I had just bought Reason 8 2 days ago. My intention is to rewire Reason into Sonar. I am still learning and had just finished watching Groove3's Reason 8 video.
I am interested to know of your workflow. These are my questions.
1. It appears that Sonar had a much better PRV view than Reason right? There is no dialogue box in reason that allows to specify exact duration, time or velocity of individual note?
2. Do you prefer to record your midi in Sonar or Reason?  
3. What are the relative strengths and weakness of each program?
4. The drums in Reason  doesn't come with midi drum loops right? 
5. I can't even preview midi drum loops from Reason's browser. Is there a workaround? It is piece of cake in Sonar.
6. Automation of Reason's instrument is best done in Reason, right? 
 
Thanks in Advance.
Choo Shi-Hwei

 I would edit midi functions in Sonar PRV if it were me. I don't think Reason is as good at midi editing. 
 
 The add ons you buy for Reason only work in Reason unlike the plug ins you can buy third party for Sonar X3...I'm not impressed with the drums in Reason unless you want drums that have a synthesized sound. Reason has attempted to appear to be more main stream with their version 8 which amounts to little more than drag and drop capability and some layout changes the others have had for some time. 
 
Reason is fairly easy to use and for this reason some have adopted it as their main DAW. Some like the results they get from Reason as a system and stay withing that system all the time.
Yes automation is probably easier done within Reason on their instruments. My perception is that Reason is used by mainly electronic  and pop music producers. There are a few others but the program itself lends itself well to those genre in my opinion.
 
Reason has been labeled as being a little behind the times compared to the others. In reviews I have read from different sources most of the product testers weren't overly impressed with Reasons advances, but Reason works very well at what it does hence its staying power. The one thing it has going for it in my opinion is rewire since they invented it.

In my opinion Reason feels very different to Sonar and that's why I have not tried to learn it. I only use it as a vsti rack, or I would use it as such but I never seem to remember that I even have it when I think about which instrument I should use.

This isn't on topic, but I wanted to let you know I came across one of your Youtube videos and was listening to your Soundcloud yesterday. I noticed your avatar is the same image you have on your Soundcloud. Just wanted to let you know your music is great, keep up the good work.

musichoo
I had just bought Reason 8 2 days ago. My intention is to rewire Reason into Sonar. I am still learning and had just finished watching Groove3's Reason 8 video.
I am interested to know of your workflow. These are my questions.
1. It appears that Sonar had a much better PRV view than Reason right? There is no dialogue box in reason that allows to specify exact duration, time or velocity of individual note?
2. Do you prefer to record your midi in Sonar or Reason?  
3. What are the relative strengths and weakness of each program?
4. The drums in Reason  doesn't come with midi drum loops right? 
5. I can't even preview midi drum loops from Reason's browser. Is there a workaround? It is piece of cake in Sonar.
6. Automation of Reason's instrument is best done in Reason, right? 
 
Thanks in Advance.
Choo Shi-Hwei

These are great questions, but even greater for me because I want to do a Tip of the Week about ReWire. I don't have Reason 8 but do have Reason 7, so hopefully that will be close enough.
 
I think of Reason as an "outboard instrument rack" for SONAR...I've been using it for that since SONAR and Reason appeared.

Thank You Starise, Kak Ku, Fidelity Music and Mr Anderton for your input. Getting to learn Reason makes me appreciate Sonar so Much! I miss the PRV view, the browser's ability to preview drum loops both audio and midi. It is so much easier to do sequencing in Sonar.
 
The reason I bought Reason is JRR shop's group buy and education discount. I bought Reason for only 260 and I got Korg's Polysix and Mono/Poly  plus a few more rackextension for free. I really dig Polysix. Love it.
 
Yes I agree with Mr Anderton that Reason is an "outboard instrument rack". It excels at that. 
 
It is also my observation that Sonar's strength is the sequencer, editing abilities and prochannel. IMHO Sonar's included audio plugins are much better sounding and versatile that Reason's. Of cause the ability to use VST and taking advance of T-racks group buy is a huge Advantage.
 
So, Sonar plus Reason is a win-win situation.

I also have Reason 8 and Sonar x3 Professional. One of the things I really like about Reason so far, as I am a newbie to all this, is the ability to sample and use the sampled voice across the entire keyboard. I am new to the concept of rewire as well. I hear you (the above contributors) talking about using Reason as a virtual rack. My assumptions about what is meant by this are using Sonar X3 as a rewire host(?) and then just use reason instruments for recording and implementation in Sonar. Please explain or point me to the "how to" of this, Please.