Hi all. So I've been considering upgrading from SONAR X1 Producer to X2, but I wanted to see the opinions of those who've had some time now to work with it and get to know it, and hopefully give me some good insight into whether or not it is worth the $99 to upgrade.
 
What are the largest areas of improvement from X1 to X2? (Any areas that are *worse*?) What aspects that are completely new might be worth the upgrade?
 
Is X2 as buggy as X1 was in the beginning? So much so that it'd be better just to stick with the latest version of X1 instead?...
 
Any info on these points or anything else you'd like to share would be much appreciated! Thanks!
 
PS: If I were to go with the upgrade *download*, rather than the pricier, physical package, would it still be a complete installation package, so that I could install the program from scratch, or does it act only as an update ON TOP of X1?

For me it was. 

Definitely worth the upgrade, in my opinion.
 
Since the X2a update, it has been as stable as a rock for me.
 
The improvements in workflow, such as time line zoom, auto track zoom and PRV improvements have made it worth the upgrade on their own.
 
Other major pluses for me have included Console Emulation, Breverb and the improvements to the audio engine.
 
I'm sure there are many other things, but those were just the ones that popped into my head.
There is no need to have X1 on your system, the X2 download is "the complete installation package".

You can download and install the X2a version and try it out for 30 days.

I LOVE X2a, by the way.

Bob Bone

Stay with X1. X2 has some good features, but is not as good as X1. I still prefer 8.5.3

Thanks all.
 
I guess I should have mentioned my specs and uses, which may or may not be relevant. I'm running Win 7 64-bit, Pentium Dual-Core, 10GB RAM, 500GB HD.
 
Are there any improvements (from SONAR itself to the plugins) in the way of 64-bit compatibility? I know things were still a little awkward and all over the place with plugins in X1 in the 32/64-bit regard.
 
I don't make excessive use of all the various panels (never use the browsing pane, for instance). Largely just stick to the track and console panes. I do use the step sequencer and Session Drummer quite a bit; any changes there? And I'll use the PRV on occasion.
 
How have the pro-channel and other editing/mixing tools changed? Has there been any new additions made that actually bog down or degrade the package as a whole? Or was everything that was good in X1 included with only benefitial additions made?
 
@jb101 - Can you tell me a bit more about the features you mentioned, particularly time line zoom and auto track zoom? I can't find much more than a vague mentioning of them on the CW site.

To answer one of your questions, it doesn't matter if you opt for the download or the physical DVD - it's the same set of files, and they do not install on top of X1.

X2 is a completely separate installation and will happily run side by side with any previous version.

Thanks, Bristol.
 
Bump for my other questions.

It was worth it to me. 

If you stay in track view a lot, you're gonna like the time line zoom.  Just click and drag up / down zoom in or out qucikly, and while you are doing that you can move the mouse left or right to move the whole thing to the left or right.  It is very intuitive and makes navigating easier.

One of the cool things with the PC strip is it now includes effects chains so that you can put normal effects into the PC strip and save a preset which not only records the settings in all the PC effects, but normal effects too.  This comes in very handy for me.

+lots to PC FX Chains.
 
How could I have forgotten that?  I almost never use the FX bin now - they're brilliant.