Wow. 
 
Opinions are just that - however - it doesn't make sense to point out that someone opinion is their's and theirs alone, and then proceed to declare one's own, period. Oh well...
 
Facts
 
My DAW is make by Cakewalk.
My interface is made by Motu. (I just plugged it in and it worked!)
 
Final Cut was created by Macromedia.
Logic was created by Emagic.
If Apple is mighty in anything, it's buying other people's stuff, and marketing it.
 
You can plug a USB audio device, a hard drive, a memory stick, none of them need drivers in Windows, 'It's all built in'. 'It just works'. (Hey, this Apple speak is easy..)
 
You can get free Piano lessons from a gajillion places on the web.
 
Core Audio is nothing more exciting than audio API, and response to a need - the same as kernel mode drivers in Windows.
 
The money saved purchasing a non Apple computer is available to you now, instead of losing value sitting on your desk, waiting for you to sell yesterday's technology to some chump.
 
You opinion is your, but mine is mine.  If I period it, it might possibly appear to the unnwashed to mean something more... 

GIM Productions

Jackdied
I think the most of  "happy w x2a " users are not working in industry. Maybe these little issues are not a big deal for them.  But trust me i could loose my client and can not pay  my  flat rents  just because of a single crash. So every single bug are potential troubles for my business.  That's why i'm coming here and looking for X2b update everyday. Thats why I am impatient. Please  understand my/our situation.
 
ahh also sorry for my English.

You wrong mate!!
I'm a pro ,i'm working on many international releases and our works have been reviewed by Defected records and Tony Humphries,i have done five songs for important italian Christmas's movies...
then i'm in the industry.
So many clients choose Sonar Prj over ProTools Prj for its detailed and deep sound......for me Sonar is the best DAW,for me........but,excuse me, when i use a new stuff, before, I read the manual.
Best

Hi,
I thinks it´s not a question of issues and bugs of sx 2  ,
at least here in good old germany the clients are still very sceptical about Sonar ( 8,5, X1 , X2 aso.).
Sonar has a really  "buggy " image here.
Even from amateurs are basicly only pt and q-base accepted as professionel sequencer.
 
How about that in england and usa?

X dissenters
In my relatively short experience ITB,and it's possibly due to my previous experience racing and maintaining Motocross bikes long ago,but it's[ X2's reliability]is incredibly based on knowing your Hardware.
 
Just over 2 years ago I'd literally never ever touched a computer[except a bank ATM!]which I'm not proud of,I was just a struggling "luddite" but experienced electric guitar player,anyway I fairly impulsively bought an i7 dell xps L502x,though I was extremely lucky,as had I ordered 5-7 days earlier,I would have ended up with the previous model,the xps L501x,which according to a poor chap on gearslutz,couldn't run ANY DAW,due to horriffic DPC latency,and he was trying with the "just released" RME Babyface!
 
Anyway,I had some major hurdles,with X1[Tascam interfaces,95% user error],so I researched[very very easy,with the insightful posts of Jim Roseberry,and even more so,from Scott from ADK]and bought a parts picked,STORE ASSEMBLED win 7 64 Professional desktop,and guess what? Not one thing has EVER gone wrong,on That machine,with X1 ABCD and Expanded,and now X2! It's quite incredible.
 
I still prefer to use my laptop,[which  throws tantrums,and quibles,but I still get my projects done],mainly cause the room the desktop is in,is either freezing in winter[now]or Oven like in Spring Summer Autumn[Oz is a land of extremes!]but really,I think it's because I just cannot stand my Rokit 5" G2 monitors,sure they go loud[I like to mix VERY quietly]have big bass,for such small drivers but mids,high mids,highs to an extent,are just complete fog,but that is another story!
 
The way I see it in these 2 and a bit years of ITB recording,is it's your computer,and its happiness,that IS paramount for Sonar,PT,or anything else to work,even semi perfectly,until then,a different daw,may even make things worse?,Oh and even though its 27 months with computers TOTAL,it's 30 years with electrical guitar...voice?,not too long.
Good Luck
Bob

Fair argument John,as guitar playing is what I really only do,a lot of the time,although this computer thing,has really,really cut in to the amount of time I actually spend "playing",it's actually kinda frightening.
 

