What Program do I need?

Many years ago I had Cakewalk, but have not been working with it for ages. First I need to be able to access my old WRK files, then I need to be able to actually write the music as I do not have access to the instruments that I need or the equipment necessary. Does Sonar have that capability? Or is there a different program I need?

SONAR does a staff view where you can enter, and then print, standard notion; but I have always found it clunky to use.  It me SONAR functions much better if you enter the music via a keyboard rather than by hand.  I think, but I don't know, that Sibelius is better if you want to enter standard notion by hand.
 
Cakewalk does have a free demo, so you might give it a try and see if it does what you need.
 
Best of luck.

Thank you, Jude, you kindly answered exactly what I needed to know. You are awesome!

All Sonar version can open wrk files. 
Bettsmd welcome to the forum. 
 
Jesse is a very good member and meant no rudeness. 

PS, Jesse, as noted, is a good and helpful guy.  You just didn't really give us much to go on and I think he was hoping for more hints.

Hi Bettsmd and welcome to the forum,
 
I have a friend who wants to buy a DAW and was interested in Sonar after I gave him a demo of Platinum. The question then arose of which version would suit him. So we have spent quite a while examining the specifications of each version on the link that JesseG provided and even more so on the Versions Comparison page. 
 
I know that you aren't a newcomer to DAWs but maybe even the $49 Sonar Home Studio would meet your needs? I would definitely go with Jude77's suggestion of trying a demo version and see if it will suffice. Of course there would always be upgrade paths open to you if you found in time that you needed the functionality offered by the other versions.
 
I have used the Staff View more than I thought I would for entering mainly piano music notation and it is usable once you get used to it and provided you aren't entering massive orchestral scores. Don't expect Sibelius functionality and you will be fine. That said, I do find the Piano Roll View the better way to enter music that I am not actually playing and it is quicker to use than staff view (for me at any rate). 
 
Hope this helps,
ZT

Bettsmd
Not cruel, Jesse, just rude! It would not have taken you any longer to answer my question than to patronize me like that!
I have spent 3 hours on the website and combing the internet for information and have yet to get an answer.
Hope you enjoy your high horse!

Jess is a good guy. Think about it...you are on the cakewalk site.
3 hours is a long time to be bumping in to walls and not find yourself any information.
 
He was only stating the obvious and in my travels I have found when asking for help, its never a good idea to bite the hand that is trying to help you.
 
You say you need to be able to write out the music, is that staff view, or can you use Piano Roll View ?
Because in my opinion, staff view does what it should but isn't winning any awards anytime soon.
However, if you understand the way a PRV works, you can write out almost anything in detail there.

I agree with the suggestion to download the trial version; that's how I started way back in the '90s. I tried Sonar, Cubase, etc., and settled on Sonar. Then I upgraded to Home Studio, and took advantage of upgrade specials as they became available.
 
As far as whether or not you can use it for writing music, "writing" is kind of an ambiguous term. As mentioned above, the staff view is functional, but the piano roll view (PRV) is better. If you have a basic MIDI keyboard, you can use that to record tracks with the included instruments (VSTis), and there are plenty of free VSTis available on the web that would be enough to get you going. (Computer Music magazine, published in the UK, also includes a ton a free effects and instruments with each issue.) 
 
Hope that helps!