I voted for this as well and agree it would be nice to have a "signal tap" option which could be routed to an audio track for recording. As far as feedback loops are concerned, internally this would be easier to safeguard; but the easiest route is to simply mute the armed/recorded track in any loopback situation so that track is not added to the loop. Interfaces with more ins/outs can perform more tactical physical (cabled) loopbacks, and some have this feature inside the box (Focusrite's Saffire line has this).
 
It would be more convenient to have this feature internal to SONAR where a feedback loop could be prevented in a better fashion. Externally it requires a bit more forethought and setup to execute properly.

to_be_deleted
Where do I vote for this?

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Scook's work around.
 
IIRC it went something like this...
 
Place a note past the end of the song on the MIDI or instrument track
Enable "Echo On" on the MIDI or instrument track
Select the track(s) associated with the synth
Bounce the track(s) with "Fast Bounce" disabled, "Audible Bounce" and "Live Input" enabled
Play synth while the track(s) are being bounced.
 
This should allow you to "record" the VSTi while playing live.
Not as eloquent as routing the output, but it works.

Just to clarify that this will not work for this feature inside SONAR before I share this so not to confuse people.
 
The only thing I know of that does a similar feature elegantly is Geist. Geist comes with a very small and convenient audio tap VST called "Spitter" which can be inserted anywhere you can insert an audio VST. All it does it simply create an "audio out" routing that can used by Geist's sampling engine to record "what you hear." Unfortunately, that audio out is only scripted to be used by Geist (which make sense), since Geist internally does not route that signal back into the audio engine while sampling (essentially the muting required to be effective).
 
Spitter is a very simple VST (no bells or whistles), but seems the same basic principle could be done within SONAR itself... VST tap an audio signal which can be recorded into a muted audio track.
 
Again, Spitter's audio out does not appear inside SONAR, they are only visible to Geist's sampling algorithm so this not a workaround to this functionality within SONAR.

Absolutely essential in helping to wipe away the differences between the live recording of external audio and the live recording of VST/VSTi. I'm in.

Jatoth,
 
Thanks for the reminder as I am collecting all the possible work-arrounds.
I shake my head when I read them. Tears are rolling down my cheeks. Oh,
well onions do this for me all the time.
 
I will evaluate them and attempt to implement them and experiment with workflow.
However I am examining other DAW's and two will be releasing new versions shortly.
I dropped Cubase as a contender due to a couple personal work flow issues and no ARA.
Recording the VSTi in real time can be the deal-breaker for me though there are a few
others troublesome areas I hope to resolve as I learn to use this very fine DAW.
 
I had gone into Sonar with such great anticipation and so early in the process of learning
to use it I stumbled and fell and time will tell if this caused any brain damage. So hj?kll
ha=wpd  jljllf ;-) jkod%a ljljlf fkfohe ioueouo[q jjlk&o gwa!
 

Yep, recording via an aux bus would be a great addition. I use that technique all the time in other DAWs

My vote was for a simple and general solution that do this and more:
 
For an record armed track - ability to select recording source.
The source could be any tracks output.
And one could disable Echo monitoring if such a source is selected - if there is a dangerous route for feedback.
 
Reaper has implemented this - for both audio and midi.
This means you can use an audio->midi plug - and record the midi from that to another track.
And you can record synth outputs or tracks after fx too.

This is a long requested feature.  Sad it continues to be responded to with stubbornness. Especially when all the other major recording programs have had this feature for years.
 
 

the ability to record a synth's output in realtime would be incredibly convenient: rather then faffing about with loopback cables or other VSTs, to just select that synth's output as an input on an audio track
(ref: http://forum.cakewalk.com/Really-incredible-that-we-still-can39t-record-a-soft-synth39s-output-in-real-time-m2869414-p5.aspx )