X1d... Still not functioning right yet and I trully wish it were.

My own use of Sonar X1 supports Kewl's concerns: Sonar's hard-won historic reputation for rock solid stability has been compromised, and once trust is lost ...

I think the big issue is that there are so many versions of X1 now (all with their own unique seperate builds, does not seem very modular) it must be an absolute bl**dy NIGHTMARE to test for their QA dept. Still I like X1, I hope when X2 comes out they sort out their builds so they are all modular, using the same DLL's across versions(give their QA dept a break) and market their versions so it doesn't confuse the hell out of consumers (Expanded must have been a nightmare to implement for their developers/QA across three different versions of Sonar, truely an exercise of marketing over common sense)... There should also be an update facility like Windows update for X1 and related plugins so we can stop playing "hunt the right patch for the right version". I'm also really surprised that there isn't an in-built "plugin store".

My own experience with X1 goes like this:

 - when it was first released, it was a nightmare for me/my setup.
- I kept updating with the quick fixes and of course the B/C/D releases.  Still no love.

HOWEVER, I then bought and updated to the "Expanded" version.  Voila.  Everything started to work and work really well.

Cakewalk never admitted there were serious fixes in the Expanded version.  As a matter of fact they seem to allude there were NO fixes.

Yet magically things started to work and be rock solid.

Frankly - I didn't care about anything other than the fact things were now working wonderfully, even if it did costs me the price of "expanding."

X1 (D now) is the most stable I've ever seen of any DAW / Host I own (which are a few).

So while I don't suggest anyone spend where/when they don't have to, "Expanded" did the trick for me.

I have some speculations as to why, but it would only invite ridiculous replies so i'll refrain from expressing them ;)

Kewl Hendagang

But overall, X1(d) still doesn't work right! It seems that every update that fixes an issue, creates another.

Yep.

They`re either total vibe killers (like the media browser not functioning right) to plain dangereous in a session (like pressing and un-pressing on multiple sends (quick grouped) to a bus works whenever it feels like it!!!) I like to work fast and I don't have time to double check after a software if it's able to follow my commands.

Yep.

Please please work toward STABILITY and efficiency, we don't need anymore gadgets. And although some of the users here seem to reaaallly enjoy the bug hunt (like they'll win some sort of trophy or something) most of us don't want to be bug hunters. It's time consuming, session stalling and above all: SOMEONE ELSE'S JOB. This has been going on for close to 2 years now, and regardless of some good reviews in a few magazines by people who don't do MUSIC or serious sessions everyday for a living (I know this for a fact) it's STILL not right at its core! Please work toward stability.

+1, +1, and +1. I called out some of the 'reviewers' when X1 came out. Some of them went in to great detail about the features and how well they worked in X1. For example Audio Snap ... and it didn't even work! There was one reviewer who used screenshots of an old version of the step sequencer when he was 'reviewing' X1. In my opinion, anyone who did a 'review' of X1 when it came out and gave it a good review, never actually used it. In my opinion, there's no way you can give a good review to a piece of software that is released with major features flat out not working.

Please work toward an even better audio engine. no more bells and wistles. no more add ons, xtra plugs etc etc just make it work once and for all. Do this and trust me you will win the heart of a lot of aspiring professionals because the concept of X1 is trully great 

+1.


I feel your pain, I can only imagine how frustrating it is on a professional level when you have the potential to lose income. This isn't some video game that freezes and the kiddies have to wait a few days after release for a patch, this is a professional tool that a lot of people make a living with. And even those who don't, shouldn't be ridiculed for expecting what they spend their hard earned money on to work like a lot of us have been.

I'm certain that I would be using something more stable if I was using it professionally,as I can't imagine how nightmarish it would be to accidently double click in the Inspector PC,and have the gauranteed fatal error,in front of clients.
.
Please ROLAND/cakewalk,NO MORE tools/add ons,make it STABLE,MAKE IT PRO!!

