What is this? How can you guys call yourselves engineers without the use of Console view?  OK If you have a set up in which there is a physical console in your studio or at least a controller with faders, pan pots and  such others, then I can see omitting the use of the console view, but if you just use a laptop and a keyboard, or a desktop and nothing else to really control your mixes then you have to use console view.
 
I have a dual monitor setup with track view on the left and Multi-dock on the right.  The Multi-dock shows the Console view, the Media view, Synths, Plugins, the Browser, and a bunch of other views.  So when I want to view something, I look to the right screen and click the appropriate tab on the Multi-dock and it's available for instant view.  Console is my favorite.  I have two Mackie Controllers which give me use of the faders in Sonar and the pan pots, as well as plugins and and other various functionality.  I have to see it as if I were in a actual studio, and the console view gives me that view.
 
I use my studio as an engineer, not a musician, so I need to see it from an engineers perspective.  The console view helps me use Sonar as if I were an engineer with an SSL Console. (But I have Mackie Controllers instead)
 
Keep in mind before I get stoned from this rough crowd, this is just my opinion so be gentle with me. LOL 
 
Peace
Jesse G
 
 

I flit between console view and track view, depending on what I'm doing at the time.

Thanks for all the REALLY great posts!!! 
 
I open console view and my mind swims. I have to perceive my song in a totally different orientation. The argument to many is that this orientation is easier to mix in. It is not easier if I am constantly switching back to track view to edit envelopes and track effects, then I have to reorient myself again. It is not how quickly I can switch to the other view but how it disrupts my concentration. I will try and keep console view open on my second monitor (a tv) I have vertical above my main monitor (a 22" monitor). I will experiment with this idea.
 
Each time I switch I need to rethink the entire song in a less or more detailed manner.
 
Then I have to think of my song in a horizontal and not a vertical spread.
 
It seems like nothing to me could be more torturous and time consuming. :)
 
If in TV I need to see several tracks and their relative volume meters I simply re-size the track so that only the volume faders show. I align them vertically in order and proximity and put them in a track folder and solo them if necessary.
 
If you use mackie mixers I can understand using a console view. 
 
I do nearly all of my mixing by editing nodes by hand in volume envelopes on tracks and busses so the volume knobs when in write mode usually "put in way too many nodes" (not sure how to explain that).
 
If you prefer editing envelopes by hand, once volume envelopes are inserted in tracks, console view really becomes obsolete. Editing the mix by hand is also much more precise. It is more time consuming but more accurate.
 
If you have each drum on a separate track and lots of drums I might consider using CV. Or if you have lots of live mics. Sometimes I am using stereo samples for drums and sometimes I have them separated but rarely do I have more than 7 or 8 drum tracks.
 
Vocals on the other hand I can have Oos and Ahhhs (in three part harmony), adlibs in harmony, main vocal and 2 over dubs and harmonies (three to ten parts).
 
That is a lot of vocals, perhaps if I splayed them out horizontally I could see them all at once in CV.
 
That I would possibly do. In this case though console view would simply act as a metering view because I would still feel required to edit my volume envelopes in track view.
 
Another thing, by the time I get to the mixing phase I have inserted volume envelopes into nearly all of my tracks. and I have made decisions as to where each track fades in and out. So mixing in the console is even less likely. Write mode is less likely. At that stage all volume adjustment are done by hand. I am more likely to use CV to get a rough mix and balance before I start a final mix, yet even this process I do in TV.     

Fwiw .. I use console view for the things some use prochannel ... effects and routing.   But that's a special work-time, so for me it is the only use I have for screensets: one screenset for that; otherwise console view is closed all the time. 

RexRed
I open console view and my mind swims. I have to perceive my song in a totally different orientation. The argument to many is that this orientation is easier to mix in. It is not easier if I am constantly switching back to track view to edit envelopes and track effects, then I have to reorient myself again.

This. I understand the old adage of a mixing desk, and users of control surfaces have no choice since it still uses the L-R of tracks spread across paradigm. But DAWs don't use that paradigm and the Console View is just there to appease them. Tracks are now stacked, and left to right is reserved for TIME. Why have to go through the conversion in your head to look at an emulation of a console when all that information is already there in the Track View? 
 
I do get the separation of writing and mixing, so it helps to change the interface I suppose since it reinforces in your head what you're doing, but like you mention later in your post, almost every mix really doesn't enter it's final phase until you start doing your rides and automation. For me, doing it just by ears in the console view is cray-cray. I use envelopes and lots of them and being able to work directly on the waveform is unbeatable. I prefer to take advantage of my ears AND my eyes in that regard. Sheesh I'd lick my monitor too if audio data could be represented in scent format. (no extra charge for this killer joke setup too!)

Although I don't use console view, I understand the value.  In the track view, it is less convenient to make volume and pan adjustments to several tracks quickly.  I use the control surface faders to get a rough mix or to play with levels on an existing mix.  For the final pass, I make fine-tuning adjustments in the track view envelopes.  (If I were not OCD, though, I would do it all with faders instead of trying to clean up all those automation nodes.)

I used to have a 24 channel Alesis X2 console. I know what it means to work on a consolde. But..... back then we also recorded on it too. So it was a natural flow from recording to mixing.
 
As I've said I have a control surface. I really only use the faders when I want to write automation to track. But I do that in TV.
 
What scent ....wicked?

I'm old school when it comes to the console view, I like the visual of the view as I am not using an outboard console. I guess what ever works for the individual is the best.
 
Blackie

I use the track view (and Pro Channel).  Even for mixdown and running Ozone 5, its track view. 
 
However, I usually only have 6 to 8 "analog" tracks, very rare any MIDI tracks.

I use both console and track view.  With screen sets it's so easy to toggle between the two.  I have two monitors and like seeing a good deal of the console by spreading it across both of them.