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  • Sonar X2 is highly questionable to say the least!
2013/02/04 11:23:01
godparticle
Currently I am using Mixcraft Pro Studio 6 as my music DAW, and i have to say that it is a dream as-far-as all the fundamentals for making music...logical, stable, intuitive and straightforward with all necessary features included to create any type of music anyone could wish to make, whether complex or simple. People who come to Mixcraft from ALL OTHER DAW's ALWAYS PRAISE Mixcraft, and always mention how the other DAW they came from is just convoluted nonsense in terms of the user interface. 

My point being that between the years of 'innumerable' posts in this Cakewalk forum about the myriad of issues with Sonar X2, and the fact that one has to get a degree in computer sciences to maybe get Sonar working stable, then really at this point in time there is no way that i will commit to this DAW by putting $499 on the table, NO WAY! 

It seems to me that 25% of users of Sonar X2 have no issues, but the rest of the users are reporting nothing but issues; i thought Sonar X2a was mean't to fix the problems, but in actuality it has created more, JUST LIKE EVERY OTHER PATCH Cakewalk releases. The same thing happened with Sonar X1, each update-patch simply causes more problems, while 25% of smug users would happily pronounce "No problems here!" Well, i've got news for those users, every other man and his dog has got problems with Sonar, and the voice of the majority carries more weight than the voice of the minority. So the naysayers need not respond. 

Sonar currently has issues, always has had issues, and Cakewalk just keeps pumping it out with more issues. I would like to ask about just how qualified Cakewalks programmers and coders really are, because seriously as far back as i can remember Sonar has had NOTHING BUT ISSUES, unless someone strikes it lucky with a freak one-off computer configuration, or even eats and breathes and sh_ts and sleeps Sonar, which is no kudos at all for this wretched DAW. Let me put it this way, i don't care if all DAW's have issues, since i know that none of them have had the amount of issues that Sonar does on such a consistent basis, simple as that.

Why on earth anyone should need to be a hardware and software expert to simply get a DAW running reliably is beyond me. The Mixcraft 6 DAW works out-of-the-box with no special Windows-configuration needed, and no special hardware needed, so try and gainsay that. 
It's unbelievable how many users of Sonar get snarled at simply because Sonar is at fault. Even if the upcoming Sonar X2b patch does resolve some of the issues, that still leaves a complex DAW that is counter-productive to getting things done simply, quickly and with no nonsense. 

Screw the basics says Sonar. Well then i have to ask, what is the point of paying so much money for irrelevant complexity crammed with bugs, and which needs some elusive mix of heaven-sent hardware to behave?  


Anyone halfwit can deduce that Presonus Studio One 2.5 is a safe bet compared to this bucket of worms. It seems that Studio One is dream come true compared to this crap, and thousands of users of Studio One will agree with me without reservation, including myriads of former Sonar users. In Studio One there is nowhere near as many bugs and stability issues as Sonar; screw that, if an expensive DAW is gonna get my money it's gonna be Studio One III when it's released. Then all i need to do is suggest to the developers that they design some sort of console-strip to rival the one in Sonar and then Studio One users will be in heaven; other than that Sonar can go jump in the lake as far as i'm concerned, nothing but issues; does anyone actually get around to making music with this dog of a thing??? Gainsayers forget it, Cakewalk does not know how to design a bug-free stable DAW and they never have, and the last ten years is absolute proof of that; why you people continue to suffer this puffed-up unstable complex junk is beyond me. 

Looks like Cakewalk and Roland need a wake-up call. From now on, everywhere i go on Facebook and Twitter and all other music-forums, i will be pouring bitter scorn on Sonar, seeing as how it has given the MAJORITY OF USERS SO MANY ISSUES FOR SO MANY YEARS, NOT TO MENTION PERSISTENT BUGS OF ONE KIND OR ANOTHER, so now it's my turn to give Cakewalk and SONAR nothing but issues, until they hire some decent programmers and allow Sonar to work out-of-the-box without issue, ahhmmm, like Mixcraft... 

Beam me up Scotty, i'm outta here, i can see the werewolves coming, snarling and dripping frothy saliva from there mouths with all those Sonar fanboys in a mob with batons and flames on sticks...LOL  Sometimes the truth is hard to take, BUT THE TRUTH MUST BE SAID. Too many people in here making poor excuses that HOLD NO WEIGHT. No rebuttals will be accepted, because everyone knows Sonar has issues, and always has from the day of its inception.

