Beepster
You just described SOME of the functions covered in the tutorials at the start of the manual. It walks you through all the basics step by step to give ultra n00bs enough to get working.
 
This guy obviously wasted six months without ever cracking the manual to the first chapter. Seriously it takes very little time to work through that section. Of course this is Cakewalks fault somehow.

I just googled Sonar Tutorial and clicked the second link which led to CakeTV. That leads to a page with four links. The only link related to Sonar is Sonar University.
 
That takes you to a page with three choices. Get started, Go Deeper and Master Class. Click Get Started and what's the first video you see? Mix Recall.
 
Now I ask you, is Mix Recall really the first subject someone who had never touched a DAW be presented with? So yeah, I think Cakewalk has a little bit of fault here. Sue me. 

eph221
 
It doesn't have a reputation problem, 

I will respectfully disagree. Of the DAW users I know personally, I'm the guy they call for advice or tech support help. I've been using some version of Cakewalk/Sonar since I started. No one else I know uses it and all of them have switched platforms several times out of frustration. Protools, Logic, Cubase, you name it. That tried them all. But none of them ever considered trying Sonar. Why? In their eyes Sonar is a toy and real pros don't use it so they aren't willing to try it. I know I'm not the only person with this sort of experience. 

JohanSebatianGremlin

eph221
 
It doesn't have a reputation problem, 

I will respectfully disagree. Of the DAW users I know personally, I'm the guy they call for advice or tech support help. I've been using some version of Cakewalk/Sonar since I started. No one else I know uses it and all of them have switched platforms several times out of frustration. Protools, Logic, Cubase, you name it. That tried them all. But none of them ever considered trying Sonar. Why? In their eyes Sonar is a toy and real pros don't use it so they aren't willing to try it. I know I'm not the only person with this sort of experience. 

 
things change.  who cares what they think anyways.  I know some pros who reluctantly use pro tools because of it's early success and ubiquity.  On their private projects they use sonar!  Regardless, I suggest you start thinking for yourself, it'll benefit you in the long run.

JohanSebatianGremlin

Beepster
You just described SOME of the functions covered in the tutorials at the start of the manual. It walks you through all the basics step by step to give ultra n00bs enough to get working.
 
This guy obviously wasted six months without ever cracking the manual to the first chapter. Seriously it takes very little time to work through that section. Of course this is Cakewalks fault somehow.

I just googled Sonar Tutorial and clicked the second link which led to CakeTV. That leads to a page with four links. The only link related to Sonar is Sonar University.
 
That takes you to a page with three choices. Get started, Go Deeper and Master Class. Click Get Started and what's the first video you see? Mix Recall.
 
Now I ask you, is Mix Recall really the first subject someone who had never touched a DAW be presented with? So yeah, I think Cakewalk has a little bit of fault here. Sue me. 

The tutorials I refer to are in the Reference Guide at the very beginning. Yes the Cake video section is a little scattered and their vids aren't nearly as good as the paid vid series out there but there are lots of them about many topics and they are free.
 
To understand them though there is an assumption that you at least looked at the documentation (which very quickly and emphatically urges new users to do the tuts). Why people insist on banging their head against the wall for extreme lengths of time (like the fellow in the video) then declare the software/company useless without even OPENING the documentation simply boggles the mind.
 
I guess reading is just too complicated for certain people these days.
 
And no... I absolutely do NOT agree that Cakewalk is at fault in any way for this gentleman's stated problems. If he had shook the box, read the box to see what was in it or asked the seller he would have easily found out it was just a code... not discs. If he had opened the manual like any semi cognitive human would when trying to figure out an extremely complex piece of technology and having a hard go of things would he would have seen the tuts. If he then DID the tuts or even just the FIRST FEW OF THEM he would have been able to do everything he complained he couldn't figure out for the six months he's supposedly been "trying to learn".
 
Add to that Cakewalk has added freaking context sensitive help (Help Module) that tells you what everything does right inside the program when you hover over junk.
 
Believe me, there are things in Sonar I find annoying and I've certainly not always liked some of the stuff Cakewalk does but this guy's "problems" with Sonar are not problems at all and all the info he needs to do what he says he wants to is easily accessible.
 
I taught myself from SCRATCH with no real recording background and have almost NEVER had much difficulty getting the info I need. There's mountains of it.
 
Still no sympathy.

Actually, it's people like him that give my IT consulting job long time security. 
 
I was helping a user over the phone and they said their computer wouldn't boot up but there was a message on the screen saying "Hit F1 to continue bootup" (obviously they have some kind of hardware error going on).  So I asked if they had tried hitting F1 and they said they did but nothing happened, then they went on to comment how the message looks weird since you actually have to hit two keys.  That's when I realized that they were clicking the "F" and then the "1" key instead of the "F1" function key.  

 
 
Well All righty then! 

eph221
 
It doesn't have a reputation problem, . . .

don't get out much do you? cakewalk and sonar do very much so have a bad reputation, you don't have to look far to realize this. and no offense intended, but this forum has just as bad a reputation if not worse than cakewalk/sonar. as good as this forum is, and in a lot of ways it is, it's reputation for being a fanboy haven is well renowned, and the way people pile on to someone who has anything negative to say towards cakewalk/sonar is also well known (i am sure you have witnessed that just as i have), so much so to the point that there are names, terms used to describe it in the outside world, 'he has been sonared' 'smaked down sonar style' etc, (which by the way other members have pointed to in the past, it's not a fairytale, it's actually true), and they are not used in a endearing manner either ;) i am just stating the facts as i have found them on many forums around the net, it's just the way it is. i am a lifetime member, sonar isn't my first daw of choice, nor is it my second, i find others to be far better, far more productive and far less frustrating, so i can look at it objectively, a lot of people here seem to be emotionally tied to cakewalk/sonar, walk around with blinders on and can only see good, either not seeing or refusing to see any bad in cakewalk or sonar whatsoever. i'll never understand seemingly having an emotional attachment to a company or a piece of software, never. if something suits me better i am gone, i have no concern for the company or the software, it's what gets the job done for me. i know some people are kind of stuck with x or y software, spent a lot of time learning it and invested a bit of money in it, but for me switching daws is easy, so if something suits me better i'm gone, and the money side of things is of no concern to me, i feel sorry for those who are stuck with something for those reasons, sometimes they make other excuses for not leaving when really they would like to, . . . . . . . . . anyway.
 
the dude in the video had a couple of good points, on was that box with a code inside, i know cakewalk aren't the only one who does it, but who in there right mind would pay extra for an empty box, maybe a shipping fee, then wait the time it takes to ship the box to them, when they could have had the code almost instantly and for less money?, i'm sure a lot of people would just assume that there was physical media in the box or at least something else other than a piece of paper with the code on it, and what is with these companies that do that, are they really that hungry for money? do they really think people are that stupid, obviously they are and they do.

(sniff, sniff)  I smell the blood of an englishman!

Well, it was a really nice *bleepin'* box... 

I'm considering to load a drunk youtube video and complain about the subscription model....getting the new software to keep/use forever and then additonal free updates for so many years is just unacceptable.