MC6 Matrix View

I was very close to upgrading to MC5 from MC5LE, when I found out that MC6 is now out.

I am very excited about MC6, after reading that it has the MATRIX VIEW.
I had demoed, the now vaporware, Project 5, and really
liked the matrix layout. Because of that, I had also tried, several times, to get into Ableton Live (the Lite version), but was never comfortable with it.
Has anyone tried the MC6 Matrix View? Is it stable?
Does it have the same feature set as in Sonar Essential, or is it watered down?

I was impressed by MC5LE, but from what I've read,
MC6 is different, and has a steeper learning curve.  But if the Matrix View works well, I may take the MC6 plunge.

Another question:
Does the full version of MC5, and the new MC6,
have the Guitar Fretboard and Piano Keyboard View?
I would like to view these, as a particular track is playing, to help learn songs.

Thanks again for any help.

By "stable", I mean the standard interpretation, (i.e., works correctly, doesn't crash or freeze, etc.)

Thanks for the information about fretboard and keyboard.
I do understand these are only for Midi tracks, and not for audio.
I am also familiar with the Piano Roll view, for midi tracks.
By "keyboard view", I was looking for a horizontal piano keyboard that would light up the keys being played WHILE a selected midi track is playing.
I assume the "fretboard view" already does this during midi playback?

They may have changed things since 2006 when I purchased my newest Cakewalk software, but there is no horizontal keyboard view in my software and the vertical keyboard in the PRV doesn't show the keys being played as the song plays.
The fretboard is only available (in my software on this computer) in the Staff view and does show the notes that are played while the song plays.
The DropZone soft synth has a horizontal keyboard that shows the notes being played, but only 2 notes, usually the lowest 2 notes. Other soft synths may do that, too. I'll have to check if Proteus VX does the same when I fire up the DAW later on today.
 
Edit: Changed 'vertical' to 'horizontal' keyboard in DZ. 
 

Cakewalk products are as stable as the Windows operating system you use will allow. 

In most cases with a "clean" computer, the program is very stable. 

Most of the crashes I experience are in fact "self induced". What I mean is I have problems when I'm in playback and try to do something else and the computer "chokes" a bit..... most of the time a simple restarting of the DAW software is all that is required.... not a total boot up. 

Beagle

no, cakewalk doesn't work with karaoke files, but it does do MIDI files and there is a place for LYRICS on the STAFF view, but it's very limited compared to a karaoke file - that's not its purpose.

Beagle, thanks for the information about .kar incompatibility.

Actually, back when I was using Cakewalk Home Studio, I made quite
a few backing midi tracks, to play along with live instruments.
I always thought that it would have been nice to use the HS Lyrics view to label song sections (e.g., Verse2, Chorus3, Solo Section, etc.), and then export as a .kar file.   This .kar could then be played in specialized karoke player software, where one could see where in the song you are, in the karoke lyrics window.

@ 57Gregy... U sorta look like Gomer Pyle in that pic!

MC54PC

Guitarhacker

Cakewalk products are as stable as the Windows operating system you use will allow. 

In most cases with a "clean" computer, the program is very stable. 

Good to know. 
I feel rather foolish, because I just looked at the system requirements for MC6, and it says Intel Core Duo E8200  2.66GHz   or  AMD Phenom Quad Core 9750   2.4GHz.
I have a P4 1.8GHz, WinXP Home + SP3, 2 GB Ram.
Is my pc too slow for MC6?
So should I just get MC5 full edition?

Jeez, and those are the minimum requirements! It will probably run, though, but if it doesn't, it's not their fault.
You might be able to pick up MC 5 at a retail store like Best Buy, maybe Guitar Center.

it should run fine on a system which is lower than the minimum requirements.  the problem is that it will limit what you can do.  you will be able to use fewer softsynths and FX than you would with a minimum spec'd system.

cakewalk employees have said this same thing on the X1 forum regarding X1 minimum requirements.