SONAR Reference Guide
Information in this document is subject to change without notice and does not represent a commitment on the part of Cakewalk, Inc. The software described in this document is furnished under a license agreement or nondisclosure agreement. The software may be used or copied only in accordance of the terms of the agreement. It is against the law to copy this software on any medium except as specifically allowed in the agreement.
Getting started If you want to get up and running quickly, please use the following tutorials, which are tailored to learning specific tasks in SONAR. If you are new to Cakewalk products, you may want to start at Tutorial 1.
Getting started
Table of Contents Getting started . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 About SONAR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Publish . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Color presets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88 Installing SONAR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90 Starting to use SONAR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91 2 Tutorial 1 – Creating, playing, and saving projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93 Creating a new project . . . .
8 Tutorial 7 – Mixing and adding effects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145 Volume and pan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146 Adding effects (FX) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147 Using Automation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151 9 Tutorial 8 – Working with video . . . . .
Adjusting volume and pan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209 Configuring panning laws . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210 Adjusting volume trim . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211 Assigning a MIDI channel (Chn) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211 Adjusting the Key/transposing a track (Key+) . . . . . . . . . . . .
Input quantizing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Arpeggiator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Using the arpeggiator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Recording audio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Tuning an Instrument . . . . . . . . . . .
Opening Views by Double-clicking Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 303 Selecting Clips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 304 Moving and Copying Clips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 304 Reverting clip(s) to original time stamp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 309 Locking Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Editing transient markers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 360 Enabling/disabling AudioSnap . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 368 Using the AudioSnap palette. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 369 Synchronizing audio and the project tempo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 373 Editing a clip’s tempo map . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Exporting, and Importing MIDI Groove Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 429 Importing Project5 Patterns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 430 16 Editing MIDI Events and Continuous Controllers (CC) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 433 Event Inspector Toolbar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 433 The Piano Roll View. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Editing Controllers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Piano Roll Microscope mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Inline Piano Roll View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Displaying the Inline Piano Roll View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The MIDI Scale . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
The Drum Map Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 530 Working in the Drum Map Manager. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 532 The Map Properties Dialog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 532 Saving a Drum Map. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 533 Using Drum Maps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Applying Fades and Crossfades Offline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Audio Effects (Audio Plug-ins) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Real-Time Audio Effects Processing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Destructive Audio Effects Processing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 565 567 568 568 19 Software Instruments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Mixing a MIDI Track. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 599 Converting MIDI to Audio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 600 Signal Flow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 602 Sidechaining Signal Flow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 604 Routing and Mixing Digital Audio. . . . . . . . .
Applying MIDI Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Using Control Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Quick Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Using Remote Control. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Using the Learn Option. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
The Automation Toolbar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 707 Automation Methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 707 Automation Read and Automation Write Buttons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 708 Recording Individual Fader or Knob Movements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 709 Creating and Editing Audio Envelopes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Basic Musical Editing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Inserting Notes on the Staff . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Inserting Notes with the Fretboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Selecting Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Moving, Copying, and Deleting Notes on the Staff. . . . . . . . . . . . .
Opening the Lyrics View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 783 Adding and Editing Lyrics in the Lyrics View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 783 25 Instrument Definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 785 Assigning Instruments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 786 Importing Instrument Definitions . . . . .
Real-time Recording of System Exclusive Messages. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sysx Echo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sysx .ini File Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Troubleshooting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 814 815 815 816 27 Synchronizing Your Gear . . . . . . . .
Bit Depths for Exporting Audio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 849 Bit Depths for Rendering Audio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 849 Preparing Higher-quality Audio for CD Burning. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 849 SONAR Project File Compatibility Notes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 850 Improving Performance with Digital Audio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
StudioWare Panel Drawing Speed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 900 31 Using CAL. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 901 Running CAL Programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sample CAL Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . SPLIT NOTE TO TRACKS.cal . . . . . . . .
Plug-in windows flicker or don't display properly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 917 File Recovery mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 918 33 Hardware Setup. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 921 Connect Your MIDI Equipment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 921 Set Up to Record Digital Audio .
Step Sequencer 2.0 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Integrated arpeggiator. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Support for more MIDI ports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Matrix view . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . REX file import . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Media Browser enhancements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 995 Auditioning audio files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 997 Auditioning MIDI files. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 998 Using Content Location presets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1000 Arm tracks during playback/recording . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Dynamic Arm enhancement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . External insert enhancements. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Global effects bypass . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Split clip group enhancement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Create new group when pasting grouped clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
File > Info . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1100 File > Project Audio Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1100 File > Import > Audio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1101 File > Import > Audio CD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Edit > Create V-Vocal Clip . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Edit > Clip Mute/Unmute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Edit > Isolate Clip(s) in Layer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Edit > Split. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Edit > Apply Trimming. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Process > Length . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1117 Process > Run CAL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1118 Process > Retrograde . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1118 Process > Transpose . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1118 Process > Scale Velocity . . . . .
Insert > Marker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Insert > Controllers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Insert > Audio Track . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Insert > MIDI Track . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Insert > Multiple Tracks. . . . . . . . . . .
Go > Previous Measure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1134 Go > Next Measure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1135 Go > Previous Marker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1135 Go > Next Marker. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1135 Go > Search. . . . . . . . . . . . .
Tracks > Freeze > Freeze Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Tracks > Clone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Tracks > Delete. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Tracks > Wipe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Tracks > Hide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Options > Colors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1150 Options > Icons > Show Icons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1150 Options > Icons > Track View > Show Icons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1151 Options > Icons > Track View > Large Icons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1151 Options > Icons > Track View > Small Icons . . . . . . . . . . .
Help > Keyboard Shortcuts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Help > SONAR on the Web . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Help > Register Online . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Help > Time Trial Activator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Help > Cakewalk Problem Reporter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Jump . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1177 Linear . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1178 Fast Curve . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1178 Slow Curve. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Time Display Format > SMPTE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Time Display Format > Frames. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Time Display Format > None . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Time Display Format > Font . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Background Color > Black . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Record Meters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1189 Playback Meters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1189 Output Bus Meters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1189 Record Meter Options > Peak . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1190 Record Meter Options > RMS . . . .
Default Crossfade Curves > Slow Out - Fast In . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Default Crossfade Curves > Linear Out - Fast In . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Default Crossfade Curves > Linear Out - Slow In . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Default Crossfade Curves > Fast Out - Linear In . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Default Crossfade Curves > Slow Out - Linear In . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Percentage . . . . . .
32nd Note . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1200 32nd Note Triplet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1200 64th Note . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1201 Follow Snap Resolution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Show/Hide Navigator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Show/Hide Video. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . PRV Select Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . PRV Draw Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . PRV Erase Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Track-by-Track Playback. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1230 Audio Recording . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1231 Connecting an Instrument, Home Stereo, or Microphone to your Sound Card1231 Choosing Inputs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1237 Audio Hardware (Sound Cards) and Drivers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Clip Properties dialog—Audio Stretching . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Clip Properties dialog—Audio Files. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Clone Track(s) dialog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Clip View Options dialog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Complete Registration dialog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Expression Text Properties dialog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1311 Export Track Template. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1312 Fade/Envelope dialog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1312 Fade Selected Clips dialog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1313 File Info dialog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Insert Series of Tempos dialog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Insert Soft Synth Options dialog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Insert Time/Measures dialog. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Insert Tracks dialog. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Interpolate and Event Filter dialog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Patch Browser dialog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1370 Pattern Velocity dialog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1371 Pedal Properties dialog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1371 Percent Done dialog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1371 Percussion Notation Key dialog .
Select By Time dialog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Set Default Velocities for Steps dialog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Select Fretboard Track dialog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Set Timecode at Now Time. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Slide dialog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Transpose dialog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1424 Undo History dialog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1425 Unlink Clips dialog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1426 Unpack Bundle dialog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1426 Unpack OMF dialog . . . . .
Working with rows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Working with steps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Working with Controller events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Working with patterns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Using the Step sequencer with drum maps . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Table of Contents
Introduction SONAR is a professional tool for authoring sound and music on your personal computer. It’s designed for musicians, composers, arrangers, audio and production engineers, multimedia and game developers, and recording engineers. SONAR supports Wave, MP3, ACIDized waves, WMA, AIFF and other popular formats, providing all the tools you need to do professional-quality work rapidly and efficiently.
Music Composition and Exploration SONAR is a powerful music-composition application, providing tools to record your own musical performances; enhance or improve the quality of those performances; and edit, arrange, and experiment with the music. With a few simple clicks of the mouse, you can arrange, orchestrate, and audition your composition.
audio effects are 32-bit floating point for faster processing and high-quality sound reproduction. Many effects now support 64-bit processing for pristine quality. Next topic: Web Authoring. Web Authoring SONAR is the ideal tool for developing and producing music and sound for the World Wide Web, because it lets you save your work in the formats that are most commonly used on web sites: MIDI, MP3, and Windows Media Advanced Streaming Format.
Next topic: Flexibility. Flexibility SONAR works the way you want to work—you can customize screen layouts, toolbars, and audio and MIDI system configurations to make your work more efficient. SONAR integrates with other sound editing tools so you can access them in an instant without leaving SONAR. There are custom software modules to support specialized audio devices from Roland and Yamaha. SONAR’s unique StudioWare technology provides software interfaces for common studio hardware.
MIDI files contain all the MIDI messages and timing information that are needed to play a song. MIDI files can be read and played by many different programs, including SONAR, and can even be played by programs on other types of computers. MIDI files have the extension .mid.
record a 1-minute segment of stereo, CD-quality digital audio, you need about 10 megabytes of disk space. On the PC, digital audio is usually stored in Wave files (extension .wav). There are many programs available that let you create, play, and edit these files. SONAR reads, writes, and lets you edit Wave files. Next topic: Setup Setup You can install SONAR on any computer that runs Windows XP or x64 and has a sound card or built-in sound module.
If you have a dedicated MIDI interface, lots of electronic music gear, or work with many different music software packages, see the online help topic “Hardware Setup.” Before you attach or detach any cables from your computer, you should shut down your computer and turn off the power to all your equipment. This greatly reduces the chance of electrical damage to your equipment while plugging and unplugging cables. User accounts Previous versions of SONAR required a user to have Windows Administrator status.
Analog and digital Inputs There are two basic types of audio inputs, analog and digital. Analog inputs allow you to connect a guitar, mic or other instrument to your computer directly. The audio interface converts the analog input to digital. Digital inputs allow other digital devices to connect directly to your computer. Common digital inputs include external analog to digital converters, popular guitar processors like the Line 6 POD, and other digital recording systems like the ADAT decks.
jack to the sound card input jack. 1/8 inch stereo adapters are available at consumer electronic supply stores. Or • If you use a professional or “prosumer” sound card, there is probably a 1/4 inch input jack on your sound card or audio hardware interface that you can plug your guitar cable or audio cable into.
on your stand-alone MIDI interface or sound card, and one to connect the MIDI IN jack on your MIDI instrument to the MIDI OUT jack on your stand-alone MIDI interface or sound card. Many stand-alone MIDI interfaces and audio interfaces use this type of connector. Figure 1. Standard MIDI cable—use this if your MIDI interface has standard 5-pin input and output ports • Joystick connector. This is becoming less common. This is the type of connection seen on older SoundBlaster type sound cards.
Preserve selected audio devices on device changes Enabled inputs and outputs are persisted per device and per driver mode. This prevents audio ports from shifting around and causing unwanted devices to become selected as active audio inputs and outputs. You can add a device back at any time and SONAR will remember the last set of enabled inputs and outputs for that device. You can freely add or remove devices without impacting the current working set of enabled devices.
Note: The Missing Audio Outputs dialog is not shown if there is only a single missing output port and only one available output port. In this case, SONAR will automatically assign the missing output port to the available output port.
When starting SONAR, you will see the Quick Start dialog box. Figure 3. The Quick Start dialog The Quick Start dialog box has several options: Option How to use it Open a Project Choose a project from the Open File dialog box to open it Open a Recent Project Select a project from the list, and click this button to open it Create a New Project Click here to create a new project. Online Videos and more Click this link to view our tutorial videos online.
Migrating preferences If you have a previous version of Cakewalk installed, SONAR will detect it and give you the option of migrating certain preferences from a single earlier version. When you choose to migrate preferences, SONAR migrates the following settings from an earlier Cakewalk version: Setting Description Global Options Settings in the Global Options dialog. Open by selecting Options > Global.
your sound card or MIDI keyboard, or if you just want to change the MIDI outputs and devices that you are using, follow the steps in this section. Choose Options > MIDI Devices to open a dialog box in which you select the MIDI In and MIDI Out devices that SONAR will use. Each item in the list is a MIDI Input or MIDI Output from drivers installed using the Windows Control Panel. 1. Select Options > MIDI Devices.
Using MIDI devices after making driver changes If you later add or remove drivers using the Drivers icon of the Windows Control Panel, SONAR reacts in the following way: • If you remove a Control Panel driver, SONAR will not use the device it belongs to the next time you run the program. Any other devices you had selected using the Options > MIDI Devices command will remain selected. • If you add a driver through the Control Panel, SONAR does not automatically use it.
Groove clips are audio clips which have tempo and pitch information embedded within them, allowing them to follow changes to the project tempo or project pitch. You can click on either edge of a Groove clip and drag out repetitions in the track. Events are MIDI data (in MIDI tracks) or automation data. See: SONAR file types Opening a file Views Working on a project SONAR file types Projects in SONAR can be saved as a project file with the extension .cwp or as a Bundle file with the extension .cwb.
4. Click the Open button. 5. If you are opening an OMF file, the Unpack OMF dialog appears. Set the initial tempo and specify the directory where you want to save the file and its audio. For more information about opening OMF files, see Unpack OMF dialog in the online help. SONAR loads the project. See: Working on a project File Recovery mode Views SONAR displays your project in windows on the screen that are known as views. You can have many views open at once, all showing the same project.
Figure 5. The Track view A B I C H G F E D A. The Track Pane B. The Clips Pane C. Clips D. Splitter bars E. Show/hide bus pane F. Track/Bus Inspector G. Minimized tracks H. Expanded track I. The Video Thumbnails Pane All of the current track’s controls, plus a few that are only available in the Console view, are contained in the Track/Bus Inspector which is an expanded version of the current track’s controls located on the far left side of the Track view.
What it does Key Moves the focus to the first track. HOME Moves the focus to the last track. END Table 6. The current track’s controls are contained in the Track/Bus Inspector. The Clips pane shows the clips in your project on a horizontal timeline called the Time Ruler that helps you visualize how your project is organized. Clips contain markings that indicate their contents.
The following graphic shows most of the Track/Bus Inspector’s controls (there may not be room to display all of a track’s controls on the Track/Bus Inspector, depending on the resolution of your monitor): Figure 6. The Track/Bus Inspector Track/Bus Inspector for an audio track Track/Bus Inspector for a MIDI track Most controls can be shown or hidden. A F B C G H D I E J A. Audio icon B. Output routing C. Track name D. Display menu E. Module menu F. MIDI icon G. Output routing H. Track name I.
To do this Do this Hide or show any of the Track/Bus Inspector’s controls Click the Display menu or Module menu, and choose Options. Note: you can not display a MIDI track’s Time + or Key + controls in the Track/Bus Inspector. Reassign MIDI controller sliders in a MIDI Track’s Fx bin Right-click the slider you want to reassign and choose Reassign Control from the pop-up menu, choose the new parameter, and click OK.
Figure 7. The Console view A B C D E H G F A. Audio module B. MIDI module C. MIDI velocity D. Bus out E. Main out F. Show/hide strip controls buttons G. Widen all strips H. Show/hide for tracks, buses, mains As in the Track view, you can change track settings or record new music or sound in the Console view. You may choose to use one view or the other, or the choice you make may depend on which project you are working on.
The Staff view : displays the notes from one or more MIDI tracks using standard music notation, similar to the way the notation would appear on a printed page. You can add, edit, or delete notes; create percussion parts; add guitar chords and other notation markings; display guitar tablature; display the Fretboard pane; and print whole scores or individual parts to share with other musicians. Figure 9. The Staff view A B C D E F G H I J A. Dynamics and markings B. Time and pitch locator C.
The Loop Construction view : allows you to create and edit Groove clips (SONAR loops that “know” the tempo and key in which they were recorded), and export these clips as ACIDized files. For more information, see Loop Construction view. Figure 10. The Loop Construction view The Media Browser view : allows you to preview ACIDized files and other Wave files; and drag and drop them into your project. For more information, see Media Browser View. Figure 11.
SONAR has several other views that are used for very specific purposes: View How you use it Meter/Key To change the meter (time signature) or key signature, or to insert changes in the meter or key signature at specific times in a project. For more information, see Meter/Key View. Big Time To display the Now time in a large, resizable font that you can read more easily. For more information, see Big Time View.
Figure 13. Zoom controls A B C D E H G F A. Zoom Clips pane out vertically B. Vertical Zoom fader for Clips pane C. Zoom Clips pane in vertically D. Zoom Bus pane out vertically E. Vertical Zoom fader for Bus pane F. Zoom in horizontally G. Horizontal zoom fader H.
Key What it does Hold down Z Arm the Zoom tool U Undo the current zoom F Fit tracks to window A Show all tracks SHIFT+F Fit project to window SHIFT+double-click a clip Maximize track height Table 11. Docking views You can dock any view other than the Console view in the lower-right corner of the Track view by enabling a view’s Enable Tabbed option. You can have as many views open in tabbed format as you want.
To do this Do this Maximize a tabbed view Click the Maximize/Restore button Restore tabbed view Click the Restore button that you’re restoring. Close a view that is in tabbed format Right-click the view’s tab, and choose Close from the pop-up menu that’s just to the left of the tabs. that’s in the lower left corner of the view Table 12.
To select key bindings for X-Ray windows 1. Use the Options > Key Bindings command to open the Key Bindings dialog. 2. If you want to use currently unassigned keys or key combinations, scroll through the options in the Key window until the Global Key Assignment field that is just under the window reads Unassigned. It’s a good idea to find two unassigned options that are next to each other or easy to remember. Note: For best results with X-Ray Windows, avoid using ALT key combinations. 3.
2. On the General tab, you can adust these options: • Enable X-Ray. Enable or disable this check box to turn the X-Ray Windows feature on or off. • Opacity. Adjust this value by typing in a value, or by clicking and holding the + or - button to adjust the final opacity percentage value that an X-Rayed window reaches. • Fade Out Time.
And you wanted to exclude the Cakewalk FxDelay from the X-Ray Windows feature, after creating a blank line you would type: ; Cakewalk FxDelay XRayExclude13={985DAF67-589F-4B8D-8BBC-D7AD651B9022} If there was also a VST version of the Cakewalk FxDelay, you would add another line: XRayExclude14=[some VST ID number, with no brackets] 10.Save and close the Xrayexclude.ini file, and restart SONAR to implement your changes. Customizable menus All main menus and context menus are customizable.
To do this Do this Rename a menu item or submenu Right-click a menu Item or submenu and select Rename, then enter a new name. Or Select a menu Item and press F2, then enter a new name. Create a new separator bar Right-click a menu item and select Insert Separator. The separator bar will appear above the menu item you right-clicked. Remove a submenu or separator bar Right-click the submenu or separator and select Remove Submenu or Remove Separator.
2. If missing or duplicate hotkeys are found, right-click again and select Generate Hotkeys. New non-duplicate hotkeys will be assigned for each item in that menu or submenu (but only on the menu level where you right-clicked, not on any submenus of the menu or submenu that you rightclicked). Note: Hotkeys are indicated within the Menu Editor by ampersands (“&”) in each menu item’s name. The ampersand is placed directly before the letter that represents the menu item’s hotkey.
1. Use the View > Toolbars command, and check one of the User “n” options. A toolbar appears, with a default set of controls. 2. Right-click the toolbar, and choose Customize from the pop-up menu to open the Customize Toolbar dialog. 3. Customize the toolbar the in the same way as the previous procedure. To rename a toolbar: 1. Right-click the toolbar, and choose Rename from the pop-up menu to open the Rename Toolbar dialog 2. Fill in the New Name field, and click OK.
Figure 14. The Large Transport toolbar A H B G F E D C A. Play B. Record C. Click to move ahead one measure D. Auto-punch toggle E. Drag Now Time to any desired position F. Click to jump to the end G. Click to back up one measure H. Click to jump to the beginning As you work with a project, you can use SONAR’s mute and solo features to choose which tracks are played, or you can create loops to play a particular section over and over again.
For any SONAR screen element, you can assign a color in two ways: • Choose one of the colors that is part of your Windows color scheme. • Assign a custom color. To Assign Custom Colors 1. Choose Options > Colors to display the Configure Colors dialog box. 2. Choose the screen element whose color you want to change from the Screen Element list. 3.
Configure Colors dialog Color presets Color presets Once you create a color arrangement that you like, you can save it as a preset, and then load it whenever you want to use that arrangement. You can also load any of the many factory presets, some of which duplicate the colors of earlier versions of SONAR. You can also import and export color arrangements in the form of .clr files so that SONAR users can share color layouts.
To load a color preset 1. Open the Configure Colors dialog by using the Options > Colors command. 2. Click the drop-down arrow on the Presets menu to display the list of presets, then click the name of the preset you want to load. To save a color preset 1. Open the Configure Colors dialog by using the Options > Colors command. 2. Adjust the color settings you want to save. 3. Type a name for your preset in the Presets menu. 4. Click the floppy disk icon that’s next to the Presets menu to save your preset.
2. Click the Export Colors button in the Configure Colors dialog. The Export Color Set dialog appears. 3. Navigate to the folder where you want to store your the exported file. This file will contain all or your color presets. 4. Type a name for your file in the File Name field. Use a file name that you will recognize as a collection of presets, rather than as a single color arrangement. 5. Make sure that the Export Color Presets check box is enabled. 6. Click the Save button.
