+1

UnderTow

I am all in favour of customization but excuse me if I point out that the reason for the page view differences probably has to do with the fact that once you have downloaded any of the patches you are unlikely to go back to those threads while panup's thread contains many new mods and is thus worth revisiting time and time again. 


UnderTow

A true and correct point, one that didn't go unnoticed by myself. I know personally for me, I've been to panup's thread alot more that the X1b and quickfix threads. And that certainly has affected the page view counts in favor of panup. But this is my point. If X1 already allowed me to customize all of the colors I wanted, and gave it to me in a patch, then I would only have to go to that thread 1 time to get the patch. But as it is, I have to go check out the lastest mod that panup posted over and over. And so do alot of the Sonar user community. And why is that? Because they want customization.
 
For the record, I'm really happy with X1, and I really like the way that Cakewalk has handled all of the bumps since it's release. 
 

Karyn


+1 for customisation


and a further +1 to drop "those" threads further down the list...

 
 
Karyn, I wish you would change your avitar.
 
Everytime you post I wanna get a Big Mac!

A1MixMan

Karyn


+1 for customisation


and a further +1 to drop "those" threads further down the list...

 
 
Karyn, I wish you would change your avitar.
 
Everytime you post I wanna get a Big Mac!

thats funny cause everytime you post i wanna watch sesame street..with that sublimital message of burt and ernie.lol

Scott, I'm actually curious as to your opinions of SONARPlus and the different skins that are out. Being 3rd party and all, what's your take on it?

The problem with the world today is you can have too much choice.

 
This is true. Sometimes I miss the days when there was nothing called a cellphone, we got two TV stations and they both signed off with the national anthem and a test pattern around midnight. The world has also gotten really small, really fast... things have changed SO much in the last 150 years. In 1865 the US war between the states ended with cavalry, muskets (some repeating rifles), and mosty muzzle loading canon. 80 years later in 1945 WW II ended with a nuclear bomb dropped from a huge airplane. I remember places that used and outhouse. Black and white TV. I remember when FM radio started... the 8-track cassettes. Now we have handheld internet devices that boggle the mind, multitrack recorders that sit in your lap and record unlimited tracks with audio, midi, loops, all that can be edited to do ANYTHING you can think of... and it has all become affordable....
 
but alas... it is the wrong color.
 
Cakewalk should hire Panup so that they can guide his creativity and he can influence their direction... BUT we should by no means go backwards because people became comfortable with a design. I truy believe that the future is with X1 but a real ear should always be given to those who earn a living with the product. A real ear to the end of addressing any problems or concerns the professional, power user has, but CW should never go back for anyone's personal preference.
 
I haven't downloaded any of Panup's or Benstat's stuff because I am trying to learn and am afraid that I might change something and then the manual wont make sense or X1 POWER wont make sense. Maybe one day when I know all about X1 and feel like I need it to be better and am convinced that CW cannot or will not fix it, then I will DL some of this stuff. I am sure there is nothing wrong with any of it but I have absoutely no desire to customize colors... I used to want a Struder 8 track machine but I don't anymore. Heck THE BEATLES recorded Sgt. Peppers on a 4 track tape machine... I have no idea what color it was. Black and white probably.. would that we all had a George Martin to work with ... 
 
Oh well... I am blissfuly happy. For today. I guess choice is ok as long as I don't have to make too many decisions.
 
Julien

 
I haven't downloaded any of Panup's or Benstat's stuff because I am trying to learn and am afraid that I might change something and then the manual wont make sense or X1 POWER wont make sense. Maybe one day when I know all about X1 and feel like I need it to be better and am convinced that CW cannot or will not fix it, then I will DL some of this stuff. I am sure there is nothing wrong with any of it but I have absoutely no desire to customize colors... I used to want a Struder 8 track machine but I don't anymore. Heck THE BEATLES recorded Sgt. Peppers on a 4 track tape machine... I have no idea what color it was. Black and white probably.. would that we all had a George Martin to work with ... 
 
Oh well... I am blissfuly happy. For today. I guess choice is ok as long as I don't have to make too many decisions.
 
Julien

 
 
 
You should at least try those programs so you know what they are really about. panup's mods automatically create a backup file of your .dll so you can go back very easily. No harm no foul. And then you can see how really cool it is to have a color scheme that makes sense.
 
