I spent a good chunk of time with both Samplitude and Studio One as demos in December. They're both excellent programs. I did see a little more CPU usage in them compared to SONAR, especially Samplitude. That's important to me when doing big projects and soft synths. I need to be able to play in a low latency environment. I still so really like SONAR and we will continue using it at work as long as we can, but corporate is forcing Win 10 on us later this year and that adds the risk of an update crippling the program which would be a disaster for us being a broadcast facility. We are leaning towards Reaper here for various reasons, CPU usage, recognizing DX plug-ins, and integration of Adobe Audition. But one of the main ones is I've been able to customize it to work and look like SONAR which would mean a very short learning curve for the other producers here....a lot of work for me to get to that point and train them, but I get paid for that. So yes it can be considered a "love in", but for me there was no other program out there that allowed for this. Studio One doesn't support DX the way we need it, Samplitude does but it's quirky and quite frankly that program is overkill for our needs. 
 
 

I tried Reaper for a few days, but I was getting terrible latency with EZ Drummer 2 and couldn't figure it out. The next day I couldn't get EZD2 to play at all. I don't think it likes my Presonus VSL44. I don't blame Reaper for any of this, but I have other options that work now...so I'll keep using them.
I believe I'll upgrade to Waveform 9 today. Tracktion is fun to use and simple.

clintmartin
 
I believe I'll upgrade to Waveform 9 today. Tracktion is fun to use and simple.

I just upgraded to Waveform 9 for $50 and it is a nice refresh. The best new features that I can see are the chord track and the new multi-sampler. 
 
An integrated sampler for sample manipulation, and not just playback of sample libraries is something that many mainstream DAWs lack.   So this feature is sure to appeal to many, and is a frequent feature request. 

Multi Sampler is a general purpose sampler instrument. While it looks simple and is easy to learn,
it has a deep and interesting feature set.

Drag in sounds from Audio clips, the Browser or your file system. Map zones to the keyboard,
record directly to the sampler, and create slices using beat detection. Modify each sound layer with
trimming, looping, pitch, panning, reversing, filter, and comprehensive envelopes, and LFOs. You
can also choose one-shot triggering and trigger different samples based velocity. Also, you can load
SoundFont files by drag and drop.

Use the right side scratchpad to collect files that you need to edit, slice or just want to keep on hand
to use later

 
Tracktion has added a chord track that your MIDI generator tracks can now follow.  The chord track is also handy to have for reference if you are entering chords by hand on the editor or playing them in, as a reminder where the chord changes are.  The MIDI features now have a more 'finished' feel to them, where in the first version seemed a bit more of a work in progress.
 
I have used Waveform as a secondary DAW since it was first released last year.  Before the Cakewalk news.  I was sold on the MIDI creativity tools and chord support. 
 
I wasn't looking to replace Sonar, just for something to enhance musical creativity and songwriting.  It is really surprising what a full featured DAW program it is!  You could start and finish something in it if you really wanted to, but my plan was to use it as a MIDI sequencer, then export tracks back to my main DAW (which is looking more and more like Studio One these days).
 
I agree with the opinion that if you are going to have several DAWs, they should not all look and feel alike.  Take advantage of the differences, and enjoy what these differences can being to the creative process. 

Cubase pro 9.5 and Studio One 3.
 
I like them both. I seem to be using Cubase more right now. I don't do too much midi, mainly guitar and virtual drums.

I'm making some progress with Reaper. You have to arm the EZD2 track to reduce latency...odd.
Is there a way to zoom project to screen?...or zoom all tracks vertical. I use that all the time, but haven't found it yet. With the Waveform upgrade being $52.50 it just makes sense to give Reaper a proper try for $60.

clintmartin
I'm making some progress with Reaper. You have to arm the EZD2 track to reduce latency...odd.
Is there a way to zoom project to screen?...or zoom all tracks vertical. I use that all the time, but haven't found it yet. With the Waveform upgrade being $52.50 it just makes sense to give Reaper a proper try for $60.

If you are still looking for a main DAW, I would stick to a choice between Reaper, Studio One, Cubase, Pro Tools, Logic, etc.
 
But if you are looking for creative toys in a secondary DAW, then Waveform, Ableton Live, Reason, FL Studio, Bitwig, etc., may be good options...
 
Waveform 9 and Ableton Live 10 are my toys. 
 
Reaper could be a good choice.  I have been testing it for a while, and it is a very versatile and very stable host.  If you put in the time to learn and customize it to fit your needs, I am sure you will be rewarded.  They seem to have a very enthusiastic community, and I like the business philosophy of the lead developer, and co-founder.

There sure are plenty of choices. Tracktion Waveform, MixcraftPro 8, Presonus Studio One 3,
Steinberg Cubase 9.5, MOTU DP9.5, Magix Samplitude, Cockos Reaper, etc..........
Everyone's workflow is different. Everyone has to demo them and choose the one that fits. Or maybe it like
Harry Potter and the DAW chooses you :)
 
 
 

I don't think there is one size fits all.  Some people need integrated samplers in their tracks.  Some need professional scoring tools for classical music.  Some need hardware emulations of recording consoles.  Some need exceptional MIDI support for their external instruments.  The list goes on...
 
Hard to find one tool that does it all, and does it well, is stable, and bug free.  Oh, and does 100+ tracks without any latency or dropouts...

Reaper. Now completely. It is not perfect externally, but it is ideal in functional. Additionally, customization allowed me to "sculpt" Sonar from it, with a close workflow.
The latest news about the addition of ARA2 and the unofficial support of the CWP project files are very encouraging. I made the right choice.

clintmartin
I'm making some progress with Reaper. You have to arm the EZD2 track to reduce latency...odd.
Is there a way to zoom project to screen?...or zoom all tracks vertical. I use that all the time, but haven't found it yet. With the Waveform upgrade being $52.50 it just makes sense to give Reaper a proper try for $60.

The chord track feature made me curious enough to download the WF demo.  I've used T6 in some collabs, and it's not a bad DAW at all
 
Time to start the Waveform demo and see what the fuss is about.  :)