Hopefully someone else will help with that, because I have no idea.

I just tested the 8.5 demo and it looks stunning and the internal synths/fx sounds great. And it has a very fast and enjoyable workflow. But then comes the automation. I see that the generator & mixer automation can follow when you copy or move around, but what about fx inserts automation? If I have a filter insert and want to copy or move it's automation together with the instrument. Is this possible? Or do I end up having to redraw the automation for every move (if i only want to move a part of the automation) ?

Automation is probably THE most discussed feature in Orion on the forums it seems. A lot of us are hoping it gets an overhaul in the next version. No word on if it makes the cut or not.. Richard (the developer) doesn't really provide much news.. keeps his cards close... its frustrating.

I'm waiting for some more feature that would help my Pianoroll usage.
I literally love the mixer. It's the only application that force me to really focus on doing it right step by step before getting to the end and.... go back fixing.
Quality of plugins and stability.
I will use it more often if I get lucky with the future upgrades.

It's a pity because the rest of the package is very intuitive and fast to work with. Not being able to easily move the automation around is unfortunately not possible for me to work with. I never know where I'm going with my tunes so I often throw things around all the time and that is just too much hassle.
But it is in the roadmap then I guess? Orion is worth bootcamping for.
The plugin suite is really something!

You can clone the synth to another track with a second instance of the same synth or a different synth.
Automation will be cloned as well.

I found a workaround where you can use the midi out module for automation clips. That's usable, altough I hope real automation clips, in one shape or another, will arrive in a future version. So I bought it. Besides automation it got a really fast and enjoyable workflow and the included stuff sounds just fabulous (did I mention that already? ). Unfortunately, that means bootcamp, but it's worth it. All I need now is time to sit down and have my first full Orion session. This will be fun.

Im currently using both Orion and FL Studio as my hosts, Orion is very quick to do the basics with. I like to jam whilst recording and do basic selecting and editing afterwards, it suits that work flow very well indeed, quick to work with, I find it a very straightforward host.

I upgraded from 7.6 because of :
1_ plugin delay compensation
2_ vst sidechain implementation.
3_New vintage fx - phaser and chorus are immaculate
4_ new Dbx 160 emulation and new CV dynamics+brickwall limiter.
5_ new gorgeous interface and make my own skins_ skinmeister
6_ various other improvements.

I could have lived with 7.6 but I paid basically just for the sidechain. The 12bit drum machine addition is also a small but brilliant feature. I used to use reason as my main sketch pad but I find orion is so much faster and smoother to get ideas down in no time at all.Its not a must have but you can definitely tell the difference between versions. Now if they had bundled dune in with it....
Also can anyone tell me what copy protection dune is..is it just a serial number like orion because this is the only thing that is keeping me from buying it.

Just a serial

+1 thanks very much

DUNE was derived from the WASP-V engine in Orion to the point that if you use DUNE without any unison and mod matrix features you get very similar sounds at similar settings as you would do in WASP-V. The solution therefore is to use 8 WASP-V's instead of DUNE and program them individually

I don't think there's any professional DAW that I wouldn't be able to recommend. All these DAWs are over-spec'ed and enable you to make whatever music you want, as long as you want it and know how.

that fence will give you splinters in ya arse

A very eloquent list, perfectly put.