Uninstalling SONAR When you installed SONAR, the setup program placed an Uninstall icon in the Start menu. To uninstall SONAR, click the Start button and choose Programs > Cakewalk > SONAR 8.5 (Studio or Producer) > Uninstall SONAR 8.5 (Studio or Producer). Starting to use SONAR This chapter has provided you with an overview of SONAR and basic information on how to install the software and configure your system.
Introduction Starting to use SONAR
Tutorial 1 – Creating, playing, and saving projects Understanding and managing project files is central to your work flow in SONAR. In this tutorial, we are going to cover the basics of getting started with project files and some of the operations that can be performed with them. Whenever you write or record music in SONAR, you are writing it to be saved into a project.
Creating a new project There are several ways to get started with a project in SONAR. When SONAR is opened, you will be greeted with the Quick Start dialog. Let’s take a look at the options available in this dialog. Open a Project. want to open. Opens a standard File Open dialog, which lets you select the project that you Open a Recent Project. The drop-down list shows the most recent projects that have been opened in SONAR.
The New Project File dialog appears. Whenever you create a new project, you will be presented with this dialog. Let’s explore some of the things you can do in this window. Name. Type the name of your project in the Name box. For this exercise, let’s name your project Tutorial 1. Location. Use the Location box to specify where the project should be saved. Click to browse to a specific location. For this tutorial, use the default, as shown in the preceding figure. Audio Path.
Playing project files Looping project files Saving project files Opening project files Next we are going to talk about opening existing project files. There are two ways this can be done in SONAR: • Click the Open a Project button in the Quick Start dialog that is first presented when SONAR starts. • Select File > Open from the menu bar across the top of SONAR’s screen. Let’s go ahead and try one of the above methods. Either of them will bring you to the Open dialog as shown in the following figure.
For this tutorial we want to open one of the sample project files that are included with SONAR. To do so, select Template Files in the Go to Folder list. This option appears when clicking on the little arrow to the right of the dropdown list. This will refresh the browsing pane to display all the files and folders in the Template Files directory. Double-click on the Tutorials folder to open it and then Locate the project named SONAR_AudioDemo1.cwp.
Playing project files For this next section we are going to configure the project named SONAR_AudioDemo1.cwp for playback in SONAR. If you have not opened the project yet using the steps from the previous section Opening project files, do so before continuing. Configuring your sound device Before we can get any sound, we need to ensure that SONAR is communicating with your computer’s sound card or audio interface. To do so, click on the Options menu across the top of SONAR’s screen and choose Audio.
If you are having trouble with any of the steps in the last section thus far, we have created a helpful set-up guide on our web site that provides step-by-step instructions for configuring your audio hardware. You can find it here: www.cakewalk.com/Support/hardwaresetup/ Setting the tracks outputs The next important step is telling SONAR which output on your sound device you would like audio tracks to play on.
Control Description This is the Arm or Record Enable button, which must be enabled on any track that you want to record onto. For more details, see Tutorial 3 – Recording vocals and musical instruments. This is the Input Echo or Input Monitor button. When clicked, this enables the track’s input to be heard directly through its output. For more details, see Tutorial 3 – Recording vocals and musical instruments. This is the Write Automation button.
Now that all of the track’s outputs are set to the appropriate device, the next step is to play the project to make sure it can be heard and sounds right. Locate the Transport tool bar at the top of SONAR’s screen. If you can’t find this toolbar, press F4 to show the Large Transport toolbar. The transport contains many useful functions related to projects in SONAR. For now, simply click the Play button to hear the project. Experiment with the Mute and Solo buttons on each track.
Looping project files SONAR features a really handy tool that allows you to repeat specified sections of a project file. You may want to do this for many reasons, such as to rehearse a part or phase or to listen closely to a specific section. Perhaps you might set up a loop just because it’s your favorite part of the song and you want to hear it over and over again. For all of the above, you will need to loop a section of the song. You may have noticed this demo file is an example of swing or jazz music.
Saving project files SONAR offers you many options for saving your work. To investigate these options, click on the File menu and choose Save As. This opens the Save As dialog. Before doing anything in this window, the first thing you should do is select Project Files in the Go to Folder list. Even if it already says Project Files, click it anyway. You will notice this window looks very familiar to the Open dialog we looked at earlier in this tutorial.
Take a look at the dropdown list labeled Save as type. Click the Save as type arrow to see a list of supported file formats. Let’s look at these different files formats now: • Normal. This is the first option listed and the most common format used for saving project files. Choosing this will create a Cakewalk Project file with the .cwp file extension.
In most cases, the best choice for saving your files is Normal. To save this project, do the following: 1. In the Go to Folder list, select Project Files. Even if Project Files is already selected, select it again for good practice. 2. In the Save as type list, select Normal. 3. Type a name in the File Name box. 4. Click Save to save the project. This completes the tutorial.
Tutorial 1 – Creating, playing, and saving projects Saving project files
Tutorial 2 – Using the Media Browser New to SONAR is the enhanced Media Browser view; designed to improve workflow and make working with audio loops and MIDI groove clips simple. When you open a project in SONAR, the Media Browser will open underneath the track view. It is outlined in the image below. To show or hide the Media Browser, click the the Media Browser View button of the Transport controls in the top of SONAR’s screen, or press ALT+1.
First, let’s review the controls on the left side of the toolbar. Control Description This is the Move up button. It is used to open the folder one level above the active folder. The Refresh button is used to refresh the active folder. This is helpful if you move new loops into the folder and want SONAR to be able use/see them. This is the Windows Explorer button. Click to open Windows Explorer at the same directory being viewed in the Media Browser view.
The Content Location drop down box shown below allows you to quickly jump to popular locations on your hard drive. The Audio Preview Bus drop down box shown below allows you to select the output device used to listen to loops and files from the Media Browser view. The next three controls are used for software synths. Control Description The Insert Soft Synth button allows you to add an instrument track to your project so you can preview MIDI groove clips directly from the Media Browser.
Previewing MIDI groove clips Adding loops to your project 110 Tutorial 2 – Using the Media Browser
Finding and previewing audio loops Now that we have a general idea of how the Media Browser is laid out, let’s find some of the content that is included with SONAR and give it a listen. 1. Make sure the Media Browser view is open and visible. If it is not, click the Media Browser view button or press ALT+1. 2. Click on the Views button and make sure that the option for Folders is selected and that the bullet point is set to Details. 3. In the Folders list, locate the My Documents directory.
6. Click the Play button in the Media Browser toolbar. The selected file is previewed. If you don’t hear anything, revisit the settings of your Audio Preview Bus, as discussed above, and ensure that it is set to the audio device that your headphones or speakers are connected to. If you need to preview a lot of loops quickly, enable the Auto-Preview function an audio loop will start playing as soon as you select it. .
Before we can preview a MIDI groove clip, we need to tell SONAR what instrument or synth we would like to preview it with. 3. In the Preview Synth pane, select Cakewalk TTS-1 1. 4. Now that SONAR knows what synth to play MIDI groove clips through, select the groove clip named Bangin 10.mid just as you did with the audio loop previously. 5. Click the Play button in the Media Browser toolbar. Just like with audio loops, you can set MIDI groove clips to auto-preview by clicking the AutoPreview button.
This completes the tutorial. You should now be able to drag loops into your projects and loop them.
Tutorial 3 – Recording vocals and musical instruments One of the most important aspects of creating music in SONAR is digital audio recording. This is the process of taking the sound from a microphone or an instrument and recording it to an audio track. Once this step is completed you can edit and mix the song to prepare it to share with the world. This tutorial will walk you through the steps involved and provide you with some insight on how to get the best possible audio recordings.
5. Click the Output drop-down menu to select the track’s output. The available outputs for the track are displayed. 6. Select the output port that you want the audio track to play through during playback. This is how you ultimately route the audio to your speakers. You will usually choose 1 and 2, because these are most commonly the outputs that speakers or audio monitors are connected to. 7. Click the track's Record Enable button .
4. On the Transport, click Record, or press R on your computer keyboard. 5. You'll hear two measures counted in by the metronome and then recording will begin. Start performing at the beginning of the third count. 6. When you finish recording, click the Stop button or press the SPACEBAR. A new audio clip appears. Press Play to play back the project. If you would like to redo the take, go to Edit > Undo to undo the previous recording, then repeat steps 3, 4 and 5 above until you get a perfect take.
5. Make sure What You Hear or Stereo Mix (exact name various depending on the sound card manufacturer) is not selected. If this option is enabled, click the Select check box below the desired input (normally Line In or Mic). This problem can also occur when you are using an analog mixer in your setup. Carefully follow all of your signal paths to ensure that your sound cards audio output is not being looped back into itself.
2. The search results appear. 3. Click Sound to open the Windows Sound Control Panel. 4. Click the Recording tab. All available input devices are listed along with a meter for each device. 5. Play your instrument or speak into the microphone. Meter activity is visible on one of the input devices. 6. Right-click the input device that has meter activity and select Set As Default from the popup menu.
Tutorial 3 – Recording vocals and musical instruments
Tutorial 4 – Playing and recording software instruments Software instruments, which are also referred to as soft synths, are a major part of computer music. Our goal in this tutorial is to add a software instrument to a project. We'll explore a few different ways they can be used with SONAR and look at some options to really make the most of them. A brief history Note: Feel free to skip to the next section if you want to start using synths right away.
Manually entering MIDI notes Adding an instrument track to your project Adding instrument tracks to your project is easy and something you’ll find yourself doing often, so let’s explore some of the basics. For this exercise, we'll start with a blank project: 1. On the File menu, click New. 2. Select the Blank (no tracks or buses) template and click OK. A new project opens. 3. Click Insert >Soft-Synths. A menu lists all available software synths that are installed on your computer. 4. Click DropZone.
Let's take a quick look at DropZone. One of the first things you'll typically need to do is choose a sound. In DropZone and most other Cakewalk synths, a sound preset is referred to as a program. 1. In DropZone's Program window, click Empty Program. The Program Browser appears. Note: It may take a minute the first time the Program Browser opens. This is because DropZone is building a list of all available sounds. Once the list has been built, the Program Browser will open faster the next time. 2.
Manually entering MIDI notes Recording MIDI First, we'll try recording. This only works if you have a MIDI controller. If you do not have a MIDI controller, skip ahead to the next section of this tutorial. For recording, you don't need the DropZone window open. You can close an instrument by clicking in the upper right corner. This doesn't cause the synth to stop functioning—it will continue to work in the background. Note: If you need to see the DropZone window again, just double-click the track icon.
The ruler at the top of this view represents musical measures and beats. The keyboard image on the left represents what notes are being played. Click on the Draw tool . You can also enable this tool by pressing the D key on your computer keyboard. The Draw tool allows you to click on the grid to create a note. To create a note, click on the grid at measure 1.
If you click on various sections of a note, the Draw tool performs a different function: • Left edge. Adjusts the start time. • Right edge. Adjusts the end time or the duration. • Top. Adjusts the velocity of the note, which indicates how hard the note is played. • Bottom. Allows you to move the note to another location on the PRV grid. Try to create a melody using this technique. You might find that you can only create 16th notes or longer.
1. On the File menu, click Open. 2. Naviagate to My Documents/Cakewalk/SONAR/Sample Content/Tutorials. 3. Click on the file named Latin.cwp and click OK. If you press Play, you are not likely to hear anything. That's because this project does not contain a software synth for the MIDI tracks to play through. Since there are 11 tracks in this project, it would be best to use one synth track and route them all to the same instrument.
On some computers, the tracks may play back through the TTS-1 at this point. However, on computers that have hardware MIDI outputs available, you may need to specify the TTS-1 as each track's output. Here's a fast way to do that: 1. Hold down the CTRL key and click each track to select them. The tracks are highlighted to indicate they are selected. 2. Go to Tracks > Property > Output. The Track Outputs dialog appears. 3. In the MIDI Outputs list, select Cakewalk TTS-1. Press Play to play back the project.
Tutorial 5 – Working with music notation A great way to compose in SONAR is by using the Staff view. The Staff pane displays MIDI note events as musical notation. For some musicians, this may be the most familiar and comfortable view in which to work. The Staff pane provides many features that make it easy for you to compose, edit, and print music. You can add notes to your composition with simple point-and-click techniques.
For this tutorial we will also change the time signature to ¾, the key to G and the staff layout to display a treble and bass clef. 1. On the Insert menu, click Meter/Key Change. The Meter/Key Signature dialog appears. 2. Change Beats per Measure to 3 and Key Signature to 1 Sharp (G), then click OK to close the Meter/Key Signature dialog. 3. In the Staff view, click the Layout button . The Staff View Layout dialog appears. 4.
Now that you know how to set up the Staff View, it's time to play! You can either record a MIDI track in this project or manually add notes. The rest of this tutorial will provide you with a basic overview of the notation tools. For more in depth information about all the features and functionality of the Staff View, including using the Fretboard and the Lyrics View, see Notation and Lyrics. Selecting the note value Simply select any of the note value buttons found in the center of the Staff view.
Moving Notes - Change timing or pitch To move notes: 1. Click the Select tool . 2. Select the note or notes that you want to move. 3. Click on any selected note and drag the mouse left or right to change timing or up and down to change pitch. Copying notes To copy notes: 1. Press and hold the CTRL key down while you click the desired note(s). 2. While still holding the CTRL key and the left mouse button, drag the note(s) to the desired location, then release the mouse button. The note(s) is copied.
Note Duration in ticks Quarter 1:000 Eighth 480 Sixteenth 240 Thirty-second 120 Deleting a note Select the Erase tool and click the note you want to delete. Adding lyrics To add a lyric event below a note: 1. Click the Draw tool . 2. Enable the Lyric button . 3. Position the pointer just below the note and click. A box appears where lyrics can be typed. 4. Press the space bar to quickly jump to the next note. Adding chord symbols To add a chord symbol above a note: 1.
4. To change the chord properties or show a guitar chord grid, right-click the chord name. The Chord Properties dialog appears. Adding expressions 1. Click the Draw tool . 2. Enable the Expression button . 3. Position the pointer just below a note and click. A box appears where expressions can be entered. Adding a crescendo or decrescendo/diminuendo 1. Click the Draw tool . 2. Enable the Hairpin button . 3. Position the pointer just below a note and click.
The Hairpin Properties dialog appears. Note: Hairpin events are ornamental only and do not affect playback. Adding pedal marks (sustain) 1. Click the Draw tool . 2. Enablen the Pedal button . 3. Position the pointer below the staff and click. Pedal down and Pedal up marks are inserted. 4. Click and drag to move the marks to a new time if needed. See: Printing your notation Printing your notation Once you are finished entering and editing notes you can print out the score or individual parts. 1.
5. To print the score, click Print. Tip: To change the title, composer and copyright information, select File > Info to open the File Info window.
Tutorial 6 – Editing your music While working on your music, you are likely to find that editing is a major part of the song creation process. Before people started making music on computers, all of the editing was done by cutting tape with a razor blade and piecing it together. You can imagine how difficult it could become. In SONAR, you can actually select a part of your music with the mouse and delete/copy/paste/move it all very easily.
Note: If you would like to try both of the following methods, select Edit > Undo after completeting the first method. Doing so will revert the project to its previous state.
Method 1: 1. Select the track that you want to delete measure two from. Tip: Click in the Tracks pane on the left, not the Clips pane on the right. 2. Drag in the time ruler from measure 2 through measure 3. The selected time range is highlighted. 3. Press DELETE or select Edit > Delete. Measure two is deleted from the selected track. Method 2: 1. Select the Free Edit tool . 2. Click in the center of the clip and drag to select the section you want to delete. The selected section is highlighted. 3.
Moving clips From time to time, you may need to move clips around. If you understand selection, you're half way there already. 1. Select the section you want to move. 2. With the Free Edit tool, click the top or bottom of the selection and drag the clip to the desired location. The Drag and Drop Options dialog appears, which lets you specify what to do with any existing data in the target location. You can either replace the existing data or blend the old and new data.
See: Selection Moving clips Cropping Clips Undo and Redo Tutorial 6 – Editing your music 141
Cropping Clips You can crop a clip by using a gesture called slip editing. Slip editing lets you “roll out” the beginning or the end of a clip to different places without changing the position of the music. Imagine that the clips are “windows” that allow you to see and hear pieces of audio or MIDI. You can change the size of that window so that less of the data is visible. If it's not visible, it won't be heard during playback. The data still exists, so you can enlarge the “window” by slip editing the clip.
See: Selection Moving clips Splitting Clips Undo and Redo Undo and Redo While editing a project, you might make mistakes or experiment with an idea that doesn't produce the desired results. SONAR has unlimited Undo for such occasions. You can undo one step at a time by selecting Edit > Undo or by pressing CTRL+Z. You can also look at your edit history and select a time to go back to. To do so, go to Edit > History, choose the edit you'd like to return to and click OK.
Tutorial 6 – Editing your music
Tutorial 7 – Mixing and adding effects Mixing is an important part of recording that can really help the music you create in SONAR sound its best. Mixing involves placing different instruments and sounds in layers of the frequency spectrum, adjusting levels so that tracks blend nicely, spreading them across the stereo field and adding effects where appropriate. There are many important decisions to make when mixing; things that are sometimes not considered while writing a song.
Volume and pan Adjusting volume and pan is always a good place to start when mixing. One of the biggest benefits of SONAR's Console view is that you can easily see the volume and pan controls for many tracks simultaneously, in addition to large meters. Some people also enjoy working in the Console view because it doesn't offer a graphical representation of what the music “looks like”.
that when you pan two tracks that share the same frequency range away from each other they will become clearer. This especially applies to instruments that have been double-tracked. Try it with the two tracks labeled Cymbals Left and Cymbals Right. Notice how you can hear more definition and detail in the two tracks as you pan them away from each other. When panning double-tracked instruments, try to avoid panning them all the way to the left or right.
Compressor/Gate. This plug-in affects the loudness of the sound. It can limit how loud a sound can get. It can also limit how soft a sound can get before it's completely turned off. EQ. EQ can accentuate or turn down a certain frequency range in a sound. For example, if you have an unwanted high-pitched buzz on one of your tracks, an EQ may be able to turn that high frequency down without affecting the sound of the instrument. Reverb. Reverb creates an artificial space.
The Sonitus:fx Equalizer interface appears. 3. Grab one of the numbered nodes and drag it around. Boost the selected band until you find the frequency range that interferes with Chirppy Synth. When you find it, turn down the selected band by dragging the node downward. Tip: Try to cut the band around 1kHz. Experiment with the other controls on the EQ to get the best possible results. As with the compressor plug-in, this approach can be applied to any track you like.
bus. • Select Stereo • In the Name box, type Reverb. • Click Choose Effect and select Audio Effects > Sonitus:fx > Reverb. • Make sure Pre Fader is not selected. • Select the Show Effects Property Page check box. • In the Bus Output list, select Master. 4. Click OK. The Reverb property page appears. 5. Set the Reverb control to 0.0 dB and the Dry control to -Inf.. Notice that a send control named Reverb has been added to each track.
When a send is enabled, you will hear the reverb effect during playback. To adjust how much reverb is applied to each track, use the send's LEVEL control. Enable the send control for each track that you want reverb on. You'll probably want at least a little reverb on every track except for the kick drum and the bass guitar. See: Volume and pan Using Automation Using Automation Another feature that is important to mixing is automation.
3. During playback, simply make the changes to the parameters in realtime, using either your mouse or a control surface. 4. To disable automation recording, stop playback and click the track's Write Automation button again. When you play back, the parameters will update automatically. Automation allows you to make gradual or sudden changes to make your song more dynamic.
Tutorial 8 – Working with video SONAR allows you to add music and sound to your videos. This tutorial will guide you through the basics of working with video inside SONAR. If you are new to SONAR, it is highly recommended you review Tutorial 1 – Creating, playing, and saving projects before going any further. See: Importing video Working with markers Exporting your video Importing video Before you can start working with video, you first need to import a video file. Let’s try this out with a new project.
Let’s explore some of the options in the Import Video dialog. The first thing you will notice is that this dialog is very similar to the Open dialog that was discussed in Tutorial 1. The Import Video dialog functions in very much the same way with the exception of two sections. First, outlined in the image above is the drop down box Files of type. Making a selection here will determine which video formats are displayed in the dialog. SONAR supports the following digital video formats: • Windows Media (.
Next, outlined in the above image you will see the File info area on the left and three options on the right. Let’s review what each of these options do. Option What it does Show file info When selected, this tells SONAR to display video information about the selected file in the File info area of the dialog. Import Audio Stream Select this option if you want to import the video file’s embedded audio into a new audio track in SONAR.
What if I don’t see the Video Thumbnail pane or Video view? To show or hide the Video Thumbnail pane, drag the splitter bar that separates the Video Thumbnail pane from the Clips pane. To restore the Video Thumbnail pane, point the mouse pointer over the splitter bar (the mouse pointer will look like pane to your liking.
There are three options on this tab that are very important to understand and extremely helpful when working with video. Let's take a closer look at them Option What it does Start Time The time in your SONAR project at which you want the video file to start playing. Trim-in Time The time in the video file at which you want video playback to start, this is useful if you don’t want to see the opening credits or the first few scenes. This is expressed in SMPTE time code.
Working with markers When syncing up audio events to film cues or video, it is common to use markers. Markers are a powerful feature in SONAR that helps to simplify the task of identifying major events in a song or video. They can be used to clarify where a verse or chorus begins in a rock tune or, in the case of film scoring, they can be used to identify hit points (points in the film where you want a musical event to synchronize with a visual event).
From this dialog you can do a lot of very important things. First let’s name this marker by typing Intro in the Name field. Next, select the Lock to SMPTE (Real World) Time check box. This option is very important when working with video. If a marker is not locked to SMPTE time, its position in relation to events on the video will change with tempo and meter changes in the project. You might also notice that the Time value changes to the SMPTE format after you selected the check box.
