What they're saying on KVR doesn't change my life. Sonar X2a is not perfect, that's for sure, but it is incredibly loaded with features and helps me make money. I am sorry that others have production-stopping problems with it, but so often I have seen Sonar haters post here, only to discover, thanks to helpful forum members, that they have been doing something wrong or have a piece of equipment that is hanging things up.
 
My advice to haters of Sonar or any other product is this: If a product doesn't work for you, buy something else. Quit wasting your life, your time and your talent by complaining...and move on to something that works for you. Vote with your money. There's nothing to be gained by running around saying, "See! Someone else hates it too!"
 
Every time KVR or even when someone here paints a negative picture of Sonar, it seems like some folks on this forum get insecure, as if they feel like second-class citizens because of the software they use. Again, if it doesn't work for you, get something else! If your car is dead in the driveway, you don't go out everyday and continue to try and start it and go to work, do you? You either fix it or get a new one!
 
In the grand scheme of things, Sonar must be doing pretty well. A few weeks ago, a survey was conducted on the UAD Forum. I don't believe it got a plug on this forum, so the survey was probably not tainted by a bunch of Sonar users joining the UAD Forum just to vote. Out of over 15 DAW's, Sonar came in a solid 4th, behind Cubase, Pro Tools and Logic, in that order. Sonar registered 14.11% in the sample. All other DAW's behind it were in single-digits.
 
Due to the expense of the UAD systems and plug-ins, UAD users are, for the most part, experienced and professional, so to have such a strong showing with that particular group shows that Sonar continues to be a top contender in the world of DAW's, no matter what they say at KVR.  
 
 

http://uadforum.com/general-discussion/14335-official-what-daw-s-do-you-use-poll.html
 
The poll had a total of 163 respondents.
 
What does that tell ya?
 
I'm going with "not much".
 
best regards,
mike
 
 

@mike_mccue
 
My intent was not to insult anybody, nor does anybody in this forum owe me anything whatsoever, nor did I state or infer that anyone out there does.  
 
I do what I can to help folks, and generally do my best to stay out of non-technical threads.
 
I participate in this forum to help those I can, and to get help when I need it.
 
There are, in fact, bugs in Sonar.  These can be frustrating, and a few of them are for me, and as such, it is not for me to tell someone else that their frustration with legitimate bugs is not valid.  Their frustration is every bit as valid as any that I have.
 
At the same time, someone who complains that X2a is a giant pile of steaming doo because it won't run on their 10-year old XP machine, or someone who hasn't bothered to read the manuals or watch tutorial videos gets upset when they lose a client because they haven't figured out how to use the product (and yet they felt compelled to put that unfamiliar version of Sonar in front of the client), is in my opinion a bit off-base.  Those folks are just as off-base as those that insist that nobody has any troubles at all with X2a.
 
I have never indicated X2a was without issues.  I HAVE indicated that in my experience, a lot of the things that crop up in the forum, such as latency issues, BitBridge issues, etc., are things that can be resolved, and I HAVE indicated that to the best of my knowledge, there are no global crashes in X2a.  I have also indicated that for MY workflow, on MY machine, for MY deliberate choices to run on a particular level of hardware with a deliberate choice to avoid using 32-bit plugins (particularly freeware ones) in a 64-bit environment, that I do not experience crashes.
 
All I try to do is encourage everybody to engage in positive discourse toward the common goal of helping each other figure out how to work past the issues that DO crop up.
 
I am certainly no brainiac, nor have I ever claimed to be.  I DO think I have a reasonable track record of helping ferret out enough information to where one or more folks in the forum end up helping others figure out how to resolve many of the presented issues.
 
I will continue to do my best to help anyone I can, and will do my best to do so in as neutral a stance as I can put myself.
 
Bob Bone
 
 

Take heart... Cakewalk is posting videos every day on Facebook. I don't guess they would be doing that if they were folding the tent, and the videos are about how to do things in X2 so I wouldn't expect too many changes. Hopefully just improvements and fixes in X3 or whatever we get. I can't imagine that they will force touch on us or force us to use Windows 8. I could be wrong and they may eventually go all W8 but W7 is still too new to be dropped. Too many people would be forced to buy a new cmputer or a new OS and that would really cut into Sonar sales, I really don't see that happening.
Just trying to see the brighter side of things. Maybe I should consult my 8 Ball.
 
