For the more experienced users, can Sonar do what NI's Maschine does? Or has anyone used them together?
My daughter just received Maschine and it looked and worked really nice and fast. So I wondered if I should purchase it or just use X3 along with my akai 49 key controller

Sonar can do anything you want, it just depends on your knowledge of the application. Maschine is great to use as it is easy to work with and the work flow is great. I use it on every track just about. Sometimes I use Sonars step sequencer with Session Drummer and get great results. Just depends on your preference....
 
But you can sample, loop, edit, crop, fade in, fade out, delete, create drum loops, record midi loops, mix, master, etc... all in Sonar.
 
Just get to know the app well and you can do almost anything.

Thanks

If you have any other questions, feel free to ask away...

Compared to keyboard controllers, playing drums on Maschine's pads is a real treat, much easier, and quite fun (very responsive). You can also play/record (via the pads) everything that's included in Komplete.  

Ni Machine is real nice I own one, Its a great toy . Is it a must have , NOPE ...nice to own one but sonar can do everything it can do, if your using it in a studio situation, where it excels is when you start using it live. Triggering samples , and patterns using the pads to play very nice .
I just picked up the s49 komplete Kontrol with ultimate 10 upgrade. Now that I love in my studio light guide is siick, chord mode arp mode all nuts.. although the new Machine update includes these features too. So that might make a difference for you. light guide I like alot very innovative ..

From what I understand you can do quite a bit of pattern sequencing in Maschine, which does create some overlap with a DAW like SONAR. I wonder if there's easy ways to transfer that work into SONAR at some point in the process, so that Maschine can still exist as something more than just a pad controller (which it also obviously is). 
 

now that i've had Maschine for 4 years or so, i would not want to go back to using my m-audio keystation as my "drum" pads.  i pretty much begin all my projects in Maschine to let Maschine do what Maschine does best: program & sequence drums (and sometimes soft synths), and then i will eventually bounce all the tracks into Sonar & let Sonar do what Sonar does best

I use Maschine as a MIDI controller in Sonar - however the pads are not as responsive when running Sonar as opposed to running stand-alone - any ideas why this might be and how to resolve please?

sorry mispost