scook
The good news is that an audio interface designed for DAW will make using the DAW easier and more reliable. You can still use windows sound for other purposes or you can route everything through the new audio interface, your choice.
That's what I need to hear! Cool; thanks. What prices are we looking at? For a decent interface, that is. I don't need the best (except for software; that's why I chose Cakewalk). I think the cheapest I spotted on line was $199.00-ish. (Always wanted to type "$199.00-ish".)
Though my driver/Windows issue persists, I've learned a ton of stuff from this thread so far. Many thanks to all!
As I mentioned earlier, I owned my first music composing software in the late 1980s. My Macintosh 512K could do everything needed, MIDI-wise, including sound on sound, but of course couldn't make audio files, let alone mix them. My Mac lasted all the way to 2000, or thereabouts! My only post-Mac composing software has been Noteworthy Composer, which is a fine, cheap program but, of course, limited. Hence, Sonar has been a challenge, but mostly a rewarding one (when I'm not foaming at the mouth).
By the way, now that I realize I have a driver/motherboard setup and not a sound card, this probably accounts for why I'm not finding sound card menus in Windows. No sound card=no sound card menu. Like I said, I'm learning a lot.