I'd be amazed if there was X3 by the simple fact that the code in sonar now seems so old and out of date to what the competition are doing that it would take a major rewrite of the entire platform to get the audio engine working in a way that is comparable to the competiton.
 
I don't believe Roland / Cakewalk have the market share to justify that investment and have given up on Sonar. Their complete lack of input to all the concerns in their user base speaks volumes as does sacking the core developers.
 
The show is in the very final act and whilst the fat lass isn't singing just yet she is certainly going through her scales

 
Wow...  
 
The code "seems so old" therefore there won't be a next version of SONAR?   There has been a complete lack of input?    Well, those two statements do seem to go right along with "they sacked their core developers".   I wonder if you could name just one?    I know I can't.
 
Sounds like another case of Conspiracies R Us.   Apparently it's making it's way around school. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Disclaimer... should CW disappear within the next 12 months I reserve the right to deny all existence to this thread.   
 
 

For one thing, Sonar X2 certainly doesn't feel old or outdated, and I say this as an electronic music producer who likes his tools to feel cutting edge. It's generally snappy and intuitive. The interface and tools are top notch. I will be disappointed if this is the end of the road for Sonar. One thing is for sure, I am still young and have a long producing career ahead of me, during which I will go out of my way to boycott anything even remotely related to Roland, if they end up having caused Sonar's demise.

I don't think the code or Sonar itself is old - some of the features like audiosnap and track lanes need to be reworked as they are a bit cumbersome and difficult to use - especially when comparing to the competition but there are so many amazing things about Sonar which other DAWs can learn from. Smart tools, slip editing, one window interface, media browser to name but a few. I don't think this will be the last in the X series - I do think there will be an X2b and an X3 eventually. I think I've said before but my suspicion is X2b will be released around the same time as windows Blue (8.1) - in my own mind - that's the reason why a patch has taken so long as they want to fix it on the latest and greatest MS OS. We'll see :) What has been overlooked is the immediate needs of current X2 owners who are experiencing difficulties - like me, and the absence of any input here from Cakewalk employees. It's a shame. The key differentiator of Cakewalk over the others was this community - it was all joined up. Anyways. Cubase 7 has shipped so I'm looking forward to giving it a whirl when it arrives. I'm hoping whatever is next for Sonar really floats my boat. I'm still hanging in there ... but hedging my bets! :-D

I will be disappointed if this is the end of the road for Sonar

I wouldn't worry about it Spencer.

I have a feeling there are trolls abroad who secretly WANT to see Cakewalk fail and are planting these little seeds here & there in the hope that one might take.

I'm no troll been a user for 10 years but I also run a software company and recognise the patterns in software product life cycle, especially post corporate buy out. I sincerely hope I'm wrong and they get their act together but will be extremely surprised if they do, certainly  X3 will be the last bite of the cherry if they do, so maybe they are regrouping and rewriting the core application to deliver us tangible benefits over competitive products.

And then again maybe the Easter bunny might make an appearance and give us all free eggs too

having been down this road before with the jaw-droppingly stupid discontinuation of Project 5, and then with NI's Kore, i have become numb to what music software companies say.  it would not surprise me at all if Sonar got killed. corporations make stupid decisions all the time. granted, i don't have a plan B at this juncture.

wetdentist


having been down this road before with the jaw-droppingly stupid discontinuation of Project 5, and then with NI's Kore, i have become numb to what music software companies say.  it would not surprise me at all if Sonar got killed. corporations make stupid decisions all the time. granted, i don't have a plan B at this juncture.

Couldn't agree more but experience has taught me to at least start looking at plan b's and having done so unfortunately realised how big the gap is that sonar needs to bridge....be an epic triumph if they pull it off but my personal opinion is Roland recognise the level of investment required and won't cough up

As long as X2 works on my system here it is still a going concern for me....

@stevec...plausible deniability is always a good idea...

I'm sure there will still be some sort of upgrade path for a few years once sonar gets rebranded as music creator - a low cost entry level DAW and they milk the last few dollars they can from the code ;-)

This same old story comes up year after year after year - we never get a bug free edition and probably never will get what we've paid for, some of us many times over.