I have used the producer editions of Sonar for years but am starting to question why do to the fact tat I rarely, if in fact ever, use any of the bundled plugins or synths.  Most of the plugs I use are 3rd party and will continue to be so for the future eg:
 

• All Waves plugins
• All Steven Slate plugins
• Sylenth, Nexus, Rob Papens synths etc
• Addictive Drums 2 with every library and kit available, BFD3
• Full Kontakt and 2TB of Kontakt instrument libaries

I have never used any of the Nomad plugins other than to open them to test them once and then instantly dismiss them compared to Waves. I think I have used Dim Pro very occasionally and non of the other synths eg lounge lizard, etc.  I occasionally use the pro channel EQ as I like the visual spectrum analyzer built in and the softtube overdrive.
 
The basic questions are:
 
1) do I really need to pay for the producer edition when the next version comes out bearing in mind I can't see me ever using any free bundled plugins after I have spent $Thousands on slate and waves etc.

2) Could I get away with just the studio edition but still have all the functionality bearing in mind I don't want to clutter my system with what I consider fatware bundles that I will never use
 
3) Am I actually using the right DAW as it does frustrate me a little that Sonar seems very driven around the pro channel?  The effects bin is very small and can get frustrating when using say 6 plugins per track.  However i recently started taking advantage of FX chains which I think are great and save a lot of time, are they a Sonar specific feature or do most DAW's have similar features?
 

You can probably get away with the middle version, which, if I'm not mistaken, has all the functionality of Pro (including the PC) but fewer bells and whistles.  There is a comparison page between the SONAR levels - use that to fine tune.
 
Remember you can do a custom install and only put into your hard drive that which you need from SONAR.  If you don't need DimPro, you don't have to install it.
 
I'm not familiar with all the other DAWs but if you are talking about presets of effects (like FX chains) most have them for the VSTs.  I'm not sure about some of the mix functions like gain you can place internally, tho.  You just bundle the VSTs into sequence and save that combo as a "preset."  Sound Forge and Vegas works this way.

It appears the OP has a very high opinion of third party plugins and a low opinion of CW and the plugins that CW bundles. That is a mistake. Further if The OP were paying full price for an upgrade he/she may find it more economical to go with Studio but that is not the case. We all have a discount when upgrading and in most upgrades the cost is nowhere near the value we get.  
 
CW offers very high quality plugins that do very well compared to others from third party developers. It is a huge mistake to dismiss them because one hasn't paid a huge amount for them. Look at they're worth without being prejudiced by they're cost.      

Sorry John but I prejudice with my ears not perceived cost or not. The CW bundle stuff doesn't even come close to the third party stuff I use.

That's not to say they are bad, as a bundled offering they are very good, just that they are no where near as good as the other stuff I use.

You are right about the upgrade costs, relatively speaking they are very small. However as explained, I just use the core engine or Sonar, (which in the main I love) and don't want to clutter my very clean machine with bundled 3rd party plugins eg Nomad and Applied Acoustics that I will never use.

If there is the option not to install any of them during Sonar installation then the problem goes away

P-Theory

If there is the option not to install any of them during Sonar installation then the problem goes away

SONAR Studio, I think, is what you want. The only difference from Producer is that Producer has the Xtra stuff, like extra softsynths and audio effects. With Studio, you will have all the functionalty of Producer. You just wont get the extra softsynths and effects plug ins. And it will cost less. However, in the case with SONAR X3, the Quadcurve EQ Zoom is only included with Producer version and this is the EQ Zoom that has the built-in spectrum analyzer, which you say you like. It just happens to be a feature of one of the effects categories of extras.

Ok thanks as the reative saving is pretty small I'll probably stick with producer and not install the 3rd party stuff

Although other DAWs offer preset combinations of plug-ins, FX chains have the unique attribute of letting you create macros via knobs and buttons, and bringing them to a unified front panel. No other DAW does this. I've created both extremely complex and extremely simple FX chains, for example, a rotating speaker emulator FX chain with controls for rotor speed, preamp drive, room ambience, etc. And of course the parameters are all automatable.
 
You can use the FX chains in the ProChannel, which is great. So any third party VST can be a ProChannel module. The ProChannel's unified interface, which concentrates everything in a single hideable channel strip, is ideal for mixing when you don't want to have a lot of open FX windows.
 
As to the bundled plug-ins, if you've spent thousands of dollars on Waves, Kontakt, etc. then you already have what you need. Still, nothing does quite what Rapture does with its orgy of step-sequencing options (and it's ideal for MIDI guitar if you're into that). There are some hidden gems, like the Sonitus Modulation and Wah effects, Blue Tubes Oil Can echo, Sonitus multiband that's suitable as a crossover for multiband processing, several of the Dimension Pro expansion packs (apart from Kontakt's Scarbee basses I didn't like any basses and had no 5-string samples, so I made an EB 5-string expansion and now it's the only bass I use for pop), etc. A couple of the ProChannel EQ curves are unique, and while nothing beats a Waves maximizer, the Concrete Limiter has a certain je ne sais quoi on drums that no other plug-ins has.
 
I have all the Waves plug-ins, Komplete, all the Arturia synths, almost everything from Universal Audio, Reason to rewire their cool instruments into SONAR, etc. But I use a the bundled plug-ins at least 50% of the time because a) I don't use that many plug-ins anyway other than EQ and dynamics, 2) I can customize exactly what I want with effects chains, 3) I can do cool things with the SFZ-based instruments because of the flexibility of SFZ scripting. With all the plug-ins I have, there are certain favorites that stand out and the rest, I don't use...that goes for all manufacturers. But there are a lot of gems in Cakewalk's package.

It doesn't matter what you use. You use what ever get you the sound you want. If that happens to be using a 3rd party plugin or one that comes with Sonar. It just doesn't matter. You realize that you and everyone else probably only uses 5% of all of Sonar's included features and that number is probably lower.
 
The tools you use doesn't really matter. What matters is how you use them. You can give 10. You can make professional sounding great music with Sonar's included plugins and you can me the same with 3rd party plugins. 
 
Cj

I also don't like to spend unnecessary money on software extras.  I prefer to spend it on analog hardware coming in and going out, which makes it kind of moot what I use in-the-box.  Tone and color (and basic limiting of bandwidth and amplitude) come from the hardware.
 
@

Not disagreeing with anything you are saying Craig but to CJ's point it is far more effective to invest time learning a few plugins well to get the most from them which is what I've done with the waves and kontakt stuff.

I do use elements of the pro channel modules but they would be even more effective for me if I could put then after the fx bin and use them for final check and balance and very subtle coloration.

I do like the layout of the pro channel a lot, I just wish the fx bin was bigger and was able to be routed to be the first element in the pro channels signal chain.

Non of these are currently show stoppers and one mans wine might be another mans poison when it comes to workflow. I merely asked people's opinions on this very informative and supportive forum which each another huge plus for Sonar as far as I'm concerned