Having DAW-hopped myself on occasion, I can tell you that it is not greener. Every DAW is broken, missing feature, or does something in a really obtuse way.  It really boils down to what you can get used to and put up with that still does everything you need it to do.
 
Good luck!
 
Dan

terryj
...in more and more cases, the recording hardware now available , such as keyboards, controller surfaces etc are not compatible with the Sonar software because they fail to update it...When i look at the hardware out there that I may be interested in, nothing seems to be entirely compatible with Sonar...Anyway I think that if Sonar is not interested in being compatible with the majority of recording hardware on the market then maybe they have little future.

Have you really come across a keyboard that's incompatible with SONAR? 
 
I'd also be curious to know about other recording hardware that's not compatible.
 

 I'd bet people who make a lot of money off their music only change DAWs because they exhausted their needs before moving on.  I'm sure there are DAWs that can do more than Pro Tools but I doubt any engineer is going to switch because the familiarity is right there. Time is money for some and that excludes learning another DAW. So many are apples and oranges.  I think Studio One is one of the easiest DAWs to transition.    The best bang for buck DAW is Reaper and it goes really deep if one takes the time.  I've come across many dropping DAWs such as Cubase for Reaper.

kitekrazy1
 I'd bet people who make a lot of money off their music only change DAWs because they exhausted their needs before moving on.  I'm sure there are DAWs that can do more than Pro Tools but I doubt any engineer is going to switch because the familiarity is right there. Time is money for some and that excludes learning another DAW.

Such category of people will not buy Behringer Motör to find it is incompatible with something. They will go for NI S61/88 (Roland / Akai) or Kawai VPC1. And place MCU PRO+XT / Avid in the near.
(just to remind, the thread about "incompatible" devices)
 

So many are apples and oranges.  I think Studio One is one of the easiest DAWs to transition.    The best bang for buck DAW is Reaper and it goes really deep if one takes the time.  I've come across many dropping DAWs such as Cubase for Reaper.

I am a studio noob and not play in public. But I have already learned that different DAWs have different application areas. Many "pro" in this forum use several DAWs. For live use there is Live, for mixing there is Sonar, for stability and customization there is Reaper. And that is far from complete nor fixed list.
 
As suggested by a friend (noob to noob advise), I have Waveform now. And while I feel comfortable inside Sonar, from everything I have tested, Waveform is probably the only DAW which can be recommended to newcomers into computer music, because that is the only DAW which interface follows common sense (left to right, top to bottom, in progress what is required to get the sound...).

azslow3
I have Waveform now.

So do I.  I find it quite inspiring to begin creating sounds in.  It is very intuitive to setup a few tracks and get started with, as the workflow doesn't seem to get in the way.
 
The new MIDI creative tools in Waveform are also very cool to work with.  I think this will become my go-to scratchpad for new ideas!

I'm investing in Sonar's future.
I've used it since 2003-ish, and it does exactly what I need.  And from what I've learned in this forum, it will likely supercede my expectations if I choose to get adventurous in a new direction.
The respected producer/engineer that I work with often says exactly the same about his MOTU Digital Performer DAW.
 
if I was buying a new keyboard or controller, I would do a lot of internet research to make sure that it was compatible with whatever DAW I was using.  Research would also show the deficiencies with each combination, so I could see what I can live with and without.  As such, I've never had the "surprises" that came up with the Behringer.
 

I'm getting rid of my Toyota Camry XLE because the 2017 Delorean doors won't fit it properly.  Every time I press the button for the custom doors to rise open, they fall off of my Camary.  

you really want to read hate and ignorance? Go to GS/KVR/etc and read the negative posts about Sonar AND our forums . more than half the comments are from parrot heads and sheep who never owned a piece of Cake software or if they did it was an early version with, understandably, issues.
 
They lambast users on our forums as fanboys and mean and cruel to negative comments, BUT!!!!
if you read the original negative comments they are NOT in a constructive fashion but biased,conjecture, aand not based on actual results but instead, opinions.
 
Yes SOnar products are not for everyone, some workflows dont fit .OK thats fine, just say " it doesnt work for me" thank you for the fish, and move on...
 
But no, they have to be drama queens and get their 15 minutes of social media fame by posting fluff ( I blame the likes of Facebook and their ilk for fostering this self centered  attitude)
 
/rant off

Ham N Egz
you really want to read hate and ignorance? Go to GS/KVR/etc and read the negative posts about Sonar AND our forums . more than half the comments are from parrot heads and sheep who never owned a piece of Cake software or if they did it was an early version with, understandably, issues.
 
They lambast users on our forums as fanboys and mean and cruel to negative comments, BUT!!!!
if you read the original negative comments they are NOT in a constructive fashion but biased,conjecture, aand not based on actual results but instead, opinions.
 
Yes SOnar products are not for everyone, some workflows dont fit .OK thats fine, just say " it doesnt work for me" thank you for the fish, and move on...
 
But no, they have to be drama queens and get their 15 minutes of social media fame by posting fluff ( I blame the likes of Facebook and their ilk for fostering this self centered  attitude)
 
/rant off

Agreed ... except for that last part.  Forks/spoons/knives don't make me gain weight.  Just sayin'!
 
 

kitekrazy1
 I'd bet people who make a lot of money off their music only change DAWs because they exhausted their needs before moving on.  I'm sure there are DAWs that can do more than Pro Tools but I doubt any engineer is going to switch because the familiarity is right there. Time is money for some and that excludes learning another DAW.

As it happens, most, maybe all DAWs can do more than ProTools once you go beyond the capabilities of e.g. Garagebend or some of the "introductory" versions of other DAWs. Especially regarding MIDI, where ProTools was well behind the curve for a long time. The first 64bit DAW was SOnar, not ProTools, and ProTools has limits in some areas that other's don't. I think you're quite right that the main reason many studios have hung on to Pro Tools is familiarity. Another factor, less important now perhaps, is that until relatively recently ProTools only worked with very specific and very expensive hardware but because of that there was a high degree of certainty it would work and just in case it didn't you took out a support contract. So once that investment was made it made sense to get the maximum value out of it.

ProTools was also very early into the market, and promised a workflow familiar to engineers used to working with tape. So many studios chose it when shifting from tape to digital, or even while still recording to tape but wanting to be able to do non-destructive editing by copying the tape into PT, working on the audio then re-recording it to tape.

Which in turn lead to ProTools becoming a de-facto "industry standard" and some musicians even now mistakenly thinking a studio isn't "pro" if it doesn't use ProTools.

As for hardware compatability with DAWs, outside Avid stuff for Pro Tools and some of the dedicated Live controllers there's sometimes quirks and workarounds involved. Logic, for example, can handle most things easily enough except 12-bit MIDI NRPNs which are handled horribly in comparision to Sonar.

But if a hardware manufacturer says "this product is 100% plug-and-play compatible with DAW X" and it isn't, that's the fault of the hardware manufacturer, not the fault of the DAW builder. Sure, Sonar could do with some work on the controller side of things, but even then there'll still be "100% Mackie compatible" controllers which aren't, or "Built for DAW X" hardware that needs work-arounds and has bugged firmware. Which is why it's always a good idea to research what hardware can do in the real wrld before parting with money.

Sometimes spotting what the manufacturer doesn't say can be more important than what they do say as well.