My noob thread......where do I begin?!?!

Hello All -
Well now that my kid is reaching toddler stage I can finally dedicate some time to learning Sonar Producer 8.5 and I must say I'm a little bit overwhelmed.  I've managed to record a few bars of decent sounding stuff thus far but that has been very much using anything that will work for me. 
 
SO...I would first like to apologize ahead of time for the level of noob questions i will have for quite some time....and the fact that i'm somewhat computer illiterate :(
That said....I used a DAW back in '95 at college and I have what I think is a great musical mind.  I just need to bring my understanding and technical skillset up to speed in the year well....2014 at this point :)
 
Can anyone give some links to great tutorials?
I read around here and people mention "read the tutorial/watch the tutorial" but I feel like I'm missing the page where all of this info is linked up?
 
OK......so like i said....I'm going to have a lot of totally random and hopefully not annoying questions.  I truly promise you I am working very hard at understanding as much as I can on my own.  I have an awesome Sonar book that I've been reading through but today I'm feeling like I need to turn back to page 1 and remember all I read!
 
Random questions 1 and 2 :)
-I would like to create drum tracks hopefully using something that has a different instrument on every key of my keyboard.  Right now the only thing i've used for drums is session drummer 3 and with this I find that I only have about 20 keys or so available to use.  How to I expand this to have a different sound on each key?
What is the deal with setting up a "drum map" when I have things like dimension pro that includes drum sounds? 
 
-My old buddy set everything up for me and sadly I don't hear from him anymore.  With that I have no idea how cleanly everything was set up at all.  I have 64bit stuff, 32bit.....tons of names of this and that but I don't know where to find or use them in Sonar half the time.  For all I know I have certain things that are completely unusable because they are not in the proper directory or something.  So.....I would like to add these VSTs asap but I'm really not sure where to put them unpack them etc. or whether or not they'll even be compatible.
Here is the link to the VSTs I would like to add:

 
 
 
OK that does it for this round.  Thanks so much to anyone that can offer some guidance.  I really appreciate good peeps like you that help us noobs out.  Hopefully I'll be able to do the same one day :)

my goodness bitflipper.....i remember your face from when i was reading this forum about 3 years ago right before my son was born!  Cheers to you for being a constant source of support here :)
 
 
ok those videos will surely give me a good chunk to absorb.
also the scott garrigus book is what i have though it's for sonar 7 and not 8.5.  i have the regular "sonar power" book which i'm nearly done reading and also a sonar synths book which i haven't even cracked yet.
 
 
any advice you can offer on my two questions?  that will help me keep moving forward and getting the hands on experience while at the same time trying to absorb and learn as much as i can
 
thanks again for being here....i feel like i can't do this on my own without the direction of you good folks so it's really comforting to have some hope!

seed
 
 
Random questions 1 and 2 :)
-I would like to create drum tracks hopefully using something that has a different instrument on every key of my keyboard.  Right now the only thing i've used for drums is session drummer 3 and with this I find that I only have about 20 keys or so available to use.  How to I expand this to have a different sound on each key?
What is the deal with setting up a "drum map" when I have things like dimension pro that includes drum sounds? 
 
-My old buddy set everything up for me and sadly I don't hear from him anymore.  With that I have no idea how cleanly everything was set up at all.  I have 64bit stuff, 32bit.....tons of names of this and that but I don't know where to find or use them in Sonar half the time.  For all I know I have certain things that are completely unusable because they are not in the proper directory or something.  So.....I would like to add these VSTs asap but I'm really not sure where to put them unpack them etc. or whether or not they'll even be compatible.
Here is the link to the VSTs I would like to add:
 
 
 
 
OK that does it for this round.  Thanks so much to anyone that can offer some guidance.  I really appreciate good peeps like you that help us noobs out.  Hopefully I'll be able to do the same one day :)

1/ not even Mike Portnoy would have 88 different bits on his kit (well, maybe...)! are you wanting to play drums in real time? because there's no need to assign different sounds to different keys as you can multi-track/create new drum maps and templates etc. i assume you're referring to the old GM channel 10 standard where there are 127 sounds such as bongos, maracas etc...you can get that with TTs-1 soft-synth, but the quality of sounds aren't as good.
 
2/ go into the VST plug-in manager and add the folders where your .dlls are (often they default to program files>steinberg> vst) to the VST scan, then do a rescan - that process will be covered in Sonar Power!
 
good luck!

