Hi guys, sorry to hear X2 is proving to be less than ideal for a lot if you. I just thought I'd chime in to say I know how much it sucks to change DAWs and the thought of it makes us shudder. But I had enough of Cakewalk with X1 and although I really didn't want to because of all I'd invested in Sonar, I jumped ship and have been very pleased I did.

My only point is, it seems drastic, annoying, a waste of time & money etc. but for me, the pain and annoyance wasn't as great as I thought, and within a week, I knew my new DAW well enough to fly through sessions.

So don't be scared - if Sonar isn't doing it for you, just leave, you'll honestly be better off in the long run. Even if you're a hobbiest and don't make a dime off your work with audio, you'll enjoy music and music production more because you'll have much less time spent cursing the computer!

Peace.

GIM Productions

Beepster
 

It was only a general example to say that "the neighbor's grass is the greenest"

Oh I totally get what you're saying and completely agree however sometimes the grass really IS greener on the other side if your lawn is infested with fire ants. Consider it from the other point of view. Most people here would probably not be too happy with Pro Tools and Sonar would actually be a better fit. That would be a case of the things being better on the other side. Over the past few weeks we've had quite a few of the forum members buy and install Cubase 7 and are giving it glowing reviews. There was a thread a week or so back where one fellow (I forget his name) had just switched and posted some of it's features and his experiences so far. I asked him for details on whether it had similar features like some of the ones I find invaluable in X2... it was a pretty long list. For almost every single one of those X2 features that I feel I would sorely miss Cubase 7 had something similar or better. So just the fact I asked and was concerned about losing those features shows that I don't want to use Cubase. I want to use X2. It's perfect for how I like to work. I have FUN when I'm working with X2 where in Nuendo I was just working. I really REALLY like X2 (much more than X1 and much MUCH more than that old version of Nuendo). It just needs to be more stable. All reports seem to indicate a much more stable platform with Cubase (I used to use Nuendo and it never failed on me so I know Steinberg is solid... at least it was for that old version). So if it does all the things X2 does AND is more stable... well, seems like a decent alternative.
 
Now for a bit of an embarrassing admission. Due to my ignorance at the time I didn't really know what Cubase was when I was shopping around for DAWs. Because I had had Nuendo I was under the impression that it was Steinbergs flagship product for audio (it kind of is but I learned that it's more for folks who do video and/or need elaborate networking set ups). So to me I thought Cubase was like their toy starter package for amateurs. I wanted something pro. I was looking at the price of Nuendo and knew there was no way I could afford it. I started looking at Sonar and their top end product was only $500. It had all the stuff I wanted and by all accounts was indeed a pro set up so I took the chance and bought it. If I had known what I know now I might have gone with Cubase 6.5 (or whatever was out at the time). Maybe not. It did look like that version had quite a few problems and some limitations so without knowing what was coming with 7 I still might have chosen Sonar. I can't (and don't) really regret it because if it wasn't for that purchase I would not have landed here ont he forum where I've learned probably far more than I would have over on the Steinberg boards, I would not have been pointed towards or gotten some of the cool the free/discounted VSTs and plugins I have now or had access to all the learning material that Cakewalk provides (and much of that knowledge isn't restricted to Sonar so it will be beneficial with whatever I use). Even if I do switch completely some day I have gotten quite a bit of value just out of those aspects of being a Cake customer.
 
The program itself though is frustrating to use. It's like having a brand new high end sports car but the darn thing stalls every time you try to open her up. There is something wrong and the repairs should covered under warranty.
 
I know some folks might be disappointed at my negativity here or whenever these topics come up because I usually try to keep things positive but this isn't just venting or whining. It's what I'm actually considering after waiting so long for some fixes and I'm hoping beyond hopes that the Bakers are reading this and the other threads like it and realizing the natives are getting restless. If there is a decent patch that just gets things working a little more smoothly I'll shut up and go back to being a good little Beepster. If they expect me to pay for fixes AND a bunch of NEW bugs... well... not gonna happen. I'll stick with what I've got and use it for what I can and find other solutions for the rest.
 
I WANT to be able to get a stiffy every time I open up Sonar. I want to be able to brag about and recommend it to my friends. I want to be able to mock the fools who paid more to use other inferior DAWs. As it is though I'm starting to feel like the fool. I don't like that feeling.
 
Here's what I think they should do (yeah... who cares but Imma gonna type it anyway).
 
Take a good long hard look at all the bug reports and fix the most common and intrusive bugs that effect the most users (like that bleedin' selection issue and the sketchy graphics problems). Provide them for free and let us just squat on it for a while. I think the core of the program is far more stable than X1 was but it's these little things that are gumming up the works. I get far less crashes and less severe crashes with X2 but there are more frequent glitches. It would also be nice if you made 2 patches. One that only address the core program for us who do not use touch screen stuff and one for those that do. Probably a tall order for a free update though. Just make it more stable.
 
