jlizerbram
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Jumping from 8.5 to X3 - Worth It?
I've been a Cakewalk DAW user for many years, and spent the majority of my time in Sonar 7 and 8 (my current version being 8.5). I've had much success with it. Is it worth moving to X3 - will it be a huge learning curve with the Skylight look and feel, and inspector, among all these new terms I'm just getting to understand? What has been your experience moving from the Sonar 8 versions to X versions?
Sonica Labs (Q6600 Quad Core, 8GB, 500GB OS, 500 GB Audio, 500 GB Samples, 2TB Backup) Windows 8.1 Enterprise
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djoni
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Re: Jumping from 8.5 to X3 - Worth It?
2013/10/20 12:17:09
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Don't think twice. Go for it now.
Ekaya Productions
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Milamber
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Re: Jumping from 8.5 to X3 - Worth It?
2013/10/20 15:31:53
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I jumped from 8.5 to X3b and found that it has been well worth it. Totally enjoy the ProChannel, VST3 support and the stability appears to be comparable to what I found in 8.5. The bakers have included a couple of 3rd party vendor tools that make the decision an easy one as well. I think this is a solid release.
-Ken
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Sanderxpander
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Re: Jumping from 8.5 to X3 - Worth It?
2013/10/20 15:36:38
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X3 finally feels like it's better than 8.5, to me, whereas X1 and X2 were just different and sometimes annoyingly so.
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3dmus
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Re: Jumping from 8.5 to X3 - Worth It?
2013/10/20 15:44:43
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Same here....I jumped from Sonar 8.5 to X3....a lot of improvement for me; more stable, easier to use etc.
EDIT: oh...and the ARA Melodyne integration....once you've got it you don't want to be w/o it anymore...
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jamesyoyo
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Re: Jumping from 8.5 to X3 - Worth It?
2013/10/20 17:27:10
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You might find the learning curve steep, but it is probably worth it at this point.
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RogerH
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Re: Jumping from 8.5 to X3 - Worth It?
2013/10/20 17:34:50
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After using X1 for a few weeks I tried to go back to 8.5, and I couldn't believe how awkward 8.5 was. And now with X3 I couldn't dream of going back.
But everybody has their own workflow.
As long as you are prepared to change some of your workflow and are ready to learn something new, you will do just fine (I think).
A song from my band: Terramater My soundcloud pageSonar Platinum Windows 7 Professional (SP1) 64Bit Intel Core i7 Quad Processor i7-2600K 3,4GHz MSI P67A-C45 (MOBO) Corsair Vengeance DDR3 1600MHz 8GB CL9 (2x4GB) Seagate Barracuda® 7200.12 1TB Seagate Barracuda® XT 2TB
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musichoo
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Re: Jumping from 8.5 to X3 - Worth It?
2013/10/20 19:03:42
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I followed the grade patch from 8.5 to X3. X3 is definitely light years more advance than 8.5. Get the Groove3 video or Karl Ross X2 video(9hours) to get you started. Go for it!
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jlizerbram
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Re: Jumping from 8.5 to X3 - Worth It?
2013/10/20 19:07:08
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Sweet, thanks all for your input. I'm at a good breaking point with my projects and perhaps the upgrade will get more creative juices flowing again.
Sonica Labs (Q6600 Quad Core, 8GB, 500GB OS, 500 GB Audio, 500 GB Samples, 2TB Backup) Windows 8.1 Enterprise
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Sonar Platinum M-Audio Oxygen 88, Lots of EastWest using Play 4.2
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daveny5
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Re: Jumping from 8.5 to X3 - Worth It?
2013/10/20 20:32:47
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It will be a huge learning curve from 8.5 though.
Dave Computer: Intel i7, ASROCK H170M, 16GB/5TB+, Windows 10 Pro 64-bit, Sonar Platinum, TASCAM US-16x08, Cakewalk UM-3G MIDI I/F Instruments: SL-880 Keyboard controller, Korg 05R/W, Korg N1R, KORG Wavestation EX Axes: Fender Stratocaster, Line6 Variax 300, Ovation Acoustic, Takamine Nylon Acoustic, Behringer GX212 amp, Shure SM-58 mic, Rode NT1 condenser mic. Outboard: Mackie 1402-VLZ mixer, TC Helicon VoiceLive 2, Digitech Vocalist WS EX, PODXTLive, various stompboxes and stuff. Controllers: Korg nanoKONTROL, Wacom Bamboo Touchpad
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musicroom
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Re: Jumping from 8.5 to X3 - Worth It?
2013/10/20 22:19:24
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No offense, but the learning curve is not that steep. There are changes, but nothing like switching to a brand new daw. I think you will be using it productively fairly quick. Recommend watching a few videos from all of the X series.
Dave Songs___________________________________ Desktop: Platinum / RME Multiface II / Purrfect Audio DAW I7-3770 / 16 GB RAM / Win 10 Pro / Remote Laptop i7 6500U / 12GB RAM / RME Babyface
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djwayne
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Re: Jumping from 8.5 to X3 - Worth It?
