SONAR X2 Producer and Upgrades.

Hi all. Feels like home coming back to post here. I remember years ago when my first posts were about Guitar Tracks 3 and 4!
 
I have an HP laptop that I am using to type this. As an experiment, I authorized it and downloaded SONAR X2 Producer on this very machine a while back. I bought the download on May 20, 2013. So, the SONAR Producer X2 I have is about three years old. I'm on a HP ENVY version 1511, i7, 2.6 Ghz, Windows 10 Home, 16 gb of Ram and 64 bit. I am only interested in home recording, song writing, and work tapes and some high end demos. I just want to have something that works good, is reliable, has all the basics, and that I can enjoy at home. I am not tryin to be a pro engineer, or compete with the big boys for radio quality master tracks and mixes.
 
I'm getting re-acquainted with things here and I was trying to see what upgrade I might need. But I don't see an upgrade for X2 Producer. All I see is "Artist," "Platinum," and "Professional." Was "Producer" gobbled up by one of these? Is there a line called "Producer" Now?
 
I hope someone can bring me up to speed a little on this and tell what an upgrade for this would be. I'm a little hesitant to try anything else on this machine, since finally...after all the years of frustration with Cakewalk on a Windows laptop, I finally got it to work, and it's working fine. So...I don't want to take a chance on an upgrade on this machine unless it is something I truly need. I have a Jim Roseberry desktop that I would use for my serious machine, but I'm not sure if I even need an upgrade there either. This is so far ahead of Guitar Tracks 4 (which I loved) that it's like a dream come true, already.
 
Do I really need to upgrade to anything? If I do, what would it be? Is the "Producer" line still in production?

Thanks everyone!
JGP
PS. Ignore the equipment specs below. Most of that is outdated and I need to update it.
 
 

OK, thanks Cactus. I was at that page earlier, but I was looking for "X2" or "X3" etc. So, if I upgrade it will be from X2 to either plain Artist, plain Professional, or plain Platinum. I assume all of them are a step up from what I have, Producer X2.
 
Now, I'll go look through all the specs on them and see which ones looks like it will fit my needs best.
 
This is still the best DAW software forum on the net.
JGP

The equivalent to X2 Producer is Sonar Platinum.

If X2 is doing everything that you want, then perhaps there is no need for you to upgrade.

Personally, I find the difference between X2 (or even X3) and Platinum to be enormous. I would hate to have to go back to X2.

If you upgrade before the deadline, you will get the Lifetime Upgrade, which means you will never have to pay for another Sonar update again.

Worth thinking about..

HTH

Hey guys, don't try the psychological tricks on me. I started with Sonar Home 4XL, then upgraded to Sonar Home 7XL. Then I upgraded to Sonar X1 Studio followed by Sonar X1 Producer Extended. Finally I did the upgrade to Sonar X2 Producer. I can imagine that when you work daily with artists and in studios you want to be top of the bill. For me as a home recording old man (69) with only instrumentals and creating backing tracks for those instrumentals, it has everything I want, just like this guy JGP who placed this thread originally.
 
Of course it is tempting to upgrade with life time upgrades, but as I will have to skip X3 it will cost me a vast amount of money. However X2 also does not cost a monthly amount of money. Personally I do not like these kind of constructions with follow up payments.
X2 is also a kind of a life time setup. Although I will not get new functionality CW has the obligation to bring out updates when major operating problems occur (there was only one update so far the, X2a Patch). It works fine on the W10 platform (as does X1) and with the interfaces I use.
 
Finally, I also have Cubase 8LE and I can tell you that IMO Cakewalk is much more intuitive.

jan.ynske
 Of course it is tempting to upgrade with life time upgrades, but as I will have to skip X3 it will cost me a vast amount of money. However X2 also does not cost a monthly amount of money. Personally I do not like these kind of constructions with follow up payments.

Currently the upgrade from any version of Producer to Platinum is the same price and there is no monthly fee for SONAR.

Fader issue http://www.cakewalk.com/Support/Knowledge-Base/2007013377/Faders-and-Knobs-Do-Not-Move-Smoothly
X2a update http://www.cakewalk.com/S...13301/SONAR-X2a-Update

Also, I downloaded the command center file. Nothing happened. Is that something needed to download the real Sonar? I just keep going in circles with it. I install it and the concrete limiter and it disappears.
 
What trick am I missing to downloading Sonar Professional or Platinum? I've done searches and all I can find is my old X2.
 
Thanks!
JGP

The Command Center is an optional utility to download, install and activate new Cakewalk products, full and demo. It does not work with X3 and older. To see the demo products click on the "Demo Products" section just below the black bar with the Cakewalk logo. By default the tool displays "Connected Products." After purchase, the installers for the update appear in the Connected Products section of the Command Center and also in your store account.

It should be listed in the Demo Products area of the Command Center.

Too late again

Let's start over. I'm logged in. I go to what appears to be the Home page. It says "You spoke, we listened." Not much else on that page, so then I click Shop and Cakewalk store up top. All I see then is "buy" options for several products. So then I go to "Sonar." Then I go to "Top Downloads" and I don't see anything about demos. Then I start over at Cakewalk. Then Products and SONAR.  I see TRY SONAR and BUY SONAR. I still don't see anything about Demo, even when I scroll all the way to the bottom. Then I click "TRY IT" and the whole cycle starts all over again. It wants me to download the command center and I've done that twice, and then nothing happens. I'm just going in circles. I've even done a search for "Demo" and never find anything.
 
What step am I missing?
Thanks again.
 
Don

I've logged out, I've logged in, and I don't know where else to login. I went to the Cakewalk Command Center page. When I sign in I go to My Account Home. The only logical place I see to go from there is the Command Center. When I go there it says the same thing....Try It or Buy It. Then it wants me to download the Command Center thing.
 
I've clicked everything I know to click and I have still not seen the word "DEMO" anywhere. I don't know what else to try.
 
JGP

Three times. It wants me to install, I think, the concrete limiter last. Once that happens, everything stops. I can't find any trace of SONAR Professional doing a search on my computer.
 
 
EDIT. I may have found the secret passage. I'm already logged in every time I go through this, but looks like it wants me to login again. I did that and it looks like something is trying to download. I have no idea how long it will take.

Update. I got it, and got it working. I finally learned how to get the download and started it. It ran for about 4-5 hours and never got beyond 40.45%. It ran all night, but this morning was still stuck at 40.45%. So, I started over. Then, I got SONAR Pro to download in less than an hour. It's on my Windows 10 laptop and I've been just piddling with it here for a little while just to see if it works. Well, it works, and so far works great. It's my favorite of all the Cakewalk products, and my first was Guitar Tracks Three, back in 2007 I think it was.
 
So now, I'm going to take it to the next room in my little studio, connect it to a 32" monitor and have some fun and give it a good work out.
 
While that's going on, I'm going to see if I can also do a trial of one of the other versions...Artist or Platinum, on my MacBook Pro. There is a place to initiate a download from the Cakewalk site, so that must mean it's ready and available. This is going to be interesting. That is something I've wanted to do for years...SONAR on a Mac.
 
I'll keep the progress on everything updated as needed.
Thanks again for all the help!
DS