Hi
I am planning for a control surface (mid-range priced)
What are the options for Sonar -Platinum?
 
Should it be with Motorized fader or non-motorized? How can I understand the fader levels when I change tracks.
 
Thanks

I have a Mackie Control and I prefer motorized faders. They are very helpful in seeing how it is set up. 

I have a non-motorized and do not use it.  Wish I had motorized...  I was waiting on the Behringer motorized keyboards but I think they are not coming out??

I bought a $100 android tablet on Amazon and use TouchDAW which I think was about a $5 download.  It shows where everything is set like a motorized control surface and ended up being a lot cheaper.

I had a Mackie Control Universal Pro for years and sold it thinking a touchscreen monitor would be a suitable replacement. It was not, so I re-purchased a Mackie and even bought an extender to go with it.
 
I tried other options like the Behringer, but the Mackie is just a dream device. Motorized is really the way to go...
 
PS: Anyone want to buy a 27" touchscreen? :)

Motorized faders are important to me.  If I didn't have them, I would just use the software on the screen.

townstra
I bought a $100 android tablet on Amazon and use TouchDAW which I think was about a $5 download.  It shows where everything is set like a motorized control surface and ended up being a lot cheaper.

That looks pretty cool. I Have an old Roland VM3100 Pro that came with the Studio Pack. Years ago I tried using it as a control surface with Sonar 1. Everything worked as expected but it was not usable because the faders, knobs etc. were never in a position that reflected what was actually going on in a given project. It became a glorified transport control so I quit using it. It's been collecting dust ever since.
 
Rocky

Tablets/ipads are the thing to be looking at if you want controls that reflect the selected DAW channels. Or a full-size touch screen.

Not having motorised faders or the touch-screen equivalent is as far from ideal as contoller encoders controlling plugin settings where as soon as you touch the encoder the plugin control instantly "jumps" to where the encoder is, which might be a long way from the original setting.

Several comments:
1) if you want 8+ motorised faders and no troubles, you better go for the original Mackie device. Some users have reported success with BCF (the faders are not touch sensitive), but not with QCon or SSL. No reports about Behringer X-Touch yet. VS-700 is (still) an another option. In case you think one fader is sufficient, Faderport or (discontinued) Alphatrack are know to work fine. More than one good motorized fader means in any case: expensive, big and heavy. MCU/BCF/X-Touch are working throw the same old MCU plug-in, no ACT, no ProChannel.
2) TouchDAW (better Tablet version) is good to see what you get with MCU (it works throw the same plug-in)
3) endless encoders are an alternative for motor faders. They do not "jump", are small, not moving on themselves and are relatively cheap.
4) normal knobs and faders can be used it "catch" mode, so you will not experience jumps but you should put them "in position" before they start changing the parameter.
4*) in case you are brave to try my plug-in, normal knobs and faders can in most cases control parameters instantly and without jumps (but loosing in resolution at the beginning) or they can be used as endless encoders (also with some caveats, there is no magic involved).

If you want to use a control surface for mixing then you will need motorized faders. If you just want to control soft synth parameters for playing then non motorized would be fine.