S.F.Sorrow
Hm... I never use the console view. So in the track view I can only access polarity and interleave buttons on the inspector? I never use the inspector, I keep it hidden as it has always been a waste of space for me. Is there no way to get an easy overview of which tracks have inverted polarity or whether they are set for stereo or mono in track view?

I never used the Console view in 8.5. Never. However in the X series, you can call up the Console view by typing D and the Inspector by typing I. It's so easy to flip between Track and Console view that the synergy of using both for what they do best has become part of my workflow. I actually remove as much as possible from Track View to simplify tracking. Then again I also have a touchscreen, and Console View is great for that.
 
Of course if you set a track input to a mono input, it becomes a mono track; and if an effect generates a stereo out from a mono signal, the track will change itself to stereo. If you are using stereo effects but ultimately want the track to be mono, then you would need to change the mono/stereo button.
 
However I too need to see mono/stereo as well, but mostly to make sure tracks that are supposed to be stereo aren't mono by accident. Same with polarity, I don't want it set incorrectly. So, I made a tweak using the Theme Editor so that in Console view, if mono or negative polarity was selected, the button would turn bright red. So my workflow is type D > verify polarity and stereo/mono are set correctly (I keep the console on Narrow Strips view) > type D again to get back to track view, or stay in Console view.
 
I can't really imagine a situation where you would need to monitor polarity and mono/stereo continuously, so if you do, I'd be curious about what kind of workflow demands that kind of constant monitoring.

Anderton
after all, we live in a world where Fender calls tremolo "vibrato." 

Wait... does this mean my guitar has just been out of tune??

robert_e_bone
There is a freely downloadable demo version of Sonar, I believe in its 3 flavors, that you could try out for yourself, prior to purchase.
 
The audio engine is indeed fully functional - you wouldn't get access to most of the plugins, but you would be able to get a real good feel for the interface.
 
There have been AMAZING changes to the user interface, and most other pieces of Sonar, as well, and while it might well be quite confusing at first, if you were to not so much try to make it function exactly as 8.5.3 did but instead approached it with a mindset of looking at those changes with more of an open mind - it would help you to get a better feel for doing things.
 
8.5.3 was amazingly powerful, through all kinds of key bindings and such, whereas they made an attempt to make Sonar easier for newcomers to learn, and that threw a bunch of folks off when X1 first came out with its redesigned user interface.  A lot of those same folks have ended up expressing that they came to appreciate the work flow differences - in many ways many folks found the new ways helped them accomplish things faster and better.  (this is, of course, not universally shared sentiment, but then again, there is no reason not to be able to continue to use 8.5.3 AND also have Sonar Platinum)
 
DO give some thought to trying out the demo - it is free, after all.
 
Bob Bone
 

So I can try the demo (or the upgrade for that matter) without messing with the installed 8.5.3? The upgrade doesn't install "on top" of 8.5.3?
 
Still, I need to upgrade my studio server and for various reasons Windows 10 is the only option. As far as I can tell 8.5.3 won't work with Win10 so it's either upgrade or move on to Cubase. With Cubase I'm at least somewhat familiar with the workflow but no support for 32bit plugins in Cubase 9 is still a bit hard to swallow for me.

S.F.Sorrow

Anderton
Welcome to a very helpful and (almost always) friendly forum.

Thanks! I've actually been a member since the days of Sonar 8 but haven't felt the need to post anything. A credit to Cakewalk I guess, Sonar 8.5.3 being so stable for me that I never needed any help or support.


Sadly it seems like 8.5.3 isn't compatible with Windows 10 so I must upgrade or move on to something different. Ideally I would want a Windows 10 compatible 8.5.3 but that's obviously not an alternative.

 
Once you learn the X-Series, the last thing you'll want is a Windows 10 compatible 8.5.3  But are you sure 8.5.3 isn't compatible with 10? I don't know...
 

The current version of Sonar still comes with a 32bit install, right?

 
Yes, but it also bridges 32-bit plug-ins in a 64-bit environment. This isn't foolproof, particularly with DX plug-ins, but I haven't had problems with the few remaining 32-bit plug-ins I use...and the benefits of using a 64-bit operating system with SONAR are substantial. 32 bits is dying, and it's only a matter of time before you will have to go to 64 bits unless you want to "freeze" your computer and never update the OS, drivers, or programs ever again.
 
Download the SONAR Platinum demo and see what you think. Like I said, there's a learning curve; but there would be one if you change to a different program as well. You also might want to check out what people are saying about Cubase 9 in their forums, but really, all forums have the same thread topics, just posted by different people  ("support sucks," "project corrupt," "the program is not suitable for my needs because it doesn have XYZ." etc. etc. etc.).
 