Here's a post just recently from over at the Mixcraft forums from an unhappy sonar user:

Hi, new here and just downloaded Mixcraft 6 yesterday and can barely tear myself away from my workstation! This is a great product-easy to use, lightweight and robust. Been a Sonar user for 10 years and spent a lot of money on various upgrades-software and hardware. Seems everytime one piece of equipment works correctly something else goes wrong. Latest X2 version of Sonar crashed my very new PC and I have not been able to get it to boot up since. Now Sonar is trying to compete with ProTools and be a pro studio solution, but it has become so complex, with so many functions crammed in, that it has become unwieldy in my opinion.

  


 
So now, i must concur with that post, i must ask, EVER HEARD OF SIMPLICITY CAKEWALK?? Last i checked all i needed to make dance-music was effects, VST synths, midi input, basic audio recording, and a logical user interface and navigation with as few menus as possible. WHATS ALL THAT OTHER SH_T INSIDE SONAR, CAKEWALK?? UNBELIEVABLE MAN!! YOU JUST WON"T LISTEN WILL YOU, OH I FORGOT, CAKEWALK IS TOO GOOD FOR SIMPLICITY, they wanna be a wanna-be.


Get me the hell out of here Scotty.




2013/02/04 11:32:00
spacey
godparticle

Last i checked all i needed to make dance-music was effects, midi input, basic audio recording, good logical user interface and navigation with as few menus as possible. WHATS ALL THAT OTHER **** INSIDE SONAR, CAKEWALK?? UNBELIEVABLE MAN!! YOU JUST WON"T LISTEN WILL YOU, OH I FORGOT, CAKEWALK IS TOO GOOD FOR SIMPLICITY, they wanna be a wanna-be.
LOL! Now that's some funny stuff right there. Dance on!
 

 
2013/02/04 11:45:05
Bristol_Jonesey
I'm sure he's glad now all of that has been vented properly.
2013/02/04 11:50:41
Kalle Rantaaho
godparticle


  

It seems to me that 25% of users of Sonar X2 have no issues, but the rest of the users are reporting persistent issues; 
How much time have you spent on Studio One forum, Pro Tools forum, Cubase forum etc...???
People come to the forum when they have a problem. The son of a friend of mine got a job at the garage of a local Mercedes-Benz dealer. He was surprised that Mercedes is such a poor car. Most of the cars that came in had something to be fixed, Can you imagine??!!

I'm not saying SONAR hasn't got its faults, but you are just screaming out things about yourself that you actually wouldn't want anyone to know :o/
 The reviews I've read about, say, Mixcraft, are not that praising, but if you're happy with it...If you want simplicity, stick to Music Creator. Why try to use a flagship product if you want simplicity???

Also, you should understand, that a large, complex software like SONAR (or any other serious DAW) has a huge amount of core data. The new ones that come to the market utilize the best parts of the existing ones and build a new (and invent new bugs).
If SONAR, PT or Cubase did a complete rebuild, they would maybe endanger things like backward compatibility of the projects or similar essential things. Things are not that simple, you see,
but you can simply pick the DAW of your choice without making a fool of yourself.


2013/02/04 11:51:31
Bub
Bristol_Jonesey

I'm sure he's glad now all of that has been vented properly.


2013/02/04 11:54:02
Bub
@godparticle ... that was fierce! LOL

There may be a few less fanboi's around these parts after that due to internal head trauma.

LOL!!!!!!!
2013/02/04 11:55:55
Jim Roseberry

Latest X2 version of Sonar crashed my very new PC and I have not been able to get it to boot up since.



This is a tip-off that the problem actually has nothing to do with Sonar.  
Sonar *can not* affect whether your machine boots or not.
The underlying issue there is either hardware or driver.

BTW, If you play guitar, the guitar has to be properly set-up/maintained to play well
Same with tape-machines of yester-year
Same with pianos
Same with the car you drive
PC DAWs are machines... and also need to be well-maintained

2013/02/04 11:58:42
Bristol_Jonesey
He seems to base all of his assumptions on user forums rather than first hand experience - and we all know how reliable forum data is.

Incidentally, the larger the user base, the higher the number of people complaining yes?
And what he or nobody else really knows is the total size of the user base - the users on here might well represent 1%  or 99% of the total number of users running Sonar.

You certainly can't know the % of totally satisfied users who never post on here
2013/02/04 12:06:27
Bub
Bristol_Jonesey

You certainly can't know the % of totally satisfied users who never post on here
Or unsatisfied ones either.

Let's be honest, most people aren't as vocal as I am in trying to get things fixed. They just say, "Screw this, I'll just download Reaper, at least I can still use some of the VST's I paid for in it." and move on.

It's hard for me to really put a realistic number on it because myself, and one other person are the only people outside of this forum that I know that use Sonar. He's the one who turned me on to it back in the mid 90's. Haven't seen him in years, so I don't know what he's using now. It would be interesting to know because he was an avid Cakewalk fan.
2013/02/04 12:09:34
Ham N Egz
nice try, Presonus...
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