No, the problem isn't that the module is fundamentally unrecognised. It all works fine in a basic set up. The problems arise when tracks are hidden from the console.

I apologise for being so impolite above. I should have raised this in a less irate way.

John, were you able to try out the recommendation from Ryan?

Hi All,

Ok So I've done the X2a install... So far the VS700 seems to be behaving. But I have encountered a few interesting things that I have listed below.

In my current configuration, the 700R is not in the system as of yet... I am just testing the control surface.  

VST Plugin Scanning

So I tried to follow the installation instructions regarding plugins.

Go to Edit > Preferences > File - VST Settings
2.      Click the [Reset All VST Plug-ins] button
When prompted with the message "This will reset configuration settings for all your VST Plug-ins to defaults... Are you sure you want to do this" click [Yes]
Click the [Scan VST Folders] button and wait for the scan to complete

When I did this, the scanner failed. After I Clicked OK the I got tan unhandled exception (I love those...) and a restart message (sorry I was to quick with the mouse and didn't catch the exception but my JIT debugger came up and I closed outof it. It appears that there were 2 areas of failure in rescanning VSTs... while trying to scan the Fantom VS.dll,  I recieve an error message;

"MIDI Devices aren't set up correctly."

So I removed the Fantom VS folder from the vstplugins folder in the SONAR Program File folder... and got passed that.

Next, I use some older MDA plugins... they were located in their own folder named "mda_vst_fx_win" in the vstplugins folder... vst Scanning failed the same way. So I put all of the MDA plugins directly into the vstplugins folder and all but 1 scanned and was loaded successfully.

The older MDA plugin that failed I'm sure was due to the updated redistributable for MS C++ 2012. The plugin that did not load was "mda combo.dll"... For me, no big deal... but some of the older plugins will not load and cause exceptions when they are in older projects.
NOTE: All of the same mda plugins AND the Fantom VS Plugins, installed and scanned-in fine in X2 Build 308, with X2 "Quick fix" patch.

Another Note is that when this exception occurs, the vst scanning process is aborted and the remainder of the vst plugins don't get loaded... like anything that is alphabetically beyond the failed plugin... like True Pianos, for example. So, you might want to consider logging exceptions during this process (try/catch) and continuing loading vst's even if one causes the exception.

JOG/Shuttle Control

I'm liking the Jog/Shuttle behavior after a quick run through, looks a bit smoother.

Question:
How can I control the resolution of the jog control? I can't seem to find this setting? (i.e. jog moves to 1 sec intervals [SMPTE time display], unless in select mode) can I change this?

I also like the more graphic prochannel stuff looks cool! 
Just started to go through the channel Strip controls.

So far, the synth controls/parameters seem to be displaying and functioning with regard to the selected synth.

Nav Buttons and Focus

The <,>,^,V nav buttons are interesting regarding focus... Right now as I write, X2 is up behind this browser. While having this browser in focus, I can press the Synth Rack button (and shift + Synth Rack) to open and close the synth rack... however, when I try to use the nav buttons I can control the cursor in this Quick Reply message window (left, right, up, down)....

Looks like a windows handle issue guys. (how about C++ at the HAL and C# on the GUI ;-) anyway... I digress)... non the less if you select a synth in the rack, the nav button function as expected. Not sure why, but if you click in the rack space, no synth gets focus and the up and down nav buttons select subgroup channels in the master pane, in console view. 

Console View and Focus

If you click on a track in console view, and use the LEFT RIGHT nav buttons, you scroll through the track controls for the selected track in the Tack View, then at the end of the selectable controls, you go to the next track.

When in Console view... using UP/Down nav buttons, The console channels don't scroll left and right if the selected track is out of the window. Kinda sucks that you have to grab the mouse.

Up Down nav buttons select tracks in track view pane, and the selected console channel reflects the selected track. But When the Console view is in focus, you can of course use the select buttons on the VS700 to select the given track and use the +8/-8 buttons. But it would be cool if when the Console view is in focus, that the LEFT/RIGHT nav buttons selected the channel in the Console view, so you could scroll through the channels. Then, once you have scrolled to the track channel you want... hit the SET button to force the VS700 to the correct group and that track.

I also noticed an anomaly using the Access Panel > View buttons on the VS700... If you have the console view floating (lets say ~3/4 of the screen hight, and width expanded to the width of the screen but slid over to the right a bit so the Inspector is visible (really.. it happens all the time, you can just see it this way). Now press the track view... you get a redraw of something, and both the track view and the Console View remain, but focus does change between them.

