simple stuff like taking two tracks putting them in a folder in a song that already has one folder.  can I not make another folder.  Tracks are supposed to go into a folder right?  Also, how do I take two tracks copy them, (so I can mess with them- I am taking a vocal track and two guitar tracks that I want to edit for a commercial and adding an audio speaking part and clipping to size, etc, without destructive editing and then finishing it up).  It seems like the learning curve on basic processing is ridiculous.  What do you have to know to do basic things with this stuff?  I can't believe how hard this is.  Wandee

I would suggest you read the manual. But until then, almost everything you mentioned is a menu or a right click away.

Ah yes! It looks like madoman comes from the "install, run and click randomly until things seem to fall into place" school of software training. I have to admit, I went to the same school. But in learning how to use DAW's, I finally conceded that it was beyond me and that I'd have to read a manual (or a good book) sooner or later. 

It seems like the learning curve on basic processing is ridiculous.  What do you have to know to do basic things with this stuff?  I can't believe how hard this is.  

Its not hard at all. you just need to learn the basics and then go from there. no recording program that is in the  same class as Sonar is a "Plug and play". You need to learn the basics in order to do the basics.


The learning curve is no harder than any other music program in its class


Cj

madoman


Tracks are supposed to go into a folder right?  

thats the first i have heard of that....  so the answer is "no", or "it depends" tracks are just tracks.. what you do with them is up to you.
 
Sonar has a bunch of tutorials that come with the program... they were written for good reason and are highly recommended to avoid frustrating first time experiences.. trust me, you cannot use this program (or any DAW) without reference to the manual

What I am a little curious about is the join date of Madoman is not recent yet seems to have no idea about Sonar. In 3 years one would think he would have read something. Looked as a few videos or tried some stuff. I suppose better late than never.

I can't believe how relatively straight forward and intuitive Sonar is. Can't say how many times I've thought: "If I developed this I would have a context sensitive menu for this..." and then I right-click and voila`: there it is!

Of course I've watched every video I've ever seen referenced in this forum, read Scott's book (twice: 7 and X1) and lastly perused the Cakewalk X1 Help file. All of which seemed to help. Along with some great advice from folks here in this forum. Slowly I'm becoming more knowledgable.

Regards,

miguelito

 read Scott's book (twice: 7 and X1) 

Thanks, Mike! Glad to hear the books have helped in the SONAR learning process.


Scott

--
Scott R. Garrigus - http://garrigus.com
* Author of the Cakewalk Sonar and Sony Sound Forge Power book series: http://garrigus.com/?PowerBooks
* Author of the Cakewalk Sonar ProAudioTutor video tutorial series: http://garrigus.com/?ProAudioTutor
* Publisher of the DigiFreq free music technology newsletter: http://digifreq.com/?DigiFreq
* Publisher of the NewTechReview free consumer technology newsletter: http://newtechreview.com/?NewTechReview

madoman - get ahold of one or more of the excellent X1/X2 videos and watch them from start to finish.  The videos help turn on a lot of bulbs where there was darkness before.  You will find yourself saying "aha!" at least once on every chapter.  Scott Garrigus' Power series books are also very helpful.

depending on the version you have...Sonar has a series of instructional videos that explain the basics. They are on the cake website. 

All the DAW's on the market have a learning curve. Start with the basics so you have a foundation to build on. 

Everything you mentioned is just a click or two from the start screen. Adding new tracks to do the voice over.... from the top menu bar... Insert audio track.... 

please slow down and watch the video's on this site....and there is a very comprehensive user manual there for you to use. Get the basics and it will be so much easier to use properly.