You know, kind of funny, but back in 1997 I was all set to buy Cubase VST 3.xx, even though the only DAWs I'd ever seen or used were Opcode Studiovision (irony alert!) in an actual studio and Cakewalk Home Studio on a buddy's PC. When I went to the music store to pick it up, the sales guy talked to me for a long time and I ended buying Cakewalk Pro Audio 6, based a lot on what he had to say about its MIDI features (I was using an Alesis D4 drum module and Studioware panels were impressive to me). I just got on the learning/upgrade train then and had no reason to look elsewhere, though at some time in the early 2000's I picked up FL, and more recently have added Maschine into my workflow. And I don't regret it all, Cakewalk/Sonar have always been exceptional IMO. But now, two decades later, here I am, looking seriously at moving to...Cubase.