HEY Cakewalk? It's been a year, when are you going to sort the Theme Editor bug?

I can't believe I'm still writing about this more than a year after Theme Editor was introduced. I know you have your priorities with your updates, but the fact that you haven't addressed this in over a year makes me sad. The fact that a Cakewalker never ever replies to my comments on this issue makes me very sad. My subscription ran out with 2016.07. I've been waiting and watching every month since for this update fix. The fact that nothing is happening and you show no interest in fixing this highly trumpeted app which is basically useless because it breaks one of the most fundamentally important aspects of SONAR's UI, means my money stays in my pocket. 
 
Once again. any use of Theme Editor removes track strip colours. I cannot work with big projects without track strip colours. I have to use Mercury even though I would much prefer something that looks closer to Tungsten. I want darker strip colours but they don't work in Tungsten and as soon as you make any tweak to Mercury in the Theme Editor you no longer have strip colours. Why are you not seeing that this is a major bug. Please give some indication that you are bothered. 

No. One year on is plenty of time for Cakewalk to at least acknowledge the issue. I'm a loyal user of nearly 20 years. I love SONAR. I'm frustrated at their lack of even a "hey, we hear ya, looking into it". 

Cakewalk have talked about this on the forum at various times. Broadly, they seem to take the position that coloured strips are a feature of the Mercury theme, not a missing feature from other themes. I find that odd myself, but hey. They definitely don't regard it as a bug.
 
I agree it would be nice to have. I don't use coloured strips on every project, but I use them often enough that it rules out using themes for me.

It's perhaps not desirable that colored track strips are only in Mercury, but it's not a bug. I've asked about it and apparently, it's not an easy change. If it was simple to do, Cakewalk would have done it.
 
I must say that some of the themes users are designing are very cool...I think that's a reasonable tradeoff for not being able to color track strips. I do hope colored track strips become available for non-Mercury themes, but it doesn't interfere with my music-making. FWIW using large track icons with solid colors makes it easier to parse tracks compared to the little colored strips.

So, should I venture to say the loyal customer (OP) of 20 years, who's subscription has expired, is no longer a loyal customer?
 

bapu
So, should I venture to say the loyal customer (OP) of 20 years, who's subscription has expired, is no longer a loyal customer?
 

I don't think that is fair at all.  However this isn't a bug and the thread is misleading in that regard.
 
You don't have to upgrade every single month to be loyal.  I'm a lifetime member and I don't even do that.
 
 

Ahh, I didn't realize that if you modify a single parameter of any kind even using mercury as a starting point that the strip colors are no longer possible. If that is the case it does seem unexpected.

Is it by design? Yes
 
Therefore it is not a bug

As mentioned in a previous post in this thread,  I find that adding track icons and adding different colors to the little strip at the bottom of each track of the console view is enough for me to keep things organized and grouped together.  Normally I add the same color of all the track strips that go to one specific Stereo Bus (like I will group my percussion, drums and bass into one group -> Stereo Bus with the same color)  It's pretty easy to keep things organized.  This will work in any theme.

And changing the color of that little strip on the bottom, will also change the colors of the MIDI notes and audio wave forms in the associated tracks in the Track View.   Personally, I like that better.  Having all the columns in the Console View with different colors is a bit too colorful to me, I think it looks unprofessional (like a game or something) and is too distracting.   Just my humble opinion.  (I hope I explained all that so it makes sense)
 

zoffmeister
2. Yes this is a bug. Forget about Tungsten, I still can't see why making any modification to the Mercury Theme in Theme Editor removes Strip colour. I should still be able to restyle buttons without losing this

And you still can ... while retaining colored strips ... using Duckbar.

http://www.sonarmods.com/forum/index.php

I used it extensively to modify buttons and other graphic elements in SONAR prior to the Theme Editor. In fact, the vast majority of my current mods in Theme Editor were actually made at an earlier time using Duckbar and ported into Theme Editor for use with Tungsten as a base.

chuckebaby

I believe he already tried  Duckbar
http://forum.cakewalk.com/FindPost/3456716
 

Hey chuckebaby, I'm having a weird problem with that link (that page doesn't allow me to scroll), so I can only see what comes up on the page's initial view.  But I was able to see something that zoffmeister wrote, and the rest of this post replies to that:
 
Zoffmeister wrote: "I tried Duckbar several years ago for this very reason but track strip colour wasn't something it could influence."
 
Having seen that comment, I want to point out to zoffmeister that Duckbar indeed does not influence track colors - there is no need for it to!  You already automatically have track colors in Mercury.  What Duckbar does do is allows changing the graphics for buttons, different backgrounds/images, etc. as in Theme Editor.   I thought this is exactly what zoffmeister was looking for - his previous post in this thread included ""I still can't see why making any modification to the Mercury Theme in Theme Editor removes Strip colour. I should still be able to restyle buttons without losing this". Using Duckbar allows just that: modification of the Mercury theme without losing strip colors.
 
When you do it in Duckbar using the Mercury theme, it does not remove strip colors ... if you're still using the initial factory Mercury (with track colors!), not touched by the Theme Editor.  It occurred to me that perhaps when the OP was trying Duckbar the Mercury had had already previously been saved using Theme Editor.  If you do that, you will have already lost the track color ability before even opening Duckbar - make sure you start with a fresh factory Mercury untouched by Theme Editor.  And don't ever use Theme Editor on a Duckbar modified Mercury, as it will remove track colors from that point on.
 
In summary, Duckbar does not affect track colors (you will still have them)!  Leave the track colors to Mercury (a fresh unmodified stock Mercury), change the Mercury graphics (buttons, backgrounds, etc) using Duckbar.  Do not ever alter the Mercury theme using Theme Editor, or you will lose track colors.  Simple ... and it works!
 
Pete
 
 

Pete, I hear ya man.
I used it before the theme editor was given to us. I loved it.
As for this thread, ya it stinks we cant modify track colors in other themes but its not the end of the world in my opinion. Surely not a bug or a show stopper for me anyway.
When I want full track colors I use the Mercury theme.

Hello again. The other thread from last year that I created was more to do with wanting darker coloured strips, like those you see in most top pro's ProTools sessions. ProTools has really got this sorted and has for years. Cakewalk don't allow you to specify the exact colour and saturation of the strip colours because in Mercury there are dark text elements over the strips. This is why they won't let you darken the strip colours in Mercury. They could do just that in Tungsten if they wanted. However that is a separate gripe to the one I have here. 
 
People don't seem to understand the nature of a bug. I'll say it again. If in Theme Editor I want to change my track solo button to pink, for example, why on earth does that remove strip colours? It is totally unrelated. This IS definitely a bug with Theme Editor. Clearly saving a theme in Theme Editor creates a totally different format of file to the stock Mercury Theme. Why else would it remove the required code for strip colours?

Brando

zoffmeister
People don't seem to understand the nature of a bug. 

Now I understand. If people keep saying over and over again that it's a bug, it must be a bug.
 

+1
 
Im sorry but I just cant agree with the OP that this is a bug.
Annoying ? Yes. 
A bug ? No.
 

zoffmeister
The other thread from last year

You mean the other 2 threads you created.
http://forum.cakewalk.com/THEME-EDITOR-Oh-FFS-m3455128.aspx
http://forum.cakewalk.com/Please-bring-back-coloured-strips-in-Tungsten-m3429609.aspx
this is the 3rd one.
 
I admire your passion and I am 100% behind you. but I cant agree it is a bug.
I wont comment anymore out of respect for your inquires, My apology's if I seem forthright.
Im just voicing my opinion similar to you.