pdlstl


I admit that my feelings regarding X1 were quite similar to Ionian's. I don't record myself. I exclusively record people who come to me and pay me. Upon the release of X1 I was devastated to see (IMHO) that the product I had loved since PA8 was being "dumbed down" and the marketing appeared to be directed to the chap recording in his/her bedroom. I also made the decision that I would not upgrade, no way no how.

However...upon reviewing the sparse information available on X2 I have decided to bite the bullet and take the plunge. I came to the conclusion that I could continue to be hard headed and eventually turn to another product which I had zero experience in or get on the bandwagon, make the upgrade and learn X2. This was after a long conversation with someone whose opinion I highly value.

As I've done with each new version I 've upgraded to over the years, there will be things I love and things I hate. And I will deal with that scenario as I have with many things in my life. Embrace the things I love and shy away from the things I hate.

I purchased the upgrade to X1 yesterday for the free upgrade to X2. I will duplicate all projects currently in production (8 at this point) and work on them in X1 during the learning curve. But my 8.5.3 projects will remained untouched just in case.
 
I'm over being hard-headed.
 
Having said that, my ideal solution would be a version of SONAR without many of the features (silly plugins, too many synths etc.) that are quite important to many hobbyists but useless to me. I tend to use high quality outboard gear and and high quality third party plugins. Give me something that I can record/edit audio/MIDI with, make it rock solid and I'll handle the rest.

I also record people who pay me, but I often use the synths.  I record metal and rock mostly, but even with them I use synths on almost every single project.  And when I get a Rap/Dance/Pop artist, thank god for the included synths.


People that do this to pay bills need software nowadays.  I don't have the cash to go buy these sounds in hardware format haha


I totally understand where you're coming from, cause X1 totally threw me for a loop for a few weeks.  After awhile (and the X1d update) it was clear that it was stable and had a lot more going for it to allow me to work quickly.  The Browser alone is something I would miss greatly, and it saves me from right-clicking through plugin menus in front of clients.  Instrument tracks that are easily dropped from the Browser is so quick.

At first, it looks too shiny to be "pro".  But it's the same thing as Sonar 8 for all purposes if you are recording audio.  My tracking sessions haven't changed a boatload.  If anything they're quicker because of X1's small changes.

X2 kinda seems like they released version 1, fixed stuff, heard response, and now are releasing the product we want.  Hopefully I'm somewhat correct!

Just remember, "Justin Beiber is a professional musician."  Strange world.. imo

To me ... Sonar 8.5 was the best ever. Don't get me wrong, I like Sonar X1 and the new features in Sonar Expanded and the upcoming Sonar X2, but I just need the nitty gritty of recording packages and that was Sonar 8.5.

When I was auditioning the industry standard, Pro Tools 10, I found that a lot of what used to be accessible in S8.5 was a mouse click or two away.

 
So, a quick letter "I" and I can get to most things fairly quickly and then hide it with another letter "I" click.

2 things that bother me most are no automated bypass for the sonitus EQ
and time based fx not bouncing down properly.

just sayin.

+10000 bout time-based fx

Brandon Ryan [Cakewalk
]

mattplaysguitar

Ionian

especially for those of us who don't use the track inspector because IMO it has no real purpose besides from taking up screen real estate.

It SAVES real estate in my opinion! Imagine if you had a ProChannel on each and every track... That would be mighty cluttered...


It took my a few years before I was sold on the inspector, to be honest. But now that I use it regularly, I freaking love it. Give it a chance. It's just a break in your workflow, but I think it's for the better.

I agree. The Inspector saves screen real-estate, absolutely. It also opens and closes with a single click, making it instantly accessible. Of course I'm not telling you anything you don't already know. 

Please forgive this interjection, but I just saw red.
 
In 8.5, I NEVER closed the inspector. It was not necessary. 
 
X1 is so spread-out, I am constantly pressing buttons, adjusting screens and collecting tips from fellow forum members to get more space.  And even with everything closed, there are still thick bars left!
 
I stopped the video at 0.31 and jumped for joy at the thought of being able to custom-configure the GUI to be laptop-friendly.
 
Alas, it seems this is not available to the user.
 
I run a mobile demo studio, and I accept that not everyone runs a laptop. But really, it frustrating comparing the efficient use of space in my old 8.5 and seeing all that wasted space and unnecessarily large controls in X1.
 

I see they still haven't increased the widget size to prevent label munging:





That's one of my "might upgrade if they fixed it" checkboxes that remains unchecked, so far.

I was kinda looking forward to a mastering suite, ie., Studio One project page.  It updates your master if you make changes to your mix.  I love that feature.

cubic13


Cancelled... Unreadable, due to lack of CR handling. Sorry, but this board is unusable for a Firefox user...

I think its setup with IE in mind. I dislike IE and it works pretty decent on Chrome try Chrome