I used Producer 8.5.3 for 4 years before upgrading and I was extremely happy with it. I haven't had a chance to really get to grips with Platinum yet but if for some reason I had to go back to 8.5.3 I could easily do so. If your system is stable and you have no issues then there is no need to upgrade. The bug fixes may not effect your work flow, and if you can live without extra addictive drums, vocal align, mix recall etc. then I agree with you, just get on with making music. I believe there comes a time when one reaches a software overload point, where you spend more time exploring/figuring out/tweaking new features then actually making music! At least this has been my experience. I would suggest you wait until Cake offers a must have feature that you absolutely need before you jump in.
 
Cheers,
Paul

tonemangler
 I believe there comes a time when one reaches a software overload point, where you spend more time exploring/figuring out/tweaking new features then actually making music!

Well put!

Good advice! :-)

Paul P
 
 
I presume any new ProChannel modules will work in X3e Producer and Studio (as John mentions).
And presets for anything you already own.
 
 

That *may* be a bad presumption. Cake, at any time, could enable a new PC module for only greater than X3 (i.e. SINAR 2015). Example, ReMatrix Solo is a PC Module that I cannot use in X3. Granted, it's 3rd Party but it's PC none the less.

Paul P
Makes you wonder a bit about a product that has hundreds of bugs, but at least they're recognized and being addressed.  But it'll cost you the price of X3 to get them fixed.

Yeah, but some of them are "corrected spelling of Anterton in Anderton collection" and "documentation for crossfades repeated twice in Japanese language manual." This isn't to minimize that serious bugs crop up that need to get fixed, but the remaining bugs are getting increasingly esoteric, and often have conditionals like "does not display properly sometimes if opened in safe mode from desktop." Those are the hardest ones not only to quantify, but to even have show up because it's not how people usually open files. But as you point out, at least once they're recognized, they can be fixed.

I find the incremental ergonomics and ease of use w/ each new iteration of SONAR real timesavers.  Much of what was frustrating in the earlier versions of X has smoothed out.  It was like they had a plan or something. ;-)  Whether that is worth it to you is another matter.

Platinum is a dumb name, and that almost made me not want to upgrade.  What's after Platinum? Protactinium?  Silly. 

I was stuck on 8.5.3 for about the same time period.  I love it. Especially the color features.  BUT when I made the switch to X3e and now to Platinum, I can say that the audio engine and other improvements are worth upgrading from 8.5.3.  And improved latency performance has value.
 

tonemangler
I used Producer 8.5.3 for 4 years before upgrading and I was extremely happy with it. I haven't had a chance to really get to grips with Platinum yet but if for some reason I had to go back to 8.5.3 I could easily do so. If your system is stable and you have no issues then there is no need to upgrade. The bug fixes may not effect your work flow, and if you can live without extra addictive drums, vocal align, mix recall etc. then I agree with you, just get on with making music. I believe there comes a time when one reaches a software overload point, where you spend more time exploring/figuring out/tweaking new features then actually making music! At least this has been my experience. I would suggest you wait until Cake offers a must have feature that you absolutely need before you jump in.
 
Cheers,
Paul

GregGraves
Platinum is a dumb name, and that almost made me not want to upgrade.  What's after Platinum? Protactinium? 

Platinum records. 

GregGraves
Platinum is a dumb name, and that almost made me not want to upgrade.  What's after Platinum? Protactinium?  Silly. 

Actually, according to what I've read, there is nothing after Platinum. It's the name of the CW's flagship DAW's ultimate version of SONAR.
 
IOW there will be no future naming like the past (.....8.5.3, X1, X2, X3).