Noel Borthwick [Cakewalk]
No strip is required to represent virtual patch points. They show up just like input or output ports in the menus.
You can also create groups of tracks routed to other tracks like what you described since the patchpoint knows how to mix. However I don't see the immediate advantage of your example since its probably simpler to use a normal bus to do that. You can also use it to record the metronome bus or to record a submix stem without needing to bounce it.
The advantage would be for those of us who don't like the separation between tracks/busses. For example, I like to keep the number of busses fairly minimal: instrument groups (drums, guitars, vox, mixbus, reverb, etc.). Since the bottom mic and top mic both contribute to the snare sound, it would be nice to have a main "Snare" track right there next to the top/bottom mic tracks in the track view. Or if I want to do parallel compression in a track, I can route the source signal to a track right next to it. When the track count increases, side-scrolling the separate track/bus sections gets a little tedious.
There have been a few requests for giving users the option to move tracks/busses freely as opposed to having them "locked" inside individual panes, so I think (for those of us interested in such a thing) our thought process was that track-to-track routing would allow for an "aux" track of sorts, thereby allowing us to organize tracks/busses as we like.
So functionally there's nothing wrong with Sonar's existing track/bus structure. We certainly can route tracks to busses, busses to busses, etc. to our heart's content, but it can get a bit unorganized, especially when we prefer to organize/group busses in the way I described. So yeah, more of a convenience thing than a "problem" with the way Sonar currently works.
I imagine creating an option to select "Tracks & Busses - One Pane" or "Tracks & Busses - Separate Panes" would probably require a major UI overhaul, and for those who like the setup as is, it doesn't make sense to get rid of the separate track/bus panes altogether, which is why when I saw "Track-to-Track Routing" as an upcoming feature I was seeing it as a way to, in essence, use an audio track as a bus, kind of a hack for those of us who'd like to be able to move tracks/busses freely within a single console pane.
I totally get the ability to record/print a synth, track, etc. without having to bounce it, so it'll be a nice feature regardless. But I initially saw this as a clever way to bypass the limitation of having tracks/busses in separate panes.
I did see in an earlier thread about using a plugin with a sidechain input to effectively turn a track into a bus so perhaps I'll look more closely at that. Or perhaps I'll submit a feature request to allow users to determine whether tracks/busses are organized in separate panes or move tracks/busses freely between panes, but that would require a pretty big overhaul behind the scenes, wouldn't it? I'd think being able to send a signal from one audio track to another would be a bit less daunting...but I'm no developer so what do I know. :)