If I was called in to pilot a session on any DAW, and I mean ANY DAW, I could do it. I've used all of them and am quite familiar with how they work.

They all have different strengths and weaknesses. The object is to choose the DAW whose strengths match your needs, and whose weaknesses don't impact what you need to do.

In terms of crashes and bad behavior, in my experience much of that is due to variables in the Windows environment, coupled with how someone uses a program. And frankly, I think a lot of it is just plain dumb luck. Program A might not be happy with build 6.003.455.1 to a particular graphics card while Program B might not care at all. But when build 6.004.556 comes out, Program B might crash while Program A works fine. And if you don't use that particular graphics card, then everything might work. Or nothing might work

My biggest problems with reliability have related to graphics cards and drivers, with the second biggest being defective RAM chips (not defective enough to fail, but enough for a few missing bits here and there). I think the latter problem is more common than people realize.

I've had very stable operation with X2, but also with Ableton Live 8, Pro Tools 10, Cubase 6, Acoustica Mixcraft 6, Sony Acid, Traktor Pro 2.5, Samplitude Pro X...you name it. I attribute that to the choice and testing of the hardware (it's a PC Audio Labs computer) rather than to the software. I've had very good luck with ADK and Rain computers as well, and given those experiences, I'll stick with computers that are integrated by people who are a lot smarter than me

If there was only one DAW left in the world, I would use that and make music with it. I wouldn't care if it was Mac or Windows, either. Fortunately, we are not in that position.

I am extremely open minded when it comes to these things...
and you have to be...not everything works the same for everyone.

Seeing as that I still own Cubase 5 I will check out the Trial Version of 7.  (already Trialed 6...while vastly improved, I still had a hard time liking the interface and workflow - and I used Cubase for YEARS prior to the switch to Pro Tools, from which I switched to X1 upon it's release)
I'm also still hoping for a Trial of Digital Performer 8.  I've been checking out the videos and am, thus far, fairly impressed)

But I can tell you this, they're gonna have to kick some serious Bootay...to kick X2 off the throne...
It just "feels right" to me...and THAT is where you have to land.

I rag on the Bakers all the time...but it's only to make the product better.
I keep hoping.

X2 has been rock solid for me on Win 8.  As I stated in another thread, my only issue is that

my IK Multimedia stand alones won't function because they don't see the Win 8 Quad Capture driver (but the VST's work just fine in X2)

Still waiting for the X2 Win 8 patch to come out of the oven.....
hopefully the timer goes off soon!

And hopefully IK get's off the stick and brings their programs up to date...
Oh wait...it's not "i" related...so probably won't happen for a while...

I wouldn't want to be a software developer these days. 

I hear ya ( I am one of those guys..). The problem with software development is that people want things yesterday but companies don't always put forth the needed resources to get products where people would like them. It's not easy picking the right mix of talent, time, product features, and price that'll produce a profit. There are expectations by customers, though, of no showstoppers in software products, which is reasonable.


A big problem in the development industry comes for the web/internet side of things with their push for Agile development, which essentially says get the damn thing out the door and release patches daily. That works for froo-froo and eye-candy things on the web, but it sucks for professionals that use software and have a job to do with it. Also, it tends throw architecture and design out the window, which makes the product harder to maintain.

Coming on a software's forum and announcing your departure is a bit like closing your Facebook account, i.e. the adult version of running away from home. You're just doing it for attention, and everyone knows you'll be back. 

jkleban

Worse yet, most of the time when I END TASK from SONAR NOT RESPONDING, it requires a complete system REBOOT... so like 5 minutes later, I am back in business... talk about BUZZ KILL.

Although I've had a lot of crashes, I've never yet had to reboot my system. Hitting close has always killed the task and I've been able to restart. One thing I have noticed however, is that killing Sonar does not kill Bitbridge and so I always feel like the prudent thing to do is to kill the Bitbridge task before starting Sonar again. 

Beepster
IIRC Pro Tools is still 32 bit limited so it would be a good selling point considering they are a major competitor. 

