This isn't going to be a popular response on this forum but my advice to you is spend your money on a decent laptop and stick with Sonar 6. Seriously! I 'upgraded' from Sonar 5 to X1 and quite honestly it has been quite literally a waste of time and money.  I haven't found any advantages in X1, only disadvantages. It's been more of a downgrade than an upgrade. Unfortunately I can't get my money back because I bought it online and they don't give refunds. I've put in about 30 feature requests that would actually be improvements over Sonar 5 but I'd be very surprised if they get implemented. I've had a hard time trying to find ANY improvements in X1 over v.5.   Download the trial version and you will begin to see what I mean.  I'd be careful with and old 2480, I have a VS880 and it just stopped working and nobody, including Roland, can tell me why.  I'm not familiar with the 2480 but I guess Sonar (6) with decent PC and soundcard will give you a more user-friendly system.

I'm just hoping they keep working on X1 to get it's stability issues under control. I bought it knowing it was still somewhat in its infancy but had matured enough to be at the point most of the major bugs had been worked out. The way I see it is it might take a couple more updates until it's rock solid and I'm okay with that. I'm not really a power user anyway. I just want to get some virtual drum tracks laid down so I can put my bass/guit/vox and occasionally other live recorded instruments in there then perhaps mess around with some of the crazy synths that came with my package (but nothing too crazy, just add some extra ambiance/layers/ whatever to the tracks). My main focus was the extensive mixing/mastering type effects included to get everything sounding as nice as possible. However I see people eluding to X2 already and that is a bit of a concern. I don't want to pay for a new, potentially unstable upgrade while the software I purchased (X1) gets left to languish. It probably won't be an issue for me either way and I'm sure everything will be fine but the paranoid part of my brain sees this X2 stuff getting talked about and... well I get a little concerned. Maybe others can voice their thoughts on that to quell my fears.

I just see a lot of crash issues and stuff others seem to have. I know there are many factors involved in those types of things and probably, as I said, won't encounter them myself once I get everything set up properly (again I'll likely be sticking to pretty basic stuff compared to some of you guys) but I just would like to see X1 stick around for at least a few more years before we move into any massive upgrades or overhauls. Just curious about what might be on the horizon is all. Yanno?

And I guess whether if there is ever a paid upgrade that X1 will continue getting worked on and supported afterward. I am completely new to Cakewalk software so I don't really know their policies or procedures as far as that type of thing.

 Beepster -  I was actually replying to Backwood's comment

but you say  "if there is ever a paid upgrade that X1 will continue getting worked on"

You are making the same assumption that led me to X1!  'worked on' maybe but for who's benefit?  As I see it Sonar has gone backwards and might keep going backwards. When they talk about upgrades they are giving with one hand and taking away with the other.  And do you know what the most amazing thing about it is... the 'carrots' they offer to get you to upgrade the newer versions are nowhere near as useful as the the stuff they have taken away or simple but useful features they could have but have failed to add. 

I'm speaking from the perspective of someone who doesn't have the resources to upgrade to replacement sound cards solid state hard drives, a multi-processor machine, dual HD monitors or even the latest 'Producer' version but I guess most customers, like the OP are in a similar situation.  Software should be reliable and efficient and upgrades should prioritise the needs and mindsets of existing customers. Not only should user interface overhauls should provide a comfortable and 100% fall-back to previous modes of operation for experienced users but they should also provide genuine improvements to existing tools and functions and not downgraded versions of the same (IMHO). Damn - by spending $100 on this so called upgrade I don't think I've even gained the right to switch to the Producer version at a discounted price if I wanted to. I don't think I've gained anything at all other than a clearer insight into what makes Software houses release 'upgrades' and how they go about it. Yuk!

Beepster, like most of the posters on this forum you sound like someone working for Cakewalk's marketing dept. The majority of the issues I've encountered with X1 have little or nothing to do with the system I'm running it on. In theory an Intel I7 based Window7 64 machine should be more than adequate to run X1. I only mentioned hardware issues because they are part of the problems with X1. The main issues as i see them are:
 
 A. the lack of straightforward and obvious functionality enhancements which I believe should have been added to Sonar and haven't. This makes me think that the 'upgrade' was not planned in proper liason with anyone who had done a significant amount of editing work using previous versions of Sonar.
 
and
 
B. Functionality that has been removed during the introduction of the new screen layout which I consider to be significantly inferior to the previous layout. I believe that whilst it was not perfect a lot more though went into the previous interface than Skylight. Skylight looks like it is was built from some kind of interface construction kit hindered by a host of ridiculous limitations... which inevitably have now been transferred to the Sonar product.
 
Ultimately I don't think this can do Cakewalk any good at all.  I think they have shot themselves in the foot with this one. New customers will be not be impressed and old customers... well you know what I think. 
 
I hate it when people try to fix stuff that isn't broken. Improve it - yes - but to throw it away and start from scratch is just mad. The interface on Sonar 5 wasn't perfect but it was much better thought-out than X1.
 

