If the audio interface has ASIO drivers, you will most likely find best results by using them.  Please note that your Sample Rate for the interface MUST match the Sample Rate specified in Sonar Preferences, or you will have problems.  Also, try starting with a Sample Rate of 44.1 and an ASIO Buffer Size of 128, and see if that works for you.

Lastly, set the default sound device for Windows to be your interface, and then make sure things like Windows Media Player can play songs properly through the interface.  If not, then there is something needing tweaking with the interface and/or Windows.

If the above works, you could also start up Sonar, insert an audio track, select that track, and then click on File>Import>Audio and import a tune to that audio track.  Once import is finished, hit Play or hit the space bar to initiate playback, and make sure that your tune is playing properly through the interface.

All of the above is to test out that the interface, Sonar, and Windows are all happy to play nicely together.  THEN, any issues should be relatively simple to debug.

Bob Bone

have you checked to make sure this thing is checked off  in preferences ?

yes its checked off in preferences. I had to switch from the asio deiver to get it to recognize the mic.  but its not picking up any sound from the mic itself.

You also have to Arm the track for recording. On each track in Sonar are some buttons.
(M) (S) (R), the (R) button Arms the track and the Record button in the top window of Sonar starts recording all the tracks that are armed.
Once you Arm the track you will see the meters jump.  Then you can set your levels from the interface, hit the Record button in Sonar and have at it.

Mike

thank you all for the help. im happy to report im live :)   not all I need to do is learn how to get better at doing this.  the sound is a little on the soft side, but I will figure that out soon enough.

i have a question.  When I record, why am I getting a really soft audio?  where do I need to look to fix this like im actually singing instead of whispering?

You should be able to control gain from either the interface and/or the track in Sonar.

Bob Bone