J
 

This is typical Mike Mccue turning things around so that people have to spend time defending themselves. BTW you all know that Mike does not have X2.
 
Bob you just keep doing what you have been doing. There are a lot of members that have you to thank for getting them up and running. 

I think Mike is still unhappy that the SONAR X series exists, and that the "classic" 8.5 ceased to be developed.  Yes, others feel the same way (a few are around these parts) so he's not the only one.  He just tends to point out that fact more often.   I think Bapu puts him up to it.    
 
Anyhow... I really believe that the X series is doing quite well for CW and that they're doing just fine.   I could be wrong, just like anyone else.   But I guess we'll all know in the next six months or so if the typical release schedule is still intact.  I hope the next thing draws in even more users and helps to smooth things out in the universe. 
 

John
This is typical Mike Mccue turning things around so that people have to spend time defending themselves. BTW you all know that Mike does not have X2.
 
Bob you just keep doing what you have been doing. There are a lot of members that have you to thank for getting them up and running. 

I'm with you there, John, both about McQ and Bob Bone.

Ahh the myth...  "If it works on my system and not yours it can't be a problem with the application."  And of course the application developers will always say the reason you are having problems is that there are too many configurations out there.  I have a degree in programming and spent 8 years doing tech support for HP servers so I know a little about computers.  Sonar has always been problematic for me except for 8.5.  No other app has had that many problems.  I've been doing computer audio since Dr T's Sequencer on a Commodore 64 so I have some perspective.  If it works on your system and not someone else's your it is misguided to assume that that fault cannot be the application.

I have not and do not claim that.  I have only indicated that I am not aware of any global show stoppers, and that X2a works on MY system.
 
I CAN say that a great many times I have helped someone, the cause has overwhelmingly one of the following:
 
Operator error
Settings error
Hardware error
Drivers error
Antivirus interference
Plugin error
 
The above apply to crashes, and are based on my experience.  There are indeed bugs within Sonar that while not producing crashes, are hopefully going to be addressed at some point.
 
Bob Bone
 
 
 

Yup, this an easy conversation to have... no one makes me use SONAR.  If it stopped working for me, I would get frustrated but I would come to this forum first and describe my problem to see if anyone else had the same issue before. And more often than not, it turns out to be a setting here or there that needs tweaking and I am back in business.  I say that to me, that part of the value of SONAR is this actual forum, would provides quicker, better and more support than the CW support system.
 
I have a very advanced system running SONAR... WIN 8 (with touch monitors), remote controlling with a surface RT, running a QUAD processor with a Thunderbolt MOBO with a PCIe UAD2 DSP card and an APOLLO interface connected via TB.... this is even non supported by UAD2.  Sonar is purring like a lion... giving me ZERO issues at the moment.
 
Do I cringe and wait before the noise settles down on new versions from the bakers?  Yup, but I wait for the noise to quiet down before I try and test the latest version.  I am sure you all remember the fiasco of the version that created the MOTOR BOATING audio for most of us. But, did the bakers fix that rather quickly?  I thought so, but not quick enough for some users I suppose.
 
I do feel for the users/systems that don't play nice with SONAR but I bet every DAW has a percentage of their users with the same type of issues, no?  But to reiterate, no one makes me or anyone else use SONAR, I for one, actually like it and I have been using SONAR since CAKEWALK 1 was released back in the early 90s. I was a DR T's user on an ATARI ST prior to that and picked CW for my first PC because it was a bit similar to DR T's.  
 
I can say that every problem I have had (and I have had my share of them) were all worked out over time with the help of the many experienced users on this very forum and I THANK each and one of you (them) who have helped me over the years.
 
I agree with all the comments that basically stated that if you don't like SONAR, go find another piece of software that works better for you.  Has complaining every gotten posiitve results????
 
Sorry for the ranting,
Jim