No right answers, yet no wrong answers either!
All daws are amazing, including SONAR of course. Almost can’t go wrong if you find one, or two three, that fit your feature needs and workflow style!
- Cubase 9+ is also nice
- Mixbus 4 also
- Samplitude Pro X3 well featured in current Suite sale flyer
- Studio One Pro 3.5 great for many and has Mastering Suite included
- Mixcraft Pro 8 a well equipped working daw full of surprises
- Waveform 8 looking very good in this version
- Reason 9+ now with Vst plugin use!
- Fl Studio 12 extra good for EDM and sound crafting beyond
- Logic Pro X stable and well equipped for sub $200 on a Mac
- Ableton Live so darn popular for so many
- Bitwig stealing the light from Ableton a little these days
etc... can’t go wrong really... personal choices or adventures is all!
Cheers!

Ps, Cakewalk Sonar Home Studio and Music Creator 7 still work fine and they haven’t been updated in a year or two I believe.... Sonar may do fine for a few years to come! Just sayin......

I forgot to mention the FREE Daws....and some very low cost full featured worthy options too that don’t get enough credit and mention!
...so nobody feels left out!

- Magix Music Maker
- Tracktion T6
- Reaper
- Ardour
- Studio One Prime
- StageLight
- Pro Tools First
* Some are even Free with some Hardware (Mics, Interfaces, mixers, midi keyboards, etc, etc)
- Ableton Live lite
- Studio One Artist
- Ignite by Air
- Bitwig 8 Track
- Cubase AI (very good in new v9)

It is not good to "just" mention these 3 DAWs in "free" list with other:
 
* Reaper is not free. The fact they do not FORCE you to pay does not change that. Using it after demo period is the same as using Warez. The difference is only how you get it running, downloading from some sites/torrents or clicking "Yes, I want to use this software illegally" every time you start it.
 
* Tracktion and Ardour. These are full feature DAWs, not "light" versions of something else. Ardour is the only (!) open source DAW in the list. Tracktion is not open source, but awesome as a free software.

Though I would caution people on Ardour: It is hard to use and buggy compared to most commercial DAWs. This is not to say you shouldn't try it, you for sure should if you have time. Just make sure you've thoroughly tested it before you commit to it for a project.

azslow3
It is not good to "just" mention these 3 DAWs in "free" list with other:
 
* Reaper is not free. The fact they do not FORCE you to pay does not change that. Using it after demo period is the same as using Warez. The difference is only how you get it running, downloading from some sites/torrents or clicking "Yes, I want to use this software illegally" every time you start it.
 
* Tracktion and Ardour. These are full feature DAWs, not "light" versions of something else. Ardour is the only (!) open source DAW in the list. Tracktion is not open source, but awesome as a free software.

I apprecate your comments and view.
I did however choose to list Tracktion’s newer Waveform 8 instead, I see no harm in that, it’s a serious upgrade to the already great T7 and not very much money.

As for Reaper, you are right, last time I demo’d it, it was a longer demo and would just ask you to donate or upgrade to full to stop being asked upon each login. Apparently much has changed, but it looks great in new version!

Ardour appears to be free still, or darn close to it. I own it for last 2 years at a very minor monthly donation for first year. Not sure where it’s at now as I dont currently have it loaded and get it through Mixbus 4 myself.

Post edited to read a little clearer.

Ardour is free if you have a decent foundation in linux and a lot of patience. To get the ready to run version and support you will need to pay $45 or more. You can get a monthly subscription as low as a $1/mth with some catches. You can dowbload source code and build with no support and a lot of headaches for free. Some distros include older or modded versions as well.

Ardour is also a challenge to get stable. I honestly find Bitwig a much easier but costlier linux option. It just works.

Haven’t used Ardour in over a year or two, but it has surely evolved and looks to be quite feature rich. My subscription was no restriction and included all updates/releases. Not sure directly if that plan has changed, but I went there earlier and it appears to look just as easy to get with no mention of purchase or cart link that I saw.
Wasn’t for me, plus I have it in Harrison Mixbus that I own also, but looks like if you learn it, it works great for many....and it’s really affordable! Could be a good fit for some!

dubdisciple
Ardour is free if you have a decent foundation in linux and a lot of patience. To get the ready to run version and support you will need to pay $45 or more. You can get a monthly subscription as low as a $1/mth with some catches. You can dowbload source code and build with no support and a lot of headaches for free. Some distros include older or modded versions as well.

Ardour is also a challenge to get stable. I honestly find Bitwig a much easier but costlier linux option. It just works.

What is the performance like in Bitwig? In terms of CPU and heavy load projects. I had performance problems with Sonar at times and I'm hoping to improve things once I switch to a new DAW. Bitwig seems like a perfect fit for me but I have heard the odd complaint about CPU usage. Even without sandboxing engaged. 

sharke

dubdisciple
Ardour is free if you have a decent foundation in linux and a lot of patience. To get the ready to run version and support you will need to pay $45 or more. You can get a monthly subscription as low as a $1/mth with some catches. You can dowbload source code and build with no support and a lot of headaches for free. Some distros include older or modded versions as well.

Ardour is also a challenge to get stable. I honestly find Bitwig a much easier but costlier linux option. It just works.

What is the performance like in Bitwig? In terms of CPU and heavy load projects. I had performance problems with Sonar at times and I'm hoping to improve things once I switch to a new DAW. Bitwig seems like a perfect fit for me but I have heard the odd complaint about CPU usage. Even without sandboxing engaged. 

I have not ran it very heavy to be honest and i only have 8 track version. Also, i only ran linux version because inwas desperate to have something i could actually run on linux out the box

Have you checked out Harrison Mixbus or Tracktion T6, T7, Waveform 8 for Linux?
I’ve heard a few commenting about them for that.