Cakewalk Sonar X2a’s Multi-touch Support A Generation Ahead Of The Competition

At the 2013 NAMM Show, Cakewalk’s Jimmy Landry gave us an update on the new Sonar X2a.

Sonar X2a adds a lot of interesting features, but the show-stopper is full multi-touch support. In the second half of the video, above, Landry demonstrates the new multi-touch capabilities and offers his thoughts on where the touch interface offers benefits.

Whether or not you’re a Sonar user, X2a is notable for being a generation ahead of the competition in implementing multi-touch.

On the Mac, Apple hasn’t announced plans for integrating touch into OS X. On the iPad, the digital audio workstations (DAWs) that are available are new and not nearly as mature as their desktop counterparts. And on Windows, most DAWs are multi-platform and may be slow to adopt touch interfaces, as a result.

Check out the video and let us know what you think about the value of adding multi-touch support to desktop DAWs. Is this something that you’d like to see your DAW support sooner, rather than later?

13 thoughts on “Cakewalk Sonar X2a’s Multi-touch Support A Generation Ahead Of The Competition

  1. This is going to kill the market for proprietary controllers as other DAWs get on board.

    My ideal set up would be a nice keyboard controller, a medium-sized touchscreen placed at an angle and a large standard display.

  2. I’m still not convinced that hands on the screen is the best way. It just seems like obscuring the thing you’re trying to control with your hands isn’t going to be the best way to do things.

    1. Does it take Apple, nowadays, to take something like this mainstream?

      It seems like Microsoft has missed the target with so many new technologies in the last 10 years.

      This looks pretty awesome to me, though.

  3. They have it all but no one is doing things right. For example the “push on the knob & wipe the screen with your fat finger gesture”. It will never be as exact as needed for mixing purposes. In my humble opinion hardware with high resolution controllers cannot easily be replaced by a plump gesture. Maybe a “two finger-hold the knob while the other is sliding the edge in X/Y direction” is better. What about eating chips while mixing. Any thoughts on that? A lotus-effect-touch-screen-without-ips-glare-eye-stressing-display is needed first. 🙂

  4. I still like my trackpad… It’s multitouch and precise without tired arms. Yes I dont mind using my ipad only because its ultra portable and I can hold it in my lap. I still like the feeling of using my desktop with the trackpad…. The tiny arrow is much more precise than my fingers….
    I guess people would be more excited about this if it was Ableton and not Sonar…. But even then I wouldn’t be that excited. I used a windows 8 laptop with touch and it just felt akward to me….my large track pad is perfect for me….

  5. Microsoft seems to be jumping on multitouch… 2 years later. Sure there are some ideas worth exploring and the surface pro looks interesting but I hate to say it…. Apple seems to have gotten it right. The iPad is till a better user experience. The simplicity, though some may not prefer, is IMO perfect for that type and size of device. That being said the apps will keep that theme but get better and better as the processor speed increases….
    Microsoft is trying hard but I personally just don’t like anything they have made in years. Everything is slightly off…I have a windows phone for work and tried to like it. It’s not bad per se but it just doesn’t feel as right as my iPhone. That’s subjective I know but I ended up forwarding my work calls to my iPhone and use webmail instead of outlook. They have a lot of money but still seem to not be able to hit the nail on the head. Just my opinion. I’m sure some people will like to use this but I still want to buy a rmbp, even though its more expensive….instill find apple to be what it almost always has been…. Appealing to the artist in me I stead of the geek in me…

  6. Can you say “Gorilla arms?” Pads perform well up to a certain size, but as a larger work surface, its not ergonomically feasible for long periods of use. You’d get some form of tennis elbow. That’s the only issue I have, because its a great idea otherwise. It just needs some operating refinement that suits the natural angles of arms and hands.

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