mettelus
I am really not sure what say here, and curiosity always gets the best of me more than anything else. It seems that many fly in here with the only purpose of "poisoning the well." No real point to be made, no problem to be solved... so I read them a few times to find a "point," and some I walk away from.
 
Music (to me) is a common thread of "joy"... if folks enjoy pounding on trash cans with sticks, then so be it... they are happy (beautiful thing actually)! Music spans all income levels and is not proprietary to anyone... so is an interesting field in that respect alone.
 
Just as an aside... I used to teach English, and often told students that if they master the art of argument, they have won. No one is required to read anything... and in text (especially), if you can validate your point, and have someone acknowledge it, it is a "win." Not that they agree with you, but "see your point." An example would be someone saying, "That movie sucked!"... without the "why" it carries no weight.
 
I have read the OP four (4) times now... and simply think "So this opinion undermines people who truly find joy via other means?" I am hard-pressed to see the "point" as I read it again... if another finds joy in anything else, they may be 20 steps ahead of anyone without it (is rather humbling actually). Anyway... food for thought....

+1
 
What gets me, (not related to the OP, BTW), is one someone posts an opinion, usually negative, and then they get a bent out of shape when someone counters it. I mean, an opinion (not fact) is just that - and someone else's opinion might just be that the first poster (in his opinion) is FOS, and he'd be just as legitimate as well.
 
I suppose that when you post strong opinions with heavy adjectives, you can right expect to have it all blasted back at you...
 

See the world, young man.
 
Lots of folks here in the forum use different DAW software for different aspects of music creation and production.
 
DO check out the X3 demo, when it shows up.  There are some things being worked on, and some things made better, and some things new, and you might find it to once again fit your needs/wants.
 
In any case, to echo a prior sentiment, best of all to you in all you do.
 
Bob Bone
 

I hadn't really thought of it before, but I suppose using a different DAW could be like a different tuning of a guitar or picking up a completely new instrument and being inspired by the sounds one can make.
 
For the record, I'm also mid 50s, have used Cakewalk products since 2.0, love and have been truly inspired by the X series. It all just makes sense and fits with the way I think and work. 

Going to a DAW for me is like going from Lotus123 to Excel (or vice versa), a fairly dull affair. Music is what it should be all about.

You youngsters just crack me up. 
 
X1, 2 or 3, Pro Tools, Logic, Cubase, Ableton...it's all good. We are blessed with the availability of incredible tools. Use what you like. As far as I can see if you consider yourself a musician you should be making music...and using anything and everything that cranks up the creative spark.
 
(I'll be 64 next year)
 
Regards,
 

Its been nice to read all the comments on this thread. Really very heartening to see how much everyone majors on the music and not just blindly banging the drum for technology and Sonar X3.

Sonar is a great piece of kit I have used it for many many years and I know it well. In some very small way I have helped it develop. However, in my view, it may have headed off on a bit of tangent. Prochannel in particular perplexes me. I simply find it pointless. If I need a compressor I have several amazing Plugins for major manufacturers that I paid quite a bit of money for. I don't want all these other fiddly homespun modules hanging off the channel even if they can be hidden. I like to keep things simple and if don't use it I don't want to see it or worry that I may have enabled it in error. I often run very large track counts (entire string sections) and the grouping is essential. I often apply dynamics, eq and sends only to groups. I would love to remove as much as possible from a channel to economise on real estate, processing and visual distractions. Of course you can hide lots of things, but this does not always mean they are passive or inactive. Anyway that's a small personal beef that I like to get off my chest whenever I have the conch. I simply believe you should only add what you need to the path and not clutter it with stuff that is inactive, bypassed or simply not contributing, as it can lead to confusion and therefore errors.
 
Many will heartily disagree with me and that is as it should be.
 
I think all that remains is to sign off and wish you all a Rocking Merry Christmas and a fabulously creative new year XXXXX

I have virtually every DAW installed on either my Windows or Mac computer, know them well, and could run a session and mix with any of them.
 
Each DAW has strengths and weaknesses for particular applications, and I choose what's appropriate for the project at hand. In my world, Sonar gets the call far more often than anything else.
 
I think of each DAW as a session musician (I used to do a lot of session work back in the day). There was always the hotshot guy who could do something really amazing and would get the call sometimes, but most of the time I wanted to work with the player who showed up on time, could play just about anything really well, smiled a lot, was liked by all the other musicians, and made the sessions run creatively and smoothly

Merry XMAS!!!!
 
> Where are they now?
 
 

 
... as long as you know you know you know :)