Bought Sonar 2 because it was on sale and had a free update to Sonar 3.
 
I was looking to replace my old Voyetra Sequencer GOLD Plus and Digital Orchestra Pro really wasn't cutting it for me.
I had finally decided to go the Sonar route when I saw it on sale at Sam Ashe and snatched it.

Beagle
Sonar 4.
 
But it stopped with X2.  I'm not interested in a product distributed by Tascam.

Just out of curiosity...why? It's the same DAW, made by the same programmers and produced by the same company - Cakewalk. The TASCAM distribution simply means more people will have the opportunity to experience and buy Sonar because they have a bigger reach for getting products out into the world. The Cakewalk guys are very happy about it.
 
As to me, I'm a latecomer. I used to bounce projects back and forth between Acid (for looping) and Cubase (for MIDI and hard disk recording). When Sonar came along and did loops, MIDI, and hard disk recording, it sure seemed more convenient.  And then it just kept getting better and better and now we have X3, which I love to use...as a friend and musical co-conspirator of mine who switched from Pro Tools and Cubase said, "it's put the fun back into recording."

I had Cakewalk Pro 3.0 in late 80's and a midiquest midi card and a Toshica portable computer.
Later I upgrade to Cakewalk Windows 1.0 and 1.25.
 
Ran tape portastudio - using one track as sync track for Cakewalk - and recording and doing bouncing on the three other tracks.
 
Didn't get any further and wanting a 16 track Fostex real-to-real but could not afford it. Lost interest and started my own business and was off recording until early 2000's.
 
Had a couple Fostex 8 n 16 track hdd portastudios and then went computer based. Got Sonar 4 2005 and Sonar 8.5 2009 and now X3.

I tend to ride the horse I'm on till it drops: I cut my teeth on Pro Audio 9, then went to Sonar 2 and did my 1st CD in that with a 16-bit SBLive card. I remember being wowed by all these virtual tools that would take up rooms of real space in my house if they were hardware...and all for loads less cash, so I was made up.
As my upgrade cycle takes aeons, I was then thus blown away about how vast 6PE was, again thinking, whoooaa..if this kit was analogue, it'd take up half the house.
 Have now of course got gravel-rash on my lower jaw as I gaze like an alien-struck neanderthal at X3...and man, I'll be able to now master within Sonar too rather than in a standalone suite. I'm a chap of simple tastes and I still can't quite come to terms with how much there is for so little outlay in this DAW(though of course am knocked into reality by getting the OS and sytem to run it, but yet again that was ever the case).
Phew, heads here far more seasoned than mine who ran with 486s, way to go guys..!

jscomposer
I paid $400 for Cakewalk Pro 3.0 in 1992, along with $2000 for my 486SX! My friends were in envy over the 2MB (yes, megabytes) RAM and the mammoth 120MB hard drive!! My controller was an Ensoniq ASR 16 sampler...still have it but the disc drive is toast.

This reminds me of a conversation I had with one of they guys in a band I was in back in 1982. The subject of computers came up and he was in awe that some computer somewhere in California had two megabytes of RAM. To be honest, so was I.

Very nice post!
Yeah it was a long time, I don't remember exactly when, it seemed be Cakewalk-Pro Version 2 or 3 for  MS-Windows 3, I think!
 
 

1993.  Yep.  And I was old back then when I bought it too...

bitSync
1993.  Yep.  And I was old back then when I bought it too...

I wasn't old then, but I am now ... I'm a 49 year old Grandpa!  I'll be 50 in December; yikes! 
 
My 10 YO twins are both big into music, so it's been passed on to the next generation. 
 

I got a lite version of pro audio 8 with my sound blaster card years ago. I think it was called Cakewalk Express Gold. Up until that time I was just recording analog. 4 track porta-studios (tascam) and reel to reel machines. I messed around with the software but at the time I was also beginning to get a handle on basic computer skills too.
 
From there I went to guitar tracks pro which was a lite version of pro audio 9. After a brief time of using it I jumped to Pro audio 9. From there I went to Sonar 2 SE. Then I upgraded to Sonar 3 SE, and finally I made the jump to the producer edition of Sonar 3. I then went over to cubase and then pro tools for a while.
 
Then I came back to Sonar 5 PE. This edition was the best by far. I don't remember the version of Pro-Tools or cubase that I used back then but I liked Sonar 5 better. As I look back I remember that particular upgrade being the game changer for me. Cakewalk had just come out with 64 bit recording at the time. My mixes were sounding much better on that version of Sonar. Older recordings were remixed with better results. I did a lot of recording with that version.
 
The next upgrade for me was Sonar 7. I had some issues with Sonar 7 and went back to using 5. Then the bakers released some updates and that seemed to fix the problems I was having with 7.
 
When Sonar 8 came out I just had to have it so I upgraded again. I really liked Sonar 5, but I thought Sonar 8 was awesome for its time. I have been updating on a regular bases ever since that version and I will probably continue to do so.
 
I have used other DAWS but for me personally Sonar seems to be a better fit for what I do with music. I now look at Sonar X3 and I am amazed at how far things have come even from when I was using Sonar 2 years ago. It just keeps getting better and better. As long as that continues I will be a loyal customer.
 
I don't have any issues with X3, but I must admit I don't take full advantage of everything this program can do. I don't use all the features, but for what I do X3 is my choice. Awesome software indeed!
 
 

 49 here too, by revel, I hope you mean I can take a nap now...
 
 Cakewalk user since Guitar tracks 2.0 and win 98 days. First MIDI capable DAW was MC4 then went to Sonar 7 studio, 8.5 Pro, X1,2,3  I don't know if loyalty is a good word for it though, CW is the DAW I am most familiar with and guess I'm just too damn lazy to learn another