Rarely have problems with crashes, but have occasional dropouts mostly running vst synths.  Overall, system seems to be fairly stable with few (but not free of) various coughs and gasps.  I guess I would have to note the drop outs mostly...

There are certain synths and effects that I just can't run without dropouts.  My hardware was pretty fast 4 years ago, so it is far from the state of the art today.
 
Most of what I do is MIDI to soft synths.  I find myself freezing synths a lot, and that is a bit of a pain because it can take a long time if I have 6 or 8 tracks going through one synth.
 
If I am recording an audio track, I usually hit the button to disable all effects.
 
I discovered a  few things that seems to cause crashes and simply stopped doing them.  I can't even remember what they were now.  I don't think I have had a crash in 6 weeks, using SONAR daily.  And I might have one dropout an hour if I am not aggressive about freezing tracks.  I should mention my projects are smallish -- fewer than 20 tracks.

No problems with dropouts of crashes here except for the very occasional Kontakt related crash, as this is can happen in standalone mode too its unlikley to be Sonar related. - Specs in my signature. My projects are usually 44.1
 
I am almost entirly "in the box" using VSTs with the occasion audio track recorded through the Quad capture. A typical project will have three or four instances of Kontakt, each with multiple instruments loaded. Superior Drummer and some other VSTis like Minimonsta, M-TRon Pro, Korg MonoPoly, Real Strat, Massive, Reaktor etc. There are usually several instances of Amplitube and/or Guitar rig, some other effects and finally either T-Racks or Pro channel on most tracks.
 
The only issue I have the occasional but annoying disapearance of the "Now Time" for no apparent reason.
 
 

With my system (specs below), I experience dropouts only after loading a bunch of softsynths without raising the buffer. To keep latency in check, I like to record with buffers set to 64 samples, but as multiple softsynths are added, I have to raise the buffer in order to avoid dropouts.
 
I have experienced a crash now and then, but it seems to be related to certain plug-ins. I don't know if it's Sonar's fault or the plug-in's fault, but when I incorporate certain plug-in's, it ups the likelihood of trouble. For example, I operate a 64 bit system, and SampleTank (32 bit) doesn't always play nice with Sonar, so I generally avoid it. (Hopefully, someday IK Multimedia will live up to their promise of 64 bit Sampletank and that might solve the problem.)
 
Also, as BAPU noted, manipulating clips while Sonar is playing will sometimes cause crashes, so I resist the urge. 

It is always some of the 32 bit plugins that causes crashes. Avoid using them then I will be live happily ever after.

Only Waves L2 causes crashes. I am working with X2a and Native Instrument Komplete 9.

I cannot remember the last crash or dropout on my system (specs below)
 
X2a is for me, the most stable release since 8.5.3

mmorgan
Bob and scook: In this particular case Dim Pro is definitely not the issue. My recent, within the last 6 months, project do not load Dim Pro. OTH: yesterday I started up the DAW and immediately watch a training video on MacPro Video. Later in the day I heard the some background stat-icy type noise and when I opened the RME TotalMix it stated the sample rate as 44.1.
 
Reboot and everything was back to normal. I really have found that there are several ways that things go south and it takes a certain amount of vigilance to keep everything humming which is pretty much the way it is the vast majority of the time...I haven't found anything in X2a that I could specifically point to and say "Cakewalk screwed up." That is a good thing me thinks.
 
Thanks for the input though - it's all good.
 
Regards,

I have this issue with the static but its not Sonar related. Its Flash. Hence you getting the issues after a training video. I also get this with my MOTU USB card, the only way to get rid of it is to close down the browser and open up the MOTU config programme, close that programme then re-open the browser... Happens every time I flick about from one form of audio then into flash.
 
Very annoying.
 
As far as X2a. I have no crashes and thats running Midi and Audio.

I can't remember the last time I ever had a major problem with Cakewalk products other than the bugs that we knew about and we all waited for patch fixes. Boy, the atmosphere around the forum has certainly changed a lot since the first days of X1! Do we all remember the culture shock that we all experienced? It seemed like we all were running around with our hair on fire! Hee-Hee! Some of us fell by the wayside but those of us who have stuck it out seem to be relatively satisfied now.

I mostly track audio. I add Synths on occasion (usually not more than 4 or 5). I track projects as large as 16 concurrent tracks. I tend to track long live shows, but record in my home as well.
 
I don't get crackles and pops but I do sometimes crash Sonar. It's less than 1% of the sessions where I mix that I get a problem, but when I bump into one, I can bang my head on it several times in a row.
 
I can say it took me a long time to get to the place where I could confidently run sound for a show using my computer. By this, I mean years and generations of computers. My learning curve has probably been as significant as anything.
 
Key stages for me were...
1. Tracking on another device and then Mixing within Sonar. This is a great way to start because no problem you encounter is urgent to solve.
2. Tracking within Sonar where I just recorded myself or my friends where drop-outs were dealt with and we just re-recorded the takes. These were usually less than 4 tracks recorded at a time.
3. Tracking what were effectively gigs in my home or other peoples garages where drop-outs would cause the loss of the take, but they were rare enough that everyone rolled with it. In this case many tracks were being concurrently recorded and usually reliably.
4. Tracking in live venues where drop-outs were not acceptable.
 
I started with Cakewalk on Windows XP and have used it on every OS up to Windows 8. I prefer Windows 8 for Sonar.
 
I have used 4 different interfaces now. I started with an internal card. I have also used Line6 and M-Audio USB Interfaces. I now use an RME UCX.
 
I have used Sonar on 4 primary computers. 2 Desktops and two laptops. I still use the laptops for mobile recording, but I primarily use the computer in my signature.
 
I have tracked live shows since the 90s, and switched to Cakewalk slowly over the last 9 years. I'm very happy with the In-The-Box studio type recording and specifically Cakewalk's implementation.
 
Switching slowly to Cakewalk was nice. It gave me plenty of time to ramp up on the software without interrupting my ability to make live recordings using my old gear and mix it using the best of my skills and gear at any given point in time. I rarely felt panicked or freaked out the way some people who visit the forum clearly feel. I do remember one post I made where I was stuck and frustrated with Cakewalk. That was the point where I'd been mixing in Cakewalk for a year or two without busting through the constraint to start full on recording in the box. Breaking that boundary was the last time I felt anxiety around the software.