Living Room Rocker
I am not sure why a problem as to be a "show stopper" in order to be regarded as serious or real.  If a feature has not been well developed and causes the user to take more time and steps to overcome its shortcomings, then using the software is no longer a 'cakewalk'.  If the maker of such software makes a promise to its customers but fails to deliver the as-advertised product features, then customer(s) are justified in expressing disappoint, frustration, criticism, etc., particularly when manufacturer does not address the product's problem.
 
Well, I'm a sure you get the argument here.
 
Kind regards,
 
Living Room Rocker

I certainly did not mean to suggest that there aren't things in X2a that aren't problematic.  There are a couple of issues I have with Step Sequencer that driver me nuts, and the same holds true for other issues for other folks.
 
I was only addressing the comments about stability, with regard to show stoppers.
 
I believe X2a to be quite stable, and for my particular work flow, I find X2a to be quite usable, with workarounds available for almost all of the things I wish worked better.
 
 
Bob Bone
 

I just feel so blessed and fortunate that overall, SONAR has been an amazing DAW for me, quite stable, as much as other DAWS I use like Ableton Live and Pro Tools, since SONAR 2 XL
 
I must just be getting really... lucky... actually, I have built systems for others and their's always quite stable. 
 
All DAWS have some bugs here and there. Cakewalk does make a lot of effort to fix things as much as possible.
 
Previous version support is quite appreciated, but it looks like they really put a lot of effort into fixing things for X3, and I actually do believe in paying for upgrades that always include bug fixes, enhancements since day 1 with Cakewalk.
 
Free support for a previous version and updates on it forever just does not seem reasonable.
 
Maybe they will do even more updates moving forward though with the new fusion with Gibson.
 
Either way, I have been very happy with SONAR. I have my issues with certain things, but that goes for any software I use. 
 
The chief engineer for writing code for SONAR, Noel Borthwick, comes into the forums pretty often (unless he is just too busy trying to make SONAR better for us). When I got into SONAR and other software, I never thought I would see the actual main person behind the engineering on a forum EVER.
 
X3 looking SAWWWEEET!!!
 
Lance

Living Room Rocker
I am not sure why a problem as to be a "show stopper" in order to be regarded as serious or real.  If a feature has not been well developed and causes the user to take more time and steps to overcome its shortcomings, then using the software is no longer a 'cakewalk'.  If the maker of such software makes a promise to its customers but fails to deliver the as-advertised product features, then customer(s) are justified in expressing disappoint, frustration, criticism, etc., particularly when manufacturer does not address the product's problem.
 
Well, I'm a sure you get the argument here.
 
Kind regards,
 
Living Room Rocker

Well-stated.  There's such an odd divide here, with some users who defend Cakewalk like it was their mother.  They use terms like "rock solid" and anybody who thinks it requires a maintenance update is a "whiner".
 
Bear with me for a minute and forget the crashes, and issues caused by audio drivers, graphic cards, PC anomalies, etc... What are you are left with?  Bugs that users experience based on HOW THEY USE SONAR.  There are plenty of features I never touch in Sonar.  If somebody who does use them finds bugs that need fixing, how ridiculous am I to say, "Sonar is rock solid for me. I'm tired of people whining and jumping on the blame train."
 
I think the existing bugs are serious enough in Sonar X2a to have warranted updates long ago. Leaving them in the program is amateurish/negligent in my opinion.  The forthcoming official announcement would need to contain significant damage control to offset the cold shoulder of 2013.

Studious

Living Room Rocker
I am not sure why a problem as to be a "show stopper" in order to be regarded as serious or real.  If a feature has not been well developed and causes the user to take more time and steps to overcome its shortcomings, then using the software is no longer a 'cakewalk'.  If the maker of such software makes a promise to its customers but fails to deliver the as-advertised product features, then customer(s) are justified in expressing disappoint, frustration, criticism, etc., particularly when manufacturer does not address the product's problem.
 
Well, I'm a sure you get the argument here.
 
Kind regards,
 
Living Room Rocker

Well-stated.  There's such an odd divide here, with some users who defend Cakewalk like it was their mother.  They use terms like "rock solid" and anybody who thinks it requires a maintenance update is a "whiner".
 
Bear with me for a minute and forget the crashes, and issues caused by audio drivers, graphic cards, PC anomalies, etc... What are you are left with?  Bugs that users experience based on HOW THEY USE SONAR.  There are plenty of features I never touch in Sonar.  If somebody who does use them finds bugs that need fixing, how ridiculous am I to say, "Sonar is rock solid for me. I'm tired of people whining and jumping on the blame train."
 
I think the existing bugs are serious enough in Sonar X2a to have warranted updates long ago. Leaving them in the program is amateurish/negligent in my opinion.  The forthcoming official announcement would need to contain significant damage control to offset the cold shoulder of 2013.

VERY few can live "objectively"....
Most are "subjective"...this is what I USE, it's STABLE FOR ME, I don't care about YOU, shut up...

