Just what i needed to hear.
 
Thanks Beep and Company.  I've been devouring youtube tutorials like a madman and soon ($$) i'll get Scott's helpful book.
 
 

lahteedah
Thanks Beep and Company.  I've been devouring youtube tutorials like a madman and soon ($$) i'll get Scott's helpful book.

Thanks, Richard! I hope you enjoy the book. The Internet is great for information, but it's spread out all over the place. With the book, I think you'll find it's nice to have information presented in an organized and step-by-step fashion. Plus, with plenty of helpful tips you won't find elsewhere.
 
Scott

--
Scott R. Garrigus - http://garrigus.com - SONAR X2 Power! - http://garrigus.com/?SonarX2Power
* Author of the Cakewalk Sonar and Sony Sound Forge Power book series: http://garrigus.com/?PowerBooks
* Author of the Cakewalk Sonar ProAudioTutor video tutorial series: http://garrigus.com/?ProAudioTutor
* Publisher of the DigiFreq free music technology newsletter: http://digifreq.com/?DigiFreq
* Publisher of the NewTechReview free consumer technology newsletter: http://newtechreview.com/?NewTechReview

lahteedah
Just what i needed to hear.
 
Thanks Beep and Company.  I've been devouring youtube tutorials like a madman and soon ($$) i'll get Scott's helpful book.
 
 

If you can scrape up the cash a month long membership to Groove3 is WELL worth the cost to learn about Sonar and general production techniques.
 
http://www.groove3.com/str/training-videos/
 
They have specials sometimes where you can get a pass for pretty cheap and if you sign up sometimes they'll give you other discounts and freebies (they gave away a free month a little while ago I heard). The X1 and X2 vids explain a LOT and the more general vids in the mixing section and the effects section have helped me immensely. Make sure you have lots of time to watch, rewatch and take notes for the full benefit. I refer to the notes I made during my month there all the time. They also have a sample vids in most of the sections so you can get an idea of what the course is about.
 
Also a user on here who goes by FastBikerBoy has a youtube page loaded with free vids and he has some for sale in the Cakewalk store. Various other users (like chuckebaby) have some tuts linked in their sigs as well. There are a couple guys that post who should ALWAYS be paid attention to because you almost always learn something. Danny Danzi, bitflipper, AT, Jeff Evans (I forget his exact handle but he has cute doggie as his profile pic *I just saw one of his posts so I that is his handle) are names that come to mind but there are many others. If you see their name pop up in the recent comments it's worth checking out what they are up to.
 
And as always you can just ask. This sub forum and the techniques forum are generally the best two places to absorb knowledge. Also if you haven't checked out the Sonar University and Cake TV video links there are tons of great free tuts there and the Cake Blog section contains good articles, vids and news.
 
Oh and Sound On Sound is another great online resource. If you google Sound On Sound Sonar or Cakewalk you should find a list of all their Sonar related articles. The whole site is crammed with general info though.
 
Good luck and have fun.
 
 
 
 

Yep it does get easier. And then Cakewalk issues an upgrade and you move back a space.
 
Regards,

I'd love to share your enthusiasm, but I'm presently unable to fix a problem that ought to be easily fixed.  (It didn't exist until a few days ago, and I've boiled it down to one of three possible causes.)
 
The reason I can't fix it?  Because the Sonar Help screen in question lists steps, options, etc. that ARE NOT PRESENT on Windows 7.  This leaves me rather helpless to fix the problem.  After all, one can't try a solution that can't be carried out.
 
I'm very close to uninstalling the program.  I can handle the frustration, hard work, and all of learning a complicated program, but this is absurdity cubed.  I admire your perseverance, and normally I would share it, but I have to draw the line at crank Help screens.  Any advice, explanations would be much appreciated.
 

Yes, it does get easier or your used to it! After my band made a CD on X-1, I decided to get my own for a side project. I just hope I don't have to buy X-3 to get the bugs fixed? I also have Scotts book, both of them. They are the bible.

X1 producer on Win 7 pro64. I generally skip 1-2 upgrades when I have a stable install that does everything I need. Compared to just a few years ago on Sonar 5 or 7, X1 seems like a dream. 8.5 was really the first where i spent more time on music than on SW. it's all good from here on

Beepster
I just wanted to say to everyone struggling with all this fancy software that as someone who started with Sonar a little over a year ago with next to no real experience recording digitally aside from simple tracking/basic volume mixing and absolutely NO experience with Sonar PERIOD... have heart. It does get easier. I've just fumbled my way into making some things happen that I would not have even thought possible a year ago. I have been intimidated around every turn with the seemingly endless complexity of the program and have had many moments where I've doubted whether I was truly up to the task. But every time I shook it off and scoured the manuals, tuts, asked the forum and just plain stuck my filthy paws right into the heart of the program. After a while those seemingly impossible things became second nature. I have far more to learn and accomplish but I finally think I can do this and possibly even do it well. I have encountered bugs, glitches, broken features and things that, to me, could have been designed far more intuitively but every time I've managed to figured out a way to get things done. It is hard, confusing and frustrating... at first. Then that confusion and frustration fades and you find new and more complex things to be confused and frustrated about. Then, eventually, those things become old hat as well.
 
The point is... get your hands dirty, don't stop reading the manuals or watching the forum or hunting the web for tuts and most importantly just boot up the DAW every chance you get and DO something with it because... it does get easier.
 
Peace.

Thanks Beep... this is helpful. I have failed at this so many times I have really been too sow getting started again. This post is encouraging. Sonar X2 POWER is a good book but is also intimidating. I am reading it, not quite halfway through and I have a new rspect for what the bakers have done with Sonar. There are SO many features in Sonar it is mind boggling. I have started to skim parts of the POWER book, parts about functions that I don't forsee using soon. If I don't I will forget the beginning before I get to the end.
Like you did, I need to just jump in and make a splash... cannonball or bellyflop... I don't know but something. So, getting started... Thanks.
 
Julien

BTW... let's not forget Karl aka FBB and his awesome videos!!
 
J

For whatever the worth -  I create little text files with snippets of features and explanations so that I can quickly find them again.  I did that with one of the 8.5.3 books and many of those notes are still valid.  I just put them all in a folder called Sonar Snippets.
 
Bob Bone