Cakewalk Sonar, the easiest program I have ever used, is extremely user friendly, although prone to crash, at least on my system; however, I use Cubase SX exclusively as it has many more functions and VST seems to be more efficient than DXi. If you want to save money, the free N-Track Studio is supposedly pretty good. Finally, Emagic's Logic Audio is a major program for Mac: extremely deep, powerful, and in my opinion, a bit awkward.

Hmmmm I was going to suggest Sonar as well, but I didn't want to get abused by the masses. ha ha ha I like Sonar. No, it isn't digital audio perfection, but then what is? I think Cakewalk earned a bad reputation in their previously crappy attempts at doing a multitrack audio package.

i've used cakewalk since 4.0 upto sonar xl 2.1 and i have to say that they are good programs for the beginner wanting to get into pro audio. but if you really want to learn a great program, use nuendo. ever since i started using it i stopped using sonar.

I tried Cubase, really wanted to like it, didn't like it. Tried Cakewalk, did like it--a lot. I now use Sonar 2.1, love it. If you can't make good music with Sonar, you can't make good music. I know a few people who use N-track and love it, but if you are also using MIDI, I hear it is not strong in that area. A lot of people also like Cooledit.

All of the flagship programs from Steinberg, Cakewalk, and Emagic are strong. Sonar is the least expensive, however.

Download the demos and see which one you like.

ShellTones
What is it about Cubase that you didn't like? I hear this all the time and I just don't understand it.. I find Cubase to be just like running a console and tape machine with outboard. It was a little difficult to get started but by just reading the Getting started manual and the PDF doc. I was able to set up the VST inputs and outputs and get the arraignment widow configured as a default template. Once that was all done, it took maybe 8 hours to wade through all the technical stuff, I was off and running. I love this program..it is soooo much easier to run than I expected. ....... Fats
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It's my opinion, I'll play with it if I want to ……

I used Cubase for about 2 years exclusively and finally switched to pro tools. I wasn't in love with the documentation, the multiple edit windows and the difficulty in syncing cubase to other gear. I am sure it has all improved over the past 3 years so my data is probably old.

On the other hand I found pro tools to be far easier for audio recording. I have also found my students take very well to either Pro Tools Free (excellent 8 track program) or Pro Tools LE (competitively priced with Cubase, Logic etc.). If you are a composer and proficient at midi programming there is a good chance you will like Cubase or Logic better than Pro Tools,