FYI - according to user reports in this thread, 8.5.3 runs with Windows 10. And yes, you can have the two versions installed side by side.
 

Anderton

S.F.Sorrow
Hm... I never use the console view. So in the track view I can only access polarity and interleave buttons on the inspector? I never use the inspector, I keep it hidden as it has always been a waste of space for me. Is there no way to get an easy overview of which tracks have inverted polarity or whether they are set for stereo or mono in track view?

 
I can't really imagine a situation where you would need to monitor polarity and mono/stereo continuously, so if you do, I'd be curious about what kind of workflow demands that kind of constant monitoring.

Well, I don't NEED it but using the same logic I don't NEED volume or pan controls on individual tracks either but it would certainly mess with my workflow if they were moved to the inspector. It just seems like a very strange and pointless decision to remove the polarity and interleave buttons. I'm sure I can learn to live without them but it's little things like this that makes me question whether the "new" Sonar workflow will work for me or if I should move on to Cubase.

Anderton
FYI - according to user reports in this thread, 8.5.3 runs with Windows 10. And yes, you can have the two versions installed side by side.
 

Ah, thanks! I must admit I've never tried it myself but the few comments I found on this online said 8.5.3 didn't work with Windows 10. If this really works it would solve all my problems, at least temporarily. I would love to be able to continue using 8.5.3 while trying a demo of the latest Sonar version parallell to it. Learning the workflow of the new version outside of sessions would be ideal.
 
As for 32bit, yeah, it's dying, I know. Sadly there's a few 32bit plugins that I find very hard to let go that will never be upgraded to 64bit (plus a  few others that will cost quite a bit to upgrade). Bridging is something I want to avoid so I'm sticking to 32bit host for as long as possible.

Just one of the reasons I hung on to 8.5 for so long - the removal of the phase and interleave buttons from the track header was irritating to me. IMO they should have left the option of displaying them in the track header. But now that I've embraced the new UI, it's still an irritation but a minor one I can live with.
 
OTOH, having to choose an automation envelope from a dropdown list before editing, that's unforgivable. But I've adapted. All in all, the improvements outweigh the annoyances. You won't have much trouble switching over. After 9 months, I only have a "now where did they put that?" moment about once a week. Still trying to figure out how to hand-plant a single pitch wheel event in the PRV, for example.
 
And yes, 8.5 works just fine under Windows 10. 32-bit plugins mostly work. I was never able to get SampleTank 2.5 or Miroslav to work properly (and got suckered into buying the dreadful SampleTank 3 as a proposed solution). But every other 32-bit plugin worked. Where possible, I obtained 64-bit replacements, leaving only a handful of old favorites such as Kjaerhus Classic Chorus to be bridged. Never had to resort to J-Bridge, either.
 
 
 

S.F.Sorrow

Anderton
FYI - according to user reports in this thread, 8.5.3 runs with Windows 10. And yes, you can have the two versions installed side by side.
 

Ah, thanks! I must admit I've never tried it myself but the few comments I found on this online said 8.5.3 didn't work with Windows 10. If this really works it would solve all my problems, at least temporarily. I would love to be able to continue using 8.5.3 while trying a demo of the latest Sonar version parallell to it. Learning the workflow of the new version outside of sessions would be ideal.
 
As for 32bit, yeah, it's dying, I know. Sadly there's a few 32bit plugins that I find very hard to let go that will never be upgraded to 64bit (plus a  few others that will cost quite a bit to upgrade). Bridging is something I want to avoid so I'm sticking to 32bit host for as long as possible.

I limit the use of 32-bit plugins to only those which live in a sub-folder I created that lives within C:\\Program Files (x86)\Cakewalk\vstplugins.  The sub-folder is called Bridged, and the path to that folder is added to my VST options search paths in my 64-bit Sonar Platinum.
 
I only put 32-bit plugins into the Bridged folder that have been tested by me prior to my using them in actual 64-bit projects.  The Bridged folder is then available to x32 and x64 Sonar, but all other 32-bit 3rd-party plugins are deliberately left out of x64 Sonar to avoid bridging failures.
 
And, one nice thing about the Media Browser in Platinum, is that it tells you with an altered display color, as well as it adding text (32-bit) to the displayed plugin names for those that are 32-bit, so that you know prior to selecting one for inclusion in a project.
 
All in all, I have maybe 6 or so 32-bit plugins that I sometimes continue to use in 64-bit Sonar.
 
Bob Bone