Bristol_Jonesey

jscomposer


+1 on the customized control bar. I guess I'm old school, but I used the save icon a lot. I personally hate keyboard shortcuts, it's a PITA with one hand. Cakewalk is so gung-ho on making X2 look pretty, but has left the real issues in the dust.

I respectfully disagree.

Most 2 fingered shortcuts are possible using just one hand, and several 3 fingered options as well.



Any user who remembers back as far as 8.5.3 should recall that Cakewalk asked us - the users, what the main thrust of the new version should take.

The vast majority of people who took the time & trouble to post their responses said a similar thing - less plugins, focus on the GUI which was creaking severely.

Yes... Focusing on the gui instead of plugins is still needed! Now they've taken some steps forward and some steps back in the process... I hope they don't think that bought them more time/purchases as they now must re-build so much... Most of us buy the next upgrade regardless!

I believe that much of what we're currently dealing with was created in prep (and now function) to deal with the touchscreen issues which while looking very pretty and Cakewalk won the race to be first, is far less important to me than non-touch operation as I can't imagine when I'll be able to afford a touchscreen....

Keni

I didnt even notice the buttons were missing!

Glyn Barnes

mmorgan
 Just last week I saw a reference in a DAW manufacturers video that stated that studies have shown that keyboard shortcuts can increase your efficiency by 400%.

How do they work that out? ...
Shortcuts may be more efficient, but a 400% increase in efficiency come on, (the statement must be out of context).

The statement came during a portion of the tutorial where they were explaining the ability to map a great many (I didn't count but a quick look would be over 50) of the menu commands to user defined keyboard shortcuts. I don't know how they work it out, I didn't conduct the study
 
It struck me because earlier in the day I had been trying to explain to my boss how inefficient his use of keyboard/mouse was. In his case he would start typing into a drop down list (with over 2000 entries); the list would start navigating based on his entry and get to the item he wanted where upon he would stop typing and reach over for his mouse to click the item he wanted. I merely pointed out that all he had to do was press <enter>. Of course he claimed that pressing <enter> wasn't intuitive and continues to reach for his mouse.
 
Once again: I vote for a customizable toolbar for those that want it. But I would also point out that they may get one quicker if they submit a FR.
 
Regards,

Hi Mike... Have you checked out Duckbar? It offers more control over colors and even graphic imagery that Sonar had even in it's grand old days pre-X... Keni

 
Hi Keni,
 
Yes I have looked into Duckbar, panup is doing everyone a great service and is to be commended for his efforts. Looking at his Kvak programming language also. Pretty cool stuff.
 
I'm not sure why I'm not using Duckbar, maybe I just need to get off me butt and download it. However, I would feel better if Cakewalk implemented the solution. Just sayin is all...
 
Regards,
 

mmorgan

Hi Mike... Have you checked out Duckbar? It offers more control over colors and even graphic imagery that Sonar had even in it's grand old days pre-X... Keni

 
Hi Keni,
 
Yes I have looked into Duckbar, panup is doing everyone a great service and is to be commended for his efforts. Looking at his Kvak programming language also. Pretty cool stuff.
 
I'm not sure why I'm not using Duckbar, maybe I just need to get off me butt and download it. However, I would feel better if Cakewalk implemented the solution. Just sayin is all...
 
Regards,
 

Hi Mike...


Yes... I agree that I would much prefer these options within Sonar itself, but life goes on and I can't wait for such a maybe when the's a viable option...


Do it! Download Duckbar and install in a few seconds. customize within a few minutes!


Panu has done a remarkable job and continues to enhance his fine set of tools.



Tho he enjoys creating these tools, he too wishes they were simply built into Sonar! ;-)


For anyone concerned with using a 3rd party add-on, let me remind you that if you don't customize any colors/gfx, there is no modification of Sonar's files and nothing to undo/redo when troubleshooting or upgrading/updating...


Batch freeze/unfreeze is now available and many more handy tools... I can only praise his work as he does this all for free... And it helps me regularly a...


Keni

Bristol_Jonesey

jscomposer


+1 on the customized control bar. I guess I'm old school, but I used the save icon a lot. I personally hate keyboard shortcuts, it's a PITA with one hand. Cakewalk is so gung-ho on making X2 look pretty, but has left the real issues in the dust.

I respectfully disagree.

Most 2 fingered shortcuts are possible using just one hand, and several 3 fingered options as well.

Using a keyboard with a guitar in you hands or at a drum set is the least efficient way to do it.   Using a keyboard also requires looking away from the screen.  Surely you can accept that different people have different needs.

Most of those keyboard shortcuts I do with one hand (thumb and finger) but I can appreciate that a guitarist might have to take the pick out of their hand to do it. Seems like they would have to do that for a mouse too though?

Definitely understand that each of us has our differences. But didn't someone already offer a third party toolbar solution? Are there problems with that? (Just curious)

I think the button removal in Sonar X1+ deserves a bigger discussion.
 
I'm a big keyboard shortcut user but I still miss a lot of the buttons from Sonar 8.x. Many things that used to have dedicated buttons now require multiple clicks to accomplish, as there are no keyboard shortcuts.
 
Like in the Browser: there used to be One-Click-Buttons (TM) for selecting Preview Bus, Views and enabling Auto-Preview. They are now all hidden in a menu, requiring a click just to see their status and/or to change them.
 
Sonar X2 is a great development, but in many ways the GUI itself became less customizable after Sonar 8.5.
 
I'm still hoping for the color options to come back in the future. :/

Stipes Vigilo


Most of those keyboard shortcuts I do with one hand (thumb and finger) but I can appreciate that a guitarist might have to take the pick out of their hand to do it. Seems like they would have to do that for a mouse too though?

Definitely understand that each of us has our differences. But didn't someone already offer a third party toolbar solution? Are there problems with that? (Just curious)

It's easy to move my wireless mouse around to any position or surface needed.  Not so easy to do the same with a keyboard.  I tried that utility but wan't impressed though it was a long time ago.  As I remember it added another toolbar and quit working with X1b or something like that.   

vintagevibe

Bristol_Jonesey

jscomposer


+1 on the customized control bar. I guess I'm old school, but I used the save icon a lot. I personally hate keyboard shortcuts, it's a PITA with one hand. Cakewalk is so gung-ho on making X2 look pretty, but has left the real issues in the dust.

I respectfully disagree.

Most 2 fingered shortcuts are possible using just one hand, and several 3 fingered options as well.

Using a keyboard with a guitar in you hands or at a drum set is the least efficient way to do it.   Using a keyboard also requires looking away from the screen.  Surely you can accept that different people have different needs.

Of course I can.


But, whichever method you adopt you will at some point have to remove hand from instrument, then grab mouse, navigate to the button/menu item you want and then click it. If a menu item is buried in the menu hierarchy then that's potentially several mouse clicks = inefficiency.






The only practical way to overcome this would be to have a dedicated button for every function. That doesn't seem to be a good way forward.