after two songs have been corrupted and lost forever, both just recently, i'm jumping ship. I've used cakewalk for.. 15 years? and i'm tired of putting up with it. old versions worked, but X1 fails. it's crashy, it doesn't unload after the crash, so it's reboot time. it's got serious sync issues for me and the interface is all fracked up, i think. It STILL makes me reboot the supernova after starting cakewalk because it sends a $^#!)(* magical local control=off every time!
rather than go back and dead end myself with version 7 or other, i'll throw away my investment in it for something that works. i don't want to start a jihad, but what's good now? i know a lot of people use ableton, but it seems like it's for dj's/technoweenies, or am i wrong?
I don't know anything about logic or reason, but also hate protools

anyway, let me know what environment you use, love / hate about it?

Ableton is best for live performance. You could use it for recording and mixing, but it's not the best tool for that. I also use it for sound manipulation - stretching/beatmatching, using lots of plugins to destroy sound, etc. but then I usually export the results and mix them elsewhere.

I use Logic for my main recording/mixing environment, it's a great DAW but has been mac-only for a while, so that may not work for you. I gave up protools LE for it and have been loving it. Easier to use and much more stable.

I feel your pain on Sonar X1. I've been a loyal Cakewalk use since Cakewalk 3.0. I've had all versions since. X1 sucks. I hate it. I've been using Reaper for the past year. For my 9 to 5 it is still mostly Pro Tools but I even use Reaper when I can in that environment. I love it. I love the flexibility. I love it isn't a bloated hog. It isn't perfect but at the very least, I see effort from Cockos to make it better. Cakewalk stopped being useful the minute Roland got involved. Try out Reaper. I've been teaching people how to use it for a year now. I dig it. www.reaper.fm

The setup I'd go for now:

Logic Pro
UA Apollo
Mac Pro
UA UAD-2 quad x2
Euphonic MC Control + 2 Mix
Yamaha NS-10's

Rocking.

the apollo works alongside the PCIE cards? You've got some fucking horsepower man... jealous.