A (long) while back I upgraded from 8.5 Producer to X1 Producer and before I even really used or learned I it upgraded again to X2 Producer. Been using that for a while now and overall very happy with it and, more importantly, I'm actually starting to know it and how to get around. So Cake tells me (quite frequently in emails) that as a loyal long time customer I can get X3 Producer for $150. I've been reading a bit on their product page and some here in the forums but just wanted to ask those of you who have already upgraded . . . Is it worth it? And, more importantly, how different is it and how steep is the learning curve?
 
Please . . . no posts from Cakewalk bashers trying to convince me the "other" DAW is better. I am, in fact, a loyal Cake user and  too old to try and learn another DAW so I really just want to hear from those who have or have not upgraded, why you did or didn't and if you did how has your experience been?

For me personally the upgrade was worth it, and a pretty big difference too. The main selling points for me;
1. The new comping, it's amazing
2. Melodyne/ARA (mainly because I've personally always preferred Melodyne over V-Vocal and the integration is great now). You'd need an upgrade to Editor in order to make the most of this feature. Celemony offers a discount. Also, as long as you leave X2 installed, V-Vocal will work
3. Good selection of extra content - Addictive Drums (2) is great and so is Tone2 BiFilter. The Nomad BlueTubes are a little dated but are a nicely rounded collection if you don't already own lots of 3rd party stuff. The delays in particular are nice.
4. QuadCurve EQ with flyout analyzer. Almost forgot because I use a 3rd party offering now but it's a GREAT EQ upgrade.
5. VST3 support. Includes side-chaining for 3rd party plugs.

Oh and also, it's more stable and relatively bug-free, especially comparing X3e to X2a.

Conceptually I liked X2. In practice it was an annoying arsed mofo to work with. There were lots of glitches and weirdness that slowed me down severely (which was very exasperating as a n00b still learning) and the new features which were well intentioned were not implemented as well as they could have been (half baked). All that and the lack of patches to fix some of these issues had me at the end of my rope with Sonar and Cakewalk in general.
 
Then came X3. I have not had a single problem with it (on the exact same system without any changes to it whatsoever) and the features that should have been awesome in X2 (but fell flat) sprang to life and become what they should have been and more.
 
There are also all the extra goodies that I did not think I "needed" or even "wanted" but after messing around with some of it there are things that I actually did need (or I at least find extremely useful) so that was just an extra bonus.
 
My point? If you like X2 then I see absolutely no reason why you won't love X3. It's just better.
 
I will say though $149 is the max price for a Producer to Producer upgrade. You should really wait for a special and snag it for $99 or some ridiculous freebies. We are nearing the end of the release cycle so the specials should be coming down the pipe very soon. We have already seen quite a few discounts.
 
So yeah, if you can wait then you could probably save some cash (if that is important to you). If you wait long enough you might even qualify for a free upgrade to X4 if they run their usual end of cycle promos. Then you'd have both.
 
Also give the trial a run through. Check out comping. That seems to be the one thing that some people have gotten weird about but personally I think it's great.
 
Cheers.

Already been done...

Plenty of videos and posts on Sonar X3.

I'm not going to spend time trying to justify my argument. Sonar X3E is the best so far because I say so.

Cheers...

Sorry... I forgot. I have encountered one very minor bug that's annoying but have a workaround for it. So one problem so far.
 
One... as opposed to something screwing up every time I sat down in front of the DAW. Pretty big improvement. ;-)

It knocks X2 out the park, both in reliability and functionality. You won't be disappointed.

Even with the lack of colors, still, X3 is much better as a DAW.

Download the free demo and check it out for yourself.
 
All the add-on components will not be there (it's a demo), but you will see the main product itself.
 
Bob Bone
 

X3 producer is the version to have. I can see it being the one that would be useful from here on out. The major bugs were fixed and it is the most solid performer to date of all the X series versions. 
 
If you like X2 you should love X3.
 
 

I strongly feel that X3e is the most stable release of SONAR since 8.5.3. I can't believe that after all of these years and despite also owning several other DAWs ( Pro Tools 11, Cubase 7.5, Logic X, Live, Reason, Studio One 2, FL Studio and Reaper), SONAR still feels like home to me. 
 
-e.B