Cheers
Bob

I read through the forum after buying X1, but before jumping to X2. It's a hard thing to gauge, but I waited until the first patch came out before I did buy X2, because I was hoping any bugs found would result in Quick-fixes. I was impressed with the Quick-fix, but that was the only one. What changed in that strategy? That was a good idea.
 
Anyway...I stand by my stance that it's not good business to sell a software product without disclosing open issues and/or workarounds on the website. Not that this doesn't happen every day, but to hide open issues from site to mitigate the harm to sales is not something I appreciate as a customer, and the less I will trust such a company. So, my "trust" in Cakewalk/Roland is very limited, and always has been even though I bought the product and still use it. If none of the DAW makers will take the initiative, then we'll never see that. Maybe Cakewalk will be the big man here and own up to listing open issues, setting an example. 

The grass always looks greener on the other side of the fence. Rarely does it turn out to be true though. I've been a Cake user since the last century when Greg answered the support line. I jumped ship to Studio One because I got sick and tired of Cake/Roland's nickle dimeing for plugins, bloating out Sonar with new features of dubious distinction rather than fixing bugs or improving the base but mostly I switched because I prefer Studio One's work flow. I'm still current on Sonar updates but I don't use it much anymore.
 
It's ironic that there are people in the Studio One forum threatening to switch DAW if a new update doesn't come soon.
Go figure.
I guess their grass isn't that green either .  :)

wormser
It's ironic that there are people in the Studio One forum threatening to switch DAW if a new update doesn't come soon.
Go figure.
I guess their grass isn't that green either .  :)

Studio One 2 doesn't need many fixes but it definitely needs many features.....and many colors, too. Their grass is really DARK. :)

SONAR has one more chance with me too. If they change my work flow for the worse, I am bailing. X2B has to solidify what made 8.5 great with innovative features of X1. Solidify those aspects of SONAR and Roland may keep some clients.

robert_e_bone
There is no green grass in a heat wave.
 
Bob Bone

The grass is always greener where it's watered.

I am sorry to disagree with some and I mean no disrespect, I don't doubt that you have frustrations and problems but IMO Sonar X-anything is a fabulous piece of work. All DAWs have bugs but Sonar is just incredibly good and filled with features and tools.
Frankly... there is NO WAY I would change to a DAW that required I also change my laptop and desktop from
windows to Mac... (the new, not yet released Mac Pro does look really interesting but as an article noted not balanced well as far as power and graphics)... and I imagine it will empty most wallets... still, it looks REALLY cool.,, but I could get more bang for the buck staying with MS/windows. Have you seen it... if anything got me to switch it would be this: http://www.apple.com/mac-pro/?cid=wwa-us-kwg-mac-aos&siclientid=5899&sessguid=13e162f7-1a2b-4a44-a376-5af6031f84c3&userguid=13e162f7-1a2b-4a44-a376-5af6031f84c3&permguid=13e162f7-1a2b-4a44-a376-5af6031f84c3
 
HOWEVER and it is a big However... if I were to be thinking of leaving Sonar (which I am not) I would first go the Studio One and Reaper. I hear a lot of good about S1 and it will use your Cakewalk VSTs, I think. That would be a LOT cheaper than switching platforms and DAWs... what if you buy a Mac and drop the bucks on Logic X and regret it??? That wouldn't be my first move if I were moving away from Sonar.
Yeah, some word from Cake about X2b or X3 would be nice but at this point in the waiting game I would certainly wait to see what autumn brings in the way of X2b or X3. It may stick in your craw to pay 99 bucks for X3 but what if Cake is REALLY trying to do things right so they don't get slammed for putting something half baked out just to please people who want something now... just anything.
Personally, I am going to give them the benefit of the doubt and another 99 bucks is not going to make or break me. If I get to that point I will find something else to be interested in.
X2b... X-3... 99 bucks... I am in all the way without complaining. I choose to have a bright outlook and see the good.
Look at 20 years ago or so... Tascam, Fostex, Roland... multitrack tape machines, DAT, ADAT... Look at the features in Sonar X2... most of it works with a newer computer and if you stay in 64 bit... it is the future, it is the present. To quote FREDDIE: 64 bit... IT MATTERS.
I know that some people couldn't get or can't get X-2 to run right on their machine and it isn't their fault... I just see that some have problems and others don't and X-2 has an incredible feature set. I hope all the bugs are ironed out in the next update or release. I predict that some will have a problen and others wont... ya reckon?
Maybe it is because I do mostly audio, I don't know.
 