On my desktop,everything works well enough for me,in fact its great NOW,but I had to buy a whole OTHER computer to get X1 to work properly,as the Laptop and X1 is buggy as hell[although a complete re-install on the laptop yesterday, fixed the "No Metronome",problem], BUT still having to go into preffs,after EVERY start up,just to get sound,is still there,as is the 20 seconds or so it takes for the "Whole GUI to show up"!

For me,it turned out that a carefully setup desktop,was THE CURE to get X1d to run great,and I love having 2 machines......now,but for a while there,I was going nuts trying to get simple things to work,and crash after crash,after crash.

I think it is a very "special" software,and it is VERY machine dependent,at least that's been my experience.

Bob S.

FastBikerBoy


I'm just in awe of anyone who's had only had 4 - 6 hours sleep a day for 10 years. Respect.

Pfffft. I don't sleep.


I hope John does not read this freds OP. He'll prove him wrong.

I call people whiners here from time to time, but you sir, are totally justified in your points.

Keep honking your horn!

I do ask one thing - please get Google Chrome and put a space between every 3 sentences for easier reading on your posts.

It looks like you use Firefox? Know paragraph formatting-

Lance

  lance, bapu, I am using FF indeed! yes I agree my posts do look like wood logs, sorry for that

Hi Kewl,Sonar X1 d is incredible,stable,powerful daw (it's my experience).For example,i had work on a pop voices prj yesterday,and i have used VVocal for three hours with any problems.I'm a producer in many music generes and my clients are starting to choose SONAR (over Protools) for its more detailed sound and deep. It's only my exp.Good luck.

Kewl,
I am sorry but I did not mean that end users should fix anything.  I meant that this forum has veterans that could try to help you with specific issues and Cakewalk has a Support Department designed to help with your own techinical issues based on your system.  I don't know what else anyone can do for you at this point.  There are many many of us that do not have the same issues so where do you start to try to resolve this?

Rimshot

+1 to everything.

I have recently opened a small commercial studio, and have adopted SONAR, since I have been using Cakewalk products since home studio 3 (got that when I was 10), which was bought for me by my brother. I am seriously questioning my decision now... I will stick it out, but I kinda wish I picked another DAW.

As an anecdote, my brother is a successful music producer, who has been using Cakewalk since it's inception. He is switching to Cubase, because of X1. He's the reason I started using SONAR in the first place... never thought he'd 'leave'.

Not that my story about my brother, who none of you probably know, should sway you one way or another. My point is, there are other professionals who use SONAR for a living, and are leaving the program behind. They may not post on this forum, but they are out there...

Cactus Music


From time to time you see threads like this which there is a valid complaint and wondering why Cakewalk seems to ignore pleas for stability. In a way I see more feature requests than pleas for stability. We demand the bells and whistles and we want them cheap! I'm not sure they have ever targeted the pro market anyways. Seems to me Cakewalk is most popular in the way Zoom and Fostex recording gear appeals to a certain market which is fine. It's a fair market that might even have more potential users than the pro stuff. I no longer provide multi track recording services and I'm sure if I did I would not use Sonar. It is wonderful software for songwriting , my hobby band and making my backing tracks. A semi pro studio rig?? So I am always amazed that there is the odd person out there that is using it professionally in a classic studio environment and never surprised when I see they have issues.But that said, even 16 track tape machines could have issues so nothing has changed.

Interesting,and slightly depressing[to me,but I........?] post,as I think you've nailed it.


Had I known this a year ago,I'm sure I would not have chosen X1,however as I said before,once I EVENTUALLY carefully chose certain HW,it's been running great,and as I[slowly] approach trying to see if I can deliver something Pro Sounding in every way,I think it's going to be fine.


My next choice would have been Cubase,but I had only a certain budget,and I think for what I'm doing, X1 Producer,and then Expanded,provides more for the money,although I'm really only guessing.


Iv'e still, NEVER seen a well documented article/post anywhere,that really spells out,what each Daw [staying within PT,Logic,Cubase/Nuendo,Reaper,Sonar X1,and Studio One]has,that it "excells at",and why,without the tedious "because it's the industry standard".


