anydmusic, I'm thinking exactly the same way. It's probably the cheapest we'll ever get Cubase for and Steinberg aren't known for doing special deals like this. Cubase is my best choice, but I would like to pick up Studio One when it's matured a bit, but they have deals here and there so that will be easier to pick up later. Cubase is a much more complete application than S1.

vladasyn

GregGraves
As long as you have a dedicated machine, and you don't let Windoze update anything without making a couple Acronis clones so you can return to where you were, Sonar will continue to work just like it does right now for infinity and beyond.  There is no reason for Sonar to suddenly crap out unless you let your OS crap out.  It is a set of files on your drive.  It is not a puppy you need to feed and let outside so it doesn't crap on your floor!

SPLAT already has bugs and issues, and it will only get worse. i was waiting for it to be fixed, but it not going to happen now.

This.
I don't want to "freeze" my audio software - and OS - to November 2017. There will be amazing new plugins, VSTi and software coming in 2018 and they won't work on abandoned outdated DAW.
 
I have projects to finish and to publish. I simply can't start playing any time capsule games just to keep on using Sonar. I suggest everyone to move on and get another DAW as soon as possible.

One other option that deserves a look is Bitwig Studio. It has the best MIDI editing features I've seen yet, but then I haven't ever used Cubase. 
 
Downside: it's the new kid on the block, and clearly has a way to go to catch up to the big guys. This does mean it is very modern-looking, if looking "modern" is a thing for you. I hate modern, and I don't care if it'll run on my phone. Seems oriented toward totally ITB EDM, not my scene.
 

35mm
Cubase has possibly the best staff view of them all.

Thanks,
I'm wondering if S1 is inferior to Cubase (It seems so reading you) but how it is compared to Sonar's staff view?
Cuase my choice seems to be ARA vs Staff View now, I guess that if S1 does have a rudimentary notation view at least as good/bad as Sonar, I'll go for it. If not, it'll be Cubase and too bad for ARA..

vladasyn

joden
Cubas is just soooo damn expensive for a cross-grade. Especially as many folks here (if not most) have spent many hundreds of dollars...I'm sure Steinberg are doing well enough to offer a really special price to full SPLAT owners, but nothing is forthcoming.

$255 is expansive? This is like 60% less than full version that you dont have. 

Well over $300 out here! AND it needs a Dongle on top of that....no thanks

I jumped ship and went the way of PreSonus StudioOne. So far, so good..!

dede

35mm
Cubase has possibly the best staff view of them all.

Thanks,
I'm wondering if S1 is inferior to Cubase (It seems so reading you) but how it is compared to Sonar's staff view?
Cuase my choice seems to be ARA vs Staff View now, I guess that if S1 does have a rudimentary notation view at least as good/bad as Sonar, I'll go for it. If not, it'll be Cubase and too bad for ARA..

The thing about ARA and Cubase is that you can easily use Melodyne as a plugin in Cubase - I saw a video on youtube somewhere with some guy demonstrating it. Also, Cubase has its own built-in version of a Melodyne type thing which basically does the same. So that's not putting me off. There are many ways to skin a cat.
 
In my personal opinion and without wishing to pi*s anybody off, S1 is very inferior to Cubase. You can't dig very deep into it for lack of features. Their blurb goes on about the older, more established DAWs being full of bloat, but that bloat is features that still work well. I also saw something where they were saying that S1 has a unique workflow and once you have been using it for a while you will realize how great that workflow it. What that translates to is, you have to conform to its workflow. You can't adapt it to work with yours. There's a reason why people say it's easy to learn! I have been messing with the demo and that is just my personal opinion of it. On the plus side, if you want something clean and simple just for tracking on it will be fast to get up to speed with it. I think S1 will end up being a great DAW and I will probably buy it too one day when they have an offer on, but I'm going to pick up Cubase while it's on offer because finding that on a special offer is a rare event.

I jumped on the SO3 Pro offer today (having deliberately disconnected myself from the internet over the Black Friday weekend to save cash).  Crossgrade pricing for Sonar users was just too tempting, and I've never been a fan of Cubase.
 
Jari makes a good point above.  I won't delete Sonar and happy that it will continue to work for now. But it will quickly become dated, and with no support that's too great a risk.

Why not a crossgrade to Cubase Artist  from Sonar?
A lot cheaper and that is all some may need rather than have too many bells and whistles

igiwigi
Why not a crossgrade to Cubase Artist  from Sonar?
A lot cheaper and that is all some may need rather than have too many bells and whistles

There isn't a crossgrade available on Artist. Only on the Pro version.