I've had Cubase LE 5 for a long time now and have used it on occasion just for fun so I'm not a new user really.  So I had lots of time to "get used to it" It's just substandard to what Sonar offers, I have Sonar X1 LE. It does more. Elements was a disappointment and not much of a step above LE5. 
Sonar might have quirky behavior and crazy learning curve, but it for sure is the better bang for the buck. With the new pricing structure Sonar is going to jump ahead because it will be more affordable to try a full version for as long as you wish. One month was not enough to scratch the surface unless you locked yourself in the studio for the duration.   

Raising a range of a volume envelope is a swipe in the bottom half of the track, then click in the top half of the track and raise just that part of the envelope.

I try and avoid using envelopes because once they are added to a track I cannot split of slip edit the track anymore. I know this is something I'm not doing right but so be it for the last 6 months. I can level a track out perfectly and fast in Wave Lab, but it would be nice not to have to use another app to do this. 

johnnyV
I try and avoid using envelopes because once they are added to a track I cannot split of slip edit the track anymore. I know this is something I'm not doing right but so be it for the last 6 months. I can level a track out perfectly and fast in Wave Lab, but it would be nice not to have to use another app to do this. 

I believe there is a setting (I can't remember where) that allows you to be able to do clip editing without it effecting any volume or panning envelopes. Of course, clip gain could be effected, but that's a given. You just have to make sure that you've selected clip on the track editor once you're done doing the volume automation.

  I don't mind a plugin or two needing a dongle but I dislike an app needing a dongle to function.  If you use more than one machine that's a real hassle.  I still use Reason's Ignition key on one machine but I can at least log in to Reason on other machines.
  Licensing and authorization are still a big factor in what I use.

I once read in a Cubase review that it was not easy to use. Is it harder to use than Sonar nowadays?

kakku
I once read in a Cubase review that it was not easy to use. Is it harder to use than Sonar nowadays?

I find Cubase pretty straight forward.  I'm not a big fan of the interface.  Feature wise,
especially MIDI wise, Cubase kicks Sonar to the curb.  Interface wise Sonar kicks Cubase 
to the curb.  YMMV

cclarry

kakku
I once read in a Cubase review that it was not easy to use. Is it harder to use than Sonar nowadays?

I find Cubase pretty straight forward.  I'm not a big fan of the interface.  Feature wise,
especially MIDI wise, Cubase kicks Sonar to the curb.  Interface wise Sonar kicks Cubase 
to the curb.  YMMV

Ok, thanks for the info.

Dongle free stuff for me.

johnnyV
Well I'm happy to report that Sonar blows Cubase away as far as I can tell after a week of recording a few songs from scratch in Cubase 7 . Mind you I'm only using Elements which would be the same as using plain X3. But unless there's way more to the basic features in the full version, I'm not impressed at all. As far as the literature say's all Cubase versions work the same with layout and basic functions, you just get more stuff as the price goes up the same as Sonar. If this is not true someone please correct me. 
Any one of use could open Plain Sonar x3 and set it up in a matter of minutes with nothing other than a few tools and plug ins missing. As a matter of fact we could open any version of Cakewalk and be OK.  The layout and editing should all be the same. So I'm basing my experience with Elements with the understanding that the things I find lacking, are global to all versions. Like adding an effect. 
 
I'll qualify myself by saying I like my DAW to more or less mimic the real world of audio. In other words I like to work as close to the way I am used to working with old school gear. 
If I want to add reverb to my Vocal tracks, I plug in a reverb unit and use an aux send and return it to blend it back to the Master output. I need to control both the level of the send, and the amount of the return.  We all know how simple this is in Sonar. And how visible the sends and the Reverb bus are, also how quickly we can pop open the GUI and make changes.
 
For the life of me I could not get used to Cubase's weird layout and I never found how to have an effects send control added to the track inspector. I have tried demos of Reaper which seem to work more logical than this. I could go on about every aspect of what I found but all I'm going to say is other than it's a solid stable DAW, it is weird to work with.  Over all it has a Sonar 5 feel to it. Nothing happening here folks, keep moving,
My family wasted $99 on my present  so I'll pretend I use it a lot :)  I think I can re sell it? 
I'm not totally sure it's registered because it does everything with the eLicencer.  
I might find a use for it as a lightweight live recorder. Just don't ask me to edit anything with it or make a mix down. 
 
Craig- my only frustration with Sonar is when I want to do something like lower or raise the level of one tiny phrase in an audio track. In Wave lab this takes one swipe and a mouse click. 
I guess it's not possible to have certain customization options available on a mouse click. 
I'm just going to have to dig deeper into Sonars Keybindings and such. For now it's just as easy to tool copy to Wave lab. 
 
The other thing that's been bugging me is when you go to chop up or slip edit an audio track with automation on it. All hell breaks loose. I just happen to have been happier with 8.5's track editing. It would have been cool to have an 8.5 editing mode! My problem is I just get busy working and recording and really don't have time to spend exploring options. 
I'm not kidding that it would be cool if Sonar had a Basic and Advanced Mode. 
 
Or instead of the 3 versions how about a version for each music production style. 
I'm paying for features that I have no use for like all those wonderful weird space fart synths and techno tools. 
 
My proposal would be:  
Sonar Audio - Optimized for audio editing and production, midi, basic synths. No looping or space farts. Easy to use by real musicians, bands and singer songwriters. 
 
Sonar Producer- Optimized for electronic music - Lite on the Audio tools and effects, but lots of synths and looping functions.  Easy to be used by people with no musical ability.  
 
Sonar Deluxe - Combines the Audio and Producer version.  Hard to use by both Musicians and Electronic Producers. This is sort of what we are getting now. 
 
 
 
 
 

Im assuming you already knew this, but its fairly easy if you just open the automation lane. Find the phrase your want, click a couple nodes in and raise it. Takes a couple seconds. I do this also with things such as reverb or effects. Such as i may want more reverb on a specific phrase. i usually have a bus just for certain effects such as reverb and send all my audio through it and control to my liking.