Close the Markers view now and take a look at the time ruler in SONAR, which spans the top of the Clips pane in the Track view. You will notice there is now an orange flag named Intro indicating where your new marker is in the project. See: Importing video Exporting your video Exporting your video Once you have finished with all of your music and have your video synced up as you would like it, you’ll want to mix it down to a video file that you can share with the world. 1.
3. Similar to saving project files, you will first want to give your video a name by typing one into the File name field. 4. Choose the desired video format by selecting it from the Save as type list. Clicking the Encoding Options button at the bottom will allow you to explore some advanced settings for your video. From this dialog you will be able to change the quality and size of your video. This is particularly important if you plan to upload your video to the web.
Tutorial 8 – Working with video Exporting your video
Tutorial 9 – Exporting, CD burning and sharing Once your SONAR project is complete, you will want to share it with the world or burn a CD. SONAR offers many tools to help you do this. In this tutorial, we are going to explore some of the basics of these tools. Before we get started, let’s open one of the example audio projects included with SONAR. If you have your own project that already contains audio, you can load that instead. However, your screen will look different from the images in this tutorial.
You should notice that the top half of this window is very similar to the Open and Save dialogs that were discussed in Tutorial 1 – Creating, playing, and saving projects. This is used to navigate to locations on your computer’s hard drive and tell SONAR where you want to store the exported audio.
For this Tutorial, we are only going to explore some of the more common settings. If you would like to read about all of the options and settings click the Help button. Control Function Channel Format Specifies if the audio should be exported as stereo or mono. Sample Rate Allows you to set the sample rate of your export. 44100 Hz is used for CD quality audio. Bit-Depth Allows you to set the bit-depth of your export. 16-bit is used for CD quality and 24-bit is often used for DVD quality audio.
Burning an audio CD Select Tools > Burn Audio CD to open the Audio CD Burner dialog. Simply browse to the audio files you wish to burn and click the Add Track button. You can also drag audio files into the Burner tracklist. Note: Any files that are not in 16 bit, 44.1kHz wav files will automatically be converted to the proper CD format. Depending on the type of blank CD you are using, you can fit up to 80 minutes of audio on one CD.
If you would like to share your music on the internet Note: Due to licensing restrictions, your Cakewalk software only includes a 30 day free trial of the MP3 encoder. If your 30 day trial period has expired, a full license can be purchased for unlimited use from the Cakewalk web store. 1. Click the Export Audio button to open the Export Audio dialog. 2. In the Channel Format list, select Stereo. 3. In the Sample Rate list, select 44100. 4. In the Bit-Depth list, select 16. 5.
Cakewalk Publisher SONAR includes Cakewalk Publisher, which is a powerful tool to share your music, artwork and playlists on the Internet. A detailed description of Publisher is beyond the scope of this tutorial, but let’s take a quick look at its basic features and how it integrates with SONAR. To open Publisher, select Tools > Publish to Web. Notice that your recently exported project is already listed in the Track list.
The following table describes a few of the buttons in the publisher interface. If you would like to explore all of the features in Publisher, click the button labeled HELP in the upper right corner of the Publisher window. Control Function Used to configure the player and generate the HTML code for pasting into your web site. Lets you associate an image with the selected track. This is useful if you want to include album artwork when you upload your music. Adds new tracks to the current playlist.
Tutorial 9 – Exporting, CD burning and sharing
Controlling Playback When you play your SONAR project, you have full control over the tempo or speed of playback, which tracks are played, which sound cards or other devices are used to produce the sound, and what the tracks sound like. You can access most of the playback functions from the Large Transport toolbar. SONAR’s multi-MIDI enhancements give you the ability to play multiple synths or tracks from a single keyboard or controller, or let multiple performers play the same or different tracks.
The Now time and how to use it Every project has a current time, known as the Now time, which keeps track of where you are in a project. The Now time appears as a vertical line in the Track view and is displayed in both the Large Transport toolbar and the Position toolbar, in two formats. The measure, beat, and tick number (MBT) identifies the Now time in musical time units. Ticks are subdivisions of quarter notes and indicate the timebase of the project.
Here are some examples of times expressed in this format (assuming that zero is the start time): Time What it means 00:00:00:00 The beginning of the project 00:05:10:00 Five minutes and ten seconds from the beginning of the project 01:30:00:00 One hour and thirty minutes into the project 00:00:00:05 Five frames into the project Table 22. SONAR provides many ways to set the Now time.
If you click in The Time ruler while the snap grid is enabled, the Now time will be snapped to the nearest point in the grid. By setting the grid size to a whole note or quarter note, you can easily set the Now time to a measure or beat boundary. Note: The Time Ruler only obeys snap when Musical Time or Absolute Time is selected in the Snap to Grid dialog. You can also use the buttons and the scroll bar in either the Transport toolbar or Large Transport toolbar to adjust the time.
To change the Now time marker behavior 1. Select Options > Global from the SONAR menu. The Global Options dialog appears. 2. Click the General tab. 3. Uncheck the On Stop, Rewind to Now Marker option to have the Now time marker move to follow the current Now time when you stop playback. Or Check the On Stop, Rewind to Now Marker option to have the Now time snap back to the Now time marker when you stop playback. 4. Click OK.
from the pop-up menu. • To choose font, size,color, or resizing options, choose Font from the pop-up menu to open the Font dialog. Enabling the Automatically Resize to Window option causes the display to automatically shrink the display to fit the available space. • To choose alignment options, choose Align > Left, Align > Center, or Align > Left from the popup menu. You can also configure the color from the Configure Colors dialog (Options > Colors; "Track View Header Time Display").
There are a variety of commands and keyboard shortcuts you can use to set the Now time: Command Shortcut What it does Go > Time F5 Lets you enter the Now time in the Position toolbar or in a dialog box Go > From F7 Sets the Now time to the From time (the start time of the current time selection) Go > Thru F8 Sets the Now time to the Thru time (the end time of the current time selection) Go > Beginning CTRL+HOME Sets the Now time to the beginning of the project Go > End CTRL+END Sets the Now
• Adding loop, punch, and pitch markers. You can right-click in the Time ruler to add markers. In the Track view, the Time ruler has the following time display options or formats: • Measures, Beats and Ticks (M:B:T) • Hours, Minutes, Seconds and Frames (H:M:S:F—also called SMPTE) • Samples • Milliseconds Figure 20. The Time ruler A E B C F D A. M:B:T B. H:M:S:F C. Samples D. Milleseconds E. Add Musical Snap to transient snap pool (see AudioSnap) F.
Additionally, you can add or remove Time ruler formats using the Plus/Minus buttons located just outside the right edge of the Time ruler. Note: If only one Time ruler format is being used, only the Plus button is displayed. To add or remove Time ruler formats using the Plus/Minus buttons • Click the Plus button and select a Time ruler format from the pop-up menu. • Click the Plus button and select a Time ruler format you would like to add from the pop-up menu.
To start and stop playback To do this Do this Start playback Press the SPACEBAR, click click in the Time Ruler , or choose Transport > Play, or double- Press the SPACEBAR, click , or choose Transport > Stop Stop playback Rewind to the start of the project Click Skip to the end of the project Click , press the W key, or choose Transport > Rewind Table 27. Note: The default behavior for the Now time when you click the Stop button is for it to return to the Now time marker where playback began.
To allow playback with no data Use the Options > Global command to open the Global Options dialog, and on the General tab, make sure that the Stop at Project End check box is not checked. Auto fade when starting/stopping playback SONAR makes it possible to render a smooth fade in/out whenever audio playback is interrupted. This can be useful to smooth out abrupt transitions while stopping and starting the transport rapidly and will reduce ear fatigue during long sessions.
Sometimes you want to listen to one portion of a project over and over, either so you can play along and rehearse or because you want to edit that section of the project while it is playing and hear the results as you make changes. SONAR has a playback looping feature that makes this simple. Looping is defined in the Loop/Auto Shuttle toolbar, as shown here: B A C E D A. Click to turn looping on or off B. Click to copy the selection (From and Thru) times C.
The Loop/Auto Shuttle dialog box, which appears when you use the Transport > Loop and Auto Shuttle command or click the Loop and Auto Shuttle button in the Loop toolbar, contains two additional settings that affect the details of how looping operates: Option How it works Stop at the end time Playback does not proceed beyond the end of the loop Loop continuously When playback reaches the end of the loop and rewinds to the start, playback continues automatically (this option is on by default) Table 28.
To cancel a playback loop • Click on the toolbar to disable looping. Using the Large Transport The Large Transport consists of six sections, each of which can be shown or hidden according to the needs of your project. Right click anywhere in the Large Transport, and deselect any section from the pop-up menu that you wish to hide. The six sections are Markers, Record, Transport, Loop, Tempo and System. Figure 21. A The Large Transport toolbar B C L K D J I E F H G A. Markers section B.
B C D A E A. Marker buttons B. Record options C. Set punch in time D. Set punch out time E. Set punch points to selection To use the Punch In/Out section 1. Click the Record Options button . The Record Options dialog box appears. 2. Select between Blending existing data with new data, or Overwriting existing data with new data. 3. Select between storing looped takes in a single track or storing looped takes in individual tracks. For more information see “Loop Recording” on page 262.
• Pause project • Start/Stop Fast-forward • Go to end of project • Record . • Audition . • Toggle Auto-punch • Reset MIDI • Now Time measured inM:B:T, H:M:S:F • Now Time slider Note: The Rewind and Fast Forward buttons allow you to rewind and fast forward smoothly during playback. Any audio data will continue to play normally, however the Now Time marker will move smoothly until you release the Rewind or Fast Forward button. To use the Loop section 1. Clip the Loop On/Off button . 2.
Track-by-track playback SONAR lets you play back any combination of tracks at one time by changing each track’s status. You can control the status of each track with the individual controls that are on every track, or with the global controls on the Playback State toolbar or the status bar that’s at the bottom of the SONAR window. For more information about the status bar, see “Status Bar/CPU Meter/Disk Meter” on page 855.
Changing tracks’ mono/stereo status The Playback state toolbar To display the Playback State toolbar, use the Views > Toolbars command to open the Toolbars dialog box, and make sure Playback State is checked. The Playback State toolbar is a global control that allows you to mute or unmute, solo or unsolo, arm or disarm, and toggle the input echo status of all tracks. A B C D E F A. Drag to reposition B. Mute C. Solo D. Arm E. Input echo or MIDI echo F.
To mute all tracks • If no tracks are currently muted, click the M button in the Playback State toolbar. Or • Select all tracks, and then use the Tracks > Mute command. To archive or unarchive tracks 1. Select one or more tracks in the Track view. 2. Do one of the following: • Click the track’s Archive button . • Choose Tracks > Archive, or right-click and choose Archive from the menu to toggle the archive status of the selected tracks. Note: A track can not be archived during playback.
To solo all tracks • If no tracks are currently soloed, click the S button in the Playback State toolbar. Or • Select all tracks, and then use the Tracks > Solo command. See also: Dim Solo mode Dim Solo mode Normally when you solo a track/bus in SONAR, the tracks or buses which are not soloed are essentially muted. Dim Solo is a mode in which non-soloed audio tracks/buses are still audible but at a reduced level. The default gain reduction is -6dB, but can also be configured for -12dB and -18dB.
The Dim Solo enable/disable state is saved with each project. To configure Dim Solo level When Dim Solo mode is enabled, the amount of gain reduction applied to non-soloed tracks or buses is specified in the Audio Options dialog. 1. Select Options > Audio to open the Audio Options dialog and click the General tab. 2. Set the Dim Solo Gain setting to either -6dB, -12dB or -18dB and click OK. The Dim Solo dB setting is saved with each project.
SONAR has a Mono/Stereo button in each track module in the Track and Console views. The buttons in the track modules force each track to play in either stereo or mono, but preserve the tracks’ pan positions in the stereo mix. The Mono/Stereo button in each track forces the track’s audio signal to enter any patched plug-ins as either mono or stereo, whether or not the tracks are mono or stereo. This allows you to use either mono effects on a stereo track or stereo effects on a mono track.
A mono VST plug-in will work correctly if Enable Mono Processing is checked in the VST Plug-in Properties dialog and the track interleave is set to mono. Note: Enable Mono Processing is enabled by default in SONAR 8. If you are playing back a legacy project in SONAR 8, and notice the project does not sound the same, try to disable Enable Mono Processing for any mono plug-ins used in the project.
Figure 23. Audio track header controls B A C D E G H F A. Strip selector B. Header icon C. Track name D. Show layers button E. Maximize track F. Minimize track G. Peak value H. Track number Figure 24. Audio track interior controls A B M L K J I H G F E D C A. Input echo B. Volume slider C. Send pan D. Send level E. Mono/stereo switch F. Phase button G. Send enable H. Send destination I. Input trim J. Output K. Automation Read and Write buttons L. Input M. Pan slider Figure 25.
Here is a summary table of the different audio track parameters and how they are used. Parameter What it means Strip selector Click this to add a track to a Quick Group, which means that certain controls in tracks that are in the Quick Group are grouped. Number A sequential track number used for reference Name A name that you assign the track for easy reference. Note that if you do not assign a name to a track, the default name is the track number.
Parameter What it means Trim (volume trim) Volume Trim is a pre-fader control which allows the fine tuning of a single track’s volume. For example, let’s say you have four tracks, three tracks have their volume fader set to 0 dB while the fourth track’s fader is set to +10 dB. You want to group the faders and do a slow fade out, but the slightly higher level of the fourth track causes its volume to be higher in relation to the other tracks towards the end of the fade out.
Figure 26. A MIDI track A E B C D A. Output menu B. Channel menu C. Bank menu D. Patch menu E. Drop-down arrow to display menu Figure 27. MIDI track header controls A C B D G F E H A. Strip selector B. Track name C. Show layers button D. Maximize track E. Minimize track F. PRV Mode button G. Header icon H.
Figure 28. MIDI track interior controls Q P O A B C D E F G N H I M J L K A. Volume slider B. Trim C. Input D. Output E. Channel F. Bank G. Patch H. Key + I. MIDI chorus J. Snap to Scale On/Off K. Snap to Scale root note L. Snap to Scale scale type M. MIDI reverb N. Time + O. Pan slider P. Automation Read and Write buttons Q. Input Echo button Figure 29. MIDI track FX bin and track scale A B A. Track scale B.
Parameter What it means Track name A name that you assign the track for easy reference. Note that if you do not assign a name to a track, the default name is the track number. This track number will change if you change the order of your tracks. Mute When enabled, mutes the track Solo When enabled, solos the track Arm When enabled, arms the track for audio recording. Input Echo Controls whether the track will echo MIDI data or not.
Parameter What it means Reverb Adds MIDI reverb effect to the track Snap to Scale scale type Displays current scale for Snap to Scale feature Snap to Scale root note Displays root note of current Snap to Scale scale Snap to Scale on/off Turns Snap to Scale feature on or off Table 31. To change a track name 1. Double-click on the current track name. 2. Enter the new track name. 3. Press ENTER. The default track names (Track 1, Track 2, etc.
To do this Do this Change the height of a track using splitter bars Move the cursor over the gap below a track until the cursor looks like this the size you want. Lock or unlock the height of a track . Click and drag until the track is Right-click an empty area in the track’s controls and choose Lock Height from the menu. Table 33.
Control How to change the value Key+ and Time+ Double-click the control or click on the black arrow on the right of the control and enter a new value, or double-click on the control and enter a value. Input Click on the black arrow on the right of the control and select a MIDI channel from the menu that appears, or double-click on the control and select a driver from the menu.
Setting up output devices The output setting for a track determines which piece of hardware or software synthesizer will be used to produce the sound stored in your project. In a very simple equipment setup, you might have only a computer equipped with a basic sound card. In this case, you want to play all MIDI and audio output through the sound card on your computer.
Figure 31. The MIDI Devices dialog A A A. These devices are not selected When you first run SONAR it asks you to select MIDI devices. You may want to change these selections in the future. You can do so by selecting different devices in the MIDI Devices dialog box. Your computer is usually equipped with at least one audio device—your computer sound card.
4. When all devices are selected in the order you want, click OK. See: MIDI Devices dialog Creating friendly names for MIDI output and input devices You may find that a name you make up yourself for a MIDI device is easier to remember or more descriptive than a device’s original name.
2. Click the small drop-down arrow in any selected track’s Input control . The Input Port menu appears. 3. Choose Selected Track Inputs from the context menu. The Track Inputs dialog opens with the selected tracks initially highlighted. You can modify the track selection from within the Track Inputs dialog. For more information, see Track Inputs dialog. Note: The Selected Track Inputs command is essentially a shortcut for the Tracks > Property > Inputs command. 4.
The Track Outputs dialog opens. Note: The Selected Track Outputs command is essentially a shortcut for the Tracks > Property > Outputs command. 4. Select the desired audio output port and click OK. The audio output port is assigned to all selected audio tracks. To assign the same audio output port to all stereo buses 1. In the Track view, click the small drop-down arrow in any stereo bus’ Output control . The Output Port menu appears. Note: Surround buses are ignored. 2.
Tip: If your bank name is too long to fit in the Bank field, hold your cursor over the bank name. A tooltip appears with the complete bank name. Note that a single MIDI channel can only play one patch at a time on each instrument assigned to that channel. Therefore, if two or more MIDI tracks are set to the same output and channel but have different bank and patch settings, the patch of the highest-numbered track will be used for all the tracks.
To choose patches with the Patch browser 1. In the Track view or Console view, right-click the patch name in the track module you want to change patches in. The Patch browser dialog box appears, displaying a list of all the Instrument patch names that have been installed. Tip: The Patch Browser can be opened for the selected MIDI track by pressing the SEMICOLON key (;). 2. Search for a patch name, if desired, by filling in text in the Search field at the top of the dialog box. 3.
In some projects you want the volume or panning of a track to change while playback is in progress. You can accomplish this by drawing a volume or pan envelope in the Track view, or by recording automation. For more information, see the online help topic “Automation”. Note: SONAR processes the volume and pan settings by transmitting MIDI volume and pan events (controllers 7 and 10, respectively) when playback starts.
signal that’s panned hard left or right, and no dip in output level in either channel when the signal is center panned. • -3dB center, square root taper, constant power. This choice causes no boost in a signal that’s panned hard left or right, and 3dB dip in output level in either channel when the signal is center panned. • -6dB center, linear taper. This choice causes no boost in a signal that’s panned hard left or right, and 6dB dip in output level in either channel when the signal is center panned.
To set the channel for a track 1. In the track you want to change, click on the black arrow to the right of the Chn field and select the channel you want to use. To change the channel assignment for more than one track at a time, select the tracks you want to change and choose Tracks > Property > Channel. Adjusting the Key/transposing a track (Key+) Each MIDI note event has a key number, or pitch.
original velocities as they are stored in the file. You can edit the velocity values in those views, or use the Process > Scale Velocity or Process > Interpolate command. Velocity is different from volume in that it is an attribute of each event, rather than a controller that affects an entire MIDI channel. Here’s an example of where this distinction might be important. Suppose you have several tracks containing different drum parts.
Two other MIDI settings can affect what happens when you play back your project, as described in the following table: Option How it works Zero Controllers When Play If this option is enabled, SONAR zeroes (resets) the pitch wheel, the pedal Stops Controller, and the modulation wheel Controller on all 16 MIDI channels whenever playback is stopped. It also sends a “Zero All Continuous Controllers” MIDI message, which turns off other continuous Controllers on newer synthesizers.
echoes MIDI data. When the button is dimmed, the track echoes MIDI data because the track is the current track. When the button is off, the track does not echo any data, even if it is the current track. The Off position on a current MIDI track is only available if you disable the Always Echo Current MIDI Track option in the General tab of the Global Options dialog (Options > Global command). The dimmed position becomes unavailable with this setting.
• None. This option actually sets the Input field to Omni. With this setting the track will respond to any MIDI input coming in on any port (MIDI interface input driver) on any channel. • (name of MIDI input driver) > MIDI Omni. Choosing this option causes the track to respond to any MIDI channel coming from the named MIDI interface input driver. • (name of MIDI input driver) > MIDI ch 1-16.
Local control You should normally disable the Local Control setting on your master keyboard to prevent notes from being doubled when you play your keyboard. If you disable Local Control, your keyboard sends notes that you play to SONAR, which echoes them to the synthesizer, which plays them only once. When SONAR starts, you can have it send a special MIDI message that attempts to disable Local Control automatically. Most modern synthesizers respond to this message.
Figure 33. The Play List view A B E C D H F G A. Switch to the next song B. Repeat the list C. Add a song D. Drop a song E. Set a delay F. Display full path G. List of songs H. Enable the play list Play lists can be saved for future use. Play list files have the extension .set.
To play files from the Play List view To play back files from the Play List view, follow the instructions in the table. To do this Activate the play list Choose the starting song Start playback Stop playback Skip to the next file Loop continuously over the play list Show or hide file name extensions and folder names (path) Do this Click in the Play List view toolbar so that the button is pressed. If this button is not pressed, only a single file will play when you start playback.
• Windows Media Video • QuickTime SONAR also has a Video Thumbnails pane at the top of the Track view, which shows individual frames of your video at different places in your project (See “Using the Video thumbnails pane” on page 225 for more information). You open the Video view by using the Views > Video command. The Video view displays the Now time (as in the Big Time view) and the video itself.
The Import Video dialog appears. Tip: You can also drag a video file from the Medai Explorer view and drop it on the Video Thumbnails pane. 2. In the Files of Type field, select the kind of video file you’re looking for. 3. Select a file. 4. Check the Show File Info option to display information about the file in the File Info section of the dialog. 5. Check the Import Audio Stream option if you want to load the file’s audio data. 6.
To enable or disable video playback 1. Open the Video view by choosing Views > Video. 2. Right-click in the Video view and choose Animate. If your computer is not fast enough to play back video efficiently, you can get better performance by temporarily disabling video animation during playback.
