If you dig in with an open mind there'll be a lot of "A-Ha" moments when changes suddenly make sense. I realise everyone's different  but I couldn't go back to the "old" program now. My work speed has jumped espotentially since the "X" series was released.

As always though there's choices, upgrade, stay using 8.x, or move on to another DAW. I can make music using any of those choices although the upgrade path was and is my preference.

When my DAW was being repaired recently, I though I'd fire up my old one which is sitting around gathering dust, and I opened up 8.5.3

All I can say is OMG - What an awful mess it looks on screen!!

Each to their own, but in my honest opinion, the X series UI looks infinitely more professional than all previous versions, and once you've mastered a few basic keyboard shortcuts then you'll find your workflow experience is enhanced beyond anything that 8.5 was capable of

Screensets, auto track zoom and the keyboard the shortcuts "d", "c" and "b" can all make a big difference to screen "real estate".
 
It just takes a while to get it set up the way that best suits you.  I opened up a project in Sonar 6 recently, and can't believe how cluttered it now looked to me.

I think x2 is much better than 8.5.

Better than 8.5: stability,  automation lanes, multidock and browser, pro channel

Less good than 8.5: Lanes and tool implementation which I find less ergonomic (unless your using touch screen of course) and not configurable. However they are easier to understand

Screen sets don't work for me either, too slow, but I find  the multidock is really useful instead on a second monitor
 
Edit: just seen this link http://www.cakewalk.com/Support/kb/reader.aspx/2007013218 about disabling floppy drive to improve screen set performance. seems to have made a BIG difference!

Man, I must be the odd man out that doesn't care much for Pro-Channel. It's pretty neat to look at, and if you only use Sonar's basic plug-ins, it is pretty useful and doesn't crash the DAW, but if you use 3rd-party plug-ins, or some of the other's that come with Sonar that aren't natively planted in ProChannel, it's quite redundant and "disconnected" from Sonar IMO.

More, if you wanted to use, say the Type 76 compressor, you have to open ProChannel to use it, and you have to save that setting separate from your track's FX bin unless you use the FX bin in ProChannel (they're not the same, which is a shame--very slapped in).

I only use ProChannel for the FX bin in X2, which I didn't even know about until after I bought the X2 upgrade from X1, but it's a bit more work to use than if Sonar just provided a larger FX bin on the track in Console View. 

Otherwise, Take Lanes issues aside (which I won't dig further into that crater here), and the gawdy colors used in the Tracks View (thank you Cakewalk fro providing the X1 color scheme as a custom theme!) X2 is quite good. I certainly like the non-destructive work-flow and Automation Lanes, not to mention Audio-Snap, Screensets, and Sonar's tolerance to bit-depth and sampling rate changes. 

From a laptop user's viewpoint, smaller console strips and a smaller control bar would be nice (a full/half height-changeable control bar, like the one in DP8, might be handy).

I felt very similarly regarding screen real estate usage efficiency when migrating from 8.5.3 to X1 - I struggled with my 2 20" monitors, which had suited me just fine for years.  I would agree with someone's point above that I don't like Sonar's default template at all - and have found by creating a few default screensets into a default template that suits my personal taste, I've gotten past the real estate concerns. 
 
I prefer mouse clicks to shortcuts, as my keyboard retracts into my desk and don't want to pull it out everytime to use a keystroke shortcut - so  would like customizable quick icons at the top of the screen like most software products in the world have, but oh well, such is life - I've gotten past that and now click file - save.

Admittedly, I'm not leveraging some features within the skylight UI (multidock and quick access to the browser), but by setting up a couple screensets, I can easily switch to views across all available screen real estate to display just the console view, just the track view or a mix of both depending on what I'm doing.  I'd agree the ProChannel is a BIG reason to upgrade.  It's allowed me to stop worrying about most 3rd party plugs, which pays dividends in stability, price, integration, screen real estate, etc.
 
Give it time - you may feel similarly, but I would seriously recommend creating a default template you feel comfortable with and include some different screensets within that default template (screensets are project-specific, so by saving them to your default template, you'll have them for all projects).
 
Hope that helps.
Russ
 

If we had the ability to create a custom tool bar and put the save button in that then everyone would be happy.

This is the answer!  Make Sonar more customizable and do not force the user into a specific workflow that may not suit them.

It would also cut down on the number of posts on here about how Sonar X is a downgrade in some respects and let evryone move forward.

Thank you...

Glyn Barnes

djoni


can someone paste a list of essential shortcuts? ...sorry for hijacking the post

See this thread http://forum.cakewalk.com/tm.aspx?m=2794133
 

djoni, all the shortcuts are in the Help or here.