Jonesey -
I'm in the USA and cannot PM you yet as my status here is still too noob  =P
 
scook -
1) i wish i could understand what you are suggesting.  right now i'm struggling with the concepts of "drum maps" and all of the drum samples i see in the various soft synths i have.  i'm not sure how these two "communicate" or if they do at all. 
2) maybe this link will work:
interruptorDOTch/vst_donationware.shtml
 
mgh-
1) my main experience is from like 20 years ago so yes i'm probably referring to an ancient standard ;)  back then i had a full keyboard and every single key contained a different drum or percussion sound.  i just loved having that much readily available at my fingertips and it gave me the option of a lot to play around with avoiding the need to keep loading things to pull new sounds.  right now with my basic understanding i'm using session drummer and only like 20 keys have a sound assigned to them.  i get that i could open multiple soft synths etc. to ultimately have all the sounds i want but ideally i would have a bunch all available within the same track or drum kit or whatever.  seems weird that i would need to create say 10 different drum tracks in order to pull sounds from various pieces.  then again....everything is "weird" to me at the moment :)
 
 
 
really appreciate you folks chiming in
happy holiday to anyone soon to celebrate :)
 
 
 

seed
 
 
mgh-
1) my main experience is from like 20 years ago so yes i'm probably referring to an ancient standard ;)  back then i had a full keyboard and every single key contained a different drum or percussion sound.  i just loved having that much readily available at my fingertips and it gave me the option of a lot to play around with avoiding the need to keep loading things to pull new sounds.  right now with my basic understanding i'm using session drummer and only like 20 keys have a sound assigned to them.  i get that i could open multiple soft synths etc. to ultimately have all the sounds i want but ideally i would have a bunch all available within the same track or drum kit or whatever.  seems weird that i would need to create say 10 different drum tracks in order to pull sounds from various pieces.  then again....everything is "weird" to me at the moment :)
 
 
 
really appreciate you folks chiming in
happy holiday to anyone soon to celebrate :)
 
 
 

ah, then you do need to use TTS-1 - insert it via the synth rack or Insert command, then use channel 10 which will be set to GM drums - all those whistles, gunfire etc...
 

No, the plug-in scanner in SONAR will make the effect/synth determination automatically. You can override the default configuration but you might want to work with what you have for now.

If you want a drum soft synth with a sound for every key you need to get a sampler where you can position your own samples the way you want. Drum maps are not what you're after per se. They don't include sounds, they only interpret the differences between different drum softwares. Like if you want to use a General Midi drum loop in Addictive Drums, which has the kitpieces-per-key in different order from GM.
 
Personally, I prefer the way the likes of EZDrummer, Addictive Drums or SI Drums are designed. Picking a certain drum kit you have a "controllable" instrument in your hands. If you have, say, ten kicks and ten snares in a row
in a sampler, you easily end up with a drum-sallad with every other bar with a different kick etc.

For EDM stuff, i reckon you're looking at a maximum of about 20 tracks for drums.
 
You could, depending on which drum vsti you use, end up with 2 kicks, both with in & out mic positions, Hat,  snare top + bottom, hat, 6 toms, 6 cymbals, plus whatever you might have by way of an overhead or room feed.
 
Ok, that's more than 20, but yo get the idea!

Try volume automation on the audio track.

An instrument track is a hybrid combination of an audio track and a MIDI track. It is possible to create a controller for volume in the PRV but I find it easier to create a volume envelop on the audio side of things. An instrument track has the ability to automate volume just like an audio track.

hi all - I'm having a hard time figuring how to do the volume automation.  where do i find this feature?
one thing i did learn though is how i can record my movement of the sliders on the mixer view...but is this really the way to go?  Is volume automation the same idea in recording and I'm just not realizing where to adjust it?
 
also - how can i add an effect say to a single note?
say i just want the last drum beat before a pause to get an echo or heavy reverb
 
moving on (thanks so much everyone...really!) -> my rant:
-adding these VSTs - ok i'm going to map out for you how my buddy set this up.  ultimately i'm wondering where to add the plugins i mentioned above and also just how screwed up my setup currently is heheh
 
C Drive: Prog Files x86>
-Program Data>App Data>Cakewalk (act data, beatscape, cakewalk, publisher, rapture, rapture le, shared presets, sonar producer 8, sonar producer 8.5, z3ta+.....some tutorial and sample stuff)
-Cakewalk>VST Plugins>Dimension Pro
-Common Files>Native Instruments>Guitar Rig 3> Soundbanks
 
