I also had Red Roaster too. It was very intimidating to me back in those days. But I dug into it, learned it, and I almost became a Samplitude user instead of a Cakewalk user. Even back then the fx in Samplitude sounded a lot better than what CW was offering at the time.
Cakewalk went to Sonar and loops, and I almost went with Samplitude when that happened, but the initial cost was prohibitive at the time. So I stayed with CWPA 9 for must have been 6 years. And used RR to burn and master.
And during the Gibson scare I almost went with Samplitude again, but since I already owned Studio One and Reaper, I went that way.
Since I built my new PC, the only DAW I have on it is Cakewalk. I still own SO3, and may upgrade that. But I sure like some of the features of Samplitude. I could get into that easier than Studio One I think.