backwoods
OK, this is weird , sure, but I agree with the OP. What I did was to buy X3 basic.
 
Reasons: I have a stable of high quality VSTs and the ProChannel was making me feel I had wasted my money! Also, PC just adds another layer and I like things simple. A third issure I had was the weird hotkeys to switch between what the inspector shows. I wish you could cycle between the three options with TAB key in producer but instead it is something like ctrl+I or something like that.
 
In conclusion- I downgraded to X3 basic (even though I own Producer too) and am content with my decision.

Ah, thanks, glad to know I am not the only one. And apparently (I suppose) all Procuders plugins also work in that basic version?

whaaaaaaat? OK I'm speechless.. Only thing I can add to this conversation is maybe is wasn't such a good idea to stop drinking beer in the morning.

hellogoodbye

cclarry
The plugins will work...but not the Pro Channel Modules.
You don't get the PC with X3 Basic...

Which is exactly why I think about buying it.

I didn't realise this. If this is indeed the case there should be an option to turn off Pro Channel in the other versions of X3, and if not, the bakers should bake one (it shouldn't be too much of a hassle to do).

Not a real big problem for me, but if people want to disable it (who would prefer to be 100% loyal to VST without performance drop) they should be able to (esp when it seems easy to disable as Cake are doing builds without Pro Channel enabled). Cheers.

do dx work in the pc for less cpu?

It is easy to hide plug-ins; disable them in the plug-in manager.

Right....   CW should develop new code in order to disable a major selling point of the Studio and Producer versions.    I could be entirely off base here, but something tells me they may have more important/requested tasks on their plate.   Anyone for video, MIDI routing, SV, etc?    How about general bug fixes, Alex?  
 
 

Nope no longer using them :) I believe the Sonitus 64 bit VSTs were on offer this year for something like $17. Here's to hoping that offer will come back.

More confusion, here Andrew says they are 64 bit as well (it was $20 not $17, and the special was last year sorry):
http://blog.cakewalk.com/download-the-sonitus-fx-suite-for-only-19-99/
 

I remember looking at that and was going to pay for the 64bit Sonitus suite, but wasn't entirely sure what it was I'd be buying,

I certainly don't need the ProChannel. Even though I like some of the supplied fx (mainly EQ and CA2A, tape sim was nice as I didn't have one yet), on the whole I would prefer one central place for fx on a track. Having both a bin and a PC confuses things. It was easier when PC was just a few compressors and EQ, but when they started adding random reverbs and delay and distortion it stopped being even slightly logical. While the visuals are nice, most of the included fx are nothing remarkable and would certainly not be preferred over top of the line third party stuff in a professional environment. That means you're stuck with half a useful screen eating channel strip. I could do away with the entire thing if they separated the EQ. I may just get Fab Filter's Pro Q during the holiday sale and be done with it.

Man... after doing some intense work using the PC for as much as I could with my limited modules I gotta say... give it a chance. It is so freaking easy to use and gives such great results compared to the Sonitus stuff (which is great too but I sure wouldn't want to use those plugs exclusively). I've had issues with Sonar but the PC is golden IMO.
 
One thing though, and I know this can be done with FX chains and whatnot, I would REALLY like to be able to insert other plugins wherever I want in the chain more easily. Like be able to have multiple instances of the FX bin or have some kind of mapping option so I can put PC modules IN BETWEEN plugs in the bin. Using a PC FX Chain module for a single plug is kind of a waste of real estate.
 
Oh and I still really would like a scroll bar. If you have certain modules in focus the key commands to scroll just won't work (like the Sat knob) and on the ones that do (like the EQ) you have click on a very small area to put it in focus for scrolling and if you're not careful you end up activating a parameter which gets screwed up when you scroll. It's a bit of a problem for me especially considering the scroll wheel on my trackball doesn't seem to work properly.

John
I totally disagree with you Beep. Its platinum not merely golden. :) 

Just being able to get in and out of it with one keystroke is super useful compared to what I was used to. It drove me nuts having all sorts of plug in windows open and trying to figure out what was what. I'm sure the other DAWs have made things a little better but I haven't seen anything that's that quick. In my old DAW even getting at the inserts to just get at the plug list to pop them open was a hassle. Very time consuming and confusing... especially for a guy who didn't really know what the hell he was doing.

cclarry
And as far as what Craig said about
windows and clutter...well all they are is a bunch of open windows alongside the channel strip, rather then floating.

 
I think you're missing the point. Open up four or five VST plug-ins on a channel, and the windows will be all over the place...you'll likely need to spend time re-sizing and re-positioning them. The PC consolidates all the plug-ins in one place.

Craig, you are correct in your assertion of "more control" just like Reason.  It gives the developing Company
CONTROL over the format, so that it can't be used elsewhere and can only be used in the Company's host.

 
That wasn't my main point, which was about the stability a proprietary format allows.

I think you're missing the point. Open up four or five VST plug-ins on a channel, and the windows will be all over the place...you'll likely need to spend time re-sizing and re-positioning them. The PC consolidates all the plug-ins in one place.
 
This is true. X-ray helps a bit but GUI spacing is not ideal! My situation is this. I use Reason rewired to Sonar. Reason does all my virtual instruments. Sonar handles audio tracks and mix down etc. My second monitor is portrait perspective to take advantage of Reasons mixer if I ever want to open that by itself.
 
Now I have Ableton too and one cool thing about that is the way it handles VSTs. Unlike Sonar it recalls each channels VST locations. So I just stack them on that second monitor and whenever I click on a track, there are all my VST guis- just as I left them. Just as convenient as the ProChannel. What's more the Ableton method of first party plugins is not a million miles different from ProChannel either. Plus you can doub le click on the header bar of each effect to narrow/widen etc.
 
I do miss the HPF though because often that is all I use on a track.