In an effort to gain greater understanding of the function of Sonar X2, I have been looking for a definitive explanation for the routing of the signal path from audio interface to ultimately the hard disc.  I have found the flow diagram published in the reference guide and elsewhere on the Cakewalk website, but the diagram stops short of indicating the routing of the audio data to the hard drive.  My question is, does the raw audio data get directed straight to  the hard drive, or is it processed through the virtual channel strip before ending up as a .wav file on the hard drive?

Data is recorded  directly to disk. Effects including the ProChannel are not recorded when tracking.

Thanks for the verification, scook.  Everyday is a new challenge with this software.  I'm an old dog and these new tricks are coming hard.

Well, you can play stand-up bass in a chair. That qualifies as a new trick, I think.
 
It would be nice if they offered a detailed description of what happens to audio after the master bus, but at that point it's in the hands of the interface driver and your computer's hardware and no longer Cakewalk's concern. I've never found a really good reference for Windows audio internals, so I've had to piece the picture together over many years from scattered nuggets of information.

Ahh!  I see you've read Shannon.
 
Yeah, I'm not really strong on how MS deals w/ audio.  At first, I assumed Sonar was doing the heavy lifting, but it looks to me like Sonar rides on top of and manages (facilitates?) capabilities & functionality that Windows already has.
 
As for the lap top bass technique, the only reason I play it this way is because I can't tuck it up underneath my chin.