Started on Fasttracker on the Amiga 15 years ago. Been making music as a hobby on and off since then on various platforms incl Buzz and Reason, Cubase, Pro Tools and even old Cakewalk etc

Decided to go 100% for Sonar when I realised it is totally dedicated to Windows. All the others really are Mac platforms and that's not for me as I like to build my own rigs and all Apple's products are too cute for me. That Sonar has the Synthrack, VC64 and the brilliant 64bit sound mixer engine is iceing on the cake. :) I don't think I could get anything done without the synthrack as I use loads of softsynths, and I even got a 24" monitor and getting one more to just house the synthrack etc.

I'm also ditching Reason completely but might use Ableton for dj stuff. When it comes to producing, Sonar together with my VSTs can do everything that I need and more.

I started using Sonar at version 3. I had come from analog, with a little bit of experience with computers/sequencing hosts (Studio Vision), but it was mostly telling someone what I wanted and he'd do it--I didn't know how to operate the computer at the time. I did use Cubase SX 2 for a little bit and liked it just fine, except missed little things I took for granted in Sonar 3--stuff like clip looping, sound effects bin right in the track view, being able to drag effects around between tracks in the bin...etc. I also appreciated the included highend effects in Sonar (SonitusFX and Lexicon Pantheon). According to Paul Galreath's book on MIDI orchestration, Sonar's included effects are the only ones that are high enough quality to mix/master highend orchestral compositions, whereas none of the other sequencing hosts' included effects were deemed high enough quality for that task.

I have a few gripes currently (I'm on version 6 now) though. I think the draw envelop tool is pretty clunky--often I want to select only one node but a bunch of other nodes will get highlighted, and sometimes it's hard to select a node if the now time cursor is in the same spot. It's also hard to select the envelop to change the curve too, as the line is sometimes too thin and you end up selecting everything else around it instead, no matter how hard you try. I use envelop automation extensively (to get a more expressive playback from my orchestral instruments), and it really annoys me. It's bad enough that I might consider switching hosts at this point.

Another problem is how under-powered Sonar's MIDI editing is compared to the competitors--even the lower tiered products in the market have more powerful MIDI editing tools, which I find a bit embarrassing. FL Studio used to be the joke among serious musicians, now it kicks Sonar's ass in several aspects.

Sonar currently has trouble working with some older plugins, and some free ones too. For example, I cannot get Galactix (from Smart Electronics) to work in Sonar. Often, even after several plugin scans, Sonar still cannot pickup some of the plugins in my VST folder. Sometimes it'll see the plugin, and I'll put it in my custom plugin managed layout, but I can't actually use that plugin at all--try to select it and nothing happens.

Sonar's audio editor is pretty rudimentary--I'd like to see more robust/creative audio editing features, so people would never have to open up something like Wavelab or Audition--just do it all in Sonar.

AFAIK, I cannot draw volume/expression (CC7, CC11) data in Sonar's MIDI editor like I can in Cubase. I really want that. I'd prefer that to doing it with envelops in the track view. If I could just draw things like you could with the mod wheel data, I'd be happy.

It would be nice if Sonar had something like the Freefilter, where you can apply one track's sonic characteristics to another track. Sonar's got an analyzer now--might as well make it more useful by giving it something more useful to do than just look pretty.

I never got ACT to work. I read up on it multiple times, from the manual to online forums, to magazine articles, and nothing worked.

I'm in the middle of scoring a game right now, so I can't afford to jump ship, but I'm serious considering it at this point after the score is done. But if Sonar has plans to fix many of these issues in the next version, I might stick around and see if things change.

I switched from Cakewalk Music Creator to Sonar 4 Studio Edition.

I switched because Cakewalk sent me an email with a really good upgrade price.

I now have Sonar 6 Producer Edition, for the same reason: a really good upgrade price.

Aside from playing with trackers on my Amiga, I'd never really done much with computer-based recording/sequencing.

Not that long ago a mate introduced me to Cubase and I gave that a whirl for a short time. To be honest, I just struggled to get anywhere with it... then one day it suddenly decided to stop talking to my computer's soundcard (didn't have a proper audio interface yet) and stubbornly refused to be fixed. I work in IT all day and on the rare occassions I get to spend some time making music, I don't want to be bogged down in tech problems and trying to figure out software.

So I tried Sonar 5 and got moving really quickly. Everything was more or less where my brain expected it to be, and worked how I wanted it to. Upgraded to 6 last year and there's no doubt in my mind I'll be a Sonar user for a long time yet.

I don't have many requests - a rethink on drum maps would be nice though.

Interesting thread this, here's my £0.02.

I was using a Tascam TSR16 for many years and sync'd an Amiga computer running Music-X via a JSL Cooper sync box to trigger MIDI instruments which then fed back into the desk. Fantastic system in it's day, very flexible and very useful as I had 15 tape tracks together with more MIDI tracks than I needed.

One day, my Amiga decided enough was enough and decided never to boot again. I needed a replacement so I thought I'd move with the times and get onto to a PC platform so I could run the office on it as well. I bought a 386 with 2M RAM and a 20Mb HDD and checked out several sequencers at a local shop eventually to walk out with a copy of Cakewalk V2. The GUI was leagues ahead of Music-X and totally knocked me out. Add to that the real "Windows" feel of the program and I was hooked and on the slippery slope of PC music.

About 13 years later, after pretty much every Cakewalk upgrade, I am now at Sonar V6.2.1. Nothing of my original setup remains - no desk, no MIDI instruments (all been gradually replaced by VST + DXi synths / samplers, all driven by one MIDI controller). Everything is now done in the PC which is fed by a MOTU Ultralite. Now I run about 50 audio tracks, 10 or so MIDI tracks per project.

