I currently am using Producer X2. All the goodies like addictive drums 2, melodyne and the blue tube stuff have me intrigued, but is there anything in X3 itself that would represent what any of you would consider to be a significant step backwards? Lost features,"fixes and workflow enhancements"  that are lackluster or more hindurance than enhancement? $99 bucks is a steal for the extra stuff, but not at the expense of the main functionality of the DAW itself. Your thoughts?
Tim
Oh BTW I have an extremely robust computer, that is having no problem whatsoever running X2. (Windows 7 64 bit, i7 quadcore , 16G RAM two hard drives, you get the idea).
T

With my work flow it was no brainer to upgrade but I've been really enjoying working with the X series and looking forward to where Cakewalk are going to take it.   

Is it worth it?
 
Short answer. Yes.
 
Long answer. Yes.
 
In regards to any steps backwards... not at all IMO. In fact all the cool stuff in X2 is way cooler in X3 and works much more reliably.
 
HOWEVER... you will have to spend some time learning about the new Comping mode. Took me about a half hour and I still need to go back to my cheat sheets every so often but it is well worth the effort AND you can still use the other record/edit modes (Sound On Sound, Overwrite) for traditional editing until you get the hang of things.
 
Cheers.

The new comping and Melodyne make it a no brainer for me. If you do vocals, the Melodyne upgrade is a must. Addictive Drums and BiFilter are extra goodies. I don't use the BlueTubes a lot but if you don't own a lot of third party stuff they are a nice addition and it's a well-rounded collection.

The Blue Tubes limiter is an excellent alternative to Boost11 if you do not have any other alternatives. Also there is a bunch of other cool stuff in that package that is useful for those of us with a limited plug in library. For example there is a Pultec model which Sonar had not included previously and I never would have spent money on (and really had no idea how cool/useful pultecs were until I used the Blue Tubes one). Very nice add on and I'm looking forward to playing around with some of the other stuff.
 
Seriously I didn't think I NEEDED those things and I guess technically I don't and I'm sure there are better versions of all the models in that BT bundle but I am certainly glad I have them. Not only do I get some cool/useful goodies that are WAY different than what I had before I get to see how specific things work. Like now I know that a Pultec is something I would use and maybe in the future worth spending some dough on to get one of the higher end plugs. I'd also kind of know how to use a hardware version if I ever encountered one.
 
Neat.

How about the addition of Addictive Drums 2 to the list of reasons. If you don't have EZD or SD 2.4, that makes it worth a hard look.

No brainer. Do it. Thanks.

The program itself is worth it. The UI is awful though. They said we would have colors again and all we got was 50 shades of grey.

If you want the clip background color you applied to the track to be automatically applied to new clips recorded on the track, it's not possible in X3. IOW, a newly recorded clip will always have the default black background color.

Try the demo first.

Guitarpima
The program itself is worth it. The UI is awful though. They said we would have colors again and all we got was 50 shades of grey.

So what's the deal with this ?
X3 actually did add the ability to add colors to the track / console backgrounds, but not to your liking ? Not enough colors ?  . . . please explain your lack of enthusiasm about the color features they added.
 
For the OP . . . my opinion is X3 is totally worth the upgrade from X2.