Rock based computing?
It's all in the stones!
Lots if years testing... No one can really manage to fully use let alone test everything.
I work many ways depending on the situation as I'm sure many others do. I do my best to tinker with every new feature over time. I used to write something new that used as many new features as I could simply as an endeavor to learn my available toolset.
These days Sonar's included tools are so good that I rarely use anything else.
As was mentioned earlier in this thread, analog studios were more about the room and the board and each would acquire growing collections of extras over the years.
It doesn't take a lot of tools to make art. Only the desire and drive to make it happen using whatever you have as best you can.
Many decades of ordinary live recording... When there was a band or group performance, capture it! Overdubs, punching, wild tracking...
The onset of synth arpeggiators and then sequencers opened a whole new world of control and another growing set of tools...
It's never been about which tools to use... Mostly about the finished piece of art!
Keep using whatever rocks your boat and make art that is music to the world!