In my opinion, the other thing Sonar had/has going for it was that they made it so easy for you figure stuff out. It was easy to learn and intuitive. As a former software developer, we spent a lot of time trying to design software that would be easy to figure out without spending much time reading a manual. Sonar was well designed in this respect.

Plus, I think the fact that Sonar/Cakewalk was designed for non-Mac users only, means that people were already used to the way it worked, because it worked like Windows. Now that I also own a Mac, I can see how other Daw's that are cross-platform have borrowed from the Mac's style (more hotkey combinations, less clicking, etc.) for their functions. 

wdaweb
 
In my opinion, the other thing Sonar had/has going for it was that they made it so easy for you figure stuff out. It was easy to learn and intuitive. As a former software developer, we spent a lot of time trying to design software that would be easy to figure out without spending much time reading a manual. Sonar was well designed in this respect.

 
Indeed. I found Sonar to be very intuitive and I made rapid progress on my first day with it. I found that could guess how to do something and I was usually correct. I have not had any similar experience with any other DAW software that I have tried out.

I think my age / reeling in the years is starting to come into play here ...
Knowing it can be done even if I have to learn how to do it seems like an OK consolation as to a place to be in ...
Yet too me it still feels like a purgatory of sorts ...
I just get glazed over and I loose interest pretty fast when I have to fight tooth and nail just to be able to accomplish small tasks that I took for granted ...
The only way I'm getting through this whole learning new stuff process is to work both sides equally ...
 
With all the new  multiple DAW / App's learning curves  , it seems I'm not even close to being the Hare so I have accepted the painful reality of knowing at best  I'm just plugging along as the Tortoise .
I'm somewhat OK w that on a conceptual level but I do know it does take a whole lot of work to go from talking the talk to walking the walk ...even as a Tortoise ...
To offset that and to create balance in my musical life I had to put the brakes on things and I decided to figure out a way to still enjoy my Music ...
I wound up pulling out my classical guitar , slapping on a head-stock tuner and I started playing and practicing on it again ... 
My reason is using an acoustic nylon string is the total complete opposite of using a computer and a DAW ...
The levels of complexities that arises while using a DAW especially a new one to me while trying to Create what ever my supposed Musical Utopia is in my imagination involves using technology that has been way too much of a strain for my two working brain cells to comprehend fully w ease . 
OTOH , sitting down to play an organic acoustic instrument w out distraction has helped me find a center and a level of peace ...at the very least , my time on the computer and u tube is not eating up all my musical play time
 
This approach for me is sort of like trying to work both The Yin & The Yang of it all equally at the same time ...
 
Kenny

It sucks to have to learn a new DAW but I feel that once you've mastered one DAW reading the manual of a new DAW is fairly quick and saves you a lot of time and headaches.

You guys need to pick up the banjo after playing guitar for 40 years and then listen to that teenager who has veen playing bluegrass for a short 5 years
Talk about frustration

I had years with Sonar and years now with S1. S1 behaves so much better on my PC for some reason. 
The learning curve was not bad at all. I am fully entrenched with it now. 
For someone saying it was hard to split audio, it is just a double-click on where you want the split!
Lots of miss-information with comments like that. 
 
For those of you frustrated about learning something new, I sympathize with you for sure. Who would have predicted this mess? But life goes on and you will to with whatever DAW you seem to gravitate to. 
Life is a bowl of cherries...
Personally, I would definitely find another DAW to at least convert what you need to while you figure out the future. No one really knows how long you can depend on Sonar with Window's updates and driver changes. That's a gamble any way you look at it IMO.
 

mixmkr
You guys need to pick up the banjo after playing guitar for 40 years and then listen to that teenager who has veen playing bluegrass for a short 5 years
Talk about frustration

Well if we are strictly talking playing here , I have a short cure for that one 
I have been playing the guitar for well over 50 + years . In that time ,  I have had all kinds of players coming at me with all kinds of fret board gymnastics and playing styles ...
Dudes tapping out Mozart , shredders setting and breaking the world speed records , Acoustic guitar players that can not only play a song but while they are playing it they can tap out better drum and percussion part than Tito Puente himself .
I 've ran across Dudes that think they are Tommy  Emmaunual the second  or even guys that are convinced they are the long lost son of Joe Pass  ... Bluegrass meh I like it but it ain't No Trad Bebop ...
 
I have found the easiest way to stop all of them dudes dead in their tracks is to say Alright Man that was great ..
Can we now play it again in the key of A b , how's about Bb , E b ? , or can we just try C# Major ....
That will stop 99% of them all dead in their tracks ...works every time ....
For the other 1 %  all you have to do is hand them the written score in one key and ask them to transpose it on the fly as they are sight reading it 
When my guitar chops are up I can do what I just said ....
 
Don't mind me ...I'm just feeling old and stupid having to start all over w a different DAW ...
 
 
Kenny
 
 
 

kennywtelejazz
 
I have found the easiest way to stop all of them dudes dead in their tracks is to say Alright Man that was great ..
Can we now play it again in the key of A b , how's about Bb , E b ? , or can we just try C# Major ....
That will stop 99% of them all dead in their tracks ...works every time ....
For the other 1 %  all you have to do is hand them the written score in one key and ask them to transpose it on the fly as they are sight reading it 
When my guitar chops are up I can do what I just said ....
 
Don't mind me ...I'm just feeling old and stupid having to start all over w a different DAW ...
 
Kenny

That reminds me of a band director in junior high school that used to give me detention for talking in band class, on a pretense to tutor me in the fine arts of music theory...  bless his heart! 
 
He told me in after hours lessons, that if I learned and practiced the scales in the circle of fifths, that there would never be a sheet of music put in front of me that I couldn't play on sight.  I'm still practicing, LOL! 

kennywtelejazz

mixmkr
You guys need to pick up the banjo after playing guitar for 40 years and then listen to that teenager who has veen playing bluegrass for a short 5 years
Talk about frustration

Well if we are strictly talking playing here , I have a short cure for that one 
I have been playing the guitar for well over 50 + years . In that time ,  I have had all kinds of players coming at me with all kinds of fret board gymnastics and playing styles ...
Dudes tapping out Mozart , shredders setting and breaking the world speed records , Acoustic guitar players that can not only play a song but while they are playing it they can tap out better drum and percussion part than Tito Puente himself .
I 've ran across Dudes that think they are Tommy  Emmaunual the second  or even guys that are convinced they are the long lost son of Joe Pass  ... Bluegrass meh I like it but it ain't No Trad Bebop ...
 
I have found the easiest way to stop all of them dudes dead in their tracks is to say Alright Man that was great ..
Can we now play it again in the key of A b , how's about Bb , E b ? , or can we just try C# Major ....
That will stop 99% of them all dead in their tracks ...works every time ....
For the other 1 %  all you have to do is hand them the written score in one key and ask them to transpose it on the fly as they are sight reading it 
When my guitar chops are up I can do what I just said ....
 
Don't mind me ...I'm just feeling old and stupid having to start all over w a different DAW ...
 
 
Kenny
 
 
 

I understand. Im a '82 graduate of Berklee and saw many different versions of the described...but sitting in the hallways waiting for class. That was 35 years ago and I might suspect the popularity of chops may not be the same nowadays....but with some...I'm sure I'm wrong (with the cut and paste musicians seeming so popular today).
Take a listen to Bela Fleck if you haven't already. He's a couple of stages past "Cripple Creek"!!