Are people liking Sonar X2?  Is it stable and worth the upgrade if the bulk of your time is spent on MIDI composition?  It is hard to find details on most of the features I am looking for (improved stability, improvement to the start tools and midi editing (I find X1 smarttools quite frustrating for speedy composition/note entry/midi editing).
 
Thank you

The X2 demo would be a good way to see if the tools work for you. X2a is stable for me (so was X2 with the quick fix though).

Besides my guitars and vocals-Home Studio-I am all midi. I don't really see a whole lot of change-for the way I work anyway. But I also do not use many of the tools-like PRV. I don't so a lot of midi editing-just midi recording of bass, keys and drums.
 
But I do like the "feel" of X1 and now X2 overall-so I guess I didn't help you tooo much
Sorry.

It does take a little adjustment, but I prefer X2 for MIDI work.   It's best to try the demo if you already know X1 wasn't to your liking, but definitely check out the differences so you know where to start.
 

You can also check out the online documentation for a list of new features...
http://www.cakewalk.com/D...eq=NewFeatures.01.html

Scott

--
Scott R. Garrigus - http://garrigus.com
* Author of the Cakewalk Sonar and Sony Sound Forge Power book series: http://garrigus.com/?PowerBooks
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Thanks, I will check out the demo later today. One thing I am having trouble with regarding MIDI editing and the smart tools - I don't understand why it makes sense to have to cycle through all the various drawing tools. It doesn't make sense and really slows down the writing process. I get that most people apparently use audio editing rather than midi editing but if you enter a note with the draw tool using F9, but need to slightly alter its length, you will edit it with the edit tool but then have to recycle F9 to get back to the draw tool. That is like hitting F9 five or six times after a midi edit. If you have latency because of a big project, and you miss the draw tool you wanted, you have to hit F9 so much that you forget what you wanted to do by the time you are at the right tool. It seems X2 does not try to address this given the documentation. Being able to enter and edit the note must be the easiest thing to do rather than so many steps to get to the right tool. Am I doing it wrong? I can't be the only person stumbling through this slower note entry process.

karelm


Thanks, I will check out the demo later today. One thing I am having trouble with regarding MIDI editing and the smart tools - I don't understand why it makes sense to have to cycle through all the various drawing tools. It doesn't make sense and really slows down the writing process. I get that most people apparently use audio editing rather than midi editing but if you enter a note with the draw tool using F9, but need to slightly alter its length, you will edit it with the edit tool but then have to recycle F9 to get back to the draw tool. That is like hitting F9 five or six times after a midi edit. If you have latency because of a big project, and you miss the draw tool you wanted, you have to hit F9 so much that you forget what you wanted to do by the time you are at the right tool. It seems X2 does not try to address this given the documentation. Being able to enter and edit the note must be the easiest thing to do rather than so many steps to get to the right tool. Am I doing it wrong? I can't be the only person stumbling through this slower note entry process.

Not sure what you're getting at here. I can enter a note and adjust its length all with the smart tool - no need to "cycle" through tools. You mention "smart tools" but there is only one. 

It does sound like you have developed a labor intensive way to work in the PRV. X2 will work that way if you wish. X1 and X2 can both enter/edit notes without constantly selecting a specific tool, that is what the "smart" in the smart tool is supposed to handle.

I'm not understanding your approach, scook and sharke. I'm in Smart tool (the star) right now and unless I hit F9, I can't enter a note. So I have to hit F9 to cycle through the various draw tools to enter a note. Then if I want to edit the volume or duration, I have to get out of the F9 draw tool and go to either "edit" or "Smart" to change something. How are you doing this?

The smart tool is "the star", the rest are specific tools. With the smart tool "the star" selected, you can enter a note by double-clicking where you want it. To make the note long or shorter move to the beginning or end of the note and left-click and adjust the length. To edit note properties move to the middle of the note and double-click. To move the note click-drag or shift-click-drag. To delete a note, right-click. No need to switch to the specific tools.