The American Recovery and Reinvestment Bill (a.k.a. the economic porn-sounding “stimulus package”) hasn’t had that much press for its musician funding. Wait, that’s because there isn’t any, really. So there’s never been a better time for free, which is just how much this clinic tour will cost audio engineers interested in learning about Cakewalk’s SONAR V-Studio 100, and in some locations SONAR V-Studio 700. Taking place at retailers such as Best Buy and Guitar Center, Cakewalk’s events are happening through September (click here for schedule) and promote these digital-music-production systems:

The highly compact, portable SONAR V-Studio 100 offers eight in + mix/six out including two XLR phantom-powered mic preamps, two 1/4-inch TRS inputs and a Hi-Z 1/4-inch guitar input. The mixer/MIDI interface supports 24-bit/96-kHz quality, several reverbs and compressors, and an SD WAV recorder. It also tethers to a MAC/PC by USB 2.0 for use of the motorized, touch-sensitive faders, rotary encoders, and additional transport controls with any DAW through Mackie Control, while offering advanced control of the SONAR VS DAW and effects/instruments Production Pack.

The SONAR V-Studio 700, meanwhile, includes the VS-700R I/O, the Roland Fantom VS synth, and the instruments Rapture and Dimension Pro. This control surface offers a per-channel LCD display, EQ/Send/ACT section, rotary encoders/switches, and motorized touch-sensitive faders plus lighted buttons, full transport control, jog/shuttle, etc., audio monitor controls, dual headphone output, and DV-7/V-Link compatibility, among other features. The I/O is 21/30 (19/24 simultaneous), eight phantom-powered TRS/XLR inputs, eight mic preamps, 24-bit/192-kHz A/D converters, per channel DSP, 14 analog outputs, ADAT I/O, digital I/O (AES/EBU, coaxial), a USB 2.0 connection, MIDI In/Out with Wordclock Sync, and the ability to double capacity. The Fantom VS has 1400 patches, low latency, and low-CPU performance, a VSTi plug-in and synth editor for routing within SONAR, plus expansion boards.