Just added my 2 cents worth in the poll. Decided to do with Studio One after Sonar crashed again for no apparent reason again.

It seems to me you can do most anything in any modern DAW. Given time, you can also get used to any workflow. Really the first question to ask yourself is which one is more likely to be around in 10 years time?

Reaper for me

I voted for Samplitude, but long live Sonar!!

I hear ya, but at the same time it so SAD

Considering how many people here used multiple DAWs before and after, the results are a bit skewed. I can't "switch" to programs i was already using, especially if i am still using Sonar.

The "R" word completely.
Still love a couple features in Studio One.
May end up with both of them.
 
John

Jeff Evans
Most of you are far too emotionally involved with Sonar. And have been for too long as well. It is only a piece of software or the tools as we say. One chisel compared to another in the hands of a sculptor. There are many Daw's out there and the basic fact is they all do the very same thing and very well might I add. You should be able to realise your ideas in any Daw. If you cannot the problem lies elsewhere and not with the Daw itself.

As part of my work (as a music teacher) for the first time the other day I had to get involved with Logic. I sorted it in 5 minutes and then did a huge 24 track recording session with it without a single issue. It was painless in fact. The amount of training for that program is awesome.

Something to consider as well is get a Mac and get into Logic. It is one of the finest Daw's out there and has been for a very very long time. Longer pedigree than Sonar and most other Daw's in fact.

This poll is also irrelevant as well. Who cares what other Daw's people are switching to. The most important thing is what Daw are YOU switching to.

I totally agree Jeff, I think people are over sentimental about Sonar to the point where they refuse to take the rose colored glasses off. I understand getting a little sad when you've spent so many happy hours being creative in a program, but frankly once I came to terms with the idea that Cakewalk was kaput, the rose colored glasses came right off for me. It's a very problematic DAW and I've probably spent a good percentage of the hours I've logged in it dealing with its many quirks, bugs and all round weird behavior. I think that if you use Sonar as nothing more than a glorified tape machine to record a few tracks with basic processing (and there's nothing wrong with that), then you're not going to run into most of the problems that people run into when they use Sonar for large, complex projects with a lot of synths, effects, sound design and experimentation with arrangement etc. I deal with multiple crashes in every Sonar session, and I've found that the larger and older a project becomes, the more examples of bizarre behavior creep in. I've had to abandon more than a few projects and recreate them from scratch because they became so corrupted and unmanageable. And then the new ones develop problems. Having all of your EQ plugins reset themselves when projects load is just a huge deal breaking creativity killer for me. When you really get into large projects in Sonar, there are ways in which its problems will literally destroy your work and waste hours of your time. I'm really not surprised that it gets such a regular panning on forums like Gearslutz and KVR.
 
I suspect that the Bakers knew that they didn't have the time or resources to fix many of the problems, and some of those problems probably have their roots deep in old code and were impossible to fix without opening up a pandora's box of other problems, and the need to rewrite entire pieces of the program in order to make it more future proof and accommodate new features seamlessly. Some of the new development of the program was really excellent, which confirms that the Bakers were a very competent team, but I can't help imagining their frustration that they couldn't give the program the polish they needed due to both financial and technical restraints. 
 
I've given Reaper and Bitwig trial runs recently and there is no doubt that they perform significantly better than Sonar under load. I'm sure Studio One is the same. 
 
I can totally understand people sticking with Sonar as it is because they don't want to shell out the $$'s for a new DAW, and those who use the program professionally may well find the prospect of revamping their whole setup to accommodate a new DAW too time consuming and costly for the time being, but honestly, for everyone else, I would seriously recommend making the effort to switch. The grass really is greener. 

rodreb
FWIW, I have decided to get Studio One. I will continue to use Sonar while I start learning S1 because, I am in the middle of a couple album projects for clients. Hopefully during this time I will be able to figure out how to do in S1 all the things I now have ingrained with Sonar. I have been watching all the S1 videos and most things seem pretty obvious. We'll see how it goes.

Take 2 days off from work (Splat) and just dive into Studio One and watch youtube or Groove3 training videos. 2 days that's all. You will be all set in Studio One.

Jeff Evans
Most of you are far too emotionally involved with Sonar. And have been for too long as well. It is only a piece of software or the tools as we say. One chisel compared to another in the hands of a sculptor. There are many Daw's out there and the basic fact is they all do the very same thing and very well might I add. You should be able to realise your ideas in any Daw. If you cannot the problem lies elsewhere and not with the Daw itself.

As part of my work (as a music teacher) for the first time the other day I had to get involved with Logic. I sorted it in 5 minutes and then did a huge 24 track recording session with it without a single issue. It was painless in fact. The amount of training for that program is awesome.

Something to consider as well is get a Mac and get into Logic. It is one of the finest Daw's out there and has been for a very very long time. Longer pedigree than Sonar and most other Daw's in fact.

This poll is also irrelevant as well. Who cares what other Daw's people are switching to. The most important thing is what Daw are YOU switching to.

I guess some hobby users might be emotionally attached in the way you say, but I think you are missing a wider point. For anyone using Sonar commercially or doing anything serious with it, it represents a huge investment not just of money, but of time and familiarity. Not to mention all the projects that are now tied into Sonar that take a lot of time and effort to move to safety in another DAW where it's nearly impossible to replicate the original. These are major upheavals that are bound to make people emotional, not so much for the sad demise of Sonar, but the sad demise of their workflow and all the hassle involved. There are a lot of people affected by that. Your message comes across as being pretty cold and heartless for people having to go through this struggle and at this time of year.

Tried as many trial packages as I could but it seems Cubase Pro 9.5 for £230ish (crossgrade) is the one I went for ... harder to get to grips with it than my Platinum package but a quality bit of kit ... I think that Cakewalk could at least allow the use of the connected products, it's just bloody minded to hang on 'launch codes' for addons that came with my software and were paid for!

does any on know of a DAW that has something similar to Play List that is in Sonar?

To interested Logic users you won't need to speed a $100 on service calls. It is painless to install and get your interface working. All you need to do is learn how to use it. There is a company called Udemy that offers excellent training on it. Recently they offered a full training course for $15 instead of $100.

For those interested in play lists Studio One has the arrange ruler instead. Whereby the entire arrangement can be rearranged and in fact you see it re arranged. And hear it play perfectly rearranged of course. Play lists don't let you see what you rearranged arrangements actally look like. You can also create scratch pads and create alternate arrangements in those. Then you have instant switching between them enabling a super fast way to compare them.