I think I'll pass on this one.  The interface is a downgrade to me.  It's not as easy on the eyes as the previous versions.

Change isn't always a good thing.

thanks for the update. enjoy.

Really I thought it was just me.

I have a 1900 x 1200 28" monitor with another 22" as a second monitor and honest to goodness I feel it is very cluttered no matter what I do.

You guys are both trippin balls.

I couldn't disagree more. 8.5 was massively cluttered with buttons and widgets everywhere. X1 is much more organized and sleek looking. Try hiding the Control Bar by pressing 'C' if you want to go for a really minimal look.

X1 is awesome on a 27 inch monitor. Wouldn't change a thing.

I want to take and rephrase what the OP said.
The interface is beautiful and clean, however it is not well managed or organized. In S8PE I have access to all the icons and tools I need, and the I dont feel cramped for workspace. In X1, I dont have any tools that I need and I am already running low on workspace. I really liked X1 for the day I had it installed... but it was not friendly for midi-work.

So, not cluttered, just bulky. If I could change anything on the program however, it would be to regain the functionality of 8PE with the beauty of X1. Just my $0.02.

Seth Perlstein [Cakewalk
]

I couldn't disagree more. 8.5 was massively cluttered with buttons and widgets everywhere. X1 is much more organized and sleek looking. Try hiding the Control Bar by pressing 'C' if you want to go for a really minimal look.

The mistake Cakewalk made with Sonar pre-X1 was to ship it with all those buttons showing by *default*. That's what had created the messy look. Another reason for the messy look was the way the buttons were arranged, creating a nebulous, 'busy' look. Yet another was the actual graphic design, ie: chunky 3D buttons with shadows.

Personally, I have just a few buttons showing at the top bar in Sonar 8, and some essential ones at the bottom. No clutter what so ever, and the whole working area is very lean and streamlined.

Likewise, with the track widgets, if Sonar (pre-X1) was shown in all promotion images showing just the MIX widgets, it would certainly have given a different feel to those who were interested in Sonar.

I think X1 looks much cleaner than previous versions of Sonar. I have the browser, inspector and control bar on my second monitor, and just a simple track view on my main monitor.

Though, I do wish some of the features that previously were accessible form the individual audio and MIDI tracks in track view, wasn't tucked away in X1's inspector.

once you learn how to set up your control bar and you screen sets...if you dont like the overwhelming veiw..use your preferences and hide somethings..it does have that option..flexability is great with decludering the veiw