I am going to mostly agree with Herb here but add one thing:

Luckily, I do all my first recordings in Real Band and only mix in Sonar.

I really like Real Band for recording audio. I think it is easy, easy top work with, easy to edit in, clean, and never clips. I don't see why people are so harsh about it. I love Real Band.

Then, when I have everything, I export all to individual files.

So, no matter what happens with any DAW, I will always have those master files of each track.

For effects, I have a folder with presets for almost every VST I use so in a worst case scenario, I could start any song over in any DAW and be done in an hour, or heck, mix it in Real Band.

The world won't stop because Sonar went out of business, and I will still use it as long as I can.

I will cry for a little while though if it crashes and never comes back, because I love the interface.