Hehe, No worries man. I'm sure you'll be very happy with X1. What bothers me is it's not as well designed as the older Sonar.  Unlike you I don't need half of the features supplied with X1 I just want a clean-cut DAW that is fast and efficient to work with. Unfortunately X1 just doesn't cut it compared with the previous version of Sonar I was using. I'm now looking at switching to Sonar 8.5 instead but now I'm worried that some of the problems that have crept in to X1 were already present in 8.5.  I had a look at Reaper and whilst it looks better in some ways (incredibly similar to Sony Vegas) I don't think it's stable enough yet and I fear its development will  go off on a tangent and it will end up being yet another bloatware package. Incidentally I use Vegas for video and since X1 has failed to impress me I am considering using that as my principal DAW even though it has no midi support.

When a poster makes vague pronouncements about functionality being removed from X1 one has to wonder what they are talking about.

I did a thread asking for posters to list features that were removed from X1 shortly after it was released. The reason at that time there were a lot of threads complaining that feature had been removed. What really happened was that only a couple of feature had been removed. One being the Patten Brush. I forget the other.

What these posters were finding was that X1 had changed how to get to a feature. It turned out in very many of the cases that they had not read the manual or used Help to see what or where and how to access those so called missing features.

X1 has all the features that 8.5.3 had plus it adds tons more.

Another problem is that X1 was and is meant to run best on a modern system with either Vista or Windows 7. It prefers to run in 64 bits as well.

What we have seen is that users that have obsolete gear are limited in how well the program will run on their gear. X1 takes advantage of Aero which is not available on XP machines.  It also requires a graphics card that is capable of providing Aero support.

Trashing X1 simply because one has no clue how to use it and expects to get it to run on an obsolete machine and OS with better performance than previous versions did is ridiculous.

Here is the thread that asks about features being removed.

Here is another one on Vista. It also applies to Windows 7.

As users of a very powerful program we need to be informed  about new and advancing technology so that we avoid problems and issues. When a developer offers applications that use this new technology it behooves us to find out what is required for us to get the very best from the products we use.  

Expecting the world to stand still so we can keep using our old systems and than complain when it wont perform as well as we wish is nonsense.

When I moved to 64 bits I knew that some of my gear would be rendered useless. So instead of putting my head into a hole in the ground I started looking for replacements. I read up on what worked and what didn't

Now I have a machine that can handle X1 with ease. I have had no problems with crashing or instability. I have moved from using 32 bit plugins  to 64 bit plugins. The very few I have that remain 32 bit work with no issues under X1 as the host.

Now as to some one posting positive things about X1 being called a fanboy if that is what makes a poster feel better about their situation so be it. It only reflects on them being totally clueless.

Beepster


Heh... I can most definitely guarantee I'm not a fanboi nor a Cake rep. I'm a realist. In fact I've only gotten to the point of kicking the tires of this beast of a program (I got the Suite FWIW) and have had already had a few issues which are now getting sorted out. Sure I could have spent another year or two saving up to get the equivalent in Nuendo/Steinberg software and frankly if I had the dough I probably would have done that (I dislike the hardware proprietary aspects of Avid/Pro Tools stuff so... yeah, until someone is paying me $300 an hour they can get bent IMO). I knew it might have a few issues and I came in knowing that. However the overall decision came down to price, functionality and support. All of which I've found are stellar so far in my experience as a new user. I didn't realize you were running on a modern system and if that's the case... well I'm not a tech so I don't know what to say to that but Cake support has been more them helpful for me and the product should work on a properly setup and configured system. The GUI setups and feature issues you describe I cannot attest to because I have never run the older versions so I just don't know. I do see massive potential for this software for my personal applications and hope they just support this current version to a point that I can use it for years to come without worry. But that is yet to be seen. So... IDK, man. It seems you got a beef with Cake and X1 but really there are tons of other platforms out there. If you don't have the dough maybe look into Reaper or something. That's what I was gonna do before I decided I wanted all the extra goodies the X1 Suite offered. Again, new user, not a fanboi... just callin' 'em as I sees 'em. Peace.

 
there are some people you can just tell when they join the forum that they
will be around for awhile.
seeing that in you.

X1 is clean cut. 8.5 is not. I have a very strong feeling AV Man has actually never used X1.

Good catch FBB. I overlooked that point.

I have projects that were working just fine in 8.5, but now the same projects won't even play back in X1!!!  So don't tell me everything is fine.  It's not!!!    Yeah, maybe more RAM will help, IF I can even upgrade.  I've got 6GB now, shouldn't that be sufficient?  And more than a dual core?  I was told by someone I had a good machine that would last several more years.  I guess until I can upgrade my computer, I'll go back to 8.5, or seriously consider other software - Presonus studio, Reaper, etc.  I've been a loyal customer for a good many years, and I like the look and goodies in X1, but I too "feel jilted" by Cakewalk.

No I wouldn't recommend Windows 95 nowadays. I still have one friend however who swears it is better than anything else (his sentence ends middle of next year).