Sonar: Polarity and stereo/mono switches still missing on individual tracks?

I'm considering an upgrade from Sonar 8.5.3 but after doing some research I read that the polarity and mono/stereo buttons was removed from the individual tracks on X1. Is this still the case on the current version of Sonar or has it been fixed?

S.F.Sorrow
I'm considering an upgrade from Sonar 8.5.3 but after doing some research I read that the polarity and mono/stereo buttons was removed from the individual tracks on X1. Is this still the case on the current version of Sonar or has it been fixed?

I don't know where you read that but it is untrue. It is true that they were moved to the Track Inspector. They are still there.

Hm... I never use the console view. So in the track view I can only access polarity and interleave buttons on the inspector? I never use the inspector, I keep it hidden as it has always been a waste of space for me. Is there no way to get an easy overview of which tracks have inverted polarity or whether they are set for stereo or mono in track view?
 
I'm aware of the learning curve so I'm considering making the move to Cubase. I've always preferred the Cubase workflow to be honest. The only thing stopping me is no support for 32bit plugins in Cubase 9. I still rely on a few 32bit plugins and don't really need the extra memory 64bit provides. Sonar still comes with a 32bit install, right?
 
Still, the missing polarity and interleave buttons may be the deciding factor for me, my workflow rely on those being easily visible in the track view. Perhaps it's time to move on to something new.

Anderton
Actually the technically correct term is indeed polarity, but we won't open that can of worms...after all, we live in a world where Fender calls tremolo "vibrato." 
 
Anyway to answer the OP's question, polarity and interleave are not in the Track View, but are in the Console View and Inspector. So if the Inspector is open and you click on a track, the buttons are there. Or you can use them in the Console view when mixing...or insert Channel Tools which allows phase, delay, stereo/mono, phase angle, etc.
 
Be aware there is a learning curve going from 8.5 to the X series, and for the first week or two you will think you made a big mistake. However once I became familiar with the X series workflow, if I had to go back to 8.5 I would be extremely unhappy.

Thanks for a very helpful and clarifying reply!

There is a freely downloadable demo version of Sonar, I believe in its 3 flavors, that you could try out for yourself, prior to purchase.
 
The audio engine is indeed fully functional - you wouldn't get access to most of the plugins, but you would be able to get a real good feel for the interface.
 
There have been AMAZING changes to the user interface, and most other pieces of Sonar, as well, and while it might well be quite confusing at first, if you were to not so much try to make it function exactly as 8.5.3 did but instead approached it with a mindset of looking at those changes with more of an open mind - it would help you to get a better feel for doing things.
 
8.5.3 was amazingly powerful, through all kinds of key bindings and such, whereas they made an attempt to make Sonar easier for newcomers to learn, and that threw a bunch of folks off when X1 first came out with its redesigned user interface.  A lot of those same folks have ended up expressing that they came to appreciate the work flow differences - in many ways many folks found the new ways helped them accomplish things faster and better.  (this is, of course, not universally shared sentiment, but then again, there is no reason not to be able to continue to use 8.5.3 AND also have Sonar Platinum)
 
DO give some thought to trying out the demo - it is free, after all.
 
Bob Bone
 

S.F.Sorrow
Hm... I never use the console view. So in the track view I can only access polarity and interleave buttons on the inspector? I never use the inspector, I keep it hidden as it has always been a waste of space for me. Is there no way to get an easy overview of which tracks have inverted polarity or whether they are set for stereo or mono in track view?

I never used the Console view in 8.5. Never. However in the X series, you can call up the Console view by typing D and the Inspector by typing I. It's so easy to flip between Track and Console view that the synergy of using both for what they do best has become part of my workflow. I actually remove as much as possible from Track View to simplify tracking. Then again I also have a touchscreen, and Console View is great for that.
 
Of course if you set a track input to a mono input, it becomes a mono track; and if an effect generates a stereo out from a mono signal, the track will change itself to stereo. If you are using stereo effects but ultimately want the track to be mono, then you would need to change the mono/stereo button.
 
However I too need to see mono/stereo as well, but mostly to make sure tracks that are supposed to be stereo aren't mono by accident. Same with polarity, I don't want it set incorrectly. So, I made a tweak using the Theme Editor so that in Console view, if mono or negative polarity was selected, the button would turn bright red. So my workflow is type D > verify polarity and stereo/mono are set correctly (I keep the console on Narrow Strips view) > type D again to get back to track view, or stay in Console view.
 