That's just reality...

And it goes on here A LOT...

ALL software has issues...I haven't used ONE PROGRAM that doesn't....
We all do things differently, on different machines, with different plugins, and different softsynths,
and different Video Cards, and sound cards, etc...

So, for someone to state their POSITIVE experience is AWESOME...that's great...
FOR someone to state that their POSITIVE experience means you should shut up...
THAT IS LUDICROUS....

Sorry...I  have to call a spade a spade...

LET PEOPLE VOICE THEIR OPINIONS....
Express yours with COURTESY...and let them make their own
minds up...

Their CONCERNS may be EVERY BIT AS VALID as your positive experience...

Please, people....be REAL...

Andrew Rossa [Cakewalk]
Why don't we wait till we officially announce SONAR X3 first. Let's not get too ahead of ourselves quite yet. We plan on communicating more but can we release the product first?

Fair enough, but I don't see what we were waiting on?  X3 was officially released; no mention of bug fixes; no upgrade deal for abandoned X2 users; no clearly stated commitment to the current Sonar version; no new bug reporting/viewing system.
 
Congratulations on the release.  Please don't hide away in another communication lock-down while working on X4.

Studious

Andrew Rossa [Cakewalk]
Why don't we wait till we officially announce SONAR X3 first. Let's not get too ahead of ourselves quite yet. We plan on communicating more but can we release the product first?

Fair enough, but I don't see what we were waiting on?  X3 was officially released; no mention of bug fixes; no upgrade deal for abandoned X2 users; no clearly stated commitment to the current Sonar version; no new bug reporting/viewing system.
 
Congratulations on the release.  Please don't hide away in another communication lock-down while working on X4.

Those who download X3 today get X3a, and the patch release for boxed users is slated for next week. Multiple Cakewalk employees have said in other posts that there are plans for future point releases in this cycle.

I'm not sure what you mean about abandoned. We have upgrade pricing just like we do every year. The X2a patch was the size or two normal point releases and then we moved on to do some serious under the hood work with VST3, ARA, Colors, Comping.
 
Our bug reporting system works pretty well for the time being though I admit there's always room for improvement. Stating that we need a new one is nice but you're not even privy to the one we currently use. If you'd like you can apply to join our Beta Team. You'll get to see some of the internal workings beyond the automatic fault reporter and the Problem Reporter on the website.

Seth Kellogg [Cakewalk]
Those who download X3 today get X3a, and the patch release for boxed users is slated for next week. Multiple Cakewalk employees have said in other posts that there are plans for future point releases in this cycle.

I'm not sure what you mean about abandoned. We have upgrade pricing just like we do every year. The X2a patch was the size or two normal point releases and then we moved on to do some serious under the hood work with VST3, ARA, Colors, Comping.
 
Our bug reporting system works pretty well for the time being though I admit there's always room for improvement. Stating that we need a new one is nice but you're not even privy to the one we currently use. If you'd like you can apply to join our Beta Team. You'll get to see some of the internal workings beyond the automatic fault reporter and the Problem Reporter on the website.

 
Hi Seth,
I meant that X2a was abandoned at the end of 2012.  We never again heard whether another bug fix was planned.
 
My opinion on the bug system is from a user perspective:  1) User encounters a bug, 2) User has no way to see if Cakewalk already knows about the bug, so they 3) Submit a new bug report.
 
This all takes time, kills workflow, and generally winds up feeling futile.  Consider the obvious alternative:
 
If users knew what bugs were recognized by Cakewalk Development, and what was to be fixed in the next maintenance release (assuming there will ever be one), it would streamline the system and increase confidence in the company and product.  It would also save users a lot of time and frustration in searching forums and creating detailed bug reports that are already in the system.  
 
Can you see where I'm coming from?

I believe that the philosophy of Cokos (REAPER) should be adopted by Cakewalk.
First regarding the validity of the license of use, that there is for two versions and not one as here (and there is much cheaper the license).
Secondly, in relation to the policy of product development. The updates there are frequent and ever directly geared to the comments made ​​by users of the beta and release candidate versions.
Furthermore, there not occur the annual release of new versions. A new version is released only when updates of a version reach a final numbering, for example, 3.99, then move on to the next version.
Thus, we would have a continuous product development and users would not be burdened with annual payments of updates to a product that is not yet perfected, creating a product more robust  and fully satisfying its users.
It is my humble opinion.

My view is that CW is doing fine. Most of the issues I've had have been due to either inadvisable settings or the current (messy) OS environment of my PC. A few of those may or may not be avoidable or workaround-able, but only a developer with code profiling tools can do that. For sure, nothing out of the ordinary that any resource hungry application wouldn't experience.
 
I've really only experienced one flat-out bug, I gave the bakers precise instructions to reproduce (I double checked my own instructions...), and they easily fixed it in X2a. Can't ask for more than that.
 
 

Big question here.....same audio engine?