It would be nice to see a display configuration in the display settings, that gives you an option to "Make Selected Console/Track Views Exclusive" this way you could make each selected view (between Console and Track view...) hide/minimize the console view, if the Track View button is pressed... and Only the Console View would be visible when the Console button is pressed. Right now, I'm not feeling anything from these buttons, unless the console view is closed completely. Even then, when you press the track View button with the Console floating in view... the console view remains, and you get the wierd redraw problem.

I Then got caught in some type of loop where, Console view is up (but not docked) I click on the Sonar application window header, and hit the UP nav button continuously. Instead of scrolling through tracks it was ping-ponging between only two tracks. That was wield, I tried to recreate it... couldn't.

ProChannel Control, Console View and Inspector Focus

In console view, command + EQ opens the prochannel (this is good), When the Inspector has focus, the same applies (this is good too). When in Console view... and you open the prochannel, the EQ channel strip button does not page through the prochannel components as it does in the Inspector. 

If the Console window is floating, and say the height ~ 1/2 of the screen height... then clicked to be in focus, the command + EQ command still opens the prochannel in the inspector.

Now start increasing the height of the console view... if the prochannel is open in the inspector and closed in the console view, then use command + EQ to open the prochannel, the prochannel will close in track view and open in console view. As you lessen the height of the console view, you will reach a point at which the prochannel won't be controlled by using command + EQ in console view.
This is not a biggie... just an interesting observation and got confusing, as to when and how window focus affects the expected functionality.

Currently, I am testing on a single monitor... this will effect those users. As I reconfigure my system (Add VS700R, 3 additional monitors, Adding various MIDI interfaces, I/O and controllers) I will continue to report any issues.

Oh... One last request: Can you guys provide a good tone generator plug-in with SONAR? Maybe for the a belated holiday gift. (Notice I didn't say Christmas... huh? did ya!)

Thats it for now... another book later! (heheeeee)

Frick

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
AMEK/TAC 24x16x2 console, 3M Model 79 – 2” 24 trk, MOTU 24I/O, QUAD Core XEON (16GB Ram, 1 TB), VS700 System, SONAR X2 , yamaha NS10s, Yamaha HS 8s, Axiom pro46, Ensonic ESQ10

So are all the hardware functions working for the console now? Is X2a now working as great as 8.5 did ? What's the overall verdict?

Keen to get this bad boy downloaded..... thanks for all the information so far folks!

To John T,

I'm able to replicate the behavior you reported. I just wanted to acknowledge it since it appears to not be specific to your setup.


To Frick,

Thanks for updating everyone with your experience. I wanted to reply to some of your topics with some information that might be of use.


Fantom VS - "MIDI Devices Aren't Set Up Correctly" Error

Give this article a look: http://www.cakewalk.com/s...X_Troubleshooting.aspx

You'll most likely need to reconfigure the Fantom VS's settings to work properly. This isn't a new issue to X2a, it's really just setup related. It was most likely exposed, however, due to the changes with the Plug-in Manager and resetting/re-scanning. The article above should get you back up and running to avoid that error.

In regards to the actual crash, did the Fault Reporter come up? If so, definitely send the crash through so our dev team can have it on file.


Jog Wheel 

The jog wheel will move between seconds in SMPTE mode or by Bars/Beats. It follows the current setting on the hardware itself when pressing the TIME CODE button on the surface. Moving at a finer resolution would be done with the Shuttle Wheel in this case. Scroll mode services a slightly different goal/purpose but obviously it can be used to navigate around as well.


Nav Buttons & Focus

I can't comment on Windows stealing commands (outside of my area of expertise) but this has been around for some time. If you want to have some fun, hold down the COMMAND button on the surface and move the Surround Panner around ;)

In any case, I'm trying to replicate what you're saying in regards to cycling through the Synth Rack with the nav buttons but don't quite follow. Can you give us a bit more info in regards to what you're seeing? Also, is this specific to the VS-700 at all or is it also repeatable with the keyboard arrow keys?


Console View and Focus 

The behavior regarding the ProChannel opening in the Inspector if the Console View is floating and short is exactly as intended. There's a section that discusses the intended behavior in the .pdf here: http://www.cakewalk.com/support/doc.aspx?DLID=951 .Check out the section for "Opening/Showing/Hiding the ProChannel GUI from the 700 C".

Some additional notes though.

I don't know the exact pixel count, but basically if you're below a certain threshold in Console View height it will open the ProChannel in the more helpful area to what you're viewing, which would be the Inspector. The goal with this is that if the Console View is barely visible (such as in a Meter Bridge setup), you'd be seeing the ProChannel in the area actually helpful to yourself which would be the inspector.

Also to note, if you open the ProChannel in the Console View, it will close the ProChannel in the Inspector (and vice versa). This isn't really specific to the VS-700 though.

