Pilgrim,
Hello again! I'm hopefully building myself a similar system soon, and I'm leaning heavily towards the Mona and very interested in any reviews, comments, impressions, etc. that I can get before I run out and spend the bread. Re Cakewalk vs. Cubase, I think the main issue there (besides whatever differences there are in user interface, bells and whistles, etc.) is that Cubase uses a plug-in standard called VST while Cakewalk uses DirectX. I don't know much about it but I suspect that perhaps the VST plug-ins are more efficient. I suppose maybe you get a few more effects with Cubase and perhaps they're integrated more directly into the application? But the bottom line is that both are using the host to run, so either way you're using CPU resources. If I was deciding today I would probably choose the one that uses the plug-in standard with the "tightest," most efficient code rather that the one with largest user base... but I bought CakeWalk Pro back before there was any digital audio component (version 2.0?) and have been upgrading and spending money on it for a long while now, so I'm tending to stick with it...
So let me know what you think about the Mona once you get it, and pass me any info you might hear about it too, if you don't mind.
-AlChuck