Unless you are absolutely in love with R-mix or v-vocal, I think X3 essential is a better deal.  I like pro channel but certainly could work fine without it.  A track template with plugin chains would certainly give you similar functionality. if you had no plugins,  Producer would be the better move.  NI covers the gamut of instruments. I think Rapture holds its own against third party plugins but goes on sale fairly often

Try and get X3 Pro if you can. If I had a lack of budget I would duly whore myself for the money, not that there would be any takers. Cheers...

I'd go w/ Pro, even if it is X2.  Most of the bugs are ironed out, and even tho it is mostly extra plug-ins and synths, there is the prochannel.  That is really nice (even tho the NI Waves stuff won't work in it).  Of course, getting X2 is provisional - you will want to upgrade to X3 (or X4) at some point, but it should be cheap (X2 to X3 Pro was $149 and may be cheaper now).  There really isn't too much functional difference between X2 and X3 that you will notice.  You will have a heap gob of plugins, (some you might like better than NI and Waves).  And once you register them you'll have them after you upgrade.

Since the OP specifically stated he is not interested in plugs, and is on a budger, I really wonder what the logic is here. 149 is not cheap for an upgrade to X3 when he only has 100 to spend on the program as a whole. AFAIK, apart from extra plugs (including PC) there is no difference in function between X3 basic and X3 pro. There are significant differences in function between X2 and X3 though.
 
When money is no object, sure, go for the biggest package. But if you already own a lot of plugs and are happy with them, Cakewalk has finally released a low cost clean version with full functionality.

Even the base version ships with quite a few plugins
 
Here's the comparison :
 
http://www.cakewalk.com/products/sonar/versions.aspx

Isn't Audio Snap an important feature to consider? I have a daw that allows users to time-stretch audio much easier and faster so I don't need it, though.