Stupid question - can I open Music Creator 6 file with Sonar X2 Producer?

I write and record music with Sonar Produce X2.  My drummer has a laptop and sometimes will record midi drum tracks with his e-drum kit but also writes some guitar melodies, etc.  He currently uses Cubase but he'd like to get something super simple for doing basic midi and audio recording that can be compatible with my Sonar Producer X2.  Will that work? He could buy Sonar X1 Essential Crossgrade for about $20 more...but he's a newbie so simplicity and ease of use is definitely more important than horsepower at this point.  Thanks.

yes, the cake family of products have forward and backward compatibility. 

The only issue you will encounter is a warning message that everything may not work...... just click OK and proceed. 

Generally the things that may not work would be if you open a project created in X2 in MC6.... since MC6 will not have the features that are in X2..... but the project will still run.  You may need to assign a different synth to some midi tracks... that's generally what that warning message means. 

Also if the two computers do not have the same exact FX plugs there will be a "plug in missing" message. No big deal.... simply delete the FX from the project and insert one that does exist in that particular DAW.

I was able to open a project created in CW8P (really old DAW from cake) and it ran perfectly... in both the MC series and the X1 series of DAW's.

It might just be easier for your drummer to save his midi drums seesions to just a midi file. You can import the midi file into any of the cakewalk products, plus the midi file itself will be much smaller and easily sent via email.