If they are a guitarist, just tell them that they should be playing a Fender or Gibson (whatever they're not playing) to be Pro and then walk away.  Or ask them how they play so well on a guitar that's not a Fender or Gibson.
 
its not the tool, its the carpenter!

First, let me tell you this...I am a HUGE Alan Parson's fan, and my goodness, you nailed his sound in that piece!  This is FANTASTIC.  Here's the thing...I am NOT at all surprised that you recorded this in Sonar. (OK, maybe I'm biased).  I, myself have come up with some amazing sounding productions using Sonar.  I've looked at ProTools, Cubase and some of the other "industry standards" and have decided the following:  ProTools costs too much and is too proprietary with it's plug in format...and the plug ins you can get for it are also very costly, and Cubase just...didn't do it for me.  
Before Sonar, I was an avid Adobe Audition user (See what I sort of did there, lol...), and used Acid Pro for the MIDI portion of my music. I used to wish there was a single DAW that could do everything Adobe did that also included a really good MIDI support system. That's when I really started looking into other options.  I had used Cakewalk before the Sonar days and to be honest, I didn't like it.  It was a lot more complex than it needed to be, and frankly, it just was ugly and confusing looking.  Then X3 came out, and I downloaded the demo and loved it.  I then bought it and have been with Sonar since.  I'm now a Lifetime member of Platinum and couldn't be happier with it as my DAW of choice.  The ONLY thing I use Adobe for now is converting my WAV files to MP3 files and then for CD architecting.  

Again, I love your music.  I'm now listing to "The Long Road Home".  You are stellar. 

Thats silly - my and many of my partners sonar mixes are all over national television - 

elsongs
It's quite simple, and this stereotype stems from the whole "A Windows PC is not what professionals use to make music" 1990s way of thinking and the fact that Sonar is a Windows-only platform product.

Yes, the comment from bobernaut "what they think is so great about Pro Tools, and they usually just say, "Its just better" reeks of the same terminology used by Apple iTards.
 
Fact is, iOS DOESN'T "just work" and neither does PT

PJH
Since having the review go out I've received quite a number of emails from readers and the overwhelming question is:
"How did you manage to achieve this using SONAR???"

Maybe they just want to learn your techniques.
 

PJH
My question is: Why is SONAR perceived as to not be a professional DAW? IMHO it is as professional as the next DAW if not the best DAW out there.

 
I do agree that Sonar suffers from a problem of perception. I don't know if it's a perception of not being professional, so much as being old school.

When you strip all DAWs of all included plugins they're pretty close to equal anyway. There are really only a few specialty functions for each one and they're not usually stuff that you need every day. If you do this for a living you probably have a bunch of plugins from Waves, FabFilter, SoundToys, you name it. Plus things like Melodyne, Drumagog, etc.

In other words, if you knew multiple DAWs equally well you'd be able to get identical mixes on each of them.

Sanderxpander
When you strip all DAWs of all included plugins they're pretty close to equal anyway...

Truer words etc....
 
Honestly, anyone who's been around the block DAW-wise shouldn't be surprised even if someone did their whole album with Garageband.  The overriding factors for success will always be musical talent, followed by producing talent. The rest - the brand names involved - are pretty much irrelevant.
 
Those misguided souls who care more about what is cool or "professional" will always be on the outside looking in. 

Rob[atSound-Rehab]
 
I consider Sonar the VW, Toyota, Kia (you name it) reliable middle class workhorse that you can afford to buy and afford to maintain ... and most of all gets the "job" done. Of course, if I had a huge ProTools HD desk / Porsche I would show it all around and make snotty comments. 

This attitude is just perpetuating the myth that sonar isn't for pros. Oh its good, but its not what I'd use if I could afford something else. Hogwash. I can afford any DAW I want. I use Sonar because its what I prefer to use. Anyone who wants me to switch to pro-tools had better be prepared to start with a discussion of how much they're going to pay me.

Hi. Great song, Peter!
When people ask which DAW I use and answer SONAR, I usually get "the look". Then they ask why, and if it is any good.
I just say have you tried it lately? You should.
All the best.

SONAR users think for themselves.
 
But I think Telecharge has a point: "Maybe they just want to learn your techniques." A lot of people have asked me what I use in SONAR to get the sounds in my projects.