The thing about Sonar, and seemingly most DAWs, is that it has it's own specific flow, strengths, weaknesses, etc.
It seems to me, if you are not just trying to get a rise out of us (and I'm willing to give you the benefit of the doubt), that you are coming from more of a "Live" DAW perspective/workflow such as the ones provided by programs like Ableton or FruityLoops (and perhaps the new Bitwig platform).
These types of quick pitch, timing, tonal, whatever type manipulations ARE possible with Sonar but it really is not as intuitive as those other programs. It has some kind of semi appropriate tools for that stuff but they're a bit weird, complex and unfortunately not the type of thing I would personally trust on stage. In the studio where if something screwy happens and/or you have time to plot things out a little more in advance... sure.
On the other end of the spectrum, which is a hardcore, fully integrated tracking platform for pro recording studios like Nuendo, Cubase, Protools or even Reaper it unfortunately isn't going to be able to handle the crazy audio routing, controller mapping nor conform to certain established "industry" conventions PERHAPS as well and as easily as those other DAWs.
Essentially Sonar is PERFECTLY capable of performing in both of those scenarios BUT it may require a bit more effort, education and elbow grease to really get the same results of those other tools.
What Sonar completely and utterly excels at is as a creation package for artists, an extremely healthy out of the box mixing platform and more and more a very high quality editing tool (although that seems to have only recently come to fruition and requires a bit more refinement).
So to break that down... as an independent writer Sonar Platinum comes with absolutely ANY sound/instrument I need to create ANY style of music completely professionally. The instrument suite is out of control and cannot be found with any other DAW. As an old rock/folk/punk/metal/prog/indie/etc guy I am more than equiped to write anything I need to in those genres. On top of that the healthy pile of synths, samplers, romplers, bomplers, scomplers and bebomplers (lol... synths) I can add all sorts of extra crap or start turning out crazy orchestral stuff if I wanted. The instruments are great.
As a recording/writing tool it is an excellent environment. Once you get into the flow it is VERY easy to write and record into Sonar. Staff View is a little clunky and there are some things in PRV that annoy me (but I have not tried the new SPlat PRV yet) but all in all it is a very comfortable environment conducive to just sitting back and getting your ideas into the box.
Mixing is another one of those things where the absolutely INSANE and diverse package of tools makes Sonar beat out the competitors. You'll spend a fortune trying to catch up with the package that comes with Sonar so again great for the at home artist. Also the ProChannel is extremely convenient, sounds good and for anyone who's used to real boards very comfortable to work with. It is also becoming more and more felxible as the years press on.
Editing. Sonar was a bear to edit with up until X3 IMO and could use some more tweaking but the new features and methods, to me, are pretty slick. They just take a bit of studying and practice but at the end of the day it beats out the old school way of doing things. At the rate this aspect of Sonar has been going it'll crush anything in its path very soon.
So really to me it is a "cradle to grave" (in the songwriting sense) creation station for artists which really SHOULD be the focal point of such tools. Those other platforms are for a) people prgramming, stringing together and triggering loops live (and I'm not saying those people aren't artists but they need tools that are essentially dedicated sampler/synth/loopers which I consider more of an instrument than a recording platform) or b) hard ass studio engineers who are only there to capture sound/performances of the artists then tweak it in post using EXTREMELY expensive (and unatainable by most) hardware/software tools/addons.
Sonar is kind of like the Jack of all trades... master of kind of sort of most of them type tool.
As an artist sitting on my balls day in and day out trying to get a portfolio together that fact/functionality is totally fine with me and every year (and now every month) I've owned Sonar it just gets better and better at the little things it does that I bought it for in the first place.
If I opened a tracking studio I might consider Cubase though. If I wanted to go loopty looping live I might consider Ableton. For what I do right now... Sonar is exactly what I need.
Peace.