I guess I've always been a CW user.  Very many years ago I started with Pro Audio, upgrading it a couple times up to ver 9 when I finally decided to go for Sonar Home Studio 4.  Boy was THAT a mistake for me at the time!  I never got the knack of the interface and felt drowned in too many options.   At about that time I also tried too many hardware upgrades, going for 24/96 capability with a MIA MIDI card, new mixer and mic; several hardware problems kept me from moving forward for a long time.  My sessions turned into "how many hours can we waste trying to debug why I can't record a single track..." and I didn't know about the great forums here either.  I literally walked away from recording for about 3 years.
 
I finally got to talking with other musicians on another forum and got around the hardware issues, and I saw MC4 out there.  Went for that, it worked like a champ, I grabbed MC5 soon as it came out and I was even happier.  I have now decided to switch from MC to Sonar 8.5PE, this time I learned from past mistakes - I took the time to grab, download, or buy every Sonar 8 tutorial I could get my hands on, looked at the demos, read every article about every feature I could, and decided THIS was the upgrade I would commmit to from here on out - no looking back. 
 
Having ordered and received the pkg, I'm giving myself the next few weeks to prep my computer and load it all carefully, before trying to crank out new projects.  But I already know it was the best bang for the buck out there, and I believe CW has made some fantastic price breaks that have given us low-end users all the reason in the world to grab hold of these fantastic tools and get even more productive.  So, I'm one very excited and happy CW user!   

1. Switched from Pro-Tools / M-Audio / Sony Vegas to Sonar.

2. Sonar with the Calkwalk inteface has good Windows 7 64-bit support. I refuse to downgrade my PC to 32-bit or XP just because the other vendors are too busy playing with their Macs to write a PC driver.  So to be real blunt, I use Sonar / Cakewalk because of driver support. Great job supporting 64-bit machines and Windows 7!!

I switched from Sound Forge LE and Tracktion and a DAW. I wanted more a computer based system with more headroom, better sound capability and more flexibility. Sound Forge LE is easy to use but when I wanted to grow I investigated all the options.  I believe in open architecture in computing so MACs were out. The reviews said Cubase and Sonar were the top products and SONAR seemed more popular in North America.

I read this forum for weeks and decided the support community here was bigger than over at Cubase which was the deciding factor.

I started with 6 and went to 7 within months. I keep up with all updates as soon as they come out and have invested heavily in this project. While not really an expert yet, the results I get with Sonar far exceed anything I could do before.

Well - I am fairly new to this whole sound editing stuff, but I must say it is amazing how fast you get used to it

I owned a Yamaha mono synth some 20 years ago, and made some (admitted primitive) sound with it that some weird people even called music (No - I never found out what they where smoking to get in that utterly crazy mindset, but it must have been REALLY strong).

Anyway - at the beginning of 2009 I finally made the decision to give it another try. I got myself a E-MU Xboard49 and found out I got a lot of software with it.  To start with I got the Proteus X2 softsynth with several (6!) CD's filled with sound banks. I also got some sequencing/music editing software like Ableton, Cubase and Sonar. At first I tried Ableton Live, but found the software was not my "piece of cake". Next I tried Cubase. Now that was a whole lot better. I got enthousiastic and ordered Cubase essential 5.

At first I liked Cubase a lot, but after some time I found the software was not as fitting in my ideas of a smooth workflow as I had anticipated. I could not place the finger at the "rough" spots, but in general the software was defenately not doing the things I hoped it should do.

At that time I realised my on-board sound card was not exactly up to par, and ordered an E-Mu 0404 PCI sound card. This card came with another set of software, and I noticed there was a version of Sonar LE on one of the discs. I tried the software, and came to the conclusion this piece of software was far more fitting my ideas of a smooth workflow. One thing missing however was a good soft synth. I could use the Proteus X2, but a lot of tutorials for Sonar where based on the TTS1 that was not included in LE

At that time I got hold on some still sealed package of Sonar Home Studio 6 XL. It was from a supply from a old store that had gone out of buisiness so I got the software for a "nice" price. I really liked it a lot, and when I compared Sonar to Cubase 5 essential the Sonar package came out as a winner. I was surprised. If you take in concideration the Cubase 5 package was newer than HS 6 XL it was even more amazing.

Well - I took the deceision to dump the Cubase package (I could unregistrate the key and resell the package without too much loss), added some money and ordered Sonar 8.5 studio. I think it was one of the best deceisions I made. I got this package just a few weeks ago, but allready feel very comfortable with it. The stuff included with "8.5 studio" is great, and I am still exploring everything. The (pdf) reference guide included gave me the answers on the all questions I had, so until now no need to ask anything here on this site.

I already know I defenately want to upgrade to the full Sonar 8.5 producer package as soon as I have the money to do so (and that wont take too long as the upgrade is less expensive then I had anticipated - Thank you Cakewalk).

So there it is. I started with Cubase, but I am now fully converted to Sonar....