To set the Video display format Right-click in the Video view and choose an option from the Stretch Options menu: To do this Do this Display the video in its original size Choose Original Size Stretch the video to fill the Video view Choose Stretch to Window Stretch the video as much as possible while preserving the original aspect ratio Choose Preserve Aspect Ratio Make the video display as large as possible, but only enlarge by integral multiples Choose Integral Stretch Display the video in full
Exporting video Optimizing video performance Exporting video After you’ve mixed your audio tracks the way you want them, you can export the inserted video file together with your audio tracks to create a new video file. When you export a video, any changes you’ve made to the Start, Trim-In, or Trim-Out times determine how long your new exported video is compared to the original video that you inserted into your SONAR project.
• If you intend to do a lot of seeking around or looping and editing while a video file is loaded, make sure that your video file has sufficient keyframes. Since each frame has to be computed from the last keyframe encountered, if you have very few keyframes in the video, performance may be slow. To change the number of keyframes, you may recompress the file using the File > Export Video command and specify more frequent keyframes.
Figure 34. The Video Thumbnails pane A B C F E D A. Show/hide frame numbers button B. Show/hide thumbnails button C. Show/hide video pane button D. Splitter bar E. Frame number F. Video track strip Here are the various commands and functions of the Video Thumbnails pane: • You can show or hide the pane. • You can show or hide the video thumbnails. • You can display absolute frame numbers. • You can resize the thumbnails while preserving the aspect ratio by dragging the splitter bar.
2. Choose Show/Hide Thumbnails from the pop-up menu that appears. Or • Click the Show/Hide Thumbnails button in the Track view toolbar. To hide or show frame numbers on frames • In the video track strip, click the Show/Hide Frame Numbers button . To open the Video properties dialog • Double-click the video track strip. To open the Video view • Double-click the Video Thumbnails pane. To move the Now time to a thumbnail • Click the thumbnail.
• Video Properties Video playback on a FireWire DV device You can view your video projects on an external FireWire DV device. Note: This feature will decrease the processor load to your computer if the video stream is a DV AVI file. If the stream is not DV AVI, the CPU load will significantly increase, compared to playing back onscreen with SONAR’s Video view. To convert a Video project to DV AVI format 1. Use the File > Export Video command. The Export Video dialog appears. 2.
hold down the CTRL key, then the frame increment value is used (default = 5 frames). You can also use the [ and ] keys to seek by the frame increment. If your video does not play back in sync with your audio, see Synchronizing external video playback to audio. External DV output (IEEE 1394/FireWire) SONAR relies on the Microsoft AV/C drivers to communicate with DV devices that are connected to a IEEE 1394 FireWire bus on your computer, in order to control and preview video to digital video devices.
6. In the property page, use the transport controls to position the tape in your external device to a blank area for recording. 7. Close the property page, and click the Save button in the Export Video dialog to start exporting. If you’re printing to a device that uses tape, the tape stops rolling when the export process is finished.
opens without that piece of missing audio. • Skip All. Click this button to skip all missing audio files. When you skip all missing audio files, you project opens without those pieces of missing audio • Search. file. Click this button to begin a search of all available hard drives for your missing audio • After locating the file Options.
You may want to share files between projects. The files you want to share may be frequently used sound effects or drum loops. SONAR allows you to choose whether to copy imported audio files to your project’s audio data directory or to link to them in their current (external) location. Note: External files are defined as any file not in the project’s audio data folder (or a subfolder within the project’s audio data folder).
Recording You can add sound or music to a SONAR project in many different ways. You can record your own material using a MIDI-equipped instrument, use a microphone or another audio input to record digital audio information, or import sound or music data from an existing digital data file. With the Input monitoring feature, you can hear your audio instruments exactly how they sound in SONAR, including any plug-in effects (effects are not recorded, however).
Creating a new project You can add music and sound to an existing project or to a new project. Just as in any Windows program, you open an existing project file using the File > Open command, and create a new project file using the File > New command. When you create a new SONAR project, there are some additional parameters you can set to make it easier to work on your project.
the file, and the folder where you want to store the file’s audio. You can override per-project audio by unchecking the Store Project Audio in its Own Folder option. SONAR includes a set of templates you can use to create a new project. These templates include common types of ensembles, such as rock quartets, jazz trios, and classical full orchestras.
If you are creating a new project that will contain only audio material (no MIDI material), you do not need to set the meter and key signature. Note: Groove clips do not follow your project's key. Groove clips follow the project pitch (in the Markers toolbar and pitch markers in the Time Ruler. For more information, see “Working Groove Clip audio” on page 419. The key signature controls how SONAR displays notes in the Staff view, the Event List view, and elsewhere.
5. Choose the key signature from the Key Signature list. 6. Click OK. You can also set the meter and key signature in the Large Transport toolbar display, or by using the Insert > Meter > Key Change command. Setting the Metronome and Tempo settings The metronome counts off each beat in a measure, so you can hear the tempo of your project. You can choose to have the metronome sound during recording, during playback, or both.
2. If you want to hear a count-in before recording begins, set the count-in to 1 or more. Select Count-in Measures or Count-in Beats 3. Select Use Audio Metronome . and/or Use MIDI Metronome . 4. Arm at least one track. 5. Press R or click advance. to start recording. The count-in will play, and the Now time will start to 6. If necessary, stop playback and adjust the tempo using the tempo controls in the toolbar and restart playback. Repeat until the metronome plays the tempo you want. 7.
2. Click Metronome Settings box. in the Metronome toolbar to open the Project Options dialog 3. Make sure that the settings in the Output and Channel fields match those for the track in the Track view. 4. Click on the Key box in the First Beat or the Other Beats section. 5. Play a note on your MIDI instrument. The note number is entered automatically. The velocity is not updated. 6. Click OK. Your metronome settings will be saved with the project file.
2. On the General tab of the dialog, select a value in the Sampling Rate drop-down menu, and a value from the Audio Driver Bit Depth drop-down menu. 3. Click OK. The sampling rate and audio driver bit depth are saved with the project file. Sony Wave-64 support SONAR 6 and earlier wrote wave files based on the RIFF wave file format. The RIFF format has an inherent file size limitation of 2GB.
CWB is saved in the new Wave-64 format. Note: 64-bit CWB files are incompatible with previous versions of SONAR. 64-bit CWB files CWB files are RIFF files with multiple WAVE chunks. Therefore, CWB files in previous versions of SONAR were subject to the same file size limitations of normal RIFF Wav files. This could potentially result in a CWB file that failed to save because a chunk was too large. SONAR will automatically use the Wave-64 format if a CWB file exceeds 2GB.
The timebase will be saved with the project file. Preparing to record To prepare for recording, you need to do the following: • Set the recording mode. • Choose your input(s). • Arm one or more tracks for recording. • Check your recording levels (audio only). • Tune your instrument if necessary (audio only). • Set the Now time to the point where recording should start. • Start recording. After you record, you can use the Edit > Undo command to erase the most recently recorded material.
three recording modes to determine what happens to those clips. When you save your project, you also save whatever recording mode you choose together with that project: Recording mode How it works Sound on Sound The new material is merged with any existing material. This means that any existing clips on the track are left unchanged and all newly recorded material is stored in new clips. While recording, you will be able to hear material from existing clips.
A drop-down menu of MIDI inputs appears. 2. Choose an input from the following: • None. This option actually sets the Input field to Omni with this setting the track will record any MIDI input coming in on any enabled port (MIDI interface input driver) on any channel. • All Inputs > (MIDI Omni or MIDI ch 1-16). With this setting the track will record any MIDI input coming in on any enabled port (MIDI interface input driver) on any channel, unless you choose a particular MIDI channel instead of MIDI Omni.
2. Select the audio driver for the sound card you want to record with from these options: • None. This choice ensures that you do not record to the track in question. It also turns off input monitoring for this track. • Left (name of your sound card). Choose this if you want to record a mono signal on the left channel of your sound card. • Right (name of your sound card). Choose this if you want to record a mono signal on the right channel of your sound card. • Stereo (name of your sound card).
Or • To arm a track in the Console view, click (to see the Arm button in the Console view, the MSR button on the left side of the Console view must be depressed). Or • To arm several tracks at the same time, select one or more tracks in the Track view, then rightclick and choose Arm from the pop-up menu. A track’s Arm button turns red to indicate that the track is armed for recording. To disarm all tracks at once • Click the red Arm label that’s located in the status bar at the bottom of the SONAR window.
To listen to the new material, set the Now time to the start of the clip and press the SPACEBAR or click . If you’re not happy with the recording, use Edit > Undo or press CTRL+Z to erase the new material. When you stop recording, if you do not see a new clip in the Clips pane, you may have a problem with MIDI input. See “Troubleshooting” for more information. See: Recording Specific Ports and Channels Input quantizing Input quantizing allows you to automatically quantize MIDI input during recording.
• To turn input quantizing on or off for all tracks, make sure no tracks are selected (or press CTRL+A to select all tracks), then use the Tracks > Input Quantize > Enable/Disable Input Quantize command, or click the Enable/Disable Input Quantize button in the Record toolbar. To set the resolution • To set the resolution for a single track, click the track’s Input Quantize resolution menu, and choose a resolution from the drop-down menu that appears.
Figure 38. The Record toolbar A B A. Enable/Disable Input Quantize B. Quantize Settings • The red swath that appears in a track in the area where recording is taking place changes color. You can choose a color for this in the Configure Colors dialog (Options > Colors command) by choosing Clips Pane in the Color Category menu, and changing the entry for Input Quantize Record Preview Background.
Figure 39. Click the Show/hide Arpeggiator Controls button to see additional controls. A B A. Basic Arpeggiator controls visible B. Advanced Arpeggiator controls visible Figure 40. Arpeggiator controls A B C D E A. Enable/disable B. Presets C. Show/hide Arpeggiator Controls D. Rate menu E. Shapes menu Tip: As with other widgets in the Track view, you can specify the visibility of the Arpeggiator widget for each tab at bottom of the Track pane. For details, see Widget Tab Manager.
Arpeggiator controls The following table describes the controls in the Arpeggiator. Control Description Enable/Disable Enables/disables the arpeggiator on a given track. This control can be assigned to MIDI remote control and modified in real-time during project playback. Preset Control You can create and edit arpeggiator presets; all user parameters are stored in the preset. • Arpeggiator settings are included in track templates.
Control Description Ch MIDI input and output menu—the Arpeggiator only affects input data that’s on the MIDI channels listed on this menu. The arpeggiator always obeys the track’s assigned output channel, plus any additional channels specified in the arpeggiators Ch menu. Shapes Choose a shape that specifies the direction in which currently held notes are to be sequenced.
A A. Enable/Disable Arpeggiator toggle To show/hide advanced Arpeggiator controls • Click the Show/Hide Arpeggiator Controls button. A A. Show/Hide Arpeggiator Controls Using patterns and presets Pre-authored patterns are used to apply rhythmic and melodic variations to the arpeggio. SONAR includes many professionally-authored pattern files for you to experiment with. Pattern files have a .ptn file extension. An Arpeggiator preset stores a pattern along with the current Arpeggiator parameter settings.
To load an Arpeggiator pattern 1. Click the Preset control in the Arpeggiator widget and select Open Pattern from the drop-down menu. 2. Navigate to the folder that contains your Arpeggiator pattern files (.ptn) and select the desired pattern. A A. Click to load a pattern To load an Arpeggiator preset • Click the Preset control in the Arpeggiator widget, point to Presets and select the desired preset. A A.
A A. Click to save a new preset See: Arpeggiator Recording audio Before you record audio, you should check your input levels. If the levels are too low, you may end up with too much hiss and background noise in your recording. If the levels are too high, your recording will be inaccurate or distorted. To check your audio levels, use the audio meters in the either the Track view or Console view.
Watch the meters respond. Increase the input volume as high as possible without ever letting the meters move all the way to 0dB, even for an instant, or letting the Clipping indicator turn red. If either of these things happen, reduce the input volume just enough to avoid them during the entire performance.
5. Adjust the pitch if necessary and repeat for the rest of the pitches you need to tune. To Record Audio 1. Choose the audio inputs for the track(s) you want to record. 2. Arm the tracks for recording. The Clips pane next to each armed track turns a reddish hue when the track is armed. 3. Set the Now time to the point in the project where you want to start recording. 4. Click , press R, or choose Transport > Record. If your metronome count-in is turned on, it will play the count-in measures or beats. 5.
snapshot taken at certain time intervals, while the actual waveform represents all the data that is recorded. • MIDI tracks display the actual data that they record, both in the Clips pane and the Piano Roll view (not the Staff view). • Automation envelopes and nodes are drawn in real time as the automation data is being recorded. If you want to turn off the real-time display of audio clips, see the following procedure. To Turn Off Waveform Preview for Audio Recording 1.
SONAR The bottom block of the picture represents the sound card. The shaded area above it represents the audio drivers. The unshaded area at the top represents the main environment of the operating system. As the diagram shows, analog audio flows into the card's line input (on the left), and is immediately split in two. One branch goes up through the analog-to-digital converter (ADC), where the audio is digitized, buffered and fed to the driver (labeled Wave In in the diagram).
Suppose you are counting "1, 2, 3" into your sound card very quickly. When you say the first "1," this sound immediately appears in all the places indicated in the illustration above. In other words, the analog audio signal is pure electrical signal traveling at the speed of light, so it is immediately present across all analog audio paths inside the sound card. say “2” SONAR Next, you say "2.
The feedback problem results whenever you have a loop in your mixer path: the output of your mixer is patched into the input of your sound card. Feedback can happen with or without input monitoring, but since input monitoring can add several levels of gain to the signal flow, it’s of greater concern when you have input monitoring enabled. Input monitoring is disabled by default when you install SONAR, and you enable it with the following procedure.
To automatically disable input monitoring during playback 1. Go to Options > Global and click the General tab. 2. Click Disable Input Monitoring during Playback (off by default). When this option is enabled, input monitoring will be disabled on all tracks during playback but not during recording. See also: Input Monitoring Arming tracks for recording The Audio Engine Button SONAR has a button in the Transport toolbar called the Audio Engine button .
Normally, to record each take you would have to arm a track, start recording, perform the take, and then stop recording. You can record multiple takes more easily using a feature called loop recording. Loop recording lets you start recording and record as many takes as you like, all in a single step. SONAR loops between the loop start and loop end time, allowing you to record one take on each pass. SONAR creates a clip for each take.
6. If you stack all takes in a single track, you can audition them later by using the Track Layers button in the right of the Track pane (each take will have its own Mute and Solo buttons). 7. Click OK to close the Record Options dialog, and set the Now time to the point in the project where you want to start recording. 8. Click , or press R, or choose Transport > Record. If your metronome count-in is turned on, it will play the count-in measure. 9. Play or perform the material you want to record.
When punch recording is enabled, the punch times are indicated by special markers in the Time Ruler, which is at the top of the Clips pane: A B A. Punch In B. Punch Out After you punch record, choosing Edit > Undo both discards any new material you recorded and restores the original material that had been deleted. You can also combine loop and punch recording to record several takes of a punch.
The material you play during the punch time is recorded in the chosen track, either replacing any existing material (Overwrite mode) or blending with it (Sound on Sound mode). To Use Punch While Looping 1. Choose the input for the track(s) you want to record, and arm the track(s) for recording. 2. Set the loop start and end times. 3. Set the punch start and end times, as described previously. 4. Choose Transport > Record Options, or click Options dialog box.
• Use other commands while step recording Note: SONAR doesn't respond to sync signals while the Step Record dialog is open and enabled.
Figure 43. The Step Record - Basic window G F E A B C D A. Insertion point location B. Position slider C. Basic/Advanced button D. Step Record Toggle button to enable/ disable step recording E. Click to move insertion point by step size F. Total step size display G. Custom tick size field Here’s a picture of Advanced mode: Figure 44. The Step Record - Advanced window A B D C A. Randomize durations field B. Step pattern recording field C. Click to move insertion point by single beat D.
To Use Basic Step Recording 1. Open the Step Record dialog by using the Transport > Step Record command, or by clicking in the Record toolbar to display the Step Record dialog box, or press SHIFT+F4. 2. Make sure that the Basic mode of the Step Record dialog is displayed (the Adv. button will be showing if the Basic mode is displayed; if the Bas. button is showing, click it). 3.
controls to advance the insertion point. If you are still holding down a note or notes when you advance the insertion point, the step size of the held notes is extended by the current step size. 9. Continue recording notes of the same step size and duration to the same track, or change any of those parameters and continue recording. To create a rest, advance the insertion point without playing any notes. To delete notes on previous steps, you can press CTRL+Z for each recorded step.
To Add Two Step Sizes Together 1. Choose your first step size. If desired, use any combination of tuplet and dotted values. 2. Press the + key on the Num Pad. A plus sign appears after the value in the Step Size “n” Ticks field. 3. Choose your second step size. If desired, use any combination of tuplet and dotted values. The total step size appears in the Step Size “n” Ticks field. 4. Press the note on your MIDI keyboard that you want to enter.
want to bind, and click the Bind button to bind them together. Bind additional keys and commands as needed.
Step Pattern Recording The Pattern option lets you define a repeating rhythmic pattern of notes and rests so that you can use step recording more efficiently. For example, suppose your project is in 4/4 time, and one track has a pattern that is two measures long: quarter notes in the first measure and on the first two beats of the second measure, followed by a half-note rest on the last two beats. This pattern has six quarter notes followed by two quarter-note rests.
Recording Specific Ports and Channels Most MIDI instruments are capable of sending information on several different channels at once. By default, SONAR merges all incoming MIDI data and records it on whatever MIDI tracks are armed. However, SONAR also allows you to control which MIDI input ports and channels each track will record. Here are some examples of when this feature might be useful: • There are several performers, each playing a different MIDI instrument.
that’s on the MIDI channel you chose. • (name of MIDI input driver) > (MIDI Omni or MIDI ch 1-16). Choosing this option causes the track to record any MIDI channel coming from the named MIDI interface input driver, unless you choose a particular MIDI channel instead of MIDI Omni. Then the track will only record input that’s on the MIDI channel you chose, from the named input driver. • Preset. If you’ve created any preset collections of input ports and channels, you can select one here. • Manage Presets.
To Filter Event Types 1. Choose Options > Global and click the MIDI tab. 2. Check the message types you want recorded. 3. Click OK. From now on, SONAR records only the types of events you have chosen. Importing Music and Sound While recording is perhaps the most common way of adding material to a SONAR project, there are several other methods you can also use.
The sampling rate and bit depth for a project is set based on your default settings in the Audio Options dialog. If the sampling rate from the Wave file does not match the sampling rate in your project, then it will be converted to the current project’s sampling rate and bit depth. To Import an Audio File 1. Set the Now time and current track to indicate where the audio should be placed. 2. Choose File > Import > Audio to display the Open dialog box. 3. Choose the audio file you want to import.
To import a Broadcast Wave file: 1. If you want SONAR to import Broadcast Wave files always at their timestamped location, select Options > Global, click the Audio Data tab and check the Always Import Broadcast Waves At Their Timestamp option. Otherwise, set the Now Time and current track to indicate where the audio should be placed. 2. Choose File > Import > Audio to display the Open dialog box. 3. Choose the audio file you want to import.
You use the Edit > Copy and Edit > Paste commands to import material from one project to another using the Windows clipboard. The project that contains the material you want to import is the source project. The project into which the material is imported is the target project. Normally, if you copy material from several different tracks to the Windows clipboard, the information will be pasted back into separate tracks.
OMF Explained The OMF format, or OMFI (Open Media Framework Interchange, means the same as OMF), is a file format that can be read by many professional-level audio programs.
6. The Bit Depth field displays the bit depth of the imported audio if the audio is embedded. If the audio is external, the Bit Depth field defaults to the Original menu option, which will import the audio at the bit depth the audio is currently using. If you want to import the audio at a different bit depth, you can choose the bit depth in this field. 7.
2. Do one of the following: • Select Import Audio to import an audio file. • Select Import MIDI to import a MIDI file. See: Importing Music and Sound Saving Your Work Like most Windows programs, SONAR has a File > Save command and a File > Save As command to save your work. Normally, you save your projects in the standard project file format, with a file extension of .cwp. This file contains all your MIDI data and all your project settings.
If there is a power failure or if you make a significant mistake, you can recover the last-saved version of your project by opening this file. You should then save your project under a different name by using the File > Save As command. To Save a Project 1. Choose File > Save As to display the Save As dialog box. 2. Choose the type of file you want to save from the Save as Type list. 3. Enter a file name and click Save. SONAR saves the file. You can also use File Versioning instead of using Save As.
3. Click OK. Note: If the current project is unsaved at the time you choose File > Revert, you will be prompted with a warning that reverting the project will cause all unsaved changes to be lost. When the reverted project is loaded, the timestamp is stripped off, and the reverted project assumes the project’s original name.
Figure 45. The File Info window 3. If you want the File Info window to display automatically, save the file. 4. Click Stats to see statistics about the contents of the file. 5. Choose File > Print Preview if you want to print the project information 6. Close the File Info window. File Statistics To open the File Statistics dialog, select File > Info and click the Stats button in the File Info dialog.
Recording Saving Your Work
Arranging and editing The Track view makes it easy to arrange and mix your projects from a single view. From one location, you can select, copy, move, mix, and rearrange the parts of your project, using menu commands or drag-and-drop tools. You can add real-time audio and MIDI effects from the Effects bin and buses. Markers provide easy-to-use reference points and labels for the different parts of your project, and the snap grid makes it easy to align your clips to the desired time points.
Arranging Tracks SONAR provides a variety of commands that let you work with the tracks in your project. Here are some of the things you can do: You can Here’s why Rearrange the tracks in the Track view so that they appear in a different order This makes it easier to see and work with a subset of tracks, like the rhythm section, or the vocals and vocal backing tracks, or all muted tracks. Hide individual tracks This makes it easier to work in a large project.
