Dear Cakewalk,
 
As a CW user dating back to Pro Audio 9, I'd like to express how disappointed I am in the Sonar X series workflow. In the last few months using X3e I've mixed audio post on a one hour documentary; recorded, mixed and mastered two full length CDs and half a dozen smaller projects. The best way I can describe it is fiddly. Clip editing, envelopes and zooming have all been hamstrung with modifier keys and arcane menus, and my productivity has suffered.
 
One long-time user's opinion.

you'll get used to it!! 

There is most definitely a learning curve - many folks expressed frustration at the UI redesign the X-series introduced, but many of those very same folks came back later to indicate that they came to really like the new design.
 
8.5.3 was extraordinarily powerful - But X3e is far more accessible to a much wider audience, in addition to being very stable.
 
Hang in there -  you might consider looking through some of the freely available videos on the new features in X3 - Cake TV and YouTube videos abound.  Or, you could look at picking up one of the books on Sonar 3 that are out there - they are REALLY well written.  Either approach, or doing both, would really be a good investment of time, and would shorten your transition period, in addition to likely reducing your frustration level.
 
There are also commercial video tutorials available.  I would suggest looking at the free videos first, and going from there. :)
 
Bob Bone
 

The X series is 50% "Who moved my cheese?" and 50% "That's just stupid".
Some of it you get used to; some of it you endure.
 
Many folks don't notice the workflow problems because they work differently from the others who do.
 
On the whole, X3 is a great but sometimes frustrating environment to work in!

stickman393
The X series is 50% "Who moved my cheese?" and 50% "That's just stupid".
Some of it you get used to; some of it you endure.
 
Many folks don't notice the workflow problems because they work differently from the others who do.
 
On the whole, X3 is a great but sometimes frustrating environment to work in!

I think "fiddly" was also a good description I can echo. I believe I've gotten used to the workflow and adopted my own nuances, but I can certainly echo the fiddly-ness of editing, envelopes, zooming and generally much of the work I do in the Track View. There's still quirks, if you spend enough time with it, some worse than others. I'm hoping for more attention spent in the editing capabilities in X4. I don't believe in sacrificing what the market generally wants, but what I want is a drastic review of the editor quirks. They still exist, despite other improvements that have sort of masked those quirks or minimized their appearance.

Search the forums. Lot's of OP's like this. When X1 came out there wasn't a day that went by with a thread like this. Then one by one they rtfm'd and came back a year later and finally admitted the workflow is better pretty much everywhere. Now plenty of converts here so they can't all be wrong. So stick with it.

You need retraining, it's new software. Check the groove3 tutorials. If you don't have time to reeducate yourself stick with the old stuff, but the more time you put in learning your new tool the more you will get back from your investment, by the time you've mastered it then you will be in a position to know it's real flaws.

PS why aren't you using shortcut keys?

I've seen my share of these posts already, and naturally I generally agree.  I have not yet ever seen one that said, no i was wrong.  

Yup nobody ever says that!!!! ;)

I guess no one is wrong when it comes down to opinion.

The frustration comes from insisting that the X series must still work like pre X Sonar. That's just not going to happen. The X series is the present reality.

Once I'd accepted that and put 8.5 away I was able to become proficient with X1 > X3

If you want the X series to behave like Sonar 8.5 then you have the cheap upgrade option and just stay with 8.5.

williamcopper
I've seen my share of these posts already, and naturally I generally agree.  I have not yet ever seen one that said, no i was wrong.  

The more wrong a person is, the less likely you will here them make a post saying "no I was wrong".  Sometimes it is not a simple matter of right versus wrong but more of a preference issue.  X3 was a major shift from the previous versions of Sonar and definitely a big switch from Pro Audio 9. One of the trickiest things for technology companies is satisfying loyal customers (I sometimes question if "loyal customer" is an oxymoron) while trying to add new customers and not be seen as falling behind competition.  The two complaints I heard the most about Sonar prior to X series was how hideous the interface was and how awkward workflow was.  I hear that now and then but mostly from people who are basing experience off of older versions or long time users of Cakewalk who hate change.  Whenever I sit down wit ha client or student and they see me working on Sonar, most are surprised how simple the workflow is compared to other DAWs.  Obviously that is not universally agreed upon, but I hear it enough to know that it holds its own.  I'm not going to judge anyone for not liking X series.  Some are simply never going to like it no matter how much "getting used to" they attempt.  Fortunately there are lots of other options fdor them.  To expect Sonar to regress when reviews have been mostly favorable is unrealistic.  No matter what they did, somebody would complain, as is there right.