Bundled plugins and synths

I have used the producer editions of Sonar for years but am starting to question why do to the fact tat I rarely, if in fact ever, use any of the bundled plugins or synths.  Most of the plugs I use are 3rd party and will continue to be so for the future eg:
 

• All Waves plugins
• All Steven Slate plugins
• Sylenth, Nexus, Rob Papens synths etc
• Addictive Drums 2 with every library and kit available, BFD3
• Full Kontakt and 2TB of Kontakt instrument libaries

I have never used any of the Nomad plugins other than to open them to test them once and then instantly dismiss them compared to Waves. I think I have used Dim Pro very occasionally and non of the other synths eg lounge lizard, etc.  I occasionally use the pro channel EQ as I like the visual spectrum analyzer built in and the softtube overdrive.
 
The basic questions are:
 
1) do I really need to pay for the producer edition when the next version comes out bearing in mind I can't see me ever using any free bundled plugins after I have spent $Thousands on slate and waves etc.

2) Could I get away with just the studio edition but still have all the functionality bearing in mind I don't want to clutter my system with what I consider fatware bundles that I will never use
 
3) Am I actually using the right DAW as it does frustrate me a little that Sonar seems very driven around the pro channel?  The effects bin is very small and can get frustrating when using say 6 plugins per track.  However i recently started taking advantage of FX chains which I think are great and save a lot of time, are they a Sonar specific feature or do most DAW's have similar features?
 

It appears the OP has a very high opinion of third party plugins and a low opinion of CW and the plugins that CW bundles. That is a mistake. Further if The OP were paying full price for an upgrade he/she may find it more economical to go with Studio but that is not the case. We all have a discount when upgrading and in most upgrades the cost is nowhere near the value we get.  
 
CW offers very high quality plugins that do very well compared to others from third party developers. It is a huge mistake to dismiss them because one hasn't paid a huge amount for them. Look at they're worth without being prejudiced by they're cost.      

P-Theory

If there is the option not to install any of them during Sonar installation then the problem goes away

SONAR Studio, I think, is what you want. The only difference from Producer is that Producer has the Xtra stuff, like extra softsynths and audio effects. With Studio, you will have all the functionalty of Producer. You just wont get the extra softsynths and effects plug ins. And it will cost less. However, in the case with SONAR X3, the Quadcurve EQ Zoom is only included with Producer version and this is the EQ Zoom that has the built-in spectrum analyzer, which you say you like. It just happens to be a feature of one of the effects categories of extras.

Although other DAWs offer preset combinations of plug-ins, FX chains have the unique attribute of letting you create macros via knobs and buttons, and bringing them to a unified front panel. No other DAW does this. I've created both extremely complex and extremely simple FX chains, for example, a rotating speaker emulator FX chain with controls for rotor speed, preamp drive, room ambience, etc. And of course the parameters are all automatable.
 
You can use the FX chains in the ProChannel, which is great. So any third party VST can be a ProChannel module. The ProChannel's unified interface, which concentrates everything in a single hideable channel strip, is ideal for mixing when you don't want to have a lot of open FX windows.
 
As to the bundled plug-ins, if you've spent thousands of dollars on Waves, Kontakt, etc. then you already have what you need. Still, nothing does quite what Rapture does with its orgy of step-sequencing options (and it's ideal for MIDI guitar if you're into that). There are some hidden gems, like the Sonitus Modulation and Wah effects, Blue Tubes Oil Can echo, Sonitus multiband that's suitable as a crossover for multiband processing, several of the Dimension Pro expansion packs (apart from Kontakt's Scarbee basses I didn't like any basses and had no 5-string samples, so I made an EB 5-string expansion and now it's the only bass I use for pop), etc. A couple of the ProChannel EQ curves are unique, and while nothing beats a Waves maximizer, the Concrete Limiter has a certain je ne sais quoi on drums that no other plug-ins has.
 
I have all the Waves plug-ins, Komplete, all the Arturia synths, almost everything from Universal Audio, Reason to rewire their cool instruments into SONAR, etc. But I use a the bundled plug-ins at least 50% of the time because a) I don't use that many plug-ins anyway other than EQ and dynamics, 2) I can customize exactly what I want with effects chains, 3) I can do cool things with the SFZ-based instruments because of the flexibility of SFZ scripting. With all the plug-ins I have, there are certain favorites that stand out and the rest, I don't use...that goes for all manufacturers. But there are a lot of gems in Cakewalk's package.

I also don't like to spend unnecessary money on software extras.  I prefer to spend it on analog hardware coming in and going out, which makes it kind of moot what I use in-the-box.  Tone and color (and basic limiting of bandwidth and amplitude) come from the hardware.
 
@

You can do what you want - right click (on the track if memory serves me right) and change the position of the Pro Channel from before to after FX bin...

http://www.cakewalk.com/Documentation?product=SONAR%20X3&language=3&help=Mixing.07.html
 
The PC pre/post is for the FX bin, for sends it is pre/post fader.

P-Theory
Not disagreeing with anything you are saying Craig but to CJ's point it is far more effective to invest time learning a few plugins well to get the most from them which is what I've done with the waves and kontakt stuff.

 
Well, I'm in an extremely fortunate position - checking out what SONAR's bundled plug-ins can do is part of my gig. As a result I find out about a lot of cool stuff I might not know about otherwise, and they become part of my personal "a few plug-ins I know well." Then again I wrote the original manual for Kontakt, so I know that extremely well and use it all the time. It's a great virtual instrument IMHO.
 
And totally agreed about the forum. I was overwhelmed by the sheer number of Nomad factory plug-ins so I started a thread on which ones were people's favorites. There were definitely some that everyone liked, so I started learning those. I will get around to the others, but those "faves" were definitely worth checking out and do effects other plug-ins don't do.

P-Theory
Sometimes there is just too many options to digest.

YES YES YES!! All that matters is the emotional impact of the music. If you used nothing but ProChannel EQs or nothing but Waves of Universal Audio EQs, I believe no listener would care, or even notice. They want a hook that sticks in their mind.
 
That said, I also believe that if someone wants to use a plug-in because they like the way it looks, then that's the plug-in they should use. Inspiring visuals might very well impact the music more than specs.
 
I think perhaps one reason why people often use the plug-ins bundled with SONAR instead of third-party alternatives is because it speeds up the workflow, which at least for me is crucial for capturing inspiration...and the inspiration is what people hear, not the plug-in. There have been many times when I put in something like a Sonitus effect as a placeholder with the intention of replacing it, but never replaced it because it sounded just fine when it came time to mix. If it ain't broke...
 
One of the laugh lines I use at seminars is "No radio station ever called me and said 'We were going to play your record, but you used a solid-state preamp on the lead vocal!! No way we'll play that sucker now!'"

Anderton
One of the laugh lines I use at seminars is "No radio station ever called me and said 'We were going to play your record, but you used a solid-state preamp on the lead vocal!! No way we'll play that sucker now!'"

:-)
 

TerraSin
I just hope they don't include the same plugins for X4 that were also in X3.

As far back as I remember, that has never been the case and so I can only expect something new (even if it is not new to me) in X4 vs. X3.