Cakewalk's Sonar 4 Studio Edition is the most recent update to the digital audio workstation (DAW) and earns excellent marks, especially for DAW recognition of VST soft synths and effects, in addition to DXi. However, Sonar 4 Studio Edition may not be the best choice for taking audio from multiple sources and mixing long-form projects to picture. Sonar 4 Studio Edition has many useful features and an intuitive interface that makes it competitive in the high-quality DAW market and is recommended for musicians and audio-for-video professionals. Testers found installation to be straightforward on a dual Opteron machine, and establishing of connections between Sonar and a RME Fireface 800 interface was also easy. The DAW recognized all MIDI connections. An important advance in Sonar 4.0 is VST soft synths and effects, in addition to DXi versions that have always been supported. This ability is significant because not all VST instruments and effects are released in the DXI format. Users will have to load a MIDI and a audio track to play either a VST or DXi instrument. However, when output of several instruments was recorded into audio tracks and looped, testers had some problems. However, the quality of the recorded output was very good, and Cakewalk's technical support reported that the company had not been previously informed of the problems encountered. The effect package worked very well, and the console is easy to learn and use, allowing users to load as many channel inserts as possible, based on the power of the computer.