I would concur with Craig's post above - I am a keyboard player, who plays some guitar and sings backup vocals at church.  
 
I almost always am focused on dealing with MIDI, and only marginally do I go into anything fancy on the resulting audio - some levels, EQ, reverb, delay, compression - all standard stuff.
 
There are GIANT swaths of Sonar that I just never ever deal with, comping, take lanes, screen sets, and I likely will never end up dealing with any of those areas, despite having worked with Sonar since it was in DOS form.
 
Whenever I DO see something come along that looks beneficial to MY needs, it is at THAT point that I will invest the time needed to work with that piece of things.
 
My advice is to always review any new features that come along, because any given month may well bring something to benefit YOUR ways of doing things, and make sure you have reviewed all of the features that are already there - not from so much a stand point of learning all of those features - just making sure you know what those features bring to the table - in case any of them might help you with what you are doing and how you are working.
 
Here is an off the top of the head analogy - you enroll in a college, and are taking music courses there - the school offers degree programs in astrophysics, and biology.  Would you feel a need to take any of those courses just because the school featured them?  Nope - you would take the courses needed for you to get the training in music.  And even with the music courses - I wouldn't take a bunch of classes in singing, if I played the clarinet.
 
Bob Bone
 

Anderton
 
 
I'm hoping the re-launched eZine will help people sort out what they need from what they don't.

 
I'm also looking forward to the relaunch!!!

Cactus Music
I most certainly have always just learned features when the need arises. Sonar has soooo many features and then to make matters worse they keep adding more! 
 

 

 

Cactus Music
 
I'm basically lazy when it comes to digging in real deep and always pick the path of least resistance to getting a song finished. I'm not sure if I'm doing my songs a disservice by not using all those wonderful plug ins. It seems every time I get the urge to try something new the music suffers because I don't really know how to make that particular plug in do anything. So I end up using the same old plug ins that I understand. I don't even use Pro Channel because everytime I tried it I could not even hear anything happening?? What's with that little EQ ? it doesn't work for me and I know that's gotta be 100% pilot error. But I know someday I'll figure it out and stop having to put the EQ in the effect bins. 
I even figured out the step sequencer the other day because I had to make a drum loop and I don't have a keyboard on hand at work. Working in Home Studio has been a good way for me to get work done without worrying about missing out on all those fancy Splat features because they don't exist in Home studio. You can work away happy as a clam oblivious to Pro channel. 

Hi Cactus Music ,
 
Whew , I didn't start out lazy ,  I started ending up getting lazy around the edges because some of the things I felt I have needed to learn are way over my head (in some cases not all )..
Over the past few years I have had many repeat performances of " Song Posters Regret " . This was due to attempting to use plugs I didn't know how to use properly or trying production techs I had no chops with at the time of posting the tune .
I chalk all that up to being just part of my personal learning process .
I've gone back and remixed a few tunes of mine that needed a lot of TLC . A few I chose were done a number of years ago when I didn't have the wisdom to know the difference ...
I was thankful I had made progress along the way and got a few tunes dialed in much better than I had left them .
Much of what I wound up using for plugs and Eq's on the song re-do's  were things I have had the whole time ...
There is a lot that can be said about using what you know and are comfortable with using .
 
What ! SONAR has a step sequencer ? ..just kidding ....
 
I certainly understand how you feel about using Home Studio . When I fist got X3 PE coming from SONAR 6 PE I was totally overloaded and I couldn't get nothing done because I was LOST in a perpetual X3 learning curve Orbit ....
Back then Home Studio wasn't back in circulation at the Cakewalk store so I wound up picking up Music Creator and used it very much like you are using H .S. .
 
nice talking with you ,
 
Kenny
 

Anderton

timidi
It seems that anymore, the music is a bi-product of experimenting, learning and fixing stuff. 
Not the other way around.

That's up to the user, not the company making a product. 
 
There was an update to Ableton Live that was huge, I think it was maybe Ableton 4. Gerhard Behles asked how I liked the new features. I told him that frankly, they were great but I didn't need them for what I do, so I learned only a few of them. I thought he would be offended but instead, he got a big smile and said "That's perfect, we give you the possibilities, you use what you need."
 
As to the OP, I recommend learning something when you need it to accomplish a specific musical or technical goal. Otherwise, just keep doing what you need to do.
 
The paradox is that the monthly update cuts the learning curve into 12 pieces compared to a big yearly update. Because it's less stuff to learn, people feel obliged to learn it. Don't. Use what you need when you need it...and know that it's there for when you do.
 
I'm hoping the re-launched eZine will help people sort out what they need from what they don't.

Since I thought this post was deserving of a best answer , it needs to go TTT at least once
You have given some very sound advice based on your decades of proven experience .
Yes , I need to put the cart back behind the horse and just do what I have to do ...
I'm looking forward to the re-launched eZine ...I thought it was a very good resource for keeping my finger on the SONAR pulse .
 
thank you ,
 
Kenny

bokchoyboy

Anderton
 I'm hoping the re-launched eZine will help people sort out what they need from what they don't.

I'm also looking forward to the relaunch!!!

+1 here

robert_e_bone
I would concur with Craig's post above - I am a keyboard player, who plays some guitar and sings backup vocals at church.  
 
I almost always am focused on dealing with MIDI, and only marginally do I go into anything fancy on the resulting audio - some levels, EQ, reverb, delay, compression - all standard stuff.
 
