Sonar X3 released. And now...

You're not happy with whatever daw you currently use and you realized Sonar is the best daw and that's why you want to know CW's plans?

Studious
Sorry to say, but after 12 years, Cakewalk lost me this year by abandoning X2a.  There were (i.e. are) several issues requiring more maintenance updates, and I was left hanging the entire year as Cakewalk maintained only secrecy.  Surely if we'd known in December 2012 that our money spent on X2 would not get us another update, the news would not have sat well.  Yet here we, supposed to be excited that we got exactly that.  I think we saw this coming, but hoped for better.
 
With all the new development and features in Sonar X3, bugs are guaranteed.  Perhaps an X3a will be available soon after release. Perhaps not.  Perhaps X3 will soon be abandoned for sake of X4 development and users will be expected to wait patiently and indefinitely for news (2015 maybe?).
 
Melodyne really caught my eye, but $150 is not going to happen after the experience over the last year.  Before considering the next generation of Sonar, I would need to see a clearly stated commitment to maintenance and communication for X3.  This does not mean collecting bug reports behind the scenes.  I mean public (at least to registered users) lists of known issues along with reasonable maintenance releases.
 
I see the Cakewalk staff is finally more free to speak.  If anybody can comment on the plans for maintaining/fixing X3 it would be appreciated.  Is anything going to change regarding the hidden nature of the bug system, letting users see what bugs are on the radar, getting maintenance releases out more regularly, etc?
 
I know this is a very exciting time for Cakewalk, so I'm sorry to pee in the cake batter, but maintenance and communication seriously needs to be addressed.  The forums have been a depressing, angry mess for way too long.
 
Cheers and best of luck with Gibson!

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?

Andrew Rossa [Cakewalk]

Studious
Sorry to say, but after 12 years, Cakewalk lost me this year by abandoning X2a.  There were (i.e. are) several issues requiring more maintenance updates, and I was left hanging the entire year as Cakewalk maintained only secrecy.  Surely if we'd known in December 2012 that our money spent on X2 would not get us another update, the news would not have sat well.  Yet here we, supposed to be excited that we got exactly that.  I think we saw this coming, but hoped for better.
 
With all the new development and features in Sonar X3, bugs are guaranteed.  Perhaps an X3a will be available soon after release. Perhaps not.  Perhaps X3 will soon be abandoned for sake of X4 development and users will be expected to wait patiently and indefinitely for news (2015 maybe?).
 
Melodyne really caught my eye, but $150 is not going to happen after the experience over the last year.  Before considering the next generation of Sonar, I would need to see a clearly stated commitment to maintenance and communication for X3.  This does not mean collecting bug reports behind the scenes.  I mean public (at least to registered users) lists of known issues along with reasonable maintenance releases.
 
I see the Cakewalk staff is finally more free to speak.  If anybody can comment on the plans for maintaining/fixing X3 it would be appreciated.  Is anything going to change regarding the hidden nature of the bug system, letting users see what bugs are on the radar, getting maintenance releases out more regularly, etc?
 
I know this is a very exciting time for Cakewalk, so I'm sorry to pee in the cake batter, but maintenance and communication seriously needs to be addressed.  The forums have been a depressing, angry mess for way too long.
 
Cheers and best of luck with Gibson!

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?

 
Well, unless you are planning to announce fixes for X2 along w/ the rollout of X3 then his main concern, which is the abandonment of X2, still has merit. And seeing as how you guys (at least as far as I can remember) have never done fixes for old products I can see why he felt no need to wait.

yevster

bladetragic
And seeing as how you guys (at least as far as I can remember) have never done fixes for old products I can see why he felt no need to wait.

Am I delusional if I have memories of X1 having four free fix releases? 8.5 having three? Ditto for 8. I can't comment on the bugginess of X2a, as I have not touched X2 after X2a came out, but whatever happened, historically, one patch per version is the exception not the rule.
 
I'm holding back my negativity until I see the full feature list. :)

I think he meant any release prior to the current.

As Meat Loaf said: The future ain't what it used to be.
You can skip one upgrade.
That said, I agree that fixing known issues should be a high priority.
 
Wilko

bapu

yevster

bladetragic
And seeing as how you guys (at least as far as I can remember) have never done fixes for old products I can see why he felt no need to wait.

Am I delusional if I have memories of X1 having four free fix releases? 8.5 having three? Ditto for 8. I can't comment on the bugginess of X2a, as I have not touched X2 after X2a came out, but whatever happened, historically, one patch per version is the exception not the rule.
 
I'm holding back my negativity until I see the full feature list. :)

I think he meant any release prior to the current.

Yes, that is exactly what I meant.
 
In other words, once a new product comes out, no more fixes for the one before it.

Shadow of The Wind
As Meat Loaf said: The future ain't what it used to be.
You can skip one upgrade.
That said, I agree that fixing known issues should be a high priority.
 
Wilko

Couldn't agree more - the critical comments always come down to not fixing old wellknown issues - overall stability foremost.
 
Really working closely with anybody that report stuff and sum up all that info - and finally solve it all. That would not only solve bugs - it would increase patience among users while they are listened to.
 
