Single Biggest Improvement

Now that I have test driven the new SONAR, I can't say how great it is to not have to hit 7 mouse clicks and  movements to see all or my sends or inserts in a track.... wonderful dynamic use of the screen real estate and it probably will prolong the usefulness of my right wrist until it succumbs to the route of carpal tunnel.
 
THANKS
 
Jim

Control Bar is my fave at the moment. I could never see everything I wanted to see, even with two monitors. I think this will save me lots of hours in the months ahead.

You are going to make me check out the control bar thingy... I read about it but wasn't sure what it would do for me.... sounds like I need to evaluate.
 
Again, Craig, thanks for the input.
 
Jim

Anderton
The Control Bar is FANTASTIC. It basically puts everything you want at your fingertips at all times. You can scale it for a laptop or multi-monitor setup. It's not as sexy as something like Mix Recall or VocalSync, but in terms of being something that affects you every time you use SONAR, it's a huge step forward. They completely re-thought it from the ground up but kept the familiar packaging so it wouldn't require familiarization.
 
I think you'll find (as I did) that will take you a while to set it up just the way you want, but after that, you won't change it. That's even better in terms of your muscle memory going to the right places.

Big ole +100, Craig.   It was my favorite new thing out of the gate today.  That may change over time as "real" work is done, but from a UI + functionality perspective it really is a great piece of work.

As mentioned elsewhere, the Stackable FX is a real boon, as is the Control Bar.
 
Being able to collapse all the Modules I don't use that often, but being able to mouse over to view the controls is quite a neat idea. Maybe better than my previous suggestion of having the Control Bar horizontally scrollable.
 

 
And the Custom Module is an absolute joy. I've been messing about this afternoon with a few mixes while updating my keyboard shortcuts and colours etc, and realising just how much I've missed a few of the buttons from 8.5.
 
Although through X1,2 and 3 I've 'improvised' using keyboard shortcuts (even going to trouble of setting up a lot of my most used functions to require only a single key stroke), just having a few of my most used features a single click away is back like it used to be. Here's how it's looking at the moment:
 

 
It would be nice to have more buttons, or the ability to load more than one Custom Module onto the Bar, but what we have for the time being is pretty cool.
 
Mix Recall is a great idea - it's completely intuitive and easy to use, and if you want to get really sophisticated in how it works, there are a raft of options that can be set to be remembered and recalled:
 

 
Last but not least, I'm pleasantly surprised by how good the ReMatrix Solo convolution reverb Pro-Channel Module is. Some well thought out presets and a fair few adjustable parameters:
 

 
Incidentally, does anyone know if the Rematrix is also supplied as a VST with Platinum? I've done a fresh scan but it doesn't appear in the Plug-in Manager, so I'm guessing not.

I may not have explored the options yet, but I can right-click on the Control Bar and set the different modules as I like.  Maybe it's included already, but I haven't figured the following out yet.  I would think it would be great if clicking on the sidebar of the collapsed modules would expand the module and vice versa.  I know I can float over it and it will drop down.  I was just thinking instead of needing to right-click to make a choice to expand it so it sticks while I need it, it would be nice to be able to just double click on side bar.  But I do like the Control Bar update as is.

Got to mess with the vocal sync today as well.  Easy as pie to use, and the results were perfect.  For anyone who double and triple tracks vox, this is a serious time saver.  I sometimes like a loose sync, and the one knob approach is so easy to get tight sync or loose.  I really like this tool!

Another vote here for the new control bar, a huge improvement.

I've just spent a few hours working on (well, messing around with) a few tracks I'm finalising and mastering for someone. Stereo pre-mixed stems consisting of voice and a single instrument that were (quite well) recorded and mixed on a hardware digital recorder but need some better eq, finishing touches and volume levelling. I gave the rematrix reverb a try out and it's excellent, both for adding ambience and as a gentle "glueing" reverb.

Yes, the PC still works like it did before. The new rack is also used in the FX Chain so it is possible to place new racks anywhere in the ProChannel but it is not possible to place the ProChannel in the track strip FX Rack.

The Mix Scenes and the dynamic sends and effects bin are huge productivity enhancers. The VocalSync is going to save major time doing ADR for video as well. 
 
It may be a little difficult to see the true leap forward that the new SONAR is for someone from the outside looking in, but when you dig in and start using the tools, little bells start going off and you begin to realize you just increased your productivity in fun and creative ways. The new SONAR is a huge win.

Is it my imagination, or does the program seem snappier?

FastBikerBoy

Maybe better than my previous suggestion of having the Control Bar horizontally scrollable.

 
You've got the best of both worlds Steve. The CB is horizontally scrollable now. As soon as it's set up so there are modules "Offscreen" it can be scrolled either with the mouse wheel, or scroll arrows, and "jump to" arrows that appear at the relevant end(s).
 
It really is neat. I have it collapsed vertically mainly and use the "pop-up" on mouse over for access. Love it...

 
LOL I hadn't even noticed that Karl
 
Now that is cool.