mudgel
Interesting. I enjoy a monthly surprise no matter whether large or small.

 
Oops, guess I just killed some surprises by saying too much ...  Sorry about that!!

The amazing community here were my reason. They essentially passed the proverbial hat and got me bumped up. Mindblowing kindness.
 
However my reasons for WANTING to upgrade were largely related to MixRecall. I have not had a chance to use it yet (been mostly tracking) but as a novice mix "engineer" the ability to easily compare various efforts to see what I've done right/wrong is a huge bonus. Even for experienced/pro engineers this has to be a massively useful tool. Being able to export any or all of your mixes at once to cart around for testing or showing to clients or whatever is pretty darned awesome.
 
The Control Bar improvements are freaking amazing and many of those tweaks are things I had been asking for for a VERY long time. It's even better than anything I dreamed up.
 
As newcomer to MIDI the new PRV was/is looking pretty slick so I was interested in that. Those teeny tiny little blocks were kind of messing me up as well as controllers so it all looked a lot better. I have not tried it out yet but am looking forward to it. The Paint Tool looks cool as well. Kind of want them to create an audio version of it. That would be awesome but perhaps impractical.
 
More personally I asked some of the folks here to test a very specific bug that had been driving me NUTS in X3 reagarding view jumping when selecting between tracks. It was a MASSIVE slow down for my workflow and was pretty much one of the only things that bothered me in X3. Sure enough it was fixed and I am ever so freaking happy because already it has saved me probably hours of scrolling, double checking to make sure I'm in the right spot and outright temper tantrums (and possibly physical manifestations such as hypertension... seriously it stressed me out that badly).
 
Everything else is gravy. However the additional AD2 Adpaks allowed me to snag the Fairfax 1 kit which produces a very specific drum sound I have been wanting to duplicate for my own work for a very long time. That of course is the Nirvana Nevermind drum sound. IMO those are probably the best sounding live drums in the past 30 years. Heck... probably ever (but I'm reluctant to leave out Who's Next but they were working with far less back then).
 
Anyway... great upgrade I think. It is probably more of a cumulative "wow factor" built on more subtle additions and improvements compared to other versions (especially if you are upgrading from X3) but some of these things are very critical improvements for specific users and the on the broader spectrum it's kind of like a slow steady wave of awesomeness washing over us... and we still have 12 months of stuff coming down the pipe.

Beepster
Anyway... great upgrade I think. It is probably more of a cumulative "wow factor" built on more subtle additions and improvements compared to other versions (especially if you are upgrading from X3) but some of these things are very critical improvements for specific users and the on the broader spectrum it's kind of like a slow steady wave of awesomeness washing over us... and we still have 12 months of stuff coming down the pipe.

The "cumulative wow factor" is a very good point. Yes, the Control Bar, VocalSync, Mix Recall, REmatrix Solo, MIDI improvements, and bug fixes were enough justification for me to want Platinum but the monthly release thing is huge...there have been, what, over 50 bug fixes average per month? Then to have something like the Virtual Keyboard show up, along with an ever-evolving Mix Recall, and more import/export options...one day you look back over the past three months, and realize a lot has happened.

I was playing with the Virt Keyboard a bit right after I installed Dorch. It is extremely responsive and will serve me well.
 
I did not include that in my post because I was basing my reasoning on what I was thinking before I actually got the upgrade and the VK came after but that was something I had actually been wanting since I first bought X1 (and knew essentially nothing about DAWs).
 
To me I found it weird that no one had figured out a way to control synths from the QWERTY and that my new fancy DAW couldn't do that. I think I even mentioned it back then. Since then though I demo'd another DAW (the "cheap" DAW) and it includes a QWERTY controller so I was about to start railing on the Bakers for one to be developed. Literally a couple weeks later we got the announcement one was going to be provided.
 
And it is, as far as I can tell so far, far superior to the one included in the "cheap" DAW.
 
So yeah... that's pretty darned cool.
 
I'm also getting into the idea of using the ARA audio to MIDI function on bass tracks. As in... my bass gear is kind of lame but I prefer to perform my own parts. By converting it and cleaning up the resulting MIDI to match the live track I can beef up the live tone without burying/removing it. I actually thought this was a totally original Beepster idea but a while back someone linked to an article on SOS you (Craig) wrote describing that exact procedure. lol
 
Point is, I haven't checked out the Brian Hargroove samples yet but I love PE and I'm on the hunt for good, realistic MIDI bass samples to beef up my crummy single coil Mexi P-Bass DI tracks so those will likely be a welcome addition.
 
Cheers.

Cakewalk not only released a new version of Sonar but a completely new delivery, development installation and sales program in January, just a little under 4 months ago.

They say that the proof of the pudding is in the eating and it's been a very satisfying meal if I can put it that way.

The result is impressive to say the least. Sure there's been a few bumps but no real show stoppers.

If the last few months are anything to go on then, the future is looking good for Cakewalk and Sonar.

BTW... I know when I post things like that I risk being labelled a "fanbois" (and probably in some minds I already am) but I mean what I say. Those are things I am very happy about and makes me glad I stuck it out with Sonar (things weren't always so rosy for me).
 
As far as I'm concerned I work for the forum users who helped me learn and have now sponsored me with the latest update. I will, and do, bring up my needs, wants and annoyances with the program when they arise. At this point though, IMO, it really is a good release that works well so I'm saying it and those who doubt my sincerity can kindly shove their innuendo and preconceptions up their mono output ports.
 
:-)

I'm sure Cakewalk appreciates all the supportive comments...now spread the word!

So in the end I just purchased the platinum upgrades because it seems there are no more bug fixes for X3 and the bug annoying me (switching between 2 vsts in media explorer preview audio is totally broken) is listed as fixed in the new version.
 
I'm not sure how I feel about paying so much for bug fixes. I hope the new features will make it worth it. Downloading right now!

I'm another heavy critic of X series that is glad to have upgraded to Platinum ... 

Monthly bug fixes = constant, predictable and consistent improvement.  Plus the goodies don't hurt either.