dcumpian
You don't have to buy them all, for god's sake.

I get that, but my statement was in relation to building around a DAW like Tracktion or Reaper. Buying best in class plug-ins à la carte gets very expensive, very fast. This is somewhat beside the point of Sonar having a basic, integrated sampler, but with software becoming more affordable, it may be feasible in the not-too-distant future. If I didn't already have lifetime updates, I would definitely be interested in a "core" version of Sonar similar to Tracktion and Reaper.

Anderton
... The recording software market is a declining market. Because it’s not being fueled by a lot of new users, taking away overall market share from other companies is another way to fuel growth. ...

While the RECORDING software market may be declining, what about the MAKING MUSIC software market?
 
One way to fuel growth may be to highlight and enhance features that facilitate making music. This could include  making capabilities easier to use via simple education and/or by tweaking user interface. Over time, improving functionality would be part of the strategy. Much about Sonar is great for making music and just needs recognition. But other opportunities are available either through internal development or by meshing with other products.
 
Seems to me that the original post may have been looking for facilitation of one kind of making music. Others seem to be looking for better capabilities in handling chords, harmonies, complex compositions, rhythms, sounds, lyrics, and even notation. My guess is the market is pretty big (and expanding) for a product that positions itself as good for making music -- in lots of  ways, in addition to recording music as one of those ways. Sonar has a lot to offer here.
 
 

Well, to my mind Cake has produced some "best-in-class" effects.  The "buss" SSL comp is as good of an emulation of the hardware I've used, and the same goes for their now free opto-compressor.  The 76 comp is pretty damn good too.  They aren't free but a great deal if you go Platinum.
 
So, you don't have to lock yourself into Waves etc., and the only place I'd spend hundreds of dollars for software (other than the DAW) is natural reverb (effects reverb can be had cheap on sale like Eventide etc.).  REmatrix, for example, is worth the money if you don't already have a fancy reverb and extremely flexible with all the layers. 

I think one thing to consider when looking at the music market by genre is that the overall listening base of each genre is not necessarily going to be mirrored by DAW users. I believe that EDM fans are probably a larger overall % of new DAW customers for the simple reason that electronic styles are easier to produce at home than recording a full band with mics. There is a whole market fueled by kids making music in their bedrooms on nothing more than a laptop, and maybe a small external controller. I would think this accounts for a large proportion of DAW sales. Recording a full band is a whole different affair and requires a much larger financial outlay, a good recording space, lots of equipment etc. And it's hard to get a "professional" sound doing it at home unless you've had a lot of experience and know your equipment inside out. In contrast, electronic styles of music can be created to a very professional degree using nothing more than the software inside your computer, whether that be softsynths or professionally produced sample packs. You don't have to deal with noise floors, external sounds, bad acoustics, cheap equipment, inexperienced mic placement, phase issues etc. Of course there's a lot more to it than simply putting together samples - you still need to learn how to compose, how to design sounds, how to arrange, how to mix etc. But it's possible to do all of this on a single laptop, sat at a smell desk in your bedroom. 
 
Pro Tools may have a bigger dollar share but that's because they're going after the professional recording studio dollars, which is a different market entirely. 

telecharge

AT
Those are some interesting stats, Mr. Anderton.  Geez, it is almost like someone is doing market research so they can intelligently put money into a product and want the best utilization of their investment.  Who would have thunk?

Touché. I know I've spent more money on Cakewalk than any other developer of music making software -- by a pretty decent margin, too.

So it is as it was right at the beginning of this thread... with moto "I want it all and I want it free".
 
Sonar has to "fit" into $500. Which single MUSIC INSTRUMENT you can buy for that money? Drums for children, a guitar for home use, 61 plastic keys... If someone want create "professional" new sounds and does not want to use "workarounds" for that, I would expect he/she is ready to spend $200-2000 extra. For another DAW, for VSTi, for controller. If it does not work inside/rewired in Sonar, then it is a good point to discuss.
 
And it was mentioned many times that anyone in this industry has to be very careful in which part of complex product investments make sense. CW periodically add "full" packs into Sonar (FXes, Drums), probably based on deep marketing. Most other packages are "light" versions or outdated. You get what you pay for...

azslow3
 
So it is as it was right at the beginning of this thread... with moto "I want it all and I want it free".
 

 
Yes! That is exactly what I meant! Thank you for summarizing all of my posts in this thread into one concise sentence!

telecharge
Again, Mr. Anderton, we're not talking about "reinventing the wheel." Cakewalk has plenty of existing code and IP.

I guess you missed this part of my post: "First of all, the assumption that Cakewalk isn’t working on beats-oriented or notation features is quite simply false." But also, remember existing code is not the same as useable code.
 
By "re-inventing the wheel," I meant putting effort into duplicating something that already exists, is free, and compatible with SONAR. When stuff like that exists, it removes an incentive for programmers, who would rather do something like, for example, work on making the Matrix view more relevant.

I have to go get a haircut and meet with a lawyer. Not because of this thread, thankfully. I'll catch up with you guys later.

bladetragic
Sonar really needs a sampler.

no, it doesn't.

I still use VSampler with Platinum. It's 32 bit but works fine. The old one included with Cakewalk is too buggy to use today.  I have the paid version. The VST version works good, the DXI version is buggy. Even though it's not updated anymore, I think you can still buy the paid version for about $35-49.
 
I still have a huge Gigasampler library which VSampler reads and it also reads out of my huge AKAI 3000-XL library as long as I use Translator to convert to Giga.
 
I still sometimes create new presets with VSampler using raw wav samples. It works and has better features than my old AKAI sampler. Still I agree with the OP that Platinum should have a good sampler that reads other formats like VSampler does. I’d be happy to retire VSampler if I had that.