See: Changing the Order of Tracks Configuring the Display of Tracks in the Track View Inserting Tracks Copying Tracks Erasing Tracks Changing the Order of Tracks There are several ways you can change the order of tracks in the Track view: • Drag a track to a new position in the Track view. • Use the Tracks > Sort command to rearrange the tracks in order based on the track name, status, or other setting. To Drag a Track to a New Position 1.
To Sort the Tracks 1. Choose Tracks > Sort to display the Sort Tracks dialog box. 2. Choose the attribute by which to sort from the Sort By list: Attribute How it works Name If you choose this attribute, SONAR puts the tracks into alphabetical order, either ascending or descending, depending on what you choose in the Order list.
To Insert a Single Track • Click the Insert New Tracks or Buses button options from the pop-up menu. that’s in the Track View toolbar, and choose Or • Right-click in the Track pane at the place where you want to insert a track, and select Insert Audio Track to add an audio track or Insert MIDI Track to add a MIDI track. Or • Press INSERT to add a track of the same type (audio or MIDI) as the current track.
or hide any combination of tracks, and revert back to previous display settings. The following table lists each of these commands and provides an explanation of each: Command Description Shortcut Show and Fit Selection SHIFT+S This command hides all tracks which are not selected. The remaining tracks are adjusted in size vertically and horizontally to fit in the Track view, without scrolling if possible. All track selections are lost after this command is executed.
A A. Maximize Strip button When you lock the height of a track, its height does not change when you use a Zoom or Fit command. When a track’s height is locked, you can still drag the track strip’s lower border to adjust the track’s height. After you drag the border, the altered track height becomes the track’s locked height.
To Delete Tracks 1. Select the tracks you want to delete. 2. Choose Tracks > Delete. SONAR deletes the selected tracks. You can also right-click individual tracks and choose Delete Track from the pop-up menu. To Wipe Tracks 1. Select the tracks you want to wipe. 2. Choose Tracks > Wipe. SONAR deletes all clips and events from the selected tracks, but leaves the track properties intact.
or select More Track Templates. This inserts tracks that are exactly like the template. If you don’t want to use all of the track characteristics that are in the template, you can filter the characteristics that you don’t want by selecting Import Filter from the pop-up menu. This opens the Track Template Import Options dialog, which allows you to specify what track characteristics you want to import.
To Change a Track Icon 1. Right-click on the icon you want to change. 2. Select Load Track Icon from the menu that appears. The Open dialog appears. 3. Select an icon and click Open. Or 1. Put the focus on the track you want to change. 2. Use the Tracks > Property > Icon > Load Icon command. The Open dialog appears. 3. Select an icon and click Open. Note: The right-click option is not available when you right-click a track icon in a track header in the Track view.
The top left pixel in the BMP determines the transparent color. If you prefer to not have transparent icons, add the following variable to Cakewalk.ini: [WinCake] IconTopLeftPixelTransparent=0 When transparency is enabled, the global color entry (Options > Colors) called "Track View Icons Background" determines the background color ("Console Strips Icons background" does the same for the Console view and Track Inspector).
To Restore the Default Order • Right-click the kind of track that you want to restore to the default order, and choose Restore Default Widget Order from the pop-up menu. If you want to restore buses to the default order, right-click a bus. Surround buses are separate from stereo buses. To Configure Track and Bus Tabs 1. Right-click a tab, and choose Widget Tab Manager from the pop-up menu. The Widget Tab Manager dialog appears. 2.
TVControlSpacingY=, default = 3 Specifies the vertical space, in pixels, between controls. The default spacing is 3 pixels. TVSpacingXInCluster=, default = 2 Specifies the horizontal space between each button in a “cluster”. The default value is 2 pixels.
• Name. You can also assign each clip a descriptive name, which is displayed in the upper-left corner of the clip. Contents. At your option, clips can be displayed with a graphical representation of the events in the clip. The effect is slightly different for MIDI and audio information. A B C A. A MIDI clip shows each event; by looking at the clips, you can “see” the notes that are being played B. An audio clip shows the actual waveform C.
Or • Hold down the CTRL key and press the right arrow key (to zoom in) or the LEFT ARROW key (to zoom out). To Zoom Vertically • Click the vertical zoom buttons to zoom in or out by a fixed percentage each time you click. Or • Drag the vertical zoom fader to zoom in or out by the amount you drag. Or • Hold down the CTRL key and press the UP ARROW key (to zoom out) or the DOWN ARROW key (to zoom in).
To Select Fast Zoom Options 1. Select Fast Zoom Options from the Zoom tool drop-down menu. The Fast Zoom dialog box opens. 2. Select the intensity of the Zoom effect in Zoom Factor by using the spinners or manually entering a value. 3. Select the vertical and horizontal Zoom focus. 4. Check or uncheck Simultaneous Vertical and Horizontal Zoom. The default is for Simultaneous Vertical and Horizontal Zoom to be checked. If you uncheck it, Fast Zoom exhibits the following behaviors.
SONAR renames the selected clips. To Change Clip Colors 1. Select the clips whose color you want to change. 2. Right-click on one of the selected clips and choose Clip Properties. SONAR opens the Clip Properties dialog box. 3. Choose a color as follows: To do this Do this Use the default color Check the Default Color box Use a custom color Click the Choose Color button and pick a color from the Color dialog box Table 58. 4. Click OK. SONAR changes the color of the selected clips.
By default, double-clicking a MIDI clip in the Clips pane opens a Piano Roll view for that track, and double-clicking an Audio clip opens the Loop Construction view for that track. To Open a View From a Clip 1. Right-click in the Clips pane, and choose View from the pop-up menu. 2. Choose the type of view you want to work with from the submenu. Selecting Clips Before you move, copy, edit, or delete clips you need to select them.
You have these options: Option How it works Blend Old and New Events in the copied or moved clip are placed into a new clip that overlaps with the existing clip. This is the same effect as sound-on-sound recording. Replace Old with New Events in the copied or moved clip are placed into a new clip, and any overlapping events in the existing clip are erased. This is the same effect as overwrite recording.
2. If you want to move the clips by an exact amount of time, enable the snap grid (see “To Change the Snap Options” on page 317). 3. Position the mouse over one of the selected clips. 4. Press and hold down the left mouse button. A rectangle is displayed around the selected clips. 5. Drag the clips to their new location, and release the mouse button. 6.
3. Choose the options you want and click OK. SONAR cuts the clips from the project and places them on the Windows clipboard. 4. Click in the Track pane to set the current track to be the one where clips should be pasted. 5. Set the Now time to be the time at which the clips should be pasted. 6. Choose Edit > Paste to display the Paste dialog box. Figure 50. The Paste dialog 7. Choose the options you want and click OK. SONAR places the clips in their new location.
stays constant, and its M:B:T position shifts. Note: The length of a clip may also change when you change the tempo—audio clips maintain their absolute (SMPTE) length, while a MIDI clip will follow the value in the Time Base field. If a MIDI clip is set to use musical time, the clip maintains its M:B:T length. If a MIDI clip is set to use absolute time, the clip maintains its absolute length. 6. Click OK when you are done. SONAR adjusts the clip to the values you chose.
To Delete Clips 1. Select the clips you want to delete. 2. Do one of the following: • Choose Edit > Delete, which brings up a dialog box—choose options and click OK. • Press the DELETE key. SONAR deletes the selected clips. See: Splitting and Combining Clips Working with Partial Clips Working with Linked Clips Reverting clip(s) to original time stamp All audio and MIDI clips in SONAR have a Original Time property, which stores the original SMPTE time stamp associated with a clip.
• Right-click a clip and choose Revert Clip(s) to Original Time Stamp from the context menu. • Open the Clip Properties dialog and click Revert. See Clip Properties dialog—General. Locking Clips You can lock a clip so that it can’t be accidentally modified or deleted. You can lock the clip’s position and/or its data. To Lock or Unlock a Clip’s Position and/or Data 1. Right-click the clip, and choose Clip Properties from the pop-up menu to open the Clip Properties dialog. 2.
both position and data become locked, and a “locked” lock icon appears on the clip. In unlock mode, if both position and data are locked, and you unlock position, then the blue “unlocked” lock icon appears on the clip, meaning that only data is locked. • Clip Lock > Lock Data. In lock mode, this choice locks data only, and causes a blue lock icon with the clasp unlocked to appear on the clip.
Nudge Nudging is moving a clip or a MIDI note by a small amount to the left or right or up and down. There are three customizable settings for the Nudge feature. You can also nudge clips (in the Track view) or notes (in the Piano Roll view) up or down, and you can use keyboard shortcuts (see “To Nudge a Clip Using Keyboard Shortcuts” on page 313). See: Nudge Settings Nudge Settings The Nudge tab in the Global Options dialog allows you to set the three Nudge settings.
field: Absolute time setting Description Seconds Whole seconds. Milliseconds Thousands of a second. Frames Number of frames. The default frame count is 30 frames per second. The number of frames varies depending on the setting in the Project Options dialog’s Clock tab. Samples A very small amount of time. For CD-quality audio there are 44,100 samples per second, so a value of 1 here would not move a clip by a perceptible amount.
Working with Partial Clips SONAR lets you select, copy, move, and delete portions of a project even if they do not match clip boundaries. There are two ways to do this: • Directly select portions of one or more clips. • Select a range of times and one or more tracks. SONAR automatically selects the portions of clips that are in both the selected time range and the selected tracks. You can then copy, move, or delete the material the same way you do with whole clips.
To Clear the Partial Clip Selection You can clear the time-restricted selection in any of the following ways: • Click in an empty area of the Clips pane to completely clear the selection. • Choose Edit > Select > None or press CTRL+SHIFT+A to completely clear the selection. • Click on a single clip in the Clips pane to clear the time selection and select the clip. Markers and the snap grid SONAR has a collection of features you can use to simplify and speed the work you do arranging your projects.
Figure 52. View Options dialog SONAR displays the Track view as you requested. Defining and Using the Snap Grid SONAR lets you define a snap grid that makes it easier to arrange clips, select time ranges, and control envelope shape drawing.
To Change the Snap Options 1. Click the down arrow in the Snap to Grid combo button or right-click on the Time Ruler and select Snap Properties from the pop-up menu to display the Snap to Grid window Figure 53. The Snap to Grid window 2. If you open the Snap to Grid window in the Track view, the window contains two tabs: one for the Inline Piano Roll view (the PRV Mode tab), and one for the Clips pane (the Clips tab). Click the tab of the area that you will be editing in. 3.
Snap Offsets Snap offsets allow you to set a point other than the beginning of a clip as the “snap” point used by the Snap to Grid. A snap offset is the number of samples from the beginning of the clip. Snap offsets affect all edits that obey the Snap to Grid setting. Once the snap offset is added, you can set the Timer Ruler to SMPTE or MBT time. Note: You cannot set a snap offset for a Groove clip. Creating a Snap Offset Use the following to add a snap offset to a clip: 1.
are useful for projects that require you to sync the music or sound with film scores or multimedia presentations. See “To Add a Marker” on page 319. SONAR takes the current snap grid settings into account when you move or copy markers. For example, if the snap grid is set to even measure boundaries, any time you move or copy a marker, the marker will be snapped to the beginning of the nearest measure. You are allowed to have any number of markers at a single time point.
Figure 55. The Marker dialog 2. Enter a name for the marker in the Name box. 3. The time is set to the Now time. If you want, use the spinners to change the time or type in a new marker time. 4. Check the Locked to SMPTE box if you want to lock the marker to the SMPTE time. 5. Click OK. SONAR adds the marker and displays it in the Time Ruler, the Markers view, and the Markers toolbar. To Add a Marker on the Fly • Click in the Markers toolbar, or Press F11.
SONAR updates the markers. To Move a Marker • Drag the marker in the Time Ruler. SONAR updates the marker time and shows it at the new location. To Delete a Marker 1. Press and hold the left mouse button while pointing to a marker in the Time Ruler. 2. Press DELETE, and release the mouse button. SONAR deletes the marker. You can use Edit > Undo if you make a mistake. To Delete Markers from the Markers View 1. In the Markers view, select one or more markers.
• If punch recording is enabled, click to the right of the Punch In marker to select the punch region Tip: If you press TAB or right-click while holding down the left mouse button over the markers, you can toggle through which of the overlaid markers you'd like to move. For example, if the Now Time marker, a regular Marker, a Loop point, and a Punch point are all at measure 5, pressing Tab (while holding down the left mouse button) toggles through T (Now Time), M (regular), L (Loop), and P (Punch).
Clip type TAB target MIDI clips. Each Note event (MIDI Controller data is ignored). Note: If there are multiple Note events at the exact same tick position, only one of the notes will be tabbed to. MIDI Groove clips. Each Note event. Step Sequencer clips. Each step that contains a note. Table 64. TAB to transients landmarks (Continued) TAB to transients in the Piano Roll view In addition to the Track view inline Piano Roll, TAB to transients also works in the Piano Roll view.
3. Click OK. 4. Select the clips you want to copy. 5. Position the mouse over one of the selected clips. 6. Press and hold down the CTRL key. 7. Press and hold down the left mouse button. A rectangle is displayed around the selected clips. 8. Drag the clips to their new location, and release the mouse button. 9. If necessary, confirm the options in the Drag and Drop Options dialog box, and click OK. SONAR creates copies of the selected clips that are linked to the originals.
Splitting and Combining Clips SONAR provides several commands that are used to split and combine clips. Specifically, you can: • Split a clip into several smaller clips • Create a new clip from a selected portion of an existing clip • Combine adjacent or overlapping clips into a single, longer clip The following table summarizes the commands you can use: To do this Use this command Notes Split clips into parts Edit > Split Works on all selected clips.
Note that the Edit > Undo and Edit > Redo commands work with all three of these editing commands. To Split Clips into Smaller Clips 1. Select the clips you want to split. 2. Right-click on any selected clip, and choose Split from the pop-up menu. SONAR shows the Split dialog box or press the S key to split the clip(s) at the Now Time. 3. Choose the Split option you want to use, and enter the settings you want to use. 4. Click OK. Or 1. Select the clips you want to split. 2.
Note 2: A multi-layer layer track has only one set of track automation envelopes. For step-by-step instructions, see the following procedures: To Enable or Disable the Multi-layer Option • For single tracks, you can right-click the Track Scale, and choose Show Layers from the pop-up menu, or use the Layers > Show Layers command on the Track pane right-click menu, or click the Track Layers On/Off button. A B A. Track Layers On/Off button B.
To Mute or Unmute One or More Layers • On the Track Scale, click the M button that’s at the same vertical level as the layer you want to mute or unmute. You can drag across multiple mute buttons to mute or unmute multiple layers. Note: If you mute a layer and then disable the Show Layers feature, the Track Scale displays a small blue indicator to show that a hidden layer is muted: A A.
Layer from the pop-up menu. To Delete a Layer from a Track • Right-click the Track Scale at the position where you want to delete a layer, and choose Delete Layer from the pop-up menu. To Select a Layer • Right-click the Track Scale at the same vertical position where the desired layer is, and choose Select Layer from the pop-up menu. You can de-select the layer by clicking an empty area of the Clips pane. To Loop Record Multiple Takes into Separate Track Layers 1.
With the new Mute tool muting: , that’s in the Track view toolbar, SONAR offers two styles of clip • Default style. After you activate the Mute tool, you can drag through time ranges to mute all or part of a clip: dragging through the bottom half of a clip mutes the time range you drag through; dragging through the top half of a clip unmutes the range you drag through.
A A. Muted area of clip To Unmute a Time Range Using Default Style 1. Make sure that Mute Time Ranges under Click+Drag Behavior in the Mute tool drop-down menu has a check mark. 2. Using the Mute tool, click inside the upper half of a clip in the muted area. To Mute or Unmute an Entire Clip Using Default Style 1. Make sure that Mute Time Ranges under Click+Drag Behavior in the Mute tool drop-down menu has a check mark. 2.
Clip Muting with the Alternate Style Clip Muting with the Alternate Style When you choose Mute Entire Clips under Click+Drag Behavior in the Mute tool drop-down menu, you can use the following procedures to mute all or parts of clips. This is the alternate style. To Enable or Disable the Mute Tool • Click the Mute tool or press K on your keyboard. The Mute tool turns blue when it is enabled. To Mute or Unmute an Entire Clip Using Alternate Style 1.
Audition (Selection Playback) Isolating (Clip Soloing) Audition (Selection Playback) The Transport > Audition command plays back only selected clips and/or time ranges. To use the command, hold down the SHIFT key and then press the SPACEBAR. Only the selected data plays back. Isolating (Clip Soloing) Isolating works by muting all the clips in a track in the same time region except the ones that you want to hear. Just like clip muting, isolating has two styles: • Default style.
Track Folders A track folder contains tracks in the Track pane of the Track view. Track folders make larger projects much easier to manage—you can group different types of tracks in their own folder: vocals, soft synths, ReWire instruments, drums, etc. The main characteristics of a track folder are: • You can edit all the tracks in the folder as if you were editing a single track—especially valuable for drum tracks. The track folder displays a composite clip in the Clips pane of all the clips in the folder.
A new track folder appears in the Track pane. To Add a Track to a Track Folder • In the Track view, move the mouse cursor just to the right of the track number of a pre-existing track until the cursor turns into a black, double-ended arrow, and then click and drag the track’s titlebar onto the track folder. Release the mouse. Or • Insert a track when a track within a track folder has focus.
To Open or Close a Track Folder • Click the folder icon that’s just left of the track folder’s name. To Select or Deselect all the Tracks in a Track Folder • Click just to the left of the folder icon. To Rename a Track Folder • Double-click the track folder’s name, type a new name, and press ENTER. Or • Right-click the track folder, choose Folder Properties from the pop-up menu, type a name in the Name field of the Folder Properties dialog, and click OK.
A A. Right-click here to add an effect An effects pop-up menu appears. SONAR displays MIDI effects if you are editing a MIDI track, and audio effects for an audio track. 2. Select an effect from the menu. The name of the effect appears in the Effects bin and the effect’s property page appears. To delete the effect, right-click the effect name and choose Delete from the pop-up menu. 3. Set the effects parameters or choose a preset. Play your track and listen to the effect(s).
while the audio tracks will play at the same speed. For more information about Groove clips, see “Working Groove Clip audio” on page 419. Audio clips that are not Groove clips change in size when moved to a part of your project that has a different tempo. Sometimes you don’t want to adjust the speed of your audio. Here are some examples: • If your project contains background music and a voice-over, you might want to change the tempo of the background music without altering the voice-over.
speed), and 2.00 (double speed). You can change the tempo ratios that are associated with each button. Note: Tempo ratios can only be used in projects that contain no audio tracks and cannot be used when using any form of synchronization. For more information, see Synchronizing Your Gear. To Change the Current Tempo in the Tempo Toolbar 1. Enable Groove Clip Looping on any audio clips that you want to follow the tempo changes.
The Insert > Tempo Change and Insert > Series of Tempos commands can be used to change the existing tempo of a project or to introduce one or more tempo changes at various points in a project. You can enter tempo values directly, introduce smooth increase or decreases in tempo, or even use your mouse to tap out the tempo you want for some portion of a project. To Insert a Tempo Change 1. Enable Groove Clip Looping on any audio clips that you want to follow the tempo changes.
Figure 59. The Insert Series of Tempos dialog 3. Enter a starting tempo, ending tempo, and step size. 4. Enter a starting and ending time for the series of tempo changes. 5. Click OK. SONAR erases any existing tempo changes between the starting and ending time, and inserts a series of tempo changes that change smoothly between the starting and ending time. This command never inserts more than one tempo change on the same clock tick.
Tempo or click on the toolbar to display the Tempo view. Click the Tempo List button display or hide the tempo list. to The Tempo view If an entire project has a single tempo, the graph shows a straight horizontal line, and a single tempo in the list.
The Tempo List Pane has its own tools for editing tempo changes: Tool Name What it’s for Insert Tempo Insert a new tempo change Delete Tempo Delete a tempo change Tempo Properties Edit a tempo change Table 69. To Insert a Tempo Change in the Tempo View 1. Enable Groove Clip Looping on any audio clips that you want to follow the tempo changes. Do this by selecting one or more clips, right-clicking a selected clip, and choosing Groove > Clip Looping from the pop-up menu.
To Erase Tempo Changes in the Tempo View 1. Enable Groove Clip Looping on any audio clips that you want to follow the tempo changes. Do this by selecting one or more clips, right-clicking a selected clip, and choosing Groove > Clip Looping from the pop-up menu. Each clip that has Groove Clip Looping enabled has beveled edges instead of sharp corners. The same command disables Groove Clip Looping on any selected clip that has Groove Clip Looping enabled. 2. Select the tool. 3.
To Delete a Tempo Change from the Tempo List in the Tempo View 1. Enable Groove Clip Looping on any audio clips that you want to follow the tempo changes. Do this by selecting one or more clips, right-clicking a selected clip, and choosing Groove > Clip Looping from the pop-up menu. Each clip that has Groove Clip Looping enabled has beveled edges instead of sharp corners. The same command disables Groove Clip Looping on any selected clip that has Groove Clip Looping enabled. 2.
The History command is grayed out until you make a change to the current project that can be undone. The History list is updated every time you make a change to a project. For example, if you insert a new note into a project using the Piano Roll view, that action is added to the History list. This entry remains on the list—even if you undo the change—so that you can redo the change later on. If you delete the note, this change is added to the History list.
See also: Using Slip-editing Using Slip-editing SONAR makes it easy to edit audio and MIDI clips by way of prominent clip handles that appear as your cursor comes close to the edges of clips. The clip handles are easy to see and are equipped with broad functionality for fade-ins, fade-outs, and crossfades, as well as non-destructive editing of the beginning and end of clips. To Slip-edit a Clip 1. Set the Snap to Grid to an appropriate interval. 2.
