a touch screen monitor is on my list as is a keyboard. The roland line of controllers might be worth looking into since they were somewhat designed for sonar I think they are the PCR series but what has my attention in the world of controllers is the alesis vi61 for about $279 you get a controller that has aftertouch and it comes with air expand which has a lot of people over at KVR all excited. You can create assignments for your daw controls on any controller by creating an ACT template and maybe somebody will share one online for whatever controller you have. 
 
One of the things we need here is a user library where we can share templates and user created content like the reaper guys have. 
 
I think presets for sonar instruments and FX should be able to be shared by users here instead of having to visit patch arena and KVR. 

The nektar impact lx61 looks interesting.
 
What I am still trying to figure out is how to use a controllor to handle Midi CC messages like Expression.    Modwheel on any controllor seems to control modulation (eg, the swell of string patches) but I cannot figure out how for example to do something similar with say Expression.   

You can dig my site for some info, I put near everything I know about the topic there. The link is in my signature.
 
A kind of self advertising... but I am not selling anything
 

Have you done any research at all about integrating the Nektar Panorama with Sonar, or are you just ready to move on to another board?
 
If you're interested in the former, maybe it would be worthwhile asking if there are any other Panorama users here working with Sonar?  Just a thought....

Nektar has programmed support for Impact, so they know how it works. You can find statements like "they have a preset for SONAR" in this forum, but that is incorrect. They have written separate plug-in, like ACT MIDI or Mackie. We can only guess why they do not do the same for Panorama. They spread quite some "fog" around dedicated support for specific DAWs inside the device.
 
It looks like CW is targeting touch devices as the way to control SONAR. I guess they follow majority wishes by that.
 
The only "up to date" support exists for (discontinued!) VS700 only (I want to be wrong).

JonD
Have you done any research at all about integrating the Nektar Panorama with Sonar, or are you just ready to move on to another board?
 
If you're interested in the former, maybe it would be worthwhile asking if there are any other Panorama users here working with Sonar?  Just a thought....

Yes, a bit and I find nothing that gives me a real place to start.  The thing about my Panorama P1 and Reason is that the support is built into it by the install and subsequent updates.  It literally was designed for Reason and Cubase.  The only thing I can imagine is that someone may have taken the time and trouble to create their own mappings butas I said up front, I am a noobie and that may not even be possible.

Looking at the Akai Advanced 25 gives me hope, but the Nektar LX49/61 looks like it would fill the bill too.  I guess SONAR supports touch screens, is that right?  If it does,m aybe I ought to consider upgrading from Windows 7 to 8 and getting a 27 inch touch screen monitor?  Something to consider, although I guess that would run me $800 and up.

I can always just use my mouse and keyboard with what I already have which is working so far lol

I have Roland/Cakewalk APro 500, Reason 8 and Sonae X3PE. The APro series is designed to integrate with Sonar and it's ACT function within Sonar is excellent. You can change from channel strip control of panpot/fader to prochannel EQ or included synths and effects just by focusing on them, no programming required. You can always control 8 channel at a time and move to different channel with the WAI(where am I) function. 
 
It's weakness however is poor documentation and as a result it is difficult to reprogram and it's template and integration with other DAW are in question. I had tried Ableton Live and it was disappointing. 
 
Reason 8 however had a template with APRO. Reason would detect APRO driver and if you choose APRO has your master keyboard, Reason would ask your to engage the ACT button on APRO. The PLAY, STOP and RECORD button work very well. However the FF and REW are not linked (but I can program Reason to do that easily)and PAUSE is set to loop instead. 
 
It really shines when I switched from one synth to a another. The APRO knobs and faders are linked to the most important parameter filters and resonance. ACT would allow you to switch control of different synth without any programming. I am so sure however ACT was linked to the mixer, when I tried reason today it was not linked. I am still new to reason and have not fully tested it yet.
 
That's my experience. So, my verdict is APro's integration with Sonar 9/10 and with Reason 6/10.