TAXI.com

I have been fighting this program for about 3 days now, I have to say I don't find it very intuitive. I'm having a hard time figuring out where this input and that input goes etc. I'm starting to think of getting Traction...I hear and it looks easy to use. I find it ironic that all the major "Daws" want their program to look like a "mixer" yet Makie, the mixer maker seems to think mixing on the computer should be done in a more intuitive manner, that is, it does not have to look like a mixer it should look like you think.How I think is...there should be some "object' that pops up and represents your input, then you have some kind of graphical interface that shows you were it goes and what it goes through and where it it ends up. In other words if you were to hand draw a single track input then draw where it goes, what effects it goes through and where it goes out...well that is what I think I should see.I should also see "visually/graphically" were all the tracks are coming and where they end up.Ok...I don't know what I'm talking about and I'm way past frustrated.

I am a Sonar alumni who has used it for years. I just upgraded to 7 Producer. Whats the problem?

Jul 22, 2008, 3:16pm, hotjams wrote:I should also see "visually/graphically" were all the tracks are coming and where they end up.Ok...I don't know what I'm talking about and I'm way past frustrated. Hey Taxi Friend,If you like, I could draw some lines, arrows, and labels on top of a series of screen shots. Send me personal message if you want some personalized help. I love this program! -Allen

hotjams!Whatever ya' do, keep f*ckin' with it. Don't be a quitter, cause no matter which DAW you get, you're still gonna hafta' sit there and learn it. Make sure you read manuals, and definitely utilize the "HELP" menus. I've found those ta' be the most helpful when I wanna' learn somethin'. READ, EXPERIMENT, STORE! Read all material completely, experiment with the information that you've read, store your experimentations in your memory banks, you'll be usin' it again somewhere down the line. Repeat these procedures on a regular basis. The more you keep playin' around with it & experimentin', the more you'll begin to understand how it works, the easier it becomes ta' work with it. Have PATIENCE & utilize PERSISTENCE. Don't quit screwin' around with it, until you understand it. You'll thank me later, and then you'll be able to operate & fly through any DAW of your choice after dealin' with Sonar. Trust me. I-468PS -- Sometimes dealin' with the more difficult makes dealin' with the less difficult, a whole lot easier.

Hey...you guys are great....I think I got it figured out now ..but I lost a lot of hair. I was looking at Reaper and Tracktion, but I think I will give Sonar a few more days. I'm having lots of issue with the inputs and outputs, it's set up like a mix board, which is fine if you come from that world, however, I think there is a "huge" market for a DAW that dosen't try to emulate that world, but rather understands this is a digital world and computers can be much more than a simple "replica" of a physical mixer.However, I'm glad to know that there are people out there that would step up and help me out. Really I appreciate your offers.

Sorry I couldn't give you more info on the input/output part of it, as I primarily just use it as a host for my VIs/plug-ins. But I still had ta' put in the time ta' learn how ta' get it ta' do what I needed it to, so I was just determined ta' get in there and take it head-on. That's just me. I-468

Jul 23, 2008, 5:57am, ibanez468 wrote:Sorry I couldn't give you more info on the input/output part of it, as I primarily just use it as a host for my VIs/plug-ins. But I still had ta' put in the time ta' learn how ta' get it ta' do what I needed it to, so I was just determined ta' get it there and take it head-on. That's just me. I-468Yeah it's good to be determined because if you allow it any number of things will jump up to kick your a$$. I dove into Tracktion when I figured out that I could have recorded four or five pieces in the time it was taking me to muddled through things on the other programs. Now I (almost) never have to deal with technical stuff & can just write & record & that's the ticket for a dope like me . . . YAHOO!

Jul 23, 2008, 6:26am, billg wrote:Yeah it's good to be determined because if you allow it any number of things will jump up to kick your a$$.Yeah, right?? I wanna know what those things are (if I can) before hand, while I'm foolin' around experimenting, not when I'm ready ta' get serious. But sometimes even that doesn't work. Ya' still wind up gettin' a monkeywrench thrown in there from time ta' time. Then ya' hafta' figure it out right in the middle of composin' or whatever stage you're at. YIIIKKKKES!! How frustratin'. I-468

My computer music making history isn't a monumental tale worth the telling except to illustrate how much I empathize with musicians who are having trouble getting their heads around their computer music gear.I wrote my first songs on a PC using a simple DOS program I wrote myself using the Basic programming language. I had no sound card so the sounds were just simple tones. It was just something I needed to learn & understand microtones for Indian Music.My first real music writing PC program was an early version of Cakewalk that I used to write sequenced MIDI songs on an exterior synth. It was very difficult for me to learn how to control a synth when I had never even touched one before. So I had to learn Cakewalk and I had to read and understand the entire manual for my synth without the help of internet user groups. Graduating from that school of hard knocks into the world of audio recording was another challenge but not so great. Learning how to work with plugins and non-destructive editing techniques using Sonar was more like a fun project than a hurdle.Anyway, I really feel for anyone learning how this stuff all comes together to make music these days. It's almost like you need to learn how to repair a car before learning to drive it. Thank goodness there are so many learning resources available these days. Nothing is impossible to learn if you really try. I'm willing to help if I can. Cheers,-Al

There are some videos online (on youtube) that provide some instruction in SONAR. In don't remember how comprehensive they are, but they had some specific to features I was interested in. I don't have the links, but they are available on the Cakewalk user forum.