2. Click and drag the clip to the left or right as desired. As in the case of slip-editing, the hidden information in the clip remains intact but is not heard during playback. To Move Data and the Clip Edge 1. Hold down ALT+SHIFT and move the cursor to the edge of the clip you wish to edit. A clip handle appears at the edge of the clip you are editing. 2. Click and drag the edge of the clip to the desired location. The hidden information in the clip remains intact but is not heard during playback.
To Permanently Delete Slip-edited Data 1. Select the clips that contain the slip-edited data you want to delete. 2. Select the Edit > Apply Trimming command. SONAR permanently deletes the slip-edited data from the clips you selected. Slip-editing Multiple Clips You can slip-edit multiple clips at the same time. To Slip-edit Multiple Clips at Once 1. Make sure all clips are not loop-enabled. 2. Select the clips you want to slip-edit. 3.
To Choose the Fade Type 1. Click the drop-down arrow located at the right of the Fade tool 2. Choose Fade-in, Fade-out, or Crossfade from the drop-down menu by hovering your cursor over the type of fade you want to make. A second menu of available fade-in, fade-out, and crossfade envelopes appears. 3. Click the envelope you want as your default. To Create a Real-time Fade-in in a Clip 1.
. A B A. Cursor above horizontal blue line B. Horizontal blue line • To move only the starting point of the fade-in, drag below the horizontal blue line. • To delete a fade-in from an audio clip, simply drag the triangular fade handle edge of the clip. to the front The filled blue triangle at the top of the clip handle indicates that dragging the top edge of the clip handle will move the fade along with the crop.
A B C D E A. First clip B. Fade-out C. Fade-in D. Second clip E. Crossfade You can edit fade-ins and fade-outs. You can change the start, end and position of a fade. The following procedures all demonstrate edits to a fade-in, but fade-outs work exactly the same. To Change an Existing Fade 1. Move your cursor over the beginning of a fade-out or the end of a fade-in, until your cursor looks like this: . 2. Right-click to and select the desired fade type from the menu that appears.
Parameter Description Alter Existing Times Select this option if you wish to change the existing fade lengths. You don’t need to check this option if you’re creating new fades. Alter Existing Curves Select this option if you wish to change the existing fade types. You don’t need to check this option if you’re creating new fades. Only Show if Pressing Shift Select if you want to apply previous dialog settings without opening the dialog. Hold shift when selecting command to override this option.
Arranging and editing Fades and Crossfades
AudioSnap SONAR’s AudioSnap engine and tempo analysis features give you unprecedented rhythmic and tempo control over your audio. Employing sophisticated transient detection technology, the AudioSnap engine automatically analyzes all recorded and imported audio files for rhythmic content to determine where the beats are in the music. AudioSnap is completely non-destructive, similar to Groove clips and V-Vocal clips. AudioSnap, V-Vocal, and Groove clips are mutually exclusive.
without changing its sound quality too drastically. SONAR contains a variety of high-quality stretching algorithms for different kinds of material. You can choose a lower-quality algorithm for real-time playback of your edits, and then choose a better algorithm for mixdown or bouncing to track (see “Algorithms and rendering” on page 406). SONAR lets you define the default online and offline algorithms via the AudioSnap palette, and you can override the default algorithm(s) on a clip-by-clip basis.
• Fixing timing errors in multi-track recordings while maintaining phase relationships (see Adjusting the timing of a multi-track performance while maintaining phase relationships). If you want to edit audio right away with AudioSnap, see Synchronizing audio and the project tempo and Fixing timing problems in audio clips. If you want to learn more about all the AudioSnap tools and options, see the following links.
The following table describes how the Transient tool behaves when interacting with transient markers and clips. Action On transient marker On clip Click Selects the transient marker. Selects the clip and opens the AudioSnap palette. Right-click Opens the transient marker context menu. Opens the AudioSnap context menu. Double-click -Selects transients from other tracks (from selected clips) that fall within a certain window of time of the transient the user is clicking on.
automatically. • Clips follow project tempo. map. This command forces the clip to follow the project’s global tempo Note: The Clips follow project tempo command only works on clips that are configured to use musical time (the Time Base property is set to Musical (M:B:T) in the Clip Properties dialog). • Edit clip tempo map. Each audio clip has an internal tempo map. This command exposes controls that allow you to edit a clip’s tempo map. For details, see Editing a clip’s tempo map.
Editing transient markers Using the AudioSnap palette Fixing timing problems in audio clips Synchronizing audio and the project tempo Extracting MIDI timing information from audio General editing Using the Pool Algorithms and rendering Keyboard shortcuts Editing transient markers Transient markers show where the transients of a clip are (areas where the level increases suddenly), and are used to edit the timing of audio clips.
To drag a transient marker and stretch audio To stretch multiple transient markers in a clip To stretch multiple transient markers in a clip proportionally To reset a transient marker To disable a transient marker To delete a transient marker To insert a new transient marker To copy transient markers from one track to another track To enable/disable transient markers To navigate to the next/previous transient (TAB to transients) Transient marker appearance Transient marker context menu To show/hide transie
2. Do one of the following: • Draw a lasso around the desired transient markers. • Click the first marker in the range, hold down the SHIFT key, and click the last marker in the range. The markers are highlighted. To select multiple discontiguous transient markers 1. Click the Transient Tool button in the Track View toolbar. 2. Hold down the CTRL key and click the desired transient markers. The markers are highlighted. To select the same transient in multiple clips 1.
To select all similar transient markers in a clip 1. Click the Select Tool button in the Track view toolbar. 2.
When you drag and drop the line of a marker, the marker moves to the place where you drop it, and the audio that is located between the dragged marker and the following marker stretches. Note: If you stretch a transient marker, AudioSnap is enabled on the clip. You can find additional marker editing commands on the transient marker context menu. To stretch multiple transient markers in a clip 1. Select the desired transient markers. 2. Drag any of the selected transient markers.
To insert a new transient marker 1. Click the Transient Tool button in the Track View toolbar. 2. Hold down the ALT key and click where you would like to insert a new transient marker. A new transient marker is inserted. or 1. Disable the Snap to Grid button (or press the N key) if the place you need the marker is not on a convenient snap location. 2. Select the clip or clips that need the marker. 3. Move the Now Time to the place where you want the marker. 4. Press CTRL+ALT+I.
preserves markers that are closest to the displayed musical time value, and disables others. Note: The Resolution setting will only work reliably if the audio clip’s internal tempo map is accurate. For details, see Editing a clip’s tempo map. • The Threshold slider in the AudioSnap palette. This slider works by disabling markers based on their volume.
Marker appearance Description Bright yellow Selected marker. Grey; only the head of the marker is visible Disabled marker. Arrow Stretched marker. Any given transient can only be stretched or shrunk to 25-400% of original length. A small arrow indicates in which direction the audio has been stretched. Note: An important difference between quantizing MIDI and audio is that two or more audio transients can never collapse on top of each other like MIDI notes can. Table 72.
Command Description Stretch to Moves the marker to the project time that you enter in the To Time field, and stretches the audio that is between the previous and next markers. Move to Moves the marker to the project time that you enter in the To Time field. Audition Beat Auditions the clip up to the next marker. Default shortcut is CTRL+SHIFT+SPACEBAR. Split Beat Splits the beat at the marker. AudioSnap Palette Table 73. Opens the AudioSnap palette.
• Press F12. AudioSnap is enabled/disabled on the selected audio clips, and transient markers are shown/ hidden. Note: AudioSnap is automatically enabled on a clip if you stretch a transient marker on the clip.
Figure 67. AudioSnap palette controls A B C D E F G H P I J Q R K L M N O A. Bypass B. Save as groove C. Copy as MIDI D. Show transient markers E. Split into clips by transient markers F. Toggle sample/musical based clip start time G. AudioSnap properties H. Set project tempo from clip I. Set clip tempo from project J. Clip follows project tempo K. Edit clip tempo map L. Quantize M. Groove quantize N. Threshold O. Resolution P. Applies to Q. Online render mode R.
Tempo section • Set Project Tempo From Clip . This button copies the clip’s tempo map to the project’s global tempo map. This allows the project’s measure boundaries to align with the audio clip. • Set Clip Tempo From Project . This button copies the project’s tempo map to the clip’s tempo map. This allows the project’s measure boundaries to align with the audio clip. • Clip Follows Project Tempo tempo map. .
• Tracks. When selected, the Online and Offline render mode settings apply to all current and future clips in the selected tracks. • Default Settings. When selected, the Online and Offline render mode settings apply to the Default (track/global) render mode. • Online. This choice determines what stretch algorithm is used during real-time playback. The Percussion options works better than the Groove Clip option on percussive material, especially if the stretching is by more than a few beats per minute.
Algorithms and rendering Keyboard shortcuts Synchronizing audio and the project tempo There are many reasons why you may want to synchronize audio clips with the project tempo. The following list presents a few common examples. AudioSnap provides two ways to quickly synchronize audio and the project tempo map: • Applying an audio clip’s internal tempo map to the project’s global tempo map.
You should make sure a clip’s internal tempo map is correct before using any of the tempo-related commands in the AudioSnap palette. For details, see Editing a clip’s tempo map. To sync the project tempo to an audio clip 1. Select the audio clip(s) that has the desired tempo map. 2. Press SHIFT+A to open the AudioSnap palette. 3. Click the Set Project Tempo From Clip button on the AudioSnap palette. The clip tempo map is copied to the project tempo map so the tempo maps are identical.
The global project tempo map is copied to the clip tempo map so the tempo maps are identical. Note: AudioSnap will always attempt to find the tempo of any clip recorded or imported into SONAR. While several possible tempos are normally generated, in some cases AudioSnap may be unable to detect the correct tempo or may not detect a tempo at all. This can occur if the source material is highly compressed or does not contain transient markers on all actual beats.
Figure 68. You can edit the internal tempo map of each audio clip The following controls are available when editing a clip’s tempo map: • Beat markers. Each detected beat has a corresponding beat marker. You can remap a beat marker by dragging the marker to any active transient marker. • Average Tempo. This list shows the average tempo candidates: original, 0.5x and 2x.
Note 1: Beat markers can only be dragged to active transient markers. If you need to drag a beat marker to a position that doesn’t have a corresponding transient marker, first insert a new transient marker at the desired position. For details, see To insert a new transient marker. You can also use the Merge and Lock Markers command to merge transient markers from other tracks. This is useful, for example, if one track contains beats 1 and 3 and another track contains beats 2 and 4.
Using the AudioSnap palette Synchronizing audio and the project tempo Fixing timing problems in audio clips Extracting MIDI timing information from audio General editing Using the Pool Algorithms and rendering Keyboard shortcuts Changing a project’s tempo Changing a whole project’s tempo is simple with AudioSnap, if the tempo change is not drastic. Before you change the global tempo of a project that contains audio, you must first make sure the audio clips are configured to follow tempo changes.
Editing transient markers Using the AudioSnap palette Synchronizing audio and the project tempo Fixing timing problems in audio clips Extracting MIDI timing information from audio General editing Using the Pool Algorithms and rendering Keyboard shortcuts Fixing timing problems in audio clips AudioSnap provides several ways to fix timing errors in audio clips: • You can drag individual beats or groups of beats to new positions. This gives you complete control over where each transient ends up.
• If you want to extract the groove from one clip and apply it to another clip, see To Groove Quantize an audio clip. You can extract a groove from both audio and MIDI clips. • If you need to synchronize audio with the projects tempo map, see Synchronizing audio and the project tempo.
Adjusting the timing of a multi-track performance while maintaining phase relationships Editing a multi-track instrument, such as a multi-microphone drum kit or a full band, requires a little more care than editing a solo performance. When stretching or quantizing multi-track audio, it is critical to maintain the phase relationships of the original recording. This can only be achieved if the tracks are stretched at the same exact points in time across all tracks.
transient markers on the drum tracks are progressively earlier as the measure goes on (the drummer is rushing). Our job is to align the drum hits with the piano hits so that the drum and piano tracks in time all the way through the measure. 1. Click the Transient Tool button in the Track View toolbar. Audio clips display transient markers and the AudioSnap palette appears. 2. Select the three drum tracks and make splits right before and right after the area you want to edit.
Figure 71. tracks. The Merge and Lock Markers command has copied the same transient markers to all three drum The drum tracks are now ready to be edited. We want to keep the feel of the piano track, so our goal is align the drum tracks with the piano track, while preserving the phase relationship between the three drum tracks.
Figure 72. The drum and piano hits are aligned The second drum and piano hits are close but not perfect, so we need to fix this single beat. 11.Hold down the CTRL key and double-click any drum transient marker on the second hit. All drum transient markers for the second hit are selected 12.Drag any selected transient markers until it aligns with the second piano hit. All three drum and piano hits are now aligned properly, and the phase relationships between all drum tracks have been preserved.
Figure 73. All three drum and piano hits are perfectly aligned For information about maintaining phase relationships without stretching audio, see To quantize multi-tracked drums without stretching audio.
clip’s transient markers to the Pool. For details, see To quantize an audio clip to another audio clip (Quantize to Pool). Tip: You can also copy one clip’s tempo to the project tempo, then configure other clips to follow the project tempo. For details, see To sync the project tempo to an audio clip and To sync an audio clip to the project tempo.
• You can quantize audio to the project’s time ruler. This is useful for tightening up a performance in a project that already has a fixed tempo or varying tempo map. For details, see To quantize audio to the project’s time ruler. • You can copy the feel of one track and apply it to another track. There are two ways to accomplish this with AudioSnap: • Method 1: Extract MIDI timing from the source track, then use Groove Quantize on the target track.
8. Click OK. To quantize an audio clip to another audio clip (Quantize to Pool) A common problem arises when two or more clips aren’t quite in sync with each other. You can fix this with AudioSnap if the sync errors aren’t huge. The AudioSnap command that is most helpful in this situation is the Quantize to Pool command. The way it works is you decide which clip has the correct rhythm, you add that clip’s transient markers to the Pool, and then you quantize the other clip’s transient markers to the Pool.
AudioSnap’s Add Transients to Pool command and Split Beats into Clips command allow you to slice your drum tracks at identical locations, so you can then drag or quantize whole clips without stretching any audio. This method of aligning clips does not change the phase relationships between the clips, as long as you move all the clips identically. Let’s take a look at some multi-tracked drum parts, and see how to quantize them all in exactly the same way.
9. Click the Set Project Tempo From Clip button establish a tempo map. to align measure lines with drum track and The project’s measure boundaries line up with the transients in the drum tracks. Note: If the measure boundaries do not line up properly with the drum tracks, you may need to edit the guide track’s tempo map. For details, see To edit a clip’s tempo map. 10.Select all the drum tracks. 11.Click the Split Beats into Clips button on the AudioSnap palette.
Now we can quantize all the clips at the same time. Let’s quantize this example to eighth notes: 12.Select all the clips that you want to quantize. 13.Use the Process > Quantize command to open the Quantize dialog. 14.In the Duration field, choose Eighth (for this example). 15.Configure the other settings as follows: • Make sure the AudioSnap Beats check box is cleared. • Make sure the Audio Clip Start Times is selected.
16.Click OK to close the Quantize dialog. After some processing time, the clip start times move to the eighth note boundaries: Some clips now overlap, and some clips have small gaps between them. Because the Auto XFade Audio Clips check box was enabled, and the XFade and Max Gap values were set at their default values, crossfades have been automatically added between clips, and any gaps that were smaller than the Max Gap value have been filled in.
A A. Crossfades Now the clips line up with eighth note boundaries, no audio has been stretched, and phase relationships have been maintained. For information about maintaining phase relationships when stretching audio, see Adjusting the timing of a multi-track performance while maintaining phase relationships.
Extracting MIDI timing information from audio Extracting MIDI timing information from audio allows you to: • Double an audio rhythm with a MIDI instrument. • Replace sounds in an audio clip (commonly used for drum replacement). • Notate the rhythm of an audio clip. • Align lyrics with an audio rhythm. After you extract the timing information from an audio clip, the timing information is copied to the clipboard as MIDI note events.
3. Press CTRL+V to paste the data. A new MIDI clip is inserted in the track Note: All the new MIDI notes have the same pitch, and the tails of the preceding notes reach all the way to the following notes, so you can’t see the actual rhythm. You can easily shorten the duration of each note event in order to clearly see each note event. To do so, click Process > Length to open the Length dialog.
If you want to stretch the duration of an audio clip, see Slip-stretching audio. If you want to automatically create envelope nodes that are aligned with transient markers, see Adding automation. Snapping edits to audio beats The Snap to Grid dialog has an Audio Transients check box on the Clips tab that allows you to snap edits in the Clips pane to transient markers in selected audio clips. You can toggle this check box on and off by pressing CTRL+ALT+N.
A A. These notes don’t line up with the audio beats 4. Drag the misaligned MIDI notes so they line up with the audio beats. As you’re dragging notes, they will automatically snap to the nearest audio beat.
Clicking the Split Beats Into Clips button on the AudioSnap palette splits a selected AudioSnap-enabled clip into new clips starting at every enabled transient marker. The main reason you might want to do this is to align a clip with a new tempo or quantize it, without stretching the audio. Once you split a clip at its transients, you can move the new clips by dragging or quantizing so that they are aligned the way you want them to be.
2. If we quantize it, the audio will stretch and we may or may not like the resulting sound. Let’s try splitting it, and quantizing the clips instead of the transients: click the Split Beats Into Clips button on the AudioSnap palette. The clip splits at the transients, and only the first new clip is still selected: 3. Let’s quantize the clips: drag through the clips to select them. 4. Click the Quantize button in the AudioSnap palette.
5. Make sure that Audio Clip Start Times is selected, and that (for this example) Sixteenth is selected in the Duration field. Leave the Auto XFade Audio Clips option unchecked for now, and click OK. Let’s zoom in and look at the quantized clips: 6. The start of each clip now lines up where we want it to, but there are gaps between some of the clips. Let’s undo what we just did (press CTRL+Z), and quantize again.
A A. Crossfades 7. Where the gaps were between clips, we now see crossfades. The default length of the crossfade is 20 milliseconds, but you can change that by entering a number in the XFade ms field in the dialog. 8. If you don’t want wide gaps to be filled in, you can enter a number of up to 200 milliseconds in the Max Gap field. Any gap that is wider than the number in this field will not be filled in.
3. Enable the XFade between Audio Clips radio button, and set any options you want in the XFade ms field, and Max Gap field. 4. Click OK.
Alpha-blended bars on slip-stretched clips AlphaStretchIndicator=<0 or 1> (default=1) When an audio clip is slip-stretched, a yellow alpha-blended bar is displayed on the clip. This may affect performance on some systems if there are many slip-stretched clips. There is a new Cakewalk.ini variable to disable the alpha-blended bars, and instead only show the percent value in the lower right corner of the clip. This variable should be set in the [Wincake] section.
Synchronizing audio and the project tempo Fixing timing problems in audio clips Extracting MIDI timing information from audio Using the Pool Algorithms and rendering Keyboard shortcuts Using the Pool The Pool is a collection of transient markers that can be extracted as a groove, and also function as snap locations. A transient marker that belongs to the pool is displayed in the Clips pane as a solid line within the parent track, and as a dotted line outside the parent track.
2. Right-click in the Clips pane and select Pool > Show pool lines on the pop-up menu. To add the Time Ruler to the Pool 1. In the Snap to Grid dialog, set the Musical Time value to the resolution you would like to add to the Pool. 2. Click the Transient Tool button in the Track View toolbar. 3. Right-click in the Clips pane and select Pool > Add MBT to pool on the pop-up menu. The current Musical Time snap resolution to the pool, and also displays dotted pool lines in the Clips pane.
For information about quantizing to the Pool, see To quantize an audio clip to another audio clip (Quantize to Pool).
the Radius choices, or for drum tracks, Percussion is usually the best choice. Note: You should avoid rendering AudioSnap clips more than once. Applying stretch algorithms multiple time in succession can degrade the audio quality (similar to transcoding an MP3 file). Until your project is mixed and finalized, it is recommended that you use the Freeze function instead of Bounce to Track(s) or Bounce to Clip(s) if you need to temporarily off-load CPU processing power.
3. Under Render Mode, select the desired Online and Offline render modes Every AudioSnap-enabled clip that you stretch or bounce uses the settings you choose for default stretch algorithms, except clips that you choose individual settings for. To choose render algorithms for an individual clip 1. Select the clip or clips you want to edit. 2. Press SHIFT+A to open the AudioSnap palette. The AudioSnap palette displays the current render mode of the selected clip.
7. Click OK. See: Freeze Tracks and Synths To Bounce Multiple Audio Clips to a New Track To Bounce to Clips Using the Transient tool Editing transient markers Using the AudioSnap palette Synchronizing audio and the project tempo Fixing timing problems in audio clips Extracting MIDI timing information from audio General editing Using the Pool Keyboard shortcuts Keyboard shortcuts All the AudioSnap features become much more efficient if you use keyboard shortcuts. The following table describes each shortcut.
Command Shortcut AudioSnap Delete Inserted Marker CTRL+ALT+BACKSPACE AudioSnap Disable Marker CTRL+ALT+D AudioSnap Promote Marker CTRL+ALT+P AudioSnap Snap to Transients CTRL+ALT+N AudioSnap Audition Beat CTRL+SHIFT+SPACEBAR AudioSnap Show Palette SHIFT+A AudioSnap Show Transient Pool CTRL+ALT+F12 AudioSnap Select All Markers ALT+SHIFT+A AudioSnap Clear Selection ALT+SHIFT+C AudioSnap Select Moved Markers ALT+SHIFT+M AudioSnap Select Stretched Markers ALT+SHIFT+S AudioSnap Select Dis
Working with Loops and Groove Clips Loops are short digital audio clips which are often designed to be repeated over and over or “looped,” although some loops, called one-shots, are intended to play just once. Groove clips, often used as loops, are digital audio clips that “know” their tempo and pitch information. Groove clips automatically respond to changes in a project’s tempo and can have their root note pitch adjusted using pitch markers.
