Mastering SONAR's L C. Are you working a Plan you stick to or are you working A la Cart?

rmfegley
I agree that most (even advanced) users aren't going to ever need all the many complex features Sonar includes. So I try to learn methodically the ones that I'm obviously going to use all the time. One reason is that trying to learn them thoroughly  without practicing them a lot is useless, so for example I know I'm going to use the smart tool all the time in the track and piano roll views, so tried to be as methodical and comprehensive about reading up or finding tutorials on that one as possible, and then just practiced a lot. Same goes for other edit tools, comping, setting up busses, patch points, and aux tracks, etc.

Other things I delve into when I find I want to do something and don't know exactly how, and then I just try to find the answer as quickly as possible, so I might not comprehensively learn everything about that particular feature or tool. Later, it might come up again, and I want to do something similar but slightly different, and then I'll learn a little more about it. Setting up remote control of softsynths in the synth rack is an example of that, as normally I use envelopes to automate parameters, but then working on a certain project I realized I wanted to be able to tweak from my MIDI controller (and I couldn't get my ACT act together). Same goes for some MIDI routing stuff that I'd never learned, but then I got Maschine and started using it as a plugin inside Sonar so I wanted to be able to set up different tracks to send on different MIDI channels to control Maschine groups.
 
Other things I'll learn when I'm having to troubleshoot something that's not working as expected. It's usually pilot error, so it's time to RTFM. Or it may be some incompatibility with a plugin that I need to find a workaround for. I only delved into how to use the event viewer because I wanted to send some CC controls of precise values at the beginnings of a bunch of clips to make a vst behave properly and the event viewer seemed to most efficient way to do it. BTW, does anyone else use the event viewer primarily to troubleshoot MIDI problems?
 
And then sometimes I'll learn something new that I might not have an immediate desire to use but I just want to check it out. Audio Snap was like that. I still haven't used it on any finished tracks, but I kind of got an introduction and I'll have to find some more comprehensive tutorials if I want to really use it. Finally, sometimes if I've got a few minutes to kill or I've got Sonar open and I'm at a stopping point or I'm just not being productive so I'll just open up the helpfile or reference manual and peruse features I haven't really used yet, or just look at things and glean some helpful details that I'd missed. One thing in that regard, I've been using Sonar for a long time, and so there are a lot of things that I learned a long time ago that have evolved and new features have been added that I was never aware of, and so I've just used certain tools  the way I learned long ago, and then one day I'll look at something in the reference manual and say "Holy crap, I didn't know you could do that too!" Certain things like basic editing in the PRV I learned a long time ago without ever even reading the helpfile, just started clicking and intuitively figured out the basic methods for entering and editing notes and velocities. So sometimes there things like that where I'll be quite surprised to find things that I didn't know you could do when I actually read about it carefully.
 
Wow, I typed a lot of words there. 

abacab

kennywtelejazz
 
I started getting tired of looking at a blank SONAR project ...in the past I would start that way and build up my sounds as the song progressed ....it seemed to be a lot of work starting there and a lot of time was wasted ..
I started creating some of my own custom track templates ...Yeah OK fine ..that's only the tip of the iceberg ...
Now within that type of shift in workflow I can clearly see the benefits , the thing is there are so many ways of applying these types of things in a musically tasteful manner  ....
My struggle is I haven't gotten to the musically tasteful part yet because there are so many subdivisions of sub workflows within that style of workflow of what can be done  ...many variables , choices and sub learning curves....
for example ....
 

Hey Kenny!
 
I think that sums up my thinking pretty much ...
 
As a MIDI nut, I have been a Cakewalk user since the Pro Audio days, and have had almost every version of Sonar since.  I applaud their progress and continue to support their development efforts, and their soft synths.  But for my own use, I have concluded that Sonar excels at being a virtual recording studio.  For tools that support songwriting and composition within the DAW, maybe not so much ... not that you can't, but it can take lots of clicks to do away with that blank page!
 
If you were to walk into a real recording studio, where you were paying by the hour, you had better be ready to lay down some serious stuff, all arranged and ready to go.  This is way beyond the blank sheet of paper syndrome, LOL!
 
For the creative stages, I think that maybe this is a case of keeping it simple, using easy tools to get around in, until you have the sound that you want.  If you can find that in Sonar, great!
 
But in recent years there seem to be a lot of alternative tools that offer a streamlined workflow for the creative musician to consider.  I have recently acquired Tracktion Waveform 8, and I can see why Tracktion has some enthusiastic fans.  It offers a basic recording environment with total editing and routing flexibility within a few clicks, as well as some awesome MIDI musicality tools!
 
The Waveform user guide is 381 pages and can be covered in a weekend.  By contrast, Sonar is a beast, with a 2528 page user guide ...

telecharge

kennywtelejazz
My struggle is I haven't gotten to the musically tasteful part yet because there are so many subdivisions of sub workflows within that style of workflow of what can be done  ...many variables , choices and sub learning curves....

Much like "tasteful" music, a good workflow is a subjective thing. All I can do is tell you what has worked for me with the hope that you'll get some benefit from it.
 
For me, staying in a creative flow is more important than the most efficient workflow. However, an inefficient workflow can hamper creativity. It is a bit of a puzzle, and sometimes difficult to find that balance.
 
I do think that restricting your choices and committing to a sound is good advice. See this quote from mixer/engineer/producer Andy Wallace:
 

Andy Wallce
When I was working on eight-track or 16-track I had to make mix decisions while I was recording, and today I can go back and listen to these recordings and feel that I made good decisions. But I now get sessions with 100+ tracks where there will be eight different mics on the same guitar amplifier, and you have to listen to what makes the best blend, and so on. When I get a project that's full of unmade decisions it slows me down, because I have to put my producer hat on and sort out these decisions. I prefer for the recording engineer and producer to decide on the sound for a guitar, but instead, many of them like to keep their options open because they're looking for perfection. So I spend a lot of time trying to make people understand that there's no perfect mix. You can always change a mix and not make it worse. But do the changes improve it? In my experience, a mix rarely gets better with endless changes and recalls. For me, a mix is about trying to find something that works and that makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up, and believing in that. If you are rethinking and second-guessing that all the time you risk losing that feeling.

bitman
Kenny, I checked out you YouTube vids today.
You can play a little.

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.