Wow, X3 is truly a breakthrough in features and stability!!
Its so refreshing to just finally be able to 'go to work' and be in the creative zone for hours without having to detour into the 'tech' zone every time the app encounters a problem. Thank You Cakewalk for all the hard work and what I'm sure was countless hours....this is really a huge thing for those of us who use this program on a daily basis.
 
...that being said, is there anyway you guys could go back to the deal you had with Native Instruments Guitar Rig instead of TH2???  The sounds from it are not bad and it definitely has potential but honestly, compared to guitar Rig, the GUI is almost painful to use. I'm sure with some redesign, it would be more intuitive but as it stands now, its like it was designed by brand new coders that were far more concerned about the algorithms than actually having to use it in a session. I know there are those that love it on this board but all the session players I work with don't want to mess with it because of the interface. In almost every instance, when I pull up the available choices here ( Guitar Rig, Line 6, TH2 ) they all opt for either Guitar Rig or Line 6 because of their simplicity.
 
Both GR and Line 6 have that crazy simple, drag and drop interface that is easy to understand and navigate....I'm talking La2A simple here. And they sound awesome without having to navigate anything. In both, you see the overview of the components/presets without having to page through menus and then you simply drag it into the rack...done...start tweaking.
 
I'm not flaming here, I really like some of the sounds of TH2 but in the overall use category, Guitar Rig kinda kicked it's butt. 

Interesting. I think pretty much the exact opposite. To me, TH2's GUI is exactly like plugging in pedals to amps and micing them up and so on. Really intuitive and obvious. And conversely, I couldn't be doing with Guitar Rig at all. Made no sense to me.

Suppose it goes to show that "intuitive" isn't a universal thing.

Not Cake's fault. There are plenty of Amp Sims out there: Acme Bar Gig, AmpliTube, Scuffham ...they aren't that much money.
 
I don't like TH2's layout OR sounds. I am a Guitar Rig guy, but I'm not married to it. All the above mentioned have a trial version.
 
Take the plunge.

There are indeed a lot out there. And as a tangent, I think the differences between them are wildly overstated. I've had various versions of Line 6 pods for about a decade, and tried out most of the others as I've gone along. I'd say modern Line 6 stuff, TH, Guitar Rig, and even the sainted Axe FX are all roughly equivalent. UI preference is probably what it comes down to, in the end.

Yeah, I get the pedal layout and all but the actual selection of the styles/components/sounds is really convoluted. When your plugging in your pedal board, you don't have to step through a maze of presets one by one until you luck onto the one you like, you just tweak to your hearts content. If the TH2 pedal board was real hardware, then yes, I would like it a LOT better but not all things translate well when made into software. Knobs and patch cables are far more fun to tweak in real life than stepping through menus and pages.....totally different mindset.
 
This is what I love about Guitar Rig...Grab stuff and tweak until you like it...intuitive...fast...gratifying. Line 6 is the same way. Both these manufacturers 'get' musicians and that thought process. Yeah, it's certainly 'possible' to do another way but the best gear is always defined by the overall user experience and not the potential of the gear.
 
Its what made venerable pieces like the 1176, a Fender Twin, a Rhodes 73, Ibanez Tube Screamer, ipod,  ect, the huge hits they were. Not because there wasn't a similar or better sounding unit. This gear survived and prospered because it struck that magic balance between ease of use and feature set. Those manufactures 'got' the mindset of their users....I just don't see that TH2/Overloud does.
 
When you click the 'INFO' tab on the GUI it starts to scroll these pictures of the developer team and the 'early concept' of the interface. Honestly, that photo would be way more fun to navigate in a real session than the finished version.
 
Obviously...YMMV

I use TH2 when I use an Amp Sim. I had to open Guitar Rig to remember what it looks like.
 
TH2 Dislikes...
It doesn't resize nicely. I would like to be able to make the field larger.
 
I often want delay times to follow the project tempo musically, but I have a hard time getting them to. You have to click on a little dot next to the pot to get this to work. Sometimes there are dots that are not clickable. The swept delay has a clickable dot, but the Spatial Delay has 2 dots but neither is clickable. The non-clickable dots are artistic or something. Maybe screws?
 
They don't take good advantage of hover tips to make it easier to find your way around.

I suspect that every post in support of GR can be matched by a post in support of TH2.. for sure I recall when it was first introduced in Sonar (x1? or x2?), the players who posted in the forum were overwhelmingly in favour of its tone.
 
 

+1    Using it for it's intended purpose as an amp sim, I definitely prefer TH2.   It just "feels" more amp-like than GR.   For me.
 

I don't like amp sims but they have their use. They ALL sound the same but I think they're being misused. Recording a real amp is the best way to go and use the amp sim to add some clarity. By themselves they sound like gauze pads. To sterile.

Guitapima: I couldn't disagree with you more.
 
I am a guitarist first and foremost and I'd rather use a sim than miking an amp. As long as I like my technical performance, I can change any amp variable at any time.
 
  My band recorded some songs in a traditional studio a while back. I got all the songs in their raw form and pulled them in to Sonar. I then muted out all the guitars (which were all miked - straight Les Paul in to a vintage Marshall). Then I re-recorded all the guitar parts and used GR/AmpliTube.
  Then I a/b'd the song to the other four guys in the bands, not telling them what I had done. Do you want to guess which version all four of them chose? I liked it better as well because I could blend the sound to blend better with the other instruments.
 
No YMMV, but the only best way is the one the users like most.