pharohoknaughty
If you do any vocals you will need to pay for Melodyne, at least the Editor level, in my opinion.
 
The version that comes with Sonar is not viable.
 
And BTW be prepared to spend a bunch of time learning to use Melodyne. Its not intuitive in my book, but its the only game in town if you are using Sonar.
 

Or... you could use a singer that knows how to actually sing. I'm just sayin'

SiberianKhatru59

chuckebaby
When a person becomes comfortable with the software they are using, that's when the magic happens.
The thought process used to have to think about your next move is gone and you are left to use only that same thought process on one thing, creating music.
 
Having to search around a manual looking for a shortcut or a button can single handedly rob your creative process blind.

All of which is exactly why I decided to, for lack of a better term specialize in SONAR going forward.  

I think you're going to do just fine. Reason can compliment Sonar. 

BobF
You will never have all of the plug-ins you need

The plug-ins I need haven't been written.  I need a plug-in that fixes all the stupid mistakes I make.

Rather than quote things, a couple observations.
 
1. It's not true that Melodyne Essentials isn't "viable." With even the slightest bit of experimental bent you can do all kinds of things with it, including outlier techniques like envelope-controlled flanging, ADT effects, and fashioning chord progressions out of a static series of chords. Rumor has it you can also use it to pitch-correct vocals  . However, just because there's nothing wrong with Essentials doesn't mean that Editor isn't mind-boggling. I think it's well worth the investment, especially if you work with, uh, "sketchy" singers. Also, its polyphonic pitch correct borders on the magical. But learn Essentials first, and you'll find learning Editor easier (note: when adjusting the blobs in Essential, have the track's Input Echo on).
 
2. You have Reason and SONAR - dude - you have the best of both worlds!! You can ReWire Reason into SONAR (the Propellerheads folks said SONAR had one of the best implementations of ReWire when Cakewalk added it) and then Reason essentially becomes SONAR's Instrument Rack of the Gods. Yeah it's a little more to learn, but once you figure out ReWire it's not something that you have to get better at - you figure it out, it works, done.
 
And whether or not SONAR has "eveything" you need to learn audio, there are tutorials, the Cakewalk blog, the eZine, and a variety of other instructional materials (not to mention "The Big Book of SONAR Tips," hint hint) that help fill in the knowledge part based on the experience of others. So really, the only thing not provided by the SONAR ecosystem is your own personal experience. Go for it!
 

If you can't get excellent results using SPLAT it is definitely NOT a shortcoming in the software.

aspenleaf
No. 
 
All the plugins in the world won't make a poorly recorded track sound good.  Start with the basics.  Learn to use your mics to make recordings that sound good without any plugins, then you can learn to use plugins or external processors in a creative way, not as a way to fix a poor recording.

Absolutely. Nothing about any DAW or plugin will make you better at recording. At least half of all this is the performance, the room, the mics, their placement and so on. Sonar won't help you get a handle on *recording* other than using it to do a lot of recording and finding out what works.

PhilW

aspenleaf
No. 
 
All the plugins in the world won't make a poorly recorded track sound good.  Start with the basics.  Learn to use your mics to make recordings that sound good without any plugins, then you can learn to use plugins or external processors in a creative way, not as a way to fix a poor recording.

Absolutely. Nothing about any DAW or plugin will make you better at recording. At least half of all this is the performance, the room, the mics, their placement and so on. Sonar won't help you get a handle on *recording* other than using it to do a lot of recording and finding out what works.

While true, none of that relates to the OP. Part of "getting a handle on audio engineering" is having the tools commonly used in audio engineering so you can learn about them and gain experience. If you the entire initial post it's mostly about whether he will need additional plug-ins. For example, if SONAR didn't include EQ, he would not be able to get a handle on how to apply EQ. Since that's an essential recording tool, he would indeed need to buy an EQ plug-in.

Bristol_Jonesey
If you can't get a GREAT result using just the bundled plugins then it's not the software that's lacking.....

AMEN!

Anderton
For example, if SONAR didn't include EQ, he would not be able to get a handle on how to apply EQ. Since that's an essential recording tool, he would indeed need to buy an EQ plug-in.

At the risk of being redundant (and a bit dense) it seems to me the question is, "If I have SPlat, what are the additional plug-ins I am most likely to find essential, or at least very useful?"
 
I am not certain exactly what comes with SPlat in the way of reverb.  I think a limited version of Breverb is included, which is pretty good.  At one point, Cake also offered a free version of Rematrix Solo (reverb), which sounds better than Breverb to my ears, but I don't think this is included in SPlat now.  So a good stereo reverb might be something to consider. I also find the Nomad Factory Blue Tubes stereo imager better than any other stereo imager I have tried (including Izotope).  But I think that still comes bundled with SPlat, so it is a moot point.

SPlat still includes REmatrix Solo.