The Sonar is billed by the manufacturer as a "multitrack digital recording system" which means a sequencer on steroids. It can do both MIDI and loops, and it has a DXi plug-in architecture for expansion. It’s my "everyday" (or more precisely, every-session, I cannot do it every day) arranging and recording environment.

The Band-in-a-Box program compensates for my lack of counterpoint education and ability: it provides auto-accompanement for a given chord progression along with improvisation, harmonization, etc. I usually do not use the result directly, especially drum tracks. But sometimes it produces amazing riffs that I cut and paste unchanged.

The Project5 program is another crutch for the musically impaired - it helps to whip out cool grooves in no time at all. Whatever its shortcomings are - and there are plenty - it is much more fun than any other software in my library. I start it when I have a writers block and this toy usually unstucks me.

The Pentagon I from rgcAudio is an analog modeling DXi software synth that plugs into the Sonar. It has plenty of cool sounds and every knob on the picture has a double function. Unfortunately it eats up a lot of CPU cycles, but it sounds great.

The z3ta+ from rgcAudio is, probably, one of the most potent software synths available. It developed a cult-like following and I am admitting to be a member of this cult. If you are uncertain, that you can write an electronic music, but are willing to try, get this piece of software first. Granted, it will not sound like you - it sounds like its creator René Ceballos, but it will show what is possible!

The DimensionPro from the same guys (i.e., René Ceballos and Cakewalk, whch acquired rgcAudio and René) is another René’s masterpiece! It somewhat less convenient than, say, z3ta+, but its sounds are really, really deep.