Cactus Music
You might want to check out our Software and the DEAL's forum here. I have gleened many great freebies by paying attention. Right now as example there is a free giveaway of Air Software at DJWORX. The file has so much content I have to wait until the end of the month as I'm sitting at 96% of my bandwith right now. I imagine a lot of it is midi loops. 

Thanks mate!!! Just place the order and get your key, I'll keep a copy for you in case you miss the time window.

You mentioned monitors. Until the end of the year, Sweetwater has a deal on the JBL LSR308 monitors. If you don't need the bass extension of the 8" woofer, there is the 305 version...you can always add the matching subwoofer later. The JBLs took the audio world by storm when they were introduced.
 
-Bruce

If you live in a noisy apartment, forget serious monitors at home. Switch between good headphones, iPod style ear plugs and cheap computer speakers. M-Audio sell "monitors" for around $100, the tweeter seems to be common in many TV bar speakers. Most of your audience will be listening over gear like that.
 
Once you have something you want to seriously publish, grab your laptop and just rent some studio time. Most are struggling and will probably be happy to give you an hour or so. Do your last tweaks there. Mostly it will be things like too much bass.
 
I have M-Audios, Adams, Neumanns and 8" Yamahas with a subwoofer, and yet when I go to my friend's proper studio, with sound damping and enough space for correct positioning, I still pick up something I missed. And he has the exact same 8" Yamaha speakers!
 
Oh, and don't forget: Listen over various car systems!

jpetersen
Mostly it will be things like too much bass.

Can you expand on this a little?  I feel like that is a mistake I have made often.  As I listen to music in carious places of various genres, on various equipment, I don't usually hear really thundering bass.  In fact, many times the bass is present, but not really out front in the mix.  Sometimes I have to listen carefully to hear exactly what the bass is playing.
 
Yet, when sitting at the DAW, I always seem drawn to bring up the bass.
 
Any thoughts about how to find the right balance, considering that people are listening on such a wide range of technologies?
 

cparmerlee
 
Any thoughts about how to find the right balance, considering that people are listening on such a wide range of technologies?
 

You need to find a baseline (no pun intended) for a flat frequency.  This is the best that a recording can do, considering we have no control over what listeners will use to play the music (anything from a costly studio setup down to 2 people sharing a pair of $10 earbuds).
 
I recently bought Sonarworks Headphone Reference software and a pair of headphones that are on their "tested models" list.  They have tested to see what frequences are changed, and basically have an EQ preset to compensate for the headphones' unique style.  In theory, this gives the user a flat baseline which will give a best average sound for recordings that will then be played on sources out of your control.
 
Sonarworks also has a "room compensator" that i've never used but should do the same thing.  In my old home, I used KRK Ergo, which measures the frequency responses from many points in the room, and then EQ's out the oddities to (in theory) give you that balanced room.
 
This is one of the hardest components of a recording, for me anyway, and probably the main reason that some musicians will still use a "pro" studio that's been designed for proper acoustic response (and costing a fortune to build).

occide

 
For better understanding - this is from Magix Music Maker 2015, I got it as a freebie. The rest of the "DAW" is very limited (I didn't say awful) but I find this library really useful, especially when I want to play around with sounds. You can find drum or bass patterns with a click and just drag it on a track. Even content-wise the Magix Library isn't so bad, compared to the libraries I found on various websites.
 
I'd love to see that in Sonar, but I guess a well sorted library would also do. I know I won't get much love for asking about that, but this is a real time saver and much fun to play with. Also this would give beginners a head start. I could create one myself - and I'd rather do that than creating the same old drum patterns over and over again for years. I never wanna do that again. 
 
BTW: After playing with Sonar for a day I decided that my first step will be creating a handful of templates - something that was advertised to me during install. And I also can see the point of it. I've been creating channels with the same instruments and setups over and over again for years, this can take up to an hour easily.

Take a look here at the instruments included with Sonar Professional:
http://www.cakewalk.com/Documentation?product=SONAR&language=3&help=Comparison.html
 
The instruments below include MIDI patterns, in different styles.  You pick the drum kit or instrument patch, then select one or more MIDI style patterns (MIDI loops) to "play the instrument".  Or play from your MIDI controller.
 
Session Drummer 3
Studio Instruments Suite (SI-Bass Guitar; SI-Electric Piano; SI-String Section)
 
You can drag any of these pattern into the Sonar track view to create a new MIDI track, where you can edit the MIDI pattern in the piano roll and mix them as desired.  You can also output any of these MIDI tracks to any virtual instrument you wish to trigger.
 
It seems that MIDI pattern files have not been forgotten, but as previously mentioned, they're most often supplied in the context of a specific instrument.  There are probably more available, so these are just a few examples that you already have available.