Noob needing advice

Hello,

Brand new to the sonar environment and am looking for some advice. My name is Chris I've always been computer savy so usually once I hear something once it clicks. My buddies have a band going and are needing to record some stuff so they came to me so I'm researching everything i need to know.  Sorry if these have been answered already I just want one place I can go to for reference.

Computer:
windows xp 32 bit service pack 2(service pack 3 wont install i get restarting issues)
amd 64bit 3800+ processor
4gb ram
sound blaster audigy 2 zs platinum sound card

Thats the basics of what the computer has.

So moving on my first step is figuring out how to get instruments running smoothly on sonar and other software I have.

Drums:
We have a yamaha setup running through dtxplorer and I was wondering whats the best way to connect this to the computer so there is little lag and also so we can use either addictive drums or abbey road modern drums to control the actual pads of the electronic kit? Also how do I go about setting up the drums once it's connected to the computer? The sound card I have has an interface on the front of the computer with a midi in and out but they are the smaller midi's not the actual midis used in sound equipment.

Guitar:
We figured out that I have a quart inch line on the front of the sound card interface also so we plugged the guitars directly into there and figured out how to pick up the sound. Is there any better way then plugging directly in. Also is there any software out that uses actual amps,cabinets, etc...  we used guitar rig 4 a bit but found out they are real amps and so on. is there any other software out there that would work with sonar for this?

-Chris(thanks for all your advice I will be here often I'm sure lol)

Wow, I'm impressed that you're starting out with Producer.

On the computer, you didn't mention what hard drive you have but you generally want a 7200 RPM drive (as opposed to 5400).  Two drives are ideal: one for the OS and one for the audio.

I'm a Line6 fan, so use PodFarm, but I'd think NI Guitar Rig 4 would be even better.  The key here is that I guickly learned to record the guitars dry and use the PodFarm plugin so I can change the sound or effects later.  (Although as batsbrew advices, start with the guitar sounding as close to (if not exactly) what you want before recording.) 

I don't understand your "real amps" question, but it's probably safe to say there's no substitute for a real amp.  (Again, I reference batsbrew who, I believe, mostly records with real mic'ed amps or by DI from a real amp.)

Of course, most things that make a better sound come at a price.

Line 6 for guitars is great as well.  For later editing/adding, you can go directly in from Line6 to interface (No cabinet). The ability to have the sounds/tones you like on hand or download them to Monkey and into your unit to use is outstanding and sound great without a mess of cables/stomp boxes/etc...

I currently run a POD X3 Live and Love it. I have a few friends that have used them at full pro studio directly in on recording sitting at their consoles and I wouldnt ask for any better on a recording.

Hello,
Thank you for all the replies.

Ok so here is the idea we are going to be recording the instruments separately not the whole band together. I'm assuming theres a way to playback what has been done and then also record so for example the drums will go first then the guitar can listen to the drum track and play what is needed.

I've been looking into some midi interfaces and I'm thinking about going with the motu fast lane. I've read a lot of reviews and everyone seems to like these and its budget friendly for us. Any one have a comment good or bad on this? My question is if someone could just give me a quick step by step to get a dtxplorer connected to the computer and then the whole mapping situation. (a link to a website will work if there is some)

Don't worry about the real amp question I confused myself with it and we have it figured out lol.

So pretty much is pod farm a plug in like guitar rig?

oh shoot also forgot to add I have one 300 gb hard drive in the computer running at 7200 rpm which ones the os and all the programs and have a 1tb external hard drive with software backed up and also all the music is stores on it.