I tried DP when it first became available for Win and it literally froze on startup and I wasn't ever able to even try it. It's good to know they've fixed it but I'm invested in Sonar to a great degree now so I have to wish CW could be as attentive to the needs of music-to-picture composers as DP.
 
I'm able to do it with Sonar but not without importing notation/midi from a separate program and stepping down video quality to import and work.
 
I really love Sonar as well as the culture of the users and creators, but I'm becoming more and more confused and disillusioned with the progress of new releases (see Rapture Pro) and troubleshooting every month's release.
 
If you would just like us notation and video folks to go away, well...

Anderton
I would never say anything negative about DP simply because I don't have anything negative to say about it. It's a fine program and I've known the people behind it for literally decades. It was never really my cup of tea, yet when I was exclusively part of "press world" MOTU always made sure I had the latest version, and I always made sure to cover it and learn about it so I could write about tips and techniques because I felt it deserved the attention...even more so after what Apple did, with dropping the price of Logic and pulling the rug out from under competing software companies.
 
Similarly I can see why some people love Cubase, Ableton Live, FL Studio, Pro Tools, Mixcraft, or whatever. Each has its own target audience. Jerry, you ARE DP's target audience. What you want is something DP does extremely well. Conversely, what I want is something SONAR does extremely well - handle a huge variety of projects. I couldn't imagine, for example, creating a sample library in any other program, or narration for that matter (except in Sequoia, the only DAW I know of that can do four-point broadcast editing). I don't experience crashes or even glitches, and really, I don't need to do workarounds because my needs are congruent with what SONAR delivers.
 
The one place where I will take issue with you is your belief that CW is "far more interested in adding new features than fixing bugs." Ther bug fix list from X3 to Platinum, and during the first three releases, is significant. Granted, fixes are based on community input, and as I mentioned, most people don't buy SONAR for the staff view so their concerns lie elsewhere. One of the main reasons for introducing the Membership Program was specifically so that fixes would occur continuously, not just for a few months and then have to be put aside to develop a new version. One of Cakewalk's main priorities is to make SONAR at least as stable as any other DAW, and this was seen as a better way to meet that goal. I think the past three months have shown that Cakewalk is very serious about addressing bugs and workflow issues that have accumulated over the years.
 
Of course, the price Cakewalk pays for concentrating on fixes is there will always be people who find the latest release "underwhelming" since the improvements are under the hood. Regardless, at least to me VocalSync is incredibly useful and the only way I could have gotten it was by subscribing to Adobe Audition, which has something similar, or paying far more than what the SONAR update costs for a third-party plug-in. Mix Recall has also been huge for me, as someone who needs to create multiple versions of mixes and remixes. Matrix View means I don't have to ReWire Ableton Live into SONAR...ARA is a future-oriented protocol that's not just about integrating Melodyne...and so on.
 
If there's one thing I've learned after working with multiple DAWs over decades, it's that you need to find the one that addresses your needs the best.

May each of us find happiness with our creativity and enjoy our brief stay on Earth.   150 years ago we didn't even have electric light bulbs.   What we have now to make music with is beyond astonishing.  When I graduated college with my music degree MIDI was still a year away.  

komposer
If you would just like us notation and video folks to go away, well...

I think Cakewalk probably wishes there was a simple and cost-effective solution to take care of both, preferably yesterday 
 
As to video, Microsoft did do a major overhaul to the underlying video engine (which SONAR adopted) but I get the feeling that Microsoft's work with it probably isn't done yet, and we'll have to wait until Windows 10 for the next step.

Anderton
Sorry, the second paragraph was a hypothetical of Image-Line saying someone complained because "they read in the SONAR forum that all updates are free." That's not exactly what you said, but is what someone might read it your post because that's what they want to read into it.

Hi Craig-
 
Well, that's not even close to what I said, let alone "exactly"! "FL Studio" isn't the same as "all Image-Line products," just as "SONAR" isn't the same as "all Cakewalk products."
 
I've been following the I-L forums for many, many years and they make their update policies very clear. The free lifetime upgrades for FL Studio is one of their main selling points and I don't think I've ever seen a post there confusing FL Studio with one of their other products.
 
Granted, the I-L forums are for registered users only, so maybe folks have complained elsewhere that I don't know about.
 
Thanks-
 
-Susan

I put in my 2cents about this issue a good while ago.  The notation in Pro Audio was pretty good. Since that version, CW, has decreased  notation to scraps and that hurt. When I bought Sonar X3, loaded everything, closed my eyes  I clicked on the notation staff, to find nothing's changed.  If anything , at least copy the Pro Audio notation version over to the latest upgrades.   While upgrades and fixes continue to rollout,  I still request  more programing would be put into Sonar notation. Notes and manuscripts are still the foundation of music.  Im baffeled why a music software slightly supports it.
 
As for writing, Im making due with X3, and  I also use Pro Tracks Audio for for that. Their files are  compatible with CW files and their program is very professional and affordable.  I love the Cord detection its a breeze. Just import a midi track and its adds editable cords and plays them back..

I have a buddy who raves about Digital Performer on his Mac, so I tried the demo for the Windows version when it first came out.  Like Komposer described a few posts above, it was so buggy I quickly uninstalled it.  Now I'll have to try the demo again. 
 
And why was I looking in the first place?  Staff view. 
 
