I should also mention that SONAR's Matrix View is a lot like Ableton's Session View. I used to ReWire Live into SONAR but since the Matrix View was added, haven't needed to do that any more. Even for live performances with Ableton Live, I do all the prep work in SONAR for the loops I'm going to use.
 
Disclaimer: I have a very friendly relationship with Ableton (I wrote the manual for Version 2), and we stay in touch. We don't have a "competition" thing going because they also feel that SONAR is a very different kind of program. We already collaborate on one level; TASCAM hardware bundles Live and SONAR so Mac users are covered.

Yeah, Guitar Center - that's the center of musical intelligence for the known universe.  I never could get out of that place quick enough.

mettelus
Pretty much all DAWs have the same core capabilities and vary in functionality and workflow. Specific questions will yield better answers/advice, since simply throwing out a brand name and asking what people think will pull the full gambit (in any industry).
 
A good start would be to ask you what genre of music are you looking to record? How are you "foreseeing" your workflow?

Good point and I'll try to explain as best I can..

I started out on Sonar 2 and then 3.. I would say I knew enough to make simple songs using various basic effects and with so editing knowledge.. I made several songs and a couple turned out decent but compared to you guys I'm sure you'd rip me a new one.. With that said my genre I like is soft rock, techno, house..

So my workflow idea is to use my Maschine Studio to lay out my drum tracks via VST on Sonar.. I would then like to layer the tracks using a combo of instruments from Maschine and avilabke virtual instruments from Sonar.. For techno and house I plan to use voice samples.. Either sliced up or whole..

I will purchase a MIDI keyboard to handle most melodic parts and doing some real time effects alterations while recording.. I'm thinking Axiom or a AKAI MPK249

I want to try to keep most everything on a MIDI level with straight audio coming from vocals I record or from sampled wavs..

As a long term goal, I would love to be produced but would also love to compete in music contests.

lastly I want a DAW that is expandable and will be around a long time.. I don't want to have to get a 4 year sound engineering degree to figure out how to use a DAW. I'm sure video tutorials could be my best friend or a good book

Sonar is a great package and will add some useful stuff to your arsenal. I'm assuming you're familiar enough with Maschine to realize it's a bit of a hassle to use linearly instead with its own patterns.

Ableton is a nice songwriting tool especially for house and techno and really anything pattern based. One of the main drawbacks as a DAW is that it lacks good comping features (for audio multi-takes). If this is not something you care about very much I agree with the sales person that it could be a good option for you. Like Craig, I have both and use them for different purposes. Since you can get Sonar at such a good price, I would probably start there and then find a demo or light version of Live to toy around with and see if it's useful to add to your setup.

All I can add really is the fact that I wasn't sure about upgrading. Now I'm positive I'm glad I did.

If you are a pro musician going in and out of pro studios you'll probably just end up with a Mac & Pro Tools... simply because that's all you're likely to see being used.
Home use... the market is awash with DAW's at every price bracket.
If you're a Mac user then you won't be using Sonar/Cakewalk.
For the normal population the likes of Sonar, Cubase, etc. have always been popular.
I only use Sonar because I've had various incarnations since Sonar 2.
 
If you're undecided just download the various trial versions of all the major players.
I did many years ago and went with Sonar.

PH68
If you are a pro musician going in and out of pro studios you'll probably just end up with a Mac & Pro Tools... simply because that's all you're likely to see being used.

 
Not necessarily. I tracked all the classical recordings I engineered or produced in a Pro Tools studio, then immediately took the WAV files and brought them into SONAR for mixing/editing. This is not common, but it's not as rare as you might think...I know quite a few engineers who move files out of PT into their "usual" DAW.
 

If you're a Mac user then you won't be using Sonar/Cakewalk.

 
I have a few friends who consider a Mac running Bootcamp as "the best Windows machine" and several of them use SONAR. Again, not common, but it happens.
 

If you're undecided just download the various trial versions of all the major players.
I did many years ago and went with Sonar.

I agree strongly about trial versions. They make it easy to see if you have "chemistry" with a particular program,

Semi_Perfect
I was in Guitar Center yesterday

 
There's the first mistake.

Semi_Perfect
I don't want to have to get a 4 year sound engineering degree to figure out how to use a DAW.

 
Don't forget the Windows and computer technician degrees.  It's amazing how many hours can fly by fiddling with computer related issues that have nothing to do with music.  Sound engineering and computer science are very much a part of using a DAW, at least until you reach some stable state of experience and operation.  And even then you're still at risk from OS changes and updates to your DAW software.