Mod Bod
I bet Conley buys it even if he has to sell blood to get it.    Haha.
 

Man, you guys know me too well.  :)
I am hoping that users from X2a will get a steep discount for an X3 update/upgrade. There is too much stuff they dorked up in X2 to let it go the way of Vista... 

cparmerlee

TheSteven
If you're willing to wait - Melodyne Editor has gone on sale every summer (50% off) for the last couple of years.

Are you talking summer in the North?  That's 9 months away.  I'd probably do something sooner than that.

In July, so summer in the North.

+1 for x2b, nothing wrong with asking.  I may consider xN but would like to get some use out of x2.  I currently use x1 expanded as x2a was not stable on my system...

SvenArne

Funkybot
X3 will get released with some bugs (many of which have existed for years), you'll get a maintenance release called X3A that only fixes some bugs, then have nothing but silence from Cakewalk for a year until X4? 

Come on, when did that ever happen except that once..?

 
First, "that once" you're talking about wasn't faraway history, it was the last time. It was within the last 10 months. What would you be saying if they did the same thing with X3 and only released a single patch for a buggy DAW? Would you say, "can't wait for X4 to get released with all the new bugs and half baked features?" I'd hope not. That's a sign of an abusive relationship with your DAW-maker.
 
Also, does "that one time" include Sonar 8.5? That was a .5 release (by Cakewalk's own standards) and was a paid upgrade. Studio One 2.5 was free. Reaper 4.5 didn't count against the 2 full version numbers Reaper licenses are good for. Cubase 6.5 also free from what I remember.
 
So, it's not just "that one time" it happens every year.

Funkybot

SvenArne

Funkybot
X3 will get released with some bugs (many of which have existed for years), you'll get a maintenance release called X3A that only fixes some bugs, then have nothing but silence from Cakewalk for a year until X4? 

Come on, when did that ever happen except that once..?

 
First, "that once" you're talking about wasn't faraway history, it was the last time. It was within the last 10 months. What would you be saying if they did the same thing with X3 and only released a single patch for a buggy DAW? Would you say, "can't wait for X4 to get released with all the new bugs and half baked features?" I'd hope not. That's a sign of an abusive relationship with your DAW-maker.
 
Also, does "that one time" include Sonar 8.5? That was a .5 release (by Cakewalk's own standards) and was a paid upgrade. Studio One 2.5 was free. Reaper 4.5 didn't count against the 2 full version numbers Reaper licenses are good for. Cubase 6.5 also free from what I remember.
 
So, it's not just "that one time" it happens every year.

As happy as I am with X2a, I have no reason to expect that one maintenance patch will be the standard from now on. Historically, three or four patches have been the norm. Most people would agree that "8.5" may as well have been called "9". The step from 8 to 8.5 was as significant as any paid release in Cakewalk history. 
 
Anyone remember SONAR 8 (not 8.5)? That one received some punishment...

kzmaier
+1 for x2b, nothing wrong with asking.  I may consider xN but would like to get some use out of x2.  I currently use x1 expanded as x2a was not stable on my system...

Just curious - in what way was it unstable for you?  I ask in case there are some things that can get things working with it for you on your system.  If interested, please open one or more threads with the issues you were having with X2 - I will certainly try to assist.
 
Bob Bone
 

cparmerlee

Funkybot
don't you have a nagging feeling that X3 will get released with some bugs (many of which have existed for years),

Yes, of course.  Every complex piece of software ever created has had bugs at first.  While I agree that X2 has more than an average amount of bugs for what should be a fairly mature product, most of them have reasonable work-arounds.  And the large, large majority of things I see people complaining the loudest about are not bugs.  The take lanes have some real bugs where names get criss-crossed and such, but the people complaining most about that argue that the feature doesn't work the way they would like to work.  That may be a problem, but it isn't a bug.  Lack of VST3 support was not a bug, etc.

 
While I'd like to agree with you, I just can't...
 
Just off the top of my head, here are some bugs (at least the first four of which have been happening for roughly a decade):
1. "Disk May Be Full" error on record
2. Easily corrupted projects
3. Doubled up notes on Quantization
4. Sonar icon remaining in the tray after closing
5. V-Vocal crashing
6. Random crashes and general instability (do I care if it's a plugin at fault if other DAWs are more stable with the same plugins?)
 
Yeah, there's some complaining about half-baked features, but those are also legit complaints. Why is Cakewalk releasing Sonar updates with incomplete or poorly implemented features? Are those technically bugs? No. But it doesn't give me faith in Cakewalk when it happens. Some things that could have been done better the first time:
 
1. Take Lanes
2. Step Sequencer (Step Sequencer 2.0 anyone?)
3. Audio Snap (I feel like every time they change this it gets harder to use)
4. ACT (has this ever worked as well as promised)
5. Skylight and the X1 redesign (continiued in X2)
6. Snap (remember when Snap "just worked" - now I have two Snap settings and they can change automatically, and even when I don't turn on the automatic changing, I still end up not knowing what my snap settings are)
 
I'm sure I could add to that list just by looking at the feature list for each Sonar update. The constant tweaks to features like that just tell me they were rushed. There's things that I think have gotten more difficult to use over the years (event durations, staff view, comping tracks, I already mentioned Snap to grid and Audio Snap), things that are standard for a DAW that still aren't in Sonar (improved audio routing, MP3 export, true unified instrument tracks), things GUI wise that made no sense (larger, non-resizable console strips that I'm somehow supposed to dock), and things that just didn't deserve the resources put into them (Windows 8 touch screen support before fixing the Disk May Be Full error? DXi format plugins?). Now they're trying to lock users in by selling them closed-format plugins in the form of Pro-Channel. 
 
