Having said all this, I took the dive and started downloading X2 - there seem to be a lot of good things promised in the videos ...
But I'll probably also try to track down a copy of 8.5.3 (which I unfortunately never owned) as I don't think there is much point in sticking with (now unsupported) X1 much longer.  I spent a long time working in a different industry that used much more expensive software but even there updates never made it to a level where the old versions where (new features always broke some of the old ones, that's the way it is in software engineering) ... hence, we ended up using old and new versions ... what ever was most suitable to a get the particular job done ...

I will be changing over to a universal surface option again so as to not get roped in again like this. Plus the ability to expand faders again will be nice
 
And what if they come out with an update for the VS700 and X2 in the near future?

FreeFlyBertl

  
Anyway, talking about the ability to expand faders: I have 2 old Behringer units lying around that I just hooked up for a test. It took about 3 minutes to have them configured to control channel 9-16 and 17-24. Works in parallel to the VS-700C; no incompatibility problems detected while having that set-up active for a couple of hours ...

Ohhhhh yeah!! THAT is nice! The behringer you talk about use the MCU protocol? Sorry I was too hurry to answer and did not made my homeworks...  If so, a mackie extender should work also?


I would really like 16 channels and the VS700C as the main controller + 8 bus for mixing... that would be a great news!


Edit: Looks like I need the MCU Pro to connect the extenders.... I've posted to Mackie to see if it can be used in standalone, or maybe someone here can answer?

Dyonight


I would really like 16 channels and the VS700C as the main controller + 8 bus for mixing... that would be a great news!


Edit: Looks like I need the MCU Pro to connect the extenders.... I've posted to Mackie to see if it can be used in standalone, or maybe someone here can answer?

Dyonight,

Let us know if you get feed back from Mackie ... having just the extender (x2) might actually be really sweet
 
The extender is sold to be connected to the MCU Pro, BUT it only connects to it via MIDI (according to the manual), so I don't see any reason why you shouldn't be able to use directly in Sonar without the MCU Pro. Sonar even contains a separate surface option "Mackie Control XT". In my test I did use the "Mackie Control" option which does send all labels and values along that I could intercept with an on-screen Mackie monitor tool - so these labels should arrive at the control surface as well.
 
It might be worth posting a question over in the X2 forum because I remember some guys over there using MCU Pro and Extender ... maybe someone can give the extender by itself a try if it's connected via any MIDI IN/OUT - would probably yield more detailed information than what Mackie support may provide.
 
 

@Fly- thanks mate... my depression has left I am glad to say. Didn't realize how annoying this whole thing had gotten until I reread some of my diatribe...apolgies... it still peeves me though. The pain of the last mixing session when it dawned just what had now happened when trying to just create music still haunts me... the 700 was amazing to my workflow until that point... and then the world crumbled and 'sook mode' was engaged. Still shocked really....

Thankfully the X2 video awoke the REAL reason I stayed with Sonar for these years.... music.

I too had one of the Behri units for some time and that fader noise was certainly ugly.

@Crg- haha... you still have a sense of humur then. I cut off the beard I grew from waiting for the 'Messiah Update' last week. There is zero genuine indication that this is about to happen sadly. I would dearly love to see something that is evidence to the contrary but I sincerely do not think the Cake Crew are about to issue anything along those lines. Period.

As for a new surface, I'm curious to investigate the A&H ZED stuff but not sure it is a good mixing surface for Sonar... don't know. Would love to grab a DB8 but that is unlikely to integrate 100%. Really leaves the MCU as the main contender again I 'think' and the only thing that it lacked when I previously had one, was the lack of metering at the surface...still a feature I love about the 700C.

The MCU has dropped to around $1300AU at the present time. The 700C may get parked until a buyer comes along so Crg you still have time to rewrite the code for us.

Cheers all.

Hi Dahjah, yeah I did frequent VS Planet, and let me show you how I'm gonna do this with a mouse.
I'm optimistic because CW gave me optimistic hope in believing that they'll keep their word in trying to fix all the bug issues that's been reported on the other thread.  It would be silly of me personally to go pessimistic and give up hope on the V700 at least at this time, after all the optimistic news. 
When you have a CW rep that come here and says they are working on the bug fix update for all the issues that's been identified, then I have no other choice but to believe. I see the issue as an evolutionary process, that may be moving at a snails' pace.  But we have heard that they ARE working on fixing what they can.

I like anyone else is disappointed that some things were "broken" as some say here when X1 was released. You and everybody else has every right to complain and I encourage everybody to do just that when a problem or bug issue is identified. Somebody has to report the issues when they are found! But I don't see any reason to feel hopeless and defeated yet, maybe a little disappointed, as we have another bug fix upgrade to look forward too!
If the upcoming bug fix doesn't fix all or most of the important significant bug issues then 'Houston' I think we may really have a problem. If Obama is the proof that hope and change is possible to those people who believed in him, then in the same way I'm ready to believe in cakewalk and their hope and change in their next bug fix update.  

ok here is the answer from Mackie:

 Thanks for writing. In theory since the VS700C uses the Mackie Control protocol you should be able to use the Mackie Control XT as an extender. I cannot guaranty this because this something we have not tested directly. Each Mackie Control extender acts as an independent unit but the channel banking function is normally controlled by the main Mackie Control. So my only concern would be that the VS700C would not be able to control channel banking on the extenders.  

So, as freefly showed, looks like it can be done!

Once my interface is back from Chicago next purchase (test...) will be the MC XT extender.

I'll let the remaining users knows once there!

Dyonight

ok here is the answer from Mackie:

[...] channel banking function is normally controlled by the main Mackie Control. So my only concern would be that the VS700C would not be able to control channel banking on the extenders.   
 

I believe it should be possible to fix the extender to control channels 9-16, but you may have a problem when you want it to control the bus section while the VS-700 controls tracks. The cheap B unit has buttons for that, while the Mackie extender is only channels ... I reckon you'll really need to test it to find out what's and possible what doesn't work ... 

Would be kinda weird having an extender parked next to the 700C? The Mackie might feel intimidated even....

Have thought about this a few times but always thought the ergonomics would be too strange.

Cheers.