Then work on X3. And I mean REALLY work on it but don't screw around with new features. We've got enough as it is and those features need attention. The feature set as it is already smokes everyone else so let the other guys play catch up for a cycle. Just focus on going through every little corner of the program and fix, scrap or replace things. Like...
 
Take Lanes. These are great but half finished. Go through all the suggestion threads about lanes and cobble together a good, solid plan for them. I won't detail all my suggestions as they are already in many of those threads. Also add an option for folks to use something similar to layers if they so choose (but fix the limitations layers had at the same time). I think that would make a LOT of people happy, especially our good friend Keni. ;-)
 
Staff/Tablature View. Scrap them. They suck and don't work. Just pull that entire hunk of code out there and hire a third party company to design a better scheme. Have them design a "lite" version of Staff View for basic MIDI input that gets included for free and a full featured version that can a paid upgrade to defray the cost. The lite version can have limitations like you can't input notes smaller than 64ths or there isn't an in depth automatic chord generator or whatever. That way people who REALLY want to use it in depth will have a reason to pay for the upgrade. Also fix the chord diagram thingy on the guitar Tab. That thing is totally weird and doesn't even make sense half the time. I don't understand how something so simple got turned into that bizzarro atrocity against logic.
 
Make common sense changes. There was a thread the other day about getting the Now Time Marker to move to where you want. I thought we were able to input numerical values in the Transport Module and it would just jump to the right spot. Apparently not. Right click, left click, whatever all it does is bring up the menu to change the display type. Why? You could very easily make it so that area works like the Go To dialog. The other thing was that in different areas of the program where you could set those values you have more or less display type options. Why not make it consistent throughout the program? That's only one example of many but consistency and common sense would go a long way. Or how about taking the Time Ruler Zoom feature and adding it to the other views? I've been doing a lot of work in the Tempo View and I keep reaching up to that ruler trying to drag it to zoom only to remember it just doesn't work there. It's an amazing feature and maybe it's become a bit of a crutch for me but it would be great if it was implemented throughout the program. Whatever... you get the idea and it's not like you don't have a MASSIVE database from very intelligent customers offering up these types of suggestions. Use that to your advantage.
 
General fixes. Go through the manual one section at a time and test EVERYTHING. You'll find a very large percentage of features simply do not work. They may be relics from days of yore or just got overlooked but either way they should be fixed or eliminated. At the very least remove those features from the manual or put an asterisk beside them saying "Not Currently Available" until you release a version that fixes them. Use an army of unpaid beta testers if you have to. I'd do it if you promised to actually try to fix, remove or document these problems. It's a pain in the butt researching something thinking you are going to accomplish a task only to find out the feature doesn't work. Also consolidate the manual. That thing is all over the place and although it's huge some of the actual entries are quite sparse. There is also a LOT of unnecessary repetition and outright errors.
 
Separate install for touch screen users. Treat the touch screen stuff like a skin. Not have it fully integrated into the program. That seems to be a lot of what's gumming up the works in X2. I don't use touch stuff and aside from MAYBE one day trying a tablet as a control surface I don't see myself ever using it and from the sounds of things people were just using apps even before X2 to do what I would want anyway. We have 32 and 64 bit installs and Custom install options. Make touch screen capability and all that goes with it something that can be left out. I don't want it.
 
Clean up the code. I'm not a programmer but I've seen a lot of people mention that the code is sloppy compared to what old time programmers used to write back when there were extreme hardware limitations. Clean up the code so it's more efficient and I'd bet a ton of these glitches would go away. Again I'm not a programmer but if you take some crazy convoluted route to get from point A to point B there more chances that something can go wrong. It would probably be a lot less taxing on our systems too which would reduce crashes and make it so the program could be used on less powerful rigs. How come guys used be able to record great sounding albums on their old Atari systems or early PCs when they had a fraction of the resources we do now? Sure the VSTs take up a lot but the core program shouldn't. It's just basic audio manipulation and has been going on for what... 30 years?
 
I think if you spent the time and money to do all that your regular customers would be more than willing to pony up $200 or more for the upgrade (I would) and charge more for the new customers. If everything worked you would DESTROY the competition. Nobody could touch you guys. Nobody.
 
Anyway... I really don't mean to rag on Cakewalk. I love X2 but it saddens me that this great company isn't taking the opportunity completely dominate the digital audio world. I KNOW you could do it. I think most of us know you could. There just needs to be some time, money and effort tossed into this. This is obviously up to Roland but they make quality sh*t. Some of the best stuff out there. Hopefully they see the opportunity to lose a little now but make so much more in the near future and beyond.
 
/rant

Not being able to reliably select data in a $400 piece of pro software is "really minor"?