My advice, if you have to move on... don't move too far to fast, but what do I know?
 
J

If you're thinking of switching to (or adding) Studio One you should know it doesn't have these things:
 
- Step sequencer
- Inline PRV
- Event list
- Staff view
- Track templates
- MIDI effects
- Screensets (but the state of shown/hidden strips in the console/track views can be saved separately)
- Instrument definition (some users seem to have created it themselves - I'm now all VSTi so I don't need this feature, though)
- Clip lock
- Secondary snap
- Full drum map editor (e.g. can't create a hybrid kit from different synths)
- Full velocity/timing humanize option (it only has "Humanize" or "Humanize Less")
- Flexible grouping (e.g. can't group only the volume faders of instrument tracks in the console)
- Linked names/colors between linked clips
- MIDI panic button
etc.

S1 is overall simpler/easier/faster/smoother to use and it does some amazing things (I particularly like the quality and easiness of timestretching), but as you can see, lots of features are missing. If you only/mainly record audio I think it's a great daw.
 
Hope that helps

Jeff Evans
Studio One has many features, Most people just dont know about them. I use a lot of external midi stuff and it is very good for this. (as well as for audio too of course)
 
It is the only program that has been written from the ground up in recent years.
Best external midi timing. Does not get influenced by what the audio side of the program is doing.
PRV is fine for all midi work I have done so far. I play it in live so Step Sequencer is not important. For that use FL Studio it has the best step sequencer in the world.
Song Templates are available. All you need.
Clip lock is possible by simply selecting Dont Follow in the Inspector. Clips will never move no matter what you do.
Clip gain as per Pro Tools 10 and 11. Once you use this you will never go back.
It can jump midi tracks all on the fly while looping and recording. Sonar cannot do that.
Automation is excellent. You can also automate effects bypass.
K System metering built in.
One of the finest gapless audio engines available. You can do so much while it is playing it is not funny.
You can change the tempo of the whole arrangement by just changing the tempo.
Best time stretching algorithms
Finest track layers and comping available
A level of stability and reliability many DAW's cannot boast. I have never had a crash in years and I use it every day all day and under severe pressure at times. Most DAW's would fall over. Basically it is bulletproof. No workarounds needed and you don't have to tip toe around it either.
I have got a midi panic button on my midi interface, solves that issue.
Very nice instruments and audio effects
Some say it sounds better than most DAW's (I am not convinced of this though as I can manage a good sound from any DAW I use)
It plays nicely with nearly any VST you want to install and run.
You can group anything in either mixer or arrange page.
Great export options.
They have not wasted their time on a half arsed score editor.
Separate and very cool mastering page.
Mac version available. The new Mac Pro is amazing. All you need is the Apollo interface with the UAD stuff inside and you are on the air seriously. Studio one will run like the starship Enterprise on that baby!
Most important thing yet, you will never waste a moment getting the program or your computer to work. You will produce the most music possible using this DAW.
 
It is a killer program and when the next version comes out it will be even more so.
 
Logic X looks cool though and the reason that it is so good is that it has been around for years and was very well written from the start. Great price for Logic too.

I wish I was wrong, but where's the option in the Inspector to select "Don't Follow"? I don't see it anywhere in both the track inspector and clip inspector (I'm talking about MIDI clips). Also, how is it possible to group just the volume faders of instrument tracks in the console? I know it's possible to group instrument tracks in the Arrange view, but it groups everything in the tracks. Also, very nice instruments? I can't agree with that. S1 doesn't have a quality rompler and synth like Dim Pro and Rapture, no?
 
I posted the features missing in S1 because I thought it might help users who consider those features important. I agree S1 is more stable (although X2 crashes very rarely for me) and timestretching is very easy. Looking forward to v3.0 :)

S1 will use your existing Vsts, including dimpro and rapture :-)

Yes, I know, but that's only useful if you're talking about a first daw, whereas someone looking to change or extend daws is likely to already have a brace of vsts, that can be used :-)

I find Presence and Mojito not very attractive but it's just my opinion. I agree that a daw should concentrate more on its features and not on instruments. Going back to my first point, I think Sonar is more feature-packed, which, of course, does not necessarily mean that Sonar is a better daw. It just meets my needs a little better than S1.