Thanks for the plug !  Your timing is excellent. I just wrote my next column last night on some interesting applications for buses and sends. One of them relates to mastering and works very well in that context. I think it will probably appear in the June issue.




Will check it out. 

As with the demo, I'm guessing X3 review copies weren't made available until recently, when a lot of the bugs have clearly been squashed. When X3 first dropped, it was infuriating. Now, I find it performing much more reliably on my system than Cubase and StudioOne combined. 

Anderton
 
The answer is remarkably simple. Magazines don't pay all that well, so reviewers can often pitch particular products they want to review as a perq. Which scenario is more realistic:
 
"Hey, I just saw this really amazing plug-in at NAMM. I'd love to check it out. If you haven't slated a review for it, I want to do it!!"
Another issue is that for me, reviews aren't about whether I like something or not. The object of a review IMHO should be to describe a product with such accuracy that someone can make an informed decision about whether it's something that would interest them or not. In that context, I think it's more helpful to identify good products and review why they're good in case their feature set would be useful for the reader.
 
I have done reviews where some people thought it was a really negative review (because I accurately described something that didn't fit their needs) while others thought it was a really positive review - because I accurately described something that did fit their needs. To me, that means I succeeded in writing a useful review.

What you say Craig seems to bare out.
 
I have read the occasional Audiophile mag and there are no holds barred in their reveiws.
 
Glad you have integrity with your critiques.

I think you'll see a lot more coverage in the coming months of SONAR X3. Reviews have been great but what you are seeing now is the second round of tutorials, aimed at helping users out. That's a good thing for all our users.