Hey guys,
 
So I kinda jumped into this thing feet first and I have a whole lot of questions about my Sonar Professional and the add-ons I have purchased. I have been playing guitar for 37 years and I am in my very first original band. My other guitar player had told me about his DAW (Logic Pro) and how he is able to create songs and such.
 
So, without any knowledge of a DAW, how one works or how to use one, I downloaded a couple (PreSonus and ProTools) and got semi familiar with PreSonus. Once it came time to actually purchase one, I was told about Sonar and bought the Sonar Professional without even trying it.
 
I have had the Sonar Professional for about 1 week now. I have watched many tutorial videos and I am getting the hang of it. So, as if I didn't already have a large enough learning curve in front of me, I went out and purchased EZ Mix2 Rock and Metal Bundle and EX Drummer 2.
 
Now, I find myself getting frustrated because I don't know anyone around me who has Sonar Professional or EZ Drummer2. So I have a slew of questions and hopefully people can direct me to the right tutorials or give me the right directions. Thank you in advance for helping me.
 
1. When I am recording a guitar track to Sonar Professional, is the track always going to be clean (un-distorted) until I add distortion?
Example: I record my guitar track, click on my VST, add EZ Mix 2 guitar amplifier and drag to guitar track to add the desired distortion. It would be nice if I could hear the sound of the amplifier while I am playing.
 
2. I am still very confused on how to add EZ Drummer2 drum tracks to my songs, even after watching numerous tutorial videos. What I have done so far is create a soft synth track and drag EZ Drummer2 to the new soft synth track. Then I click on the Piano Icon, bring up the EZ Drummer kit and try to find a beat that matches what I am looking for or use the "Tap 2 Find" option. I also find some latency in the "Tap 2 Find" option that does makes finding the right groove difficult.
 
3. I think I addressed this in the last question, but I cannot find how to create a beat. Such as a 3 hit tom as an intro (like the beginning to Reign in Blood by Slayer). I have a guitar harmony intro that I don't want drums playing to the whole time, but I want little fills that contain a "3 tom hit (Tom, Tom, Tom)" or a "2 tom hit (Tom, Tom)"
 
I will probably have more questions and I do understand that purchasing everything that I have like I did all at once, I bit off more than I could chew. If anyone has any links to using Sonar Professional with EZ DRummer 2, that would be great. I have You Tubed several videos with some being helpful to others being not so helpful. Any input and direction would be greatly appreciated as well.
Thank you

1. SONAR records incoming audio without affects applied. You can enable input echo on the track to hear the result of plug-ins on the track. Monitoring through the DAW does mean you will have to deal with the round trip latency caused by the audio interface and its driver. Whether this is a problem depends on your choice audio interface.
 
2. Most latency issues are solved by using the appropriate driver and an audio interface designed for DAW use.
 
So, I believe the issues so far involve your audio interface. What are you using and which driver mode is set in Preferences > Audio > Playback and Recording "Driver Mode?"

Welcome to the forum Gary.
 
Yes you can record to a track and monitor the FX as you play. Just have echo on on that track.
 
I do not recommend using a simple instrument track for drums or any multi-out synth/sample player. Use the synth rack and be sure to check all stereo outs are checked for multiple audio outs tracks.
 
Try using the step sequencer for making drum parts.
 
You will need to look up all these things in the help file to fully understand them.

 

• There's some solid tutorials here: https://www.cakewalk.com/...University/Get-Started

• Scott Garrigus writes a great book for helping all us understand Sonar: http://www.garrigus.com/

• Also https://www.groove3.com/ is another site I use and like. (membership fees required)
•  Browse through the Cakewalk store for other great learning video training sessions as well.
• The tutorials that ship/download with Sonar are very good. And of course, I highly recommend reading the manual/pdf!

 
When I started using DAWs years ago, I took the approach of trying to use as much of the new technology that I understood at the time and leave the rest alone until I understood more. In other words, I understood the tape recording process, so I used my daw at that basic level (record / playback tracks). Next step for me was to understand more about plugins, at least at the basic premise of inserting properly and basic use. I also needed to understand how to get basic use from drum or keyboard VSTi - like EZDrummer that you mentioned. Using either midi loops or your actual input from something like a hardware keyboard. From there it was a natural step to edit my tracks and clips (IE: split, copy, paste, mute, loop dragging...) I treated (still do) Sonar like a recording studio that was equipped with the ability to records tracks, add effects, add keyboards and drums and mix to a final production. This is all tip of the iceberg stuff, but I have tracks from the early days that turned out well all things considered. Not many people knew that I really didn't know anything of any depth at that time. :)
 
While doing all of this, you also have to learn to use and work with your audio interface. In most cases when the project is small, you can use lower buffer setting/lower latency, as the project grow, you increase the buffer settings (higher latency).
 
All of this may sound too basic or may not. It just my 2 cents on how I tackled your current daw understanding point. We all started somewhere...
 
 
You mentioned using EZDrummer2 - you probably know EZ2 has a song construction section that allows you to build a song, copy/move clips around, etc. You should also get familiar with moving midi or audio clips around on a track in sonar.
 
 
I see nothing here about your computer specs and most importantly, your audio interface. Hopefully you have a decent audio interface not located on your motherboard. 
 
