Michael.b
 
I'm sure the eZine is more concentrated and helpful than random forum posts. After all, my random forum post provided more of the direct information pertaining to the point raised in this thread originally missing in Ryan's random forum post.
 
So, let the random posts continue!

Noel had already answered the question... I really don't get why you're trying to make an example of me for just sharing some back-story.

Nobodies posts here have been random. My responses, along with everyone else's, have been directly related to all of the points, questions, and concerns raised in this thread. We try to keep a pretty open dialog around here. If anyone else reading along found any insight I provided helpful, even if you don't care to hear it, then I'm glad. If not, no worries, there are plenty of other topics.

Do you have any constructive criticism or are you going to continue to bring up issues with what WASN'T said?

The start screen can be disabled, you've been gracious enough to explain how, so the question is answered. Though I do wonder if you have any actual feedback about it versus poking fun at the way others are attempting to be helpful.

Doktor Avalanche
I will be very controversial here and no doubt will get a rebound heading towards me.
You gotta be kind of dumb not to read the ezine. Don't expect to be spoon fed.
The ezine is about a 5 minute read for me.
 
(EDITED - Would you believe this is a "nicer" post  )
 

No, no, no . . . I refuse to believe that Dr Alex
 
But yes it's a simple matter to read the ezine, I've got into the habit and always download them and store them away, was looking forward to the Jamstix review, but sadly it didn't make it, although I got a new tuner out of it

Doktor Avalanche

Keni
For me I wish you fixed the hold-z zoom issue (not returning to smarttool on release)... This is in my face all day.

Well there are audio/trackview enhancements coming up so you would think they would have it all resolved when it comes out, along with all the other bugs related to trackview.
Ta.

Yes, thanks Dok... There is always hope... Until then I click forever...

The Start Screen added helpful features such as Quick Tip and Notifications, but on the other hand it now takes me longer to open a desired project from the recent projects list. First, it takes a bit longer for the screen to appear compared to the old Quick Start dialog. And, since all my projects look the same (because they were created from my custom project template that contains the same color-coded tracks, synths, Screensets, etc.), the thumbnails in the Recent Projects page are not only unhelpful/useless in identifying a project but also makes it less easy to identify the name of the project I'm looking for (because more eyeball movements are needed, compared to the old Quick Start dialog).
 
I really wonder why CW didn't add the option to change the view (from the thumbnail view to a view that lists project names, modified date, sample rate, etc. without the thumbnails, just like you can switch views in Windows explorer). If this was possible and the Start Screen was re-sizable (to a full view), users would probably be able to see 20+ or maybe 30+ projects in the screen without having to use the mouse wheel or the almost-invisible scroll bar at the right, and a very long project name would be fully visible too. You might think the info page that appears by clicking the [...] button is helpful when you want to compare tempos, sample rates, etc. between projects, but you have to bother to click that button per project, and, you can't tell which projects are which because that info page doesn't show the project's name. I must say the new Start Screen is very incomplete. The Bakers should have spend more time on it IMO. Sure, I can disable it and use the recent project list in the File menu, but I'd rather use the old Quick Start dialog which I've been using and accustomed to, IF it was still available in Hopkinton.
 
If the Bakers also use competitor daws (I believe they do, because a Baker said so in a thread a few years ago), they should have checked Studio One's start screen more carefully. That one is really well-designed and easy to use. Although you can't pin a project, I don't find it inconvenient since I can see many projects at once (not just 8) in the recent projects list and it's possible to delete a project from the list using a right-click menu. Sonar's Start Screen doesn't have a delete project option.

Pinning doesn't work for me at all. I always do consecutive savings, so there is no project that could be pinned, only folders. And that is also the reason why 16 recent projects is not enough.
There should be all projects that was open or saved, with folder structure, sortable by date or name. Maybe then it could be usable.

Michael.b

Anderton
..... So is it safe to assume you didn't live with it for a day or two to see if it offered any benefits? 

 
A program start screen is nothing novel to Sonar. I've been around long enough and seen enough start screens in programs and find the concept irritating.

