JonD Posted March 16 Share Posted March 16 I've always loved the GUI of Sonar Xx and CbB, and I have to admit it's one of the main factors that's kept me loyal. My understanding of Sonar's next incarnation (No pun intended) is that not only has the look been altered dramatically, but I haven't seen where we have the option to switch back to the GUI we have been accustomed to since basically Sonar X1. Can someone please verify yay or nay: Is the "classic" GUI an option in the new version? Or, if I've missed the forum thread that has already hashed this out, I'd appreciate a link... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billp Posted March 16 Share Posted March 16 You might find this topic of interest: 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark skinner Posted March 16 Share Posted March 16 Did you look on "this" page ?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Nicholls Posted March 16 Share Posted March 16 4 hours ago, JonD said: I've always loved the GUI of Sonar Xx and CbB, and I have to admit it's one of the main factors that's kept me loyal. My understanding of Sonar's next incarnation (No pun intended) is that not only has the look been altered dramatically, but I haven't seen where we have the option to switch back to the GUI we have been accustomed to since basically Sonar X1. Can someone please verify yay or nay: Is the "classic" GUI an option in the new version? Or, if I've missed the forum thread that has already hashed this out, I'd appreciate a link... Are you mistaking "Next" for the new "Sonar" ? They are two different products. Next looks quite different from Sonar, which is much more of a gentle evolution from Cakewalk By Bandlab. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pwal³ Posted March 16 Share Posted March 16 5 hours ago, JonD said: has the look been altered dramatically not as much as 8.5 -> x1, more of a version of cbb Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starship Krupa Posted March 16 Share Posted March 16 8 hours ago, JonD said: Is the "classic" GUI an option in the new version? The new look is, at this point, mostly just that, a new "look." The point of doing it is to lay the groundwork for enhanced scaling support and future enhancements. At first glance, the new look is basically similar to using a custom theme in CbB. Everything still works the same way, everything is still in the same place, it just looks better and scales better on higher resolution displays. My hope (and expectation) is that in the not too distant future (next Sunday A.D.?) we'll see things like being able to stretch different elements of console strips to (for instance) give a longer throw on the faders. But yes, as others have said, it's important to know the difference and distinctions between Next and Sonar. Next is a whole new program entirely. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JonD Posted March 16 Author Share Posted March 16 7 hours ago, mark skinner said: Did you look on "this" page ?? Um, what page is that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JonD Posted March 16 Author Share Posted March 16 (edited) 7 hours ago, billp said: You might find this topic of interest: This might be what I was looking for. Thanks, Bill. Edited March 16 by JonD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JonD Posted March 16 Author Share Posted March 16 4 hours ago, Colin Nicholls said: Are you mistaking "Next" for the new "Sonar" ? They are two different products. Next looks quite different from Sonar, which is much more of a gentle evolution from Cakewalk By Bandlab. No, I'm aware of the differences. Admittedly I'm mostly going by early user reviews from YouTube (and the screenshots from them). They did not look like the Sonar I'm used to. One user even referred to the new look as flat or two dimensional compared to the current version. The comments here make it sounds like there's hardly any differences, so I apologize if I'm coming off as someone completely misinformed, but all I'm hearing are opinions that frankly, are all over the place. I haven't downloaded the early access version, so I can only go by third-party reviews and screenshots -- and the ones I've seen do not look like the Sonar of the past decade. To add to the confusion, the website dedicated to the new versions is not yet live, and still show screenshots of what looks like the current CbB. I'm going to check out the thread recommended by billp, and maybe that will answer some of my questions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark skinner Posted March 17 Share Posted March 17 (edited) JonD , I downloaded the new "Sonar" for a quick look around. It opened up with a dark theme that I thought was Very Impressive! It was quite shocking to see the improvement compared to the dark CbB theme. I can easily see the flatness of things like the knobs and the drab looking record button on the individual tracks. I think with some minor tweeks I can easily live with the new UI. This was just a preview on a laptop instead of my large Daw monitor and things will probably look different there . I usually use a lighter mercury theme from "Scook" but I can probably adjust some colors and get close . Good luck to you .. mark ps: I was referring to the same page you posted on , just below yours. 😊 ms Edited March 17 by mark skinner Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starship Krupa Posted March 17 Share Posted March 17 7 hours ago, JonD said: They did not look like the Sonar I'm used to. One user even referred to the new look as flat or two dimensional compared to the current version. The comments here make it sounds like there's hardly any differences, so I apologize if I'm coming off as someone completely misinformed, but all I'm hearing are opinions that frankly, are all over the place. It seems that one person's "did not look like" is another's "hardly any differences." Yes, the graphical elements have had their 3-D illusions (false shadows and reflections) removed. They no longer mimic physical controls in that way. There are no longer gradients anywhere. However, all of the controls are in exactly the same places they are in Cakewalk by BandLab. So functionally, that's "hardly any difference." Aesthetically, no, it does not look like either Cakewalk stock theme. I have created multiple flattened themes for CbB and came to prefer that look over any sort of fake 3-D, so perhaps the difference doesn't seem to be as much to me. And to me, as well as anyone else who has been using heavily modified themes, the only part of the GUI that's "classic" is the control layout, and that hasn't changed at all. To us, it's as if now there's only going to be one theme, a flat one, with variations between the various elements only in color. It's a difference between flat images and ones that imitate 3-D objects. At this point that's all it is. I like it. It's crisp and its clean, and after using it for a while, going back to CbB feels busy and cluttered, with my eyes getting caught on what look like physical objects. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
msmcleod Posted March 17 Share Posted March 17 FWIW the soon-to-be-included Tungsten Classic theme has distinct button backgrounds, rather than the transparent background of the newer themes - it's no where near as flat/2D looking. It's not exactly the same as CbB, but when running the two apps side by side, they look very similar. 11 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Baay Posted March 17 Share Posted March 17 8 hours ago, msmcleod said: FWIW the soon-to-be-included Tungsten Classic theme has distinct button backgrounds Glad to hear it, and hoping for a 'Mercury Classic' version. ;^) I've significantly warmed to the flat look, but would appreciate having a more-3D option. And I'm guessing this will be a big hit with other oldtimers. 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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