Eager to hear some opinions of X3 from X2 users

I've had X1 and X2 producer....i hate x2.   It's soooooo 'intuitive' that it's a major roadblock.  Too many options for viewing and less important things and many inconsistencies in it's day to day flow.  Sometimes my extra VST plugins show up sometimes they don't.  Lot's of small annoyances with it.
 
From what I've read so far it sounds like a welcome change with X3.....but of those i'm most interested in X2 user's opinions.
 
cheers,
Richard

and i wasn't trying to be sarcastic.  Just trying to bring together the title and what you are asking for.

If you truly hated X2 I don't know that X3 will change your mind, and since you weren't specific about what you didn't like in X2 who's to say? IMO X3 made substantial improvements in many area's and I find it nicer to work with, stability wise I really had no problems to speak of with X2 but X3 does feel smoother and I haven't as yet had a crash or hiccup.
 
You probably just need to wait for the demo and decide for yourself if it's better.
 
Dan

+1 to all the posts made.
 
I doubt you can find an X2 user who came out of the chute hating X2 more than me (http://forum.cakewalk.com/FindPost/2731387 ). I had an installation error that was such a fluke it was not funny (the part1.exe file was the correct byte size, but wrong MD5 hash). What this caused me was multiple crashes (both installing and running), and since X2 *did* install (at times), I initially had assumed it was a plug-in error. 3 months of "nothing" basically.... I knew if I tried to do any projects, they would crash, so walked away from X2. On a hunch, I came back at one point, found the issue, installed, and X2 was stable. That experience put an 8 months gap in my participation in this forum.
 
That said, when I installed X3, I was thrilled to see a lot of the forum feedback was included, the platform was stable on release, plug-ins are top notch, and the forum is active.
 
All of the X versions have the ability to tailor the skylight interface to what the user wishes to see, so some time must be spent by the user to learn and tailor this. There was a very wise response to a post long ago with someone complaining about this DAW and that DAW and they simply replied "Pick a DAW and learn it." In my (biased) opinion, X3 is a very capable platform, but there is learning required to understand and utilize it effectively to suit your needs. The reference guide is a searchable pdf, there are videos and tutorials all over, and this forum is loaded with very knowledgeable and helpful folks who will answer questions especially when the thread title and content are descriptive. This forum is actually an incredible community.
 
I have used CW products since 1998, and there is always more to learn. As you tailor your personal work flow and do things you become more proficient and productive. There is no substitute in your own investment in learning the tools you choose.
 
I am definitely impressed with X3, and I cannot even speak to all of the details it can do.
 

Like you I had lots of issues with X2, some repeatable some not. It seemed to have a mind of its own sometimes. Annoyingly enough it was almost workable. My short story: X1d worked extremely well, X2 not really, X3 has worked just as well as X1d  from the start. I think I've stumbled on 3-4 minor issues (not repeatable or easy workarounds) so far, one crash (using melodyne/region fx). I hope and actually believe reading the list all of those issues are fixed in X3c. The content and functionality of X3 given the price of the upgrade are great bordering on incredible in my opinion. But I suspect the bakers had spied on me as a template before making the package, it's an extremely close match to what my wishlist would have been.

no problem.  Just wanted to make sure I was in the demographic of those chiming in.  In my opinion, it seems more stable.  I have plugins that work that did not before.  The ARIA integration is amazing and very smooth, especially considering major integration changes tend to be very buggy initially.   Like Mystic, I thought the Nomad Factory plugins were just fluff but I find myself using them more and more.  The color enhancements were something  I did not care about..until i actually used it.  Big help on those large projects with lots of busses.  There are things that.  If you absolutely hated X2, i doubt this will convert you since much of the change is under the hood.  The bug fix list is lengthy but if those were not your particular issues, they are not likely to impress.  For me, I find sometimes issues that are not specifically listed have a way of clearing up issues that do concern me. Addictive drums is a major upgrade over Session Drummer 3 but i am glad they kept SD3 since it still can do a few things AD can't.  Overall i am very pleasded and sincerely think X3 is the best version of Sonar yet.  Still hoping the next patch addresses some issues they promised were coming , but for me they are minor things in the "would be nice to have category".