John Sebastian Gremlir, I think Sonar Platinum is a great program.  I'm using Kontakt 5 instruments and I will certainly enjoy getting the sound I want with Sonar's mixing capabilities if only to impress the musicians.  And I will be working with Sibelius and importing that into Sonar.  However, you are splitting hairs here to engage in a linguistic argument.  I could say for example, that "notes" are either discreet melodic sounds when played by a musical instrument or they are symbols written on a staff to form musical "notation" - both come from the same Latin derivative.  Lines aren't notes or notation so when I refer to "inserting notes" I mean the notation view.  Maybe I'm just showing my age.
 
What you missed was the plea for a Sonar Platinum upgrade that returned Cakewalk's notation capabilities.  Surely pleading for support for 1/64 notes, double dotted notes, slurs and grace notes in notation view isn't offending anyone.  
 
Sanderxpanda,  As I said, I had an accident only days after buying Sibelius and a 12 month support deal.  When I returned to work 18 months later I had the BSOD and the uncertainty of how to proceed.  To be frank, I'm not happy about their deals.
 
 

I am willing to bet that most users of staff view are in their middle ages (as in 40 and up).
And there is nothing wrong with that, im in that same age bracket myself. but its important to try and keep up with new technology or you'll be left using Sonar 5 on windows xp.
 
Unless Staff view improvements are made in sonar, I wont even touch it.
I will continue to use the tools which Cakewalk seems to be improving (The Piano roll view).
Im not writing hip hop or scratching records either but I know what tools to use for the job, even if it means learning a new tool within sonar or even a new platform.
 
Staff view isn't one of Sonars strong points and im just keeping it real.
One can assume to complete remedial tasks in Staff view but when it comes to doing any technical work its not the first tool I would be grabbing.
 
 

Thanks tlw and Jude.  You are both right and I want both aspects so I'll get Sibelius working.  Although I have experience with mixing the bottom line is that I'm a total newb with Sonar and Sibilius.  Just getting Kontakt 5 to play in Sonar was a real challenge.  I was used to a fully notation-capable Cakewalk of 1996 (or thereabouts) and after the battles of driver issues and Kontakt, the notation issue was like a final straw .  What I am saying is that I just have to tinker, explore and learn more. 

The usual recommendation for folks who like to work in staff view, and I include myself in that group, is to use either Cubase or Digital Performer. Of the two I believe Cubase is the better. I myself have found Reaper's new notation view very good, and improving along with the rest of the DAW . So now I'm using Reaper to work in, then I import the audio file into Sonar, where I can use the mastering tools it has. (For what I call mastering, although it is presumptuous on my part to call it that. But the presets on the LP64 plugins are a great starting point). 

Ive been placing Staff View on one monitor and Piano Roll View on a lower monitor...I edit in the PRV and check my results in the Staff View.  I have been very happy with the results and work flow.  PRV has had some really cool improvements and bouncing around different tracks is so quick and easy. Really, really like working this way.

I saw someone placed a graphic awhile back with the piano notes on the side replaced with a staff in PRV.  That looks like it would be so easy to do and fun to work in.
 
Could Panue do this??!!
 
 
 

Interesting debate, and goes to the heart of Cakewalk's (and other DAWs) problem.  Tastes great, less fattening, fish or cut bait?  More and more younger musicians make and/or work with loops and synths, while "real" musicians want note input and your average guitarist just wants something simple to amaze their guitarist friends and the girls, of course (apologies to the ladies, here).  Everybody expects to be able to do everything, with low-cost software to boot.
 
Personally, I'd rather Cake work on the Matrix until it becomes the center of a performing DAW (and all that external recording and staff view input can just lay on the vine), but I don't think that is going into the oven.  I would like for Cake to improve the staff functions one year, just so all the users would be happy and shut up, tho I doubt that would stop them.  I'm certainly not shutting up about the Matrix, even if I'm probably not getting what I want.  I want to load in a sample, or loop, or synth into a cell, double touch it and open up that cell to edit or play it (in a scalable sized cell for delicate work), just like in Sound Forge or the PVR or AudioSnap.  And build up my song that way (which is kinda what I do for my own music, tho Lord knows it ain't easy, with all the different pages open to do that).  It would be just a start, but I'll take it. 

djwolf
Sanderxpanda,  As I said, I had an accident only days after buying Sibelius and a 12 month support deal.  When I returned to work 18 months later I had the BSOD and the uncertainty of how to proceed.  To be frank, I'm not happy about their deals.

I'm sorry to hear that, apparently I missed that earlier. I would try to reinstall first.

AT
 
Personally, I'd rather Cake work on the Matrix until it becomes the center of a performing DAW (and all that external recording and staff view input can just lay on the vine), but I don't think that is going into the oven.  I would like for Cake to improve the staff functions one year, just so all the users would be happy and shut up, tho I doubt that would stop them.  I'm certainly not shutting up about the Matrix, even if I'm probably not getting what I want.  I want to load in a sample, or loop, or synth into a cell, double touch it and open up that cell to edit or play it (in a scalable sized cell for delicate work), just like in Sound Forge or the PVR or AudioSnap.  And build up my song that way (which is kinda what I do for my own music, tho Lord knows it ain't easy, with all the different pages open to do that).  It would be just a start, but I'll take it. 

I agree that a fully baked Matrix would be sweet.   It's getting better, but it would be nice to see it integrated with a simple sampler and a wave editor, with no workflow workarounds required.
 
If they could do that, and improve the staff view functionality, it would make for a win/win!!! Then everybody would be happy! 
 
That is, except for the folks that want chord tracks, arranger view, scratchpad, etc.

The idea that notation view is the true view for "musicians" is no longer valid any more than taste can be measured.  I'm an old guy and I love my classical but I'm also a jazz fan and a rock fan (particularly Cream, Hendrix, Genesis and Yes) and some of the techno and trance that came out a few years ago was brilliant.  I've lost track for the last couple of years but I love music and we all work in different ways.  My preference for notation is simply about over 60 years of looking at a page of music and hearing it.  If I'm writing a techno piece and I want the sound of a particular instrument as an effect then it doesn't matter if that note could not be played by that particular instrument because of pitch or key - it is a sound effect.  However, whether I'm handing out score parts or just writing music using a sampler to sound like a band, an ensemble or an orchestra for an accompaniment or in the hope that a band or orchestra would be interested there is the question of including pitch ranges and keys the real instrument that it is emulating could not play or fingering no musician on Earth could duplicate.  Are we just creating music for non-instrumentalists to appreciate?
 
Now, I play the strings.  I can play the piano really badly and I'm aware of keys, pitch ranges, breath requirements and fingering parameters of other instruments.  I know these things but I can't play the instruments so this knowledge is part and parcel of looking at a score.  I can look at a dozen notes on a bass staff and say, "There is no way a bassoonist could play that."  Looking at a matrix or PRV view I'd have to visualize these views in their notation form and I have no experience with these views.  I need to see the notation.
 
Maybe DAWs like Sonar could look at the DLC model of games whereby for $100 or so, you could download the notation extension because we all have our own styles of working.  I actually come from the film world where everything is used.  For one scene you may need a 1920s style crooner with a megaphone, another you need to go full Beethoven and end up with a thumping dance track.   It's all music and it all has its own unique effect.