Ultimate respect and thanks to the Cakewalk team, but...

Now - please don't flame me (I've been married too many times to let myself be bothered by that! ) but I am leaving Cakewalk after something like 18 years - I just can't afford to sit and say "err..yeah. Amazing solo but can you please do it again? My system just hung".
 
BUT... I do want to acknowledge a couple of things
 
1) The openness of the Cakewalk team. It is tough satisfying everyone and more importantly, every single configuration of equipment, software, drivers and of course, alchemy. I congratulate you all on your support! (by the way - try getting Pro Tools support to that level... I know... I tried it last week!).
 
2) If ANYONE has crash, hang, BSOD and compatibility issues, give the lads a break, and before you give them a hard time, please do the whole uninstall, re-install thing (as well as checking drivers). The procedure is on these pages somewhere. Follow these rules and you'd be surprised at how many issues get resolved - yes, even mine (though sadly I ended up with other issues).
 
3) As many point out, Sonar X1 generally works perfectly, for most people. Think about what you are getting for how little money! We all have an incredible tool in our hands for a relatively low price (English guys on here... I know where your minds are when you read that bit about incredible tool!). I am proud that I was able to learn my DAW skills with the Cakewalk team, and many of you forum guys! LOTS of kudos!
 
4) Others aren't always better / grass isn't always greener, etc. I installed PT9 last week, and BOY have I had some silly problems (like everything defaults to using my POD XT Pro as the main audio card...despite me uninstalling it!). Although my nephew swears by Cubase, I bet it, and the others, is / are no better.... he is just lucky.
 
So, as I said, I just cannot afford to have these system crashes, so I have to leave - BUT,  this is just me and my equipment....I am sure I am in a very small minority, so I urge everyone to stick with Sonar - the problems you experience ALWAYS get resolved - plus, I can assure you... if you know Sonar, you will be frustrated with PT!
 
As for me? I am keeping Sonar 8.5.3 for those jobs that need things doing quickly! Like I say... I know my way around! X1? Well.. I am still going to give rev C a try! I DO love X1 - at least in principle!
 
Like I said - wish me luck.. no need to flame me - I truly support the whole Cakewalk family!
 
Thanks, Mick.
 
So...why am I leaving then? Honestly, as I said, I just need stability. If this doesn't work, I might buy one of those new-fangled machines called 4 track - they sound pretty promising :)
 
 
 
 

"err..yeah. Amazing solo but can you please do it again? My system just hung".

If you ever find a DAW that never does that, please let us know.

There is nothing worse than when you think you have nailed the perfect take to get an artifact in it, system crashes, it wont save...you name it.. and Im guessing that you just got that off your chest right after it happened!

I get this hardship too and it does annoy the hell out of me but as you said the reason why I stick with it, is that the forums and cakewalk themselves are darn helpful.period.

Do you have a computer tweaked for just SONAR? In fairness I am generally asking for trouble when I have a sub par X1 laptop processor spec aswell as running internet and antivirus on it at the same time!

Cian

mike_mccue

I bought a Tascam DR-680 last week. It records up to 8 channels when you press the R button.

I had a lot of fun this weekend just recording acoustic guitar and voice.

It was relaxing.
 

I had a similar experience with a DR-07. Hit play, record. No drivers problems, sound crackles, tracking down various issues which suck the life out of trying to record an idea. And you know what? The quality isn't half bad. I am near dumping the whole computer recording experience and find another solution.

So...why am I leaving then? Honestly, as I said, I just need stability.

 
Hi Mick,
 
FWIW, If you're experiencing that level of instability, I'd seriously look at the machine itself.
Especially if you're having major instability across multiple software applications...
Completely rule out the hardware before moving on.
Otherwise, you may wind up spending more time/money/effort... to end up in the same situation.
 

It always happens in the editing stage and is normally caused by Bitbridge ... which I have now eliminated by going back to Sonar x86.

 
Hi Bub,
 
Have you tried using jBridge (3rd party bridging applet ~$21)?

Nope. I really have no need for it since my projects always fall well within the 4GB limit. In my largest project I'm only hitting 1.9GB total system usage.

 
Curiously, how's the overall stability been for you with X1 x86?
Has that resolved most of the issues you were having?

Jim Roseberry

Nope. I really have no need for it since my projects always fall well within the 4GB limit. In my largest project I'm only hitting 1.9GB total system usage.

Curiously, how's the overall stability been for you with X1 x86?
Has that resolved most of the issues you were having?

So far so good. Although I did have a crash last night after working on something for about 2 hours. Just out of the blue I hit play and got a WSOD ... but that was the first actual crash I've had since switching back to x86.

