robert_e_bone
I have commented before as well - I think that X2a has been extremely stable for me, and for a lot of folks.
 
I keep reading posts that issue blanket statements about the bugginess of X2a, and of its instability, but when you look back through it all, and I have participated in a whole bunch of assisting folks with specific problems, these blanket statements are just not true.
 
There ARE no global show-stopper crashes going on with X2a, and while some population of folks have individual issues, another population keeps indicating that they are quite happy with the stability in X2a, and with what they feel have been workflow and feature improvements.  And to the best of my recollection, not a single one of the issues I have participated in resolving have ended being caused by X2a - but rather by either operator error, plugin problems (mostly 32-bit third-party running in x64 X2a), and interface driver problems (sometimes settings, sometimes drivers).
 
There are folks who think X2a walks on water, and those who think X2a is a dismal failure.  Excluding the fringes on both sides of it, X2a has some annoyances, but has in fact been globally quite stable, and for those with repeated crashes, as I indicated above, that has without little or no exception (again to the best of my knowledge), has not been from X2a itself failing.  There are even workarounds for most of the things that are annoyances.
 
I look forward to evaluating X3, whenever it shows up - seemingly getting close now, and it the base product is as stable for me as X2a has been, I will cheerfully explore whatever new features it includes, and following my evaluation I will either choose to upgrade or I will choose to cheerfully continue to use X2a.
 
Bob Bone
 

Now THIS is a LOGICAL conclusion....thanx Bob...I agree...

I'm going to take the "evaluate" and wait process this time...see how it goes..and 
then make a decision...rather then have to be the first on the block to have it...
They just got a hundred bucks from me a year ago...and they want another
$149 now to get fixes for what should have already been fixed....
so I'm going to make sure this thing is stable and viable before jumping
on the band wagon...I've got nothing to lose...and may save $149...so
it only makes sense to me...

robert_e_bone

joel77
I didn't get to see the list of features, as the Sweetwater ad was down before I had a chance to look. I'm taking a wait and see approach.
 
Sonar X2a has been mostly a pleasure for me. I'm not a super power user, but I've never had it crash either. There are, of course things that I would do differently, but I'm not the one designing the lay out of the program. It's taken some adjusting, but that is true of every new version of any program. Hell, it took most of a year before I finally figured out how to power down Windows 8!!  lol!  ...... not that I was looking that hard and I don't use that computer all that often.
 
I am excited to see what all they've changed/added/updated with X3. 

Hey Joel, and anyone else if it applies, here are some simple ways to shut down and restart Windows 8, using shortcuts.
 
1.  For Shutdown, set up a desktop shortcut with the following:
     Target: C:\Windows\System32\shutdown.exe /s /t 00
     Start In: C:\Windows\system32
 
2.  For Restart, set up a desktop shortcut with the following:
     Target: C:\Windows\System32\shutdown.exe /r /t 00
     Start In: C:\Windows\system32
 
For both of the above, I also hit the Change Icon button and found a couple of nice icons to make them stand out on my desktop, a red circle icon for shutdown, and a blue circle for restart.
 
I use these all the time, and they are super quick, rather than the goofy default way Windows 8 does it by default.
 
Bob Bone
 

If you're in Desktop view you can just hit the usual Alt+F4 and the Shutdown Dialog will come up...that's the 
way I do it...no Real Estate lost that way either...

robert_e_bone
I have commented before as well - I think that X2a has been extremely stable for me, and for a lot of folks.
 
I keep reading posts that issue blanket statements about the bugginess of X2a, and of its instability, but when you look back through it all, and I have participated in a whole bunch of assisting folks with specific problems, these blanket statements are just not true.
 
There ARE no global show-stopper crashes going on with X2a, and while some population of folks have individual issues, another population keeps indicating that they are quite happy with the stability in X2a, and with what they feel have been workflow and feature improvements.  And to the best of my recollection, not a single one of the issues I have participated in resolving have ended being caused by X2a - but rather by either operator error, plugin problems (mostly 32-bit third-party running in x64 X2a), and interface driver problems (sometimes settings, sometimes drivers).
 
