ralf
 
But then, what would be needed? A better drum map editor and improvements for staff view (triplets, staccato, and several other) would come to my mind. After all, midi is a pretty old standard and midi editing is well supported in Sonar.

I see a few MIDI ideas over here that would be nice to have ...
 
http://bakery.cakewalk.com/Ideas/Views

The chord track another feature that was popular. I've long requested a midi chord device, but I've never used Cubase, so I don't know the chord track, and if that would serve the purpose, but I think it's along the same lines. Both ideas received a lot of votes.
 
There has been a lot of fixes. a lot of integration advancements, such as ARA (which is amazing), but the focus for me feels like it towards mixing. Many are in favour of this, but in the compositional side, there has been improvement to audio, not to MIDI. I personally think the balance is off. It's not like MIDI is dying, the soft synths and samplers are more capable than ever, and what they can produce is still advancing. 
 
Admittedly ripple editing would fall into both MIDI and Audio functionality.
 

Enhancements are not fixes.

jb101
Enhancements are not fixes.

tru dat

Kamikaze
The chord track another feature that was popular. I've long requested a midi chord device, but I've never used Cubase, so I don't know the chord track, and if that would serve the purpose, but I think it's along the same lines. Both ideas received a lot of votes.
 
There has been a lot of fixes. a lot of integration advancements, such as ARA (which is amazing), but the focus for me feels like it towards mixing. Many are in favour of this, but in the compositional side, there has been improvement to audio, not to MIDI. I personally think the balance is off. It's not like MIDI is dying, the soft synths and samplers are more capable than ever, and what they can produce is still advancing. 
 
Admittedly ripple editing would fall into both MIDI and Audio functionality.
 

I'm going to check out the demo of Cubase Elements 9 when it is released in a few weeks.  I downloaded the user guide, and after looking over the MIDI section on the MIDI chord track, the chord features, plus the arranger track, it might be useful for composition work.  Then just export the .mid over to Sonar for tracking and audio mixing. 
 
Elements doesn't have the professional version of notation and score editing, but the other MIDI enhancements seem to be there.  The Pro version also offers the full recording and mixing environment, but Sonar does that well too, and I already know it
 
Elements 9 is already out, but they are not releasing a demo until their first maintenance release.
$99
https://www.steinberg.net/en/products/cubase/cubase_elements.html

Also ran across this yesterday.  Looks interesting for $49
 
Odesi
http://odesi.mixedinkey.com/
 
When you’re done with your Odesi session, you will have a 100% composed track that’s ready for sound design. All your Melodies, Chord Progressions, Basslines and other tracks will be finished and ready for MIDI Export. You can create your entire composition inside Odesi 2.0.

abacab

Kamikaze
The chord track another feature that was popular. I've long requested a midi chord device, but I've never used Cubase, so I don't know the chord track, and if that would serve the purpose, but I think it's along the same lines. Both ideas received a lot of votes.
 
There has been a lot of fixes. a lot of integration advancements, such as ARA (which is amazing), but the focus for me feels like it towards mixing. Many are in favour of this, but in the compositional side, there has been improvement to audio, not to MIDI. I personally think the balance is off. It's not like MIDI is dying, the soft synths and samplers are more capable than ever, and what they can produce is still advancing. 
 
Admittedly ripple editing would fall into both MIDI and Audio functionality.
 

I'm going to check out the demo of Cubase Elements 9 when it is released in a few weeks.  I downloaded the user guide, and after looking over the MIDI section on the MIDI chord track, the chord features, plus the arranger track, it might be useful for composition work.  Then just export the .mid over to Sonar for tracking and audio mixing. 
 
Elements doesn't have the professional version of notation and score editing, but the other MIDI enhancements seem to be there.  The Pro version also offers the full recording and mixing environment, but Sonar does that well too, and I already know it
 
Elements 9 is already out, but they are not releasing a demo until their first maintenance release.
$99
https://www.steinberg.net/en/products/cubase/cubase_elements.html

Chord Track in Elements is different than the one in Artist/Pro. You might want to try Artist since it's much more capable. I run Pro in the studio and Elements on my laptop.

Resonant Serpent

abacab

Kamikaze
The chord track another feature that was popular. I've long requested a midi chord device, but I've never used Cubase, so I don't know the chord track, and if that would serve the purpose, but I think it's along the same lines. Both ideas received a lot of votes.
 
There has been a lot of fixes. a lot of integration advancements, such as ARA (which is amazing), but the focus for me feels like it towards mixing. Many are in favour of this, but in the compositional side, there has been improvement to audio, not to MIDI. I personally think the balance is off. It's not like MIDI is dying, the soft synths and samplers are more capable than ever, and what they can produce is still advancing. 
 
Admittedly ripple editing would fall into both MIDI and Audio functionality.
 

I'm going to check out the demo of Cubase Elements 9 when it is released in a few weeks.  I downloaded the user guide, and after looking over the MIDI section on the MIDI chord track, the chord features, plus the arranger track, it might be useful for composition work.  Then just export the .mid over to Sonar for tracking and audio mixing. 
 
Elements doesn't have the professional version of notation and score editing, but the other MIDI enhancements seem to be there.  The Pro version also offers the full recording and mixing environment, but Sonar does that well too, and I already know it
 
Elements 9 is already out, but they are not releasing a demo until their first maintenance release.
$99
https://www.steinberg.net/en/products/cubase/cubase_elements.html

Chord Track in Elements is different than the one in Artist/Pro. You might want to try Artist since it's much more capable. I run Pro in the studio and Elements on my laptop.

Artist is $330.  Would it be $230 better than Elements for the chord function, if that's all I was getting it for?  If I was to get Elements, would never plan to record or mix any audio in there.  But just for MIDI sequencer arranging only...

There could be upcoming extensions to the MIDI spec, so companies are waiting on them before doing extensive updates. Just sayin.'

If the Pattern Tool is the same as the Pattern Brush Tool, that's not new. I've had the Brush since SONAR Home Studio 6.