Well, I'm basically down to deciding between Studio One and Reaper. I do not want anything that is gonna have stability issues with my Saffire Pro 40. 

Remember that you can download a free version of S1 to test with your system.

dubdisciple
This ended up being a very informative thread

Mr. Evans is a fountain of info when it comes to comparison questions.

Great work Jeff.

I bought S1 the Monday after Gibson Killed Cakewalk.
But I am on Cubase now.
I dont want to be on a minor DAW anymore, with all the insecurity about it.
Now I want to stay on the standard.
Now even my Native Instuments Komplete S61 works as it should.
I still have the S1 and might play with it sometimes tho.

Jarsve
I bought S1 the Monday after Gibson Killed Cakewalk.
But I am on Cubase now.
I dont want to be on a minor DAW anymore, with all the insecurity about it.
Now I want to stay on the standard.
Now even my Native Instuments Komplete S61 works as it should.
I still have the S1 and might play with it sometimes tho.

 Presonus is a succesful  hardware company. S1 is closely linked to these products. Insecure? I don't think so.
 
Cheers :)

mkerl

Jarsve
I bought S1 the Monday after Gibson Killed Cakewalk.
But I am on Cubase now.
I dont want to be on a minor DAW anymore, with all the insecurity about it.
Now I want to stay on the standard.
Now even my Native Instuments Komplete S61 works as it should.
I still have the S1 and might play with it sometimes tho.

Presonus is a succesful  hardware company. S1 is closely linked to these products. Insecure? I don't think so.
 
Cheers :)

Really no need to answer this guy or defend S1 as you call it, he made his mind up when started this thread. If you go though the last 22 pages(on the mobile version of the forum) of this thread he comes up with rather trivial and unsubstantiated claims and complaints causing some to work overtime to prove otherwise.

I've been watching thread to see his next reply after the flood of contrary data just to see what he comes with next, quite entertaining. Got to hand it to Jeff for his unending patience through out this adventure.

I'm not in any way trying to write that the OP is not legit in his distaste for Studio One or his need for what he thinks IS a better and more mature solution because there is no more established and mature DAW than Cubase.

Let's just face it.....some people hate(or dislike if that is a better word) Studio One.....for whatever reason they want.

CTStump

 Got to hand it to Jeff for his unending patience through out this adventure.

I'm not in any way trying to write that the OP is not legit in his distaste for Studio One or his need for what he thinks IS a better and more mature solution because there is no more established and mature DAW than Cubase.

Let's just face it.....some people hate(or dislike if that is a better word) Studio One.....for whatever reason they want.

Maybe it's because I don't like this nerdy Cubase that much :) On the other hand I'm really excited with Studio One, a perfect tool for targeted work. Lean, quick,  and a well thought out design.
 
And Jeff is great, he made a lot of good points. Thanks for sharing !!! 
However. Different strokes for different folks :) :) 
 
Cheers :)

Sylvan
Now that we know the summing is different, lets move onward and forward. I would love to hear from Studio One developers about why this difference exists. Maybe they did it on purpose. I have an open mind about it. But all the rhetoric about the mix engines being identical can be laid to rest.

Thank you for doing those tests.  My first impression with S1 was exactly as you described -- a lack of depth compared to SONAR.  It just didn't sound "as professional", whatever that means.  I attributed this to the ProChannel effects that may be on by default (console emulation).  Your tests show that the difference it is not a result of any effects. 
I am moving on from SONAR because I am pretty sure there will be a day before too long when I wake up and SONAR will no longer work on my machine.  I can't live with that, no matter how great SONAR was (and still is).  I do hope that your tests inspire people smarter than me to figure out what is happening here and what it would take to bring S1 up to a higher level.  Even if S1 isn't my primary DAW, I still plan to use it, and I'd sure like for it to sound as good as SONAR right out of the box.

