Omni G'day 
On the up side some fantastic improvements to name a few are…
Auto zoom
BREVERB
FX chains in the PC
smart grid
automation lanes
and more...

On the down side BUGS are running wild, you only need to scrutinize this forum to make a long list.  

My own personal issues with X2 are… (To name a few)
"Folder Headers"
Projects saved with "Folder Headers" diminished in size, but on reopening project. 
“Folder Headers" are expanded.  It only happens on some and not all projects so it’s not a feature.  
Confirmed… http://forum.cakewalk.com/tm.aspx?m=2707847
The only way to fix this is to right click on Folder header and select delete folders keep the track of cause, then open new folder and place tracks into that.
Peak markers display incorrectly 
The green vertical line displays fine but the numerical figures in white are truncated and only refreshes properly when I zoom out/in. 
Confirmed… http://forum.cakewalk.com/tm.aspx?m=2712552
Waveform preview
When a bus is clipping then preview tells me so… cool  
Turn bus down and play same measures repeatedly and I get a different visual display every time. That is to say, the actual wave size varies and what is red or green vary when no digital clipping is happening. Turn Waveform preview off/on and it displays properly.  
Confirmed… http://forum.cakewalk.com...86&mpage=1#2707186
PX-64 Percussion Strip not retaining presets
On reloading a project it’s not retaining it's presets.
Confirmed… http://forum.cakewalk.com/tm.aspx?m=2711866
OK so the PX-64 issue goes back to 8.5.3, but its still NOT FIXED 

IMHO these are fundamental basic things that any pre-release check should have picked up. 
If I treat my customers like cake treats us I would be out of business in a month.
IMHO the bakers have once again released an under cooked cake. Presumably because their Tokyo based masters wanted our cash sooner rather then later, and are quite prepared to use us as unpaid beta testers to make the bottom line more cost effective for themselves. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t mind beta testing, there is other software I beta test for free. But it’s an upfront arrangement. No stealth involved.
The thought of opening my studio (It’s Monday morning here) while I have a customer looking over my shoulder as I fight a tug of war with X2 makes me feel like chucking a sicky and going to the beach. 

My two cents... Sigh! I feel a little better getting that of my chest. 

Oh! Forgot to mention colour settings, a classic example of a feature that worked exceedingly well in 8.5.3 and then the X1 and X2 bakers got hold of it. This can not be a biggy to fix. Our fellow forum member “panup” and sonar mods proves this to be the case.


And Yes all of these issues and more have been reported. if you suffer from these or other issues please tell the bakers. 

http://www.cakewalk.com/Support/ProblemReporter/  

An extra two cents

Yup you should have waited for the service pack, you will know next time won't you ?

"If I treat my customers like cake treats us I would be out of business in a month. "


Well to be fair, Cakewalk is not out of business. Maybe their customers think more of them than your customers think of you :)


X2 was unstable for me before the hotfix but ever since it has been running beautifully with hardly a glitch. 

I'm not sure why a guy who is naming some genuine problems for him regarding X2 is either getting sarcastic comments or being slated.
It's quite obvious that X2 has a lot of bugs, how many you encounter depends on the way you use it. Yes it may be your own set up, but some of these bugs have been repeated various times in many posts. If you have a problem then you would be an idiot not to mention it and just suffer in silence, so give the guy a break and try to help him or don't bother posting.
I love sonar (as does the OP, obviously) despite its deficiencies but people pay good money for their products and expect them to work better than they sometimes do. What this forum doesn't need is people that jump on you the minute they think you have said something against the bakers.
If its a just point and not abusive then go for it, it helps make things better for everyone.
(Sorry about block txt, safari hates this forum)

I can't understand why someone who runs a commercial studio would run an un-proven DAW.
And, what would X2 offer in that environment above and beyond 8.53, other than more need for Advil.

Sonar is working fine for me- yes, there are oddities but I can workaround and not feel it is a "tug of war". Roll with it.

The problems the OP lists I consider minor and bordering on trivial. IMHO. 

I believe Sonar was beta tested also- I have logged onto the forum and the beta forum has been visible- and one of the top Sonar guys had made the last post. I don't believe the Tokyo Overlords are pulling all the strings from HQ.

This forum should try to offer help not sarcastic remarks.

I have seen the attacking of posters voicing their concerns increase over the last few days. That is not what this forum is all about.

  If you have no help to offer. No information that may shed light on the issues being reported than please refrain from commenting. All this does is cause those that may need our help go elsewhere.  

@ CakeAlexS… Strangely this is the first time I’ve up graded at release time, maybe I’m a little mad at myself for throwing caution to the wind, so I do accept some responsibly for my predicament. 

@ backwoods… Thankyou for the few kind words, it’s great to see you read my post objectively. With regards to my minor and bordering on trivial issues, I suggest you try spending 8 to 10 hours a day dealing with them for a week. Plus my main point is not how big the issue are but rather the fact that IMHO X2 should never of been released with these defects. Regardless of what you think of my opinion I will voice them in a candid manner.

@ wizard… Thankyou! You are correct in assuming I love sonar. I have been with then since 1996 when they were called “Twelve Tones” my first purchase was Pro-Audio 4.5 (I still have the boxed disk set) I have moved away many times… Cubase / Live / Pro Tools to name some, but I always came home to eat my cake.

@ timidi… What can I say. You are right. I should have known better. 8.5.3 was/is “Rock Steady” I still use it live on my lappy with looping plugs 

@ John +1000

If you want software to be reliable always wait for the service packs. End of. Don't blame the software makers - sorry. I've worked in QA departments with complex software (and Sonar is very complex) and although the marketeers don't want you to hear this, the consumers end up being the ultimate testers of the product, there's just too many combinations. Not even Microsoft with millions of $$$ and a huge testing lab can release bug free software.

> IMHO these are fundamental basic things that any pre-release check should have picked up.

The next argument will be that these were schoolboy errors and the bugs should have been picked up because they are obvious... again sorry no, there are too many things and combinations to test that often the "obvious" stuff gets overlooked. However when this happens good QA departments write "test cases" where they can prevent the same situation from occurring again, the bad news is though there often has to be at least one iteration a problem to happen before the test case is written (often down to time constrains). Think about the recent Apple mapping software that was released on their phones for example which ended up being acknowledged as a giant cockup - Millions of $$$ yet a company can still make a "basic" schoolboy error of moving customers onto unfinished software.

Anyway I would seriously be moaning if no service packs were to be released, and we all know they will.

> If I treat my customers like cake treats us I would be out of business in a month.

Nope Cake would be out of business. It would probably take them another two years to test the software without customer interaction, and that translates to $$$ and the competition getting further ahead. Also please believe me Cake's QA engineers are reading these posts who probably work seriously hard night and day testing... they won't admit it in public but in private let me tell you it's like being worked to death and then being stabbed in the stomach for your results reading these sort of comments. No they don't deserve it.

> If you have no help to offer. No information that may shed light on the issues being reported than please refrain from commenting. All this does is cause those that may need our help go elsewhere.

Well that was helpful .. ps I still hate Vista (M$ really cocked up this software when it was first released, only got stabilized after a service pack or two, the final service pack was called "Windows 7").

Cheers....