I can go on. 
 
I'm sad to say it, but there's been so much wrong about where Sonar's been going over the years that I don't have a lot of faith that Cakewalk is suddenly going to right the ship and course-correct. If they do, they may have me back as a customer, but there'd be a lot of work ahead of them for me to consider ever upgrading beyond X2. I feel like a lot of longtime Cakewalk customers feel the same way, hence all the noise on the forum. X2 just may have been the straw that broke the camel's back for a lot of people (it was for me), and the release of X3 just comes across as Cakewalk rubbing salt on the wounds.
 
 
 
 

SvenArne

Funkybot

SvenArne

Funkybot
X3 will get released with some bugs (many of which have existed for years), you'll get a maintenance release called X3A that only fixes some bugs, then have nothing but silence from Cakewalk for a year until X4? 

Come on, when did that ever happen except that once..?

 
First, "that once" you're talking about wasn't faraway history, it was the last time. It was within the last 10 months. What would you be saying if they did the same thing with X3 and only released a single patch for a buggy DAW? Would you say, "can't wait for X4 to get released with all the new bugs and half baked features?" I'd hope not. That's a sign of an abusive relationship with your DAW-maker.
 
Also, does "that one time" include Sonar 8.5? That was a .5 release (by Cakewalk's own standards) and was a paid upgrade. Studio One 2.5 was free. Reaper 4.5 didn't count against the 2 full version numbers Reaper licenses are good for. Cubase 6.5 also free from what I remember.
 
So, it's not just "that one time" it happens every year.

As happy as I am with X2a, I have no reason to expect that one maintenance patch will be the standard from now on. Historically, three or four patches have been the norm. Most people would agree that "8.5" may as well have been called "9". The step from 8 to 8.5 was as significant as any paid release in Cakewalk history. 
 
Anyone remember SONAR 8 (not 8.5)? That one received some punishment...

By the way, for X2, there was also a quick fix, which addressed some true show stoppers for a bunch of folks.  It was not a general maintenance update - just made for specific issues.
 
The X2a update did address more than 250 bugs from X2.
 
Just keeping things factual.
 
There were also numerous postings where people demanded that Cakewalk take more time between releases to ensure more stability.  They have certainly invested time and effort into putting together the set of things included with the upcoming release.
 
Things are what they are - Cakewalk has its decision makers and developers balancing it all out, and if that does not suit someone's idea of how things should be done, then there are certainly other options out there.  
 
There has never in my recollection been an update/release cycle that didn't rehash the same sorts of postings - from all points of view, and I imagine that will always be the case.
 
Bob Bone
 
 
 

Funkybot

SvenArne

Funkybot
X3 will get released with some bugs (many of which have existed for years), you'll get a maintenance release called X3A that only fixes some bugs, then have nothing but silence from Cakewalk for a year until X4? 

Come on, when did that ever happen except that once..?

 
First, "that once" you're talking about wasn't faraway history, it was the last time. It was within the last 10 months. What would you be saying if they did the same thing with X3 and only released a single patch for a buggy DAW? Would you say, "can't wait for X4 to get released with all the new bugs and half baked features?" I'd hope not. That's a sign of an abusive relationship with your DAW-maker.
 
Also, does "that one time" include Sonar 8.5? That was a .5 release (by Cakewalk's own standards) and was a paid upgrade. Studio One 2.5 was free. Reaper 4.5 didn't count against the 2 full version numbers Reaper licenses are good for. Cubase 6.5 also free from what I remember.
 
So, it's not just "that one time" it happens every year.

 
You're incorrect. Noel explicitly states so here: http://forum.cakewalk.com/SONAR-85-The-Fine-Print-m1841847.aspx

SvenArne
 
As happy as I am with X2a, I have no reason to expect that one maintenance patch will be the standard from now on. Historically, three or four patches have been the norm. Most people would agree that "8.5" may as well have been called "9". The step from 8 to 8.5 was as significant as any paid release in Cakewalk history. 

 
I've been a Cakewalk user since Pro Audio 9, and a Sonar user since X1. I know the norm. My last post outlines how the "the norm" has been for Cakewalk to leave some bugs unfixed, and "the norm" has also been for them to release incomplete features, and "the norm" has also been a focus on getting new customers in with gimicky features and plugins rather than focusing on what's important for a DAW. 
 
I LOVE the PRV (though the new Snap settings are awful), I love the Track view. I spend a lot of time in those screens. There's just too many things that I'm not seeing progress in the way I want them to and too much instability. I just can't keep making excuses for Cakewalk anymore. I'm sorry, I'm done with that.
 
Again, I'd love to see a change for the better (by all accounts Stienberg has gotten much better since the Yamaha buy-out), but X3 definitely doesn't seem to be it, and I'm not sure it'll ever come.