I originally Started with the Ensoniq Eps, and Otari Tape , and a bunch of hardware, Mks50, tb 303,  Roland Smpte box  SoundCraft Board ect..
 Then I switched to the Power Mac 7300, with Studio Vision pro Dsp, What a stable system Back then, I cant remember a single crash 3.5 discs Wow Audio to midi was best I ever seen ..it would work perfect... .I switched when Gibson took over..I miss my Opcode.. hahaha. I been with Sonar Since Version 2.2. 

Dear all,
I switched to Sonar around mid / end 2008. I used it at first to do some recording , but more and more I'm getting into it....and it's great!! On the (this) forum I contacted several times with questions and my collegue users always helped me out. Now I got an advise from one of the Sonar users ( Don) to upgrade to 8.5 --- so... I listened and followed his advise!! Let me tell all of you one thing: I ordered the 8.5 last tuesday...AND I already got my software through door-to-door delivery TODAY!!
 
How much better can it get!!! WOW I was already impressed by the way the software works for me BUT I'm even more impressed by the way Cakewalk delivers what they promise.
I'm from Holland... and I live in a nice country...( at least that's what I hear from other people....
 
But there are a lot of companies in my country that cannot deliver my ordered materials within the time Cakewalk needed to process and deliver my order from US to Holland. We have a saying here:
Chapeau !!!!!! ( it's French language for : I'll take my hat of....compliments!!!!!!).
Thanks again Cakewalk for being as professional as you are ( again).... it makes me feel good to be able to trust a company that delivers the materials that at their turn enable me to perform my job  better!!
 
Thanxxxx
 
Loek

Switching to Sonar became more convenient, at 64bit, mastering can be done right at your desktop or laptop.  Recording vocals gave me issue with other
sofware recording programs.  Sonar has given me an opportunity to cut the amount of time I spend recording with its internal sounds and I haven't noticed much of 
a Latency issue yet.  No freezes, no buffer hardware worries, it has been a pleasure and a breeze.  I can really focus on a better production and product.   Way to go!  CAKEWALK!
 
www.sellmorebeats.coms

I started on Cakewalk 3.4 in the early 90's!

Last year I decided to check out ProTools 7.1 M-Powered as a possible additional tool in the bag. I got so annoyed at all the features that are just not there, such as no OMF file support etc, that I just realised how user-friendly Sonar actually is.

Running 8.5 PE on a professional basis and very happy thanks!

Ludwig bouwer
One Big Room Studios
www.onebigroom.co.za 

I started with HS-4 a few years ago... Upgraded to 6XL and found it fairly friendly... I'm not a "RTFM" guy but I did some but you guys in here taught me alot... Scott's books helped too... I just ordered 8.5 Studio that should be here in a day or so...
All I really know is Cakewalk so I can't compare it to anything else... Just don't forget there's a few of us dummy's out there that aren't engineers...

Hello from Scotland!
 
Sonar Vs Cubase!
 
Hello from Scotland,
 
Over the last few years i have went from Ejay to Reason to FL Studio then it was crunch time - where do i go next Sonar or Cubase .
 
As i would describe myself as the Hobby - ist music maker i was pondering on the thought of spending £400.00 of my hard earned cash along with another sum for a new PC. Then when i was able to justify the expense to my soul i then started to read up on what each were about , downloaded LE versions and played about.
 
What stole the show was the marketing behind sonar - i.e. made by Musicians for Musicians . Watched a few videos on You Tube regarding what i can do with the software and then decided to buy it !
 
 
When it arrived i sat patiently watching all the goodies being delivered to my harddrive.
 
Then got started the sounds, the choices the flexibility WOW - i still have not scratched the surface on what i can do with Sonar 8.5 Producer but thats why i pirchased it - keep me busy!
 
On a not so high note - the day after i had purachased it i got a email saying buy our products with this discount code and you can get 20% off - hmm, i thought typical - but as the marketing describes made by musicians for musicians i thought i would email customer service to see if there were any deals or freebies i could obtain as it was in with 24 hours to then receive an email saying you can download "cakewalk"fx free - giving the fact i had just purchased the flag ship products the fx although good for free were already bundles into pack. As i do work in the customer service / sales industry i do know offers will pop up now and again , but given the time scales i thought something could have been done to reimburce or promo code for any future purchase.
 
Not being huffy - then decided to upgrade to rapture (amazing synth) at 69 then got a email saying buy it at 35 and then i purchased SWA HD Sonar 8.5 to download it for it not to play ( i have contaced them with no reply) i then downloaded SWA video Sonar 8 for it to work - so as you can read i am determined to learn and create with your product(s) but i do feel that the amount of extra cash i have spent i.e. the difference on the HPPY discount and the discount on rapture i could have spent on other Sonar/Partner products. So i am assumuing the person at the end of my email to customer service is not a laid back Musician - as i did not want to go down the route of cancelling the product to then re order.
 
On the positive side - i am now 30 seconds into my 1st tune made on Sonar and will continue to produce with the product as it is FAB its just the customer service and the reailty of losing pounds to buy more goodies!
 
Thanks,
 
Chris
 
runarecordings@hotmail.co.uk