Sylvan
Hey guys, you aren't going to believe this, but I found a way to make Test 3 null!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I can't believe it. Yes, you heard correctly. I was able to get SONAR and Studio One to null on the test 3 with the kick at 0, snare at -8, and overheads at -13.
 
Here is how I did it...
 
1. As suggested by azslow3, I manually typed in the values in both SONAR and Studio One.
 
2. I changed the Pan Law in SONAR to match the Pan Law in Studio One. (Apparently using the plugin to change the Pan Law in Studio One doesn't work.) That begs the question: Is there a real way to change the Pan Law in Studio One? I would like to test changing the Pan Law in Studio One to match that of SONAR to confirm that a null will work that way too. Can someone suggest a reliable way to change the Pan Law in Studio One that actually works?
 
3. Removed all dithering from both DAWs (I am not sure that this would have really mattered either way.)
 
So, my conclusions...
 
sonarman1 was #$@& right! It did have something to do with the Pan Law, even though panning was not being used. Something in the way each DAW handles stereo tracks or something... I didn't figure this out right away because when I tried sonarman1's suggestion about Pan Law, I tried to change Studio One's Pan Law, which seems to be very difficult to do. I hope it is possible though. I still want to confirm that these two monster DAWs can null going the other way. But changing Pan Law in SONAR is easy, so I tried it...and it worked!!!!
 
Also, slight variations do matter as azslow3 pointed out. Typing in exact values I feel made a difference in getting a null. 
 
Jeff Evans is also right. However, due to default settings inherent to each DAW, out of the box, there will be differences in sound. It is a bit of a job, but if you configure all settings appropriately, these DAWs will indeed pass the null test. Jeff was right about that. Studio One does make it a bit difficult to change some settings. I wish it were a bit easier.
 
So in conclusion, out of the box, there are sound differences, but that is due to some default settings. If configured exactly the same, the will put out exactly the same audio result, as Jeff Evans pointed out.
 
So, as I eat a little humble pie... Jeff, please accept my apology. I was so passionate about this and had a driving need to see it through. I really wanted the results to null from the beginning and it was really bothering me that I could not get them to null. I had spent my money on a product (Studio One) and wanted to feel like I was getting just as quality of a tool as I had in SONAR. The fact that I could not get a null was gnawing at me. I wanted to see the hard evidence, the science if you will, behind it and know that it was so. I wasn't getting that so I had to keep pushing. I am so glad I did because now I feel a whole lot better about Studio One.
 
I still would like to see some improvements in some areas of course, but that is for another thread in another place. This was the big issue I needed to get past.
 
A thank you to sonarman1, azslow3, and Jeff Evans on shaping this journey and seeing it through.
 
Anyone out there considering Studio One and wondering if it can null with SONAR, it can. I have made sure to satisfy that question.
 
Edit: I would also like to thank CW3948368110 and sharke. Your help was also invaluable in this. Thank you.
 

To cparmerlee you have missed this I am afraid.  In the end Sylvan got the null happening and has realised that all his initial impressions were not so in the end.
 
In pure summing mode all DAW's are basically the same and Studio One is no different.  If you are getting a lesser result in Studio One it is because you are not using your ears, your plugins properly and just generally not getting a great sound, all due to your own limitations.  Studio One sounds as good as any DAW out there. No matter what it is. It is up to you to get the result. 

Great work Sylvan, azslow3 and others at achieving Null and finding how to get there. The typing-in of fader positions was brilliant, and I must admit I did not see that coming. I had suspected that Panning Laws were at play, and thanks to you guys, I'm very glad to know that's what was going on  - and not something worse.
 
I hope that the SO3 guys do add selectable Panning Laws like SONAR did. I've kind of gotten used to the the sound of 0 dB sin/cos taper - it's weird, but it really is more punchy!
 
It might also be cool to add Programmable Panning Laws, say giving you control over the "sharpness" of the taper and the dB overlap in the middle, with presets that you could apply for each channel. (Maybe something like this plug offers, but built in for convenience.)