Kamikaze
I would like Sonar to plug the gaps in creating a rounded applications, and I think that a pad tool like this would help it, especially if they integrated it well, so taking sounds within a project and manipulate them further.
 
I don't think cake should 100% concentrate on workflow, and that included other extras will make it a more attractive package for new customers and increase income. The dance market is worth pulling in, and devices like this would help draw entice those new to DAW's into thinking that this could be the one for them.
 
I''m not even sure with how the development team is set up, whether it would be the same staff that would develop this as that would concentrate on workflow developements, since t seems the Midi guys lack the expertise to deal with the staff issues. They have recently employed guys to work on the synthasis side of the company,  and while it's not that either, I'd have thought they would need some of skills needed in setting up the non synth engine parts of a GUI. 
 
I would be interested if this was included, but not enough to but a separate one at the moment.
 
We've had a similar thread about 3 months back, so I hope that the cakewalk team are not just looking at these threads but analysing them and see the interest in something.
 
 

The part in bold is what I think people are missing about these types of tools being included with Sonar.  I have a  similar thread that I posted recently about a sampler being included ala Ableton's Simpler/Sampler combo.
http://forum.cakewalk.com...-sampler-m3499083.aspx
 
If you want to draw in more customers you need to have these tools ready to go.  You can't tell people, "hey such and such makes a pretty cool plugin, go get that".  Most new users are going to want something that they can get going with right away.  This is why programs like FL Studio, Ableton, Studio One, etc have soared in popularity, despite Cakewalk being around longer and those programs lacking some pretty cool functionality that Sonar is capable of.  As soon as you start telling people to go look to a 3rd party for something that's included in all the other DAWs you lose that customer imo.  And maybe this is a tool that is more geared toward the hip-hop, RnB, EDM, "beat-making" crowd, but honestly that seems to be the crowd that is responsible for these other programs somewhat "leap-frogging" Sonar in popularity.