The right tools make all the difference in printed circuit board (PCB) design. From schematic capture to board layout, the software an engineering team uses directly influences design efficiency, quality, and time-to-market. That’s why Sonic Manufacturing relies on two of the industry’s most trusted platforms: Cadence Allegro and Altium Designer.
With these tools, our engineers can move seamlessly from schematic to prototype, delivering top-tier quality while maintaining the speed needed to enhance existing products or bring new ones to market quickly.
If you’re considering partnering with Sonic, it’s helpful to understand how our development process works. Below, we’ll explore why tool selection matters, what features we prioritize, and how our use of Cadence Allegro and Altium allows us to create PCB designs that match your project’s complexity, requirements, and goals.
Why Tool Selection Matters
PCB design isn’t one-size-fits-all. The needs of a consumer electronics startup differ significantly from those of a medical device manufacturer or an aerospace contractor, which is why selecting the right design software is so important. Different tools offer unique capabilities, and choosing the right one can make the difference between a smooth design process and costly setbacks.
When choosing software, Sonic looks at streamlining the transition from schematic to prototype, helping our engineers move more efficiently through critical development stages. The right software also minimizes errors by using design rule checks and intelligent automation to catch issues early, reducing the risk of delays once boards reach manufacturing.
Equally important, tool selection improves collaboration between engineering and manufacturing teams by ensuring everyone is working within the same reliable framework. This creates fewer bottlenecks, shorter development cycles, and lower overall costs. In short, the right tool helps get products to market faster, without sacrificing performance or reliability.
Cadence Allegro: Power for Complex, High-End Designs
At Sonic, Cadence Allegro is often the tool of choice for large-scale, highly complex projects. Its advanced routing capabilities allow it to handle dense, high-speed designs, while built-in signal integrity and power analysis ensure reliable performance in demanding applications such as aerospace, defense, and telecommunications.
Allegro is also highly scalable, making it an excellent fit for enterprise-level projects that require collaboration across large engineering teams. With its robust verification tools, potential issues can be identified early, saving time and resources during prototyping and manufacturing.
Altium Designer: Flexibility and Efficiency for Rapid Prototyping
Altium Designer excels in environments where speed, flexibility, and usability are top priorities. At Sonic, we rely on this platform for its seamless schematic-to-layout integration, which simplifies the design process and significantly reduces transition time. Its strengths in rapid prototyping make it an excellent choice for quick-turn projects where efficiency is critical.
Beyond speed, Altium also offers a highly user-friendly interface and advanced 3D visualization tools, allowing our engineers to view the board in context and quickly identify potential mechanical conflicts. These features allow us to move from concept to prototype with confidence and precision, helping our clients bring products to market faster.
Why Sonic Uses Both
Sonic Manufacturing recognizes that no single tool fits every project. That’s why we leverage both Cadence Allegro and Altium Designer depending on our clients’ needs. For complex, high-speed boards that demand advanced analysis, Allegro is often the right choice. For flexible, quick-turn prototypes and fast-moving consumer products, Altium provides the speed and usability required to stay competitive.
Our engineers are fluent in both platforms, allowing us to adapt to our clients’ preferred tools or recommend the best fit for each project. This dual expertise ensures we deliver exceptional quality, faster turnaround times, and optimized designs, whether we’re enhancing an existing product or helping launch a brand-new one.
Board Layout Engineering
In PCB design, tool selection is more than a technical decision—it’s a strategic one. By using tools like Cadence Allegro and Altium Designer, we can deliver the best of both worlds: the power to tackle complex, enterprise-level designs and the agility to move quickly from concept to prototype.
The right tools, combined with the right expertise, mean products get to market faster, perform better, and stand out in today’s competitive landscape. To get in touch with us or request your free quote, contact us today at 510-826-5406.