best choices for getting started

hi.
im new on sonar but have good background on music theory. im jast starting to write songs and looking for best software to work on. man people say on of advantages of sonar rather than other softwares like qbase is an active forum that everytime you ask your question it wil get answer fast and other is its much easier than others.
as an start i want to know what are most important plgins for sonar and what they do? and as i dont have alot of instruments around me i want to know how can i have most compelete sound effects and samples for all instruments and digital made sounds.
and i want to know does sonar give all i need for composing and does those sounds make me need no more to play and record other instruments?
the last one i want to know is what is quick start for most important features for sonar. is this important to learn first to work or it is easy to work on? for example a program like guitar pro you can just open program and start writing.
thanks for you helping and sorry for my bad english

as an start i want to know what are most important plgins for sonar and what they do? and as i dont have alot of instruments around me i want to know how can i have most compelete sound effects and samples for all instruments and digital made sounds.

Every effect is most important. It all depends on the sound you want and the sound of the other instruments in the song. One effect is not more important the an other effect. Its all relative. 
 
You will need to learn about audio engineering, as this will teach you what the effects do. Patience and allot of dedication and time is needed to learn about what each effect dopes and how it affects the sounds and how you should set them up. Every song will need different effects and effect settings. Its all relative to what you want it to sound like. There are no right or wrong ways to sue effects.
 
Things to learn about:
Compressors
Limiter
EQ's 
Soft synths
MIDI
Fx like flangers delays and chorus
buy books on audio engineering, recording and mixing and read them and sleep with them under your pillow. Maybe osmosis will happen and you can learn while sleeping as there is allot to learn
 
CJ
 

I use Sonar for composing.  It has more features, plugins, and virtual instruments included for free than most other DAWs (if you buy the Producer edition).
 
Thanks.

Yes, X3 Producer contains more than enough to get started.

I believe you will not need more effects in the beginning. Here is a link to a comparison chart for you to help decide which version would be right for you:
http://www.cakewalk.com/D...p;help=Comparison.html
Lots of effects and instruments too.
kakku

One of the things that separates the different DAWs, is the strength of their score editor.
 
Sonar's score editor is not very strong, I believe Cubase has one of the best.  If you are writing traditional music notation, consider Cubase or Avid Sibelius.
 
OTH, Sonar has the best user interface and is highly configurable.  Don't underestimate the advantage of working with a program that is attractive to look at.

Everybodys recomending Producer but did you all know that very little is actually missing  from Studio if you look at the comparison list.  A few fancy plug ins and Addictive drums.  So I will recommend the Sonar Studio version for first time users. You can always upgrade. 
Download and try the demos of different DAW's if you have time.
 
That's a good point about working with notation which is Sonars weak spot. 
 
Your going to need an Audio Interface as well. Not sure if the Roland interfaces still include Sonar but the new Tascam interfaces are now including Sonar. So that's a way to get a free copy of the basic version. You can try it and then upgrade for a very reasonable price. 

I think the kind of music you intend to write may well have a bearing on which DAW to go for. To me, Sonar is a good all-round choice, but then again I don't use the notation editor which as many will tell you is one of its weaknesses. I mess with mainly synth based music with some "real" instrumentation and Sonar has served me very well although Cubase, Abelton and Reason seem to be more popular among composers of electronic/dance styles. One of the reasons I chose Sonar was because it seemed like the most complete packages in terms of instruments and effects. For sure, the Producer version definitely provides you with all you need to make great music. If you plan on writing orchestral pieces, you'll probably want to consider Cubase for its score editor, as well as the purchase of a good orchestral sample library (which could run up to $300+ for a basic one).

There are orchestral instruments included with Sonar Producer (within Dimension Pro) but they're quite basic. Good, but not "movie score" quality.

If you want to get a basic flavor for music production you could do worse than downloading the free trial of Reaper, it's not quite as "polished" as some DAW's but a lot of people regard it very highly. It's certainly a very solid and stable program. You could learn the basics of audio recording, MIDI sequencing and mixing with Reaper, and if you decide to buy it it's very cheap (in fact the "demo" never stops working, it just reminds you to buy it). It comes with a few basic effects and synths.

If you have the time, it would be best to demo different DAWs.  Usually one is easier to learn for each individual.  I'd suggest SONAR, but that was the DAW that made the quickest sense to me.  before that I had experience w/ an old Yamaha midi computer program for their computer/DX synth and analog.  If you just want to record audio, SONY's Vegas is a great program (plus you get the best video editor for the PC).
 
You need to realize that DAWs are like word processers.  They all do the same thing and you can create music just like typing words, then editing them, or move them around via cut (or copy) and paste, change the fonts etc. and print the whole thing out.  You can recreate the same print out on most any word processer, but one of them might be a little easier for you to grok and the one you learn on will be the easiest one you to learn further capabilities.  Choose wisely and be prepared to spend a lot of time learning the basics, esp. if engineering is new to you.  DAWs are programs not so much for musicians as engineers, even if you just want to record your guitar work.  If that sounds rough, DAWs used to mean getting under the hood of your PC so you were your own tech support.  Most of that is over, so thank your stars for that.
 
Finally, the 3 separate versions of SONAR give you some choice w/in the family.  Pro gives you just about everything you need, plug-in wise.  Even the cheapest  version gives you plenty of tools, but the more expensive versions give you better tools.  The ProChannel effects (comps and EQ) are top-notch, Breeverb and Perfect Space are two outstanding reverbs and the synth collection that comes w/ Pro is enough to satisfy most needs, except for synthesists who collect soft synths like guitarists guitars. If you can understand the SONAR demo version fine and want to jump right into the deep end of recording right away, Pro is the way to go (and will save a few bucks rather than upgrading your way to Pro).
 
@