Reaper, all the way.
Because i can run a video track in it and i can setup the windows in a modular way.
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Mixcraft 8
Itās a cheapie but I think itās certainly worth a look.
So far itās the most enjoyable work flow Iāve used - I quite like it.
The auto loop was startling at first but itās really useful as is the soloing in the lower panel.
Cut n paste work as expected as does MIDI recording.
Audio clips are dragged in and seem fine.
The supplied instruments are quite usable and the over all tone and mix is clean and crisp. (On the workstation)
Other VSTs work fine and Iāve not crashed it yet.
Iām still prowling the supplied effects but my third party stuff seems fine.
Iāve had a few quirks and workarounds but itās likely my incomplete prowess with it.
This is about an hour or so tooling around on Mixcraft 8.
Very much a work in progress 
(BTW, my stuff is not everyoneās cup of tea)
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Why not stay on SONAR 8.5? It still works just fine, and although some subsequent SONAR enhancements have been nice (e.g. bundling Melodyne), frankly 90% of whatās been added on since falls under the ābells 'n whistlesā category.
Iāve been a longtime Cakewalk user, going back to Cakewalk for DOS 1.0. I kept up with every new version through 8.5, but was so put off by the unnecessary changes in X1 (automation in particular) that for the first time in decades, I skipped a new version. When X2 and then X3 didnāt address any of my complaints, I embarked on a search for a replacement DAW.
Long story short, I tried nearly every PC-based DAW on the market (I am not cool enough to be a Mac guy - not a single tattoo). Each one had its strengths. Studio One did automation the way I thought it should be done. Reaper let me route anything to anything. Even the long-abandoned Tracktion is once again a contender now that itās out from under Mackieās neglectful stewardship. But in the end I realized that SONAR had the best balance of features, and whatever 8.5 lacked (e.g. no decent mastering limiter) I had covered via third-party plugins.
So I stayed on 8.5 for another year, intending to stay there forever. Then a life-changing experience changed everything: my DAW was stolen. Along with all my backups and every project Iād ever made (plus all my keyboards, guitars, amps, microphones and monitors). Yes, it was as traumatic as you can imagine. But it also presented me with a clean slate to start anew. With no legacy projects to port over, it seemed like a good time to catch up to the bandwagon and jump on with SONAR Platinum.
After a month or so of daily āwhere did they move that button to?ā puzzles, eventually it felt as natural as 8.5 had been. I was able to remap all my familiar keyboard shortcuts, un-dock the child windows and pretty much make it look like 8.5.
It hasnāt been all kittens and puppies, though. There are still aspects I donāt like. Even the good old PRV underwent an overhaul this month that made it harder to edit multiple tracks at once. But theyāre updating monthly now, so bugs and annoyances are quickly addressed. I do feel as though Iāve now got the best DAW - for me.
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Just received an email from Cakewalk with a coupon code to share with friends giving you 10% off of SONAR Platinum, Professional or Artist in the Cakewalk Store. The coupon will expire on April 30th, 2017.
SONAR10
They have recently changed their pricing structure - see this blog post for more info.
http://go.cakewalk.com/m000X31010283jsDLzP0BJ0
Does not affect āLifetime Updateā owners like myself.
If that coupon is useful to you, Iām glad!
Terry
Cool! Will have to think a lot about that one. The answer to āwhy not just stay with Sonar 8.5ā isā¦ Iām not at all sure thereās any reason not to. Iām mainly just wondering if there are improvements to the sound engine in later versions that would process more efficiently. It seems like itās getting sort of slow and clunky; usually I would attribute that to Windows getting bloated and needing a re-install- and maybe it is. But Win7 on this machine has no net connection and never updates so Iām not sure. I may just buy a new hard drive and do a clean install, stay with Sonar 8.5 and call it a dayā¦ but Iām interested in trying some of the new stuff, like Presonus.
Same here or at least I got the āsimplified pricing blurbā a few hours ago.
I own my copy of Pro 23.1.0. Not sure what happens next year, maybe pay for upgrades or some membership deal?
Anyway theyāre urging me to upgrade or renew early.
Must be short of cash
Well so am I so it aint happenin!
I see in the command centre Iām due XLN Addictive Drums ā¦ any good?
I already scored the discount on Addictive keys (very happy with that lot)
ADDā¦ yeah, pretty good actually, but I never use them over Toontrack.
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Hey Fred ā¦ there are a couple of Roland VS8F-2 expansion FX boards for your VS-2480 on ebay.
Iāve bought heaps of stuff off these guys selling them with no issues.
You want??
Nah, weāve got 5 lol But thanks! (We actually have 2 2480s, oneās a back up).
100 percent REAPER on Windows here and have been for almost a decade. Prior to that, I was running ProTools on Mac from the late 90s (and PC later on) with a CM Labs MotorMix/MotorMate 16 channel motorized fader control surface.
Before that, I was on Cubase and ADAT XT but it was finicky (Cubase that is) and I never totally trusted it.
I also gave Logic a good go back in the Emagic days but it never felt LOGICal to me!!
Before that, I was on Ampex 456 and analog consoles (hence my avatar) mixing to Tascam DA30 DAT and/or HiFi VHS. In that setup was also a Tascam MIDI <> SMPTE LTC unit which locked Cubase on a Mac G3 and the hardware MIDI sequencer in my SY77 to the LTC on the tape.
Right at the beginning in the early 80s, I was using four track cassette on a Studiomaster deck and bouncing to an Akai 1/4" two track open reel deck (4000DS). I was also using a Sony TC352D open reel deck with a DBX 154 NR unit, both of which I still have.
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Of course, I have a quick answer to the question of what DAW I useā¦
Most of the time I use the front DAW because the back DAW is bolted shut!! 
Ducks flying tomatoesā¦
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Shake for me girl- I wanna be your back DAW man!
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Iāve seen ducks flying bananas, but never tomatoes. (You never had flyed bananas???)
Ahh, time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.
And now, back to our regularly scheduled program.
Terry
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I see we share the same ever so slightly eggcenttic sense of humour!!
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Time flies like the wind, but fruit flies like bananasā¦
Is the one I knowā¦ 
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PC user so dabbled with Cubase and Sonar in past but now use only Reason paired with Cantabile. Donāt need anything else 
Iām a bit of a newby to DAWs but I use Mixcraft 8 with no problems, does more than I am ever likely to need and fairly easy to learn
32C V4.0 is out - got it! 
Looks good so far - love the overview area at the top.
Maximizing mix + arrangement view to full screen on two monitors is a bit fiddly, though; not sure if there is a logic behind thisā¦
Cheers,
Torsten
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Those who use 32C - how do you find its MIDI editing capabilities (particularly for composition), in comparison to other DAWs?
Neil
TBH, I still use Cubase as my go-to-platform for MIDI and composition work. Iāve been working on this platform since the days of Steinbergās TwentyFour and Cubit on the Atari STā¦
MixBus 32C is my tool to do a quick and intuitive mix of a 20 track rehearsal recording, so not a lot of editing going on here.
Cheers,
Torsten
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