4. Group the sidechained track's solo button with the MIDI track's solo button so when you solo the sidechained track, you solo the MIDI track along with it.

How come I feel like an idiot? ... First time I've used the simple inst track too. Remember 7pe had the 2 tracks for vsti and the 'audio' track could be treated like a non midi track. More experimenting for sure and a huge thx again

mixmkr
How come I feel like an idiot?

You have much to learn, young grasshopper, if you want to be an idiot. To be a true idiot, you would have needed to post a subject title in all caps that said "SONAR BROKEN!!! SIDECHAN FUNCTION DOESNT' WORK! NEITHER DOES SOLO BUTTON!!!!!!!!!"
 
Then you would have had to say that the sidechain and solo buttons work in every other program, and that you're going to switch to Reaper because it's not broken like Sonar. Then you would also have to toss in some kind of personal insult to the Bakers, like "This has been happening since Sonar X1!! When are we going to get a fix? Are they too stupid to fix something this simple? Haven't we been patient enough waiting for the Bakers to stop goofing off and fix this deal-breaker that has prevented me from becoming a pop star??!?!!??"
 
You'll get the hang of it if you practice enough.
 

I just got around to seeing if this works. It does!
 
It was much easier than I have believed it to be. I will be using this technique in the future. It's in the tool box now!
 
@Craig:
 
Post #23 was funny!!

Grem
I just got around to seeing if this works. It does!
 
It was much easier than I have believed it to be. I will be using this technique in the future. It's in the tool box now!

Don't forget you can get creative with this - multiple sends feeding a sidechain, processing the control signal, etc. For example with dance mixes and a stereo drum track, you can roll off the highs from a drum track and have just the kick do the processing, or use delay on the sidechain send. What you're gating can be processed as well - make it a cloned track, and you can sidechain somelike a particular frequency range.