Cakewalk veteran here from the floppy disc days. I just upgraded from 8.3 to X2 Producer. Here are some things that I am not able to figure out about the "X2" flavor, that I was quite used to in previous versions. I'm hoping that some of you can help me through the cutlure shock. Thanks in advance. (I searched the help file on these things before posting.) I did the $299 download special last Friday; I was a lightning fast old pro (on 8), and now I strangely feel a bit "lost at sea" on Sonar X2, so I'm hoping that some of you folks will help me here.

1: "Go To: Time" seems to have disappeared? You used to be able to click Alt-G+T to "go to" a new time. Alt G+T would bring up a dialog, where you type in a measure number and click Enter, and that would set the "now time" to that measure number. Did this useful functionality vanish, or is there an equivalent in X2?

2: F7/F8 used to take you to the start / stop of a selected region; this useful function has been around forever, yet in X2 they reassigned these classic shortcuts for some reason. What are the current X2 equivalents, or did this also vanish?

3: How to edit midi note velocity & durations in Event View? I do a lot of midi note parameter editing (start time & velocity value) in the Event View, yet in X2, those columns appear to be "view only". Is there a magic trick to get to edit vaues again, or are we relegated to editing midi note start time & velocity value via Piano Role view only? (I sure hope not.)

4: Is there a way to default Piano Roll View to NOT show velocity? EVERY time I open the PR view on a midi track, the first thing I do is to click the Notes menu to turn off velocity, as it clutters the screen (IMHO). If I close the PRV and then reopen it, there they are again. Is there a way to globally set a default to NOT show velocity bars unless I WANT to see them?

5: In Track View, it is unclear to me what "tool mode" I must be in to just click on the timeline to go to a different time. I switch between Smart, Select, etc. tools, and it doesn't move me to the desired new time. (It seems to do nothing at all - ?) In previous versions, ANY click in the time ruler would automatically put the "now time" right there. ?? (I am hobbling by, using the old Ctrl+ Home / End / Page Up / Page Down, for now. Would be nice to use Go to Time again.)

6: Lastly, I worked up a test song (my first in X2) that is 91 measures long. When I play it, after the end, the time bar just keeps on scrolling, forever beyond measure 91, as if I have some "ghost note" out in "measure one million". In any previous version, if I saw this question on the forum, I'd say "check your envelopes and look for an event/node that's at the Cntrl+End time". Well, there are no events past measure 91. Cntrl+End indeed takes me to measure 91. Yet the song doesn't "stop" on end. What is the magic trick preference setting to get it to stop when the song file has ended?

Wow, when I am here, usually I am answering questions, not asking them, so I humbly thank any "Sonar X" veterans who can show me the light this time around. Cheers,
ed97643

(deleted)

here ya go.

Cakewalk veteran here from the floppy disc days. I just upgraded from 8.5.3 to X2 Producer. 

Here are some things that I am not able to figure out about the "X2" flavor, that I was quite used to in previous versions. I'm hoping that some of you can help me through the culture shock. Thanks in advance. (I searched the help file on these things before posting.) 

I did the $299 download special last Friday; I was a lightning fast old pro (on 8), and now I strangely feel a bit "lost at sea" on Sonar X2, so I'm hoping that some of you folks will help me here. 1: "Go To: Time" seems to have disappeared? You used to be able to click Alt-G+T to "go to" a new time. Alt G+T would bring up a dialog, where you type in a measure number and click Enter, and that would set the "now time" to that measure number. Did this useful functionality vanish, or is there an equivalent in X2? 

2: F7/F8 used to take you to the start / stop of a selected region; this useful function has been around forever, yet in X2 they reassigned these classic shortcuts for some reason. What are the current X2 equivalents, or did this also vanish? 

3: How to edit midi note velocity & durations in Event View? I do a lot of midi note parameter editing (start time & velocity value) in the Event View, yet in X2, those columns appear to be "view only". Is there a magic trick to get to edit values again, or are we relegated to editing midi note start time & velocity value via Piano Role view only? (I sure hope not.) 

4: Is there a way to default Piano Roll View to NOT show velocity? EVERY time I open the PR view on a midi track, the first thing I do is to click the Notes menu to turn off velocity, as it clutters the screen (IMHO). If I close the PRV and then reopen it, there they are again. Is there a way to globally set a default to NOT show velocity bars unless I WANT to see them? 

5: In Track View, it is unclear to me what "tool mode" I must be in to just click on the timeline to go to a different time. I switch between Smart, Select, etc. tools, and it doesn't move me to the desired new time. (It seems to do nothing at all - ?) In previous versions, ANY click in the time ruler would automatically put the "now time" right there. ?? (I am hobbling by, using the old Ctrl+ Home / End / Page Up / Page Down, for now. Would be nice to use Go to Time again.) 

6: Lastly, I worked up a test song (my first in X2) that is 91 measures long. When I play it, after the end, the time bar just keeps on scrolling, forever beyond measure 91, as if I have some "ghost note" out in "measure one million". In any previous version, if I saw this question on the forum, I'd say "check your envelopes and look for an event/node that's at the Cntrl+End time". Well, there are no events past measure 91. Cntrl+End indeed takes me to measure 91. Yet the song doesn't "stop" on end. What is the magic trick preference setting to get it to stop when the song file has ended? 