Better still, this year I replaced the PC with a laptop so now I get to take all this around with me in one bag! How good is that to be totally mobile? My last CD was written in a caravan sat in the middle of nowhere in a field surrounded by nothing other than cows!!!

To stop and think how far everything has come in 13 years is mind blowing, here's to the next 13 years!!!!

Thank you Cake for making all this possible!

i switched in November of 2005. I was using Sony Acid but a lot of people thought down of my work when i told them that I used Acid. Since Hip Hop is totally collaboritive I had to play to others ignorance and went to Guitar Center to buy Cubase Se. They were out and I saw Sonar Home Studio 4 on the shelf for the same price. Said o what the hey why not try it. I dig it but its not my favorite Daw just the one I use until I find something better for what I do. Sonar sounds great tho thats really the only thing besides audio editing imo that is really great about it tho. I use a lot of midi and while it works its kind of quirky when using multiple midi controllers

Less a story about 'switching' and more about why Sonar.

Like many here, back in the 90s I was running an Atari with Cubase. Stuff like getting married, kids, etc happened and I had to ditch my studio and music hobby.

Cut to today and I am now returning to music.

Based on my experience with my old study I wanted something in s/w that was easy to use and would not interfere with the process of composition. To that end I looked for something that would fit the bill: I picked up Live. But I realised in my research that Live would not be adequate for 'finishing' so I looked for something else.

Based on my previous experience I went for Cubase but I was suspicious (bad support, complaints about MIDI timing, etc). So I picked up the less expensive and more limited SE3 to see how that would work for me. So glad I did that. It was awful. An unduly complex piece of software that really did nothing for me.

So I kept looking... and Sonar 6 PE was released. With native VST support. My interest was piqued.

I tried the demo when it appeared (they never appear soon enough do they?) and very quickly got to grips with it. I was impressed. The feature set was excellent, the sound better than Live and I found the program largely intuitive and easy to use. I started posting here and was impressed by the community and by Cakewalks involvement within it. All in all things were looking very good indeed.

At this point the decision was made and not long after, the purchase.

I am now starting to use Sonar 'in anger' and it is superb. Really looking forward to see how this tool develops (v7 soon woohoo!). I also acquired Project 5. I am hoping that ultimately P5 and Sonar will feature a more integrated workflow. At that point Live will have few things to recommend it (although quite what I will do without its seamless management of loops and fantastic plugins like Beat Repeat...).

Might be worth pointing out that while my musical interest is limited to being a hobby, I work full time in IT. I have 20 yrs experience in the industry and currently work for a rather well known brand in the Fortune 500. My work in the architecture team often has me evaluating tools (typically modelling tools) and funnily enough, acting as an 'expert' to assist other members of the company in my areas of specialism through internal consultancy and... forums. Much of this knowledge/experience is very handy when it comes to looking at software and picking the right product.

I am pretty damn certain I now have the right software for my hobby.

My 2p worth.

Used PA9 for several years, which I believe gave a brain like mine the ability to slowly wrap itself around the concept of DAWs. I'm a dinosaur of a guitar player and I didn't like the idea of staring at the screen; I wanna play dammit! Bought the Fostex MR8 and got a little more savvy when I started to import the Fostex audio trax to PA9 and mess with editing. Thought I'd "step up" and bought a low end audio interface that came with Cubase LE. It sure looked a lot cooler than PA9. I spent more time trying to get Cubase just to recognize the USB driver that came on the same stinkin' disk! Never recorded a whole song with it. I wanna play dammit! Bought GTP3 from Musicians Friend and began to learn that I needed "real" hardware if I wanted to use "real" software. Upgraded my PC, bought the Audiophile 24/96, a little mixer/preamp and the fun began! Started to visit this forum and pay attention. Upgraded to HS6 XL thanks to a sweet offer from Cakewalk and I'm finally just plain enjoying myself. The help in this forum is amazing. The experienced users are patient with knuckleheads like me and even if they don't have the answer, they take the time to find out who does. Bottm line: This ol' gitfiddler is a loyal Sonarian. I'm pretty certain I'm ready to move to PE 7 when it hits.

I used Cubase SX 3 for a while, then switched to sonar 6PE because it was so much easier to use (cubase is confusing), plus i'd heard from so many people that its one of the best sequencers ever! which it is, no problems yet

My first upload to acid planet was 04.05.04, and needless to say,
I was using acidexpress the free version.
I was able to get version one the yellow disk in a recording mag.
I was hooked on recording.

using a HP 486 and 512 ram

I tried all of the demos and versions and plugs that came
with any recording, guitar, or PC mag that I bought.

bought a new desk top PC with a 2.6 intel hyperthreading proc / 1 gig ram, then 1.5 gig, then 2 gig.
upgraded the audio to the audigy 4 pro audio card

bought and tried the audiophile24/96 audio card I got cubase le with it

tried the Ableton live thing and the reason thing

Bought and used Homestudio 2004 version for 2 years
bought a GNX-4 guitar modual that came with Pro Tracks.

bought a 3200 AMD 2 core dual x64 with the ASUS wisper motbrd
ordered sonar 5 with the 6 x64 upgrade which is my main Daw.
4 gig 800ddr2 over clocked 10% windows XP Pro 64,
and networked with the intel PC

I do the recording on the new one (64 bit AMD) while I can store on a secordary drive
in the older machine and transfer back and forth easy, but at the same time
I dont nead an anti virus or internet on the 64 bit DAW.

both machines now have 4 gig ram and I use the I/O gear for single
keyboards and mouse with dual monitors.

My soundcard of choice now it the MOTU 828 on my 64 bit DAW
and the 24/96 in the intel
here is what it looked like as I had just installed the MOTU mkll as
a rack mount on top and digitech VR Vocalizer under it with the
peavey delta dual next
.

Heres a dual monitor shot