My first 90 X1 minutes
I wrote these notes during my first X1 session.
Volume envelope: I wanted to create volume envelope to Master Bus. Playback was on. I specified bus output volume to Edit Filter control. Envelope was created. I tried to draw it but then Sonar GUI freezed. Playback continues but Sonar don't listen keyboard, mouse or external controllers anymore.
End Task. Restart X1. I reproduced Volume the previous issue immediately.
End Task. Restart X1. I opened an empty project. Now bus envelope creating & drawing works and bug is gone.
I learned that X1 must close properly in order to save screen layout. I've made Control Bar customizations three times already. :-/
Synth mutes Create Synth. Start playback and play something. Now move Now Time on the fly. Result: synth will no more produce sound until you stop and start playback again. Tested with Dimension Pro and SI-String Section.
Crack/pop:
Playback stopped: when Now Time is changed with mouse there will be a slight crackling/popping sound. In 8.5.3 this did not exist.
Project specific? I don't know but this should not happen.
Control Bar problem: I tried to show Control Bar during playback by pressing 'C' key.
Control bar did not show up until playback was stopped. Instead there was a following, confusing view for X1 newbie:
Control Bar appeared to the bottom after playback was stopped. No showstopper but at least a shower shopper.
Key bindings dialog Please Cakewalk, is it possible to stretch the right table width so that Function descriptions would suit completely? Most of X1 users have certainly displays that can show over 750 px wide dialog windows. This kind of mini window can be used for the upcoming N900, Meego and Android versions of Sonar.
Project / Info: - window can not float
- not dockable
- text can not be dragged in/out
- File Stats: 'Create time' could use local settings for viewing date and time.
Track view / Remove track(s) from folder: seems to be fixed :-).
Track/Input Stereo and mono inputs are still in the same list. Has anybody checked how difficult it is to choose input channel from a list that is much longer than the screen height?
Suggestion: mono and stereo inputs should be divided in separate sections.
Track/Output: This is worse than the input list because there is no 'scroll down' button available in the bottom of the list.
List just continues off the window. However, list can be scrolled by arrow keys.
Pro Channel: 1176 and SSL sound decent!
I fell in love in 3 minutes! :-) Oh well, what do I do with my hardware 1176-2 and three SSL bus compressors now? I throw them off the hill after weather gets better.
Now I tried to test if audio waveform preview bug has been fixed in X1. I tried to create 20 tracks at once - basic stuff for a DAW. But I asked too much because:
Conclusions: This X1 is public beta version. The real X1 is released in winter 2011.
Test environment: X1 64-bit, W7, 2 x RME Fireface @ buffer 128, 44100 Hz. i7 950 / 12 GB.