Dear all, 
 
having discovered a new found passion for recording, I'm having oodles of fun with my music once more.
 
So.. the CA-2A compressor. I tried a demo for the fun of it, and really liked it. 
 
I don't know why i liked it, and I have a number of compressor options thanks to all the included FX in X3.
 
What makes it different fro all the others, and how do you decide which of the many compressor options within Sonar to go for?
 
Sorry... it just confuses me a little. 

I agree, it's a wonderful little beastie.  I suppose it's because they did a wonderful job of modelling the original device which used only valve-fed optical devices to control the signal, so there was no circuit-electronics in the signal path (sort of ..). Also it is a really simple unit to use.  With compression there are so many options that you could set on all-singing-all-dancing compressors, that its so easy to completely mess the audio payload. CA-2A doesn't have this plethora of options and so (in theory) it is a lot easier to get good compression results with just a couple of settings. And yet - it is clever enough to do this adaptively across the frequency range.  It gives a great neutral-creamy compressed output with no nasties (unless you really crunch it hard).

It is a great compressor. I use it on almost every vocal and bass track. I use on guitar tracks, too.

It is easy to set up, and is very"musical".

It can add a nice warmth to tracks, sven if it's set to very little./no gain reduction.

One of my favourite compressors. Highly recommended.

It's one of the better compressors that CW puts out. I like the sound of the plug.

It really is excellent, yeah. I can't think of a better compressor type than the LA-2A for flowing material that's not transient heavy, and this is a really good version of that type. Bass, vocals, some brass, some strings, stuff like that is great through it.

I use it a good deal.

Yep... It's my favorite Cakewalk compressor too. I use it a lot.

I use it on all my vocals, with a Concrete Limiter before it to trap peaks before they get to the CA-2A. But I'm like many of the others here - I can't quite put my finger on why I like it so much, except that it just works and sounds great.

I'm sold!!
Still confused by the choices I have, mind you!  :)
 
Thanks to all for the input - this is a great forum!!

If you're going to be near Indiana next weekend, I'll be doing a workshop called "Everything you want to know about dynamics" at Sweetwater GearFest. It's free to attend.