mikey


I'll take 3, 2x please....

lol...

I am very glad I finally moved from 8.5.3 PE to X1. It is really solid and runs much lighter on my PC. And Prochannel is really good. 

I think folks should make up their own minds on whether X1 is worth upgrading to or buying outright. I thought the X1 demo was just recently released but it would seem from comments that I'm wrong on that front. It shouldn't be too long now though.

As far as X1 being half baked when first released. I don't even think the batter was mixed properly it was such a poor release.

Fine for those who say they didn't have any problems or only a few minor ones but even Cakewalk acknowledged that things could have been better when it was brought out.

cakewalk have even changed their update process due to the unprecedented problems with this release and the unprecedented level of copmplaints about a release. all confirmed by various Cakewalk reps on this very forum.

Is X1 B the bees knees best DAW ever made? It could have been but isn't.
Is X1b 246 stable? Several significant reports of 246 being less stable than 245. So far every update has fixed, neglected and broken previously working things. For me X1 B 246 is more stable than the original but not enough so for reliable use.

What is the general feeling about the stability of X1B 246. For those who had a pretty good experience at the beginning it continues to be this way. The reality is also that many experienced users have left not only this forum but X1 because they have not gotten it to work at the level necessaryfor  them. As far as I'm concerned the complaints about their difficulties with X1 lend a lot of weight to the comment that X1 was/is half baked, myself included.

I still contribute on this forum and continue to experiment with X1B 246 but when it comes to client work I still use SONAR 8.5.3 and am gradually using a much wider base of DAWs than ever before. I must admit though that I'm using 8.5.3 less and less. None of my X1 issues are related to not liking the new GUi or having to learn to do things in a different way than in previous versions. I'm in the thick of having to learn new ways because as time permits, I'm learning lot's of other DAWs in the hope of becoming comfortable with one or more for regular use. The fact is that not a single one of the other DAWs I'm checking out has had any stability issues. they just work. My efforts with them are in connection with the suitability of their feature sets.

I've been a Twelve Tone/Cakewalk user since the day dot and have a great deal of "affection" for the company as a whole but I'm also running a business and need reliable tools for my work. My hope is that Cakewalk will continue to update SONAR X1 till it is the DAW it should have been. Hopefully my continued experimentation with it will enable me to make full use of it when it eventually is stable for me.

I will be buying a PC with Windows 7 64-bit soon. Thinking of upgrading to X1 Producer (64-bit capability) from Home Studio 6 - would you recommend it? 
Noob question : Would Home Studio 6 (32-bit) still run if I use Windows 7 64-bit as the operating station? 

Again, thanks to everyone for their input, both positive and negative reactions.  I'm going to go ahead and take the plunge and upgrade to X1, I just need to decide how far up the ladder to go (Studio is probably enough for my needs, but I'd really like to have the percussion and vocal plug-ins!).  Hopefully Cakewalk will run some kind of a summer sale before long.

lppier


I will be buying a PC with Windows 7 64-bit soon. Thinking of upgrading to X1 Producer (64-bit capability) from Home Studio 6 - would you recommend it? 
Noob question : Would Home Studio 6 (32-bit) still run if I use Windows 7 64-bit as the operating station? 

yes 32 bit applicatition will work in a 64bit enviorment

spencerh


Pros: lots of feature improvements, greatly improved workflow. Very nice to work in.
Cons: still lots of stability problems here, definitely worse than 8/8.5 (depending on synth combination - crashes with Jamstix, Absynth, and Massive are still very common for me, with neither Rayzoon nor NI having good answers. Also some crashes when opening certain Sonitus plugins. Intermittent. Usually get 10-20 crashes a day. What SONAR really needs is real, working VST sandboxing; a plugin should never be allowed to take down the whole program) Also still has some annoying bugs (like the wrong FX plugin loading occasionally.) 


I'd make a copy of some projects and try it out in parallel with your current version if possible. 

I would hope you are calling and getting support from cakewalk for your X1 program. That is a lot of crashes - 10 to 20 a day! I couldn't put up with that for the investment.


Sonar is solid as rock here - always has been and I go back a few versions.


To the OP, I would say that once you get used to X1, you should be able to go and not look back.

