Last year I defected and started working on Apple based DAWs. I surely learned a lot of cool things and had the pleasure of making awesome music. I still don't like Logic BTW (but that's personal taste, it's a great environment)
Now I am back and it feels so good to be in Sonar again!
Excuse me while I enjoy my rekindled love!
 
Peace everyone :)

I'm similarly working a project in a non-Sonar DAW.
 
Whilst by comparison the obvious stuff is obvious "over there", taking all things into account it's proving to be a sobering experience.

Out of curiosity...what did you like-dislike about working on Apple? I used ProTools back in the 90's when it was early on...was really expensive...about $15k for a 4 channel Pro Tools system, and a used Mac ii
I moved on to PC based DAW"s because DigiDesign and Apple constantly were changing their products to make you spend more and more money just to keep current, kinda like they do now LOL

Welcome back Jordan:)  Nice post mate.  Making music is just the best isn't it -  wherever we do it. Sonar is still my fave too.

Welcome back 

dannyjmusic
Out of curiosity...what did you like-dislike about working on Apple?

 
I didn't work on Apple, although the DAW I am working on does have an Apple version.
 
My choice was based on the fact it is built by guys that left Steinberg. And since I collaborate with a studio that uses  Steinberg, I assumed a certain level of compatibility. Wrong.
 
I also miss the depth, but I must be careful with my comparisons, my knowledge of that DAW is still superficial. Still, comparing a manual of 300 pages to the 2188 pages of Sonar does give an indication.
 
It has no bitbridge and they say it never will. So OK, I can buy JBridge or flip between the 32 and 64 bit versions.
 
The sobering part of my post refers to running into bugs in my second week, and a bug that cost me an hour to undo the damage it caused.
 
Also sobering is the fact that they just released an update and some features one uses daily got broken. Sounds familiar...
 
But the biggest and most unexpected difference is their user forum. You post a problem and it can take a day to get a response. Maybe two responses if you are lucky.
 
Here, within minutes you have guys telling you you are an idiot, why are you doing that way, you should be doing it this way...Just kidding. But you know what? It expedites my productivity hugely. As complex and awkward as Sonar is, someone has been there and is willing to help.
 
Fantastic. Worth it's weight in gold.

I have no plans to change, but Logic Pro is definitely a well-respected DAW.  If I needed to change to Apple, I would take a hard look at Logic.

Cheers guys, it's nice to be back :)
 
I gotta say, I didn't dislike Apple per se; I actually enjoyed how truly plug and play it is. No conflicting drivers or misfiring usb connections. A very consistent user experience. I just really disliked working in Logic. It used to be a very solid and capable environment then they made it into Garage Band pro or something. Working with it makes me feel like an idiot with all the big colours and the biographies of the virtual drummers. If Fischer Price made a DAW that'd be Logic X. Loads of bugs and inconsistencies in the workflow with all sorts of workarounds to get stuff done. Also, the developers actually started taking away some great functions of the past versions, like the automatic chord detection and transcription; so this version is actually dumber than the previous. Of course, that goes without saying, this is my personal experience so your mileage may vary. To be honest the score editor is super sweet and unsurpassable. I prefer writing to staff when I do brass or string arrangements, so it was a real treat to have such powerful score editing features. Wishful thinking, wishful thinking...
Having said all that I adored Digital Performer. The whole chunks system is amazing. I worked on musical theatre shows and having all the arrangements in one project, sharing the same instruments makes doing revisions a very simple task. It has its own idiosyncrasies and quirks, but I still very much enjoy it. Functions like Punch Guard saved my skin more than once, in the flow of the session.
And, yep, I used to be a Pro Tools guy but I grew tired of being charged too much for everything!
 

I haven't used Logic intensively for quite a while so it's hard to judge what Sonar features I'd miss over there but I can definitely point to some features Logic has that I wish Sonar did. Non-destructive quantize is a big one. Their drummer plug-in is amazing for quick sketch work. They had easy multitrack take comping for years before Sonar did. You can time stretch multiple clips simultaneously and they remain phase coherent.

Trtzbass good to hear you are back. We always leave a light one just in case one needs to come back.