I should have stuck with Producer 8.5.  Cakewalk, you ruined the interface!  The GUI is *definitely* inferior to what it was.  What were you thinking?  Didn't you do any user testing?  Did MBAs take over management?  Engaged in groupthink over there?  
 
Geez, I can't figure out how to do any of the standard things I used to do routinely.  Pretty much have to relearn the product from scratch, which is a huge waste of time.  Even after weeks of working with it, I'm still struggling with simple operations because you've removed menu items.
 
Your bizarre UI decisions have cut my productivity by an order of magnitude, completely unnecessarily.  The reason I've stuck with Cakewalk all these years is because I knew the product well.  That's no longer true at all.  This might as well be Cubase or Pro Tools.
 
If it ain't broken, DON"T FIX IT!
 
And you didn't even fix V-Vocal, which *was* broken and is still too unstable to be very useful.
 
Wow.  Really, really bad.  Shame on you.
 
--Nick

Shame you missed the "Try Sonar X2 free for 30 days" part.

And why exactly can't you simply use 8.5? X2 does not delete previous versions from your system. Furthermore, X2 has some issues but it's pretty slick to use when it's actually working and many of us like it for the most part. Don't be hyperbolic. You are making those of us with legit and reasonable concerns get ignored.

Personally after a short period learning the new interface I've been having an Austin Powers type BLAST BABY! YEAH!!!!

spacey
Shame you missed the "Try Sonar X2 free for 30 days" part.

Big +1 on that.
An 8.5 user myself, my experience with the X2 UI has been fantastic.  Love it.

I was gobsmacked when I first fired up the X series, but watching the Cake videos, and Scott's Sonar Power book helped a lot.
 
Now, I couldn't imagine going back to pre X series.  For me, it is a huge step forward.

Look at it this way:  it didn't cost you anything but some of your time to try it.
 
Too bad you are having a bad experience.  My experience was different.  I, too, was a happy, user of Sonar 8.x.  I waited a long time to go to X2, and decided to move up because I liked what I saw of the Pro Channel.  What I found:
 
The UI is *definitely* superior in X2--e.g. the Smart Tool and the Multidock are fabulous
The Pro Channel is all I hoped it would be
It *definitely* took only a couple sessions to get up to speed on the new features
The workflow in X2 is *definitely* superior
I am now working faster and more efficiently than ever
V-Vocal is *definitely* quite stable and very useful--no more or less than it was in 8.x
 
Anyway, you are living in a perfect world:  simply use 8.5 and enjoy life.  Best of luck!

Nevermind, X3 is out soon 
 
I'm a huge fan of the X series and wouldnt dream of going back to clunky 8.5

Well I'm sympathetic to your frustrations but honestly my experience was much different than yours. All of the plugin windows floating around in pre X series used to drive me nuts - I truly hated them. After a bit of a learning curve I find the X series interface much improved and I'm glad Cakewalk did the redesign. Obviously your mileage did vary.
 
Regards,

I think I can safely say that the majority of long-time SONAR users had a negative reaction to the X-series changes at least in the short term due to the need to re-learn so much of the interface. I remapped some of the most pointless hotkey changes to ease the transition.
 
Now a couple of years down the road I still have minor issues with some color choices and the inefficient use of space in the track view, but overall, between the Multidock, Screensets, Browser, Control Bar and Track Inspector I think the new interface has proven to be a net improvement over the old one.
 
Bottom line, the OP needs to give it some time, and maybe Google some of the "where the hell did <some function> go?" threads from back when X1 was released. There were plenty.