A couple friends and I are trying to set up our own little home studio.  We have Cakewalk Sonar X2 Essentials with a Behringer XENYX X2442 USB mixer.  Cakewalk recognizes the mixer, and does pick up audio from it, however it takes all the channels from the board and records onto one track(or all of them if you select them).  So channels 1-16 on the board, will all record onto one track, or any tracks that are armed to record.  How can I fix it so Channel 1 records to Track 1, Channel 2 to Track 2, etc?  Thanks

It appears that your Behringer can only deliver a stereo signal to the computer.
From Behringer's web site: "Built-in stereo USB/Audio Interface to connect directly to your computer."
So the most you'll be able to record is 2 mono inputs or 1 stereo input at a time.
To record 2 mono tracks, set one track to Left input, the other to Right.
You may also have to set the X2442 so that they are L/R seperated. Check it's manual.
And welcome to the forum.
 

Your on the right track to recording your band.

To do each track separately you will need to get an interface with enough inputs to fit your needs.

You can usually accomplish it with 6-8 inputs for a 4-5 piece band.

You can use your board for all the mic pres, setting things up and leaving it set up as far as gain staging into the interface, etc..

Use the direct outputs to go into an interface that Sonar will see each input allowing you to assign each to its own track for mixing purposes.

There are a bunch out there so it will depend on your budget as to what you might want to look at getting.

You can do good recordings with what you have now but you will be limited to doing it a piece at a time or recording everything at once like you have been but you wont be able to mess with mixing.

List your system specs in your signature and others can recommend interfaces that have worked good for them with Sonar

Welcome to the Forum!!!

Here is an example and not a bad price on it either for the inputs.

One thing to list will be the number and type of inputs you will need (Is MIDI required for what your doing?)

http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/US1800

Thanks for the welcome and replies!  Added the system specs to my signature.  
I was worried that was the problem.  
As of now, both bands are 3 piece, but maybe more in the future.  


No MIDI devices, just XLR inputs for mics.  Vocal and drum mics, guitar, bass, eventually keyboard (If we can find a keyboardist haha)

That interface, or one like it, probably would get the job done.  We were also considering upgrading to another mixer, if possible.  Would like to keep it in the same price range as the Behringer.  We we're looking at this one, but can't find anywhere if it also only sends a stereo signal or not.  Are all USB mixers like that?  


http://www.guitarcenter.c...-104985569-i1322412.gc

It looks like this Yamaha only sends a stereo signal, too. Not all USB mixers are like that.
Check out member Beagle's web site; he has a list of good audio interfaces there. That might cut down on your search time.

To give you an idea of what I do

I use my board/mixer to submix the everything
Drums I will either mic-
--Kick
--Snare
--2 Overheads

or Ill mic everything on the kit

All will be sent to 2 busses for a left and right mix

Then Ill have Mics on-

Acoustic Guitar Cab
Lead Guitar Cab
Bass Cab


Coming out of the mixer (Allen & Heath)
Ill use the sends 1-6 to go into my interfaces (MAudio Fast Track Ultra) inputs 1 - 6
I usually set the sends to the same on the interface

1-VOX
2-Guitar
3-Guitar
4-Bass
5-Drum Left
6-Drum Right

Sometimes on the drums Ill make the submix to where I catch the -
Kick on 5
The rest of the kit on 6

Once I have that setup Mics, Mixer and interface,
I can load up one of my Projects Presets in Sonar, do a fast check on the Input levels all the way from the mics and into each channel on Sonar so nothing is clipping (Generally set to somewhere around -9 to -6dB) and Im ready to hit Record. Saving occasionally throughout the session as breaks a taken etc...

Once done recording, I will do a "Save As" to create a Master Copy and also a Save as for a working copy. 
Then Ill burn a copy of the Master to DVD and file it away for any future brain farts or disasters that might come up 
 
In real time all this will only take maybe 30 minutes to set everything up and be ready to go  

I would think your mixer would be fine for anything you might want to do

Id concentrate on the interface so you can get things into Sonar the way your wanting to and need to to use Sonar the way it should be for the band.

Id definitely go with at least a 6 XLR input interface.