What got me thinking about this are some of SilverBlueMedallion's posts, where he wants to accomplish a specific function in SONAR but that function doesn't exist. Often, there's an alternate, less obvious way to do what he wants (e.g., using Remove Silence instead of AudioSnap's Split at Beats to separate a clip with multiple drum hits into individual hits).
 
Also, people often ask how I come with the"Friday's Tip of the Week" techniques like tape varispeed where no such named function exists, and today I realized why. So here's my recommendation:
 
Think of SONAR not as a collection of functions, but as a collection of tools. 
 
Once you know what the tools can do, you can apply them in ways that are different from their nominal functionality.

http://www.spacetaxi.de/sf/waveknife.html

I think that was nicely put, Craig.
It (probably) has to do with my limitations, but I have still to come across something (music wise) I could not do in SONAR. 
The tools are there, in my humble opinion.
All the best

Right on, Craig!
 
I'm not at all conversant with Sonar, but I aspire to that depth of knowledge.
 
Ray

The things I don't know how to accomplish are things I don't know I need (yet).

I'm with the Bapu. I learn what I have to in order to get a task done.
 
Now where's that hammer-wrench?

I wrote a post on my creativity blog once that I subtitled "the importance of having the wrong tools for the job". The upshot was that all too often, we become focused on having the "right" tools (or the best tools, or the ideal tools), or the "right" technique, or knowing how to do things the "right" way. This attitude can be an impediment to creativity.
 
Of course, having good tools and the knowledge to use them well is not an impediment, it can improve results, save time, and so on and so forth - I think the benefits of good tools and knowledge and experience are fairly self-evident, and are certainly well defended in this and other forums. I have many fine tools (including, obviously, the wonderful arsenal of them that make up Sonar) and a certain amount of knowledge and experience myself, and they serve me very well.
 
However, there is also something to be said for the unpredictable results that can come from using tools the "wrong" way, or in some unorthodox way, or in unorthodox or unusual combinations to achieve results. Sure, it can take time and sometimes it leads up blind alleys, but often it leads to unexpected results that can take a creative project in an unexpected direction (and that, for me at least, is almost always a good thing - it's kind of the whole point in fact!).
 
Sometimes it's exactly the frustrating moment of not knowing how to do something you want to do, and having to find or jury-rig a solution, that opens the door to a creative breakthrough. I think, in my case anyway, that happens more often than a breakthrough coming from doing something I know how to do, in a familiar way, with exactly the right tool. That can be satisfying, but it's rarely a eureka moment.
 
The original post, in case anyone's interested, is here: http://fearlesscreativity.com/lego-spaceships/

ampfixer
I'm with the Bapu. I learn what I have to in order to get a task done.
 
Now where's that hammer-wrench?

I have a left handed metric one that you can borrow...

Nice to know I inspired a post 
 
Honestly, what I probably need to do is examine all the features in the product.  I think sometimes I simply don't realize or know how to connect the dots with what tools I have and how to utilize them to get what I am trying to do!
 
 

SilverBlueMedallion
Nice to know I inspired a post 
 
Honestly, what I probably need to do is examine all the features in the product.  I think sometimes I simply don't realize or know how to connect the dots with what tools I have and how to utilize them to get what I am trying to do!
 

Ha, that's great! I have tried to do that too, but I still haven't made it through the 1300 pages of documentation. I gotta tell ya, it's a great exercise every time I do it.