The world we live in is in full color, why shouldn't our software be? 

 
And Benstat's program actually runs outside of Sonar, so there is no way for it to affect it directly. It's basically just a shortcut program. A very cool shortcut program at that.
 
And since it doesn't modify or change anything about X1, you can easily just NOT run it, and X1 will work the exact same way as before, but without the other program running. It's all very cool indeed.

sheepherder


It seems more "pro" but whatever.

If ProTools had an easy to use "Color Scheme Preset" function to where you could create and save your custom color scheme and then easily load it into which every studio you happened to be working in, I bet the forums would be screaming for it. I think that's a great idea for Cakewalk. Let the "Pro" design his own color scheme based on the way he works. Once he got used to using his scheme, I bet he would demand to use X1 over ProTools.

A reference to customization is the fact that if something is decided and locked in, it is not necesserly the best decision that has been locked in.

Midi tools as an example. Yes, they can cover the same basic functionality of the tools in 8.5. However due to the lack of customization, every user is now forced to do it Cakewalks new way, regardless of how the old way may have been 100 times more efficeient for them. And when asked why they did this, the usual reply is to unifiy the tools.....why exactly?

Some good posts in this thread. I think I used to have more faith in Cakewalk than in any audio company bar Cuckos (different business strategy, hard to compare so lets not go there :) . Hopefully X2 will restore that for the users in the same position. Quickfix is brilliant, but Cakewalk need to use this opportunity to grow and bring back respect for their business. A nice start would be to stop releasing beta's as final products.

A1MixMan said...

tyacko


I personally don't customize.

Tom

Oh really?
 
Nice avitar...

OK, that is a fair statement (and I know you are just giving me a hard time).  I meant to say (and didn't say it very well), that I don't tend to care all that much about customizing my music software because I'm more about using the tools rather than having them look a certain way.  That don't mean that I think this is not something that others might need, I just don't see an need for it with MY DAW software.

I think for me it is about the music and less about the software I'm using.  Heck, if you look at it this way I "customize" my music all the time once I put a VST plug-in effect on a single track.  Now, if they didn't have that "customization" then I'd be right there with you guys!

Finally, I'm not saying "Cakewalk don't build in customization again" as they should AFTER they've addressed the usablity issues that still plague X1 at this point.  Make the DAW right then they can throw in the customization stuff.  That's my opinion.

Tom

I think you'll be waiting a long time. If they haven't by now, it's not because they haven't noticed. It is obviously a matter of policy. It's a better policy than trying to shut it down, so I suggest that leaving well enough alone is a reasonable way to proceed. 

I think CW is missing the big picture here.  I have painted my MIDI keyboard controller a lovely vermillion and I always color-code my guitar strings with colored Magic Markers.

Now let's get down to the important stuff:  olfactory customization.  For true inspiration, I recommend cinnamon with a hint of fresh raspberry.  But, I think we should also demand floral (perhaps lilac) for our more sensitive users.

...wicked


Scott, I'm actually curious as to your opinions of SONARPlus and the different skins that are out. Being 3rd party and all, what's your take on it?

I haven't tried them yet, but from what I read... they sound great. I'm all for more customization in SONAR. The more choices we have, the better.

Scott

--
Scott R. Garrigus
* Author of the Cakewalk Sonar and Sony Sound Forge Power book series: http://www.garrigus.com/
* Author of the Cakewalk Sonar ProAudioTutor video tutorial series: http://www.proaudiotutor.com/
* Publisher of the DigiFreq free music technology newsletter: http://www.digifreq.com/digifreq/
* Publisher of the NewTechReview free consumer technology newsletter: http://www.newtechreview.com/newtechreview/

garrigus

I'm all for more customization in SONAR. The more choices we have, the better. 

Actually, Barry Schwartz's research, which I referenced above, indicates that generally beyond a certain point the more choices we have the more unhappy we are! Go figure. 

A1MixMan


I find it real telling that panup's Sonar Mod thread has more page views (currently 29,404) than both the Official Sticky X1b Patch thread and the Official Sticky Quickfix thread combined (currently 21,400 and 2621 respectively, total of 24,021).
 
This is telling me that Sonar users want to customize X1 by themselves, and not be told what colors are "industry standard" or whatever the reasoning was behind the X1 color scheme.
 
 

There is another explantion, which would be that that thread is months older than either of those.