I can't really imagine a situation where you would need to monitor polarity and mono/stereo continuously, so if you do, I'd be curious about what kind of workflow demands that kind of constant monitoring.

robert_e_bone
There is a freely downloadable demo version of Sonar, I believe in its 3 flavors, that you could try out for yourself, prior to purchase.
 
The audio engine is indeed fully functional - you wouldn't get access to most of the plugins, but you would be able to get a real good feel for the interface.
 
There have been AMAZING changes to the user interface, and most other pieces of Sonar, as well, and while it might well be quite confusing at first, if you were to not so much try to make it function exactly as 8.5.3 did but instead approached it with a mindset of looking at those changes with more of an open mind - it would help you to get a better feel for doing things.
 
8.5.3 was amazingly powerful, through all kinds of key bindings and such, whereas they made an attempt to make Sonar easier for newcomers to learn, and that threw a bunch of folks off when X1 first came out with its redesigned user interface.  A lot of those same folks have ended up expressing that they came to appreciate the work flow differences - in many ways many folks found the new ways helped them accomplish things faster and better.  (this is, of course, not universally shared sentiment, but then again, there is no reason not to be able to continue to use 8.5.3 AND also have Sonar Platinum)
 
DO give some thought to trying out the demo - it is free, after all.
 
Bob Bone
 

So I can try the demo (or the upgrade for that matter) without messing with the installed 8.5.3? The upgrade doesn't install "on top" of 8.5.3?
 
Still, I need to upgrade my studio server and for various reasons Windows 10 is the only option. As far as I can tell 8.5.3 won't work with Win10 so it's either upgrade or move on to Cubase. With Cubase I'm at least somewhat familiar with the workflow but no support for 32bit plugins in Cubase 9 is still a bit hard to swallow for me.

FYI - according to user reports in this thread, 8.5.3 runs with Windows 10. And yes, you can have the two versions installed side by side.
 

Anderton
FYI - according to user reports in this thread, 8.5.3 runs with Windows 10. And yes, you can have the two versions installed side by side.
 

Ah, thanks! I must admit I've never tried it myself but the few comments I found on this online said 8.5.3 didn't work with Windows 10. If this really works it would solve all my problems, at least temporarily. I would love to be able to continue using 8.5.3 while trying a demo of the latest Sonar version parallell to it. Learning the workflow of the new version outside of sessions would be ideal.
 
As for 32bit, yeah, it's dying, I know. Sadly there's a few 32bit plugins that I find very hard to let go that will never be upgraded to 64bit (plus a  few others that will cost quite a bit to upgrade). Bridging is something I want to avoid so I'm sticking to 32bit host for as long as possible.

S.F.Sorrow

Anderton
FYI - according to user reports in this thread, 8.5.3 runs with Windows 10. And yes, you can have the two versions installed side by side.
 

Ah, thanks! I must admit I've never tried it myself but the few comments I found on this online said 8.5.3 didn't work with Windows 10. If this really works it would solve all my problems, at least temporarily. I would love to be able to continue using 8.5.3 while trying a demo of the latest Sonar version parallell to it. Learning the workflow of the new version outside of sessions would be ideal.
 
As for 32bit, yeah, it's dying, I know. Sadly there's a few 32bit plugins that I find very hard to let go that will never be upgraded to 64bit (plus a  few others that will cost quite a bit to upgrade). Bridging is something I want to avoid so I'm sticking to 32bit host for as long as possible.

I limit the use of 32-bit plugins to only those which live in a sub-folder I created that lives within C:\\Program Files (x86)\Cakewalk\vstplugins.  The sub-folder is called Bridged, and the path to that folder is added to my VST options search paths in my 64-bit Sonar Platinum.
 
I only put 32-bit plugins into the Bridged folder that have been tested by me prior to my using them in actual 64-bit projects.  The Bridged folder is then available to x32 and x64 Sonar, but all other 32-bit 3rd-party plugins are deliberately left out of x64 Sonar to avoid bridging failures.
 
And, one nice thing about the Media Browser in Platinum, is that it tells you with an altered display color, as well as it adding text (32-bit) to the displayed plugin names for those that are 32-bit, so that you know prior to selecting one for inclusion in a project.
 
All in all, I have maybe 6 or so 32-bit plugins that I sometimes continue to use in 64-bit Sonar.
 
Bob Bone