Hello gents, while I've been watching the bandlab acquisition fairly closely (Thank you bandlab for saving Sonar) and I am seriously, very happy that Sonar has new life, I've been rather hesitant to switch to the new one. So to ease my mind I just want to ask a few questions that I hope some of you brave explorers can answer.
 
Is the transition pretty smooth? 
Do older sonar project files still open up in well?
If you have the Sonar Platinum version before, will the overloud effects such as breverb and the nomad factory plugins still open and work within Sonar Bandlab?
Sonar platinum was Splat, whats the acronym for Sonar by Bandlab? Sbl, Sbab? lol
Does the new version by bandlab still have all the amazing Sonar greatness that I've grown to love over the past decade of using it. Has it lost any features in the transition (aside from the plugin contracts such as overloud etc..)
 
Thank you all

yes

Woodyoflop
Hello gents, while I've been watching the bandlab acquisition fairly closely (Thank you bandlab for saving Sonar) and I am seriously, very happy that Sonar has new life, I've been rather hesitant to switch to the new one. So to ease my mind I just want to ask a few questions that I hope some of you brave explorers can answer.
 
Is the transition pretty smooth?  - Yes
Do older sonar project files still open up in well? - Yes
If you have the Sonar Platinum version before, will the overloud effects such as breverb and the nomad factory plugins still open and work within Sonar Bandlab? - Yes
Sonar platinum was Splat, whats the acronym for Sonar by Bandlab? Sbl, Sbab? lol - CdB
Does the new version by bandlab still have all the amazing Sonar greatness that I've grown to love over the past decade of using it. - Yes
Has it lost any features in the transition (aside from the plugin contracts such as overloud etc..) - No
 
Thank you all

As long as you install your most recent version of Sonar before installing Cakewalk by Bandlab and don't uninstall Sonar after installing Cakewalk, you'll have all your features, plus the new features like replace track template, piano roll view being easier on the eyes (darker) and colours.

Good questions, and thank you all for the answers. There are many of us who had/have the same questions and hesitations.

You may have to re-configure the VST scan paths in CbB to match SONAR. After that, the transition is completely painless. You'll be able to open your current projects in Cakewalk as if it was just another dot release.

Well worth the switch!!!
I had to do a few things.  I'm not sure if these are still needed and wish there was a sticky defining whats needed.
 
Copy Templates over.
Copy Themes over.
Setup vst pathes.
Re-setup drum maps?
 
As far as I know this is it.  Otherwise I am very happy with where things are going.

As easy as any upgrade can be. And as always, you should NEVER uninstall previous versions of SONAR or risk losing plugins and instruments that were released with different versions. They take up very little hard drive real-estate, and you most likely lose some of your favorite "Cakewalk" plugins that came specific to that version.
 For instance, my Sonar installations go back as far as 8.5 because that's when I installed Dimension Pro and Rapture and all the expansion packs libraries.
  And while I don't use Dimension Pro or Rapture anymore ALL of these expansion packs of samples and synth presets still work and are listed in Rapture Pro.
 Rapture Pro is essentially the old school Dimension Pro and Rapture synths married together into one Killa arse powerful user interface. And leaving old Dimension Pro and Rapture installations where they are can save you many hours of work having to reinstall all the expansion packs that make Rapture Pro and Session versions offer 10x to 100x more choices, i.e. MUCH more powerful.
 
 My acronym for Cakewalk by Bandlab is simply CbB
 
 Of course depending on how older your version of SONAR is/was, you may feel like a stranger in a strange land.
 I remember feeling like that when the Skylight interface was introduced.. HATED IT! I stayed with version 8.5 Producer as my main whip thru 2 versions until I finally got used to it with version X3 Producer.
 It took a while for it to sink in to the point where I realized how awesome the new changes effects my workflow...….. OMG...… This IS so much easier, it DOES make things much better, DUUUUUUHHHHHHHH.
 
 Old dogs that refuse to learn new tricks just get angry and shrivel up before their time..

I didn't read all the other posts but plan to. I work on music basically every day in my home and have outside clients. I cannot afford a hiccup. I am a musician who has had to transition from multi-track tape recordings to a DRWD Akai, and on - I won't bore you with years of technology which you know. I also know, as warned by Native Instruments, East West Play and other companies that you depend on, that doing an upgrade even of their samplers,etc.  in the middle of project may not be wise. Well, I finished the mixing 6 weeks ago, backed everything up in more than one place, and said, "hey, let's try out those new Komplete Kontrol instruments in Cakewalk Lab instead of Sonar Platinum."  BAM! My VST's (they be big and they be many) and all of my Waves Plug-ins (they be many as well), Omnisphere, Play,  all scanned right through without a hitch and somehow they knew where not to look (in desperation to find a  rogue .dll sometimes I will sometimes add a scan place in desperation. There were far fewer locations than before) Not a problem. It opened up every mix I had been working on with a fresh new look, everything in the same place that you need to navigate to in the core machine, transports, views, etc. etc. I'm dazzled. I am thankful. In 6 weeks it now feels funny to go back to Platinum. They are both there. Like two Golden Retriever puppies getting along together.
  I know that for system reasons, soft synths, etc., then maybe other people have different experiences. I think they did a good job on the program and changed very little. At first I couldn't find "clone track" and then realized it was changed to duplicate track. Actually, a nicer word in my opinion.

I put it off til a few days ago, as I had a project to finish off. But as of about four days ago, I've switched over to the new version. Took five minutes, have encountered no problems so far, working all day every day in Sonar.