Collaboration at distance

To get the project and/or audio and/or MIDI files to each other use an online file storage/sharing site such as Dropbox, Onedrive, Google Drive, etc (I use Dropbox which I learned about from Bapu years ago).
 
You can send entire projects back and forth by saving them as Cakewalk Bundle files (.cwb in your Save As Type drop down menu in the Save As dialog) or if you use the "Per Project Folders" option (which you should even for local projects... it's much more convenient/tidy) you can send the plain old Sonar "Project" file (.cwp) and the audio folder contents. For that last option though I'm not sure it would be done because I always have to upload individual files separately in Dropbox (I cannot upload an entire folder and all its contents). One way to deal with that though is to "Zip"/compress the entire project folder and then upload/send that. Then the recipient just downloads and "un-Zips" it on their end and open the project normally.
 
What I personally prefer doing is just sending/receiving audio files. Essentially everyone sets up their own project making sure everyone is using the same settings (Tempo, Time Sig, Samplerate and Bit Depth). Whenever someone completes a section they set their Now Time to 00:00:00 and exports the desired Track(s) and/or Bus(ses) as waves (or you can use mp3's if it something non critical such as a backer track... for final tracks always use Waves). Those get uploaded and sent then the recipients set their Now Time to 00:00:00 and imports them into the project (best to create target tracks for the files to imported IMO instead of letting SONAR auto create the tracks for each file but either way works).
 
Of course the whole "setting the Now Time to 00:00:00" when importing/exporting the files is crucial to keep everyone in sync. You can also use the "Export As Broadcast Wave" option which eliminates the need to always set the Now Time because that option creates timestamps that will import the clips to their original location. I don't do that but it's something to look into as it can keep file sizes down if that's a concern.
 
If you are moving MIDI files around (usually best to just export the audio of a MIDI track unless multiple collaborators are going to be actually editing the MIDI) then what you want to do (well what I do) is drag/crop the start edge of the MIDI clip so the clip starts at 00:00:00. This will leave a bunch of blank space at the start of the MIDI file. Open the Piano Roll View and insert a single note event at 00:00:00*. Then open the SONAR "Browser", click the "Media" tab (to expose your computer file directory) and drag the MIDI clip to a convenient folder on your computer (I keep a folder on my desktop for Exports to be sent to collaborators). This exports the MIDI clip which can then be sent/downloaded/imported like an audio file (but the recipient will of course have to import the MIDI file into a MIDI track).
 
*The reason for dragging the start of the MIDI clip to the start of the project and inserting the note is because otherwise, even if you just drag the start of the clip to the start of the project WITHOUT inserting that note, all that blank space gets left out of the MIDI clip export. The clip will only start at the first note in the clip which means it would have to be inserted/lined up to the correct spot on the timeline manually to stay in sync. Credit to scook for teaching me that trick.
 
There are actual MIDI Export options in the File > Export dialog but those seem to be something different and frankly still confuse me... but the files created don't export/import the way I described as far as I can tell. They seem to be for starting as a totally MIDI project... whatevs. The other doods can explain more on that if necessary.
 
As you can see the most important thing when collaborating is making sure everyone stays in sync.
 
Now let's say your project has a bunch of Tempo or Time Signature Changes. In that case then it's likely best for the main composer (or whoever set up the Tempo Map) to send everyone a starter SONAR Project file with the tempo map (and all the proper project settings). That way nobody has to a) setup their own tempo maps manually to match the original or b) simply do without a tempo map (which is actually okay if the recipient can just follow along with the audio without a Metronome track... they can just set their project to the FIRST tempo in the song to get a click count in if need be but I usually just create a MIDI drum file and program a hi-hat count in... and mute it later).
 
Since these guys are new to all this IF they end up purchasing SONAR to collab with you then even if there are no wacky tempo/sig/map changes you may just want to set up a copy of your project file (without the audio) to send to them anyway so you don't have to worry about settings to start with and they can see how you set things up. Send any audio/MIDI separately as described above and they can insert it all, well... as described above. OR you can use the other option such as Cake Bundle files (which are convenient but sometimes buggy) or zipping a Per Project Folder.
 
All THAT said... a common technique (Bapu/CHC) is to send a fully mixed wave or mp3 of your entire project as a backer track for your collaborators instead of sending every single track separately. They just need to record their parts over top of it anyway so it doesn't matter unless they are going to help with mixing duties. You can consider that like a "headphone mix" like one would create in a studio setting for artists to over dub against. If you (or they) want some control over their own "headphone mix" (which I ALWAYS want) then you can send them sub-group/buss stem exports. So in that scenario you would have groups of instruments being sent to their own busses (these days you can use Aux Tracks as well but I'll stick to busses) and use the "Busses" option in the Export dialog. For example all your individual drum tracks get grouped (snare, kick, overheads, etc) and turned into a single wave file (use the "Stereo" export option for drums especially to preserve panning positions and whatnot). Group your rhythm guits, leads guits, bass, piano, vox, whatever into logical subgroups and then the recipient can adjust the levels to taste as they write/practice/record but it still keeps file counts down (saving time and drive space... export these types of backers as mp3's to save even more drive space and upload/download times).
 
Finally, and yes I know this is long winded but I'm trying to give you lots of options and flexibility so you can do what works best for you and your collaborators, many of the techniques I described makes it so your collaborators can use any DAW software they want and ya'll can still get things done flawlessly. Essentially by everyone manually setting up their own projects using the same project settings (Tempo, Time Sig, Bit Depth, Samplerate... which all will produce the same results across all pro audio platforms) and ALWAYS exporting raw waves from 00:00:00 it completely eliminates the need for everyone to be using the same program.
 
SONAR is a great program. I obviously lurves it for my work. I think it is most definitely an "artists/composers" tool as opposed to maybe an "engineeer's" tool (but it's still pretty awesome for that as well IMO) BUT your collaborators may not have any money or they want to check out other programs... whatever. They could download the fully functional trial of Reaper (or pay the minimal approx $70 license fee... which really doesn't do anything to the program AFAICT but it helps the company of course) and you'd still be able to work.
 
Reaper however is... to me... quite a bit more intimidating and confusing for newcomers so if you guys are just slapping some stuff together and the guys want to learn then a SONAR script that you personally can help them work out is likely the best way forward to get their DAW skills up so they can make a more informed choice later (hopefully SONAR).
 
As for cross  SONAR version compatibility... the basic project files are totally compatible. It's just the fancier plugins and features that will get lost so again simply using straight audio/MIDI exports as described takes all that crap out of the equation.
 
 
Ya?
 
Ya.
 
Cheers... and sorry if you knew all/some of that (and someone has likely given you the answer you needed already as I typed this... lulz) but might as well put it out there for the intertube archives.
 
I'm sure others have their own particular methods as well but this is how I've been rolling and it works great.
 
Have fun.
 
:-)