SONAR X2
It seems to me that when I record a MIDI track - either with my keyboard controller or my drum pads - the notes recorded in the track are slightly ahead of the beat when I played them.
I don't *think* it is user error... it seems very consistent that notes are recorded "early".

Is there a setting or calibration I can make to synchronize my playing to what is actually recorded?

Answer: yes there is. See below for scook's link to JackassPenguin's post on MIDI Chase Lock Timing Offset in the Audio > Sync and Caching page of the Preferences dialog.

I guess I should have done a search... there's this thread that starts with asking about the same problem, but then seems to go slightly off-topic about audio playing back differently to a previously recorded midi driver track, which is not the same problem.

This simply seems to be a difference in how MIDI notes are recorded (time-stamped) and nothing to do with audi playback, which as far as I can tell is dead on in-synch with the midi notes, which is obviously how I detected the problem.

I'm searching the online docs for configuration possibilities, but if someone out there happens to know the right place to look, I'd be grateful...

I guess this is worth a try: 

In TTSseq.ini:

IgnoreMidiInTimeStamps = 0 / 1  (Boolean)  default is 0 (disabled)



This line determines whether or not SONAR ignores any MIDI time stamping that a MIDI driver does. 

If you’re experiencing increasing delays between the time you play a MIDI note on a controller 

and the time you hear SONAR echo it, setting this line to 1 may help. 

Also, if you find that SONAR is recording MIDI data at a different time from when the data was played, 

setting this line to 1 may help. If the MIDI driver is using a different clock from SONAR, 

the time discrepancy increases the longer that the MIDI driver is open, so you need to tell 

SONAR to ignore the timestamp that the MIDI driver adds to the data (set the value to 1).

I'll test this out when I'm next in the studio.

I would suspect delay compensation is the culprit.

check this thread http://forum.cakewalk.com/fb.ashx?m=2730028

Thanks scook,

I too have had this problem for ages and set a nudge value to exactly the right amount to correct it as a workaround

Cool, scook, that was informative. Thanks! Now I can't wait to go home and check this out.

Adjusting MIDI Chase Lock Timing Offset from a default value of 0 ms to a new value of 15 ms seemed to do the trick. Thanks folks.

Unfortunately, changing MIDI Chase Lock Timing Offset also affects audio recording timing - or at least, it seems to, in my case. All my audio was recorded 15ms early.
I've returned the setting to 0.0 ms.

I'll put up with reviewing my midi clips and nudging if necessary.