I've used Home Studio 2004 for 9 years. I'm looking to change DAWS because I'm not sure Home Studio is what I want or if it's working as well as it should in Windows 7. Sometimes a track won't re-record. Yesterday I added a volume envelope to a clip and it didn't change the volume like it did in previous projects.
 
My questions:
 
1. Is Pro Audio 9 so good that you never wanted to upgrade? I read on the internet that it was Cakewalk's beginning DAW and that it maximized midi better than any of the upgrades, and that later versions of Cakewalk got so deep that they made working with midi more difficult. They said Pro Audio 9 was the best Cakewalk DAW for them.
 
2. Does it have a staff view? If so, does editing in it work better than Sonar X2's staff view? I read that the editing has actually become more difficult and tedious, with more steps involved, in the more recent versions of Cakewalk (Sonar X2 and Music Creator 6)
 
3. Will it work in Windows 7?
 
4. Can it add sound to video?
 
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Edit:  I found out that I cannot legally obtain this program because Cakewalk's program's are not transferrable. 
  
  
 

I loved PA9 and only upgraded to get access to DXi and VSTi plugins. I really didn't like Home Studio so I went to Sonar X1 - much better than Home Studio. Editing midi on PA9 was really easy. I find dealing with midi to be a bit more difficult but dealing with controller events is just about impossible in X1. Even reading Sonar X1 Power does not help. PA9 has a staff view. I don't think the X1 staff view is any better. Some folks have made PA9 work in Win7. Don't know about video in PA9 - never tried it. --Larry

Edit:  I found out that I cannot legally obtain this program because Cakewalk's program's are not transferrable. 

I have tried to get a second opinion about this from Cakewalk Support and Sales.  But you have to enter in your registered product # in the support form on their site.  Catch 22 situation.  Pro Audio 9 is about 13 years old now and was by Twelve Tone Systems Inc; not Roland.  I would like to see the T's & C's about this as it was back then.

pro audio was my first daw.
but it is 13 years old. i dont know who was saying this was the best daw but the forum was probably an older post,like from 10 years ago.
skip right over homestudio 7xl and go right for x1 or x2 the learning curve is steep but pays fortunes in the end.

my advise is to try a free 30 trial of sonar x2. staff view might be a little complicated to grasp because it has changed and has more features now but youll be amazed at how much more you can do now.