Yes,i will concede that "game changer " may have not been the best descriptive choice , please feel free to disregard that and substitute a more appropriate analogy if you choose .
 
Yeah, I'm very sincere about my question  ,
i suppose that is due to the fact that I have been "disrupted " in just about everything I thought i knew or had even hoped to learn at this point about SONAR and music production …
X3 has forced me to take a step back and reevaluate what it's gonna take over here on my end to gain some music production chops  ….
there is no doubt in my mind that SONAR hasn't peaked …I'm sure it will continue to grow and evolve ...
i sure hope I can do the same and keep up . 
 
for now I'm gonna read and listen to you guys….I'm getting a lot out of what your saying  
 
thanks, 
 
Kenny
 
 
 
 
 

X3 came out the chute as an impressively stable release (biggest win) with some cool extras and features... After reading a lot of posts, I tend to agree that "perfecting" what already exists would be more enticing (to me) than something "drastically new." There are so many "workflow niceties" that would make SONAR snuff the competition... they "exist" already, just not streamlined (per se) yet.

Tempo mapping tools that don't routinely break and say tempo out of range would be nice.
 
That would seem like a game changer.

I agree with Craig's initial sentiment.
I remember back in the day when spreadsheet programs broke new ground all the time and every massive innovation was very welcome. Now a spreadsheet program is a spreadsheet program. Fully matured and an everyday tool. DAWs are reaching that point, and no amount of bundling other apps and baubles will alter that.
 
If I had to wish for one thing it would be to have the ability to alter tempos quickly and easily with perfect audio transition. There's been threads here about this but to achieve it at the moment requires a lot of palaver. (Even a simplification of Audio Snap would be nice - every time I try to use that I give up due to its techy abstruseness.) I'm sure DAWs of the future will have this as a simple function.  Actually, Band In a Box has been able to do this for a long time now with its audio clip based RealTracks; no fuss, just alter the tempo(s) at the bar(s) required and everything else is under the hood.

What I worry about with the 'new and improved' fever that seems to grip software development is that it totally turns the users off from using it. I use to do a lot of computer programming back in the days of Windows 3.1, 95 and 98. It was all hobby stuff, but it was fun and enjoyable. The go to program for the hobby folks back then Visual Basic, reaching its high point at VB6. Then Microsoft announced that a new and improved version was on the way and everyone was excited. Then came VB Net. It was not at all like VB6. For the hobbyist, it was a disaster. Now VB was designed for the 'professional' programmer. Well, that shut the door in my face. I simply didn't have the time to devote to such a new paradigm in programming. Today, Microsoft gives away VB and yet it still has never got back to where it was. The types of programs that we use to create simply aren't there. And the folks at MS complain that there aren't enough developers anymore.
 
Sometimes I see Sonar in the same light as VB6. Stable, very useful for both hobbyist and professional. Yet the drive to be more 'professional' can drive the hobbyist out. I sincerely hope that doesn't happen with Sonar. It would be a shame if it did.

I wouldn't know about X3. It physically hurts my eyes. If you would like to know how much, get in front of your car at night with your high beams on and stare into the light. If it were not for Sonarmods, I would still be on 8.5.
 
Sadly, I had a project I had to use X3 because when I first got it, I opened the project in X3 and going back to X2, it would just stop at measure 40. I had to finish it in X3. TBH, I don't think X3 is any better than X2. Visually, thanks to Sonarmods, X2 is much better than X3.

+1 for a steady improvement over a radical change.
 
A nip here a tuck there, maybe a new headline instrument and/or effects plugin and I'll be happily handing over the upgrade fee :)

regarding improving performance, there's a list of known issues in x3 that says "yes, performance can be improved" http://forum.cakewalk.com/Outstanding-Issues-as-of-X3E-UNOFFICIAL-m3009969.aspx

MandolinPicker
Sometimes I see Sonar in the same light as VB6. Stable, very useful for both hobbyist and professional. Yet the drive to be more 'professional' can drive the hobbyist out. I sincerely hope that doesn't happen with Sonar. It would be a shame if it did.

 
I don't think you have to worry about that. Sonar has added lots of "professional" features (e.g., switching the underlying video platform to something with greater future potential), Audio Random Access, effects chains, 64-bit audio engine, etc.) without impacting the program's ease of use. Cakewalk is always concerned about streamlining workflow, which benefits any user. Fortunately, they also know the difference between "simplification" and "dumbing down," so I doubt you'd see a replay of the Final Cut Pro X scenario. 

Guitarpima
I wouldn't know about X3. It physically hurts my eyes. If you would like to know how much, get in front of your car at night with your high beams on and stare into the light. If it were not for Sonarmods, I would still be on 8.5.
 
Sadly, I had a project I had to use X3 because when I first got it, I opened the project in X3 and going back to X2, it would just stop at measure 40. I had to finish it in X3. TBH, I don't think X3 is any better than X2. Visually, thanks to Sonarmods, X2 is much better than X3.

I'm just curious if you are being literal or figurative when you say it hurts your eyes. I understand that grays with the some tinting ability is not for everyone and that there will never be consensus on what looks best. I was just curious how something as neutral the world of color as gray physically hurts you. Do you have a condition it aggravates? If so, I feel compassion because that most be a horrible thing to endure.