Just wondering on your opinions on this.

X1 was the first time I came to Sonar (after trying a demo of 8.5) and X1 was a massive new world for me and one which I really like. I bought X2 as soon as I knew it was available for preorder and finally finished installing it about half an hour ago. Now I know I only have half an hour of messing about with it so I'm yet to really delve into it, but not much seems to have changed? It seems like a reasonable update as opposed to brand new software?
I appreciate things like the Breverb and Console Emulation are brand new, but other things such as interface tweaks and additions seem to be just that, tweaks, minor things.
Now I'm not ****ing, I like X2 and I'm sure it has a lot to offer over X1 but having played for half an hour and having watched the 'transitioning' video there seems to be very little that is actually NEW? Maybe all of the new stuff is in more advanced parts of the programme that I may not use?

Anyone got any thoughts?

My opinion, and I've expressed this elsewhere and I'm now sounding like a broken record, is the changes make X2 oh so different to X1. And that is mainly based on automation lanes and the way you can now draw and edit automation, especially for the kind of music I create.

Watch Seth's video that's stickied on top of the forum! It's actually pretty major in terms of workflow!

Or check this link...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xw5z9BKWD-I

It's more of a progression than the massive change from 8.5 to X1. For me there's lots of little things that increase workflow even more. Nothing really exciting on it's own but functions like auto zoom, the smart grid and the changes to the smart tool, especially in the PRV all add up to even more speed.

Lanes are far superior to layers and while I still prefer the "in track" method of automation editing there are automation lanes as well for those that prefer that method.

A huge change like last time might have made these boards self destruct.

Put it this way if you use X2 you`ll find going back to X1 a difficultly. Biggest thing for me personally is FX chains for the PC, not to mention the numerous work flow enhancements, lots of little tweaks make a big differences to work flow :-)

Fair enough, thanks guys.
I've already seen that video as I mentioned in my first post.
Maybe I'll find more and more as I work. I'm about to start a massive project next week, so this has come in perfect time :)

X2 is a huge update but in contrast to X1 we focused on workflow enhancements and major improvements to the fundamentals and backbone of the program, addressing hundreds of longstanding requests and problems. The big top level areas are Automation lanes, editing and rendering improvements, take lanes, editing tools, zoom, snap, Pro channel updates, PC FX Chains, Matrix and realtime preview, UI updates, performance improvements and bug fixes. All these are areas that intersect with at some level with every SONAR user.
I'll put together a more detailed list of all the areas touched from our internal notes once I catch my breath, but for now watch all the videos being put out since they will give you a good idea of the breadth of features.

Yes. 

Noel Borthwick [Cakewalk
]

X2 is a huge update but in contrast to X1 we focused on workflow enhancements and major improvements to the fundamentals and backbone of the program, addressing hundreds of longstanding requests and problems. The big top level areas are Automation lanes, editing and rendering improvements, take lanes, editing tools, zoom, snap, Pro channel updates, PC FX Chains, Matrix and realtime preview, UI updates, performance improvements and bug fixes. All these are areas that intersect with at some level with every SONAR user.
I'll put together a more detailed list of all the areas touched from our internal notes once I catch my breath, but for now watch all the videos being put out since they will give you a good idea of the breadth of features.

Thanks Noel!
I hope you didn't take offence to my comments, I think part of the problem is I genuinely do not know what to expect in a new release as this is the only DAW I have stuck with. Before this I used a few other days but never upgraded to a new version, so when I tried 8.5 and then bought X1 the difference was massive and I guess I expected something along that scale which is obviously too much.
As I said, I think I will probably find the UI changes to be more important as I begin work on this new album project next week.
Thanks for the reply.