Just wondered if it would ever be possible for CW to come up with something like Halion (Steinberg)? It really has some truly authentic "bread and butter" sound emulations! SI and TTS-1 really do not come close.
 
Or is something like Halion only really possible because of the Yamaha connection?

Dim Pro?

I've got Dim Pro...not close...for the "bread and butter" sounds I am talking about. Those ones that are in the Motif ROM that have been ported to Halion, so I am told.

Halion is available for around $350, Native Instruments' Kontakt for around $400 ,and MOTU MachFive for around $260. For Cakewalk to spend the effort required to create a plug-in up the standards these instruments have set would increase SONAR's price dramatically. The beauty of plug-ins is that you have a choice on how to accessorize your core DAW.
 
That said, there are expansion packs for Dim Pro and even though Kontakt is my "main squeeze" for samplers, don't overlook what Dim Pro can do. I have many tracks where Dim Pro came through when others didn't.

Yeah a dedicated sampler plugin for SONAR would be a huge undertaking in order for it to be competitive with the big boys out there...and since the big boys are already out there why bother? Sheesh I wouldn't want to be trying to come up with a "Kontakt-killer" sampler plugin when there's a whole DAW to continue maintaining. It's not like Native Instruments is also supporting their own DAW application, for example.
 
That said, I miss VSampler. That was a very useful and intuitive sampler that had enough power features to make it my go-to. It's patch-browsing and envelope tools were great back in the day.
 

VSampler will be sorely missed since he shutdown this month. I always hoped that he would eventually come out with a 64 bit version but it's gone now. R.I.P.

Anderton
Halion is available for around $350, Native Instruments' Kontakt for around $400 ,and MOTU MachFive for around $260. For Cakewalk to spend the effort required to create a plug-in up the standards these instruments have set would increase SONAR's price dramatically. The beauty of plug-ins is that you have a choice on how to accessorize your core DAW.
 
That said, there are expansion packs for Dim Pro and even though Kontakt is my "main squeeze" for samplers, don't overlook what Dim Pro can do. I have many tracks where Dim Pro came through when others didn't.

Totally agree on Kontakt.  I have more than 4 grand tied up in Kontakt Libraries like many people, so that's a wide moat, IMO.
 
That being said, I sometimes find uses for Rapture or Dimension Pro.

I think if Sonar were to introduce a sampler , it would need to be so tightly interwoven with Sonar that it made ease of use offset any power advantages of more established products. Using the sampler on a basic level in Logic, Fl Studio or Ableton is very intuitive versus third party solutions. Creating advanced multi-sample intruments with proper articulation is a challenge on any sampler for the novice, but that is already the case.  If it is simply another rompler with some sample manipulation features, like an expanded Dim Pro, it will just result in status quo.

Thanks for all the input. I used to own a Motif synth, and I was told that Halion actually uses the same ROM sounds found in that line, so it wasn't really about a "sampler" pers se, but more about getting access to all those sounds again.
 
But @Craig A - yeah I hear what you are saying, and I guess $350 is okay for Halion, however afaik it ONLY runs in Cubase...hence the OP question.

I don't think it requires Cubase, just a VST2/3 host see https://www.steinberg.net...c/specs_downloads.html