yeah, but if the "customise right-click menu" still existed, it's a win-win ;-)

 
Exactly!  Customisability is a huge selling point for applications. Even games these days allow heavy customisation, in the form of options, key mapping, and mods. If game studios can do it, then why can't Cakewalk?  They did it for 8.5.3, so unless those programmers no longer work for them (perhaps all the nerdy 8.5.3 programmers were replaced with sexy X1 programmer/designers), it shouldn't be hard.
 
Not everyone bothers to customise applications (just like not everyone is willing to write CAL scripts).  However, there are some of us who routinely customise the programs we use frequently, and we would greatly appreciate the ability to modify UI of Sonar to more efficiently suit our needs. 

Base 57
Feature requests would be a contender for slowest way to rename a clip

I don't know - the OP says he has suffered with the X series for 5 years. If he put in a FR today - we can all meet back here in 5 years to see.

8.5.3 is a dead end. CAL is still functional but not supported and not guaranteed to work forever. The OP doesn't like the way Sonar has developed and that's fine. There are other options. Why not get Duckbar. It will allow you to create a customized button bar and do all sorts of UI hacking. Check it out. That's the best way forward.
 
If the OP wants change, it's waiting for him. Lots of solutions have been presented but he doesn't want them. What he seems to want is for Cakewalk to say that they've made a big mistake and will put things back to the way they were. It's never going to happen.

Tripecac

it seems to me that the most reasonable approach is to have fully customizable menus and toolbars; to the point of being able to create complete toolbars that can be instantiated via hotkeys and/or context.

 
Yeah.  This is what I've been whining/squeaking/spamming about since X1: bring back the UI customisability that we had in 8.5.3.

 
I already explained why this is not as simple as you think, so in the spirit of this thread, I'll repeat it: in the X series, to reduce menu clutter, functions specific to specific views have function-sensitive menus - e.g., track view has mini-menus that are specific to track view. That way you do not have to deal with commands for, say, Console view while concentrating on track view. The bottom line is that menu items are no longer restricted solely to the menu bar, and as a software developer, I'm sure you understand that if the underlying structure behind a functionality has been altered extensively, you can't just paste a band-aid from how the functionality used to be over it. 
 
If you had been paying attention to the information on planned updates, you would have seen that "The future of workspace customization is coming to SONAR this fall, with innovative options that let you adapt SONAR to your unique needs and workflow." This is an overhaul of customization that is built on a new foundation, which takes time to implement.
 
So, you can complain that SONAR doesn't do exactly what you want to do and demand a solution that will distract the company from doing a proper job on an overhaul that takes into account the underlying structural changes, or you can be patient and let Cakewalk pursue its goal of proper workspace customization. It's obvious from what Cakewalk says about Workspaces they have indeed paid attention to the people who want more customization, so I don't know why there's a hue and cry about Cakewalk not listening. 
 
However as a touch screen user, I must say it has been worth reading this thread just to find out about Shift+I.
 
Let's face it: Like it or not, the music business rides on the coattails of consumer electronics, and is at its mercy. Desktop sales continue to fall, including the Mac, and are projected to continue falling. Laptops are falling as well. Shipment of touch screens continues to grow at a rapid rate, and while in some ways touch at present may seem like a novelty, the technology is young and exploitation of it will become more sophisticated in the future (you need look no further than GeoShred for a tantalizing glimpse of that future). Right-click is not a growth industry; SONAR is a tiny subset of the world of computers. Better to re-design customization that will be relevant in the future rather than try to prolong a past whose relevance is diminishing more with every passing quarter.

"If your reference was to me and - that I couldn't hear the squeaky wheel"
 
No. Very sorry. I meant  I couldn't hear the wheel (must learn not to mix metaphors).
After years of Plexi's and far too much PA for a given room, It's a wonder I can hear at all.
 
Cheers
(edit) the italic I looked like a slash

I can't believe this is still going..
 
Perhaps the quickest way for you would be:-
 
1) Press Shift + F (fit project to screen) - [1 or 2 / 1 + 2 key presses - I forget how you're counting these]
2) Write the new bloody names on the monitor with a felt tip pen over the top of the clips [Not sure how to count this, perhaps 1 SCRAWL]
 
TOTAL: No clicks, 1 or 2 (perhaps 1+2) keypresses, 1 scrawl
 
So much more efficient than 8.5.3
 
HTH
 
 
edited for typo - [3 keypresses]

Tripecac
 
4) add back the option to open note properties by right clicking (instead of double-clicking)

Why would you wanna do that? Just coz you love it that way? Or are you of the idea that you may save some calories via right clicking than double clicking?