Hi Ryan,

Thanks for the reply. I will try to get you more detail on the Synth Rack issue. I did discover one other issue (again regarding plugin focus...);

If you are in Console View, and you open a plugin from the FX bin, the 700 channel strip shows that that plugin is available to control, as it should be. Now bring up a second plugin from the same bin and it now is in focus on the 700, this is good.

Now, you have 2 plugins open (X-Ray works fine btw). So, if you now try to bring the first plug-in back in focus, to try and control on the 700 by clicking on the opened plugin... you can't. It try's, but the 700 returns to default. You need to double click the plugin that you want in focus again, from the bin if you want that plugin to have focus on the 700 (while the plugin is already opened) and it comes back to the 700 Channel strip control. Not sure if this is intended behavior but I feel (and I think that all would agree...) that it would be a smoother workflow, if you could just click on the opened plugin and have control on the 700.

Again, I will review your questions and repost further details.

Thanx
Frick

Hi All / Ryan,

Another weird problem to report...

I was messing with the synth rack, via the 700... Just got done recording a track. the used "Select" mode via the 700. Went to location on clip that I wanted to "Split". I split the track, and deleted the latter portion. Opened and closed the synth rack a few times, pressing "Syntth Rack" to open and "Shift + Synth Rack" to close.

While the Synth Rack was opened, I pressed the Synth Rack button a few times and noticed a wield redraw to the right side of the Synth Rack, like it wanted to close. So, thats one thing... but then I went back to reset the play head to a different location in the track by clicking in the time rule... and the play head was gone... no where to be found!

I closed the project and re-opened and tried to retrace my steps... couldn't get it to happen again while following the previous steps.

Ryan: Regarding the synth rack issue that you wanted further info on, My 700 is making a liar out of me (dammit! :-)
What was happening when I reported the issue was as follows:

2 synths in the rack, rack opened, working on something else (while rack is opened) click in the rack space (not on any particular synth, but the empty rack space below the last synth). At that point, I was expecting one of the 2 synths to be selected and using the ^, V buttons on the 700, select the synth I wanted. That wasn't happening when I reported the issue, now I cant get it to repeat. I will keep a close eye on when and if this occurs again and the process prior to it happening.

Like I said, these are weird things... like the play head disappearing.

Question: What is the minimum recommended amount VRAM for this GUI to perform at its best?
I'm thinking that this may be the issue. (This is NOT specified in the Minimum System Requirements
[link=http://www.cakewalk.com/products/SONAR/X2-Producer/]http://www.cakewalk.com/p.ducts/SONAR/X2-Producer/[/link] )

I'm currently building a new facility and extensively testing software and components as I go, so X2a has NOT been moved to my production environment yet. (Still waiting to test with Eventide H3000 VST... as SONAR is not listed as being supported. Should probably fix that relationship ;-);

So my staging Machine has an ATI Radeon 3200 Graphics Chip (Shared memory), Quad Core AMD 3GHz Processor, 8 GB RAM, TB HD. My production machine; NVIDIA NVS295 Quad Monitor 2DP (256 MB DDR3) PCIe Video,  Intel XEON QUAD Core @ 3.2GHz, 16GB RAM, TB HD.

So maybe the 3200 Chip could be causing a problem in the AMD Machine???
I Look forward to hearing from you on this one :-)

Thanx,
Frick

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
AMEK/TAC 24x16x2 console, 3M Model 79 – 2” 24 trk, MOTU 24I/O, QUAD Core XEON (16GB Ram, 1 TB), VS700 System, SONAR X1c , SONAR X2a , yamaha NS10s, Yamaha HS 8s, Axiom pro46, Ensonic ESQ10 , Ensonic TS10

Another...

Take Lane Issue in while working with MIDI: SONAR X2a

Condition: Open the Take Lanes in a MIDI track, create a few takes on that track, Solo the first take... Mute the rest. Now delete the Solo'd track. 

Resulting Issue: You can no longer have control over any Mute button in any of the take lanes. If you have all of the takes Muted in the take lanes, you can never un-mute any of them. The mute button on the main track toggles, but has no effect on the take lanes.
 
I have not tested this with audio tracks yet... but I'm sure the issue is there.

So, the moral of the story for now I guess is... Don't delete takes that are Solo'd in the Take Lanes!

Frick

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
AMEK/TAC 24x16x2 console, 3M Model 79 – 2” 24 trk, MOTU 24I/O, QUAD Core XEON (16GB Ram, 1 TB), VS700 System, SONAR X1c, SONAR X2(308 - Production) , SONAR X2a (351 - Testing/Staging) , yamaha NS10s, Yamaha HS 8s, Axiom pro46, Ensonic ESQ10 , Ensonic TS10