I am a beginner to digital recording and bought Sonar Pro because a friend had it and liked it. I admit that I should have done my research and bought something else because this is obviously the worst choice for rookies. I opened Garage band and had rhythm tracks in minutes. I have spent over an hour every night for a week on this.... and I still have no idea how to program drums. I conclude the ranting portion of my post by stating that unless I have yet more steps to go through I find it hard to believe that for the money, Addictive Drums only gives me one Kick, one Snare, and one Crash and that's about it. Not a single Tom so don't call this "one kit included".
Ok, I did the Drum mapping, and can open the PRV, and sometimes I can open the Step Sequencer, but don't know what im looking at. I figured out how to open a Beat from AD2 into a Track, I can delete beats but cannot add any, cannot figure out how to do that. 
While im here, once I can program a beat, im going to want to string beats, fills and parts together to form songs and cant wait to loose what's left of my hair figuring that out.
Trying to stay positive but this is the least intuitive, user friendly program ive ever encountered. Thank you to whoever can help.

Well,
 
I have Garage Band on my iPad and it is fun, but it is simply not as sophisticated as Sonar or any other DAW such as Presonus Studio One, Steinberg Cubase, Avid ProTools, Cockos Reaper, Apple Logic, etc.  They all more or less work the same way.  I would say that Sonar is one of the easier DAWs to work with since I have owned or tried most of them.  Perhaps you should use audio (.wav) drum loops until you have a chance to learn how to program midi drums. The thing is, with Sonar (or with any of the other DAWs I mentioned), you are now in the big-time professional realm of music programs.  If you hang in there, watch some of the videos on Cakewalk's website or YouTube, things will possibly begin to settle in and make you more comfortable.  Believe me, if you are wanting to make great music, a program such as Sonar is the only way to go.  This is a common reaction to those who are just starting out at this level of programs.  I want to encourage you to stay the course and it will pay off!
 
Regards 

Thanks and im starting to get the picture that we all start out as super frustrated as I am now. Believe me, im on Caketv, the Forum, You Tube for at least an hour a day, and I am getting closer but......
Ive played with the loops but the way I write, im going to need to program out my drums very methodically and I accept that its going to be challenging, but im going to keep banging my head against this wall because anything else is just delaying the inevitable. Thanks

for what it's worth, when I first started I would have paid ANYTHING to have somebody sit beside me and show me how to do stuff.  I've been digital recording on computers since the early 90's and still learning lots.  There is still a boatload of stuff I don't know on Sonar, but I don't worry, because it isn't stopping me.  Once you at least get recording, commit to learning ONE item a week or so.  After a couple months, you'll see a big change.  Yes, watch the tutorials.  Give yourself a couple weeks to at least get into stuff.  Yes it's complex, but that's what makes some music really great and others sound like it's just loops and MIDI riffs haphazardly pasted together with no imagination.  Not saying it has to be tough to make great music, but there is a lot going on, that gives you extreme flexibility over the basic programs like Garage Band and Audacity....and once you really start to understand things, you'll find ways to be creative you never dreamed of.  The studio can become an instrument as well.
 
So...I just picked up guitar...I'm a noob....dang, I should have just chosen something like bongos.  Much easier.  Get the point?
Hang in there.  It'll happen.  This coming April, you'll be glad you gave it some dedicated time and persistence.

Groove3 would be my recommendation.  Its worth the 10 bucks (or maybe its 15, I cant recall for sure) they charge a month for free access to all videos.  There are SONAR specific tutorials for beginners.  Wish I would have had something at least similar when I started, but then again; only the army had internet back then.
 
 
https://www.groove3.com
 
Good luck!

 
I've spent the last three years just reading these forums because I didn't really have time (until recently) to really use Sonar.  Sonar is so deep that I've learned something new every single day since I signed up back in August 2012.  I'm more into Sonar as a supersynth/sonic space creator than as a studio recording mechanism, but Sonar is both and in my case both are needed.
 
Sonar is complex enough that you can't really just use it to throw something quickly together.  Once you're used to it things seem simple enough, but there's a lot of head scratching at the beginning.  I came to Sonar from Kinetic I, Cakewalk's very much simplified environment (back in the day), and even that required quite a bit of learning.
 
All that to say that yes, Sonar is daunting for quite a while, but boy is it worth it once you start to feel comfortable with it.  You have to do everything yourself as nothing is given up front, but the result is something that you created, something uniquely yours.
 
I encourage you to not feel discouraged since the reward for taking the time to learn what's going on will bring you to a place where you'll wonder what you hoped to do with Garage Band.  One hour a day is a good place to start, but it has to be for way more than a week.  A year would be a good place to ask yourself where you're at.
 

Thanks for the encouragement everyone, I will be more patient, I totally get that.Now about that Drum programming.........
Cant record a note without it

There is a built in metronome that you can hear both in playback and/or record...or of course neither.  When you open the console view, you'll see it as one of the busses with a fader for its' volume.  Drums ARE much nicer to record to....but they'll line up perfectly if you're using MIDI patterns for their performances, which is what you'll most likely end up doing if you're using Addictive drums...  Unless of course you're playing live and just triggering the sounds. Meaning you can add them after the fact in many instances.   Getting into the drums right off the bat, might be skipping week 1, 2 and 3.  Record some audio first, even if it's just you singing solo.  That way you'll get a feel for recording.  THEN jump into the MIDI game with your Addictive Drums...  Oh...get ready to open your wallet for Addictive Drum competitors!!  Although AD sounds great as well.

Welcome to the forum Moradbipbip. As you can see your fellow members will stand by you as you learn Sonar. All you need to do is ask and a member will help you.  Take your time and study the manual. Learn the language of Sonar. That is its terms, how things are named. This will help in finding answers. It will also help us in answering your questions.
 
What ever you do don't think you are the only one that is having trouble getting things to work. One thing that cost nothing and will expedite your learning are the tutorials in the manual. Do each in turn because they are meant to be done in order. They will introduce you to the concepts of recoding in Sonar. How to edit and how to mix. When you run into a problem or get stuck come here and ask how to do something. 
 
Now you are here and have already started off great. I hope you will soon be a Sonar guru. 
 
 

Drums programming in Sonar is similar to recording any other soft synth (except there is an additional Step Sequencer tool, which you may or may not want to use after finding out). Cakewalk's Youtube channel has many more older videos that are still relevant that may not be linked at the CakeTV.
 
1. Learn to insert / record midi-track with soft synth - find out about Simple Instrument Track vs Midi Source as you insert it (Sonar manual should have a good explanation on this) The help link below is obtained by pressing HELP at the Insert Soft Synth Options :
 
http://www.cakewalk.com/D...age=3&help=0x2007A
 
2. Using Piano Roll View (PRV) to edit notes. Using Quantize feature to correct timing.
 
3. Step Sequencer
 
From CakeTV (you may also want to learn about Session Drummer 3)
https://youtu.be/9x-7sMawGaQ
 
Once you're familiar with the above, recording AD2 is simply using the correct midi notes that AD2 responded to.
 
The above should get you to kick start in the right direction - study over it and ask more specific question while you're experimenting with it.