Can't use Cakewalk Sonar Home Studio

I don't work for Cakewalk, but my advice would be to go to their main site (not this user forum) and ask in some of the sales links / channels. Certainly there's little that we here can do for you unless we have experience returning Sonar product (in which case we're not likely to be here in the forum).
 
If you find that there just is no refund love for you after contacting Cakewalk, you can come back here and tell us a what kind of problems you're having with a few more specifics and maybe we can help you get over some hurdles. Sometimes it's just the concept that you need to wrap your brain around. Also let us know if you have expectations from having worked in another DAW in the past -- I've heard it said that it can be difficult to switch from one to another because of fundamental design differences.
 
Short of that, take some time to go through the tutorials and documentation. Even though I've used Cakewalk products for many years, when I recently picked up their latest Sonar platform, I hit the manuals and read through them from Chapter one. And that was just me re-familiarizing myself with concepts, not learning from scratch.
 
That means not making music for awhile, but it's worth it.
 
Speck
 

The basic MIDI part of the way Sonar works is pretty much the way it's been for a long, long time, back when it was called Cakewalk whatever. It's the same piano roll thing, event list, etc. The most that has changed over the years is the audio stuff (non-MIDI waveform stuff, same as recording on tape), but if you just make MIDI tracks and record / play, plus use the piano roll, it should be the same as before.
 
But the you need to have MIDI ability in your computer. Getting sound from youtube is all audio, not MIDI. Since it's not the same thing, playing those clips doesn't show that your current computer can do MIDI.
 
Did you have an old Soundblaster card in your computer 10 years ago or some other sound card that had MIDI capability? Even if you didn't use the inputs and outputs to work with an external keyboard, you could still use a MIDI program like Cakewalk to play the sounds on the sound card itself (they often have General MIDI synthesizers right on the card, a synth on a chip).
 
Realtek is usually the onboard audio that most computer systems come with built in these days, but that's MIDI.  It could be that you didn't have to deal with any of this before if you bought a computer with a sound card installed that had MIDI, but most computers don't come with sound cards at all in them anymore, because it's all onboard (on the motherboard), at least the audio part is.
 
Resolution: so if my guess are correct, then you have to buy a sound card -- one with MIDI capability, then install it in your computer or have it installed. Then you may have to get into the Sonar preferences dialog to select the new soundcard (if it doesn't automatically recognize it).
 
 
BUT DOUBLE-CHECK first to see if you already have something MIDI in your machine: Run Sonar, bring up the Preferences dialog from the Edit menu, scroll down to the MIDI section and select Devices. Is anything listed there?
 
If there's nothing in that box, ask here about what sound cards you need. I see some for about $40 online, but I'm not familiar with recent sound cards.
 
Speck
 

To get sound out of Sonar you will need to (best) purchase a proper audio interface and use ASIO drivers or
suffer the on board sound card and use WASAPI exclusive mode which is already there, or install Asio4all.   
 
It will use your on board sound as output. You won't be able to do much other than use midi and drop audio clips into the tracks. Recording your guitar or bass will defiantly require a proper audio interface. 

Click the P button on your computer keyboard to bring up Preferences.
What is listed for Audio and MIDI, Devices and Playback and Recording?
What are your MIDI track in/outs set to?
Posting some screenshots of your Preferences would help if you're able to do that. Upload the images to an image hosting site, grab the Direct Link, uh, link, and Insert Image here.

Well Cactus Music I guess some folks aren't as smart as you.  Have you considered that I may be just a beginner? Nice.
 

Steven Brown
I have been unable to get SONAR Home Studio to send a sequence of notes to a USB MIDI output port, even though I have the port selected as MIDI output in SONAR, and I am still waiting since two weeks ago for support to respond with a solution. It is frustrating because I have an old version of Cakewalk Express from the 1990s that outputs to the MIDI port without a problem, in Windows 10. Anvil Studio works too. 

Steven I think you should start a new thread because this is a different issue.

Truman1234
 Have you considered that I may be just a beginner?
 

I understand your frustration but it takes some time to digest everything and learn about the software.
We all have to start some where. That's what this forum is for. You should post some PC specs and photos of problems your having. There are many of us here that would help you out. We love a good challenge
 

I use Presonus Audiobox 22VSL when I was using Music Creator I was using a pc with a keyboard hooked up to my system.
 
My laptop:
Acer Aspire E15 with Intel Core i5-6200U 2.3GHz with Turbo Boost up to 2.8GHz
Intel HD Graphics 520, up to 4157 MB Dynamic Video Memory
8 GB DDR3 L Memory
1000 GB HDD
 
When I plug in my Audiobox I get this message: Audiobox 22VSL The above Audio/MIDI device was connected to your system. Do you want SONAR to add this device now? I clicked on [Yes]. Absolutely nothing happens. Still now sound when I click on the piano keys on the left.
 
I open Preferences:
 
Audio>Devices:
Input Drivers:
- Line (Audiobox 22VSL audio (box is checked)
- Stereo Mix (Realtek High Definition (box is checked) 
 
Output Drivers
Speakers (Realtek High Definition (box is checked)
Speakers (Audiobox 22VSL audio (box is checked)
 
Show Mono Output (box is checked)
 
Driver Settings:
Playback Time Master: 1. Speakers (Realtek High Definition)
Record Time Master: 1. Line (Audiobox 22VSL)
Audio Driver Bit Depth: 16
Stereo Panning Law: 0dB center, sin/cos taper constant power
Dim Solo Gain: -12 dB
 
Default Setting for new projects: 
Sampling Rage: 48000
 
Mixing Latency:
Buffers in Playback Que: 4
Buffer Size: Fast 10.0 msec
Effective latency at 48k Hz/stereo
 
Wave Profiler:
I clicked on and said [Yes] to the tests. MME all ok
 
Playback and Recording:
Driver Mode: MME 32-Bit
Dithering: Triangular
 
The following are checked:
Use multiprocessing engine
Use MMCSS
Always stream audio through FX
 
Command Audition Length (seconds): 3 the rest are all at 0
 
Audio>MIDI
Inputs:
Audiobox 22VSL (box not checked)
 
Outputs:
Microsoft GS Wavetable Synth (box is checked)
Audiobox 22VSL (box is not checked)
 
Instruments:
Output/Channel: Microsoft GS Wavetable Synth
Uses Instruments: Default
 
Control Surfaces: The only thing checked here is WAI Display>Track View
 
Playback and Record:
The following are checked:
Notes
Controller
Patch Changes
Pitch Wheel
System Exclusive
Number of Buffers: 64
 
Playback:
Prepare using: 250 Millisecond Buffers
Always Echo Current MIDI Track (box is checked)
 
MIDI Files
Always use Sysx Banks for MIDI files (instead of Sysx Data
 
That's all I got.  
 
Hope that helps some.

Yes I have sound.  Thank you.  Thank you all for your patience.  I am very grateful.

Truman1234
Yes I have sound.  Thank you.  Thank you all for your patience.  I am very grateful.

Excellent. Good to hear.
Was it the way you were inserting the synth ? or your audio/midi settings ?

It does. ALL current versions of SONAR include TTS-1.

Cakewalk has not corrected the SHS synth list on their web site and documentation.

I have not seen a copy of SHS. In this case, I am relying on information supplied by Cakewalk product support.

Thanks scook, I made those adjustments you suggested.