Bit ... l'm with you and have been picking up on the increasing buzz of Tracktion since I threw myself into the DAW game a year ago.
 
Whilst I respect the history, I'm perhaps not as tainted by it ...
 
I made an impulse purchase of MC6T on Steam. I'm now at Sonar Producer, plus lot's of other bits and do daily rounds of the forums / web. 
 
A week or so after initial purchase, and after some web research, I went out bought a MIDI Controller - a Behringer UMA25S. I knew little of their history and can feel the wave of naysayers revoking my credibility staged in the previous paragraphs. Well I tell ya ... that Controller has been nothing short of fantastic! Along with the Cakewalk product, it has been key in my little successes feulling what has become a passion.
 
Tracktion 4 was, as a download, included with the Controller so I installed it but didn't really give it much of a crack. My focus was on MC6T (and subsequently Sonar). I also learnt of the less than stellar history of Tracktion (and Behringer) but also of the return of Julian Storer and the commitment to resurrect the neglected DAW. I was not aware that there was any continuing relationship with Mackie.
 
Frankly, my focus is still Sonar but one day I had a need to test something out in another DAW. I turned to Tracktion. It's setup was easy, it's interface was relatively intuitive and I achieved my objective.
 
From what I see Tracktion has delivered on it's commitment with updates and now Tracktion 5. Furthermore, they have now teamed up with Celemony to include Melodyne Essential in the $60 price. They have also got Groove3 onboard to do their video tutorials - 11 of the 35, the basics, free. Perhaps of less importance to me they also support Linux (oh ... and that other one ... tip of my tongue ... ummm ... ahhh ... Apple).
 
So ... I'm actually quite interested ... and will likely stump up the $30 upgrade.

bitflipper
Thanks for your reply, Bill.
 
I am surprised by the lack of responses. Has nobody else here used Tracktion?
 

  I have Tracktion 5 because it was a $29 upgrade. It's a powerful DAW for $59.  There is a modular effects rack. If you are use to the Sonar workflow it would drive you crazy.  There is no VST bitbridge.
 
  Check it out here.   http://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=22

Yes, there are some gaping holes in Tracktion's functionality. As mentioned above, there is no bridging. You can only use 32-bit plugins with the 32-bit version and 64-bit plugins with the 64-bit version. Furthermore, switching from one version to the other requires re-scanning your VSTs, as it can't keep track of both flavors at the same time. That capability is not likely to ever come, since it's just a matter of time before everything's 64-bit anyway and the problem eventually becomes moot.
 
Tracktion doesn't handle multi-timbral synthesizers as cleanly as SONAR, in much the same way that Reaper also makes it unnecessarily cumbersome. I'm with mgh in thinking that separate MIDI and audio tracks is a more elegant and versatile approach. I don't use SONAR's Instrument Tracks for that reason.
 
But I also realize that we no longer need to cling to the classic studio analogy in the digital world. What is a track, anyway? In a DAW, it's a virtual signal path, not a physical thing. How does a bus differ from a track? It includes a mix bus at the front end - also not a physical thing, just an algorithm. So why not just add that capability to tracks and ditch the track/bus distinction? It only adds functionality while not taking anything away.
 
Don't be surprised if a future version of SONAR doesn't take the same approach. It could even be the next version. Aside from ARA/Melodyne support, it's been a long time since Cakewalk unveiled any truly revolutionary improvements. And how long have we been begging for the ability to freeze busses?

bitflipper
And how long have we been begging for the ability to freeze busses?

This.
 
I don't buy the argument that a buss is different than a track.
 
You typical insert synth does what? It creates an audio track with no clips. But we can freeze it.
 
How is that different than a bus? 
 
Maybe I'm a dunderhead (well, that is a given) and that is why I just don't see the difference.