6 Months of frustration! I just want to hook it up right!

[pgoody]

Greetings to everyone. I am happy to be able to learn from what seems like a very educated and experienced group. (Can you smell the brown stuff on my nose?)
I am a music teacher and musician who has just embarked on the "journey to home recording". I am extremely enthusiastic to begin. However, I can't seem to hook my stuff up right, and am hopeful that someone can help me.
First, I need to apologize up front for the length of this thread, but have learned that in order to have a problem solved quickly and correctly...I should be as detailed as possible. So bear with me if you have the time.
I am mostly interested in recording my own music...Maybe vocals, keys, guitar and bass with MIDI drums (for the time being) that I could play one at a time and layer them on different tracks. The following is the equipment I have to work with. I am sure everything can be upgraded, but I am just a beginner and want to get my feet wet and eventually move on to bigger and better things equipment-wise.
Computer: Dell Dimension desktop
Pentium 4 CPU 2.00GHZ
512MB RAM (I know it is old and small, but it has been virtually wiped clean and dedicated to only my music making. It might still be too small...I don't know)

Keyboard: Casio Privia PX-400R (Full Midi)

Soundcard/Interface: M-Audio Fast track Pro

Software: Ableton live 5.0.4 OR Sonar 1.? (I don't know which to use yet.)

Currently, I have my keyboard hooked up to the Fast track pro via MIDI cables. It is ALSO hooked up to my computer via USB 2.0. (Which might be a problem.) The Fast track pro is hooked up via RCA to powered monitors. I have disabled the Sound Blaster sound card that came built into the computer.

I have played around with the Ableton live that came bundled with the Fast track Pro, but when I try to record my keys, bass or guitar the levels seemed super low. I got frustrated with the prgram after completing all the tutorials and reading the manuals and not being able to fix my problem. I liked how it looked and the functionality of it, but wasnt getting where I wanted to be. That's when a friend lent me his copy of Sonar 1. I know it is ancient, but he has had some good luck using it, and I have heard his recordings and they are exactly what I want to do. Unfortunately, I think I am in WAY over my head as far as all the terminology goes, especially when it comes to MIDI and what to set where and the values and flange jobs with the bent frame!

So here is what happens. I open Sonar and then (let's say) open up a sample file that came with the program. The sample file is a funky riff that has track 1 as MIDI piano, but trx 2,3,4 are regular wave files of audio. Actual recordings of a guitar, bass and drums. (I can't think of the word...but NOT MIDI) When I push 'play' all I hear is the MIDI piano track and its coming through my keyboard speakers. I get nothing through the monitors. No guitar, no bass and certainly no drums. I have tried 'soloing' them, muting the piano, flipping all kinds of switches and stuff...but nothing.

And that's where I am. A musician with music in him and no way to record it at home! Wah. But seriously. I would REALLy appreciate any help. I am about to pay one of you to record some of my stuff...

[crystaljuggler]

I understand that frustration - probably what you need to do in Sonar is to go to wherever its "audio settings" or "preferences" are, and set it to use the ASIO driver for your interface. It's been a while since I dabbled with Sonar so I can't be any more specific, but that's the first place to go. You should be able to set up the inputs and outputs, and then once that's done in the engine of the program, you should be able to drive it with all the tracks and samples assigned to the inputs and outputs.

I'm sure there are people better able to be specific, and I hope they're along shortly - good luck!

[pgoody]

Thanks crystal juggler. I will give it a try. I am sure I have been to that dialog box before, but don't remember seing the ASIO driver. But now that you remind me, it is clearly being used in the Ableton live program, but not SONAR.

[Razorhoof78]

I would recommend right off the bat an upgrade in RAM to at least 1GB. Based on the system you describe, you could spend less than $50 and see a remarkable difference in terms of what you're able to do with effects, plugins, etc... Just don't forget to have fun with using this stuff as a creative tool, rather than getting hung up on gear. Good luck!!!