I'm looking into buying a touchscreen monitor (24") for my home studio and checking out various models. 
 
Are there any touchscreen users who can give me some feedback on their overall experience working with Sonar Platinum (and since the improvements from the latest update) and which brand/model they would recommend?
 
Thanks guys!
 
 

Hey a fellow Habs fan (?)
Touch screen is still fairly disappointing here. The more recent "fixes" appear to me to be all centred around using an active stylus - all very Surface Pro. A cheap passive stylus won't work. I bought a 27" 10 point touchscreen monitor a few years ago and haven't really used it within SONAR since (I use it for primary display, and for touch (mostly picture viewing and editing) outside of SONAR.
The biggest deficiency is the fact that so many things are not supported - like right click. The only way you can use touch in SONAR is in a very narrow way where touch works for somethings, and the mouse or keyboard shortcuts are available to augment in some way. Maybe an active stylus would also add an advantage specific to piano roll view editing, etc. It would be nice if staff view worked well to use an active stylus for editing there. I just think it is a disjointed way to work where you don't know what you should be reaching for after a while. I think mixing in console view is the natural expectation for users. But the fact that you still need to rely on the mouse makes the whole thing not worth the trouble. I just use the mouse. I am personally not investing anymore in touch for SONAR until the technology gets better implemented with a workflow that makes sense (for me). Others have reported they use touch in SONAR for things like collaboration within projects so your experience could be considerably different than mine has been. I am happy that Cake has gone back to touch and appears to have some level of renewed interest in improving it. Would love to see continued development there.
(Go Habs)
 
Brando

I'd go for a larger touchscreen, if you can, although 24 is a wee bit bigger than mine.  And I just upgraded to the last version of Cake, so I haven't checked out the new features.  But in general, "touch" is great for many functions, but it is not a replacement for the computer keyboard (I hate having to try to type without tactile feedback) or as precise as a mouse.  You'll still need to use both of those.  I prefer a synth keyboard to Cake's virtual controller, but it certainly works.  You can do a lot with touch, but it shouldn't be thought of as the sole input device.  I keep my keyboard on my lap and mouse within reach.
 
But hopefully touch will continue to be integrated into SONAR, so it can be the main input device.  Except for typing.  With touch, it would be great if most Cake controls you touched could "fly out" to be larger.  They are going to have to continue to improve and probably re-jigger the interface for easier touch control before it can become the primary method of control.

Ive been checking these out myself. Dell has a 24 inch for 299.99.
Hoping to explore some of the touch/pen features within sonar.

Often wondered about these screens, but for me, I would have to get to darn close to use them, as I got short arms
But if I did get one, I would agree with AT and get a bigger one.. maybe 27" if its in your budget.

It is really a matter of making software more touch-friendly.  Cake continues to improve here.
 
The other problem is price of the size of the screen.  More people buying means more choices.  The dell listed above is about 2.5 inches (1 C) bigger than the Dell I bought for the same price - about 2 years ago.  Do the math for a 27 inch model.

AT
It is really a matter of making software more touch-friendly.  Cake continues to improve here.
 
The other problem is price of the size of the screen.  More people buying means more choices.  The dell listed above is about 2.5 inches (1 C) bigger than the Dell I bought for the same price - about 2 years ago.  Do the math for a 27 inch model.

Can you use a pen with yours AT ? (take advantage of Sonars new pen features) 
Or is that basically only with a surface pro ?
I totally agree with you, they wont replace a control surface or a keyboard and mouse.
But they do offer a lot of great features to make the job easier.

Chuck,
I've got a stylus for my old Samsung tablet but I don't run SONAR on it.  But a stylus could help with the size problem.
 
I try to integrate touch into my workflow as I can, and as touch develops it will be the primary input.  It is pretty cool already with the Alchemy pads, and I need to program a patch to take advantage of touch in Rapture's pad, too.  

There are pens for al sorts of touch screens. Doesn't have to be an MS Surface. I can't remember exactly whether the write up on touch is in the last Tech&Music or the Cakewalk blog but it's a great primer on what's available.

Best practice at the moment I think is, using a combination of Touch screen, Bluetooth Stylus and a wireless keyboard (qwerty).

Edit. See the May Tech+Music for its article on Touch in Sonar.

The tech + music write up was great. I just wish it touched more on the compatibility.
 
""Before buying any pen, “ask the internet” to find what will work best with your system.""
 
But I understand there is only so much to cover in tech + music. its just a intro to the new features (covers them well though). So I will do some soul searching.