Perhaps this will explain the "OP" perspective:
My music making is very basic (which Larry Jones probably noticed). I keep the piano roll on the left monitor and the track view on the right monitor. I pick some [virtual] instruments in Kontakt or Dimension, and then improvise some ideas, copy-and-paste the ones I like, and occasionally add vocals, or a tiny bit of guitar. Usually my songs end up being 100% soft synth.
I like to work quickly, fixing my sloppy performances while the song is playing back. So, being able to quickly adjust note positions, volumes, and durations "on the fly" is critical to me. This is where X1/2/3 has been aggravating me. I hate having to ctrl-right click in order to edit note properties. Why can't I just right click, like in the older version of Sonar? And why do I have to shift-drag in order to change selected notes' volumes? Why can't I just drag? And how about setting note offsets? Why do I have to open the inspector to edit some track properties? In the old days we didn't. And why has it become harder to use volume envelopes? I liked them the old way, and wish I could force Sonar to behave that way again. But I can't. It's this lack of customizability which aggravates me.
And whatever happened to CAL? I still use CAL scripts all the time, but CAL support has dwindled rather than improved. I would love it if Cakewalk made it easy to create CAL scripts which help us "fix" our "usual" mistakes in real time. I'm a programmer, so CAL and Studioware and those other "geeky" tools are part of what attracted me to Cakewalk/Sonar in the old days (as opposed to the more Apple-based products). But nowadays Cakewalk seems to aim more at the "new gen" of computer users, the ones who don't want to program their own interfaces. I can understand that we geeks represent a decreasing market share, but I wish Cakewalk would at least "throw us a bone" every now and then by giving us tools to customize Sonar the way we want.
Sorry if my geeky preferences come across as "idiotic" or "stupid" or "ignorant" or " lazy" or "baloney" (ahem) but
I really can't help that's I'm more of a nerdy type than an "artsy" type (as Larry probably noticed too). My musical motto is, after all, "make lots of music, at least some of it good". I like to make music because the act of making music is fun for me. And, occasionally, I get lucky and create a bit of music that I think is fun to listen to later. But it's the process which is the fun part, not necessarily the end result. Perhaps this is the definition of a hobbyist?
What I want is a sequencer which is super-easy and efficient to use, and then a really cool sound bank. Kontakt is great, and Dimension Pro is nice for a change. I don't care about making my own sounds, and I hate the process of mixing and mastering (which Larry probably noticed) so I'm not into a ton of subtle effects or buses or gizmos that take me away from the "fun" part, which is improvising and stitching sections of music together. I want to spend more time banging on the keyboard, not less.
So, if the new version of Sonar gives me more virtual instruments to play with, then great. And if the pattern tool makes it easier to create looping beats, then great (although cut-and-paste is pretty darn easy!). But if the bulk of time with the new version is spent configuring and correcting it (and not in a creative, CAL-like way, but in an annoying, reactive, autoexec.bat-like way) then no, no, no.