Figure 77. The Loop Construction view The Loop Construction view toolbar has tools for editing slicing markers and controls for previewing loops. See: Loop Construction Controls See also: Working with Loops Working Groove Clip audio Loop Construction view Loop Construction Controls The following is a list of the tools and controls in the Loop Construction view, followed by a description: Save Loop as WAV This button opens the Save As dialog.
Enable Stretching The Enable Stretching button allows a clip to follow a project’s tempo as it changes. It instructs SONAR to stretch or shrink the clip to fit the project’s tempo. SONAR uses the Original BPM parameters to make the change. Beats in Clip The number of beats in the clip. Original BPM The tempo at which the clip was recorded. Follow Project Pitch The Follow Project Pitch option transposes the loop, if necessary, to the project pitch which you can set in the Markers toolbar.
Slices Menu The Slices menu sets the resolution for the creation of markers, or the “slicing” of the looped clip. This menu uses note lengths, so the settings are: • Whole notes • Half notes • Quarter notes • Eighth notes • Sixteenth notes • Thirty-second notes The automatic markers appear at the note resolutions according to the slider setting. At the eighth note setting, there are eight markers per measure.
Erase Use the Erase tool to delete markers in the Markers bar. Default All Markers The Default All Markers tool restores all automatically generated markers to the original position and enables all those that were disabled. Manually created markers remain as is. Previous Slice Moves slice selection to the previous slice. Click on a slice to select it. Next Slice Moves slice selection to the next slice. Click on a slice to select it.
Audio Scaling Audio scaling is the increase or decrease in the size (scale) of the waveform in clip. Audio scaling allows you to make detailed edits by zooming in on the parts of the waveform closest to the zero crossing (silence) while preserving the track size. By showing just the quietest parts of a clip, you can make very precise edits. The Audio Scale Ruler is located on the far left of the Loop Construction view. Figure 78. Audio scale ruler A B A. Audio Scale Ruler B.
The Media Browser view toolbar has the following controls: Tool Name What It Does Move Up Opens the folder one level above the active folder. Refresh Refreshes the active folder. Windows Explorer Opens Windows Explorer at the same directory being viewed in the Media Browser view. Play Plays the selected media file. Stop Stops the playback of the selected file. Auto Preview Automatically preview files when you click on them in the Media Browser view.
Contents List Pane The Contents List pane displays the folders and files contained in the active folder. To Preview a Groove Clip 1. Click the Auto-preview button in the Media Browser toolbar. 2. Click on a Wave file in the Content List pane. Each successive Wave file you select is previewed. You can also select multiple files and play them simultaneously. Or 1. Select a Wave file in the Content List pane. 2. Click the Play button in the Media Browser toolbar. 3.
In the Track view, select a clip and press CTRL+L or select Edit > Groove Clip Looping. To Create Repetitions of a Loop 1. Set the Snap value if you want the loop to repeat at precise time boundaries. 2. Move the cursor over the end of the loop-enabled clip until the cursor looks like this . 3. When the cursor changes, click the end or beginning of the clip and drag it to the right (if you are dragging out from the end) or left (if you are dragging from the beginning).
Groove clips based on the clip’s root note reference pitch. If you insert no pitch markers in your project, there are no pitch changes in your Groove clips. The default project pitch is C. Note 1: When working with Groove clips, it is important to know the difference between key and pitch. Your project’s key signature has no effect on Groove clips. The pitch of your Follow Project Pitch-enabled Groove clips is dictated by pitch markers in the Time Ruler.
Setting the Default Project Pitch 1. If necessary display the Markers toolbar by selecting Views > Toolbars to open the Toolbars dialog. In the toolbar dialog click Markers and OK. 2. In the Markers toolbar, click the Default Groove Clip Pitch drop-down menu and select a pitch. Your project now uses the root note of your clips to transpose to the project pitch. Use Pitch markers at different points in your project to change the pitch.
To Change the Loop Construction View Time Ruler Display You can display the Loop Construction view Time Ruler in measures or in samples. To toggle between the two modes, double click the Time Ruler. To Set the Tempo of a Groove Clip When creating a new Groove clip, SONAR sets the clip’s tempo to the current project tempo. To ensure proper stretching behavior you must set the value in the Original BPM field to the tempo at which you recorded the clip.
The clip appears in the Loop Construction view. 2. Click the Follow Project Pitch button. To Transpose a Groove Clip by Semitones Follow this procedure to transpose a Groove clip by any number of semitones. 1. Double-click the clip you want to transpose to the project’s pitch. The clip appears in the Loop Construction view. 2. If the Follow Project Pitch button is enabled, click it to disable it. 3. In the Pitch (semitones) field, enter the number of semitones you want to transpose the clip by.
• Pan • Pitch To Preview a Groove Clip Slice 1. Double-click on a clip to open the Loop Construction view. 2. Click the Enable Slice Auto-preview button. 3. Click a slice to hear it. To Adjust a Groove Clip Slice Gain 1. In the Loop Construction view, select the slice on which you want to adjust the gain. 2. In the Slice Gain field, click the Plus or Minus buttons to change the gain value.
The Save As dialog appears. 3. Use the toolbar in the Save As dialog to navigate to the location where you want to save the file. 4. In the File name field, enter a name for the file. 5. Click the Save button. To Drag and Drop a Groove Clip Into Another Application You can drag and drop clips from SONAR to another application or to a directory in Windows. When you drag a file from SONAR, the source file is copied and the copy is placed in the new directory or application.
changes wherever you insert a pitch marker. If you don’t insert any pitch markers, your project stays at its default pitch. To Create a Pitch Marker 1. In the Track view, right-click in the Time Ruler. 2. Select Create a Marker from the menu that appears. 3. The Marker dialog appears. 4. In the Groove Clip Pitch drop-down, select a pitch. 5. Click OK. To Move a Pitch Marker • Click and drag a pitch marker to a new location on the Time Ruler.
2. In the Files of type list, select All Audio or REX (*.rex, *.rx2, *.rcy). 3. Find and select the REX file you want to import. If you want to preview the selected file, click Play. The file will play at the current project tempo. 4. Click Open. The REX file is imported into SONAR as a Groove Clip. You can also drag REX files into SONAR, paste from the Clipboard, or import from the Media Browser view.
• You can edit individual repetitions without altering any other copies (unlike audio Groove clips). Note: If you then roll the edge of your MIDI Groove clip back over the area you edited, you will lose your edits. • All new repetitions are based on the first clip (just like audio Groove clips). However, if you split a repetition from its original source clip, the repetition becomes independent: if you copy this clip, SONAR treats it as an original clip.
1. Right-click the clip and choose Clip Properties from the pop-up menu. The Clip Properties dialog appears. 2. On the Groove Clips tab, in the Pitch (semitones) field, choose the number of half-steps you want to transpose the clip by: choose negative numbers to transpose down, or positive numbers to transpose up. Either method transposes the original clip and all repetitions. The original clip displays a positive or negative number in parentheses showing any transposition value you’ve added to the clip.
SONAR exports the MIDI Groove clip, which contains the information displayed in the Clip Properties dialog, on the Groove-Clips tab, except for the Pitch (semitones) field, which does not get exported. To Export a MIDI Groove Clip with Drag and Drop • Drag the MIDI Groove clip that you want to export to the folder in the Windows Explorer where you want to keep it. To Import MIDI Groove Clips with the File Command 1. Move the Now Time to the place where you want to import the clip. 2.
To Import a Project5 Pattern 1. Move the Now Time to the place where you want to import the pattern. 2. Highlight the track you want to import the pattern into. 3. Use the File > Import > MIDI command. The Import MIDI dialog appears, 4. Change the Files of Type field to P5 Pattern. 5. to a folder where you store Project5 MIDI patterns. 6. Highlight the file you want to import. 7. To import the highlighted file, click the Open button. SONAR imports the pattern to the selected track at the Now Time.
Working with Loops and Groove Clips Importing Project5 Patterns
Editing MIDI Events and Continuous Controllers (CC) SONAR lets you edit the events in your projects in dozens of different ways. The Piano Roll view lets you add and edit notes, controllers, and automation data interactively, using a graphic display. SONAR’s many editing commands can improve the quality of recorded performances, filter out certain types of events, and modify the tempos and dynamics of your projects. The Event List view lets you see and modify every detail of your project.
• Pitch • Velocity • Duration • Channel To Display a Note’s Properties in the Event Inspector Toolbar • Select a note. If you select multiple notes, the Event Inspector toolbar displays the note value if all selected note values are the same. If the note values are different, the Event Inspector does not display anything. To Change a Note’s Properties Using the Event Inspector Toolbar 1. Select a note. 2. In the appropriate Event Inspector toolbar field, change the value.
The Piano Roll view consists of the Note Map pane, the Drum Grid pane, the Notes pane, the Controller pane, the Piano Roll view toolbar, and the Track List pane. Figure 79. The Piano Roll view J A B I C D E F G H A. Show/Hide MIDI Events menu B. Edit MIDI Event Type menu C. Note Map pane D. Drum Grid pane E. Notes pane F. Controller pane G. Tooltip shows cursor position and editing data while you edit an event H. Track List pane I. Selected track J.
Track List Pane Working with Multiple Tracks in the Piano Roll View Note Map Pane This pane displays your drum map settings. You can mute or solo individual pitches, and preview individual pitch sounds. For more information about the Note Map Pane, see “The Note Map Pane” on page 537. See also: Drum Maps and the Drum Grid Pane Drum Grid Pane In the Drum Grid pane you can add, delete, and edit notes and note properties in any MIDI track(s) assigned to a drum map.
Track List Pane The Track List pane is home to a list of all tracks currently displayed in the Piano Roll view. In this pane you can enable and disable editing of a track’s data; mute, solo and arm a track; and show or hide the track’s data in the Notes pane or Drum Grid pane. Track numbers, names and output ports appear in the Track List pane. You can show or hide the Track List pane by clicking the Show/Hide Track Pane button in the Piano Roll view toolbar.
You can view as many tracks as you want in the Piano Roll view. When you display several tracks at the same time in the Piano Roll view, you control which track(s) you can see and/or edit by using the buttons in the Track List pane. You can show or hide the Track List pane by clicking the Show/Hide Track Pane button in the Piano Roll view toolbar. If you want to edit the data in a track, you must make the track you want to edit the current track.
All tracks ending in the same digit (2, 12, 22, etc.) share the same color. The default colors can be changed using Options > Colors. The Enable/Disable Track Editing Button The Enable/Disable Track Editing button sets whether or not you can edit the notes of a track in the Piano Roll view. When the button appears white, editing is enabled and the track appears in color. When the button appears gray, editing is disabled and the track appears in gray.
3. To override the default setting, click Use These Settings Instead, and choose the note names and mode you want to work with. 4. Click OK when you are done The Piano Roll view is updated with the settings you request. Displaying Notes and Controllers (Piano Roll View Only) The Show/Hide MIDI Events button in the Piano Roll view lets you quickly hide or show any combination of the data in a MIDI track or in multiple MIDI tracks.
Adding and Editing Notes in the Piano Roll You add notes in the Piano Roll view or Inline Piano Roll view by first choosing a note duration in the Piano Roll toolbar (or in the current track’s Note Duration menu if you’re using the Inline Piano Roll view), and then clicking in the view with the Draw tool at the pitch location and time location where you want the note to go. The pitch locations are marked by grey rows for the sharps or flats, and white rows for naturals.
To Select Notes with the Select Tool 1. Activate the Select tool by clicking it in either the Piano Roll view toolbar or the Inline Piano Roll toolbar (depending on which view you’re working in). 2.
Adding and Editing Controllers in the Piano Roll Editing Notes with the Draw Tool and the Select Tool You can edit notes in the Piano Roll view and the Inline Piano Roll view with the same methods. The Draw tool and the Select tool are useful for quick note editing. You can do the same edits with commands in the Process menu (Length, Slide, Transpose). If you want to edit multiple notes at the same time, first select them with the Select tool.
2. Click to select the Draw tool. If the Draw tool button is in Auto-Erase mode, it looks like this: . If the Draw tool is in Auto-Erase mode, use the drop-down menu that’s next to it to disable Auto-Erase mode, unless you want to delete notes. 3. Set the Snap to Grid to the desired value (if you’re editing in the Inline Piano Roll view, make sure you use the PRV tab of the Snap to Grid dialog). 4.
2. Enable the Draw tool in the Piano Roll toolbar, or the Inline Piano Roll toolbar. 3. Choose a duration for the note by clicking a note-head button in the Piano Roll toolbar, or the Note Duration menu in the track controls if you’re using the Inline Piano Roll view. 4. Set the Snap to Grid to the desired value (if you’re editing in the Inline Piano Roll view, make sure you use the PRV tab of the Snap to Grid dialog). 5.
Note 2: If you prefer to edit velocity in the Controller pane, display the Controller pane (press C), and use the Draw tool to drag horizontally through the vertical lines in the Controller pane that represent the velocity of each note. You can also use the Draw tool or the Select tool to drag the tip of a vertical line up or down. While you drag, a tooltip displays velocity and location data.
To do this Do this Copy and paste notes Hold the CTRL key down, and drag notes horizontally and/or vertically, and release the mouse at the desired location. Delete notes Press the DELETE key. Table 83. To Change Note Properties 1. Right-click a single note to display the Note Properties dialog box. 2. Edit the desired start time, pitch, duration, velocity, or channel. 3. Click OK when you are done. SONAR updates the note event accordingly.
To only show velocity for selected note events 1. In the Piano Roll view or inline Piano Roll, click the small drop-down arrow in the Show/Hide MIDI Events button . 2. Choose Show Velocity on Selected Notes from the pop-up menu. The state of the Show Velocity on Selected Notes option is saved with the project, and the setting is separate for the Piano Roll view and inline Piano Roll.
Example 2. Painting velocity when no Note events are selected. All Note events are changed. See: Editing Notes with the Draw Tool and the Select Tool Note/controller painting (freehand) Paint Notes/Controllers Free is one of the programmable mouse Actions, which can be assigned to any mouse button and key combination. For more information, see “Flexible Piano Roll tools” on page 457.
See: To configure a Mouse Action Controller/velocity painting (freehand) Paint Controllers/Velocities Free is one of the programmable mouse Actions, which can be assigned to any mouse button and key combination. For more information, see “Flexible Piano Roll tools” on page 457. When you use the Paint Controllers/Velocities Free action, Controller events of the current edit type are painted from the mouse click position to the current mouse position.
Note Split is one of the programmable mouse Actions, which can be assigned to any mouse button and key combination. By default, Note Split is assigned to the middle mouse button when using the Select tool. For more information, see “Flexible Piano Roll tools” on page 457. Note: The Note Split action only works on one note at a time. To split a note 1. In the Piano Roll view or inline Piano Roll, click the Select button to enable the Select tool. 2.
Drag-quantize SONAR makes it very easy to quantize individual Note events (or other MIDI events) without having to use the Process > Quantize command. Drag Quantize works by clicking on an event (or one of many selected events), and moving the mouse up and down. The up direction moves the events toward the quantize target times; downward motion moves them away from the quantize target times. You immediately see the data being moved towards the target in real-time as you adjust the mouse position.
SONAR allows you to mute individual Note events directly in the Piano Roll view or inline Piano Roll. Muted events are excluded from rendering during playback and MIDI meters do not light up for muted events. Event Mute is one of the programmable mouse Actions, which can be assigned to any mouse button and key combination. By default, Event Mute is assigned to SHIFT+middle-click when using the Select tool. For more information, see “Flexible Piano Roll tools” on page 457.
See: Clip Muting and Isolating (Clip Soloing) Silencing tracks Flexible Piano Roll tools Erase tool behavior The Erase tool marks events for deletion instead of automatically deleting them. When you touch events with the Erase tool, the events are not actually deleted until you release the mouse button. Events that are marked for deletion are temporarily drawn in a different color. You can choose to abort the delete operation by pressing Esc before you release the mouse button.
Example 3. In SONAR, the full duration of the earlier Note event is shown when hovering the mouse near the end of the Note event. Velocity Audition options The Velocity Audition and Polyphonic Velocity Audition options have been moved to a more convenient location in the PRV Tool Configuration dialog. These two options were previously available in the Edit MIDI Event Type drop-down menu in the Piano Roll view and inline Piano Roll.
Because Velocity is really an attribute of another event type (Note), SONAR treats Velocity differently than other controller events. This allows you to configure the visibility of continuous controllers (CCs, xRPNs, etc.) and still perform an occasional velocity edit without the need to revert back to the previous display and edit settings. Example: 1. CC7 is the current Edit Type and note velocity tails are hidden. 2.
Flexible Piano Roll tools SONAR has three different Piano Roll mouse tools. Each tool can be customized to perform any available mouse action. There can be as much or as little overlap in functionality as you want between the tools. Don’t care for some of SONAR’s default Piano Roll tool behaviors? No problem, simply re-assign the tools to suit your preferred editing style.
A C B D E F A. Tool B. Context C. Keys D. Mouse Button E. Mouse Location F. Tool Action See: Tool Mouse Button Keys Mouse Location Tool Action To configure a Mouse Action Default PRV tool assignments Tool The Tool combobox lists the three Piano Roll tools: • PRV Tool 1. This tool corresponds to the Select tool ( ) in the Piano Roll toolbar. • PRV Tool 2. This tool corresponds to the Draw tool ( ) in the Piano Roll toolbar. • PRV Tool 3.
See: To Edit Notes with the Draw Tool To Edit Notes with the Select Tool To Use the Erase Tool Mouse Button SONAR allows you to assign the following mouse buttons: • Left • Middle (if available) • Right Keys In addition to a mouse button, you can optionally configure a mouse action to also use any combination of the following keys: • CTRL • SHIFT • ALT Note: Because Windows has a long-established standard of using CTRL-drag for copy operations, there is a potential conflict when using the CTRL key to prog
G A F BC D E A. Controller B. Note Slip Start C. Note Time Adjust D. Note Pitch Adjust E. Note Slip End F. Note Velocity Adjust G. Nowhere The Note event in the previous diagram has dotted lines that outline the various hit zones on Note events as possible context locations. It also shows a single value (controller) event as another context location. Clicking outside the Note event and value event is referred to as the “Nowhere” context location.
Action Mouse Down Mouse Move Mouse Up Paint Notes/Controllers See Note/controller painting (freehand) Add Note/Controller to edit buffer Insert additional events at mouse position. For notes, use snap as interval between and duration of notes. For Controllers, use snap as interval between. Commit edit buffer. Paint Notes/Controllers Linear See Note/controller painting (linear) Add Note/Controller to edit buffer Commit edit buffer.
Action Mouse Down Mouse Move Mouse Up Sel and Move Notes/ Controllers Select any hit event. Obey SHIFT/CTRL as standard modifiers Move selected notes/ Controllers horizontally (in time) and vertically Commit edit buffer Sel and Move Notes/ Controllers (Vert) Select any hit event. Obey SHIFT/CTRL as standard modifiers Move selected notes/ Controllers vertically only Commit edit buffer Sel and Move Notes/ Controllers (Time) Select any hit event.
The PRV Tool Configuration dialog appears. 2. In the Tools combobox, choose the Piano Roll tool you wish to assign (PRV Tool 1, PRV Tool 2 or PRV Tool 3). 3. Do one of the following: • Hold down the key(s) you wish to use (if any) and click with the desired mouse button directly on a context (mouse location) in the diagram. The appropriate Key and Mouse Button check boxes and radio buttons will be automatically checked.
PRV Tool 1 (Select ) default settings Location Mouse Button Nowhere Left Lasso Selection Note (all zones) Left Select and Move Notes Controller Left Select and Move Controllers Controller Left ALT Move Notes/Controllers Nowhere Left ALT Insert/Move Note/Controller Note (Slip Start) Left ALT Note Slip Start Adjust Note (Time Adjust) Left ALT Move Notes (Time) Note (Pich Adjust) Left ALT Move Notes (Vertically) Note (Slip End) Left ALT Note Slip End Adjust Note (Velocity A
PRV Tool 2 (Draw ) default settings Location Mouse Button Key(s) Action Nowhere Left Insert/Move Note/Controller Note (Slip Start) Left Note Slip Start Adjust Note (Time Adjust) Left Move Notes (Time) Note (Pich Adjust) Left Move Notes (Vertically) Note (Slip End) Left Note Slip End Adjust Note (Velocity Adjust) Left Note Velocity Adjust Controller Left Move Controllers Nowhere Left CTRL Paint Notes/Controllers Free Nowhere Left CTRL+SHIFT Paint Notes/Controllers Linear No
Adding and Editing Controllers in the Piano Roll Controller events (MIDI continuous controllers, pitch wheel, NRPN’s, and RPN’s) appear in either the Notes Pane or the Controller pane, depending on whether you choose to display the Controller pane or not. Each controller event has an edit handle at the top, which you can drag to edit, and a tail under the edit handle, which graphically demonstrates the controller event’s current value.
The Controller pane in the multi-track Piano Roll view (not the inline Piano Roll) is split up into multiple lanes—one lane for each unique event type in the track. You can freely create new lanes to display and edit MIDI data such as velocity, modulation, pitch bend and CCs (Continuous Controllers) and events can be moved and copied between lanes. G H A B C D E F A. Velocity lane B. Wheel lane C. CC92 lane D. Add new lane E. Remove lane F. “Active” lane (darker shade) G. Scale pane H.
Each lane can be configured to show one or more event types. B C A A. The Event Type pickers apply to the active lane B. Show/Hide MIDI Events picker C. MIDI Event Type picker See: To assign an Event Type to a lane. To create a new lane 1. In the multi-track Piano Roll view, make sure the Controllers pane is shown at the bottom. If it is not displayed, do one of the following: • Click the Use Controller Pane button in the Piano Roll view toolbar. • Press C. 2.
