It dawned on me last night that I really enjoy composing in the PRV and have decided it probably suits me a lot more than working with standard notation. 
 
I can sight read (guitar) and I always presumed that the best approach to composing music would ultimately be to work on a stave. But when I think about it, I learned guitar by associating shapes with sounds. Even after taking up classical studies and learning to sight read for years, I still think of music in terms of shapes and lines. It's much easier to see shapes on a linear grid than it is in standard notation with its sharps and flats. But the biggest advantage comes when you're writing multiple parts. I can have all the parts in the PRV at once and immediately see how they relate to each other. It's so much easier to write parts that harmonize with and entwine around each other when they're stacked. When writing a bass line you can instantly see how it works with the melody or any other part. I find it a lot easier to write parts that compliment each other when I can see them all together on the same grid. And I find Sonar's PRV really easy to work with! Definitely one of Sonar's better features. 

The thing that screws me up with notation is the blasted math involved with the timing end of things. With the PRV I get a nice time linear grid that I understand. The downside of the PRV to me is its chromatic nature which means more vertical space is used (wasted) and it doesn't make use of the handy key sig stuff that I love notation for.
 
I've often dabbled in creating alternative forms of notation (I have elaborate and crazy files describing some of my visions and considered submitting my ideas to that group that collects and promotes alt notation formats... their name eludes me at the moment).
 
To me I guess being self taught and playing by ear/feel for so many years having to dissect things into whole/half/quarter/etc and dotting things and making sure it all falls into the right place and fitting into the measure and and and and is just something that I find annoying and confusing. I've always kind of sucked at math as it is so using THAT type of math is even more annoying.
 
It's like the difference between imperial measurements and the metric system. Imperial math is ridiculous to my battered old brain. You'd think that would make the actual note/letter/modifier/keysig system problematic for me but it doesn't.
 
So PRV works well for me but I'd kind of like a combo of the note properties of the staff with the time based grid capabilities of the PRV.
 
Yes... I'm weird.

Beepster
 The downside of the PRV to me is its chromatic nature which means more vertical space is used (wasted) and it doesn't make use of the handy key sig stuff that I love notation for.
 

Have you tried the snap to scale option?

scook

Beepster
 The downside of the PRV to me is its chromatic nature which means more vertical space is used (wasted) and it doesn't make use of the handy key sig stuff that I love notation for.
 

Have you tried the snap to scale option?

I'm not familiar with that but it doesn't sound like what I'd be looking for. I'm assuming that... well snaps to a specific scale within the existing PRV. I'm more talking about how the staff is able to handle a much larger amount of data in such a small space. I don't have a problem with keys or knowing what notes I want where and most of my stuff tends to stray into the chromatic anyway. It's just being able to look at the staff, having the key sig in place then punching in what needs to go where then applying the accidentals as needed in the staff is more appealing to me than the somewhat sterile and clunky approach of the PRV. IDK... I guess I find it more interesting. I do however need to get my shiz together and become more proficient with the timing element of notation. It really kind of is my final frontier in regards to theory and I feel like I've barely left my front stoop. I'm really good at rhythmic stuff but it is ALL feel based. Once I start trying to look at it on paper I'm boned. Not cool.
 
I've got some old music workbooks around I need to plod my way through at some point. Just haven't had a ton of time for that type of thing. I also need a proper notation program/sequencer to really dig into it all because... well the Sonar Staff View does have some... er... quirks. I still think they'd do quite well selling a third party developed add on for this type of thing. I saw some people talking about how perhaps the ARA integration thingymawhatsits might help with that... but those types of programming details are beyond my knowledge level.

THing is, it's really hard to compose/arrange any large ensemble without staff view.  A jazz sax section, strings ensemble, choir...all those type of things, it feels like playing chess and not seeing the whole chess board at one time.  The staff is important tool to a good composer/arranger/orchestrater.  Besides harmonic information the staff helps you balance, blend and mix. You can not do that in Piano Roll View.     
 
And before anyone starts in with "Thats what Sibelius/Finale is for"...I cant output audio from those programs and send it in to a client without getting shot, dragged into the back ally and left to die.   

hmm... with the PRV, and perhaps I'm mistaken, all those elements can be shown (or hidden) and color coded. Not sure how that would work in the staff view. It is however definitely easier to build up the intervals between the instruments with the staff view but I guess when working on that level the snap to scale feature scook mentioned could help.
 
For those with traditional training though (I'm self taught so my understanding/reliance of notation is a little... uh different) it would definitely be a bugger trying to work around it all. When I layer stuff it happens in my mind and then I translate it to whatever medium necessary and I'm used to guitar where it's easy to cram together all sots of whack intervals (only instruments easier are keyboard based). Traditional composition... yeah, I could definitely see needing the staff.
 
Again hopefully the ARA stuff might help introduce new possibilities... but I may be misunderstanding what ARA actually is (likely). I've seen the horror stories in regards to Rewiring notation editors into Sonar so I'm not particularly interested in trying it myself... for now.
 
What makes me curious though is if these fancy notation editors allow for the generation of MIDI files can't the composer just put the structure together, export it then drag it into Sonar to access the superior instruments? I mean... that's kind of how old school composing worked. Some madman scribbling away on parchment with access only to a piano (if he was lucky) and then handing it to the orchestra/conductor.
 
Meh.

sharke
...I really enjoy composing in the PRV and have decided it probably suits me a lot more than working with standard notation.

Me too. One of the first things I discovered on using it was that you can make the notes of a chord hit at slightly different times, behind or ahead of the beat, and with different velocities. With a bit of tweaking you can achieve a realistic and effective piano or electric piano that is way better than you could possibly play and yet doesn't sound mechanical.
 
But Staff View still has its uses. If you have sufficient screen area to put the two views side by side, you could enter notes quickly in SV and then tweak them in PRV.  Keep SV zoom out with PRV zoomed in.

Kev999

sharke
...I really enjoy composing in the PRV and have decided it probably suits me a lot more than working with standard notation.

Me too. One of the first things I discovered on using it was that you can make the notes of a chord hit at slightly different times, behind or ahead of the beat, and with different velocities. With a bit of tweaking you can achieve a realistic and effective piano or electric piano that is way better than you could possibly play and yet doesn't sound mechanical.
 
But Staff View still has its uses. If you have sufficient screen area to put the two views side by side, you could enter notes quickly in SV and then tweak them in PRV.  Keep SV zoom out with PRV zoomed in.

Have to say I totally agree with this! I use a similar workflow for guitar chords (prior to actually recording the real thing)