It's something I've more of less taken for granted. But the other day I was working on a song that had developed very rapidly, so I'd never turned on or tweaked the Console Emulators.
 
The song is very heavy rock. When I turned on the Console Emulators (thank you, Quick Grouping!) and they were applied to all tracks at once - instead of the usual "trickling in over time" that happens for most of my songs - it was really quite something. Everything became more defined. Although it was a subtle difference, it was an improvement nonetheless. This song seemed to be happiest with the A-Type, which I usually don't use as much as the other two.
 
Anyway, in case anyone else is taking the CE for granted, or not paying much attention to it, I think it's worth re-visiting.

I agree. I use it on every track and bus It really makes a huge difference in the overall sound. I love the different characters of each. I find the "N" to be the one I go to most often but I've found use for the "A" on a few tracks I've been working on and I'm digging the results.

The Console Emulator is built into all of my templates. I don't think about it much, but every now and then I"ll turn off all instances en masse, and the loss of depth & definition is noticeable. 

Never used console emulator much when it first got added to Sonar, seemed to mud up my clear mixes.
I did re-visit it . . . and found if I didn't crank it too much I learned to like it.
 
Now I have console emulator included in my "Normal" project startup template, but don't have it turned on.
Don't think it uses much CPU just having it there in OFF position ?
When I turn it on, I mostly like to keep it subtle, especially if the mix is fairly thick already, as it does seem to add more warmth in low mid frequencies, which is not always a good thing.
 
I definitely prefer to add it after a mix is more developed, instead of having it on from the start of mixing.
 
What year did they add the console emulator ? When I opened an older project from 2009 (into X3e), the console emulator is already "pre-inserted" on all audio tracks in the off position. How cool is that.

I think it's excellent, but I never use it in the way Craig describes. More like Melmyers, I just have it on, and mix into it. Did a bit of dabbling, and have largely stuck to the SSL model withe the drive set flat. I have "Tol" switched on on all channels, which I suspect is the most important bit of what makes it work.

I intend to make some time to properly investigate the other models, but it does useful and interesting things just set to its defaults, I think. Quietly, one of the best features Sonar has.

I have to deal with various DAWs, and I think Sonar with a fully loaded pro channel is absolutely the best console view you can buy. You could arguably cook up something even better with 3rd party stuff in some other DAW. But right out of the box, PC /  console view is a astonishingly good mix platform, both soundwise and ergonomics-wise.
 

hmmm....have to checkitout...-S

I seem to use the "SSL" model more than the other two, I do believe it gives a certain clarity to my mixes. May be all in my head but, like they say, "perception is reality". heh

I tend to use the "N" setting with drive on about 2 and tolerance on when I want a more vintage sound. I usually leave it off across the board for more squeaky, clean modern vibe.

rscain
I seem to use the "SSL" model more than the other two, I do believe it gives a certain clarity to my mixes. May be all in my head but, like they say, "perception is reality". heh

It's not all in your head, there are measurable and quantifiable differences. I took various measurements and wrote up an article describing these in Sound on Sound.
 
One of the main characteristics is audio transformer emulation. As I've mentioned before, another use of the Console Emulator is with bass by turning up the controls beyond what you'd normally use and getting a little bit of "growl" in there.