I used Cakewalk products a long time ago and just bought and tried Sonar. Unfortunately it's a mess. I hate the way that the MIDI editor works. It's very, very clunky and hard to use. And when editing midi, the editor does not even show you the extent of the part (clip) that you're working in. So very crude!

The rest of Sonar looks promising, but it's bundleware, much in the same way as Ableton. It's like creaky, rotting tree that's falling over from all of the fruit on its branches. More work is needed for the basic recording and editing of audio and MIDI to make sense and to be a constructive enterprise.

The new Skylight interface is clearly a lot better than the old one, but that's not enough. I used to use Windows Cakewalk, and the editing and arranging in that application was nice. It worked in a sane and intuitive way. I expected the same from Sonar X1 - and I did not get that.

I still have hopes for Sonar, but I'm returning Sonar X1. Maybe someday they'll tighten up the audio and MIDI editing to the point where I could use it. For now it's back to Cubase 6.

LOL

It's a drag not knowing how to use a tool, but unfair to blame the software for one's own lack of skill. It's like creaky rotting brain that's musty and crusty from lack of understanding, practice or enough interest to actually learn anything new. I'm just sayin'. . .