Sonar has poor GUI compared to PA9

This forum is dedicated to Sonar discussions.
bvdd
Posts: 6
Joined: Fri Nov 14, 2003 4:03 pm

Post by bvdd » Fri Nov 14, 2003 5:35 pm

Hi Gang, I'm new here and glad I found you.

Just recently upgraded to Sonar 2.1 from Pro Audio and I'm very
disappointed with the new 'look'. Does anybody else find the new GUI
illogical and impractical? If anyone has found solutions to my issues,
I'm all ears.

Here's why it's more than just a preference for me. I have over 300 Cakewalk songs and each contains no less than 20 midi and 20 audio tracks. So changing programs really is a major deal.

Most importantly:
Vol, Pan, Trim, etc. are laid out horizontally instead of the old vertical
grid style. This means you can only fit as much info on the screen as your monitor is wide. Now in order to display all the info that the PA9 track view
had, you need to toggle through 4 tabs. How is this as easy as before?
Now I waste too much time just searching for settings.
Vol, Pan, Trim, I/O, etc. text is WHITE against a LIGHT GRAY background.
And you cannot change it in the colors window. This is very hard to see.
IMHO There are other pointless 'improvements' like a matching color scheme for tracks 1,11,21 then another for 2,12,22 and so on. What is the reason for this? Isn't it endlessly more simple to recognize ALL midi and ALL audio tracks at a glance? Sonar allows only limited color changes.
I know these may be trivial issues for many users, but with this many projects I can't have anything slow me down.

I've tried posting these questions in other forums and mostly received this answer: "If you don't like it don't use it".
I hope this forum is different than that.
I do really like the way Sonar handles audio data and DXI's compared with PA9, and there are many other great improvements too.
I just wish I could make it more efficient to work with.
Thanx all
Bill


andychap
Posts: 685
Joined: Wed Aug 27, 2003 7:26 pm
Location: UK

Post by andychap » Mon Nov 17, 2003 6:24 pm

It is really different but you soon get used to it and find your way around it very quickly. I have my screen set at 1024 x 768 on a 17 inch monitor and can get most things on the screen. Sonar also works well with dual screen set ups.

One of the best tips I got was to learn the keyboard shortcuts in Sonar and then you can move around to your hearts content.

bvdd
Posts: 6
Joined: Fri Nov 14, 2003 4:03 pm

Post by bvdd » Mon Nov 17, 2003 10:49 pm

Thanx Andy. I'll try the shortcuts.
I'm not giving up yet.

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