Hi Zeth

I reckon you read a lot of negative posts lately, so you are aware of the current state of the VS-700 when it comes to using X1d or X2 

Mind you, mackie control will give you a similar headache as it suffers from very similar problems (lack of integration with ProChannel). Comparing just the control surface the MCU is about 2/3 of the price of the VS-700C. I'm sure you were looking at the entire set when quoting the £3400; the MCU does not come with any I/O as the VS-700R does.  Anyway, you may get the set cheaper if you care to look for a display model or get it used from one of the folks here on the forum.

Whether to buy or not to buy the VS-700 with its current lack of integration is your call afterall. I purchased mine half a year ago after a lot of research in this price range and do not regret it (I tracked down a brand new display model).

If unsure, wait until we see X2b / X2c since lots of users are waiting for control surface fixes ... and we have no idea if Cake is working on these at all ...

I currently regret it. I feel ripped off, frankly. There's still a sliver of a chance that my mind could be changed, but I am extremely unhappy about it right now.

Don't feel that way , actually ther's nothing better ..if it was the case , i would be with you on this one !

We all expect the products we buy to work without a lot of technical expertise involved in the area of software compatability. When I bought a unit with a built in hardware synth, a midi control panel, and an in and out interface, I expected everything to work with the DAW computer I had. I didn't know there was such a large... discrepency?... in software intregration and compatibility between the hosts, the OS's, the... effects..., but we have to look at where we are and who we are in relation to this craft-art-science. Some of us are engineers, some of us are artists. Some are both. But we, all of us, want the computer "engineers-scientists" to make this cutting edge machine to work in a cyber world of vast unknown variables that have to identified to be fixed.
I give my utmost patience to those assigned with that task, because I know it is huge and I don't understand it enough.
Sometimes when I want to ****, I ask instead.

Presently, the v700 console is basically a set of faders and a transport section. For the cost of the thing, that is a joke. Especially given that it was sold specifically on "tight integration". Support for the thing is wretched. This is the thing that will finally make me switch from Sonar, if it's not sorted out. 

Sad to say I'm prolly with John T on this. Still stuns me this mega gear now feels sort of disabled and dysfunctional and stuns me that they have left it all behind. Words are easy it seems.

Anyway... for now it works as a massive fader/transport desk with some nice shortcuts and customization buttons that do still work however to get a decent workflow, you have to grab the mouse with X2 a lot. Not the end of the world by any means but certainly a long way from what we signed up for by spending the coin that we have surely?

The up side is that there isn't much better option out there really... is there? Sonar is still excellent software especially for the price and my summary after much soul searching is I would only (painfully) jump to PT so this ridiculous nonsense doesn't enter my landscape again. It really is the only real long term supported option out there if a hardware surface is important to your workflow IMO. Everything else appears short term and Cake/Roland have joined this silly club.

Cheers.

Even if the unit were discontinued, that would be no real excuse for these trivial and immediately obvious bugs to arise. But the thing is still on sale. So right now, you can buy the flagship Sonar branded software and hardware, and they're not compatible. If there's any reasonable excuse for this, I've not yet heard it. 

Don't have anything else to say on this as Mully and John T have said it perfectly. I regret moving in this direction myself.

Guys I hate the fact we're this peeved. I sincerely hope you guys are still able to get work done despite all this nay-saying. Here there is a large 3rd party project to complete and it's been quite difficult to focus on it coz everything seems so out of shape now.... but maybe that's just me not taking it on the chin and getting used to the mouse more again.

Then again, what did I but this surface for?

Has anyone had a bug report update at all? Any sort of feedback or response from Cake?

I always get work done, but this has hindered me and is an irritation. In practical terms, yes, absolutely, I take it on the chin and get on with my work. And X1 / X2 itself is a great piece of software. But I want to work with a control surface, so Sonar's current poor CS support inevitably points me to the exit. And the incredibly poor communication about this actively shoves me towards it. I dunno, if I'd effectively broken a four grand hardware system fr my customers, I'd be treating that as a crisis, not as something to maybe get around to looking at sometime. I think it's offensive, and I do feel directly insulted.