There are GIANT swaths of Sonar that I just never ever deal with, comping, take lanes, screen sets, and I likely will never end up dealing with any of those areas, despite having worked with Sonar since it was in DOS form.
 
Whenever I DO see something come along that looks beneficial to MY needs, it is at THAT point that I will invest the time needed to work with that piece of things.
 
My advice is to always review any new features that come along, because any given month may well bring something to benefit YOUR ways of doing things, and make sure you have reviewed all of the features that are already there - not from so much a stand point of learning all of those features - just making sure you know what those features bring to the table - in case any of them might help you with what you are doing and how you are working.
 
Here is an off the top of the head analogy - you enroll in a college, and are taking music courses there - the school offers degree programs in astrophysics, and biology.  Would you feel a need to take any of those courses just because the school featured them?  Nope - you would take the courses needed for you to get the training in music.  And even with the music courses - I wouldn't take a bunch of classes in singing, if I played the clarinet.
 
Bob Bone
 

Hi Bob ,
 
I had to let a few days go by before I replied to your post . This was not meant to be a snub on any level ..
After looking over this thread a number of times , it seemed that I was doing all the talking and not enough listening .
 
I liked what you had to say a lot I have read your post and words of wisdom many times ...
very good post .
Thank you .
 

bokchoyboy

Anderton
 
 
I'm hoping the re-launched eZine will help people sort out what they need from what they don't.

 
I'm also looking forward to the relaunch!!!

+1
 

patm300e

bokchoyboy

Anderton
 I'm hoping the re-launched eZine will help people sort out what they need from what they don't.

I'm also looking forward to the relaunch!!!

+1 here

Same here
 
Actually by now I have glanced it before coming here .....
Yeah   Wow   Love the new format ...loads of great content and articles ...
I'm glad it's back
 
all the best ,
 
Kenny

So glad to hear that others are hitting the same wall I am beating my head against. Here are my thoughts ... I'm brand new to Sonar, and to using any DAW, for that matter. I am finding it extremely difficult to find ANY basic instructions or tutorials that speak to my level of experience. This software program is extremely complex, and it feels like the entire Cakewalk approach to tutorials and introducing their complex platform is geared toward the techno-geek crowd. They seem to assume that the viewing audience already has the same level of technical experience that they have. It's a classic mistake. It's as if I have purchased an expensive helicopter, and whenever I approach the thing, wanting to learn how get it off the ground and to maneuver it, the training pilot grabs my arm and takes me to the engine, and starts to recite all the new features in the guts, speaking as quickly as he can, and at the level of a master aviation mechanic. So very frustrating!! I'm afraid Cakewalk is headed for disaster soon. With all the latest technology available, and with the direction music is headed lately, I envision a huge throng of upcoming artists (read "customers") with their noses pressed against the glass, looking for a DAW that is intuitive, user-friendly, and easy to assimilate, while inside the store, the Cakewalk staff are focused on the smaller ecosystem of experienced producers, heads buried in the advanced technical wizardry that most people will never need. Maybe it's a tactical strategy, in their part. But it doesn't bode well for their future, IMHO. Rather, I'd like to hope it's simply the classic mistake of not relating to one's audience, nor being able to view the world from outside one's own base of experience. Frustrating! Makes me want to abandon Sonar, and look for a more friendly platform.

bapu

Zargg
Hi. I am also in the "learn as I need to" category.
If I need to do something I don't know how, I come here and check.
I usually find what I need when searching here.
If not, I read the manual, and learn something new that way.
All the best.

+1
 
My 64+ year old pea brain doesn't hold as much as it used to.
 
Sometimes I have to go back and re-learn something I used anywhere from 6 months to years ago but just can't "remember" how I did it. By that I mean the one-off things that are not part of my "normal" work flow.
 
So ala carte is my style.
 
I still don't use templates (but I do understand their power). I blame that on having so many VSTi programs that I'm never sure what I'm going to use when I start a project.
 
A Forum Monkeys song is different than a BBZ song is different than a solo project song. And within just those three categories each song is usually different than the last.
 

This is me....pea brain and all.   I used to use Templates quite a bit.  Lately, I seem to build up a song track by track and use what ever tools seem to fit the track.  Because I do a lot of collaboration with others, I'm often working from the Project folders they have set up.  
 
I have a consistent work flow and I set up the PC pretty much the same for each song.  I also only seem to be interested in learning new things, as I need them, based on the song I am working on.  If I don't use the newly learned technique often, I forget how to do it pretty quickly afterwards.  

DaveMc
Frustrating! Makes me want to abandon Sonar, and look for a more friendly platform.

Sorry to hear you're frustrated. I wouldn't argue that Cakewalk could use more user-friendly resources for those just starting out. But might it be more productive to tell them how they could better serve you instead of what they're doing wrong?
 
Have you already tried the online documentation? There are tutorials there, but perhaps they're not basic enough.
 
Here's another resource that might be helpful?
https://www.cakewalk.com/Support/Knowledge-Base/2016000041/BEGINNING-YOUR-FIRST-DAW-SONAR-FAQ
 
Maybe you prefer videos, books, or courses, but whatever the case, I would let Cakewalk know what you want.

DaveMc
Frustrating! Makes me want to abandon Sonar, and look for a more friendly platform.

There is also https://www.cakewalk.com/CakeTV/SONAR-University