Another thing that is puzzling me - why is Cake staff so annoyed over the interest in X3 release?
 
They should be darn greatful anybody is interested.
 
Or maybe they are just frustrated that they are not allowed to speak freely yet.
 
Color customizations and VST3 support are exiting news to me. If that also means routing is improved to accomodate VST3 abilities - I'm reaching for my wallet.

lfm
Another thing that is puzzling me - why is Cake staff so annoyed over the interest in X3 release?
 

cakewalk staff annoyed?
to me it seems they're having the time of their life :)
joking around, eager to tell us everything but knowing they can't.. have you missed all the indications and teasers from the staff on this forum of what's coming?
 

TerraSin

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?

.... As of right now, there is a lot of division and a lot of people reconsidering staying with this brand and many have already left from what I've been seeing online. I think at this point, most people want to know more information about X1-2 and some reassurance that X3 won't follow the same path.

This is exactly right. I can appreciate Cakewalk being excited about X3, but given the experience with X2 you really need to be aware that many long time users will be hesitant to upgrade. A clear statement along the lines of "we realize we should have been more communicative and addressed issues in X2 more aggressively and promise to do better for X3" could help ease concerns (although for me personally I will need to see results first and will likely wait for the first patch before pulling the trigger). I am hoping for a great product and for Cakewalk to have real success with the release, but as the saying goes "once bitten twice shy."

Bristol_Jonesey
AFAI can remember, X2A was widely lauded as a pretty stable platform with a few slight niggles but  

Strange, that's how I remember it too! After two turbulent years of X1, there was a sense of joy and relief on the forums when X2 was released, and the X2a update was well recieved as well.
 
But lately there's seems to be some consenus that X2a is the buggiest and most lacking version of any DAW ever. People don't even seem to need to post examples of bugs or broken features, it's just the Truth.
 
I could use X2a for years and be happy!

I'm with Colin and Sven Arne.

Since the "a" patch, X2 has been solid as a rock for me - take lanes included.

Far more people are having a positive experience of X2 , from what I can see. It may not appear so looking at posts on here, but there are reasons for that..

Here's what I see...

Cake had a choice....fix the issues in X2a while working on X3 and give that fix for FREE...
OR
Fix the issues during the re-write and CHARGE for it.....they chose to CHARGE FOR IT...
and INCREASE the upgrade price to $149 from the $99 it used to be...that's a 50% 
price increase in a year...AND they didn't support X2 really, and remained
completely silent about it during the process...more of a gamble...
and, after removing the "FLUFF" 3rd party stuff in the upgrade, that most users
already have...you get the picture...

That's 2 strikes....

If X3 is a bug fest...they better get their resumes updated...that's all I'm sayin....

I can tell you for sure...people are getting tired of CORPORATE GREED...and 
Corporate avarice, and that's going to be a HUGE factor here...especially as the 
competition is increasing, and others are lowering their prices to be competitive...

If this isn't the BE ALL AND END ALL OF UPGRADES (which it most probably won't be) then
the Bakers took the cake out of the oven too soon and it's fallen...especially
when they NEVER EVEN TRIED TO FINISH the LAST CAKE....

HUGE GAMBLE ON THEIR PART!

On the other side, it appears the Dev cycle is down to a year...don't know if that's
good or bad....I know it's good for the company, as they get money every year if
they do that...but, will it hurt the product is the question.

That being said, they've done a lot of what we asked for, at least on paper....so that's a good thing...but is
it too little too late...time will tell...

One thing I know...most here will cave and buy...OCD is rampant here...we, in America
have been trained from youth to be consumers, and to "have to have the latest and greatest"
and the companies know this....and prey on it...

I, for one, will probably hold out...I'll let others be the beta testers this time...and wait for a lower price
and for the bugs to get worked out...if that doesn't come...oh well...but you can bet that
there will be "lots of carrots" if this launch doesn't go over well...

Here's to hoping they got it right!

I'm not p o'd. I look at the Cakewalk team with a great deal of admiration. I also look at what some other vendors are doing with regard to communication and I think Cakewalk might want to look into possibly rethinking their current policies. I don't think there is anything bad about posting an opinion towards that end.
 
There is a reasonable tone that can be presented to Cakewalk with reasonable requests for information. Bug reports, feature requests etc. so on and so forth are also proper avenues for communicating with Cakewalk.
 
I was hoping for an X2b but that is not 2b so I look forward to X3 and hope that it gets here soon.
 
Regards,

bladetragic
I seriously have to wonder if anyone saying Take Lanes is rock solid is actually thoroughly using it.  And I'm not talking about workarounds.  The fact that one of the reps has stated that Take Lanes has gone through a massive overhaul in X3 tells you that it is definitely not rock solid in X2 or X2a.

 
Solid as in not causing instability - yes
Solid as in predictable - yes
Solid as in elegant and intuitive - no
 
I use take lanes every day, and while they're not impressive, they basically do the job so I'm not demanding my money back. I still like them better than the 'layers' of yore...
 
I'm excited to see how they've improved them in X3.
 
Sven

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.