There are folks who think X2a walks on water, and those who think X2a is a dismal failure.  Excluding the fringes on both sides of it, X2a has some annoyances, but has in fact been globally quite stable, and for those with repeated crashes, as I indicated above, that has without little or no exception (again to the best of my knowledge), has not been from X2a itself failing.  There are even workarounds for most of the things that are annoyances.
 
I look forward to evaluating X3, whenever it shows up - seemingly getting close now, and if the base product is as stable for me as X2a has been, I will cheerfully explore whatever new features it includes, and following my evaluation I will either choose to upgrade or I will choose to cheerfully continue to use X2a.
 
Bob Bone

 
 
Great post Bob - sums up exactly how I feel about X2a.
 
Seems like the release of X3 is going to coincide with me putting the final touches to my revamped studio room (no desk as of yet though, which is a bummer)

Bristol_Jonesey
 X2A was widely lauded as a pretty stable platform with a few slight niggles but nothing show stopping.

Thats my experience. I am very happy with X2a, if fact if I don't upgrade its because I am happy with X2a. X3 looks promising but I am waiting for some details.

I can say, for the moment, other than having to kill Sonar after every use via Task Manager, it's been pretty solid. It's not that Sonar is unstable or full of bugs, but that there are probably limitations and mishaps with API's offered by Microsoft and other software integrated into Windows. With that said, still, there are probably some elements of testing left out due to time or budget constraint, and some ways of finding bugs that could stand improvement.
 
The issue I still have is that reporting potential bugs needs work. If a user experiences an issue, merely reporting it in a forum or dialogue, even at the basic level should be enough. The reason I say this is that, as these things accumulate, it may produce trends. For example, ANY issue reported for graphics or the GUI should be accumulated as a GUI/video issue. It shouldn't matter (yet) exactly what the issue is, but that there are "x" number of video/GUI issues. If this seems to be a problem area, then more detail should be requested from the user by Cakewalk to see if there's similarities and potential bugs. That's more proactive.
 
I still don't think the Bug Reporter tool is effective, because 1) there's no incentive to report bugs, and 2) it's not always possible to reproduce with specific steps. I came from an industry where my job was reporting bugs. A bug may be found in a result, not always a specific procedure. I've proven that theory many times with Adtran engineers. Intermittent bugs are hard to find, and the tools offered by CW don't fully encompass that variable, IMO.
 
Yes, there's multiple ways to report issues, but all of them have a challenge that prevents efficiency to some degree.
 
Otherwise, I work just fine with Sonar, although I still have some major gripes and issues. If X2a were the end, I could still use it for years to come. With the coming of X3, I think there was no better way with the current Cakewalk strategy to fix issues and implement new features. I just wish the two were disparate and not a package deal. 

I don't see where Cakewalk is any different than any other software vendor.  I've been wainting for MS to fix the tcp/ip stack bug for over 20 years....
This is the nature of software.

Gary McCoy
.
 

I'm going to take the "evaluate" and wait process this time...see how it goes..and 
then make a decision...rather then have to be the first on the block to have it...

It amazes me that anyone would do otherwise....
 

Well, somebody's gotta be the first one in the pool and I'll be cannon-balling off the high dive as soon as it's available.

I've read already where Cakewalk has mentioned a free update in the works so we know, as always, there will be some issues.
 
I'll probably wait a week or two and watch. Then do the puchase but I'll keep X2a chugging right along.
 
Regards,
 

Living Room Rocker
I am not sure why a problem as to be a "show stopper" in order to be regarded as serious or real.  If a feature has not been well developed and causes the user to take more time and steps to overcome its shortcomings, then using the software is no longer a 'cakewalk'.  If the maker of such software makes a promise to its customers but fails to deliver the as-advertised product features, then customer(s) are justified in expressing disappoint, frustration, criticism, etc., particularly when manufacturer does not address the product's problem.
 
Well, I'm a sure you get the argument here.
 
Kind regards,
 
Living Room Rocker

I certainly did not mean to suggest that there aren't things in X2a that aren't problematic.  There are a couple of issues I have with Step Sequencer that driver me nuts, and the same holds true for other issues for other folks.
 
