azslows .dll now makes it really possible to seriously look at Reaper....

dubdisciple
Even older forms of cross DAW conversion rarely work seemlessly. When I transfer via omf or aaf, I strip project down to most base elements. What azlow achieved is amazing but must be treated in similar manner.

Exactly. It's simply not possible to translate a project using a DAW's proprietary functionality into some other DAW with incompatible proprietary functionality. What you CAN do is translate what those projects have in common, which can be a considerable amount of data and for many projects, may be all that's needed.
 
Maybe it's possible to map parameters among different proprietary processes designed to create the same end result, e.g., AudioSnap to however Reaper does stretching, but it seems that would be incredibly time-consuming. Or what about locked effects? Maybe it's possible to read all the parameters in the Adaptive Limiter and apply them to a different multiband limiting plug-in. Azslow would know that...I don't. 
 
The MMA and AMEI (American and Japanese MIDI trade groups) are working on something along those lines so that, for example, filter cutoff is standardized. If your hardware controller adjusts filter cutoff, it will adjust filter cutoff in any software or hardware instrument with MIDI CI's Profile capabilities. But I don't think we have that kind of protocol yet for plug-ins.
 
Being able to open .cwp projects in Reaper is brilliant. It also sounds like a major improvement over OMF or AAF. Fortunately it sounds like joden's projects may be relatively simple; for example he thought it wasn't possible to cut and paste envelopes in Sonar, so he may not have gone too far into the deeper corners of the program. 
 
Of course there's always the 100% perfect way to open a .cwp project in another DAW so it sounds exactly the same: export all the tracks as stems, import them into the other program, make sure the pan laws are the same, and carry on from there 

Anderton

dubdisciple
Even older forms of cross DAW conversion rarely work seemlessly. When I transfer via omf or aaf, I strip project down to most base elements. What azlow achieved is amazing but must be treated in similar manner.

Exactly. It's simply not possible to translate a project using a DAW's proprietary functionality into some other DAW with incompatible proprietary functionality. What you CAN do is translate what those projects have in common, which can be a considerable amount of data and for many projects, may be all that's needed.

That precisely describe the situation.
 
The common part in projects is brighter then OMF and other formats I have checked. F.e. Steinberg has opened VST format, including the way to save presets. Most DAWs use VSTs. Why there is no open format to transfer VST chains (FX bin) current presets for corresponding tracks?
From what I know, the most powerful DAW formats translator is AATranslator. But already in the description it is shown how limited such converters are, they are still just convert the result (audio/video, with some parameters which also can be seen as the result), and not the "project" (FX chains, routing, synth settings, MIDI)
 

Maybe it's possible to map parameters among different proprietary processes designed to create the same end result, e.g., AudioSnap to however Reaper does stretching, but it seems that would be incredibly time-consuming. Or what about locked effects? Maybe it's possible to read all the parameters in the Adaptive Limiter and apply them to a different multiband limiting plug-in. Azslow would know that...I don't. 

I have thought to translate CW slices into REAPER stretch markers (even without AudioSnap Sonar splits audio clips into slices for grooved clips (as in the loop editor) and save that splitting into projects). But since REAPER use Elastique and Sonar Izotope, the result sounds too different to justify the effort. Especially for percussive sounds, the only reasonable way to make the material reasonably stretchable in REAPER is split (REX approach), and there is no way to automate the process without deep sound analysis.
 
With ProChannel EQ to ReaEQ we had quite some fun. We have managed to make them sound more or less the same in the bright range of EQ parameters. Most surprising was the fact resulting Width is original Gain dependent (in addition to the original Q). From that experience I have learned that converting between different plug-ins, even in case they have the same set of parameters, is an art of its own.
 
A bit off-topic: I am currently try to make a preset for A&H Qu-32 (for those who reading my posts think I am just another "REAPER fun boy" now, I still help people with surfaces in Sonar...) which can control ProChannel EQs from 32 strips using Qu EQs for internal strips. MikeyB claims the picture on Qu is more or less the same as in ProChannel, when parameters are transferred "as is" (0..1 in Sonar to 0..127 MIDI in Qu). After ReaEQ, the evidence 2 different EQs can at least somehow match in numerical parameters is a wonder
 
 

Of course there's always the 100% perfect way to open a .cwp project in another DAW so it sounds exactly the same: export all the tracks as stems, import them into the other program, make sure the pan laws are the same, and carry on from there 

Even that is not always possible. I hit one problem in that waterproof concept:
setting the same pan law is sometimes not as easy as it looks like or not possible at all. Not all available in Sonar pan laws can be strictly reproduced in REAPER. And those which can, do not have the same "named settings" to match (ReaCWP tries to apply correct one when possible). So general practical advise: when matching pan laws in different DAWs, do not trust names in preferences.
 
Also note that exporting tracks as whole stems (so from the project beginning) is important for 100% perfect way. While Sonar is sample accurate, REAPER is (by default) time accurate. In practice that means in REAPER original samples in audio files can be not aligned to the project samples (even when the sample rate match!). Under some conditions that can produce a whole sample shift, for most purpose not significant but in some situation audible.
And so another general practical advise when moving between DAWs: when positioning audio elements in musical domain, since in most tempos measures/beats are not on sample boundaries exactly, the audio can be shifted by one sample. In addition, that shift can be different between playing and rendering, even different for different rendering methods. F.e. till recent update, REAPER was aligning to the project samples during playing and rendering but aligning to the item/clip beginning when "gluing". REAPER has an option to align measures/beats to the project samples, but it is not on by default (and since REAPER support project sample rate changes, there can be side effects).