Nothing to be said that isn't already said, except:
 
There is no Instant Karma.

AT
Probably your best, ie. cheapest means to get a great collections of sounds is to upgrade SONAR.  SPAT has great drums, effects and Dim Pro and Rapture, among other "Professional" synths.  Cake does deals on and off.  That is a great and reasonable way to upgrade your sound.  NI also does good deals - mid-summer and Christmas.  If you can wait you can find a lot of their stuff at half price.  Both are good choices.

No offence intended, but I couldn't disagree more with this.
I'd rather mix on a tascam 4 track cassette machine from the 80s with good monitors in a good room than on a brand new Rupert Neve desk with bad monitors in a bad room. I'm not exaggerating.

I'll go back to what a very successful engineer in Nashville told me...get a great sounding mix at low volume levels on a small set of speakers , such as Auatones, and mix near field so the room doesn't affect what you hear so much...just not a boomy room. If you can get it to sound good on those speakers , it'll probably sound really good on bigger speakers. When you flip on your big speakers, then you can check for bass and high end. Just don't try too over do either of them. Lots of new guys try to get a lot of bass in there, but most times it just doesn't work. Remember, most people are listening on smartphones...or in the car....so email you mix to your phone , play it there, then plug it into your car stereo and see how it sounds up against the music on the radio. Elton John used to run out to the car to listen to his mixes..I think I read he even set up a remote system so he could broadcast his mix in the control room to his car...LOL!

Hi. The tings included in SONAR should be more than enough to get you good results using only stock plugins. I will also advise that (if budget allows) you get a pair of monitors to supplement your headphones. Maybe buy secondhand? And you do not need the best / most expensive / or most popular monitors. If possible, go for what your (if you have a budget at all for this) economy allows. If your room is less than optimal (mine is small and not well treated due to size, so that makes me), listen at low volume (to avoid bass buildup, "early reflections chaos", and last but not least for your hearing). It takes time to get good results every time, and I am still learning, hoping I will get there someday. 
Others will know much better about most of my statements
All the best.

Probably the best thing you can do is to study recording/mixing/mastering techniques. There are gazillions videos on Youtube, demonstrating different techniques and approaches. For a more thorough and solid courses you'd need to get some video tutorials from the likes of Groove3, PureMix, etc.

Leee
Sorry, I couldn't get passed "proffesional".... an amusing irony.
Fortunately, others gave some very PROFESSIONAL advice and tips.
 
 
 
------- Lee Shapiro
         Musician, Songwriter, Spelling Enforcement Officer

And I, past "passed". So ironic it looped back around to non-irony.
 
Regards,
Dan

So just to play Devil's Advocate here, I'd like to suggest that throwing money at the situation isn't necessarily the best course of action. Personally, I have made many efforts to improve my less-than-ideal room. I've put up bass traps, constructed panels for side reflections and put a cloud above my mixing position, and I've just recently upgraded my studio monitors. Ideally, yes. Ditching the headphones in favor of a decent pair of monitors and adding some acoustic treatment is the way to go.  That being said, if money is tight, I still think it's possible to improve upon mixing skills, even if you're stuck with headphones, or a really crappy pair of speakers in an untreated room. The key here is reference tracks, as noted several times before.
 
If your room sounds like crap and it isn't possible to attend to that yet, instead, just listen to some of your favorite, professionally produced music, in that crappy room. Are certain frequencies emphasized or lost? If you attempt to match the overall tone of that particular song (assuming it's within the same general genre OR the type of tone you're looking for) in that particular environment, you're on your way. Even if you really are stuck with headphones, then listen to the reference track in your headphones, and again, try to match it.
 
Obviously mixing is a lot more enjoyable when you can listen to monitors in a somewhat treated room, and that should be a goal to work towards, so I'm not discounting anyone else's opinions on the matter. I just think there are things you can still do if investing in your studio isn't an immediate option.

SoundRegion

kevinwal
I ran across this when I was floundering (and I still am!) around trying to make pro sounding recordings. 
 
http://www.resoundsound.com/best-mixing-tutorials/
 
It seems to me that people who make great sounding recordings typically acquire a great deal of experience making mediocre recordings before they do anything else. So I read the tutorials, read books, and record, record, record, mix, mix, mix. Progress is slow but it's also real.
 
You might also consider posting your music in this site's song forum to get feedback on your work. Great folks there!
 

You're right I guess I'm just looking for the quick fix. I will check out the tutorials.
Didn't know about the song forum. Looks like it could be helpful.

this process we call recording is a half science and half stroke luck...well maybe the % are a little different.
sure we can improve our quality by learning ever so much more, but its all about the type of song, the mix for that type of song.
great Example: ive recorded plenty of material/songs that were not that great on the writing side of things.
basically the songs themselves sucked.
however, the recording process was so good, it gave the song life. made the song better.
the same can be said for a great song not being recorded well, it will ruin it.
 
I am constantly mixing chemicals, trying new things, blending, auxing, bussing, exc. and I have been at this rat race for almost 30 years. im a scientist not a musician. (saying that in my best star trek voice)
im still learning new things everyday, so don't feel alone, there are plenty of days were I am disgusted by my own mixes,
but its back to the drawing board and eventually I get it close to being what I envisioned.
its also one of the reasons I still use a Tascam 388 8 track reel for mixing down.
its the tape compression that gives it life. but not in all styles of music.
but in a world where we are all competing to be either professional, hobbyists, producers or engineers,
we try to have our own signature, be different.
 
its funny, someone (slugbaby) said previous in this thread "It could be because of a million things"
 
well he wasn't kidding.
you will find your mixes to sound more professional though by practicing a few small tips...
 
1- proper gain staging
2-compression / limiting (just don't over do it...just don't)
3-using your ears more then your eyes.
 
good luck !

tonyzub999
Just one other thought.  Maybe from a little different perspective. Songs themselves have to be great. The performers have to be great in order to create a great song.   I don't think I have ever heard of a song being great because is was recorded with pristine audio. 

I hear what you're saying and my horrible vocals is of course then first thing you would notice on the songs. I can't do much about that other than concentrating on instrumental pieces and to me getting it to sound right have always been a priority with me and I have a tendency to loose interest I can't get it to sound right.

Pragi

SoundRegion
I'm using Sonar Artist and I'm trying to get a decent end result with my music. When I mix the music in headphones it sounds OK, but when I play the music on the big stereo it does not sound very proffesional. Muttled audio, samples, especially drums sounds bad. Even synths. I'm using primarily samples that comes with the product, like SI instruments and I can accept that there might be better alternatives out there, but I have tried a lot of different synths and just can't understand why synth music from the 80's still sound better better than mine. Also do my type of sound card have any influence on the finished product other than maybe S/n ? I use an Akai EIE pro. I was thinking about the Native Komplete 10 bundle. Will that make a big difference in my sound over the standard Cakewalk sounds ? I have tried a lot of the synths and not that impressed, but maybe the samples are worth getting ?

Imo it´s very demanding to create good sound and mixes.
That alone is an art which needs years of experience and diligance.
To do that by headphones is even more difficult, specially if there is not much
expierence in creating good mixes aso with monitors.
 
I had hundreds of mixes which sounded great via headphones 
and collapsed  by hearing via studio monitors.

Yup. for one thing the bass is too loud when I go to regular speakers and the vocal sounds muttled.