I don't think there's much point, honestly. It's clear that the problem has to do with NI and Rayzoon synths and certain configurations of SONAR. Really, what should happen is that NI and Rayzoon should be flying to Cakewalk HQ, sitting down with the devs and Q&A and run stress, regression, and multiple configuration tests for a few weeks to get these pieces of software working rock solid, and they should honestly be in constant contact with other large/popular developers to check in on major reported issues, since any one of these companies cannot solve these issues on their own. Sans coordination, it's a subtle buck-passing and not much else. 

Really though, proper VST sandboxing (and a human-readable debug log) would go a long way.

mudgel


I think folks should make up their own minds on whether X1 is worth upgrading to or buying outright. I thought the X1 demo was just recently released but it would seem from comments that I'm wrong on that front. It shouldn't be too long now though.

As far as X1 being half baked when first released. I don't even think the batter was mixed properly it was such a poor release.

Fine for those who say they didn't have any problems or only a few minor ones but even Cakewalk acknowledged that things could have been better when it was brought out.

cakewalk have even changed their update process due to the unprecedented problems with this release and the unprecedented level of copmplaints about a release. all confirmed by various Cakewalk reps on this very forum.

Is X1 B the bees knees best DAW ever made? It could have been but isn't.
Is X1b 246 stable? Several significant reports of 246 being less stable than 245. So far every update has fixed, neglected and broken previously working things. For me X1 B 246 is more stable than the original but not enough so for reliable use.

What is the general feeling about the stability of X1B 246. For those who had a pretty good experience at the beginning it continues to be this way. The reality is also that many experienced users have left not only this forum but X1 because they have not gotten it to work at the level necessaryfor  them. As far as I'm concerned the complaints about their difficulties with X1 lend a lot of weight to the comment that X1 was/is half baked, myself included.

I still contribute on this forum and continue to experiment with X1B 246 but when it comes to client work I still use SONAR 8.5.3 and am gradually using a much wider base of DAWs than ever before. I must admit though that I'm using 8.5.3 less and less. None of my X1 issues are related to not liking the new GUi or having to learn to do things in a different way than in previous versions. I'm in the thick of having to learn new ways because as time permits, I'm learning lot's of other DAWs in the hope of becoming comfortable with one or more for regular use. The fact is that not a single one of the other DAWs I'm checking out has had any stability issues. they just work. My efforts with them are in connection with the suitability of their feature sets.

I've been a Twelve Tone/Cakewalk user since the day dot and have a great deal of "affection" for the company as a whole but I'm also running a business and need reliable tools for my work. My hope is that Cakewalk will continue to update SONAR X1 till it is the DAW it should have been. Hopefully my continued experimentation with it will enable me to make full use of it when it eventually is stable for me.

That sums it up for me as well Mike. I've actually had X1 working since day one. Of course there were/are some bugs with it, but I too felt it was half baked. When certain features come out not even working, that's proof right there. That's like buying anything else in this world and having it broken...brand new and broken. Say that to yourself 3 times. That said, the latest updates to X1 have made it 100% better for me. However, I still do not like it and made up my mind last night that I'll not be using it anymore other than if someone sends me a bundle file that was created in it. It's just not for me. There is just too much that I don't like about it...too many button presses, too many things in weird places..little things that irk me and slow down my work flow....there's a whole list.
 
I made up my mind initially to really give it time...learn it, experiment with it. I think everyone needs to do this...seriously. Look at how you do things in older versions, and look up how you have to do them now. The problem for me there is, I'm too set in my ways for how I did things with older versions and I just do not like having to totally change my plan. For me and how I use Sonar, there are way too many things that I need to change to use X1 the way I do 8.5 and I just don't have the time nor the patience. I used it last night for 9 hours without a single crash...which is a good thing! It's good software...it's been realiable for me in ways older versions haven't been...and it's let me down where other versions haven't. I just can't get used to working in it and for the past few weeks have been forcing myself to try to like it.
 
That's not how it should work in my opinion. I've given it a chance, I've done my research on changing my gameplan, I've waited for updates and have done far more than I should have to be honest. I simply don't like it and it's not for me...and that's how I feel about Pro Tools. It works, but it just isn't my cup of tea.

Have been with Sonar since Sonar 1. Took a few weeks to settle into X1 and get used to things being in a different place. Some stability issues (usually 'not responding') but if you're saving regularly then it's ok. Hopefully these things will be ironed out as the software matures.
After some initial inward grumbles, I have to say that I now love it. The workflow is much improved and suits the way I go about using the programme. I opened up 8.5.3 today to have a look and take a trip down memory lane, and was gobsmacked at how old-fashioned it looked.
Go for it.
Well done Cakewalk!