Sorry, sent twice.
 
 
 
 
 
 

Hey Metz . . . a handy tool for sketching chord patterns / song chord progressions I've been using in Sonar lately is MusicLab's RealGuitar. The latest version 4 has added a "song mode" where you can grab various guitar strum patterns, and create a song sketch of chord progressions . . . after an idea is formed, Sonar is great to start adding Bass, Drums, Vocals, and eventually built it into a song arrangement and gradually add other instruments.
 
Another nice thing about this is that I can create and be mobile on my laptop, without my hardware keyboard or control surface . . . by utilizing Sonar's internal Virtual Controller / Keyboard view . . . basically using the QWERTY keyboard to play chord progressions.
 

I do ALL of the below in SONAR SPLAT:
 
Since I am actually a drummer first and guitar/bass second.  I try to lay down guitar (rough tracks but in time with click) first.  This is how I get my ideas down as far as arrangement. 
 
After I get a rough guitar/bass arrangement, I record the drums.  I do this WITHOUT the click so I can respond to any variances in timing that may or may not have snuck in.  I do NOT use any kind of audio snap tools.  I guess I am an old school type.  The slight variances to me make it interesting as long as the timing is not a total mess.
 
Then if I really want it to sound good I will bring in real guitar/bass players to lay down real tracks using the drums as a timing mechanism. 
 
Strange I know, but it works for me.

 I like to buy midi loops. You cna always change those.  FL has a chord function. I think it will be added to Reason 9. I don't remember if Live has such a thing.

smallstonefan
I throw an instance of BFD 3 and Stylus in a project and use the two to start getting some sort of groove going. Sometimes I'll start with a BFD 3 groove that gets my attention, sometimes with a Stylus groove. I now use Ableton Live for this part of the process (and then bring into Sonar), so I'll put a number of drum parts from BFD 3 into Live clips, as well as each Stylus part on it's own track and use variations in different clips. I then use the Ableton Push in arrange mode and I can actually "play" the clips like they are instruments and everything stays in sync (this part is a lot of fun).
 
Once I start getting something that works well, I'll record what I'm doing with the Push in the Arrangement view (much like the track view in Sonar).
 
I'm a guitar player, so the next thing I'll do is start noodling some guitar parts until something jumps out at me. I usually record a number of different guitar parts using different tones - and more importantly to me - different delays. I each tone goes on it's own track and I'll make a few clips of variations. 
 
Then I get stuck for a very long time. :)

I skip all that schtuff in the beginning and jump to last statement.

I sketch it out with on acoustic guitar, then lay it out in BIAB. I might even use the chord dictionary that came with BIAB to fine tune the chords or get a very cool sounding chord that sounds just right for that part of the melody.
Once this is done, I take it to SPlat, for the mixing and adjustments that it might need. I might even use EZdrummer, RealGuitar or other tools as others have mentioned above along the way to get to the final arrangement. Then its just, rinse and repeat.
BIAB/SPlat combo works very nicely for me, I've put together quite a few tunes this way.

smallstonefan
 
Then I get stuck for a very long time. :)

james - That describes my process perfectly

I think Halion Sonic is a pretty awesome tool. You can assign chords to the trigger pads, then groove on those using whatever controller/keyboard you like. You can also save the pads as presets. I wish there were more than 8 pads, though.
 
It's also a full 16 channel x 4 layer workstation synth with a large complement of sounds. I end up replacing a lot of them with higher quality dedicated instruments by the time I'm done, but it's great for picking stuff quickly and keeping moving. No time lost trying to decide which synth/sample library to use. Arpeggiator, all that stuff. Pretty useful.

BobF

smallstonefan
 
Then I get stuck for a very long time. :)

james - That describes my process perfectly

I'm working on perseverance - I think I've finally got a project over the hump where it's turned into something real that I can build on.
 
It takes a heck of a lot of effort for me to push one over the hump...

The quickest way to demo something is by playing it into your phone...
I use an app called Smart Voice Recorder - you can record in mp3 or wav formats, name your files upon completion, and instantly email your ideas to collaborators or upload them to the cloud or whatever. No multi-tracking or anything, but if you really want a quick sketch this is the way to go.