MC6 or Sonar? Help me choose

I am "fairly" new to this recording/mixing thing. I've been using a version of MC4 for a little over a year now. Not having a background in this, and with very limited time to experiment, I've hacked my way through. However, I've noticed what seems to be some limitations and am looking to upgrade today actually. I see that MC6 is out, and was planning on picking it up today at Best Buy during lunch. Here's our deal.......... We are a 5 piece Classic/Hard Rock style original band. We record mic'd amps/instruments basically as a Live band, directly to a Tascam NEO recorder. I then dump those tracks to the PC and mix in MC4, then overdub as needed. I do NOT need any "modeling" or "virtual instruments", or "drum loops", or MIDI. I'm looking for better mixing effects, especially EQ. I have found the EQs in MC4 to be rather limited. I would LOVE a multi-band EQ plug-in. I'm sure a lot of my frustration is due to my limited experience, but I've reached the point of being pretty good at initial track editing/mixing, and get to the point of, "Man, it would be nice if I could do xxxxxx". Escpecially EQ'ing. High Cut, Low Cut, Mid Boost, etc, seem to "take out" or "allow" too much of a range. I want to visually see something like a multi-band graphic equalizer, which give a real-time representation of what was playing, which I could then "pull back" or "push forward" certain Frequencies. Am I asking for too much? Anyway, I was pretty convinced that I was going to pick up MC6, but then I got to thinking that maybe one of the other Cakewalk products was better suited to our needs. Cost IS a factor. Thanks.

if you want better plugins, don't look for MC6.  MC6 is a GREAT program and alot for the money.  and it comes with some decent softsynths (MIDI), but plugins are rather sparse.  they're decent for entry level, but not for mixing a 5 piece band, IMO.

Herb has a great suggestion with Ozone, OR Sonar X1 Producer comes with a LOT of great plugins.  actually I have and use both X1 Producer AND Ozone.  they compliment each other well for mixing multiple instruments and voices.

Hey WhiskeyBurn,
 I've been using MC4 as well for years now. Like you, I am finding that I wish that I had an efficient channel strip for each of my Analog inputs. I agree that, although the utilities provided with MC4 are very good especially for the investment, It would be convenient and cpu efficient to add both eq and compression to each analog channel, instead of having to add these effects as required.

Herb is quite familiar with MC4, MC6 and X1 and I believe that he is correct in that upgrading to either MC6 or X1 will not get you a multi-band eq. Ozone, from what I understand is a great tool geared especially for mastering, but the tools are probably also good for mixing. You will pay for it. There are some alternatives, which are more specific.  I would suggest checking Steve Strummers list of Plug-ins. He did a great review of an assortment of Freebies. 

I've been using Voxengo Span which has become the forum standard for Real-Time audio spectrum analysis. The tool is free and they also support Voxengo GlissEQ which seems to combine Span with a Dynamic Equalizer for $99.  I would suggest downloading and becoming familiar with Voxengo Span and perhaps demo'ing Gliss while checking out some of the better recommended free multiband eq's.   The idea here is to be able to compare with your ears and eyes the different products on the market which could become a great help in determining the right product for your needs.

I know there are a number of reliable users here who would recommend the kjaerhus classic eq as being one of the best free multiband eq's. Sorry, it looks like it's no longer available?

 Also, Cakewalk has the Sonitus Effects suite which includes a nice collection of plugins.


 

Herb is quite familiar with MC4, MC6 and X1 and I believe that he is correct in that upgrading to either MC6 or X1 will not get you a multi-band eq.

no, that's not correct.  producer comes with a multiband compressor.  Here are the "mastering" tools that come with the Producer version
http://www.cakewalk.com/Products/SONAR/X1-Producer/about.aspx/Mastering-Music-in-SONAR-X1-Producer
here are the "mixing" tools that come with producer
http://www.cakewalk.com/Products/SONAR/X1-Producer/about.aspx/Mixing-Music-in-SONAR-X1-Producer

I use both the tools in sonar producer AND Ozone in my mixes.  for multiband, I do tend to use Ozone instead of the multiband compressor that comes with producer, but I don't want bad info passed around, and the multiband in producer IS capable and works very nice.

Thanks guys. Question...So, can Ozone be added to MC4 as a plug-in? Sorry, I'm trying to understand all of this stuff and it's frustrating at times. Especially since I have a very extensive technical background, but at times this is like learning a new language.

Yeah... 

in post #2 above I mentioned that I added Ozone 3 &4 to MC4 which allowed me to produce much better sounding mixes. the Music Creator line is a basic line of DAW's and while it comes with a number of Cake FX including EQ and compression...... I opted to get Ozone after I ran the demo version for a few days. 

Ozone will run in MC.