My name is Lee Shapiro, I'm a keyboard player originally from Bergen County, New Jersey.
Some of you might find that name familiar.  There is in fact another keyboard player named Lee Shapiro also from Bergen County, NJ. And THAT Lee Shapiro was the keyboard player and song arranger for Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons (2nd generation).  He currently performs in his new band called The Hit Men, along with other famous side-musicians, whose credits are way too numerous to mention.  This Lee Shapiro is also famous for creating the popular "Rock n Roll Elmo" doll from several years ago.

So what's this have to do with anything?  Well, I've become Facebook friends with "the other" Lee Shapiro, and we often have a good laugh confusing his fans, while I get some free publicity for my songs, as well as his occasional misdirected fan mail.
And I just talked to him about what DAW he uses (telling him about the Cakewalk saga).  He suggested MOTU's Digital Performer (which has a sidegrade offer for other competing DAWs, including Sonar) and said it's the only DAW software he uses. (No ProTools)

I downloaded the trial version, but haven't had a chance to work with it yet.  But if you look at the website, you'll find a very familiar looking user interface, and many of the same features as Sonar, along with many other cool features, not found in Sonar.

Since this DAW has not been mentioned here before (at least I couldn't find any mention of it), I figure I'd suggest it for those of you looking at alternative DAWs.  I think it's definitely worth checking out:

http://motu.com/products/software/dp

You would think someone from MOTU would be here...

I did the Demo....not for me.  Font's too small.  Don't care for the workflow.
It just seems cumbersome to me...

Yea, same for me. I think they need that vectorial interface FL Studio has.
 

I'd like to hear more about people's experiences with DP. I often overlook it, but having a look at it on the website just now, it does seems to remind me of Sonar more than the other DAW's being floated around.

After I had seen this post I went and tried to find out a little more about this DAW. There is not a lot of info out there. I did a youtube search and not a lot came up for version 9, and what was there was about new features.There was some videos that were old for previous versions. I was looking for the basics. I did find this video about creating a new project and setup:
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E7JNeXRZTP0
 
 
Also downloaded the 1000 page manual here:
 
http://motu.com/techsupport/manuals
 
Looks like a very capable DAW and customizable.
I also could not find on their site or the internet that it is VST3 compatible. Not a dealbreaker though.
 
It has a 30 day demo.

BrianSzep
You would think someone from MOTU would be here...

We need more vultures gathering around the carcass.

Kinda like those MOTU guys. Visited them when I studied nearby. Good show.

I downloaded DP for Win this morning and have been messing around with it for about an hour. I don't find it at all like Sonar, and actually I find it rather difficult to get my head around it.
 
Mind you, I've been testing new DAWs (or familiarizing myself with ones I own but have barely used) non-stop for the past three days, so I've kind of had it up to here with DAW designs and workflows that aren't Sonar, so take this with a grain of salt...
 
But I found DP to be kind of ugly; the text, labels and icons are waaay to small to read clearly; and the workflow seemed cumbersome. Took me 15 minutes to figure out how to import an audio file into DP and play it. Could not figure out how to re-open a synth interface window once I'd closed it. I'm sure it can be done, but after fiddling with every undecipherable icon and unreadable text label I could for about 5 mins in an attempt to do, I sort of concluded that DP wasn't for me, and closed it and just got on with my life. 
 
I'm sure its a great product, and I've heard good things about it. But it actually struck me as the DAW most unlike Sonar that I have tried this week (a list that includes: Studio One 3, Samplitude Pro X 3, Reaper, Mixbus, Mixcraft 8 and n-Track Studio). 
 
 
 
 

Yes, I agree with everyone who says that the font /text labels are WAY too small.  And I've got two pretty big monitors.   I was looking for the options/preferences that might make the font size larger, but couldn't find anything.
You practically need a magnifying glass to hold up to the screen.   Other than that, it does have potential.  Unfortunately I can't really try very much because I can't read the buttons.

I'm going to try one more time to see if I can change the font size.