I am trying to rearrange a complex song right now... it SUCKS... This I feel is the most important issue on the docket... 
 
While I love and live Sonar, I am trying to break free a chunk of vacation time to properly demo both cubase and S3... I am doing so much songwriting now, this is becoming very important to me...
 
Hope this is getting attention among the bakers... any composer these days wants to play with the arrangements... this is the # 1 suggestion yet and other DAWs are on it.  Pleeeeeeeze!!!

Recently I've been on a songwriting binge and I now want this feature bad enough that I'm going to spend a month with S3 in demo mode... fortunately, I also have the groove 3 30 day all access freebe to get me up to speed... The time I'm spending trying to tweak things I could be working ($) so I figure having two DAWs for awhile until the bakers step up might just be what the universe ordered... Despite the overwhelming support from users for this idea it appears to be in limbo and I'm at a point where I want this and it's worth the money to get it... I just hate the idea of learning another DAW...arrrrrg!
 
Wish the bakers would chime in on this one... seems so fundamental to all composers and the two biggest userbases... cubase and S3 now have it... 
 

For the last three or four months I've been learning to get my head around Logic Pro. Both Logic and Sonar have things they do better than each other, but one of the first things that struck me about Logic is how incredibly useful the arranger track is to anyone who combines the process of creation ("writing") and arranging into one so finds themselves wanting to shift entire sections around.

Logic's implementation isn't perfect because changing an arranger area's length also affects the audio/MIDI clips ("regions" in Logic-speak) the arranger marker covers by also adjusting their length, which is sometimes desirable and sometimes not. It's still a very, very useful feature though.

As for (as near as possible) seamlessly re-arranging sections on the fly for live performance use, I see that more as the kind of thing Live is good at and maybe Sonar's matrix view could be focussed on.

Vastman
Wish the bakers would chime in on this one... seems so fundamental to all composers and the two biggest userbases... cubase and S3 now have it... 
 

Noel did chime in on page two, first stating that this has been something they've wanted to do for a while, but also (and maybe more importantly) asking about pure arranging vs. triggering arrangements in real-time.   I'm hoping that's an indication of things to come.   

Ah, yes, I remember... I think it's pretty evident most want Song arranging rather than live... both useful but for clients/composing... it's crucial...   
 
I've spent some time today defining regions and "removing the hole" which is ok but nothing like S3 in the vids I've watched... still, if Noel and the folk are working on this... especial a flexible timeline arranger system, I'd love to know... can wait a few if so and would rather NOT try to learn another DAW...

I would expect to see this suddenly in an update any time soon. Just because it is "popular" doesn't mean it is happening or give a potential end date (especially having been on the radar since 2006). Times come in life where decisions require reality and sense of urgency.

Well, Mettelus... the reality is... the bulk of customers these days are composers/songwriters/independent studios with clients all of whom want to explore arranging things... especially in today's environment... AND at least 3 DAWS now let us do this, with ONE DAW doing it really nice and intuitively... 
 
The fact that little ole me, who hates the idea of learning another DAW and loves Plt... is actually thinking of doing the ungodly to get this ability... is a reality that should engender a sense of urgency....
 
this isn't about "dude, I'd like different colors"... it's a fundamental aspect of creating music.  If Cake wants to build it's base rather than see people jump they should pay attention and let us know they are working on it... just watching the vids on arranging in S3 made me salivate... and I need to know it's being worked on... I'd call that urgent, if an "I love sonar" wanker like me is contemplating...

I am definitely not disputing any of that in any way. As someone who also has only every used SONAR, I certainly did not demo S3 because I was bored (3 months ago now). I did not buy S3, but the arrangement/scratch pad portions are definitely tempting. Short term I keep arranging to "nuts and bolts" only, which is easily manageable, but cringe at the thought of chopping/swapping sections in a final mix.
 
My original comment came from step sequencer issues I was having 2 years ago that cause me to get Geist. At that time I felt there should be no reason to have to (Cakewalk's roots are in MIDI, so should be the king of MIDI IMO). But in hindsight the time-pressure for "necessity" was actually good for me (since 2 years later, the issues that drove me to buy Geist still exist).
 
I guess was meant more as a dose of reality. Not that the issue is not huge (it is), but when will users actually see it?

I doubt it's coming anytime soon. If it were it would be listed here
https://www.cakewalk.com/.../SONAR/Rolling-Updates

mettelus
I am definitely not disputing any of that in any way. As someone who also has only every used SONAR, I certainly did not demo S3 because I was bored (3 months ago now). I did not buy S3, but the arrangement/scratch pad portions are definitely tempting. Short term I keep arranging to "nuts and bolts" only, which is easily manageable, but cringe at the thought of chopping/swapping sections in a final mix.
 
I guess was meant more as a dose of reality. Not that the issue is not huge (it is), but when will users actually see it?

well, that's the fundamental question to me...I've been with Sonar since 5 or 6 and have never used another DAW' if I knew it is being worked on to be rolled out in an evolving fashion (like the drum thingy that I've never used) I wouldn't bother trialing other DAWs... it ain't fun and aside from exploring rearranging/cutting/pasting potential song elements... I'm totally in heaven.  However, I now realize the importance of playing with arrangements and this overwhelms everything in my book... comping, track templates and a zillion other things are why I love sonar but playing with the flow of a song is so fundamental; and seeing it in action makes me realize how important it is... 
 
I would love to know I can look forward to this sometime this year.  It's got to be hurting sales of any DAW without this ability...S3 is screaming about this feature and how it works with their endless scratch pads... much like Plt's mix saves... and it resonates enough that I've watched every vid on the subject...I honestly find the thought of the huge effort to switch to be very yucky; yet arranging is very attractive and would change how I create significantly...while I'm an "oldy", it's gotta resonate with all new/young users trying to decide on a DAW and that's what Cake should be trying to attract.
 
Personally I find Plt much more eloquent in all respects, including visually... but arranging? It's laborious...it does NOT invite or encourage experimentation...I'm trying to talk myself out of spending time with DAWs that have this feature; but at some point I just gotta bite the bullet for lack of info on whether this is even being worked on here...