 
 
FWIW you "conveniently omitted" answering my question.
 

Sorry, and speaking personally, there's nothing in your list of interest or which couldn't be managed without the Start Screen.

 
Of course not, there are usually multiple ways to do tasks in a computer. But I for one will be happy to save time by pinning projects instead of renaming them to make them jump to the top of the Windows menus.
 

Michael.b

Anderton
..... I don't think anyone asked him how to bypass the Start Screen.

 
How about in the very first post?
(Quote) "I'm just wondering and hoping the Bakers were wise enough to allow it to be bypassed...?"(Unquote)

 
Keni did not ask how to bypass the Start Screen. He asked if the Bakers allowed it to be bypassed. and Ryan gave a direct, unambiguous answer to that question.
 

Michael.b
I'm sure the eZine is more concentrated and helpful than random forum posts.

 
Here, we agree.
 

After all, my random forum post provided more of the direct information pertaining to the point raised in this thread originally missing in Ryan's random forum post.

Please explain how the question you cited as being raised in this thread initially, "I'm just wondering and hoping the Bakers were wise enough to allow it to be bypassed...?" is not answered by Ryan saying "It can be bypassed."
 

Michael.b
For the benefit of all those who wish to disable it here is the information.

 
Unfortunately, it wasn't as helpful as one might like, because you didn't copy and paste a crucial piece of information: "Note that in this case file management is under Windows and not SONAR, so to create a per-project folder you’ll need to create a folder and choose it when saving." I hope no one sprayed audio files all over their Cakewalk Projects folder because they followed your instructions without looking any further...in the future, consider that it's good practice to link to the document you're copying so people can get complete information from the source. 
 
 
 

Just my 2 cents...

I played with it for a few minutes, but for me it seems it only creates extra work constantly pinning and unpinning projects... ...and I can't see enough projects for it to work without forced pinning.

I find it far easier and faster to see a plain text list with no gfx so that more names are visible and in alphabetic order I find things fast...

So I have bypassed the screen and as I gave limited wifi connectivity, I also disabled the update checking. I wouldn't mind that feature but especially with my web limitations, it slows down being at full power to work.

So I hope many people do like it and use it. I would gate to think all the work hours put into it were wasted for all as they appear to be for me...

I'll check out the new templates when I can, but there too, I already have my win templates that serve me well...

Not much for me this month, but next update is only 30 days away... I like this new system!

Thanks to the Bakers, and all the forum members for making such a great product and family!

Keni

If we're talking about constructive feedback, then what I would say has been said by icontakt. Give me a list/details pane where I can see 15 or 20 projects at once, with their names/dates/tempos/time signatures all displayed and sortable by those criteria.
 
The screenshot thumbnails are worthless for me - my projects look identical, so that's just screen space wasted.
 
As for the start screen highlighting the usefulness of templates, I've never found a useful template among the ones provided, but would probably use my own templates more if they weren't saved in the Cakewalk Content folder by default. Separate Cakewalk's data from the user's data please!

I would add, if we could write notes (not musical notes) in a project like we can do with tracks, those notes could be displayed in the start section (e.g. as a tooltip hovering over the filename).

Anyway after they've fixed the regression issues (UTF support, apparently it pops up after you've loaded a project), and reduced the startup time by making sure the newsfeed downloads in it's own seperate process (very surprised this was not done originally), I hope they move on and do other stuff.

Oh and where there is no thumbnail they really should have put a default picture there instead rather than have ugly black squares. This is all basic stuff.

Right now I like the previous Quick Start dialog box better but the Start Screen would be ok if I could select multiple favorite templates which would be displayed at the top of "New From Template" so I don't have to scroll down to find them.
 
"New Project" is a bit annoying to me because I now have to create a new folder and browse to it to save. Before it was simpler - If I wanted to create a temp test project I would simply type in a one character name and click ok. Unless I decided to manually save it was gone when I closed the project (I don't use auto save). If I wanted to save it things were already in there place.
 
Since it seems the goal is to reach out to a wide base, being able to customize what is displayed to the user (Video Tutorials, Notifications, etc) would be helpful.