I never had WSOD crashes in x64 either unless I was using something Bitbridged.

As for the ProChan things I was running in to, it comes and goes just like in x64, but does seem to be a lot less frequent under x86.

Yup...I haven't really stressed Studio One Pro like I have on occasion Sonar, but so far it has never even hiccuped.  And I can do anything while the transport is playing back with no worrys...something I've simply quit trying in Sonar. 

yorolpal


Yup...I haven't really stressed Studio One Pro like I have on occasion Sonar, but so far it has never even hiccuped.  And I can do anything while the transport is playing back with no worrys...something I've simply quit trying in Sonar. 

Right ... same with Ableton ...   you can insert stuff, edit stuff, all on the fly without a hiccup.   And, like you Ol Pal, I've quite trying in Sonar as well.   I just hit "stop", do what I'm gonna do, then continue.

We've noticed

 
That's one thing I miss about Samplitude... and Logic
Yes, they have other issues... 
But they handle on-the-fly tweaks pretty well.
 
Like My Ol'Pal, I just got used to stopping the transport... making the necessary changes... and starting again
BTW, lest there be any confusion, I'm all for Sonar being more on-the-fly friendly.  
My main point is that this is a long standing weaker facet
All these apps have some (significant) weaknesses/limitations.  Who's do you choose? (Rhetorical question)

Jim, as rhetorical as it may be, there still are consequences to the types of issues a software has. An example is this "on the fly" (or what has long been called gapless) workflow. For some, not having a gapless workflow would be intolerable. (I suspect most of the big pros, for example). For others it has little impact. The same can be said about serious hangs and crashes. Some simply won't tolerate it (at least not on a regular basis) and others don't have the same demands. Automation issues are another area where Sonar has lagged and is only now playing catch up. For some it's ok 'as is' and others think it's not very dependable at all. How all this translates into the "pick your poison" is very subjective as we all know (rhetorical statement) ;)

 
FWIW, I agree... 
 
Certainly if X1 were giving me the fits it has some others, I would not be using it.
I'd not have the patience for constant crashes or other major impediments.  Having to stop the transport is annoying... but I can live with it.
I would have a very hard time settling on a different (main) application.

I had a similar experience with a DR-07. Hit play, record. No drivers problems, sound crackles, tracking down various issues which suck the life out of trying to record an idea. And you know what? The quality isn't half bad. I am near dumping the whole computer recording experience and find another solution.

And just how are you going to patch all your nice outboard hardware into it, Phil?

I understand your situation and after about 8 months and 5 albums worth of client-material all with major file corruptions, done on two totally different systems, I'm fed up. I can assure you and everyone else that this will be the last Cakewalk purchase if they can't get it right with X1C ...AND IT'S ALL ABOUT STABILITY FOR ME TOO. Previous versions of Sonar PE were great and stability was good enough, but X1 is garbage in the realm of stability. I have literally spend 150 hours troubleshooting this program and and soon as one thing is stabilized, another thing become an issue. I, myself, have used and have close friends who rely on all other major DAWs, and while each of them have their quarks and flaws, X1 would be a gold medalist if crashing were an Olympic competition. I've become used to X1 and other than a few minor things that I can't believe they took away from previous versions (like a phase button and stereo/mono button in track view), it's definitely a smarter, sleeker interface. BUT IF IT COULD ONLY BE USED RELIABLY. I have clients and deadlines... and I used to rely on Sonar to satisfy my clients and meet my deadlines. This is no longer the case. So DEAR SONAR DEVELOPERS... please make X1c right... and make it work! I'd love to stick around for X2... if only that is possible. Are we "commentors" the only two out there? There must be others just as frustrated.

mike_mccue


"So...why am I leaving then? Honestly, as I said, I just need stability. If this doesn't work, I might buy one of those new-fangled machines called 4 track - they sound pretty promising :)"


I bought a Tascam DR-680 last week. It records up to 8 channels when you press the R button.

I had a lot of fun this weekend just recording acoustic guitar and voice.

It was relaxing.


:-)

Well I did some recording this weekend and it was like flying a bombing mission deep into enemy territory, getting a big one hung up in the bomb bay, having two out of four engines shot out, one by flak, and one by fighter action.  Fuel was leaking badly, my crew who thought they were on their last mission had just learned that the length of a tour had just extended from 25 to 30 missions and Charlie in the tail had taken on a bad bout of flying sickness.

We made it back to base but with no landing gear and the remaining two engines cut on finals.  I got the boys back home but the crate needed some bodywork done.  Now that's how a mans DAW should work.

It was exciting.

:-)