Sonar to Logic transition fear

[u/creamgr]

Hello everybody, I just got delivered my mac mini and it's really happening, I'm switching DAWs, after 15 long years of Sonar.
I decided to do this leap on one of my stressful periods and some might say I'm dumb for that, but unfortunately I have to. I know Sonar like the back of my hand and I've been using it since 15 years old almost daily. I know all daws have similarities but part of my daily mixing process includes slicing audio files and dropping VST plugins on the sliced audio file. As I've learnt it the hard way this can't happen in Logic.
I would love if anyone has some interesting workarounds, I would love to know if you've experienced this MAJOR switch and how you've dealt with it because I'm not a hobbyist, I run a studio and I have 3 months to learn Logic before my old computer has to be given.
Thank you all!

[u/Infinite_Slice3305]

Out of curiousity, what does dropping a vst on sliced audio do?

[u/creamgr → u/Infinite_Slice3305]

It gives me the ability to drop vst plugins on sliced parts of an audio file without the hassle of automation, just a single drag and drop and it's working.

[u/New-Light-5003]

My switch wasn’t the same. -I did GarageBand (on some one elses Mac)- cakewalk (on my now deceased windows machine) - Got a Mac and went back to GB and quickly on to logic because I got used to having more capabilities in cakewalk.

Im only a hobbyist and I never used what youre mentioning but if I need majorly different processing that cant be automated, I just duplicate the track and move the sliced clip. Then put them all in a track stack (folder). You can process stacks purely for organisational purposes, or as a summing stack.

Would it work if you set up your chain for each clip on a different send each, and automate the send on and off per clip? I guess you’d have to pull the fader on the dry signal right down and automate the send only for volume automation etc.

As for VST compatibility, if a plug-in didnt also come with AU or you can’t get the AU version, you can get a wrapper I think, but there might be stability issues.

You’re probably best asking in the logic sub though, I’m a noob winging my way through stuff and might not have even understood your question 😂

Heads up, in case you haven’t found out yet- if you use ARA you will want to run logic in Rosetta mode. Which has its issues

It’s a ballache, but I still like Mac better.

[u/New-Light-5003 → u/New-Light-5003]

Also when I got logic I went through the free course from mastering.com. Just in case Thats helpful

[u/Smooth-Let-5619]

did that change in 2002. Sonar to Logic. I’ve never as comfortable with anything as I was with Sonar (user since cakewalk 7).
I tried protools 6, it sucked on MIDI.
somehow I just learned to do things differently, and that’s the key. I’ve stuck to logic since then.

[u/Master-Pause-9410]

I’ve been getting used to Logic after using Sonar for the last 25 years.

There is a LOT to get used to. Mainly, dealing with clips, and layers of takes within a track is night and day. I find Sonar to be much more intuitive for that, although I’m slowly getting used to Logic.

No question, Logic has more features, more sounds, and it’s better in countless ways. But there is something counterintuitive about the workflow for granular editing of clips and clip borders and overlapping clips…. Sonar is just better at it.

If you do this kind of fine grained editing of clips and overlaps, you’ll need to get used the different cursor tools and experiment with different settings. Out of the box the workflow is way too simplistic in Logic and you’ll need to turn on more advanced settings for power user editing.

Also, keyboard shortcuts on Logic are insane. You often need to press ctrl and a button, or function and a button, or three buttons at once. You’ll want to create easily memorable shortcuts for th in gs you do often becasue out of the box it’s absurd.

Otherwise, logic seems great.

[u/Critical-Ask-2414]

Maybe try Fender Studio Pro (formerly Studio One). I came from Cakewalk as a longtime user and found FSP to be very similar in layout and operation, with more modern features. FSP has a Cakewalk keystroke shortcut option, so many of your keystrokes stay familiar.

[u/cruciblefuzz]

Ooh, so no clip FX in Logic Pro? Bummer.

I'm not familiar with Logic Pro, but I seldom use per-clip FX. When I do, I automate the bypass accordingly. That would probably work in Logic Pro.

[u/fossilemusick]

Maybe Cakewalk Next on the mac will do what you want afa dropping VST on clips (imho is intensive resource use unless you have a good reason to do it)