I was only addressing the comments about stability, with regard to show stoppers.
 
I believe X2a to be quite stable, and for my particular work flow, I find X2a to be quite usable, with workarounds available for almost all of the things I wish worked better.
 
 
Bob Bone
 

Living Room Rocker
I am not sure why a problem as to be a "show stopper" in order to be regarded as serious or real.  If a feature has not been well developed and causes the user to take more time and steps to overcome its shortcomings, then using the software is no longer a 'cakewalk'.  If the maker of such software makes a promise to its customers but fails to deliver the as-advertised product features, then customer(s) are justified in expressing disappoint, frustration, criticism, etc., particularly when manufacturer does not address the product's problem.
 
Well, I'm a sure you get the argument here.
 
Kind regards,
 
Living Room Rocker

Well-stated.  There's such an odd divide here, with some users who defend Cakewalk like it was their mother.  They use terms like "rock solid" and anybody who thinks it requires a maintenance update is a "whiner".
 
Bear with me for a minute and forget the crashes, and issues caused by audio drivers, graphic cards, PC anomalies, etc... What are you are left with?  Bugs that users experience based on HOW THEY USE SONAR.  There are plenty of features I never touch in Sonar.  If somebody who does use them finds bugs that need fixing, how ridiculous am I to say, "Sonar is rock solid for me. I'm tired of people whining and jumping on the blame train."
 
I think the existing bugs are serious enough in Sonar X2a to have warranted updates long ago. Leaving them in the program is amateurish/negligent in my opinion.  The forthcoming official announcement would need to contain significant damage control to offset the cold shoulder of 2013.

Andrew Rossa [Cakewalk]
Why don't we wait till we officially announce SONAR X3 first. Let's not get too ahead of ourselves quite yet. We plan on communicating more but can we release the product first?

Fair enough, but I don't see what we were waiting on?  X3 was officially released; no mention of bug fixes; no upgrade deal for abandoned X2 users; no clearly stated commitment to the current Sonar version; no new bug reporting/viewing system.
 
Congratulations on the release.  Please don't hide away in another communication lock-down while working on X4.

Seth Kellogg [Cakewalk]
Those who download X3 today get X3a, and the patch release for boxed users is slated for next week. Multiple Cakewalk employees have said in other posts that there are plans for future point releases in this cycle.

I'm not sure what you mean about abandoned. We have upgrade pricing just like we do every year. The X2a patch was the size or two normal point releases and then we moved on to do some serious under the hood work with VST3, ARA, Colors, Comping.
 
Our bug reporting system works pretty well for the time being though I admit there's always room for improvement. Stating that we need a new one is nice but you're not even privy to the one we currently use. If you'd like you can apply to join our Beta Team. You'll get to see some of the internal workings beyond the automatic fault reporter and the Problem Reporter on the website.

 
Hi Seth,
I meant that X2a was abandoned at the end of 2012.  We never again heard whether another bug fix was planned.
 
My opinion on the bug system is from a user perspective:  1) User encounters a bug, 2) User has no way to see if Cakewalk already knows about the bug, so they 3) Submit a new bug report.
 
This all takes time, kills workflow, and generally winds up feeling futile.  Consider the obvious alternative:
 
If users knew what bugs were recognized by Cakewalk Development, and what was to be fixed in the next maintenance release (assuming there will ever be one), it would streamline the system and increase confidence in the company and product.  It would also save users a lot of time and frustration in searching forums and creating detailed bug reports that are already in the system.  
 
Can you see where I'm coming from?

My view is that CW is doing fine. Most of the issues I've had have been due to either inadvisable settings or the current (messy) OS environment of my PC. A few of those may or may not be avoidable or workaround-able, but only a developer with code profiling tools can do that. For sure, nothing out of the ordinary that any resource hungry application wouldn't experience.
 
I've really only experienced one flat-out bug, I gave the bakers precise instructions to reproduce (I double checked my own instructions...), and they easily fixed it in X2a. Can't ask for more than that.