Wow, when I am here, usually I am answering questions, not asking them, so I humbly thank any "Sonar X" veterans who can show me the light this time around. 
Cheers, ed97643

hi timidi; sorry, not seeing anything other than my original post?

Also (new complaint), X2 is "going nuts" today, in that it is not able to display the PRV. It brings up the keyboard on the left hand side, but it does not display the actual PRV notes ... it is almost like there is a window refresh problem, where (besides the left side keyboard), it just shows whatever was "behind" PRV, in the main window. Yikes.

Note, been using 8.3 on this particular Sonar-only PC for well over a year - no new hardware or software - only change is 8.3 to X2. Not looking promising....

Welcome to the "X" Side, veteran Sonar user!
 
There is a learning curve with the X series. It would be good to break out the Help file and do some heavy reading there.
There is also a huge Help file PDF on the web site that out does the basic one in X2.
 
In the mean time:
 
1: Just press "G" 

2: "F" #s are now assigned to screensets. Please go to "Preferences/Customization/Keyboard Shortcuts" or "Keyboard Shortcuts" in the Help file to learn more. You can reassign keys also.
 
3: MIDI editing is now done from the Control Bar "EVENT INSPECTOR" at the top of your screen
 
4: In PRV go to View and check Show/Hide Controller Pane, then diminish it to just above disappearing. If it disappears, it will automatically "Hide" and bring back the tails
 
5: With any tool selected you can set the time by clicking in the Time Line bar at the top of the screen. If this is not working for you then something is wrong.
 
6: In the Track View Otions menu, clear the On Stop, Rewind to Now Marker option to have the Now time marker move to follow the current Now time when you stop playback.
 
or
 
In the Track View Otions menu, select the On Stop, Rewind to Now Marker option to have the Now time snap back to the Now time marker when you stop playback.
 
PS: Don't forget to install the Quick Fix download.  
 
Steve

I'm no expert so I can't offer any detailed advice. But when I transitioned from 8.5 to X2, I found the X1 to X2 transition video to be invaluable: http://forum.cakewalk.com/tm.aspx?m=2669041

ed97643


hi timidi; sorry, not seeing anything other than my original post?

Also (new complaint), X2 is "going nuts" today, in that it is not able to display the PRV. It brings up the keyboard on the left hand side, but it does not display the actual PRV notes ... it is almost like there is a window refresh problem, where (besides the left side keyboard), it just shows whatever was "behind" PRV, in the main window. Yikes.

Note, been using 8.3 on this particular Sonar-only PC for well over a year - no new hardware or software - only change is 8.3 to X2. Not looking promising....

You might be seeing a PRV zoom bug that shows itself from time to time and seemingly at random. The PRV appears fully zoomed out and as a result appears blank. Zooming in fully vertically should fix that.

I found that once I committed to working exclusively in SONAR X that I made progress.
Going back and forth was just frustrating as I couldn't consolidate the learning curve that the new ways of performing various tasks imposes on you. It's certainly worth the effort as you'll quickly find that in general X2 allows much faster workflow. BUT you have to:
1. be prepared to leave the old ways behind
2. stop fighting SONAR and learn to do it the way it's programed to work
3. spend a good bit of time on the help file learning all the new keyboard shortcuts. The inbuilt help file can be viewed online or offline. the former providing links to updated info as well as online videos etc.

Thanks to everyone for your helpful information! I will check this out carefully after work later today. 

The only thing that scares me is the midi event inspector replacing the EV editing... I am very used to flying through large series of edits "excel style" by typing new values while using the up/down left/right keys to fly through my events.  I hope the "inspector" won't be a cumbersome slow-down.

Thanks again, everyone!

I went from Sonar 8.5.3 to Sonar X2 and found the transition to be quick and easy.
If you want the transition to go smoothly, you will need to determine to only work in Sonar X2 because the workflow is different than previous versions of Sonar.

Because I upgraded to Sonar X1 with the offer to get Sonar X2 free, my plan was to use Sonar X1 and move to Sonar X2 after the first patch.

I never got the opportunity to use Sonar X1 before Sonar X2 was released.
I installed both versions but tried Sonar X2 first.  Found it to be stable and decided just to use Sonar X2 because Sonar X2 is different that even Sonar X1 and I thought it would be silly to learn Sonar X1 which I'll never use and then have to learn Sonar X2 as well.

First thing I did was looked thru the Keybindings for things I use most frequently.

I spend most of my time in track view when I work.  I do not need, nor do I use screen sets.  My friend is the 'D' key which opens and closes the multidock.  This allows rapid movement between Track View, PRV and Console View.  I don't have to wait for anything. Press the 'D' key and I'm there.

'I' opens and closes the prochannel.
'B' opens and closes the browser
'C' opens and closes the controlbar
'T' opens and closes the tools HUD

Right click in the timeline to resume now time follows project.

Those are some very handy keys to remember.