I'm a more traditional musician... recording as much as I can through mics, or using virtual but traditional rock instruments.
 
A friend of mine is a popular DJ in Toronto, knows my music, and has asked me to try my hand at producing electronic music - mixes, etc. for him.
 
My question is... is Sonar still the tool to use, or should I really be looking at a 2nd setup like Ableton Live, etc?
 
I'm hoping to stay in Sonar :-) I have a lot to learn either way.
 
Thanks,
 
Gavin

I am not a fultime pro. But have done a few tracks that are 100% electronic or softsynth based. Rapture, dim pro & zeta are very capable. But l would recommend you to upgrade zeta to zeta+2 and get some expansion packs for rapture and dim pro. You might also want to look into synthmaster, massive or sylenth. Geist would be great for electronic drums.

musichoo
I am not a fultime pro. But have done a few tracks that are 100% electronic or softsynth based. Rapture, dim pro & zeta are very capable. But l would recommend you to upgrade zeta to zeta+2 and get some expansion packs for rapture and dim pro. You might also want to look into synthmaster, massive or sylenth. Geist would be great for electronic drums.

 
Thanks! I LOVE Zeta+2. It's my favorite synth.
 
Do you create your electronic music in TRACK view, as you would a more traditional recording project... or do you use other tools such as the step sequencer (yuch), the matrix, etc?

I've completed nearly 100 EDM (Electronic Dance Music) tracks using Sonar.   It really is as good as any other DAW for today's EDM and pop music.

Which version of SONAR do you have now? X3 may be a quantum leap in functionality, so if you have the mindset of "kid in an amusement park" you will not be short on entertainment in learning.
 
I prefer guitar, and I too am not a professional, but do a lot of playing as a hobby. The best thing about X3 is you can tailor your work flow a lot, so can determine what tools/views do the best job for you. Once you get your hands around work flows, you can customize your templates to suit your needs so you can throw in drums here, synth there, etc. and get recording very quickly. Interface and gear will also play into many things for you as well.
 
There are a lot of resources all over to learn X3 with, and this forum is one of the best - excellent group of very knowledgeable and helpful people. I have only really used SONAR as a DAW, so I cannot speak to "which is better and for what reason." I think end-to-end X3 will do most things you will want to ever do... and if you prefer real equipment through mics, X3 does audio very nicely.
 
 

I think there are other DAW's which are marketed more toward the electronic producer, but I don't really see how they're better than Sonar for this style. I think maybe they make it easier for a beginner to put beats together and do all sorts of prepackaged fancy stuff, but if you're the kind of person who likes to get deep into the MIDI on a note by note basis instead of having pattern generators churn out stuff automatically, then I don't see any advantage in any other DAW.

Reaktor is a good tool to have if you want to get into electronic styles. It comes with all sorts of interesting grooveboxes and sequencers and sample manipulators, and if you have the full version you have access to the user library which is chock full of thousands of weird and wonderful instruments.

Let's see, you can play your midi notes in.  You can step sequence.  You can load clips into the matrix and "perform" your loops live.  You can bring in ACid files, Rex files or make your own acidized files in  loop construction.
 
SONAr has all the tools you need.  Z3TA, Z3TA 2 (which you can get on sale dirt cheap if you wait), Rapture, DimPro and the older DXi synths can all make great sounds.  I use those first 4 all the time on electronic sytles, tho I have Kontakt and Alchemy also.  Christmas is coming up and Kontakt should be able to be had for a couple of hundred $.  Alchemy player is free and you can see if you like it.  One great synth if you like sound.  Rapture and DimPro have various free libraries, see Patcharenea.com.
 
You should be fine, just don't think too linearly, but as repeating (looping) 12 bars.
 
@

I played mostly on track view. (I am a classically trained pianist) and edit at prv view. Pvr and smart tools are what I use the most more midi editing. Never use matrix. Use lots of automation.

Sonar allows me to loop midi drums easily. Groove quantize. Step sequencer for programming drum beats.

Occasionally I would use CAL for manipulation of midi data.

With x3 I am spoiled for choice in the effects department. All the reverbs included are excellent. With prochannel and it's pop up analyzer
I can get what I want very quickly. I find myself using concrete limiter (for and extra 80 bucks) very much.

Ok , I start to sound like a cw salesman. I should stop now.

The point is I am extremely happy with x3 and see very little incentive to buy ableton, fl or reason. I am sure they are all good and have plenty of fans.

That's my 2 cent.

If you have not, sign up with Groove3 this month (only) for the yearly pass. You'll learn a great deal of Sonar functionality and see if the workflow fits what you're looking for (as well as peeking into other DAWs, mixing, beat making, ele.music, etc).

I've been using Sonar for my EDM cover band backing tracks for around a year now with really excellent results. I've been able to pretty accurately duplicate a lot of Calvin Harris patches using Z3TA+. A lot of people use Abletron for EDM, but I don't think there is much there that Sonar can't do better. We cover the current Billboard electronic dance charts and Sonar has worked great for everything we've done. Here is a cover of Gareth Emery's Concrete Angel all done in Sonar. https://soundcloud.com/th.../concrete-angel-take-2
I've done Calvin Harris, David Guetta, Ellie Goulding, Armin van Buren, Rihanna, Krewella, Medina, Avicii, Daft Punk, you name it all in Sonar. I'd be lost on any other DAW.
Z3TA+ is great and it's my go to synth for just about everything mainly because I've learned how to use it but you might also want to check out Sylenth if you're doing EDM. Avicii uses Sylenth for most of his tracks. You'll probably want to use both, Z3TA+ does some stuff that Sylenth doesn't and vice versa.
Since most of the stuff I do has a time constraint (get it done for the next rehearsal/show) I haven't spent a lot of time playing with loops or grooves and pretty much stick to making the sounds myself.