disclaimer - I mostly use Pro Tools but I am working with a VST sample instrument that won't run in PT, so I am using Sonar 8 to record and edit the parts.
 
I am comping from multiple midi tracks - each take on a seperate track - into a new midi track using the piano roll view.
Every time I select paste (I use Ctrl V) the paste dialogue opens, and I encounter two significant annoyances:
 
1) the now time - if I select a group of notes the timeline highlights (in black) the range of time corresponding with selected notes, but the paste dialogue doesn't sense the start time of the earliest note and I have to set the now time manually either by eye, dragging the white now time pointer to line up with the start of the highlighted range, or by first checking the start time of the earliest note to be selected and then, when at the point of pasting, typing the time into the now time box.
EXTREMELY TEDIOUS either way - is there a way to have the paste process paste notes at the same place in the timeline as they were when copied?
 
2) every time I paste I have to again select the target track, which in the paste dialogue defaults to the source track from which I am copying. Is there a way to lock that selection so that no matter what source track I copy midi notes from it keeps the target track selection where I have "locked" it?
 
If these operational idiosyncrasies have been improved in more recent versions please feel free to let me know, but please don't hate on me just for using this old version. It seems to be compatible with the rest of my old system. 8~)
 
Please help me to not pull out the rest of the hair I have left on my head! Thanks!

It's difficult to give exact steps without double-checking how things work in this older version, but here are some things to try.
 
- F7 sets the Now time to the beginning of a selection.
- You may find it easier to use Shift+Ctrl+drag instead of copy-paste. Ctrl+drag is copy, and Shift constrains the timing.
- In SONAR, the track with focus is always the paste target, but selecting content in other tracks does not change the focus. So the way I often copy-paste is to focus the target track and Now time first by clicking in the track header, then select what I want to copy in the clips pane (or other view), and hit Ctrl+C+V in one go to copy paste the selection to the target. I'm pretty sure the separation of focus and selection already worked this way in S8.
 

I don't know about version 8, but you should check out the multi-take comping features at http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=TPi1BkBhEvE. It seems to be consistent with your practice and might save you even more hair.

I stepped into the time machine (right next to the transporter pod, naturally) and took a trip down muscle-memory lane with SONAR 8. Based on that, I think Shift+Ctrl+Drag 'n' Drop will definitely be the way to go. I had forgotten that you can't avoid the Copy and Paste dialog boxes in that version otherwise.
 
I also reminded myself that partial clip selections are made by Alt+dragging.
 
I think those two gestures should pretty much do the trick.