A buddy of mine wants to get into audio recording (mostly acoustic guitar/vocals/harmonica) and he only has a Mac. What's the best way for him to use Sonar (probably the Artist version is what he's needing). He doesn't have any hardware (yet), but want's to know about using Sonar on a Mac first.

He'd have to install Windows on the machine. There are a few guides online on how to do it but it won't run natively in OSX.

They're still going to purchase a Windows OS
http://www.parallels.com/products/desktop/
 
Haven't tried it for audio apps but seams to work for about everything else.

As others have said, have to buy Windows. Once he has that, he can then either virtualize it, or run it native, or both. The native solution is called Boot Camp. You tell OS-X to make a boot camp partition and then you install Windows on it. The system will then dual boot. It runs more or less just as well as a PC, since Macs are just commodity hardware in an overpriced shiny shell. There are occasional issues with drivers (like relating to power management on laptops) but rare. More or less it is just like Windows running on any other hardware.
 
The other option is virtualization where you you run a computer in your computer. For that you need a hypervisor. VMWare and Parallels are the two most popular. You install one of those and then either point it at your boot camp partition or you make a virtual partition and install it in that. The nice thing is it then runs as an application in your existing OS, so you can use both the host (MacOS) and guest (Windows) at the same time. The bad thing is that it takes a lot of resources, and can have issues with device passthrough and low latency so it is not ideal for audio production.
 
Realistically if he doesn't already own Windows (many Mac users do since there is a lot that doesn't run on OS-X) his best option is probably not to use Sonar and to get something else unless he wants to get Windows anyhow.

On a Mac he already have GarageBand which is pretty good. Logic Pro is a really good and affordable for what you get. But Bootcamp is the way to go if your friend have to use Sonar on a Mac - and as other have stated, he will need a copy of windows. Running it through Parallels or other virtualization can be a cumbersome experience depending on what type of hardware you are using.
 
Sonar works really well on my Macs in Windows through Bootcamp, but it will drain the battery of a laptop really quick. My iMac also runs a bit hot but no biggie. The stability is surprisingly good, and although I don't use Sonar as much anymore, it seems to run better than it ever did on my WinPC's. I don't think your friend will run into any problems, but I would check out some of the DAWs already available on Macs

Thanks everyone........this was very helpful info. My buddy doesn't have any experience using a DAW, so it'll be a bit daunting at first. He has (I think an iMac.....G3 orG4?) and whatever software he uses, he'll probably have a lot of questions (which I may not be able to answer).....Sonar is the only DAW I can find my way around and was hoping this might work.
 
I do have an unused copy of Win 8 which I can give him (if he's willing to use Windows) and try bootcamp........he also has to get an audio interface/mic and whatever else he plans to use.......I just don't want to steer him in the wrong direction.

 
If you guys are planning on collaborating for the most part his DAW should not matter. Of course if you're going to be his tutor, him having SONAR running might be a necessity since as you say "Sonar is the only DAW I can find my way around".
 
As you have learned, simply exchanging exported track(s) is how most collaborations go, the DAW is of no concern as long as both can import/export .wav files.
 
Of course if you're going to have changes in tempo and/or time signature; exchanging a "shell" .cwp with those in place requires that you both have SONAR, else it would require the spelling out the tempo and or/or time signature changes by the main composer of the song.
 

He might do best to simply use Logic, unless there are compelling reasons for using Sonar. Windows on a Mac is straightforward enough assuming it's a fairly up to date Mac. Without knowing which Mac it's difficult to say much more.

If it is a G3 or G4 he's basically stuffed because the old power PC machines which pre-date Apple's move to Intel cpus won't run current OS X or anything like it, nor will they run any current software.

An iMac should be fine. Though again, Logic will cost him much less than Sonar+Windows. And it has to be said that for DAW novices OS X's core audio and core MIDI make things much simpler than getting Windows to behave. Though Windows on Mac hardware is often easier to get working well for audio/video than Windows on generic PC hardware because Apple supply the core drivers and they know exactly what every component in a Mac is.

On the downside, Logic has its own peculiarities, isn't as well documented as Sonar and the powerful but arcane and obscure Logic MIDI environment is the worst documented part of it when it needs to be the most documented. There also isn't a forum dedicated to Logic that's anything like as good as this forum. There are sub-forums on KVR, gearsluts etc. but the signal to noise ratio tends to be poor.

 
UPDATE:  This has been resolved as nothing to do with GB.  Turns out the problem happened while converting formats in Logic Express  (whatever that is   )
 
FYI - I've had collaborators that use GB have weird tempo change problems exporting tracks.  Complete with pitch change to go along with it.
 
 

tlw
There also isn't a forum dedicated to Logic that's anything like as good as this forum. There are sub-forums on KVR, gearsluts etc. but the signal to noise ratio tends to be poor.

Try LogicProHelp, hosted by the certified trainer (who also writes the Apple certification books for Logic). Not the same vibe as these forums, but if one has a question about Logic, that's a pretty good place to ask.
 
EDIT - the forums software won't allow me to post a direct link.