sharke
He has something of a point, although perhaps expressed in a style that would be suited more to a teenage argument about Justin Bieber on YouTube.
I mean I quite like Sonar, at least I'm sticking with it for the time being, because I've made an investment (both time and money) in the software and I certainly can't afford to be writing off hundreds of dollars and spending more hundreds on another DAW right now. I certainly like it a whole lot better than Pro Tools, which was far less stable for me and couldn't even run a moderate sized VSTi based project without throwing up errors all the time.
However, if you asked me whether I'd drop $400 again on Sonar if I could go back in time, I'd probably say no. It's not that I don't think that Sonar doesn't have the potential to be the best DAW in the world, because it does. It's just that it doesn't feel like a $400 piece of software. There are too many sloppy design flaws, inconsistencies and plain oddities for that. Hell, I get pissed with the design flaws and bugs in Microsoft Outlook, and that only cost me $100. I can turn the other cheek when dealing with freeware, but these days when you shell out this much for software you just expect it to be so much more polished and stable. Sonar, to me, feels very much like it's still in beta.
A small example of that was when I posted a while ago about automation for PC FX chain off/on not working unless the ProChannel in question was actually open in the console (or selected in the Inspector), and someone from Cakewalk (Noel?) said that they were aware of the issue, but that it was just too much of an issue to fix, and that fixing it would break other things. This is, I have to say, inexcusable. I have also suffered the same problem with the automation of the arpeggiator's off/on. It wouldn't work unless the track in question was actually selected. This is beyond a bug, it's the selling of an unfinished product that has been shipped part way through its development phase. Perhaps this didn't bother me too much because I'm still a bedroom hobbyist - but if I'd built a commercial studio around Sonar, I would be as mad as hell.
Yes there are workarounds and hacks to some of these problems, but they are major productiveness killers and leave a bad taste in your mouth when you're using a piece of software you've invested a lot of money in.
It just seems a bit odd that if you buy hardware that is faulty or doesn't work as advertised, you are entitled to a refund. If you buy software that gives you the same kind of problems, there is no recourse. I really don't know why.
Anyway I'm not one to moan and complain about Sonar on a daily basis - for me it's performing quite well, a huge step up from Pro Tools, and I am enjoying making music with it. Do I think it's worth what they charge for it? Definitely not. I'd expect a far more polished product for this kind of money.
To the OP, you're obviously going to come across as a bit of a dick with the tone you're taking. To be honest it's a tone I hear very often from arrogant 20-something EDM producers who are eager to prove themselves. You say you are making tunes that are rocking the clubs, well how about putting your money where your mouth is and posting links to some of these tunes so we can judge for ourselves. Otherwise we're just going to presume that you're full of it.
You know, I have to agree with you. I've been waiting for the X series to catch up to the usefulness and fluidity of 8.5.3, and it's just not there. If this is top level software, then it should perform better. Taking the color schemes and buttons away was already a huge loss for me. While the third party efforts exist for colors and buttons, it's still not the same. The program is clunky and I'm finding far too many little things out of place. The design of the console and the baby buttons on everything kills my screen space, and I'm on two 23" monitors.
Recently, after my surgery, I was suffering from severe photo sensitivity. If I adjusted my monitor brightness to where I could see, I couldn't make out the numerical controls in X2. I went back to 8.5.3, and could see clearly once I adjusted the colors. It also reminded me of how I used to work. There are different stages for writing/mixing/mastering/etc., and I would use different color schemes depending on where the project was.
I've bought every copy since Pro Audio 5, and I don't see myself upgrading ever again. The plot is lost. There are other programs with more polished functionality at a fraction of the cost. The only thing I'll really miss is CAL, but it's not that big of a deal, and it's dead tech in Sonar anyway.
Time to move on, unfortunately.