I like to compose and especially edit using music notation.  Several here have posted how Cakewalk may already be losing future users in music schools, and apparently from this thread, there are some who may become past users as soon as they find an alternative that meets their needs better.  I hope the length of this thread and the number of users participating helps Cakewalk decide to move Staff View up in priority.  Maybe I am DP's target demographic, but I've been with Pro Audio and SONAR so long I really don't want to leave.
 

A while back I trawled through the posters to demonstrate how many were complaining since X1. Quite a lot of them stop posting, So I guess they many moved on. Staff View may not have been the factor, but likely in many cases a factor, especially those who said it was at that time. Back then Jerry was defending it, but over time his stance shifted and now he has joined them too.

Susan G
I've been following the I-L forums for many, many years and they make their update policies very clear. The free lifetime upgrades for FL Studio is one of their main selling points and I don't think I've ever seen a post there confusing FL Studio with one of their other products.
 
Granted, the I-L forums are for registered users only, so maybe folks have complained elsewhere that I don't know about.

Again I apologize for drifting off notation, but don't overthink this. You said FL Studio offers free lifetime upgrades. This is true. You know it, I know it, and people who've read the FAQ on the I-L site know it. I think the confusion arises because sometimes instruments are included in an FLS update and sometimes they're not. So just as some people here got totally bent out of shape because they thought a SONAR update meant a Rapture update, the same happens with other software. This also happened with Live when they brought out their FM synth concurrent with a Live update. And because Ensoniq provided a lot of free samples for their samplers, when they brought out ones that were for sale people felt that should get them for free. I could go on with the Air instruments for Pro Tools etc. etc. but you get the point. I'm sensitive to this because I've seen it happen often. Just because you know how to read doesn't mean the rest of the world does
 
So I wanted to make sure people didn't get the wrong impression, especially if they then attribute it to a forum run by a semi-competing manufacturer. This is why I quoted that section from the FAQ on the I-L site. That way no one could misread what was said.
 

riojazz
I have a buddy who raves about Digital Performer on his Mac, so I tried the demo for the Windows version when it first came out.  Like Komposer described a few posts above, it was so buggy I quickly uninstalled it.  Now I'll have to try the demo again. 
 
And why was I looking in the first place?  Staff view. 
 
I like to compose and especially edit using music notation.  Several here have posted how Cakewalk may already be losing future users in music schools, and apparently from this thread, there are some who may become past users as soon as they find an alternative that meets their needs better.  I hope the length of this thread and the number of users participating helps Cakewalk decide to move Staff View up in priority.  Maybe I am DP's target demographic, but I've been with Pro Audio and SONAR so long I really don't want to leave.
 

Same here, the first release for Windows was buggy, I took it off my computer as well.  But I never forgot the beautiful interface, the superior notation and the fact that it supports 64-bit and VSTs.  So I waited and downloaded it again last month.  This time I was resolved to find out what the MIDI issues were, I never found out for sure but my suspicion it was about USB, and not DP or my interfaces.  I bought a piece of software for $70 called MIDI over LAN (sending out midi data to second machine) and that not only fixed all the midi issues, it helped me to reduce the number of cables and interfaces in my studio.
 
There are two ways to look at scoring.  Some composers like working off an ordinary page, the way DP emulates it.  Some, including arrangers and orchestrators, like working off a large score pad (traditional, before computers), which is the way Sonar designed the notation graphics.  I like both approaches for different reasons, but if you are looking for better notation, DP is definitely much stronger in that department. 
 
The learning curve is definitely a factor. You have to really want to learn something new.  I was highly motivated so here I am, working on a new symphonic movement in a new DAW.  I think I took Sonar's complexity for granted because the keystrokes were in my muscle memory for so many years.  Learning a new DAW involves new muscle memory movements, but the basic concepts are the same in all DAWs with a notation editor.  Knowing one DAW well helps in learning another one, not in terms of keystrokes, but in terms of concept, functionality and implementation.
 
Jerry
www.jerrygerber.com
 

jsg

riojazz
I have a buddy who raves about Digital Performer on his Mac, so I tried the demo for the Windows version when it first came out.  Like Komposer described a few posts above, it was so buggy I quickly uninstalled it.  Now I'll have to try the demo again. 
 
 

Same here, the first release for Windows was buggy, I took it off my computer as well.  But I never forgot the beautiful interface, the superior notation and the fact that it supports 64-bit and VSTs.  So I waited and downloaded it again last month.  
Jerry
www.jerrygerber.com
 

Current DP version for windows is 8.07(sept 2014) still, which I ran in december.
 
All tuts crashed on me, but own projects worked fine.
Waves Element synth, scans but nowhere to be found for insert.
DDMF Metaplugin got both version Synth/effect as effect so nowhere to be inserted as synth - or I could load Element with Metaplugin, so fail again.
 
Dave was kind to let me trial twice 8.04 and 8.07, but still for me showstoppers.
Then it was scan of Magix Independent that hung and could not be used.
 
But will check DP9, unless Cakewalk announce something first for notation improvements.
I also like chunks idea in DP but for me Cubase style Arranger Tracks in Sonar would do as supplement.
I will try Insert Time in Sonar and see how well it works as a workaround.
 
I really want my full chain of events to notation if possible - for registration purposes of songs - with least amount of effort. And since I took drum lessons two years ago and learned to read drumscore, I realized the weakness of current daw treatment. Just about all beats I come up with are triplet based. And running daw as 12/8 and translate to 4/4 triplet score is a battle.