Hi all, I'm trying to get a feel for if/when I should migrate to Sonar X1. I've only been using X1 for less than 6 months after years of being away from software recording. I did buy a free upgrade to X2 with my package so I can go up whenever I want to, but I'd also like to get some advice and tips from you all. What's different in X2? How is the learning curve? -ryan

X2 to me seems like a nice refinement of X1. Nowhere near as major as the move from 8.5 to X1. If you like X1 you should love X2. Why not just try it, you can always go back.

Whether you can zoom in/out the Clips pane and the PRV view horizontally by dragging up/down the time ruler or not is a BIG difference (you no longer have to press Ctrl + <-/->).

Some of the improvements to my workflow that I like are the track view zoom, auto track zoom, take lanes, automation lanes and improvements in PRV.  These were worth moving to X2 alone.
 
The audio engine appears less glitchy.
 
Breverb and Console Emulation are EXCELLENT (if you're on Producer).  RMix might be cool, too, but not really had time to study it yet.
 
I really like the improvements, many of them subtle but add up to A LOT.  I have only mentioned the ones that came to mind.  There are many others.
 
I loved X1, and am loving X2 even more now.  X1d was rock solid for me, and X2 is looking that way since quick fix (and now X2a).
 
As FBB said, you can always go back to X1 (as it's not worth uninstalling it) if you're not happy, and as you've already paid for it you have nothing to loose.  Make sure you install patch a.
 
Let us know what you decide, and what you think of X2.

All versions of SONAR install into their own folders and can coexist, so as stated, you might as well install X2 and try it. I agree with the poster above who said it was much more of a change from 8.5 to X1 than from X1 to X2.

sorry for bumping this one back up but I had another question. If I were install X2 on my machine concurrent to X1; is X2 backwards compatible? In other words, if I created a project in X2, and wanted to revert back into X1 later on, could I do it? -ryan

Yes it works (there will be a warning, like "the project has been created with a newer version of Sonar", or similar), except for the new features or plugs (for example Breverb, Console Emulator, etc), which will be deactivated (so, i don't know what actually happens if there is a lot of them in the project).

SONAR X2 improves upon many of the features introduced in X1. The workflow has also changed a bit, but it shouldn't take long to get up to speed.

You can install X2 and keep X1 installed as well. That way you can use either one anytime you'd like.

Scott

--
Scott R. Garrigus - http://garrigus.com - SONAR X2 Power! - http://garrigus.com/?SonarX2Power
* Author of the Cakewalk Sonar and Sony Sound Forge Power book series: http://garrigus.com/?PowerBooks
* Author of the Cakewalk Sonar ProAudioTutor video tutorial series: http://garrigus.com/?ProAudioTutor
* Publisher of the DigiFreq free music technology newsletter: http://digifreq.com/?DigiFreq
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TS


Yes it works (there will be a warning, like "the project has been created with a newer version of Sonar", or similar), except for the new features or plugs (for example Breverb, Console Emulator, etc), which will be deactivated (so, i don't know what actually happens if there is a lot of them in the project).

Scott G has just said something similar in another thread.  I have not tried it.
 
Perhaps download the X2 demo, fiddle around with a few things, and then try it.

For me - it's almost worth going to X2 just for the Breverb, and that you can now arm automation on the fly. 

It seems more stable than X1 - though I have this MONSTER problem with drawing automation envelopes