@kenny... I'll make you a deal.
 
If something is tripping you up let me know and I'll try to help.
 
In exchange for this service... you just keep bein' awesome.

Good perspectives from almost all.
 
I think that I've always been the kind of person who really likes to master his tools and to know everything about them, including every capability and nuance. This applies both to work tools and software. I get a certain joy from knowing that I'm maximizing the tool's potential.
 
I understand that this can't happen with something as complex as Sonar. I'll have to mentally reduce the size of the tool and concentrate on the parts that I know I need, while ignoring the existence of the others until I'm ready for them. That has been the source of vague discomfort... knowing that they're there.

I try to kinda get around to trying the new stuff maybe tomorrow, ya know.

Something changed?

We designed it so you can update it on your schedule. If updating every 6 months suits you better, that is an option. Nothing is required but as others have said, if you see something you need to have you can go ahead and update. And once you have done the core, the updates don't take too long. And of course, if you believe your current version was working better than the new one you updated, you can easily roll back. So basically, it's pretty flexible to work around your needs. 

All good ideas! I do not want to keep up with everything in the software. I suspect if you plugged in a key logger onto my machine, you'll find I MAYBE use 2% of the product. And that's probably overstated. I tend to learn by watching this forum for things I have heard of before or things I'm trying to do now. Mr. Anderton is a really good source of things I've heard of that I want to try. I also watch a lot of YouTube material, like anything from Pensados Place. Once I see it, or hear it - I want to try it out in the DAW environment.

My learning if you will, is more organic instead of software driven. That all said, Sonar almost always has the tools to make the audio art and engineering happen. With other DAW's - I may need to buy or find a free vst to 'try out' an idea. In most cases, Sonar Platinum has everything I need to learn or apply a new found technique, or principle. The cool thing about monthly releases is I stay up to date with that crazy development cycle that is driven in part, by constant change in the music industry. Cakewalk is chasing that crazy curve better than most in my humble opinion.

Best regards,

L

I never really give any thought to "keeping up", myself. I always read the release notes, and sometimes, like with Drum Replacer, there'll be something that's directly useful to what I'm working on. In that case, I was mixing an album that had a badly recorded kick drum throughout, so it came at just the right time.
 
Generally though, I just get on with what I'm doing. I only really take time out to learn new features at the moment they become useful or necessary.

You go into a restaurant. There's a menu with a whole bunch of entrees. You choose one, you like it, and next time you come back to the restaurant, you try a different entree...maybe. Or maybe you liked the first one so much, you order it again. But I'm pretty sure that no matter which restaurant you like, you've not tried EVERYTHING on the menu 
 
One of SONAR's strengths, and the reason why I use it, is because it can handle a huge variety of tasks. Some updates, features, and content are relevant only to particular workflows or styles of music. If they don't relate to you, it's not necessary to learn them.
 
Remember, all that matters is the emotional impact of your music on your listeners...and the personal process of self-discovery. SONAR may give you a massive number of tools, but you don't need all of them. Choose the ones you want...then make compelling music so you can help change the world.
 
P.S. Theoretically, my car can go up to 140 MPH, but I've never taken it over 90...same principle 
 
 

ampfixer
I can't keep up because I am a hobbyist and many of the features are beyond me. I do the monthly updates because the core application keeps getting stronger and faster. That's what I'm looking for and the new options will be there one day if I need them.

Same here.  I do make it a point to experiment with features I haven't used yet, or haven't used much.  Believe it or not, I'm just now getting to know AudioSnap 
 
Now at the end of the first year I can honestly say that Sonar has become a little more stable and a little more peppy with each of the Oh-15 releases.  Some of the new stuff I took up with right away like Control Bar enhancements.  I'm using Aux Tracks (Patch Points), but nowhere near their full potential.
 
For my use Sonar has gotten to the point that some of the convenience FRs are more appealing to me than deep, technical capability stuff.  Song section/region ruler, better color management, chord tracks would be really nice.  More workflow enhancements and bug squashing along with working on things like expanding keybinding capability are what I would like to see most.  You know, while I'm figuring out how to use what Sonar already has.
 
Oh-16 should be a great year now that the Bakers have hit their stride with the new model.

Who says we keep up with the changes?