I bought a package of loops from the Loop Loft.  When I import them they show up on the screen overdriven (into saturation.) This how they arrive on screen, not a result of raising any volume level in Sonar.  I have tried to fix this by lowering the volume level of the track, before the clip is imported.  It doesn't seem to make a bit of difference.  I can tell that the signal is being over driven, by looking at a wave form, AFTER it has been loaded, then lowered in amplitude,  and it shows flat spots on the peaks.  So, I know that the signal is hitting the rails.  In Sonar Home Studio 7, is there any way to lower the amplitude of a commercial loop, a clip, that is coming into Sonar ? By the way, I don't have this problem with loops from Loop Masters, that I have bought from them (not included in Sonar, when I bought it.) They load with plenty of headroom.  Thanks, guys.  I'll look for an answer.

To be honest, it sounds like the files may be clipped, which seems odd.
Is it distorting really badly? Some peak-slicing can be expected, some producers/engineers like to hit limiters hard, or even just push levels a little, but if it's audibly crunching then there's definitely something wrong.

OobleCabodle, thanks for getting back to me.  I'll attach a wave form, and you can see for yourself.  It's clipped pretty well around the 3rd beat of the measure.  You can hear it through Sony 7506 headphones.  As I stretch the time out (horizontal stretch), you can really see the flat line.  It has the appearance of a recording that was done too hot.  I'd attach a screen shot, but I don't see a way to do it here.