Hell everyone, God bless you all and thank you for taking the time to read my post here!
 
I am using Sonar Professional latest version. Although considering the latest changes in Cakewalks upgrade policies I find myself thinking that rather than spending $499 dollars to upgrade from Sonar Pro to Platinum, that I might be better off to upgrade by spending currently $449 dollars on a Boss BR 800 which has Cosm effects and I could use it as an Audio interface with my Sonar Pro also. But the thing is, from what I understand, if you record DIRECTLY to the device it is 16 BIT/44KHZ recording, if you go THROUGH the device and use it as an interface then it can be/Depending on your settings 24/48000 KHZ recording?  24/48 recording is very important to me, using the daw all by itself that is. 
 
The BR 800 has the COSM effects for guitar and bass and vocals, and I used to have a BR 1600 and I loved the sound of those. 
 
Here's the thing, the Zoom R24 seems to be about 50 dollars higher, but considering what it is offering it seems superior except in on particular aspect, and that is that I can't seem to find anything mention as to whether it has "GUITAR AND BASS RECORDING EFFECTS???". Meaning If I wanna plug my electric guitar into it or bass or microphone, I have no idea as to what the options are, and considering I can't find any demo's on You tube then I am assuming that it probably doesn't have anything close to the COSM effects that the BOSS BR 800 has? 
 
The Zoom R24 mentions right away that it it can record native 24 bit on the unit itself. 
 
It may be a while before I can come up with the money to buy either unit. But I am asking for my own future reference and to help others who might ask the same questions as I am now. 
 
Some things I would like to know if anyone knows about the BOSS BR 800 and ZOOM R24 is that if you record a Track "If the ZOOM HAS GUITAR EFFECTS?", can you go back and CHANGE THOSE EFFECTS like you would using a normal DAW and a VST being added Later if you want to? Or are you stuck with those recorded sounds on the UNIT, and by that I mean NOT CONNECTED TO A PC DAW?
 
The ZOOM R 24 seems to be all about MONO TRACKS. I wonder if the BOSS BR 800 is the same? 
 
One last question, and this is not for me because I already own Sonar PRO. I wanted to ask for those who might purchase a Boss BR 800 : "I saw a video saying that the Sonar LE version that comes with the unit only functions for 30 days, it give the impression that it would stop working after that. I believe what they meant perhaps is that it was a trial version of the platinum and would revert to the LE version after 30 days if not purchased???". Like I said that question was not for me but for others. 
 
Either way. Like I said, I am using Sonar Pro, and I can't see spending 499 dollars to upgrade what I already have when I could buy the BOSS BR800 or ZOOM R24 and use either for the same amount of money basically ya know. 
 
Currently, I have  Line 6 Toneport KB37 as my audio interface. Although I would like the ability to have something to take on the road to work with and use with my PC/DAW, but sometimes you don't always have a PC around. SO by comparison FOR ME the guitar COSM effects are great.
 
THOUGHTS on this? Opinions? I've read some bad reviews on the ZOOM R24, but very few on the BOSS BR 800. The only BAD review I have read on the BOSS BR800 is where someone said you could no longer edit or copy/paste/cut tracks using the unit ALONE by itself and according to them a cheaper unit COULD do that. 
 
THoughts? Thank you all in advance!
 
God bless you all! :-) 
 

I still own the Zoom R24 and I used it for years. It does record stereo if you want. 
The effects you speak of are not good on the R24 IMO. It has some decent EQ but really, if you record in the field, which it really does a great job at, then you just keep from clipping and transfer the stems to your DAW later. 
I will allow bouncing tracks internally and all but I can't imagine using it in place of a DAW. 
For that reason, if you don't need to do multi-mic live recording but maybe just 8 mics at the most (since that is how many mic inputs the R24 has), then it might be nice. 
If you don't even need that many mic ins, then I recommend another audio interface because it doesn't have stellar low latency like you might get elsewhere. 
It really worked well for me and then I upgraded to a Steinberg UR44 which is much better for DAW work. 
Many on this site like the Focusrite and Tascam offerings. 
I would not buy the Boss unit for the EFX. You can add hardware EFX in your chain or use VST's like Guitar Rig or Amplitube. When you do that, you want no latency monitoring for sure. 
 
Those are my quick thoughts. 
Good luck!
 

I have also had an R24 for a coupla years or so.
 
Yes, there are goodies for bass as well as guitar.  The guitar/bass sims are insert FX, IIRC, so they aren't printed until you bounce.  It has cool features, but honestly the only way I ended up using it is remotely standalone two or three times a year.
 
As an interface, RT latency is on the edge of unusable.  Only 2 OUTs too.  It would be a cool CS, but non-motorized faders and bank switching that a PITA.  I never bothered with the sampler features.
 
I get occasional use out of it, but I won't replace it if/when it dies.
 
Standalone it works well enough, but it's not as straight forward as you would assume.  You have to use the track sequencer to set the start points of audio tracks unless you start recording every track at 0 - which can waste a lot of storage space (and time).  Don't get me wrong, the track sequencer is cool once you get the hang of it.  But it is another step to get your head around.  If you wander away from 4/4 it can get fiddly too.
 
As I don't use the CS, interface or sampler functions, I would prolly go with a BR800 or TASCAM SD recorder if I decided to replace it.

I have a BR800 and have used it on occasion for an interface.  For an interface, its kinda clunky with stuff buried in menus.  It has RCA outs for monitors.  The effects are ok.  I was never able to record into Sonar using the onboard mics.
 
If it were me, I'd look at getting a proper interface as opposed to a digital recorder that doubles as one.

Hi Bobby,
 
I use (and have used for years) a Boss BR-8 for the COSM FX and guitar modelling/amp sims. Like you, I love the sound of those units. I also have a Digitech RP55 but I've never quite warmed to it.
 
My path is; guitar > Boss BR-8 > Focusrite 2i4 > Sonar Professional.
 
Instead of spending a lot of money on a BR-800, and if you're just after the guitar sounds and don't intend recording into the unit, why not think about a Boss Micro-BR80, or a secondhand BR-8 or BR80? I replaced my original BR-8 a few years ago, cost me the equivalent of about $140 on EBay.
 
Then again, Boss have FX pedals which include the COSM FX...