FYI - I'm Downgrading from Sonar X1 back to Sonar 7

grumbleweed4162


I'm a Reason (and Record) user at heart so I've always started a track with Reason and then would use Sonar for my audio stuff and plug-ins, and then to master the track.  
I have to say that these days I'm tending to boot up Sonar first. This may not mean much to some but it is a fundamental change in my way of working and says a lot about how X1 works (for me).  
I won't drop Reason but I just wanted to express my appreciation for how Sonar has turned out. 

mdbatchelor


 That said, I don't ever mind changing my way of doing things if, in the long run, the change will make me faster or improve things for me. However, some changes cannot be defended in my opinion. Like shortening patch and bank names from something readable to something unintelligible. Like the cursor that used to "know" what a click meant now not having a clue. Like burying things like removing menu items that were actually useful and hiding them underneath a series of clicks that aren't intuitive.

mdbatchelor



I take your point that sometimes, a UI has to be reinvented. I appreciate your position too Grumbleweed - but at this point, I suspect you're not using Sonar in the way that I use it. If you were recording and creating Midi, using the Piano view to edit and create midi tracks for things like drum scores, you'd be as frustrated by the schizoid cursor too.

Mick Moreau

  So I use the manuals, online tutorials, the Garrigus books

mdbatchelor


I've been using Sonar since 1.x, and I'm writing here to express my complete displeasure with Sonar X1 Studio. I was really looking forward to some very cool features, and instead, I find Sonar X1 to have made a quantum leap backward in usability. Patches and banks end up with unintelligible names, I'm constantly fighting with the cursor to make it do what it's always done naturally in the past, and I'm continuously having to go multiple levels deep for menus that were easily located before. I'm a software engineer by trade (my day job) and I work with Sonar on the weekends for the pleasure of arranging and orchestrating music. After giving this a go for more than three weekends, I'm finished. I wish I had a way to get my $$ back. Be warned all you potential upgraders, be warned. Sonar X1 is a colossal failure when it comes to usability - something I value in a DAW. Thanks for your time.

mdbatchelor


 Imagine you've been buying a new Toyota Corolla every year or so for the last 12 years. Imagine you just got your latest new and shiny Corolla, but inexplicably, Toyota put the parking break in the glove box, the turn signal indicator under the passenger seat, and the windshield wipers in the trunk.

Robomusic


I am a new Sonar, user, but an old Cakewalk fan. I started with Cakewalk Home studio 3.0, a floppy disk midi program. It was cool, and fun, but i found other ways to finish stuff. Then i bought Cakewalk Music creator 1.0, and learned that program, liked it, but it lacked any real good synths and had a few bugs, i bought MC 2003, and that was a bit better, and i bought a VSTi wrapper and was off to the races. Later bought MC 3, then 5. Both were cool programs, but truth told i got far more work done on a more obscure program called Multitrackstudio. Still have that, and it is solid, stable, and easy.

I was going to buy MC 6 since it has the basic look of X1, but for $50 more i could buy Essentials. While I am just starting to wrap my head around the differences, i have to say so far it is a sweet ride. I have done several head to head mix downs with Reaper 4.02, (which i also have a license for) and so far Sonar has been just a tad better. The mix was just a bit easier to tame, and i have not had a crash yet, while i had one with Reaper that lost the project for me.

The jury is still out, on the big picture, as I could upgrade MTS to the latest version, I can use Reaper, or use Sonar X1, or Use my RealBand from PG music. But either way i have a full tool box of toys to play with. If X1 keeps ticking like it has so far, I will upgrade to Producer some day and call it a day. Maybe on the Release of X2 or 3?!?!

What the heck is this guy rambling about here, some are wondering.

Well I am illustrating the key point here. They are all just tools to make music, use the one you like, and get happy with it, or use something else, we all have a ton of choices. If someone wants to go back to version 7 cool, if that what works for you. It's not big deal.

If someone hates the GUI, or the feel of X1 cool pick a software that you like and make music.

I get that the reason folks post there dissatisfaction is because the paid money for something and it is not what they wanted, needed, or expected. But hey that is life, nothing is perfect.

The world needs more music and less fighting, and fussing. So make us some!

bitflipper


I don't kn
what the b
is with the
fx bin.



You just hav
remember
the compres
is #3