Hi Rick
 
I'm one (of the many) who have been asking in here, and using the Feature Request function, to get Cakewalk to restore a level of colour customisation in X1 (and now X2) comparable to that in previous versions of SONAR.
 
The problem with my eyesight that I suffer with means I find it quite difficult to distingush contrast in low-light level situations. Unless I get really quite close to my monitors, and turn up their brightness and contrast, X2 is little more than a homogenous sea of grey to me. To those who thankfully don't suffer this, it's akin to trying to read something like this.
 
I have managed to customise X1 and X2 as to alleviate the problem by adding contrast where possible. I've also modified the colour scheme into something a little easier to navigate, although I find this aesthetically pleasing as well as practical. As you can see from the screenshots below, I use different colours for text and backgrounds, and wherever possible, I've maintained the theme in both the Track View and the Console View; so basically I have this:

• TRACK VIEW
  • Selected Track or Clip - Yellow
  • Folder Name - Blue
  • Synth (Audio) Track Name - Light Yellow
  • MIDI Track Name - Red
  • Audio Track Name - Yellow
  • Bus Name - Green
• CONSOLE VIEW
  • Synth (Audio) Track Background - Light Yellow w/Black Type
  • MIDI Track Background - Red w/Black Type
  • Audio Track Background - Yellow w/Black Type
  • Bus Background - Green w/Black Type
  • Main Out - Blue w/Black Type

 
It's not perfect, but it is a vast improvement for me over the three basic presets that come pre-installed.
 

 
 

 
 
 

redbarchetta


Hey Steve!
Thanks for the ideas on color coding. Also, I hadn't thought about how a sea of gray would be hard to see for some folks that have some form of an eye issue.  I can see where being able to theme a software application can have a real benifit for some people.

 
Now, in an ideal (for me) world, I'd take it a step further both practically and for more 'pleasing' reasons.
 
Full colour coding (obviously a bit garish in these hastily concocted Photoshop images, but you get the idea!):
 

 
 
 

 
 
 
Or how about if you could take it a step further and make this happen when selecting a track/clip. Only the selected track and any downstream busses would be left in focus (literally):
 
 

 
 

 
 
It would get my vote!
 

 
It would be even nicer to be able to colour code tracks to their respective busses:
 
 

@ Charlie +1

Can that kind of thing be done with Duckbar?

sharke


Coloring strips like that is the one thing I miss from Pro Tools. I just thought it was a no brainer and was deeply disturbed quite surprised to find that I couldn't do the same thing in Sonar. I bloody well genuinely hope they add this functionality soon and that we don't have to wait for X3 for it (although I suspect we will)

We may have to wait much longer than that.  I'll be pleasantly surprised if we ever get it.

redbarchetta


@ Charlie +1

Can that kind of thing be done with Duckbar?

No! CV Strips are graphic files. Even pre X series Sonar could not do this.

I could make a new command (manual or automatic) in Duckbar to paint overlay coloring to track and bus strips... I have almost all components ready already because I could recycle Batch Freeze and Batch Unfreeze code.

Yes, for individual tracks indeed... I know how to retrieve track names and strip coordinates on the screen. Only thing missing is track output routing information.

Deal.

That sounds awesome!

Duckbar - Console Strip Color Coding Concept

Good news from Duckbar! Colorizing strips seems to be possible. Image above is a real screen capture.
Strip colorizing we become part of Track President - The ultimate replacement for Track Manager. ;-)

Bub

mike_mccue

If Cakewalk will restore color customization to SONAR I'll buy an upgrade.

:-)

I'd be willing to bet they'd rather lose the $99 bucks than have to listen to you complain about how the new 'color customization' worked in the X series if they did introduce it.


Or maybe not.


*Insert smiley of your choice here*

 
Harsh, but fair

panup



Duckbar - Console Strip Color Coding Concept

Good news from Duckbar! Colorizing strips seems to be possible. Image above is a real screen capture.
Strip colorizing we become part of Track President - The ultimate replacement for Track Manager. ;-)

Cakewalk, sign him up, sign him up, sign him up.....
It would make things a lot easier for some of us

Peter : "Cakewalk, sign him up, sign him up, sign him up..... "

I think they're just waiting for panup to finish, then they can just buy it off him :-)

I too want colour.