I totally don't know what I'm doing. So, I thought I'd reach out to you good people on this blog. I have a Samson C01U.  I am using Sonar LE. In Sonar LE, Options, Audio, Input Driver = Samson C01U.  But it is not recording. Anyone have any thoughts about this? thanks! Jean

Best to go through some of the tutorials at the start of the Reference Guide to get yourself up and running. It won't take long and you'll get a much better idea of how to move around the program. This could be any number of things that would likely be addressed in that section.
 
However if the mic and it's driver is being recognized by Sonar then you have to set the track input to recieve input from the mic, turn on the track's Echo button (which should give you audible input and a meter reading so you can set levels), arm the track for recording (press the Record Arm button on the track control area) then start recording by pressing the Record button in the Transport Panel at the top of the screen.
 
As you can see, even though that is relatively simple to do once you know the basics, you gotta know the basics which the tuts will show you. If it still doesn't work then we can help you troublshoot from there.
 
Cheers and welcome.

Sonar LE online documentation available here...
 
http://www.cakewalk.com/Documentation?product=SONAR%20LE&language=3&help=toc.html
 
Hopefully that is up to date for the version you have.

It should be said USB microphones have a bad reputation for actually working with a DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) like Sonar. 

Ah, there you are, John. I was wondering where you'd gone.
 
But yes, USB mics are not ideal and will likely cause issues. They should be able to be used for simple input like just recording one's voice in Sonar if the driver is recognized. Just don't expect to create an epic opus with it. A good quality interface with an ASIO driver is best.
 
I figured OP just needed to get something recorded to start with. After that the problems with such a device will likely start becoming apparent but that's another topic really.

I think I'm getting there. I got the arm button on. I got the echo on. one last thing I can't figure out....where do I "set the track input"? THANKS

marjean28
I think I'm getting there. I got the arm button on. I got the echo on. one last thing I can't figure out....where do I "set the track input"? THANKS

If you look underneath the Arm/Echo buttons on the track you may see a couple dropdown menus (grey bars). One will have a little "I" on it (for input). Click on that and it will give you options for connected input devices. Choose you mic from the list. If you do not see the Input dropdown you may need to set the Track Filter at the top of your track list to I/O or All to display them. The Track Filter menu is another dropdown grey bar thing all by its lonesome just above where all your tracks are.
 
You can also choose inputs right on the track strips in the Console View. Again these are the types of things that tutorials describe. Trust me, it'll get very frustrating without knowing where some of this stuff is and what they are named so just a quick look at the tuts will help you get your bearings.
 
Cheers.

Hi, yes, I'm reading the tutorials, they are sooooo completely over my head! Anyway, I think it's recording now, but its very quiet.  I put the speakers and headphones on my laptop at 100%. I tried fiddling with the volume on the left side of the Sonar LE screen.  It just records either in very quiet or silent! I looked in the index of the tutorial and couldn't find anything about volume. thoughts?

Usually you would turn up the input "trim" on the audio interface or on a mixer to get more input volume. Essentially input volume is controlled by the external hardware to get the best signal without "clipping". Then you mix/manipulate that signal inside the software.
 
Do you have the manual for your USB mic (it should say how to increase the level... it may need to be done through the microphone's software) or is there some kind of physical volume control on it? I've never used one. Maybe it is using the Windows Mixer to set input level so maybe you could look there (you can get at that through the Windows Control Panel under Sounds). Again the mic's manual would tell you if that is the case. If you do not have the manual handy just do a google search of the model number and you should be able to find a pdf manual or something... preferably on the manufacturer's website.

Here is Samson's manuals section. Just search for your model to get the pdf (will require a pdf reader installed on your system like Adobe Acrobat... which you are going to want to have so you can read other pdf manuals).
 
http://www.samsontech.com/support/samson/resourcesandmanuals/microphones/