I intend to updgrade to X3 producer this weekend.  The only thing that I am concerned about is Take Lanes.  I am so used to layers.  But I don't do a lot of standard comping, so I don't think that this will be a big issue.
 
I have X1d producer and have been a Sonar user since V6.  When I went out on the Cakewalk site to explore upgrading, I saw a list of options that was daunting.  At the top of the list was "new user" options, or some such.  Lower down were prices based on the packages that one wants.  I am assuming that, because I was logged in, that the package prices were based on upgrades from producer to producer.  But I am not convinced.
 
What I want is to upgrade from what I have to a standard producer package that gives me all of the new Pro Channel stuff.  How do I ensure that is what I get?  What is the standard package?
 
Any help from the forum would be appreciated.
 
Thanks in advance,
Tom
 

Your upgrade price is $199 from SONAR X1 Producer. Add this to your store account with the $199 option ticked. Hope this helps!
-DG

X3 Studio will give you the ProChannel. Depending on your tastes, the Producer version has more included. Here is a link to the version breakdown for specifics.

I think when you buy the upgrade, you can also choose things like full versions of TH2 and Breverb for a little extra. Just something to keep in mind. If there are things you want you don't have like Pro Channel plug bundles, you can get a little extra discount by doing it all at once.

I practiced using the take lanes yesterday, and they seemed far harder and problematic to use than the session drummer tutorial video that was describing how to use layers on an older version of Sonar. Trying to click and drag different recordings between different lanes was very awkward, and anything that is accidentally moved over another recording on the same lane causes the entire section it is placed over to be deleted. It seemed impossible to use multiple lanes to spread out drum sequences as the video was explaining how to do.

I'd be interested to hear exactly where you had a problem translating the Seth's workflow to lanes (i.e. what timestamp in which video). I have a note-for-note reproduction of Seth's Drum Production project that I created in X1 by following the tutorial for the fun of it. As far as I can tell at a glance, that project behaves normally in X3 and there are no same-lane clip overlaps that would cause problems.
 
See if this sounds familiar :
 
http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page_songInfo.cfm?bandID=757783&songID=11188398
 
 

The first session drummer video on the Sonar university videos, I was just randomly practicing the techniques in X3 using take lanes instead of layers to create multiple drum loops, and its probably my own problem, but I couldnt recreate the same technique, nor move individual clips around to where I wanted them within the lanes.
 
They kept auto dragging and locking onto lanes in places that I didnt want them, and when they moved over another clip, that clip would get deleted.

Vab
They kept auto dragging and locking onto lanes in places that I didnt want them, and when they moved over another clip, that clip would get deleted.

I'm not sure exactly what you mean by "auto-dragging" and "locking onto lanes" - these sound like selection and/or snap grid setting issues.
 
Regarding the third issue, same-lane clip overlaps are not allowed in X3 and overlaps will be prevented by slip editing existing clips out of the way when another is dropped in the same lane and time range. If the overlap is complete, the existing clip can be effectively deleted - recoverable only by Undo. I've reported this to the Bakers as highly undesirable behavior, but it's pretty easily avoided once you understand the rules.

I was trying to move individual clips around to different lanes, but they kept snapping to places I didnt want them.
 
And yes, what you described about the same lane clip overlaps is the main problem, when they one clip keeps snapping over other recordings.

If snap settings are preventing you from dropping a clip where you want it, you can just drag it back where it came from and start over or drop it anywehre and immediately Ctrl-Z to undo it. You can even hit N while dragging a clip to disable snap before you drop it.
 
As far as I can tell, this is all about understanding how the tools work, and the snap issues would apply to working with layers as well. Suffice it to say I see no inherent issue with the implementation of lanes that that would prevent using Seth's workflow to produce a drum track in X3.