I said I've tried a lot of DAWs, I no way learned how to use them properly.
Initially it was the same for me. When I tried Reaper years ago, It was too foreign. I ran back to Sonar and was pretty happy. When Gibson tanked Sonar, I began to try other DAWs. I used Samplitude for a bit, and while it is an extremely powerful DAW, to use your own words, I could not bond with it. I decided to give Reaper another shot, and once I gave up trying to do things like I used to in Sonar, and really learned the program, did it start making sense to me. It took me awhile to find a theme that I liked. But I've settled on one for now, and am happy with it. The actions, and macros are so powerful. You can customize Reaper to your hearts content. This is not a knock on Cakewalk. I still use it sometimes, and I'm very happy with the improvements, and I hope it continues to be developed. I have used Cakewalk products for over 25 years, and I will always have a soft spot for it, and the Cakewalk forum.