Hearing effects while recording

If you are listening to your input via Sonar's "input echo" you can have any effect on it you like. There is a significant caveat though - you'll need to be able to bring down latency enough for you to comfortably play without getting an annoying delay between playing and hearing the sound. This requires a low audio buffer setting in Sonar's audio preferences (or your soundcard's configuration panel) and that in turn requires a fast cpu and a quality driver for your soundcard.

In addition, it sounds like you are using some kind of direct monitoring option from your soundcard, which is why you're hearing the dry signal when you play. This has the benefit of being direct, meaning no latency, but obviously you will have to turn this off if you want to hear the effected signal.

What soundcard are you using? Does it come with a mixer app? With a hardware input/playback balance knob?

Ok well that seems a decent enough setup to try what I suggested. Turn off the direct/input monitoring in your mixer app and turn on input echo on the Sonar track you're recording on. See how it works latency wise. If it's too much, look in the Sonar audio preferences and try a lower buffer size. This will put more strain on your cpu and your soundcard (driver). It's common to bring the buffer size back if you're down to the mixing phase and need lots of plugins.

Thanks for all the great advise, I will try it tonight.
Best,
Art