F,
> For those of you that use these applications, could you explain how you use them together? <
I use both all the time. Sonar is designed for playing multiple audio and MIDI tracks, where SoundForge is suited for working on final mixes and one-off Wave files. There is some overlap, of course, but the main difference is that edits and effects done in Sonar are generally non-destructive. That is, you patch in an EQ and play with the settings, but the EQ is not (usually) applied to the underlying Wave files. So if next week you realize the EQ is a little too much, you can reduce it and now you'll hear the new settings every time you click Play.
Compare that to destructive editing where anything you do is actually written to the Wave file. In that case it's a lot harder to undo EQ later because you have to remember exactly what you did originally. And with effects like compression and reverb, there is no way to successfully reverse them later.
SoundForge is great for manipulating final mixes, for example to normalize levels. Or to edit voice-over files to remove coughs and page turns. Sonar is overkill for that kind of editing, and more cumbersome to use for such small and single-purpose projects.
It is also convenient to use Sonar and SoundForge together at the same time. I do this to fix notes that are out of tune. In this case I send, for example, a vocal track to SoundForge while I'm in Sonar from the Tools menu. I don't like using Autotune, preferring instead to fix each sour note manually using SoundForge's pitch correction tool. I go through each note, adjust the pitch up or down as needed (make sure the Preserve Duration box is checked!), then save the file. This is destructive, but I'm sure I won't need to go back to the sour notes!
--Ethan