Two items I believe are FRs and would solve this (among many others) are 1) hotkey exposure to all internal functionality/calls (this would resolve most items for folks) and 2) macro capability within the application (with edit capability on those macros for pause points where data entry is desired). To add the icing on the cake, allowing for hot-key layouts to be swapped (similar to screensets) would allow for a much more detailed layout based on current workflow step (tracking, mixing, etc.), as well as macro assignment to hot-keys without running out of physical keyboard keys.
 
Realize, however, that although this sounds simplistic on paper, enabling macros to anticipate "user errors" and account for exception handling is not a trivial task.

Bristol_Jonesey

3) add back the option to show ALL note velocities if NO notes are selected (to match both the documentation, and the pre-Platinum behaviour)

 
No thanks, I'm happy with it as it is now.

4) add back the option to open note properties by right clicking (instead of double-clicking)

 
No thanks, right click is currently reserved for other functions, I for one do not want this changed

5) add back the option to adjust timing and transposition in each track itself (not the inspector), so that you can see them for all tracks at once

 
You need to acquaint yourself with the Inline PRV which can do all this and more

On these points, the way the X series does it is better than the old way.
 
Dan

Now you just sound silly.

Tripecac
 
Right click properties?  No thank you.  Gay marriage?  No thank you.  Gun control?  No thank you.  God Bless the American status quo!  Skylight uber alles.  Heil!
 

Had to happen -  Godwins Law kicks in!
Tripecac unhinged. *backs away slowly*

Not to add fuel to the fire but touch can use right click. To right click using touch you tap with two fingers. I use touch a lot but only on my tablet. It also makes sense to have touch with a small light weight tablet. Not so much with vertical monitors just out of reach. 
 
Touch is cool. It does need one to learn a new way to work though. In some ways and because I am so used to a mouse I also have a bluretooth to go with my tablet. It feels like a cheat but it does work. LOL
 
Perhaps a customizable optional configurational setup for Sonar that can be optimized for mouse, keyboard and touch at the users whim.  By then we may have neural implants too.
 
 

John
Not to add fuel to the fire but touch can use right click. To right click using touch you tap with two fingers. I use touch a lot but only on my tablet. It also makes sense to have touch with a small light weight tablet. Not so much with vertical monitors just out of reach. 
 
Touch is cool. It does need one to learn a new way to work though. In some ways and because I am so used to a mouse I also have a bluretooth to go with my tablet. It feels like a cheat but it does work. LOL
 

John - What tablet? 
I am using a 27" 10 point multi-touch monitor with SONAR for 1 of my 2 displays. (The other display above it is same size, non-touch)
The windows 10 convention for right click is press and hold - 
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-ca/windows7/using-touch-gestures
Alternative is a "Press and tap" (Hold the item then quickly tap second finger)
To be honest, I don't know how you could possibly get two fingers close enough to something like the touch target on say a track fader. Outside of SONAR, a touch "right click" (touch and hold then release) works perfectly (here), on items no larger than a fader cap on my display. I use right click (Press and hold) for several applications and it works everywhere else - including in applications that don't promote themselves as "touch capable". Not in SONAR though (here) - I left-press on a fader to drag it up or down, but if I want to do something with that same fader (like "Group", for example, or automate) that I would normally do with a mouse right click, there is no equivalent touch option (here, at least) - I instead have to right click with the mouse.
So the question isn't whether "touch can use right click" - I know it can, and I use it - just not in SONAR.
I am curious what tablet you are using and whether you are actually using it for right-click of something reasonably small - like say - a fader cap, in SONAR. 

jps
Fastest way for me is " copy track name to clip name" found in tracks menu in track
view .

Sorry to bring this thread back from dead, but just had to say after re-reading it I noticed this nugget I missed previously . . . didn't know this way of re-naming a clip existed . . . it's one of those added features Cakewalk added, but who knows which version they added this ? . . . guess it doesn't matter, just glad it exists . . . thank you JPS for pointing this out, gotta' love the forum for this.