First off, let me saw I really like Sonar. Been using it since the old Sonar Home Studio days. However, I don't upgrade very often and it is because that the overwhelming majority of updates are focused on synths and drums. My last update was Sonar X3 Pro.
 
Now I play bluegrass and folk, not a lot of synths or drums in there. But if you look at what is coming out as updates for the latest version of Sonar, there is really no reason for me to upgrade. My system is stable, so there is no need to upgrade even the base platform.
 
For the folks that play rock and a lot of the electronic stuff and use drums patches, Sonar upgrades for you are great every month. But for a guy like me, not so much. I also realize I am in the minority as far as users go. Sonar is a business and they have to cater to those folks who come back again and again on a rather frequent basis, so there is no hard feelings. I have a very good platform to work with, I thank them for what they have provided, but right now we are really satisfied with what we have.
 
Now if they could just come out with a banjo synth that takes the chord and turns it into a 3-finger roll, well, maybe we might take a look (if you ever dealt with a live banjo player, you know what I'm talking about)

Well, I am probably the lamest guitarist in the world, and that is probably my primary instrument. I am better on trumpet, pennywhistle, recorder,  kalimba, monkey spanking, and harmonica than on keyboard. So for me MIDI is about the only way I can communicate in music. MIDI is certainly NOT the driving force in the current evolution of Sonar. What I have found from the days when I first got Cakewalk (a MIDI sequencer) is that there has been a movement away from MIDI and toward sound recording and editing. That is all pretty useless unless you are a skilled instrumentalist or singer. The problem for guitarists is not that Sonar is oriented toward MIDI, but that MIDI is difficult to orient toward guitar. Most of the expression that can be captured with fingers and fretboard is difficult to capture from a guitar controller to a MIDI file. If you can play guitar well, there is little reason to worry about MIDI relating to your instrument--you just make sound, record sound and process. Making a synth (and none are truly keyboard based) as subtle as a string and wire instrument, is much more complicated than hitting the right key on a typewriter. Most keyboards can deliver a note-on and a velocity--good enough for a piano recital, and maybe a sustain pedal and pitch bend. If you think a keyboard based synth can deliver the subtle performance of a guitar, let alone unfretted string or wind instrument using those parameters--well congratulations on your ability. If you are totally committed to audio signal recording, then the MIDI aspects of Sonar may well be useless to you, and a good audio editor with plug-in capability may be the best option. 

Moshkito
 I can't even just plug in the bass and record something ... but I can invent it with software! 

Not sure what you mean by that. I plug my bass straight in, with as little processing as possible. I dial in the bass tone last...I may have misunderstood

charlyg

Moshkito
 I can't even just plug in the bass and record something ... but I can invent it with software! 

Not sure what you mean by that. I plug my bass straight in, with as little processing as possible. I dial in the bass tone last...I may have misunderstood

WHAT!!!!!??????!!!!!!!
 
I am supposed to plug my bass in?
 
Dang, a whole new world just opened up for me.

BEER?!  Do none of you make and/or drink wine?  There are no corks to sniff for beer drinkers. 

I used to think midi meant something small cuz of the nursery rhyme "inny midi moe" Now I Am Shure it means "plug in here"

I go back to the time, like many here, when Cakewalk (by Twelve Tone Systems) was a purely MIDI sequencer. You could play external wave files, IIRC, but I don't think I ever bothered.
 
And there were no VST's of any way, shape or form, and you simply had to hook up to an external synth or use a sound card with synth or GM capabilities.
 
I also go back to a time when I had my Tascam 244 portastudio. I loved that thing, back then...
 
When Cakewalk started to implement hard disk recording it wasn't until I joined a band that I even used that option and it was still a MIDI sequencer to me.
 
So, I guess that if a few peeps here followed a similar route to me, then you may argue that Sonar, as it is now, is still a "synth based" "DAW." ESpecially since there are so many VST instruments available.
 
But as Rob says, he uses Sonar as a tape deck, which is exactly what it is, too.
 
The best of both worlds, not biased for any kind of music production really, as is the way with most DAW now.
 
At the end of the day, if we own and use Sonar it is exactly what we want it to be. A box with many tools, for many jobs, whether we choose to use them or not.
 
 
ooohhh... I got all wordy there... Time to get me coat

slartabartfast
Well, I am probably the lamest guitarist in the world, and that is probably my primary instrument. I am better on trumpet, pennywhistle, recorder,  kalimba, monkey spanking, and harmonica than on keyboard. So for me MIDI is about the only way I can communicate in music. MIDI is certainly NOT the driving force in the current evolution of Sonar. What I have found from the days when I first got Cakewalk (a MIDI sequencer) is that there has been a movement away from MIDI and toward sound recording and editing. That is all pretty useless unless you are a skilled instrumentalist or singer. The problem for guitarists is not that Sonar is oriented toward MIDI, but that MIDI is difficult to orient toward guitar. Most of the expression that can be captured with fingers and fretboard is difficult to capture from a guitar controller to a MIDI file. If you can play guitar well, there is little reason to worry about MIDI relating to your instrument--you just make sound, record sound and process. Making a synth (and none are truly keyboard based) as subtle as a string and wire instrument, is much more complicated than hitting the right key on a typewriter. Most keyboards can deliver a note-on and a velocity--good enough for a piano recital, and maybe a sustain pedal and pitch bend. If you think a keyboard based synth can deliver the subtle performance of a guitar, let alone unfretted string or wind instrument using those parameters--well congratulations on your ability. If you are totally committed to audio signal recording, then the MIDI aspects of Sonar may well be useless to you, and a good audio editor with plug-in capability may be the best option. 

excellent points, I'd like to remind everyone tho, that MIDI is not necessary even for keyboardists.  I've got to the point where I use softsynths only for sounds I don't have (or don't have as good as) sounds on my hardware, so MOST of the time I'm recording hardware audio from my keyboards, especially from SK-3.
 
I record MIDI from my stage piano because Kontakt has much better sounding pianos than my PX-3 and I record any strings as MIDI and use Kontakt.  But those are pretty much it.  Most other sounds, I don't use the softsynths any more - just record the audio directly. 
 
I attribute a lot of this due to A.S.  A.S. is mature enough now that I can change any small timing errors in audio where I had to use MIDI before.

As a guitar and bass player, for me, midi drums are the greatest software invention of the last couple of decades. MIDI is fantastic for instruments that I can not acoustically play, but having access to such realistic sounding drums at a moments notice is incredible in this day.

How I love Sonar! I can compose a song or clip anytime just the way I want it. I think most of all I love AD2. I Am primarily a yodeler than dabbles in bass, guitar and keys. Sonar makes all of it possible