Greetings to all. I would appreciate any advice and opinions on some upgrade questions. Currently I run X3e Producer. Cakewalk is throwing tempting upgrade offers at me and I am kind of short circuited in making a decision. I am just getting back into recording and playing. I will be mainly working with just myself in my little project studio at the house. No room for a band and no plans for doing any "for hire" work involving recording other people. Maybe the occasional "guest" collaboration. Since I am working solo, I am craving some more instrumentation. I have Komplete Elements, which let me explore the NI stuff and I am really looking hard at Komplete Ultimate but that's a lot of $$ and you are 2nd class citizen if you bought Elements as far as upgrades go. (seriously, just get the free players and save the money to buy the full suite) But I didn't come here to talk about brand N, I came to ask about Rapture Pro upgrade with possible Z3TA+2 bundle as well as Sonar Platinum. Since I have X3e Producer and I haven't even begun to scratch the surface of what it can do, I can't decide if grabbing the Upgrade pricing for Platinum is really money well spent. Same with Rapture Pro / Z3TA+2 bundle. I can do a combination of things but I can not justify doing everything at this time. I also want to either get a second midi controller or retire my PC88-MX, it's 20 years old this year, battle scarred and the clunking keys can be heard even with headphones on ( yeah it's been a workhorse, wish I could get a new keybed) So:
1. Rapture Pro with Z3TA+2 ??? or stay with versions that came with Producer
2. Platinum? or Stay with X3? ( has anyone had any major nightmares with upgrade or is it fairly seamless)
3. Anybody use the Necktar XL controllers? I know it's not weighted/hammer action but as I get older, that may not be such a bad thing :p
 
I really appreciate this forum, even though I am not an active participant. There is a treasure trove of info here and I say Thank You to everyone who take the time to post relevant stuff.
Sorry for the long post.
Jason

Hmm. That's a tough one. Platinum is a great upgrade but for your purposes probably not an essential one, as X3Producer is a pretty full-formed DAW in its own rite, so quite possible your money might be spent elsewhere. But it seems to be getting better and better, and remember you can always jump in on a monthly plan any time they release something that seems essential to you.
 
Rapture Pro is a great and full-featured flagship for the money, but does seem to have some teething pains we're all waiting for the Bakers to attend to. Hopefully soon, but just so that you know. There's potential there, and a ton of sound for the money (not so much that much that you don't already have in DimPro and Rapture, but more potential for deep tweaking esp on the Dimension library) but it's a wee bit wobbly in its current incarnation.
 
I have the full Komplete 9 - not Ultimate, just standard but even so it's an amazingly deep package, hard to imagine running out of possibilities. If you need a new controller you could consider the Komplete Kontrol series, which interface with it beautifully and have pretty much the best synth-action keyboard feel I've ever played. (Even without the keyboard, I'm finding the Komplete Kontrol software a nice environment for quickly finding sounds I have in the library but might otherwise never have stumbled on - but still being able to tweak them deeply.)
 
Or you could wait a bit for the Akai Advance series to drop - similar deep hardware-software integration but not as tied to the NI stuff (still seems to work well with it though, from the walkthroughs I've seen) - I've heard NI is opening their platform up as well, but that depends on other manufacturers supporting it, whereas Akai seems to be doing a lot of integration out of the box. I've also heard they have a great keyboard feel but again, non-weighted. I need hammer-action keys for some purposes, but your mileage may vary...
 
Z3TA+2 is a great upgrade from the original, but much in the same line. If you liked the original, it's more or less a no-brainer, if you didn't use the original much then maybe not.
 
Not sure if that's helpful but it's hard to really give you a "you should definitely do this" kind of answer - everyone's purposes, needs and budget are different...
 

I don't know what deals you are being offered so can't comment re value for money and as with all things it largely depends on what you are aiming for in your productions.
 
Personally, I stuck with X3PE and skipped the upgrade this time. Not enough there for me to consider it a worthwhile upgrade to X3 at present and it still seems to have a few issues 4 updates in going by what I read here. So far, most of the promised "extras" seem to consist of content rather than actual new program features, but as I understand it you won't get that stuff anyway as you have to be a "member" at the time it's released to so. If you visit the Cakewalk instruments forum I think it would be fair to say that Rapture Pro is something of a problem child in it's current state, so I would probably swerve that for now at least. I have Z3ta+2 which is ok, but I don't really use that much if I'm honest (Omnisphere junkie!) but also partly because the arp function is tempermental and I can't be doing with messing with things that don't work properly all the time . There are some decent free VST synths (your search engine of choice is your friend here) if you just want to expand your sonic range while you save up for something better.
 
