While people including myself have referenced their personal stories about Cakewalk/Sonar, the focus has been on what to do next, but I think it would be fun to share our Cakewalk stories.   I'll start, but I know I'm not alone.  This news of Sonar going away has hit me on several personal levels, no matter which hat I'm wearing...  someone mentions music and I'm down the rabbit hole of disgust.
 
Honestly, I'm still in shock.  To make matters worse I'm in the middle of re-building my studio so I can finally complete my own albums (I was busy doing other peoples stuff and let mine slide... then we moved across the country... bought a catering company...  insert more excuses....)  So I finally decide, IT's TIME.... I build a new workstation, get a Line 6 Helix, I'm practicing again... my OWN music..  I'm looking up musicians for the parts I can't remember how to play.... then the tool that I literally have 1000's of hours on....   may go bye bye.    I realize that's down the road.. but I'm just pissed.  There are enough companies and products failing...  they don't need to kill off other ones for literally no reason other than laziness.   I can't imagine how the folks in Boston feel.  

Sorry for the rant, but as I was comparing the available software out there...  it's more than standard features.  I have sheet music in Sonar, templates, and notes for my gear, not to mention CAL'S !!!!  I haven't seen anyone really talk about CALS !!!!!!   Ya see I started out in MIDI on the Commodore 64 and using the C-64, actually a few of them for sequencers and synths.  Cakewalk for DOS was my second MIDI sequencer.  I imported everything and never looked back or at anything else.  I didn't get involved with audio until it moved a couple of versions into Windows.   Hurumph...  When we played, we played with backing tracks in Cakewalk to enhance the performance, and it even switched my effects for me.  I had CAL's for making drums "real" sounding and we actually did a few gigs with Cakewalk as the drummer, and stage tech too (switching effects, amps, etc..).  

Later in the 2000's I attended the NAMM convention a few times... got to see new releases, learn shortcuts..  Sonar in all it's versions was the heart of my studio.   When I think of all the presets I created in plug-ins and effects..  I'm feeling somewhat overwhelmed with the idea of not just re-inventing the wheel, but building a whole new mode of transportation from scratch that already knows all the places I go and the best ways to get there.
 
Anyway... that's my story, thanks for letting me share.   My name is Miles and I use Sonar.  
 

Well, I'm game. Got a cold and stuck inside..
 
I was playing in 5 -6 piece bands, Guitar and Bass in the early 80's. Bars were slowly switching to singles and duo's as the drinking Laws changed here in BC. People were not drinking like they used to. But our Drummer was !!
The guitar player showed up at practice with a Roland 505 and we fired the drunk drummer. 
I bought one as well. We eventually became a duo with me on bass. Then he buys an Atari and a Yamaha FBO1. So now I had to buy my own Atari. A few years later ( 1986) I took out a loan and spent about $10,000 to set myself up with a small studio and everything I needed to play as a single act.  
 
In those days you had to make your own midi tracks or pay $$ to by floppies. We would share a few songs among the 4 of us who were using Atari's. I made over 150 songs for myself in those days. Songs use to take the better part of a day to sequence, so talk about investing time in a format! Those files have paid for them selves over and over and I sill re visit them, load them into Sonar where they live on. I still save every project as a midi file. 
 
I actually made a living playing and recording by the end of th 80's. In 1992 I bought a commercial building and set up a Music Store with lessons, recording, playing live and doing sound around the community. 
 
I used the Atari until around 2002 when I bought my first PC. 
 I had a copy of Cakewalk Home( Guitar?) Studio that Roland had given me to hand out with the Keyboards I sold. 
Because of not having a proper Audio interface I struggled with out of sync issues and just never got Cakewalk to work as well as my Atari, Yamaha 01v and Yamaha MD 8 track system. The Atari was doomed to die and you'll see I joined this forum in 2004 where I quickly learned I needed an audio interface. Finnaly I'm getting a PC to record.  By then I was using Sonar 6 and then 7 and figuring Sonar out enough to do what I needed to do. 
 
Then I bought 8.5 and was really digging in deep and recording clients with that for a number of years. I skipped X1 and 2 because of bad reviews moving from 8.5 to x3e Studio. Then Professional an eventually the Lifetime Splat which will be the end of my Sonar story but not for a long time yet. I'm actually happy not to have to worry about updates and will focus on just using and learning more about it's little details. My main focus is still my backing tracks and why I will stay with Sonar. 

Cactus Music
Well, I'm game. Got a cold and stuck inside.....

WOW You really sparked some memories for me.  I guess I lucked out early on as I had a Casio MG-510 and also some MIDI controllers so I would just play the parts into Cakewalk as MIDI, then as I recall I'd use Quantize and CAL's I wrote to initial clean them up, and then go in and edit.  The MG-510 is probably one of the few guitars that is really on my "what was I thinking when I sold that" list.  It was my main axe even then no MIDI was involved as it was a great super-strat.  It tracked pretty well compared to what was available back in the day.

For drums I got sneaky too.  I had an early Tama MIDI kit I re-built with all new piezo transducers that I shopped and shopped for until I got ones that had the most dynamic range.  Hooked through a DM-5 (I think), and while I have some drum experience, over the years I had competent drummers just lay down MIDI tracks for me.  My own custom midi Library.  

And also like you, every song was saved as MIDI, or had MIDI.  I still do this today, especially with my own tunes.  I've always hated listening to click tracks, so I put in simple drum parts initially.  Which reminds me that any new software wouldn't have all the cueing and song info on each track.  I think I may have taken the "Insert Marker" tool a little too far over the years.  
 
I too went pro (opened a real studio) in 1999.  We bought a house with the sole purpose of putting a full recording studio in the basement and I did.  It was somewhat a proof of concept as the plan was to move out west at some point which we did in 2006.   I had project studios before that, but starting in 2002, I was picking up clients and it was a lot of fun.  My music took a back seat, but I lived in Sonar.  
 
Thanks for the trip down memory lane.  I forgot how much I had forgot.  

My (non-pro) journey included a Casio MG510 (MIDI only synth guitar) as well as a PG380 (built in sounds AND MIDI in a synth guitar) and a VZ10M (sound module with PG380 compatible patch-writing).  But my go-to sound module was a Roland U220, which sadly was NOT GM compatible.  Cakewalk was MIDI-only when I loaded the first 5-1/4" floppy into my XT. 
 
Fast forwarding...Spent a few years away but have worked up over 400 arrangements in the last two years on Sonar.  Such a nice platform, and I'll miss it...just like I do the MG510/PG380/VZ10M/U220/etc. 
 
Times change, life evolves and we figure it out. 
 
THANKS for the memories!