Coffee, yea, all the above is right.  The drivers for the internal audio card don't matter.  Some people disable it once they have an interface.  But your via is made for you tube and other entertainment, so the most important thing is adaptability to the codecs.  for the audio interface - either the focusrite or roland (both are good bets from other threads) - the most important thing is latency.  And quality.  I've seen people ask why they can't listen to youtube w/ their $1500 interface.  Because you are supposed to record music w/ it.  The codecs (which are all over the place in the entertainment world) can freeze up sonar and the drivers.
 
A good music interface will likely use ASIO - it is the standard.  Yours might be able to use WDM or WASpi or whatever MS's new codec is.  You'll have to toggle between them to see which works best.  aSIO will also only let one set of drivers operate at a time - that is a heads up.  IN SONAR your drivers will show up but the ASIO for the interface needs to be at the top and highlighted.  If you are worried that you'll waste your money on a quality interface if you can't use your $5 internal card, don't.  THe interface will come w/ its own drivers.  And soft mixer and other assorted software.  Those have nothing to do w/ your internal soundcard.  I keep my soundcard just for mp3s/videos on my music computer - but the drivers for it are listed way at the bottom.  I barely turn on those speakers anyway, and am shocked when I get all the warning beeps (8 bit windows stuff at weird rates which help knock out a good interface since they don't like switching unless powered on/off).  The card's drivers are likely not to work well w/ SONAR. 
 
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I've seen people ask why they can't listen to youtube w/ their $1500 interface. Because you are supposed to record music w/ it. The codecs (which are all over the place in the entertainment world) can freeze up sonar and the drivers.

This is a very odd remark, and wrong. I've never seen any pro card that you can't listen to YouTube with, though perhaps people have no idea how to set it up. And there is no way codecs can ever freeze up Sonar if you're using ASIO driver mode for that.

CoffeeTime

Sanderxpander
They are entirely separate devices. You should hook up each device to an individual USB port on your computer. Don't think of them as needing to hook them up. You play midi into Sonar, so you need a midi keyboard. You want Sonar to play sound, so you need a soundcard.

So are you saying I can buy the Focusrite Saffire 6 USB Audio Interface (for example) and plug my keyboard straight into the PC?
 
It sounds like you are, I'm just double checking, as I don't want to buy the wrong thing.
 
thanks
 

Yep.
 
This is exactly what I do on my downstairs rig (Saffire 6 USB + Alesis QX25)

Yep, your USB keyboard is completly independant from the soundcard. It just add a Midi device for sonar to receive events.
You need a soundcard to play the output of your softsynths..

ok thanks a lot guys.
 
I will take a leap of faith and buy it!

I bought the Roland DUO-CAPTURE EX USB Audio Interface. And it arrived after only 23 hours!


But my speakers have a single tiny green mini jack and this Roland interface has TWO huge jack sockets. I know you can get adapters but how does ONE go into TWO?
 
Also I have a headset mic that I use for Skype calls, and that has a tiny orange mini jack, and the mic sockets on this interface are for massive pro mics!!!
 
I am guessing that I can't now plug the speakers and headset mic directly into the PC? Or can I?
 
How can I set it all up so I have my single mini jack speakers available, and my headset mic available? (I don't mind swapping headset for speakers, as that's what I do now anyway.)
 
But I cannot afford a pro mic - and don't need one!
 
Also, do you guys with external interfaces use that for ALL your sound, or do you swap and change when you are not doing music?
 
If you keep swapping how do you do it with the minimum fuss?
 
thanks a lot
 
 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/3-5mm-jack-Female-Socket-to-2-Mono-Phono-Phonos-RCA-RCA-6-35mm-Guitar-Plugs-New-/280936717210?_trksid=p2054897.l4275
 
http://www.amazon.co.uk/WE1189A-Adaptor-6-3mm-3-5mm-socket/dp/B000L980WK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1382735608&sr=8-1&keywords=mono+jack+plug+adaptor
 
 

The TCK 48 had ASIO drivers that would crash and burn when it had to switch between format and rates.  Many threads on their forum about not being able to youtube, or play games.  Of course, the old drivers were glitchy and cranky in general.
 
Physically, I have both the TCK via FW and the internal soundcard.  All my music video programs are set to use the TCK.  All the system sounds or windows media stuff go to the internal w/ the computer speakers hooked up.  When I turn them on I can hear those sources.  The TCK is hooked up to my main monitors.  I don't use my music computer to do stuff on the internet - usually it is unplugged from DSL and the wireless is disabled (one of the first things to do if you want your computer running smoothly for recording music - or it use to be).  The above works for me.
 
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thanks guys,
 
I never thought of using a different PC for music. I do have an XP machine doing nothing, but its processor is much smaller, plus XP is no longer supported/updated.
 
I have an i3 Windows 7 laptop that I hardly use. It's a possibility that could be a music PC, but I was hoping to use my better desktop for everything.
 
Thanks for the links to the cables/ adaptors MGH. 
 
But does anyone know how I can get my headset mic to work please on this interface please?:
http://www.gear4music.com...p;utm_content=c4NTPEfD|dc_pcrid_30216073759_plid__kword__match__

for your headset, just use that as normal with your internal soundcard. unplug/set the internal card for Skype the Roland at that point.
 
you could use normal headphones and a cheap dynamic mic via the Roland to do the same thing of course.