planetearth, check your PMs.

Also, Kalle, there is a definite repeated delay effect on the Input Echo in addition to the nearly one second lag. That doesn't seem normal for wanting to monitor any live recording.

I've already replied, John. Check your e-mail.

The "lag" you're hearing could be from latency. Latency is a big issue with integrated audio. To resolve that, we'd have to check a few other things, but I'll have a better idea of what the problem may be when I get your file.

No ASIO. It says MME 32-bit on the audio options window.

Thanks for the file, PetSounds01. It plays back just fine on my machine. There doesn't appear to be anything wrong with the data in the PRV or in the Event List, but on occasion, SD2 drops out, and SONAR stops the audio. (This doesn't happen to me on any other file with SD2.)

I'll take a look at this a bit more and let you know if I find anything.

Yes. ASIO4ALL also includes some instructions in a .PDF file with the download.

planetearth, I'll check the sound card next time I fire up the desktop.

ASIO is all installed and seems to work. Sonar recognizes it. I'm getting sound. Something worked!

So, is there a place to download more, preferably free, midi beats that will work with Session Drummer? I was looking around on the Groove Monkey site, but it seems a bit expensive... over $60.00 for punk rock beats.

So, I noticed when I have Sonar open, using the ASIO, if I try to watch a YouTube vid (I like to look up tutorials) I get no sound. It comes back if I shut down Sonar and restart my browser Firefox.

Thanks for the head's up on the midi beats.

In your Audio options, you can have SONAR "Share Drivers with Other Programs".

Again, if your sound card doesn't have native support for ASIO, you're going to have other problems. ASIO4ALL is not the same as ASIO.

If you get a dedicated external sound card that supports ASIO, most of your problems will disappear.

All right, this is probably a stupid question I'm overlooking (trust me, I'm trying to read and poke around before each question), but how do you add new drum patterns/categories into the Session Drummer 2 insertion drop down? Like where it says Hard Rock, Police Rock, Shuffle, etc. I downloaded the free samples from Groove Monkey and a lot seem quite usable, so I'd like to categorize, and test, them in that way instead of opening the folder every time. For example, I'd like a new category that says Punk and then I would like all the beats under that. I've seen that you can do it with the Hip Hop expansion pack, but I don't know if that is an installation automatic Cakewalk compatibility thing.

By the way...have we resolved any of your other issues?

Okay, I thought you were trying to add patterns.

A Program (.prog file) is a group of patterns and a drum kit, generally speaking. Unless you're going to use the same drum kit with all your patterns, you don't really need to create .prog files.

If you are going to use the same kit with many MIDI files, import the MIDI files into the lettered buttons, load a drum kit, and save that as a .prog. That way, when you open that .prog file, your kits and patters will all be there.

Wow, you're still at it and making progress.  I'm impressed... and kudos to PlanetEarth (good ol' earth).

It looks like, on the video, he has customized his layout a bit, but to change the tempo go up to the tempo box and type in a new tempo.

As for the cowbell, I haven't tried it, but there may not be other choices on that one.  (What? You want "more cowbell"?  Sorry, I couldn't resist that one.)

One other suggestion for changing the tempo: If you're going to be doing this relatively often, you could make a tempo map within SONAR and insert SD2 as your VST. When you want to audition kits or patterns, load that SONAR file (you could place a shortcut to it on your desktop, for convenience), and you'll be ready to go with SD2 and different tempos loaded. All you'll need to do is load the MIDI pattern and/or kit.

The tempo map could have markers and tempo changes every 4 bars or so, so you'll know what the tempo is as the song plays. Then, just listen to your pattern play over and over in SD2 while SONAR changes the tempo. It's a bit "kludgy", but it might work if your tempos are all relatively close to each other (and with Punk, I imagine they are). After a few bars, you'll have a pretty good idea of which tempo you want--or at least, you'll be close.

petsounds01
The tempo thing is not a big deal, I just noticed in the video he very casually said, "You can change the tempo" and clicked on something. jhughs, maybe he was just typing in a new tempo? Can you just type in a tempo without switching to the tempo view? I love the tempo view, it's very easy to use and understand.

planetearth, I think I'm just using the Hard Rock kit. I can right click and see other percussion instruments listed, but they aren't audible when I try to change them.

Again, thanks to everyone. In a way, I'm glad I was having problems, because it forced me to delve a little deeper into the program. Though, I haven't even started recording yet. I have, however, programmed some songs with SD2 mainly by inserting patterns and doing  a little editing. Though, I always feel like I'm probably doing something the hard way, especially since some parts of editing drums seem very tedious.

You don't have to switch to "tempo view". If you click on the tempo window in the background, you've basically "switched" to do what you need to do. The problem is, you can't do that easily while SD2 is playing a pattern. Once you type in a new tempo and hit "Enter", SD2 will stop playing, and you'll have to click on the play arrow to restart it at the new tempo. This is because you're changing the focus from SD2 back to SONAR (and, ultimately, back to SD2).

I don't have a "Hard Rock Kit", but I had the same problem with the Tight Kit Dry. I can change the Instrument, but I don't hear anything after that. When I play SD2 with my keyboard controller, I can see the Instrument icon lighting up--but it doesn't play anything. I figured I just had to find the right key on the keyboard...but I couldn't find one that would fire anything but the cowbell. (FWIW, this seems to be an issue in SD3, too.) I don't know if this is because the last two Instruments are labeled "GM" (General MIDI) in the SD2 manual, but that doesn't explain why you can't change them like you can the others.

Just for fun (though not really), I checked the .SFZ file for the cowbell and compared it to the one for the ride cymbals. The .SFZ for the cymbals lists three different keys that will trigger three different sets of .WAV files. The .SFZ for the cowbell lists only one key for one set of samples. If you wanted to edit the .SFZ file (which you can do in Notepad), you could get it to play other Instruments, I guess. I just don't see why this doesn't appear to work correctly within SONAR.

I don't remember if you have a keyboard controller, but if you don't, it's going to get a bit more difficult as you go. Digital Audio Workstations like SONAR (and Cubase and ProTools, etc.) aren't designed to be terribly efficient with only a computer keyboard and mouse. You'll want a real-time way to "play" your virtual instruments, even if it's only on a small, portable keyboard.

So, how would I go about programming a beat using the controller? This version of Sonar doesn't have the step sequencer, so I am not sure if there is a way to record on a loop

Programming sounds so technical. No programming needed. You quite simply play the beat, kitpiece by kitpiece or maybe two kitpieces at a time (say, kick with index finger, snare with middle finger). For example in segments of four, six or eight bars. Then just copy paste (or groove clip if LE has it) as much as needed. If you want record while looping, then just loop the part you want.
 
Then you can adjust it in the PRV, quantize etc.