As far as a DAW best fit for me goes ? I'm going with the glass is currently half full
 
10 months ago when an unexpected hurricane of high winds combined with a tsunami of Gibson corporate turds hit land fall and wiped out my beloved Splat ,  I wound up getting Studio One 3 Pro w Notion as my main cross grade away from my former lifetime membership Gibson branded DAW ...
 
I already had Samplitude Pro X 2 which I bumped up to Pro X Suite 3 .  I had Tracktion 7 which I bumped up to Waveform 9 . I already had Mixcraft 8 Pro ( same version is still current )   I had  SONY Acid Pro 7 which I bumped up to Acid Pro 8 .
To round things out I had a few other little ditty's Like Ableton Live 9 intro , Mixbus 4 and various other Magix and Sony audio and video products  ...
 
I tried my best to like Studio One . BTW, I'm not looking to pick a fight w anyone or anything , but for me personally I had to put it up on the shelf for now ...I have no desire to effing deal with it . I know it's great but for me I'm not bonding w it  so for all you guys that use it and dig it Hey you have my blessing 
 
I bounced over to Reaper for a while since I had it and I also started messing around w Tracktion Waveform 8 & 9 .
I found that both of those 2 DAW's are very potent in the features and functionality dept but I always felt as if I was always trying to learn how to do something I already knew ..but in these 2 DAW's I needed a language class to be able to speak to their strong functions in a way where the DAW would do what I was looking to do / accomplish .
Samp , Ableton Live intro  , Acid Pro , and Mixbus  I had been using for a while on and off so it was no big thing to just continue along and use them when I had the need to or the desire ...
 
When Cakewalk by Bandlab first came out I was a little gun shy at first . Part of me felt it may have been too good to be true ...
The thing is , I'm no Anderton over here so I don't know enough yet to be dangerous but I do have a solid 12 to 13 years of having used a Cakewalk DAW as my primary DAW through out all that time .
When Meng and Bandlab threw out the lifesaver of granting me  a replacement for SPlat I grabbed the life preserver and claimed my right to make and create music using a DAW that I felt comfortable with ...
Admittedly I can say that I am only as good with Cakewalk by Bandlab as I was with Splat only because I knew how to do X Y Z in SPlat so that means I know how to do X Y Z in Cakewalk by Bandlab ...to do more , means I have to learn more too do more
 
After these 10 or 11 months that have passed , where do I stand ?
A big part of me does not want to throw all my eggs in one basket and focus only on home recording  using a DAW.
My preference has always been to focus on my playing first , keeping that end of things fresh while learning how to use a DAW and getting better w the tech end of things there ....
I'm pretty much using Cakewalk by Bandlab these days  . I have to say I'm very impressed with how well it is performing as a whole . I still have Splat on a few computers so it has been very easy for me to compare and see a noticeable performance increase in Cakewalk by BandLab VS SPlat ...
Overall I'm pretty happy that I can choose to stick with a DAW i know to a degree and have some chops on ...
I'm also happy with the performance and the current development strategy  Bandlab has taken ...
As far as some of the other guys / DAW's I'm seriously considering bumping up my Ableton Live to Live 10 Standard ..
other than that it has been nice talking w you guys
all the best ,
 
Kenny
 
 
 
 
 

For those new to this thread take note it was originated quite awhile ago at the tail end of the great Gibson hurricane.
The only reason the subject matter was kicked around here in the first place. Looking at different daws isn't something we generally did unless it was to augment and not replace...though some did go to different daws. Some of them wanted to. Most felt they needed to. The future then was uncertain. Projects still needed to go out.
 
During that time I bought Mixcraft 8 and Ableton 10. I already had all the plugins that came with Platinum so I was pretty well set. I already had Studio One prior to augment CbB. Someone mentioned the competition between Cubase and Cakewalk. I personally think there was more going on between Studio One and Cakewalk. I think we still see it. V4 just got slip editing.
 
Here's my quick take on these daws-
 
Mixcraft- Highly underrated. Lots of content and instruments Makes a great program to work with  loops in. The Sonic Foundry association isn't smoke. There's some concrete stuff in there that makes loop workflow nice. 
 
Ableton- Meh. I love what it does but I have never been comfortable living in it. If you need tracks for live work look nowhere else. They moved fast to cut out 32 bit. Not the most intuitive UI. Only scans one vst folder. If you have vst's in multiple locations, forget it. Does not export mp3 unless that was recently added. Ableton is clearly aiming at the young loop crowd which doesn't work as well in the studio.
 
Cubase- The main advantage to it is the ability to build huge templates using multis in Kontakt and stream from servers.Yes you can do it in CbB. CbB isn't set up as well to stream from multiple servers at the same time. People who work in soundtracks often use Cubase for this reason. Probably too complex for the average home studio owner. I mean, you can buy it but you'll probably never use half  the features unless you work for MGM or SONY. Not bug free. Complexity adds time to get the job done. Might take you a few years to figure it all out. Usually over priced with a dongle and over kill.
 