2013/10/20 22:22:45
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X3 comes with loads of plug-ins that will help your music sound great...recommended.
Very good bang for the buck.
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Dude Ivey
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Re: Jumping from 8.5 to X3 - Worth It?
2013/10/20 22:30:50
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djwayne
X3 comes with loads of plug-ins that will help your music sound great...recommended.
Very good bang for the buck.
+1 The plugins alone are worth the upgrade. You can run both 8.5 and X-3 along side each other so you can learn X-3 at your own pace. Once you start playin with X-3 you wont mess with 8.5 anymore.
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Kev999
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Re: Jumping from 8.5 to X3 - Worth It?
2013/10/20 22:43:36
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I upgraded to X2 because I was impressed by the screensets feature, which makes it possible to recall different window configurations with a single click. Unfortunately X2 also has lots of annoying bugs, mostly resulting in inconsistent behaviour in Track View. Hopefully this does not apply to X3.
SonarPlatinum∞(22.11.0.111)|Mixbus32C(4.3.19)|DigitalPerformer(9.5.1)|Reaper(5.77)FractalDesign:DefineR5|i7-6850k@4.1GHz|16GB@2666MHz-DDR4|MSI:GamingProCarbonX99a|Matrox:M9148(x2)|UAD2solo(6.5.2)|W7Ult-x64-SP1
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Having fun at work lately
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Milamber
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Re: Jumping from 8.5 to X3 - Worth It?
2013/10/20 23:25:41
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I didn't find the learning curve to be too bad. There were definite changes to workflow but it didn't take but a couple hours and I was able to accomplish a great deal.
Intel Core i7 CPU 920 @ 2.67 GHz, 2672 Mhz, 4 Cores, 8 Logical 6.00 GB Physical Memory Windows 7 x64 SONAR X3e 64-bit RME Fireface 800
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CoteRotie
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Re: Jumping from 8.5 to X3 - Worth It?
2013/10/20 23:59:36
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Sanderxpander
X3 finally feels like it's better than 8.5, to me, whereas X1 and X2 were just different and sometimes annoyingly so.
+10
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Aksuaho
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Re: Jumping from 8.5 to X3 - Worth It?
2013/10/21 07:01:43
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I used 8.5 for years and did a lot of successful productions too... I also have a production break right now and the time to get used and experiment with X3. It is now a week, about 10-20 hours working with it, importing old projects, create new ones... I still miss a lot of features, but I think the overall quality of my output has increased especially because of the PC. The learning curve depends much on your workflow, for me the biggest change is the urge to use the inspector. The skylight mixing view is still horrible for me, it takes ages to find a track, no contrasts, only 2 big send buttons (not 4 small ones!).
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rontarrant
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Re: Jumping from 8.5 to X3 - Worth It?
2013/10/21 07:37:20
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musichoo
I followed the grade patch from 8.5 to X3. X3 is definitely light years more advance than 8.5. Get the Groove3 video or Karl Ross X2 video(9hours) to get you started. Go for it! Do you have a link to the Karl Ross videos? Google finds a lot of Karl Rosses, but none seem to be associated with Sonar. Even adding the word "Sonar" to the search turned up nothing relevant.
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mudgel
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Re: Jumping from 8.5 to X3 - Worth It?
2013/10/21 07:38:11
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Google "Duckbar". Created by one of our forum users names Panup. He's a master producer and programer. His program hooks into Sonar and adds some of that old 8.5 flavor and much more including a wider use of color and toolbars.
Its free though donations accepted. Its an excellent program and is regularly updated with user feature requests. Its not endorsed by Cakewalk but neither is it banned by them. They do however ask that you undo any changes made if you need Cakewalk tech support. Any changes you make to Sonar can be just as easily undone.
Panup is always quick to provide updates as Cakewalk makes version changes.
Mike V. (MUDGEL) STUDIO: Win 10 Pro x64, SPlat & CbB x64, PC: ASUS Z370-A, INTEL i7 8700k, 32GIG DDR4 2400, OC 4.7Ghz. Storage: 7 TB SATA III, 750GiG SSD & Samsung 500 Gig 960 EVO NVMe M.2. Monitors: Adam A7X, JBL 10” Sub. Audio I/O & DSP Server: DIGIGRID IOS & IOX. Screen: Raven MTi + 43" HD 4K TV Monitor. Keyboard Controller: Native Instruments Komplete Kontrol S88.
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mudgel
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Re: Jumping from 8.5 to X3 - Worth It?
2013/10/21 07:41:30
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Karl Rose aka FastBikerBoy FBB
Mike V. (MUDGEL) STUDIO: Win 10 Pro x64, SPlat & CbB x64, PC: ASUS Z370-A, INTEL i7 8700k, 32GIG DDR4 2400, OC 4.7Ghz. Storage: 7 TB SATA III, 750GiG SSD & Samsung 500 Gig 960 EVO NVMe M.2. Monitors: Adam A7X, JBL 10” Sub. Audio I/O & DSP Server: DIGIGRID IOS & IOX. Screen: Raven MTi + 43" HD 4K TV Monitor. Keyboard Controller: Native Instruments Komplete Kontrol S88.