E Drive:  Cakewalk Projects
E Drive:  Prog Files>Cakewalk>
-Rapture
-Rapture LE
-Shared Dxi (Cyclone, Groove Player, P5antom, Pentagon 1, PsynII, TTS-1, VVocal)
-Shared Midi Plugins
-Shared Plugins
-Sonar 8 Producer
-Sonar 8.5 Producer
-VST Plugins (I see a bunch of my soft synths, both Raptures again, z3ta+ again, guitar rig 3 again, effects)
-z3ta+
 
now...when peeping my setup i see it looking for plugins in:
-c>Prog Files x86>Cakewalk>Vstplugins
-e>Prog Files>Cakewalk>Vstplugins
-c>Prog Files>Native Instruments>Guitar Rig 3>Vstplugins
 
The first 2 is where I have some stuff but this last one is missing "common files" in the path and also don't have a VST folder there
 
*incidentally...I have no idea where to see "VVocal" or "Beatscape" when running my project
*where would i put the plugins i mentioned above.....does it matter that they are 32 bit?
*is there a chance I can "break" my setup by attempting to put these vst folders somewhere?  or is the greatest harm just not being able to have sonar recognize or use them well and i can uninstall with no harm > translation...i'm scared :)
 
 
truly appreciate your time folks!
 
 

It's confusing to me to see a post title and then the topic changes, You should just make a new thread for each question you have. Your question was answered by 2 people, So if your still confused you just need to keep playing with the software until you "get it" 
 
All the things your trying to do are done with automating an audio track. You can turn on the automation record feature in both the Mixer and the track view. Or right click and add a node.
When you insert a soft synth it creates a Audio track. Don't use simple instrument tracks or you'll be confused as that's a little more complex.
 
Are you reading the tutorials and the help files? All this is very well explained right in front of you on your menu bar. Open help and use the search function for " using soft synths" . People here will stop responding when it is clear the OP is not doing their homework. 
Good luck

Does 8.5 allow you to insert an envelope and add nodes manually? IDK because I never used that version. My experience was before that came out and then after it was out with the MC series.  I used the write automate function until I learned that it was much neater and more precise to add this automation manually. Faster too in some respects.
 
On drum maps: I have never used one, nor have I ever need to use one. I have used TTS and other drum synths without ever having to create a drum map. I hear they are more trouble than they are worth.
 
We can advise, but we can not do this for you. You have to dig in and experiment to discover how this all works.

oh man....i feel bad  :(
 
"I'm going to have a lot of totally random and hopefully not annoying questions.  I truly promise you I am working very hard at understanding as much as I can on my own."
 
that promise still stands, truly! 
guys i know about these type forums.  with other tech type of stuff i've been the noob turned into the person that could field a lot of questions so i know what your side puts up with.  that's why i'm trying my very best to self help and not waste your time. i think i'm just a little slow to absorb some of these concepts and bigger pictures :(  terminology alone i'm struggling with which leaves me having a hard time following the advice.
if it's ok i would like to wrap up a single question here and then as suggested i'll start making new threads when i have a new topic to ask about:
 
-the "volume automation"
i have only simple instrument tracks.  i "insert soft synth" and viola i have something i can play so i'm sure it's the go to noob choice.  i split one of these tracks into MIDI and audio i believe, but the audio appeared "blank"??
 
i digress!......i know that i can  a) turn on write automation and manually move my mixer slider and then that will be recorded.  b) right click the track and create track envelope where i can make and drag the nodes.
 
***Are both of these essentially doing the same thing?  Is this what yall have been telling me to do to the audio track.....even though i'm doing it to my "simple instrument track"?  Is one better than the other?
Finally....what does this do to my final mix?  Am I essentially just changing the volume *relative to whatever I'm manually putting the slider at - or do i have to re-record new automation/change all of my nodes if i want the instrument to go up or down overall?  Do I lose the freedom to play with that track's slider once I do a or b above?
 
like i said guys....i'm so confused no matter how hard i'm trying here.
thanks again everyone - i really appreciate your help and i don't think i could do this without good people like you
i'm slapping my own self over the head right now hoping it will help  :-/
 
 

thanks scook
 
it's awesome to have this much worked out in my head now :)