I think we just have a different way of working then, I like to use the Maschine kits for electronic drums in my projects. I almost never load other VSTs inside the Maschine plugin or use its sequencer. What I want is to load kits in Maschine and play the pads, but record the midi linearly in Sonar.

samson7842

Sanderxpander
If you want to use Maschine 2 with the controller to browse sounds etc but record linearly in Sonar, there are a few things you need to do.

First, just because it makes things a bit more intuitive, add an instance of Maschine to your project using a separate audio and midi track, so NOT the "simple instrument track". So choose midi source and first synth audio output.

Now use your controller or the plugin window to browse and load a kit, just so it's easy to see/hear if it's working.

Now, on the top half of the plugin window, it shows "new project" and under that the name of your kit, right click the kit name and choose Group Midi Batch Setup/Sounds to Midi Notes.

Now, under there, make sure "group" is selected and select the dial icon that will let you setup input and output modes. Under "input", set midi as "active" and channel to 1 (or to whatever channel you want to use for this group, you can set other channels for other groups). Make sure "thru" is off. Now, if you have a keyboard hooked up, you can already use the keyboard to trigger Maschine sounds and record in Sonar that way. But we want to use the Maschine controller so bear with me.

First, still in the group midi input parameters, set the root note to C3.

Now select all your pads (click the first one in the plugin, scroll down and shift-click the last one) and switch to the "sound" parameters, again choosing the dial to setup input and output parameters. In the input section, midi source should be "default", channel 1 and Thru off. In the output section, destination should be Host and channel 1.

On your Sonar midi track, make sure it is set to output to Maschine and channel 1 (you may need to change the view from custom to all to specify channels). In the input section you can choose either Maschine or all/omni if you want to also use a keyboard or external controller. Now you can arm the midi track and record the way you're used to in Sonar, utilizing the Maschine controller and e.g. its Note Repeat function.

This did the trick for me, thanks! I actually think I had it right last night. But, the indicator meter on the MIDI track doesn't light up. So, unless you're actually recording, you don't know if Sonar is receiving MIDI from the Maschine or not. I never tried to record anything last night because the MIDI signals weren't showing up on the meter. Doh! I should have tried to record something. It never occurred to me that the notes could have been transmitting but just not registering on the MIDI track's meter in Sonar.
 
Why do you guys think NI made this simple function so cumbersome on Maschine? This is basic stuff here. Or, am I missing something?

Yeah sorry I could have mentioned that about the midi track meter!

And I think NI just really want you to use their own sequencer ;)
It seems really fussy but once you've done it a few times it's very quick. For bonus points, add extra audio tracks and route your kick, snare, hats and percussion to separate outs.

Don't forget you can save all this as a track template.

Sanderxpander

samson7842

Sanderxpander
If you want to use Maschine 2 with the controller to browse sounds etc but record linearly in Sonar, there are a few things you need to do.

First, just because it makes things a bit more intuitive, add an instance of Maschine to your project using a separate audio and midi track, so NOT the "simple instrument track". So choose midi source and first synth audio output.

Now use your controller or the plugin window to browse and load a kit, just so it's easy to see/hear if it's working.

Now, on the top half of the plugin window, it shows "new project" and under that the name of your kit, right click the kit name and choose Group Midi Batch Setup/Sounds to Midi Notes.

Now, under there, make sure "group" is selected and select the dial icon that will let you setup input and output modes. Under "input", set midi as "active" and channel to 1 (or to whatever channel you want to use for this group, you can set other channels for other groups). Make sure "thru" is off. Now, if you have a keyboard hooked up, you can already use the keyboard to trigger Maschine sounds and record in Sonar that way. But we want to use the Maschine controller so bear with me.

First, still in the group midi input parameters, set the root note to C3.

Now select all your pads (click the first one in the plugin, scroll down and shift-click the last one) and switch to the "sound" parameters, again choosing the dial to setup input and output parameters. In the input section, midi source should be "default", channel 1 and Thru off. In the output section, destination should be Host and channel 1.

On your Sonar midi track, make sure it is set to output to Maschine and channel 1 (you may need to change the view from custom to all to specify channels). In the input section you can choose either Maschine or all/omni if you want to also use a keyboard or external controller. Now you can arm the midi track and record the way you're used to in Sonar, utilizing the Maschine controller and e.g. its Note Repeat function.

This did the trick for me, thanks! I actually think I had it right last night. But, the indicator meter on the MIDI track doesn't light up. So, unless you're actually recording, you don't know if Sonar is receiving MIDI from the Maschine or not. I never tried to record anything last night because the MIDI signals weren't showing up on the meter. Doh! I should have tried to record something. It never occurred to me that the notes could have been transmitting but just not registering on the MIDI track's meter in Sonar.
 
Why do you guys think NI made this simple function so cumbersome on Maschine? This is basic stuff here. Or, am I missing something?

Yeah sorry I could have mentioned that about the midi track meter!

And I think NI just really want you to use their own sequencer ;)
It seems really fussy but once you've done it a few times it's very quick. For bonus points, add extra audio tracks and route your kick, snare, hats and percussion to separate outs.

Don't forget you can save all this as a track template.

Yeah, that was the first thing I did when I got it working right was to add extra inputs, send all of the pads where I like them and save it all as my default start template. 
 
As far as Maschine's sequencer goes, I don't like it. It just seems very sloppy to me and not a precise as Sonar's. it just doesn't "feel" right to me. And the quantize function isn't that great for me either. And,  I need lots of quantise. ...lol

maschine can be used also by midi channels in sonar as a sort of multi timbral instrument, each sound or group can have its own midi channel there's also the option to play the midi notes a regular keys per instrument in maschine this is default or the option to send note to individual sounds this is for triggering drums from any daw sequencer or piano roll,also using this is where the midi drag and drop functionality of maschine becomes fun.

I like building beats in Maschine itself. It just feels intuitive to me. But why anyone would build an entire track with fills and breaks in a pattern based grid is beyond me. Once I get the pattern down, I build linearly to add the variations and fills/breaks. I work the same way in Ableton.