Take Lanes: X3e vs Platinum

Well based on your closing remark you'll probably disappointed ole Beeps bumbled in here but in general... no Take Lanes have not really changed in SPlat.
 
So...
 
1) There is actually a keybinding that'll pop open lanes instead of having to drag out the track pane to expose the lanes button (this kind of irks me as well). Sorry I don't know the exact binding but a quick search should bring it up.
 
2) No... and yeah this is something that has recently started bothering me as well. Ideally only one clip/lane should be playing at a time in one track BUT sometimes I want to try out multiple takes in unison to see if I have a good double take (like for rhythm guits) in a series of takes before moving the double into a new track. Not having that exclusive solo action though might cause more workflow problems so I'd prefer maybe an overide feature as opposed to complete abolishment of the way lane solo works now.
 
3) I think there have been some minor improvements here but the way I do this reliably is to simply create a new Take Lane (by clicking the + button on one of the other lanes) and drag whatever I want into the empty lane. Works flawlessly. Otherwise... yeah, unpredictable things can happen.
 
4) Nope. Layers be gone, yo. Don't think they're ever coming back at this point. I would like to see them as an extra option though just for those who want them. Don't think I'd use them again unless they were massively improved from the original layers scheme.
 
5) Not sure what you mean. On a track by track basis it is forced. Never tried doing it across tracks. There might be some obscure zooming option for that though.
 
6) Again, not sure what you mean. How do want things cleaned up vertically?
 
Cheers.

Thanks for the (disappointing) news. Sounds like an upgrade isn't necessary. I also just installed the Professional demo and don't see anything signifcantly better in terms of the things I hate about Sonar, so clearly they are casting after different markets than folks like me. 
 
(Editorial: I'm used to Cakewalk's touted upgrades that basically just add more stuff I'll never use "Now includes a limited version of Gnubiakamoo's XCD3Ed-500 Plug-ins!" Cakewalk: Fix what's broke, don't add more stuff that might also break!)
 
What I mean by the vertical zoom is I will make a bunch of audio takes, and since the take lanes are pretty narrow (vertically), I can't see the audio signal well enough in each take to be able to tell tracks that are obviously mistakes, or that are out of time with the others. When I screw up a take, I like to clap into the mic, so that the big audio spike caused by the clap makes it easy to find the mistake takes and delete them without having to listen through all of them. But when I can't see the signal I have to vertically zoom them. But I can only do this one at a time. Grrrrr.
 
In general, Sonar's handling of vertical space is abysmal. Sometime take a few minutes to notice how much time you spend scrolling up and down through tracks and takes. You can delete empty take lanes, but only if you manage to click in the right place in the track. Even then, they don't always delete. And you can't say "Combine takes together to conserve vertical space" by finding clips that don't overlap and getting them to share a take lane. Layers used to be great at that. Also, sometimes I want to close all take lanes and get a good look at my whole project, but I can't just say "Collapse everything AND hide all the take lanes". Or at least, I don't know how.
 
And what is a feature that should never have to even be built, but in Sonar's case is sorely needed, how about a feature that says "No matter what I do, DO NOT overwrite write anything. When you don't know, always assume I don't want to lose stuff I've already laid down. I mean, duhhh...
 

Beepster
 
2) No... and yeah this is something that has recently started bothering me as well. Ideally only one clip/lane should be playing at a time in one track BUT sometimes I want to try out multiple takes in unison to see if I have a good double take (like for rhythm guits) in a series of takes before moving the double into a new track. Not having that exclusive solo action though might cause more workflow problems so I'd prefer maybe an overide feature as opposed to complete abolishment of the way lane solo works now.
 

 
I can, in both X3e, and Hopkinton, play multiple take lane clips at the same time easily. Just us the comping tool (i.e. smart tool),   press control and select multiple clips.  
 

Beepster
 
3) I think there have been some minor improvements here but the way I do this reliably is to simply create a new Take Lane (by clicking the + button on one of the other lanes) and drag whatever I want into the empty lane. Works flawlessly. Otherwise... yeah, unpredictable things can happen.
 

 
For me, the exact procedure is to use the Move tool, keep  CTRL held, select the clip you want to copy, drag it to the empty space, then release the mouse. Took me a while to stumble on that. Read it here somewhere. I'd been having a hell of a time with that. 
 

Beepster
 
5) Not sure what you mean. On a track by track basis it is forced. Never tried doing it across tracks. There might be some obscure zooming option for that though.
 
 

This is strange for me ... I'm puzzled that both you and the OP say this is how it works for you. For me, it's the opposite!  In both X3e and Hopkinton, I want to but *cannot* resize one take lane without resizing them all. In fact a super annoying additional behavior is that when resizing, it doesn't anchor the view to lane you are expanding, so that if, say, you want to enlarge the last take lane in a group of 10, by the time you finish the move, you have been whisked to the first of the 10 lanes. Disorienting as hell and bugs me no end, because I basically dwell in take lanes. Constantly have to reorient.   

lingyai

Beepster
 
3) I think there have been some minor improvements here but the way I do this reliably is to simply create a new Take Lane (by clicking the + button on one of the other lanes) and drag whatever I want into the empty lane. Works flawlessly. Otherwise... yeah, unpredictable things can happen.
 

 
For me, the exact procedure is to use the Move tool, keep  CTRL held, select the clip you want to copy, drag it to the empty space, then release the mouse. Took me a while to stumble on that. Read it here somewhere. I'd been having a hell of a time with that. 

I think the issue #3 the OP is talking about is this:
 

 
It's technically the same issue as this one, I believe:
http://forum.cakewalk.com/Take-Lanes-Clip-cant-be-copypasted-into-a-lane-of-different-T-number-Confirmed-by-CW-m2994675.aspx
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

jkoseattle
I'm mostly happy with X3e except for one ENORMOUS area of constant frustration. I'm wondering how many of these things are improved significantly by upgrading. 

Bad News: Take lanes haven't changed that much since X3e, except for a truckload of bug fixes.
Good News: Through (sometimes painful) changes in workflow, users who used to rely on Layers have come to appreciate the good things about Take Lanes. You have to be willing to change... it's not for everyone.
 
Even Better News: If you're suffering with Take Lanes in X3e now, you can upgrade to Platinum and be no worse off. However, the new features (unrelated to take lanes) could easily blow your socks off and make you more willing to put up with the perceived compromises in workflow that Take Lanes are imposing on you.
 
Good luck and happy music making.