the X series appears more 21st century, moving about half of the tabs and buttons from the once overly festooned toolbar to the channel strip or the tracks themselves. X3 continues the refinement of Cakewalk's X Series, which was a major break from the original SONAR and its decidedly old-style Windows look. Then Cakewalk released the latest upgrade of their flagship product, SONAR X3.

I'm not sure exactly what that job is, but that is all very reassuring.

Gibson's CEO, Henry Juszkiewicz, is a long-time SONAR user himself and hired SONAR guru Craig Anderton as Chief Magic Officer of Gibson. So Cakewalk becomes Cakewalk Development, and SONAR will be published by TASCAM Professional Software. Having a guitar maker buy a DAW company is not as odd as it first seems, since Gibson also owns TASCAM, maker of interfaces and digital recording hardware. First, Gibson agreed to buy them from Roland. Cakewalk has been in the news a lot lately.

Melodyne for cakewalk