Studio One- For the CbB person it makes a nice second daw to have around. Nice mastering features not found in any other daw at the moment. The included plugins are a step above most daws. Case in point- I was looking at multiband compressors and comparing the Fabfilter MB which is tops in any review. For most of us "99% as good" is plenty good enough and Studio One has a really nice multiband compressor. Also has limiting and metering  on par with Ozone among other things. I have the Waves MBC s too. Pure economics- Fabfilter MB on sale at 150.00. Studio One upgrade 129.00 and I get a whole bunch of nice plugins(including their MB compressor) and an updated daw with it. My logic might be flawed but I don't think so.
I still track in CbB and usually master in it too, but sometimes I'll import a track and run it through SO.
 
CbB is still my go to every time. The GUI is unmatched for my workflow. Having all the plugins that came with platinum helps.The Gibson storm has blown over. No reason to go anywhere.
 
 

Starise, great summary.  However I do have a correction:
 
[Live] Only scans one vst folder. If you have vst's in multiple locations, forget it.
 
You can place shortcuts in Live's VST folder, and it will find your other VSTs - more information here. 
 
My comment about Live vs. Sonar/CbB hasn't changed over the years - CbB is like a big-bucks studio disguised as software, Live is like a live performance musical instrument disguised as software. 
 

Great summaries from Kenny and Starise!
 
I would have to say the best fit for Sonarians would be Cakewalk by Bandlab, without a doubt! 
 
I took advantage of the crossgrade to Studio One 3 Pro, plus cheap upgrades to Ableton Live 10 Standard, and Tracktion Waveform 9.  We live in interesting times, for sure!
 
I really hope that BandLab is truly in it for the long run, but I will hedge my bets with Studio One as a backup mainstream DAW, just in case. S1 is a fine DAW, but has a few shortcomings that those born and bred with Cakewalk may notice.  It also has a few features that Cakewalk should seriously consider adding.
 
I see Live and Waveform as more useful for their creativity tools, because there are so many different ways of doing things in them.  Forces you to think out of the box!  So I wouldn't write them off, just maybe not consider them for the leading role.  Plus you can always export your work from them and finish additional tracking, or mixing, in Cakewalk or another mainstream DAW of your choice. 

Anderton
 
You can place shortcuts in Live's VST folder, and it will find your other VSTs - more information here. 
 
My comment about Live vs. Sonar/CbB hasn't changed over the years - CbB is like a big-bucks studio disguised as software, Live is like a live performance musical instrument disguised as software. 
 

Very nice tip you have there Craig placing shortcuts in Lives VST folder. It worked like a charm for me
it is actually quite a bit of a game changer
 
Kenny

aconnte22,
Checked out your Mixcraft8 site. I can not believe you include the Minimogue va.
I have had that free VST for years. It was the best free software anything that I ever came across and has not been available for years.
It is just as good as any mini moog softsynths that are on the market costing over $100.00.
 
That may not be a game changer but I just felt like commenting on it.
 
Later.

Personally, I love Reason 10 and I've been a Reason user as long as I have used SONAR.  For a home tinkerer such as myself, it is an excellent value IMHO.  When I want to record myself on acoustic guitar, I reach for SONAR but when I want to record synths, acoustic and electric guitar, it's Reason for me.  I love the rack metaphor since I used to work in telephone plant and tech control and feel right at home in a tangle of wires 

For those interested .. the AKAI MPK mini 2 controller keyboard .. less than $100 comes with a large amount of software once you register it online. This includes REASON 10 LITE which for me seems more than enough if you also use Sonar. To be honest it pretty much seems to be reason full with less instruments and effects. But that does not matter because it now supports all your VSTs as of version 10.

So For less than $100 you get a nice 25 key controller keyboard with 8 pads etc AND Reason 10 lite + also VIP 3 + way more other stuff. Great deal tbh!!

Went to Studio One 4 myself. Love it. The arranger and the chord tracks are awesome. Have not tried Bandlab yet though.  I have Sonar Platinum still installed but haven't used it since the I got Studio One. To each his own. 

I would like nothing better than to stay with CbB. I love it and don't want to go anywhere. Unfortunately, I can no longer get it to run correctly for me. I have it on two completely different computer systems using two completely different interfaces. I have tried everything I, and many other people have thought to try. I have written to BandLab asking if there is any form of tech support available and, I have received no reply.
Throughout all of this, Studio One has run flawlessly on both systems. I specifically bought a new computer and interface just to try to make it work and be able to stay with CbB.
So, I guess I will be moving to Studio One, even though I don't want to. I do not like it as well as CbB but, I guess I have no choice.