Just wondering what I would gain (or lose) by "upgrading" from my X3 Studio to, say, Sonar Professional.
 
John
 

I think nothing really, it just comes with less additional features. The core program is still the same. You would need to consider what is really worth losing in place of newer features. 

Hi. There has been a huge amount of fixes and new features since X3.
I would go for it, if I were you, and you have the funds.
Here are the new features added since X3.
http://www.cakewalk.com/Products/SONAR/Whats-New#start
Hope it helps.
All the best.

interpolated
I think nothing really, it just comes with less additional features. The core program is still the same. You would need to consider what is really worth losing in place of newer features. 

Incorrect.
 
He does not have Re-Matrix, Style Dials, Bark of the Dog Pro Channel, LP EQ, LP Multiband Compression, Adaptive Limiter, Rapture Session, Ripple Editing Mix Recall, Virtual Controler the ability to use Melodye to Create a Tempo map as a drag and drop into the time line (I think you can do this is Professional, I know you can in Platinum - need to check on that)
 
OP, look down this list and anywhere you see "Professional" then this is something you don't have as an X3 owner:
http://www.cakewalk.com/Products/SONAR/Whats-New#2017.06
 
 With the 50% off promo going on (and presumably your last chance to make the upgrade to without paying full price), you might really consider looking at the Platinum product.  

As others have pointed out, the newer generation has a lot more features. But what's harder to quantify is that it's overall a lot faster than the X series. Some of this is due to better code (e.g., faster mass copies and such), some due to functionality (e.g. Smart Swipe).

In hindsight I was comparing platinum to the professional version of the current software. Yes it's true that you get more features in platinum however the core program has most of the same stuff. I confess that i just went for the highest possible version of Sonar whenever I could. Same with all daw really.

jjdubs
Just wondering what I would gain (or lose) by "upgrading" from my X3 Studio to, say, Sonar Professional.
 
John
 

This page pretty much tells the whole story.  Lots has been added.  When I go back and open my X3, I am like wow, where is ... ???
 
http://www.cakewalk.com/legacy-upgrade

Thank you all for your replies.
 
Judging from my profile picture a person might deduce that I'm a musician. Well, I'm not. I just like "funnin' around." To be honest, many of the features I have now I never use. 
 
I wouldn't want to lose any instruments. I have a TTS-1 patch that I like a lot. I also have Rapture Pro.
 
But they say if it ain't broke, don't fix it. But at 50% off for Professional, I dunno. :-/
 
John

You will not loose any instruments or effects when upgrading to Professional.
 
TTS-1 is bundled with every version of SONAR. Even if it was not part of the new distribution, the version installed with X3 Studio works in Professional. 
 
Rapture Pro is a separate purchase that works with any DAW.

If you like Sonar period it should be a "no brainer", especially with the discount you would get!
I have early Sonar Professional 2016 up from X2 and X3 and I can't wait to get the current version just on the fact that it generates mp3 files!