anyone have any ideas? has anyone used project 5? or is something like fruity loops or acid better to get familiar with?

kholla... have you heard of any of these other programs?

hmmm... before you buy sonar 3, check out these applications as well:

Live
http://www.ableton.com/index.php?main=live

Acid Pro 5
http://www.sonymediasoftware.com/Products/ShowProduct.asp?PID=928&keycode=3141-3001

does anyone have experience with these applications? pros/cons? how's the learning curve?

I use FruityLoops Producer edition to do electronic music. It's way easy to get DX and VSTi softsynths to use for it. It supports buttloads of VST and DX effects too.