sharke
...  I think its bad rap is unjustified - yes it's overrated, but it's still a very solid DAW.

Seems to me that this statement is true about every DAW that has been discussed, they all have their fans, they all have there detractors but they are all capable of doing what most of us need.

Most commercial recordings go through ProTools at some point - as remarked above - it is the standard.  If you are working with pro facilities you'll need to use PT or know how to work your DAW of choice with PT.  So PT must be doing something right - or at least not wrong.  Back in the dark ages of the 20th century computers could not run audio.  Midi - fine.  Audio - Ha!  Until a little company in the 90s came up with an accelerator card, DSP, that would plug into a mac and allow you to capture, edit and output the audio recording.  Later the card was upgraded to 8 ADDAs and more power (plus w/ the growing native power) to actually edit across multiple tracks.  As computer power grew in the new millennium, the now ProTools was the only DAW w/ the extra DSP to do calculations on audio in real time - with no latency when recording.  And then combined with the deep pockets and expertise of AVID (DSP video editing software/hardware combination) Protools captured most of the professional market, just as AVID did with the pro video market.
 
There are plenty of programs outside of AVID and Protools for doing music and video, whether SONAR or Vegas or garage band etc. So if you want a job in a commercial studio you should learn protools.  If you want to use what you want but take material in to a commercial facility you need to do the work of compatibility.  Just don't think Protools is the best (tho it is right up there for audio editing) and hence flawless.  And for PT to work at its best, you need the PT hardware.  And that is expensive and makes whining about software updates cheap.  An owner at a local studio last year or so was complaining about having to update his apple OS - but if he did he'd have to lay out $10K to PT for new hardware to have the same capabilities as on his old OS.
 

Cactus Music
 
It's not a DAW for Hobbiest unless your are a retired Dentist. 

I had to ROTFL on that line!!!  Thanks for the laugh! 

sharke
I honestly had no problem with the workflow of ProTools and quite liked it. It's interface felt snappy and it's meat and potatoes functionality felt very solid, in fact more solid than Sonar for sure (didn't come across half the weirdness/quirks I experience in Sonar). Stuff like clip editing, arranging, mixing - all very reliable. The main reason I ditched it was because it was 32 bit at the time and so it had trouble with all the synths and sample libraries I was using. I ended up having to host the synths in Reaper and ReWire them into ProTools. And that led me to thinking I should choose another DAW, hence Sonar. I think its bad rap is unjustified - yes it's overrated, but it's still a very solid DAW.

Thanks for the input. I recorded some test tracks on my creation Station today, seemed smooth.
But mixing on my laptop, AD2 and 3 Wave's plugins and the CPU is clipping... PT has NO core balance!!!
only one out 4 is really doing everything. At the ProTools forum when I am using my Cakewalk (Niceguy) approach. Core balancing is a ProTools issue. That hurts! what's the point of have all the cores on earth and they are not working... I have nowhere near the ram requirements, that's a ways off... but no rush of leaving MY DAW Sonar Splat! 
 
 

After some trial and error with a handful of DAWs, I ended up buying Pro Tools 12 (non-HD version) a couple weeks ago (was 20% off of $300 at Sweetwater/Avid around Christmas).
 
I dislike the arbitrary track limits (128 max tracks). I also dislike the iLok.
 
But I really like the edit/selection tools. I primarily work with audio files, so this is ultimately more important for me.The included plugins are great, although I tend to use 3rd party plugs a lot.
 
Track counts aren't really an issue for me, except that I always liked to save my various un-used takes in separate tracks (archived within a session file for quick and easy access if I needed something).
 
I like PT so far. The pricing for the non-HD software isn't all that bad. It's normally $300 for your first year, with $100 annual subscription after that. If I renew next year, I imagine there will be similar discounts and promotions. It's doubtful that I'll ever buy into PT-HD, but I don't think I'll ever need it. 
 
I intend to use Sonar for as long as it will have me. But I don't want to sit around waiting for it to fail. Maybe it will, maybe it won't - I hope it doesn't.

GMGM 
Track counts aren't really an issue for me, except that I always liked to save my various un-used takes in separate tracks (archived within a session file for quick and easy access if I needed something).

In ProTools you don't need to save your unused takes in separate tracks...
That's what "Playlists" are for. Each track can have a Playlist of as many tracks as you want and you can freely interchange them with your active track or comp with them.

mikedocy

GMGM 
Track counts aren't really an issue for me, except that I always liked to save my various un-used takes in separate tracks (archived within a session file for quick and easy access if I needed something).

In ProTools you don't need to save your unused takes in separate tracks...
That's what "Playlists" are for. Each track can have a Playlist of as many tracks as you want and you can freely interchange them with your active track or comp with them.

 
I know. I'm just stubborn. I just don't trust myself to keep track of those "hidden" files if they aren't right there in the session with me (visible as their own tracks). 
 
In Sonar, it is very easy to 'archive' a track and drag it up into a "folder" with all of my other unused tracks - and I just prefer to do that. I never really delete anything in a session until it's "done". I also know it is horribly inefficient, and that I'm just hoarding tracks.
 
I've never adapted to the current crop of comping tools, or take lanes. I just don't like it. For me, one take = one track. If I need a second pass at something, I'll record to a new track.
 
The only time I use the comping / take lanes tools is when I'm stacking vocal harmonies. I'll set up my loop recording for one line or verse or chorus at a time. Then I'll hit record and run out to the booth, stacking harmonies as needed. But then I'll explode those takes into separate tracks - and weed through them that way. (Don't laugh, I realize how dumb that sounds considering how easy the comp tools are with Sonar/Logic/PT).
 

Great music nice sound.
 

what DAW is the clossest to sonar??