Cactus Music
In a way what seems to be happening is they are moving so fast that people like me cannot keep up with the upgrades and changes. When I turn on my DAW I want to go right to work , I don;t have the time to spend figuring new stuff out.
 I think Sonar's problem is it's only powerful if you can master it and how does anyone find the time to do this?? You have to be unemployed or retired.

 
I agree, It does seem like the monthly updates makes Sonar feel "unsettled".  I suggested quarterly updates might be more convenient for most users. (however CW marketing dept may not be happy with qtly). I will see this year out and probably not renew with CW for similar reasons to Tom.  It would be interesting to know what he chose. 
 
BTW Your logo is pretty cool but the term "cactus" means "completely screwed up" here in Australia so your name gave me a bit of a laugh. 
 

I think Cakewalk put themselves behind the 8-ball when they announced monthly updates with new features.  The start up screen was IMHO not necessary and half-baked.  If the bakers would say  "we are working hard on improving the notation portion of Sonar so there may not be an update this month" then come through with it a lot more users would be happy.  I know that they don't announce things that are coming but if they did in this case I think most users would welcome it.  

I believe that they should stop implementing 'improvements' that effect other usable things, like when an update messed up the Custom module.  Noted that the bakers are super when repairing such problems but as anyone in research knows it may take more than a month to totally examine a new feature.

This is just my opinion and you may not agree.

And here I thought you were movin' on up to the eastside, to a deluxe apartment in the sky.
 
Apparently, I was wrong.

I agree with some of what has been said. I think the monthly thing is putting too much pressure on Cakewalk's resources. The start screen looks more like alpha code to me, and this was the sole "big" feature for the month. Maybe it's time for Cakewalk to consider bi-monthly.
 
Les wrote "Logic, and Protools 11....all work better on with Thundebolt."
Better than Sonar? If so that's absolutely not true. If it works better thank the driver not the DAW (which is abstracted from such things).

BTW Your logo is pretty cool but the term "cactus" means "completely screwed up" here in Australia so your name gave me a bit of a laugh. 
 
 
Ha Ha I love the down under slang! The logo was done by a local graphic artist. The name is officially registered but I no longer operate as a  business. Too much paper work. Cash to spend on GAS. 
 
I dream of software that is custom made for live performance. I had the best of it back with my Atari and Jeff Koftinoffs Midi Performer. 
http://www.jdkoftinoff.com/main/Historic_Projects/The_Pro_MIDI_Player/
 
 Check out these features and see if you can do this with ANY modern software....: 

• Play any standard MIDI File type 0. (Will not play type 1 files!)  
• Preload up to 999 songs into RAM for fast access.
• Be controlled by MIDI, the computer keyboard, or by footswitches switches connected directly to your computer joystick port.
• Display the current song and status on your keyboard's LCD display.
• Display text pages with lyrics or chord charts while playing.
• Chain songs together in any order.
• Loop sections of your songs on the fly while the song is playing.
• Use a hard disk for no RAM limitations.
• Send specific system exclusive messages for each song.
• Rechannelize MIDI Thru data.

Just add to this list playback of a few audio tracks and I'd be set.  

Cactus Music
http://www.jdkoftinoff.com/main/Historic_Projects/The_Pro_MIDI_Player/

 
Too orange for me. I'm outta here.

Yes MarioD...It would be righteous for any broken elements to be addressed in or of...By Cakewalk...Or Gibson...bakers.
 
But, there are other alternatives out there ,that do score so well...if it be a problem to get a solution...while waiting for...fixes of
 
I see no stability problems now with the core of audio end of the digital parts..and midi is working so far here, with a few bugs.
 
Seems once midi is put to play...and you add scoring also, and audio tracks and plugs and plug instrements...Well Take a look what happened with Acid, by sonic foundry...A very good program for audio looping....once Sony got hold of it, and tried to add midi...it became unstable...and it choked on pro 7e
 
Could be something like that is now with CW?....not saying it is, but to open that can of worms, might bring down many..(.if it does do, what happened to the Custom module ) ...if it broke the core, and made it more unstable for all.....
Where would this bring them and all users, if that happened?
 
So what could be a fix solution, is finding the best scoring programs already in play...working with them, so as to import functionality of....
Like Xlm ad2 drums.....if possible?
a plug to tie in? like rewire...?
 
I thought that rewire worked, or intended to do that....It did work with other daws...haven't tried recently, and was told Sonar does not work with rewire and Sibelius....what about Notation?...final cut, if consulted to bring in for a small fee?
 
must be a path one can take /,,,as some mention to use many tools/ software programs/ and methods, to get all things done...
 
I know all in one is attractive to ponder/ in one software....but perhaps out of reach to perfect in all, by a few.
 
UNIONS of all
 
I tried a lot of stuff....so multiple programs, as beepster suggests.....Does give a opening to creative method...and solutions...one prog can do, if another cannot.
 
Most Daws ,and notation software support midi....Then that is the link then....for now...and cake and ice cream with two machines...sync'd... one running notation , using midi out into Sonar midi in to track record enabled with plug of choice.
 
best of both worlds?

Good luck on your musical journey. Hopefully you can find a DAW that neatly matches your needs and you may need to never upgrade it. Some people still make do with 8.5 for example. I think DAWs are converging to the same place.

I can pilot a session on any DAW, and have used all of them on a regular basis except for Reaper (although I have used it). I still use Ableton Live for live performance, and Studio One for album assembly and basic mastering. No DAW, not even Samplitude, can do mastering on the same level as Wavelab or Sound Forge.
 
After switching to another DAW, there is a "honeymoon period" when you discover the unique features program X has that the program you used doesn't. Wow! It does this! It does that! Cool!
 
Then one of three things happens. Either you find that those unique features are very important to you and you switch permanently, you find yourself missing unique features that the program you had could do so you switch back, or you become facile at both programs and use the one that's most appropriate.
 
Sometimes the grass truly is greener on the other side, but sometimes you get there and find out it's because someone spray-painted the grass green 

RD9
I suggested quarterly updates might be more convenient for most users.

 
The reason Cakewalk structured updates the way they did is you can update quarterly if you like. Or if you want to be on the bleeding edge, you can update every month...or update one month if there's a feature you really like, then not do anything for another six months. Or jump off for a year and come back in again later.

 
I haven't really found the updates disturbing my workflow. Something like the Drum Replacer is just another module I can use or not use. A lot of the other updates enhance something that already exists, like VocalSync or MixRecall, so you can use them the way you used to use them and ignore the new options if you don't want to have to deal with them. 
 
But, there's an important caveat here: I use SONAR almost every day...I just did a couple video soundtracks last week, and am finishing up another one tonight. So I'm really, really familiar with the program. If someone works with SONAR on a less regular basis - or any other complex DAW, for that matter - it's like being a guitar player and losing your callouses because you haven't been playing.