Fortunately I started with Cakewalk V3 for sequencing (with a Canvas SC-55 MK2 sound module), but only really regarded the audio recording side as mature enough to dump tape from V9. Skipped Sonar 1, but have been using Sonar since V2, only skipping one other version along the way (V5 IIRC).
Tried the Moog and also had a Mellotron of sorts for a while, but neither lasted long.
I just got EZdrummer recently to try (thanks to a discussion we had about drum programming and loops & stuff). Nice easy interface, with the drums pictured and you can see the skins depress with every strike 8). Good, natural sound and a humanize function that works well. There's a built-in MIDI file player, but no drumbox style pattern sequencer. GM note assignments, which make it easy to integrate and should make it nice to use with a MIDI kit (on the short wish list this coming year). There are additional kits for it too.
On the downside, it is a little simplistic with regards to how much control you have over individual drums (although it has levels for separate drums, room and overhead mics). Early days yet, but I was experimenting with a sequenced version of Zep's
Good Times, Bad Times earlier - In fact I've just done a drum and bass heavy mix for you if you want to hear it in action:
http://ratcliffe.co.za/sundry/good_times.mp3. Sorry, very rough mix, but I think you get the idea.