I still find it incredible that Pro Tools seems no closer to a 64-bit version, given that it's the *cough* "Industry Standard" *cough*. 


From what I've heard, it's going to require a complete rewrite of their audio engine, so God knows how long that's going to take them. I remember when speculation was rife that Pro Tools 10 would be 64 bit, and yet it wasn't. 


One thing's for sure. If they're going to be releasing a 64-bit version of Pro Tools that's essentially a rewrite from the ground up, I wouldn't like to be an early adopter. 

SuperG


A big problem in the development industry comes for the web/internet side of things with their push for Agile development, which essentially says get the damn thing out the door and release patches daily. 

Yah..  Well, even Facebook is slowing to a crawl..   Not to mention, how they have ransacked their own user bass..  and I imagine, that over the next ten years the web startup craze will totally dissipate..   It has dissipated, but there are a whole bunch of, "late to the party," people who are trying to be the next Mark Zuck..

Music software is still a good business...   Music is the most common creative talent, and people who play music, will continue to buy their tools, like they have for hundreds of years.

  What is really messing everything quite a bit, is the changing landscape of the community.  ( By community I mean, "we are not permitted to have political discussions, so I am talking about a community of people, and not a civilization formed for people." )  Its very difficult to run a business right now, and I do not believe competition inhibits the sale of products.  If anything, I believe, "competition is the force that opens the door of opportunity." You would see things selling, if the current landscape promoted vibrant innovation.  Cakewalk would have Sonar tuned like a Ferrari, or their competition would be selling thousands upon thousands of copies...   IMHO, Cubase 7, will not be selling so much better than Sonar X2.  In laymens terms, "its the economy."  I'll leave it there... 

Beepster


Wow... it destroyed the formatting even more as soon as I hit post. lol

The chart is in the link. If I did end up investing in Steinberg I'd likely use it mostly more for the actual editing phase. That's the one part of Sonar I find to be really annoying and unstable. Particularly slip editing. Mind you maybe Cubase does the same kind of stuff these days as well (I would prefer an option to be able to manually choose my editing tools as opposed to the silly hotspots at the start/ends of clips... the constant zooming is bothersome).

Hi Beepster... I've commented on this elsewhere but just wanted to let you know that the need to zoom in and out to hit hot spots while obviously happening for you and others isn't 'normal', or not here anyway. Therefore I would assume that it is a bug seen with specific setups which is hopefully likely to be fixed rather than a design issue that will need to be re-designed.

Regarding the Cubase 7 mixer 'look' which is obviously very subjective, is it me or does that resemble the old Sonar pre X1 mixer? I never really liked the look of that either.

Self-imposed, Pre-Sonar forum check list… 
- Do I feel like a grumpy old fart this morning… Nope!  
- Have I ingested a full cup of extra strength coffee… Yip!  
Thankyou for complying with checklist requirements... You may proceed with post.
 
This truly is the longest “Good Bye” in the history of life the universe and well… everything!

Craig,

I liked your post.  Made me think of a service someone could offer. A hardware expert that has the skills to determine what is causing the problems.

My newest problem is that when I first load my DAW, there is NO AUDIO.  But by hittimg stop and play a few times, the audio starts up.  There is NO audio drop out message, just NO AUDIO.  And then BINGO, it starts to work.  I am using the OCTA puss audio card (with latest drivers). And a huge user of UAD2 plugs (Running 6.3.0 since UAD admittedly has issues with SONAR now).  I am not assuming that CW is the problem and as you noted, probably the combination of my hardware setup/workflow.

But, it sure would be cool if an expert could provide remote support and shoot the problem(s) to stablize the system.  My DAW was supplied by ADK (same idea as you stated, let the experts do the build). All of my software and plugsin are purchased (NO DEMO mode or Cracked software).

I don't know enough to start changing settings on my DAW.

Not whining, it is just something I have learned to live with and not blaming CW at all.  I mentioned earlier that Sonar has to be one complicated program to be designed to work with all the environmental variables it needs to deal with on top of its core application.