Since the thread is convoluted, I don't mind making it more so.

OP:

I second all positive comments on Real Band. There are some occasional annoyances in Real Band (small ones) that you will have to get used to until they fix them I guess, but overall it is the most user friendly DAW I have seen and a great place to record audio.

However, if it has gone wonky, there are some files you will have to delete, such as one .ini file and one .cfg file and then restart it so that it can properly configure itself. You would need to call Kent at tech support, tell him what is going on and make sure you are configured properly and also know how to delete certain files in the future to get a fresh config. Ask Kent about that and take notes. Also have a notepad handy to ask any other things you are confused about. After letting Kent help me get set up properly and explain a few things I never had another problem. That was 4 years ago.

Real Band is still my main RECORDING DAW although I mix in Sonar 2018 (Bandlab) and am expert user of Sonar. I find Sonar is very easy, but it does take patience at first to get the gist of it. It takes work, and you have to to read the manual as they say. But once you do "get it"--it is very, very easy.

Reaper is also cool. I have that as well. But in my opinion (and everyone has his or her own tastes) it is less intuitive than Sonar and for me the learning curve on Reaper is actually steeper than Sonar.

On Sonar, if you want an effect on a track you hit the plus sign for insert/add effect. Then you choose from your VST list.

If you want a new stereo bus for instruments or vocals, you click insert new bus. If you want a new synth, go to top menu and select insert soft synth. It just does it. No need to configure anymore. Just play.

If you want to send a track to an effect on a bus (like send the instrument bed or instrument bus to Waves Vocal Rider for analysis as a "sidechain") you right click on the instrument track and hit "insert send" and choose vocal rider from the drop down menu.

Piece of cake.

(Creating "buses" and sends for groups of instruments, especially to create a separate bus/bed for instruments and vocals, and creating "sidechains" are two of the most common areas of knowledge needed for mixing. In the case I described for vocal rider, the sidechain send I described allows vocal rider to analyze the volume of the instruments coming through the instrument bus so it can adjust the volume of the vocals and create an automatic fader, hence "vocal rider" during mixdown. All of these elementary but necessary skills in understanding and applying terms and techniques within a DAW require a phenomenal amount of time reading manuals or talking to people who use these DAWS and who can show you how. Or you can take a class.)

As others have said, it takes a while to learn what all of these terms mean and you have to master their definitions, study what you can, ask questions when you can't figure it out.

BUT, it takes an enormous amount of time to figure it all out, even for the most computer literate so don't get frustrated.

You simply have to make a decision on what you are going to learn and prepare for a long haul and dig in.

For me, again, what I did was:

1.) Make sure I had Real Band properly set up. (Kent had to help me.)

2.) Mastered Real Band.

3.) Began to study and master Sonar after I had mastered Real Band.

It took years.

That was my path. There are many others.

All of them take countless hours of study.

David Snyder
Songwriter/Renaissance Man
Studio + Fingers

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