I've never used Pro Audio 9, Have always been pretty much all audio recording, no midi, so can't give any opinion on any advantages or disadvantages there.
Home Studio 2004 is based on Sonar 2 and is about 4 years newer than Pro Audio 9, as far as audio related features go, Home Studio 2004 has at least two things going for it that bring it out of the dark ages of pre Sonar 2.2 Cakewalk software..
HS 2004 can use WDM/KS and ASIO soundcard drivers, both lower latency and input monitoring are possible if drivers and computer are capable, even if the latency is just a little too high and direct monitoring from the interface needs to be used, it is usually possible to setup a usable software reverb for monitoring purposes while tracking audio, eliminating the need for a hardware reverb.
HS 2004 also has "Per Project" audio folders, using these as your default setup makes project backup and portability incredibly easy without the need to use bundle files which condense your recorded audio files, I would prefer my original audio files to remain intact, I usually will only perform destructive editing/processing on copies only.
post edited by Strryder - 2016/07/03 04:43:47