I will eventually try to learn Reaper,but with only a couple of [very] short attempts,it seems very confusing,and have never ended up even recording with it,in fact due to never using a computer before my join date,actually recording/mixing and burning a single piece,to a CD-R,seemed to take until only a few months ago,as I spent,most of my time creating mad,multi key,multi timbral,pieces to jam lead guitar over[my only semi confident ability].


The fact that it can produce a seriously pro sounding finished piece,with a gazzilion more tools than my first purchase[Tascam 2488neo] for the cost,is still impressing me greatly,but we'll see,whats going in the near future,and learning to be a recording engineer,and producer[something I prevoiusly thought I knew something about]......NO,I'm a definite novice in THAT department,I've really only been a guitar player.


I still think it's a GREAT product,and hope the stability really,really becomes the focus,FROM NOW ON!









 

  gcolbert, don`t take it the wrong way but posts like yours are part of the problem. First, We do run protools at the studio. I mainly use it to receive sessions from outside but others here use it to produce and mix on. Both PT and Sonar reside on the same workstation. NONE of my issues with Sonar are repeatable or duplicable with Protools with the same computer and interface settings. Second, I have spent hours on the phone with cake's tech support, got a collection of support tickets, and besides trying tweak in the config files, questioning the computer or the drivers, they were not of any help. Sonar behaves differently than most DAWS period and It`s a big problem when trying to run big sessions where things are moving fast. If you didn't get from my posts that I do love sonar but need it to WORK properly and be stable, you did not read them correctly. I'll never understand why some people just keep looking the other way with blinding shades on, we all have to gain from this if everything is out on the open.

Kwel - I have just two problems with the point you are trying to make to an audience who can't (and shouldn't) do anything about your issues.  The first is that you, on this post and others, keep insisting that X1 is unstable.  Unstable means that when you try to use a feature that the program crashes or that identical input through the same chain results in different outputs.  X1 rarely crashes the computer and has never given me different results from the same inputs.  You seem to have some confusion between stability and change.  Of course X1 works differently than 8.5.  The reason for the new verson was to intentionally change things.  Hey! things changed. It just seems that they changed a lot of things in a way that you personnaly don't like.  I think that the Staff view in X1 was a step backwards from how it worked in Home Studio 7.  That has nothing to do with if the software is stable or not.  It is just change.
 
The media browser works.  It just dosen't work the same way it used to.  My new Mustang doesn't work the same way that my 69' did.  Things change when upgrades happen.  I can't live without the high-beam switch being on the floor next to the clutch!
 
The whole issue about how bus grouping should work was not a clear consensus and a lot of people provided their opinion of how it should work to Cake.  It just happens that the solution that Cake took (with a lot of user input) was not a solution that you like.
 
The problems that you (and a lot of other people) are having with Melodine in the X1d release does not prevent you from using Melodine.  It just means that you can't fast-bounce Melodine tracks.  Get a cup of coffee.  Could be this gets fixed in X1n or X2, could be that it doesn't.  Regardless, it is the tool that you have.
 
I think that it is critical to distinguish between design features and decisions that Cake has to make from bugs and unstable code.  I have seen Cake go to some impressive lengths to fix bugs.  A lot more often I've been told that things are working as designed and that I just need to learn to use the tool.  If 'a feature'  is working as designed then it is the tool that we have to work with.
 
Bummer that changing things kills your vibe.  This probably wouldn't be as big a distraction if you spent more time learning what the new features (good and bad) were and how they worked.  Trying to use the same shortcut keystrokes that you used in a previous release is probably real frustrating.  The alternative is to reinstall XP and go back to 8.5.  I wonder if I could buy the old Mustang back?
 
It IS about the finished product.  You could have the same results if you were using PT or Cubase or any other DAW.  That you are working in X1 (when you have a lot of other options) tells me that, problems and all, X1 is the better tool for your workflow.  A professional learns how to use his/her tools to get the job done.
 
 

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