Other than that it's all good ;)

Oh right, that's the other thing you could do with your play money - get Omnisphere. I don't have it myself but from all reports that's another giant universe of incredible sound that should keep you inspired for a good while. The new version looks incredible.
 
Doesn't help with your controller situation though!...

Platinum is X3E with bolts ons and bug fixes. If you find out there's a bug fixed in Platinum or a feature you need in Platinum then upgrade. Same with the content. Rap Pro will be a good synth but it's not there yet. Also note Platinum has some performance and stability fixes.

Wow, great responses. Thank you all. I was leaning towards holding off on the Platinum upgrade.I didn't see too much gain from the switch and could almost anticipate some hassles. I just now have X3 dialed into to my system and my liking.  Price wise the deals are as follows:
Rapture Pro upgrade is $79.00 (149 bundled with Z3TA+2) and the Platinum upgrade is also $149.
 
 
My concern would be upgrading Rapture & Z3TA only to have to re-do them if I go to Platinum since it ships with Raputre not Pro and Z3TA+ not 2. Looks like I will do a little more research on Rapture pro and may just upgrade Z3TA+ and hold out for NI to do a real sale on Komplete Ultimate. I like their cinematic stuff and unbundled, it's just too expensive piece by piece.  Omnisphere is on the lust list as well. But at some point I should probably just make some music instead of going through program lists plinking on sounds. 
I really appreciate the feedback!
 

paulo
I don't know what deals you are being offered so can't comment re value for money and as with all things it largely depends on what you are aiming for in your productions.
 
Personally, I stuck with X3PE and skipped the upgrade this time. Not enough there for me to consider it a worthwhile upgrade to X3 at present and it still seems to have a few issues 4 updates in going by what I read here. So far, most of the promised "extras" seem to consist of content rather than actual new program features, but as I understand it you won't get that stuff anyway as you have to be a "member" at the time it's released to so. If you visit the Cakewalk instruments forum I think it would be fair to say that Rapture Pro is something of a problem child in it's current state, so I would probably swerve that for now at least. I have Z3ta+2 which is ok, but I don't really use that much if I'm honest (Omnisphere junkie!) but also partly because the arp function is tempermental and I can't be doing with messing with things that don't work properly all the time . There are some decent free VST synths (your search engine of choice is your friend here) if you just want to expand your sonic range while you save up for something better.
 
Other than that it's all good ;)
 

We are going to do be doing updates every month. I am sure we call all agree that all software has room for improvements. Don't take the fact that we have done 4 updates as a negative. In fact, we'll be improving SONAR (even though it is very mature and stable) every month and making it better and better. That should be viewed as a positive instead of doing a few patches like most software companies do and moving to a new version. 

You're just like me, hee hee.  Just one more synth, or one more effect, or just one more DAW..., but it's my hobby, and I guess I could be spending it on much worse!
 
The first question I would ask is what kind of music are you making?  Because I will bet that if you are not even using Dimension Pro and Rapture now, you're probably not likely to use Rapture Pro.  So I think you're fine holding out on the next sale.
 
I agree with Doktor Avalanche.  Because of Cakewalk's new sales model, I will probably hold off upgrades to Platinum until I really want or need something, or am getting hit with some hard bug, or if a good sale comes up.  Otherwise, X3 seems to be doing what I need for now.
 
I do really like Komplete Ultimate, and maybe a way to get into it is see if you can find a cheap copy of Kontakt, Reaktor or Guitar Rig.  Then catch the next big sale to get to Komplete or Ultimate with a crossgrade.
 
I myself was looking at the Nektar, but I have a PCR-800 still in the box, and I have a Keystation Pro 88, which is weighted, but I really don't like the feel, but it has a *ton* of programmable controls.  I'm considering replacing it with a real digital piano with USB midi, and attach to it another controller that has controls only, since I really like the feel of a weighted digital piano.

Andrew Rossa [Cakewalk]
 
We are going to do be doing updates every month. I am sure we call all agree that all software has room for improvements. Don't take the fact that we have done 4 updates as a negative. In fact, we'll be improving SONAR (even though it is very mature and stable) every month and making it better and better. That should be viewed as a positive instead of doing a few patches like most software companies do and moving to a new version. 

Point of order.... There's is one thing I disagree with in this statement.

It shouldn't be viewed that way.. it is that way!
+1

forkol
I do really like Komplete Ultimate, and maybe a way to get into it is see if you can find a cheap copy of Kontakt, Reaktor or Guitar Rig.  Then catch the next big sale to get to Komplete or Ultimate with a crossgrade.

A "cheap" way is to buy a Maschine.
Right now it's bundled with Komplete Select (just released) which has a whole load of goodies from Komplete 10.
Double check this but I think you can crossgrade...