Slugbaby
I don't think its ever been high on the public's eyeline.  
I don't remember how I discovered Sonar, but it must have been from web-surfing as I don't actually KNOW anyone else that uses it.  I've recorded in studios that use ProTools and Digital Performer, but Sonar is the only DAW i've ever used myself.
It's a solid product, flexible, and at a very competitive price.  Must just be a marketing problem...

 
I remember looking for 'home studio software' on Amazon 10 years ago and SHS4XL popped up. I'd never heard of Sonar or Cakewalk until then. Price was good so I went for it.

I got my first Cakewalk MIDI software free with a Sound Blaster sound card, way back when. Been with Cakewalk ever since.
 
It was a godsend really because prior to that I had bought Cubasis LE and I hated it. It's MIDI GUI was awful.
 
I, too, have wondered why Sonar is so left out. I recently bought something from Zynaptiq and there's a drop down which requires you to select your DAW. Sonar is not on that list...

One of my Mac buddies got a Cakewalk 2002 disk with hardware he bought and handed it off to me. I never shopped around. For the first year and three months, I didn't use the forum I just tried to figure it out. I'll bet most people do the same.

At some point, I decided that I wanted to use it to record, not just mix. That is when I found the forum.

Sanderxpander
Those are usually DAWs that have specialized a specific workflow, like Ableton. Sonar is more of a general purpose "classic" DAW to me. I'd pitch it against Cubase, Logic, StudioOne, Reaper, maybe ProTools. But not Ableton, Reason, FruityLoops. They earn their place because they do a certain workflow really really well, not because they're supposed to offer an alternative to ProTools.

 
Exactly. When people ask why I use Ableton for live performance and SONAR for the studio, my answer is "because Live is a musical instrument disguised as software, while SONAR is a $500,000 studio disguised as software." 

I hate to say it but I honestly believe the Sonar move to Mac is doomed unless they price it like Logic and include a bunch of unique features (like ARA) off the bat. I'm never going to convince any of my Mac friends to switch, for sure. I may be sounding like a Logic fanboy here, but I have used it extensively and while it doesn't trump Sonar in every aspect, it's a really powerful package and very competitively priced.

I agree. Furthermore, there are no guarantees Apple won't just bundle Logic Pro for free, like Garageband, if they ever update their desktops (nothing in three years...hmmm...) and want to spur sales. When Logic went to $199, Apple really damaged the bottom line of every company that did a traditional DAW on the Mac, as well as cause some companies to never trust Apple again.
 
I have Logic installed as my go-to Mac sequencer. I like many aspects of it, but not enough to draw me away from SONAR. 

synkrotron
 
I, too, have wondered why Sonar is so left out. I recently bought something from Zynaptiq and there's a drop down which requires you to select your DAW. Sonar is not on that list...

Well I always say I use the other. LOL 

John
Well I always say I use the other. LOL 

Indeed

John

synkrotron
 
I, too, have wondered why Sonar is so left out. I recently bought something from Zynaptiq and there's a drop down which requires you to select your DAW. Sonar is not on that list...

Well I always say I use the other. LOL 

I think you're on to something. If we just change the name of SONAR to "Other," we'll automatically be included in all the lists!

I'd been getting by for a long while with 16 tracks on a Yamaha arranger keyboard and then recording the output of that plus live vocals directly onto a CD recorder, which could be frustrating to say the least, though at time( after many takes) I thought some turned out okay. Then I bought a pc with a junior version of Cubase, as I'd read/heard that this was the way to go. I could barely get a sound out of it and it seemed to crash a lot, probably because I was doing something wrong, but the customer support was appalling. The response to any question I asked was expressed in a way that I couldn't understand despite my having explained that I was a total noob and needed a press this, click that type of answer. Their final answer was that it was impossible to explain it any differently than they already had, so I soon gave up and went back to my tried and trusted method.
 
Eventually, probably sick to death of the same song over and over, Mrs Paulo booked me a day in "a recording studio" as a birthday present. It wasn't so much a recording studio as a guy with some gear in a shed, but he was running this thing called Sonar 2 and when the day was over I left thinking that I had to find a way to get me some of that..... so I did, and that was that.
 
Like many, I **** and moan about it from time to time, mostly when things get "improved" in a way that actually makes it worse, but in truth what I have now is beyond anything I could have imagined owning back in the day. I just wish I could have had it all back then and also had paid more attention to the guy who manned the mixing desk when we played, who at the time I thought just turned a few knobs a slid things up and down with no discernable effect just because he could. Maybe he did exactly that.....I was winging it most of the time, so who's to say that he wasn't ?
 
 
 

eph221

Brian Walton

eph221

ampfixer
Like most other folks around here, I have purchased other DAW's and occasionally look at other DAW's. The only one I've been really comfortable with is Sonar. It is a mystery why it isn't the one that everybody talks about. Nothing else really has the scope of Sonar. Then I had a thought (it does happen).
What if Sonar was the new contender? Imagine if we had never seen Sonar and it was dropped on the music world as it sits today. Same price, same features. I think the recording community would be gob-smacked. No one would believe that a DAW with all its features could be released at a competitive price point.
I'm positive that Sonar's biggest drawback is that it's been around forever and we just take it for granted.

I write in Sonar.  It has so many great features that pro tools doesn't.  BUT, it crashes WAY to often.  That's the reputation it has, and IMHO it's deserved.  I don't go through a day when it doesn't crash.  My setup is totally fine too, i7 20 gigs ram etc.  I hear excuses from cakewalk about compatibility with plug ins...etc.  That's not the consumer's problem.

Are you using any 32 bit plugs in 64bit sonar?  
 

no

 Uh Oh.... I see Soundblaster in your sig. That could be the root of ALL your (audio) problems.
 

 

synkrotron

John
Well I always say I use the other. LOL 

Indeed

 
Not to put a wrench in the deal, but Sonar needs to rethink its promotion and advertising side.  That's what greases the squeaky wheel.  Sonar just isn't sexy...it's advertising isn't sexy.  Sexy is what sells.  Please don't laugh at this, it's a real observation.  When I see Z3ta or Rapture or other cakewalk products advertised I just think to myself...stale, old, dusty.  Cakewalk needs to bring sexy back.