The onboard sound gear is usually fairly good these days, that is what plays your cd's etc. It could be a matter of settings, but Colin is right on about the interface thing, it makes life so much easier as well.

Also if you get one with phantom power, you can use a good condenser vocal mic for better vocals, lots of factors involved. Most audio interfaces will work with any version of Sonar.

As far as a card if you want to go that way you can check out this one most home recording enthusiast like it;

http://www.google.com/products/catalog?hl=en&sugexp=gsis,i18n%3Dtrue&cp=10&gs_id=8&xhr=t&q=2496+sound+card&qscrl=1&nord=1&rlz=1T4GZAG_enUS448US448&gs_upl=&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.&ion=1&biw=1024&bih=556&wrapid=tljp131583535470308&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=shop&cid=9045983605958581334&sa=X&ei=5g1uTsfiKrSKsALEzoXDBA&sqi=2&ved=0CD4Q8wIwAQ#

or just google 2496 soundcard it's by M-Audio and also handles midi quite well.

There are various soft synths available as well.

It's a wonderful world out there smile

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