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lawp
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Re: Jumping from 8.5 to X3 - Worth It?
2013/10/21 08:31:50
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you should definitely try the demo (x2 at the mo) but it'll give you a good idea of the differences (the gui!!)
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Roo Stercogburn
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Re: Jumping from 8.5 to X3 - Worth It?
2013/10/21 08:43:34
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If you can use 8.5 with its 'challenging' interface, you'll have no trouble learning X3. Go for it.
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bitflipper
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Re: Jumping from 8.5 to X3 - Worth It?
2013/10/21 10:33:37
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Minority Report: for this user, the answer is "no". I am not limited in any way by 8.5. It's a DAW, not a fashion statement.
OTOH, Cakewalk needs the money.
 All else is in doubt, so this is the truth I cling to. My Stuff
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spacey
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Re: Jumping from 8.5 to X3 - Worth It?
2013/10/21 10:41:43
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Jumping from 8.5 to X3 - Worth It?
Yes.
For me it was.
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lawp
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Re: Jumping from 8.5 to X3 - Worth It?
2013/10/21 10:42:20
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don't forget the ymmv ;-)
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paulo
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Re: Jumping from 8.5 to X3 - Worth It?
2013/10/21 11:53:22
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Roo Stercogburn
If you can use 8.5 with its 'challenging' interface, you'll have no trouble learning X3. Go for it.
Shows that we're all different - the console view in X series although now improved by the return of custom colours is still worse than 8.5 and one of the main reasons I have avoided X anything so far. Now that it is possible to make it look not quite so horrible and even though the fx bins and such still suck on narrow strips view, I am actually tempted this time, but retailers here (UK) still seem to have no info at all on when box set upgrades will be available. I have spoken to several and assuming they speak the truth, they seem to have been left completely in the dark, which seems very poor for a product that was released nearly a month ago. One of them didn't even know it was out. More worryingly, a vey large retailer near me has just stopped stocking Gibson products because they say that their delivery times / reliabilty of deliveries is just plain awful and they are fed up with having to tell customers that ...." erm no, it still hasn't arrived" . Hope this isn't a sign of things to come.
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rcrees
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Re: Jumping from 8.5 to X3 - Worth It?
2013/10/21 12:37:13
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I'm still on X2, but the jump from 8.5 was incredibly freeing for me. The new skylight interface (reason for all the "learning curve" comments) solved every problem I've ever had with DAW recording.
+1 on watching the "transitioning" and "getting started" videos... even the ones from transitioning to X2, since they will help your understanding of the new interface and the different way of dealing with multiple takes.
Good luck!
Rob
http://www.rcreesmusic.com Dell XPS 8300, Intel Core i7, 8gigs ram, AMD Radeon 6670, Two SATA II 500gig hard drives, one 250gig external USB drive, Focusrite Scarlett 2i2, M-Audio Keystation 61es, Windows 7 Home Premium, SONAR X3 Producer, many sample libraries including EastWest PLAYx64 Gold Complete, RA, Stormdrum and Choirs
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mmorgan
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Re: Jumping from 8.5 to X3 - Worth It?
2013/10/21 13:33:27
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I went from 8.5 to X1 on the day X1 was released. I've never looked back. I find X3 to be very solid.
I do agree with the recommendation to try the demo of X2. There were several people who really did not take to the X series and you might be one of them.
Regards,
Mike Win8(64), Sonar X3e(64) w/ RME Fireface UFX.
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chuckebaby
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Re: Jumping from 8.5 to X3 - Worth It?
2013/10/21 14:26:18
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paulo
Roo Stercogburn
If you can use 8.5 with its 'challenging' interface, you'll have no trouble learning X3. Go for it.
Shows that we're all different - the console view in X series although now improved by the return of custom colours is still worse than 8.5 and one of the main reasons I have avoided X anything so far.
Now that it is possible to make it look not quite so horrible and even though the fx bins and such still suck on narrow strips view, I am actually tempted this time, but retailers here (UK) still seem to have no info at all on when box set upgrades will be available. I have spoken to several and assuming they speak the truth, they seem to have been left completely in the dark, which seems very poor for a product that was released nearly a month ago. One of them didn't even know it was out. More worryingly, a vey large retailer near me has just stopped stocking Gibson products because they say that their delivery times / reliabilty of deliveries is just plain awful and they are fed up with having to tell customers that ...." erm no, it still hasn't arrived" . Hope this isn't a sign of things to come.
its hard to give an honest opinion of this software by just looking at it. specially with all the changes now, VST 3 being the largest IMO 8.5 cant even compare. x3 makes it look like a toy.
Windows 8.1 X64 Sonar Platinum x64 Custom built: Asrock z97 1150 - Intel I7 4790k - 16GB corsair DDR3 1600 - PNY SSD 220GBFocusrite Saffire 18I8 - Mackie Control
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lawp
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Re: Jumping from 8.5 to X3 - Worth It?
2013/10/21 14:43:30
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