What I'm talking about is recording the performance of a VSTi so that all of the nuances of your performance are recorded in real time. 
 
If you set an audio track's output to a soft synth (as you would normally when creating a synth track), the record button disappears. Cakewalk, in their eternal wisdom, decided that nobody could possibly ever want to record a soft synth. I know we can record a MIDI performance and parameter automation and bounce it down to audio (or freeze it), but that's not what I'm talking about. There are some VSTi parameters that cannot be automated, for instance a lot of the groove ensembles in Reaktor have buttons and parameters on the GUI that cannot be mapped to a controller. For instance, I'm using one now (Limelite) which has solo/mute buttons for the various drums. They cannot be mapped to a controller, and I really need to be able to turn these on and off on the fly to record a performance. There are loads of other reasons why someone would want to record a VSTi performance directly to audio as opposed to bouncing down a MIDI performance. 
 
I know there are various workarounds, like using a wave recording plugin. But come on Cake...this seems like really basic routing functionality that should have been fixed years ago. 

I use a piece of Monster Cable as a work around.
 
 
 
 

Wait, so if I wanted to record a piano part using Ivory, you are saying I could only record the MIDI and then freeze or bounce and that I could not go direct to audio?
 
I never thought of that.  That doesn't bother me at all but it is a weird limitation.  I can certainly record external synths directly.

konradh
Wait, so if I wanted to record a piano part using Ivory, you are saying I could only record the MIDI and then freeze or bounce and that I could not go direct to audio?
 
I never thought of that.  That doesn't bother me at all but it is a weird limitation.  I can certainly record external synths directly.

Yep, let's say you have an audio track with a VSTi input. Take a look at it...the record button ain't there!
 
I mean you either need that functionality or you don't, like a lot of stuff, but it does seem very strange that it's not there. 

mike_mccue
I use a piece of Monster Cable as a work around.
 

 
There's way too many "workarounds" associated with Sonar though, don't you think?
 

Just think of the Monster Cable as an analog goodness emulator and it almost seems like a feature.

It would be useful when using plugins that do not record automation.
 
I have run into this multiple times.
 
Catch the live performance as audio. ;) WE need it.

There is also the Vonexgo Recorder and Tape It, but we really shouldn't have to use cables or 3rd party plugins for this. 

Now that Reason 7 has midi out I tried to record the audio output from a plugin in Sonar in real time using the midi from Reason. Total frustration .

Grum.

Have gone the feature request route yet? I'd start there and I would agree that it seems like a good thing to be able to do.
 
Regards,