That is  a great post, Mr. Craig Anderton!
 
I, especially, like and find applicable, to me, the advice on learning to use plug in effects. I think it's really useful and valuable to have access to video tutorials covering DAW related stuff such as using effects plug ins and even using your DAW software of choice. There really is so much involved in music production through using a PC based DAW, and big parts of it involve being an efficient PC operator/maintenance guy, the audio/recording engineer, as well as assuming the increasingly more common role of being the instrument performer/artist for multiple instruments. Assuming these multiple roles are a manifestation of being even more than a one man band!
 
In view of all of this, I find DAW related video tutorials to be very valuable and very helpful to take on the endeavor of music production using a PC based DAW. I am so glad for video tutorials. :)
 

He he....... brings back memories of my first days with Sonar (5 I think) . I'm by no means any kind of expert now, still just happily fiddling away at it, and still never used some things, but when I look at those old projects and what I was doing................ ugh......what a mess..........and they sound horrible ! What's worse is that I remember thinking they were pretty good at the time. I'm embarrassed to think that I actually played them to some people......luckily not too many !

Like serious -way to put it in perspective Craig
Personally, I've been at this since 1987 after attending the great "Recording Workshop" in Chillicothe, Ohio and I'm still always learning something new.
 
Yes indeed - it takes time and lot's of hands-on and making mistakes - but keep trying and learning and making more mistakes, etc... 

djwayne
I don't find Sonar X3 to be overwhelming at all, because I've been reading Scott Garrigus's series of Power books and they explain the program very well. Many things carry over from one Sonar version to another. I was pretty fluent with X1 and X2, so when X3 came out it was no problem, and everything went very smooth for me. Now I'm planning to take some time and read up on X3...because I know it'll help me get the most out of X3. As with most things in life, you get out what you put in to it...taking some time to learn the program will stick with you for life. 

Thanks, Wayne! That's true. If you just put the time in, you can learn how to use SONAR.
 
And oh yes... I think everyone should be reading my books.
 
Scott

--
Scott R. Garrigus - http://garrigus.com - SONAR X3 Power! - http://garrigus.com/?SonarX3Power
* Author of the Cakewalk Sonar and Sony Sound Forge Power book series: http://garrigus.com/?PowerBooks
* Author of the Cakewalk Sonar ProAudioTutor video tutorial series: http://garrigus.com/?ProAudioTutor
* Publisher of the DigiFreq free music technology newsletter: http://digifreq.com/?DigiFreq
* Publisher of the NewTechReview free consumer technology newsletter: http://newtechreview.com/?NewTechReview

John
I think Mr. Anderton is primarily thinking in terms of new users to DAWs in general.  

Yes, I wrote that because of the many threads where people are having problems with even the most basic elements of getting a DAW to work, like recording or setting interface parameters. A lot of these people are clearly in over their heads, so I wanted them to realize they're undertaking the process of "piloting a 747," and it's going to take a while to figure things out.
 
It seems particularly relevant because Sonar X3 is getting such a strong "buzz" that it's picking up new people to not just the program, but DAWs in general. I thought they might be encouraged by a little perspective on the situation.

new users shouldn't be using sonar but something simpler like mc6

Edited - I had a bunch of stuff written, but really Mr Anderton's post and the above additional posts already say what I had written, so never mind.
 
Have a BLAST with Sonar.  It's a lifetime process of doing, redoing, and learning to do better, with challenges and frustrations and great happiness along the way.
 
Bob Bone
 

lawp
new users shouldn't be using sonar but something simpler like mc6

Yeah I went with CW Professional back in the day. It was one step below Pro Audio. I had no freaking idea!!
 
I had been in bands, ran sound, mastered (so I thought!) all the new digital processors we had in the racks, along with the crossovers. I even had a floor full of pedals.
 
Recording digital audio? No problem! I got this!!
 
Almost 17yrs later, I still haven't got that album finished!!
 
So Craig when you put it that way, I can cut myself some slack. In these last 17 years I have learned so much more about "making" music, a lot about computers, and a lot more about EQ and compression that I ever thought I would ever need!!
 
I wouldn't trade it for nothing in the world. I am a very lucky man.

Having somewhat limited experience with other DAWs (and the previous one I used extensively was very old) I gotta ask the more seasoned/well rounded folks...
 
Am I mistaken in the impression that Sonar X series is a completely different animal compared to some of the other major players? Based on my limited experience and many video tuts that employed these other platforms they all seem to share some very similar themes and procedures.
 
I'm just wondering because I know when I first started with Sonar it seemed like everything was kind of strange and confusing until I learned my way around things. Personally I think once those growing pains are done with it's actually more intuitive, especially with X3, but I feel perhaps that is what trips a lot of newcomers up. I mean we even see a ton of pre X series users flipping out about how radically different things are until they figure things out and start singing it's praises.
 
I may have had a bit of an advantage in the sense that I was, for all real intents and purposes, a n00b so I wasn't breaking years or decades long habits when I made the switch. I think I would freak out much worse than an old timer engineer trying Sonar the first time if I was trying to do stuff on one of the more "traditional" DAWs. A perfect example is how busses are handle in some of those other programs. That crap just looks annoying as all heck.
 
Also Sonar users seem to have a MAJOR advantage as far as free learning resources. The company really does seem to provide what you'd have to spend thousands on college courses to learn about the other programs... and then there is this forum which is the fastest moving of all the company provided discussion boards.
 
Meh... just some thoughts and queries from a "n00b". I've only been at it two years and those two years have been filled with MASSIVE distractions which kept interrupting my studies but I really have no problems accomplishing anything with Sonar now. If I stumble I just do a google search. If that fails I annoy you guys. It always gets done though.

I have to say, I'm very glad I got involved at Cakewalk for DOS 2.0, and only had to learn a couple dozen new features every year. 
 
The few times I've mucked around with other DAWs, I found it surprisingly difficult to adapt to the new layout and logic, even with knowing the underlying technology well. I can't imagine trying to learn a major DAW from scratch while having to learn MIDI, analog and digital audio and possibly PC/interface/driver technology at the same time while also trying to keep the creative juices flowing.  
 
For this reason, I highly recommend setting aside a good bit of time to experiment with various features and concepts without the added stress of actually trying to produce a meaningful piece of music at the same time. That way you don't get as aggravated when something doesn't work as expected right away, and when you do need to "use it in anger" later on in the heat of creativity (and/or with people looking over you shoulder or band mates waiting on you), you'll have some idea how to accomplish a specific task.
 
In the same vein, though the PDF Reference Guide is now truly gargantuan, I still recommend scanning through it and maybe reading the parts that interest you more thoroughly so that you'll have a general idea what's possible, where things are and what they're called to help you find things later on.