 
Keep us up to date on where you are with learning Sonar.

Thank you for the responses. I am using a PreSonus Audio Box for my interface and I do not know the driver settings. I will check that when I get home.

musicroom
 
 
 
There's some solid tutorials here:
 
Also is another site I use and like. (membership fees required)
 
The tutorials that ship/download with Sonar are very good. And of course, I highly recommend reading the manual/pdf.
 
When I started using DAWs years ago, I took the approach of trying to use as much of the new technology that I understood at the time and leave the rest alone until I understood more. In other words, I understood the tape recording process, so I used my daw at that basic level (record / playback tracks). Next step for me was to understand more about plugins, at least at the basic premise of inserting properly and basic use. I also needed to understand how to get basic use from drum or keyboard VSTi - like EZDrummer that you mentioned. Using either midi loops or your actual input from something like a hardware keyboard. From there it was a natural step to edit my tracks and clips (IE: split, copy, paste, mute, loop dragging...) I treated (still do) Sonar like a recording studio that was equipped with the ability to records tracks, add effects, add keyboards and drums and mix to a final production. This is all tip of the iceberg stuff, but I have tracks from the early days that turned out well all things considered. Not many people knew that I really didn't know anything of any depth at that time. :)
 
While doing all of this, you also have to learn to use and work with your audio interface. In most cases when the project is small, you can use lower buffer setting/lower latency, as the project grow, you increase the buffer settings (higher latency).
 
 
All of this may sound too basic or may not. It just my 2 cents on how I tackled you current daw understanding point. We all started somewhere...
 
 
You mentioned using EZDrummer2 - you probably know EZ2 has a song construction section that allows you to build a song, copy/move clips around, etc. You should also get familiar with moving midi or audio clips around on a track in sonar.
 
 
I see nothing here about your computer specs and most importantly, your audio interface. Hopefully you an decent audio interface not located on your motherboard. 
 
 
Keep us up to date on where you are with learning Sonar.

Thank you. I can see this forum will be very helpful and I will keep you posted.

Welcome to the forum Gary.
 
Many knowledgeable people here who are always willing to help, especially if approached courteously(as you did). I'm certainly not one of the power users, but have been here for several years and am still amazed at how much there is to learn about Sonar. It can be used as a simple recorder(think tape deck) or as a very complex and complete recording studio. 
 
My approach has always been to learn about the features that I need, one at a time and try not to be overwhelmed.
 
Best of luck and have fun!

For the EZ stuff you should try their forums. Sonar comes with TH2 guitar amps, Addictive Drums, and Session Drummer ...

Hi, welcome.
 
First of all, I strongly suggest you  retitle your post something like "Sonar newbie questions abut EZDrummer" to increase the chance of someone knowledgeable reading it.
 
Second yeah, there is much to learn about Sonar. Among the huge mountain of Sonar help resources available, I suggest, for getting up and running the fastest, 
 
a) manageable sections of the the full Platinum reference guide (PDF) -- yes, the manual --  specifically 
 
131 Introduction
137 Setup
138 Audio connections
141 MIDI connections
142 Changing I/O devices
146 Starting SONAR
150 SONAR basics
151 SONAR file types
152 Opening a file
153 Views
169 Working on a project
169 Screen colors and wallpaper
171 Color presets
174 Installing SONAR
179 Starting to use SONAR
 
And then any of the following which might be relevant for you:
 
“Tutorial 1 - Creating, playing, and saving projects” on page 183
“Tutorial 2 - Using the Browser” on page 195
“Tutorial 3 - Recording vocals and musical instruments” on page 203
“Tutorial 4 - Playing and recording software instruments” on page 209
“Tutorial 5 - Working with music notation” on page 217
“Tutorial 6 - Editing your music” on page 227
“Tutorial 7 - Mixing and adding effects” on page 235
“Tutorial 8 - Working with video” on page 245
“Tutorial 9 - Exporting, CD burning and sharing” on page 255
 
b) The Groove3 tutorials on both X3 (much is still relevant) and Platinum. Peter Rose of SWA also has good stuff but the Groove3 vids are the most concise yet followable. Some of the Cakewalk TV videos, I would personally give a miss -- robot voice basically reading very fast. 
 
Lastly, a few simple things I wish I'd known right off the bat when I was a newbie a year ago
 
-- if the screen gets cluttered and you just want to see your basic track view, press "d" on your keyboard
 
-- how Sonar reacts depends on which tool (Edit tool, Move Tool, Smart Tool etc) is selected. The toolbar usually rests in the top left corner of the screen. Having to go there each time to change tools gets to be a real buzzkill. So... press the "t" key and the toolbar appears wherever your mouse is. (This is called the HeadsUp Display or HUD). First step to becoming a ninja or just getting a comfortable workflow IMHO. I'd say it's more important getting to know well first than many of the menu items.
 
-- Also, right click on some of the toolbar icons to reveal sub-tools. It is worth playing around with these as some of them do different things depending, for example, which part of the clip they are over; whether they are in the tracks view, or if you're into midi , the piano roll of midi staff views; etc.  Not always intuitive, but once learned, toolbar basics can make using Sonar much more of a pleasure. 
 
Good luck.