2. Click the MIDI Event Type picker . The MIDI Event Type pop-up menu appears. 3. Do one of the following: • To specify a new event type that doesn’t already exist in the track, choose New Value Type and select the desired event type in the MIDI Event Type dialog. • To specify an event type that already exists in the track, select the event type from the MIDI Event Type pop-up menu. The name of the current edit type is displayed in the lane.
The selected events are copied to the destination track. Note: It is impossible to copy selected events to a lane that has an edit type of Velocity; the type of event to transform to would be Note and the pitch could not be specified in this case. In this case, the Copy selected events to this lane menu command will be disabled and appear grayed out. A B A. Scale pane B.
When you add a new controller type to a track, the controller type is automatically chosen in the Show/Hide MIDI Events menu, so that you can see it. For help showing and hiding all the other MIDI data you may have in your track or tracks, see “Displaying Notes and Controllers in the Inline Piano Roll View” on page 480, “Displaying Notes and Controllers (Piano Roll View Only)” on page 440, and “Working with Multiple Tracks in the Piano Roll View” on page 437. To Add Controller Data with the Draw Tool 1.
To Insert a Series of Controllers 1. Choose Insert > Controllers to display the Insert Series of Controllers dialog box. 2. Choose the controller type from the Insert list. 3. Choose the controller number or type from the Number list. 4. Use the spinners or enter the desired MIDI channel. 5. Enter a starting and ending value in the Begin and End boxes. 6. Enter a starting and ending time in the From and Thru boxes. 7. Click OK when you are done.
supposed to sustain, and Pitch Wheel events need to move along with the notes whose pitch they are supposed to modify. When the Select Controllers within Note Duration mode is enabled, selecting a Note event or a range of Note events will also automatically select any Controller events that exist within the time range of the Note event(s). Note events can be selected by clicking the notes or by lasso-selecting the notes. For more information, see “Selecting Notes” on page 441.
2. Drag the edit handle of each controller event that you want to edit vertically and/or horizontally. A tooltip appears when you depress the mouse, and constantly reports the controller name, channel, value, and location of the controller value that you are editing. Release the mouse where you want your controller value to be. 3. To delete controller events, select them, and press the DELETE key. To Edit or Delete Controller Events with the Draw Tool 1.
With Microscope mode turned on, the area under the mouse looks like this: Microscope mode also works with Drum Maps: To enable/disable Microscope mode To enable/disable Microscope mode, do one of the following: • Click the Microscope Enable button Piano Roll toolbar in the Track view. in either the Piano Roll view toolbar or the Inline • Choose Options > PRV Tool Configuration and toggle the Microscope check box. How Microscope mode works Position.
Size. The size of the Microscope is configurable. The default diameter is 100 pixels. See “Configuring Microscope mode options” on page 476 for more information. Transparency. The Microscope maintains a certain level of transparency so that the real-sized data can always be seen. Zoom Factor (vertical). The amount of vertical zoom varies with the existing zoom level of the data.
Variable Type Default value MicroscopeHZoomThreshold=<1..20> Integer 8 By default, the Microscope mode begins horizontal magnification when a 32nd note is narrower than 8 pixels. This line lets you specify the horizontal zoom threshold (1-20 pixels). MicroscopeHZoomMax=<2.0 - 8.0> Integer 3.0 This line specifies the highest horizontal magnification that will result when using Microscope mode. What it does Table 88.
Figure 81. Track strip in PRV mode C D B A E A. Edit MIDI Event Type menu B. Note Duration menu C. Show/Hide MIDI Events button D. PRV Mode button E. MIDI Scale Figure 82. A B Inline Piano Roll toolbar C D E F G H I A. PRV Select tool B. Draw tool C. Draw tool Auto Erase menu D. Erase tool E. Show/Hide Notes F. Show/ Hide Controllers G. Show/hide velocity tails (on drum-mapped tacks) H. Fit Content I.
Or • Double-click a MIDI clip in the Clips pane, if Inline Piano Roll Mode is selected in the MIDI Clips field of the Clip Pane Options dialog. To open the Clips Pane Options dialog, right-click in the Clips pane, and select View Options from the pop-up menu. To Hide or Show All Tracks’ Inline Piano Roll Views • In the Inline Piano Roll toolbar, click the PRV Mode button. The Inline Piano Roll toolbar is part of the Track view toolbar. Or • Use the Tracks > In-line PRV > PRV Mode command.
3. To zoom out, drag downward on the keyboard display. You can also zoom by using the Track view zoom controls. To Scroll Vertically with the MIDI Scale • Right-click the MIDI Scale and drag up or down to scroll. To Fit a Single Track’s Content into its Inline Piano Roll View • Right-click the MIDI Scale and choose Fit Content from the pop-up menu. Or • CTRL-double-click the MIDI Scale. To Audition and Select Notes • To audition and select a note, SHIFT-click the note’s pitch in the MIDI Scale.
To Hide or Show Data in Individual Tracks 1. Click the drop-down arrow on the Show/Hide MIDI Events button MIDI data in the track. to display the menu of 2. Choose from the following menu options: • To hide or show notes, click Show Notes. • To hide or show a controller, click the name of the controller (for example, click CC: 1Modulation (Chan: 2)). • To show all controllers in the current track, click Display All Continuous Events, or use step 4 below.
Selecting and Editing Events SONAR has many editing commands that you can use to modify the events that make up your project. Here are some of the things you can do: • Transpose events, clips, tracks, or an entire project to a different key • Shift events to an earlier or later time • Stretch or shrink material to a different length • Reverse the notes in a clip to create new arrangements • Modify the note velocities The following sections describe these editing commands and how to use them.
SONAR can also perform diatonic transposition, which shifts all the notes up and down the major scale of the current signature by the designated number of steps. For instance, if you specify an amount of +1 and the key signature is C-major, a C becomes a D (up a whole step), an E becomes an F (up a half step), and so on. Diatonic transposition assures you that the transposed notes fit with the original key signature.
Shifting Events in Time The Track view lets you move entire clips forward or backward in time by using drag and drop editing or by changing the start time of selected clips. The Process > Slide command is slightly more flexible—you can use it to shift individual events and markers (or selected events and markers) either forward or backward in time. This has an effect that is similar to the Time+ parameter in the Track view.
Figure 85. The Insert Time/Measures dialog 4. Verify that the settings are correct and click OK. SONAR inserts a blank measure at the Now time. To Insert Blank Time or Measures into a Project 1. Select Edit > Select > None to make sure that no track or time range is selected. 2. Select the range of time you want to insert by dragging in the Time Ruler. 3. Choose Insert > Time/Measures to display the Insert Time/Measures dialog box. 4. If necessary, adjust the time at which blank space will be inserted.
command to delete the area that you select. Portions of MIDI clips may have no data in them: they have boundaries but no dark lines inside—if that’s the case, use the following method. • If there is no data in the area you want to delete, you can simply drag any clips that come after the empty area to their proper destinations.
and makes the adjustment by altering the individual events. A value of 200 percent, for example, stretches the selection to twice its original length, while a value of 50 percent shrinks the selection to half its original length. Process > Fit to Time stretches or shrinks the selection so that it ends at a specific time, expressed in either measure:beat:tick (MBT) or hours:minutes:seconds:frames (SMPTE) format. This command gives you a choice of modifying the events or modifying the underlying tempo.
and how long you want to wait for processing to finish: better quality can take a long time if you're processing several tracks. • Formant scaling. Possible values range from -2.000 to 2.000 octaves. Formants give a voice its characteristic sound. If you find that changing the length of your audio changes the timbre too much, you can raise or lower the formant to try and maintain the characteristics of the sound 5. Use the spinners or type in the desired percent change in length. 6.
and how long you want to wait for processing to finish: better quality can take a long time if you're processing several tracks. • Formant Scaling (disabled unless Stretch Audio is checked). The possible values range from -2.000 to 2.000 octaves. Formants give a voice its characteristic sound. If you find that changing the length of your audio changes the timbre too much, you can raise or lower the formant to try and maintain the characteristics of the sound 6. Click OK when you are done.
To Scale Velocities 1. Select the events whose velocity data you want to change. 2. Choose Process > Scale Velocity to display the Scale Velocity dialog box. Figure 88. The Scale Velocity dialog 3. Enter the starting and ending velocity values. 4. Check the Percentages box if the values are percentages. 5. Click OK when you are done. SONAR alters the velocity of selected events. Changing the Timing of a Recording When you record a performance, there may be problems you’d like to correct.
Quantizing Quantizing is one of the most important editing functions in SONAR. You use this feature to correct timing errors you make when recording from a MIDI instrument or to adjust the timing of audio clips. Very few musicians are capable of performing in perfect time. As you play, you are likely to strike some notes slightly before or after the beat or to hold some notes slightly longer than you intended. The Quantize commands can help to correct these types of timing mistakes.
Duration As an option, SONAR can adjust the duration of note events so that each note ends one clock tick before the start of the nearest resolution-sized note. This ensures that the notes do not overlap, which can cause problems on some synthesizers. The adjustment may lengthen the duration of some notes and shorten the duration of others. When you use Groove Quantize, the duration adjustment compares the note length to the duration of the sample note in the groove.
Swing = 50% Swing = 66% Swing = 33% Window When you quantize some portion of a project, you might not want to adjust notes that are very far from the grid. The window, or sensitivity, setting lets you choose how close to the resolution grid a note must be located for quantize to move it. A window of 100 percent includes all notes and guarantees that all notes will be shifted to lie exactly on the grid. The window extends half the resolution distance before and after the quantization point.
To Use the Quantize Command 1. Select the material you want to quantize using any of the selection tools and commands. 2. Choose Process > Quantize to display the Quantize dialog box. Figure 89. The Quantize dialog 3.
Figure 90. The Groove Quantize dialog 3. Choose a groove file from the Groove File field. 4. Choose a groove pattern from the Groove Pattern field. 5.
by selecting the pattern and choosing a preset from the Preset field. To delete a group of settings, select the group from the Preset field and click the Delete button. Defining a Groove To use the groove quantize feature, you must create or choose a small snippet of music—the groove pattern—for SONAR to use as the timing and accent reference.
Figure 91. The Define Groove dialog 6. Select an existing groove file, or enter the name for a new groove file. 7. Enter a pattern name, or choose an existing pattern to replace. 8. Click OK. 9. If you are replacing a groove, verify that you want to delete the existing version. 10.Click Close when you are done to return to the Groove Quantize dialog box. SONAR stores the groove in the file and chooses the new groove as the current groove source. To Copy an Existing Groove 1.
7. Click Close when you are done to return to the Groove Quantize dialog box. Groove Quantize Tips Here are some tips to help you with groove quantizing: Aligning sloppy tracks with a good one. Select the portion of the “good” track that you want to apply to the “sloppy” tracks and copy it to the Clipboard. Select the portion of the sloppy tracks you want to modify. Choose Process > Groove Quantize, choose the Clipboard as the groove source, and click OK. Accenting beats in each measure.
The Process > Fit Improvisation command lets you take a recording and create a tempo map (with measure and beat boundaries) that fits what you played. Your performance is not changed in any way, even though the note start times and durations are adjusted to fit the new tempo map. This is important if you later want to use any of SONAR’s editing features that depend on a proper tempo map for best results.
To use the Set Measure/Beat At Now command, you need to be able to identify where you want to put the downbeats of each measure, and possibly where you want to place some other beats of the measure, if the tempo varies a lot. 1. Display the MIDI clip that you want the measure/beats to align with in the Inline Piano Roll view: click the MIDI track’s PRV Mode button . Zoom in enough to see the MIDI data clearly (you can also use the regular Piano Roll view).
5. Enter the desired measure and beat values, and click OK. Note: SONAR attempts to guess the correct measure/beat, so you usually can just click OK to accept the default values. 6. Move the Now Time to the next desired beat (click the start of the next note).. Tip: Press TAB to jump to the next note, or SHIFT+TAB to jump to the previous note. 7. Press CTRL+M to open the Measure Beat/Meter dialog, enter the desired values, and click OK 8. Repeat steps 6 and 7 until the Time Ruler is correctly aligned.
A B C A. Scale menu B. Scale Snap button C. Root Note menu Or • In the Piano Roll view, in the Track List pane, right-click the track that you want to affect, and choose Enable Snap to Scale from the pop-up menu. To Momentarily Bypass the Snap to Scale Feature • Hold down both mouse buttons while you edit. To Enable or Disable Snap to Scale for Multiple Tracks 1. Select the tracks in which you want to enable or disable Snap to Scale. 2.
• In the Piano Roll view, right-click a track’s name in the Track List pane, and choose Scales > (kind of scale) > (name of scale) from the pop-up menu. To Choose a Root Note and/or a Scale for Multiple Tracks 1. Select the tracks for which you want to choose root notes and/or scales. 2. To select a root note for the selected tracks, use the Tracks > Snap to Scale > Root Note command, and select the desired root note from the submenu. 3.
6. When you’re through choosing scale degrees, click the Close button to save your changes. If you want to delete your scale, just highlight it in the Scale field, and click the Delete button . To Edit or Delete a Scale 1. Open the Scale Manager dialog (click the drop-down arrow in the Scale menu, and choose Scale Manager from the menu, or use the Track menu command, or the right-click menu in the Track List pane of the Piano Roll view). 2.
To Choose How SONAR Handles Non-scale Notes 1. Open the Snap Settings dialog by clicking the drop-down arrow in the Scale menu, and choosing Snap Settings from the menu that appears. You can also use the Tracks > Snap to Scale > Scales > Snap Settings command, or the right-click menu in the Track List pane of the Piano Roll view. 2. Choose one of the following options: • Adjust to Next, Higher Note.
When you select individual clips, or select portions of clips by dragging the Time Ruler, you automatically select all the events that fall within the designated time range. Sometimes you need finer control over which events are selected.
This event type Has these parameters Controller Controller number and value RPN/NRPN RPN/NRPN number and value Patch Change Bank and patch numbers Channel Aftertouch Pressure value Pitch Wheel Value Table 95. The event filter only accepts events that meet all the specified ranges. This means that a note event must fall within the pitch range, the velocity range, and the duration range in order to be included.
To Search for an Event 1. Choose Go > Search to display the Event Filter dialog box. 2. Set up the event filter to find the events you want. 3. Click OK. SONAR finds the next event that meets the criteria and sets the Now time to the start time of that event. To find the next occurrence, press F3 or choose Go > Search Again. Selecting Events The Edit > Select > By Filter command is used to refine a selection by applying an event filter to an initial selection.
4. Check the Note check box, and enter a minimum value of C4. The maximum should already be set to C9. 5. Click OK. SONAR selects all the notes from C4 up. 6. Choose Edit > Cut to move the selected notes to the clipboard. 7. Choose Edit > Paste and paste the events to a different track. Process > Interpolate The Process > Interpolate command is an extremely flexible way of manipulating the data parameters of events.
Parameter Search range Replacement range Velocity From 0 to 127 From 127 to 0 Inverts the velocity values (makes loud notes soft, and soft notes loud) Duration From 0:01:00 to 0:02:000 From 0:01:000 to 0:01:000 Converts all notes that are between a quarter note and half note in length, and makes them all quarter notes Channel From 1 to 1 From 2 to 2 Changes all events on MIDI channel 1 to MIDI channel 2 Channel From 1 to 16 From 4 to 4 Reassigns all events to MIDI channel 4 Effect Table
See also: Adding and Editing Controllers in the Piano Roll Controllers Controllers are the MIDI events such as volume, sustain pedal, and pan that you use to change the sound while you're playing. You can enter controller data from within SONAR, or record them from external devices such as MIDI keyboards. Controllers let you control the detail and character of your music. Say you’re playing a guitar sound on your synthesizer, but it sounds lifeless and dull.
equipment, and software. The following table shows the controller numbers SONAR uses for RPN and NRPN events: Message Parameter number MSB Controller Parameter number LSB Controller Data value MSB Controller Data value LSB Controller RPN 101 100 6 38 NRPN 99 98 6 38 Table 98. Automation Data The Track and Console views allow you to record automation data that define changes in volume, pan and many other parameters throughout a project.
• Select one or more tracks and click in the Views toolbar • Right-click a clip in the Clips pane and choose Views > Event List from the pop-up menu Figure 94. The Event List view A B C D F E A. Toolbar B. Track C. This event is selected D. Event time E. Event channel F. Event type Figure 95. The Event List toolbar A B C D E F A. Hide different kinds of events buttons B. Event Manager C. Show events outside slip edit boundary D. Insert E. Delete F.
Editing Events and Event Parameters Additional Event Information Event List Buttons and Overview Each line of the Event List view shows a single event along with all of its parameters. There are many different types of events. All share the following parameters: • The time of the event, displayed in SMPTE (hours:minutes:seconds:frames) format • The time of the event, displayed in MBT (measures:beats:ticks) format • The event type, or kind of event The remaining parameters vary by event type.
Short name and display button Type of event Parameters Lyric Lyric Text (a single word or syllable) MCIcmd Windows Media Control Interface (MCI) command MCI command text Wave Audio Digital audio wave Name, velocity (0-127), and number of samples Shape Events Automation graph segments made up of a solid line between two nodes Change in values, kind of shape, and length in MBT format. Note: Shape events cannot be edited, only deleted.
(64). • Many keyboards do not support key aftertouch and channel aftertouch. Consult the User’s Guide for your keyboard for more information. • When you double-click the value of a patch event, SONAR displays the Bank/Patch Change dialog box. For more information about bank and patch changes, “To insert a bank/patch change” on page 208. • See “System Exclusive Data” on page 805, for more information about System Exclusive banks. • See “Editing Audio” on page 545, for more information about audio clips.
Editing Events and Event Parameters The Event List view lets you add, delete, or change events one by one. You can also print the list of events or audition the events one at a time to see how they sound. You can change the parameters of any event by moving the rectangular highlight to the cell you want to change and doing one of the following: • Type a new value and then press ENTER. • Press the - and + keys on the numeric keypad to decrease or increase values by a small amount.
To Delete Several Events 1. Select the events you want to delete by clicking, dragging, or CTRL or SHIFT-clicking in the first column of the Event List view. 2. Choose Edit > Cut. SONAR deletes the selected events. To Print the Event List 1. Choose File > Print Preview to display a preview of the printed event listing. 2. Click the Zoom button (or just click the page) to zoom in and out, and use the PAGE UP and PAGE DOWN to review the pages. 3.
SONAR uses the following notation to display flats and sharps in this and other views: Character Meaning b flat # sharp " double flat x double sharp Table 102. MCIcmd Events Media Control Interface (MCI) commands are special events that let you control other multimedia hardware and software (e.g., CD-ROM drives, laserdiscs, sound cards, animations, video) during playback. MCI commands are part of the multimedia extensions in Windows.
• Set effect parameters (or select a preset if you’ve made one for this purpose). • Click Audition to preview the music with the effect applied. • Click OK to apply the effect to the selected MIDI data. If you're not happy with the result, choose Edit > Undo before doing any additional work. MIDI effects can be applied to whole or partial clips. For example, you can apply an echo to just one note. MIDI effects can also be applied to MIDI tracks in real time (during playback) in the Track and Console views.
The Quantize command moves events to (or towards) an evenly-spaced timing grid. The Quantize effect is similar to the Process > MIDI Effects > Cakewalk FX > Quantize command. For more information, see “Other Settings” on page 493. The quantize effect parameters are as follows: Parameter/Option Meaning Start Times Quantize event start times. Durations Quantize event durations. Resolution The spacing of the grid used for quantization.
Figure 97. MFX Echo/Delay The Echo Delay command creates a series of repeating echoes of each note. The echo notes can decrease or increase in velocity, and can be transposed from the original by regular intervals. The parameters used to specify the echo/delay effect are as follows: Parameter/Option Meaning Decay (%) The reduction in velocity with each echo. A value greater than 100% indicates an increase in velocity. No. Echoes The number of echo notes for each original note.
Filtering Events Figure 98. MFX Event Filter The Event Filter command lets you remove events from the MIDI data, keeping or passing through only those events that you specify. The Event Filter effect works almost identically to the event filter used by the Edit > Select > By Filter command. For more information, see “Event Filters” on page 505. To Apply an Event Filter to MIDI Data 1. Select the data to be affected. 2.
The Arpeggiator command applies an arpeggio to its input and plays it back in real time. You can make it arpeggiate with a swing feel, or straight and staccato or legato, vary its speed and direction, and specify its range. The parameters used to specify the arpeggiator effect are as follows: Parameter/Option Meaning Swing (%) The distortion of timing used to produce a swing feel. A value of 0% indicates a straight rendition; negative and positive values produce distortion of the timing grid.
To Apply the Arpeggiator to MIDI Data 1. Select the data to be affected. 2. Choose MIDI Effects > Cakewalk FX > Arpeggiator from the Process menu or from the pop-up menu to open the Arpeggiator dialog box. 3. Set the arpeggiator parameters, as described in the table above. 4. Click OK. SONAR applies the specified arpeggio effect to the selected data. Analyzing Chords Figure 100. MFX Chord Analyzer The Chord Analyzer command analyzes chords.
SONAR displays the chord and its name. To clear the display, press the Clear button. Note: When analyzing chords you may see chords being displayed before you hear them. You can reduce the amount of time these chords appear ahead of playback. To do so, open the MIDI tab in the Global Options dialog (Options > Global) and enter a lower value in the Prepare Using “N” Milliseconds Buffer option.
Parameter/Option Meaning Randomize by +/- X Adds or subtracts a random offset from each velocity. You must also specify the maximum offset. You can select this option in addition to one of the previous options. Tendency The tendency of the random offset to be lower or higher, on a scale from -10 to 10. Table 108. To Change Note Velocities 1. Select the data to be affected. 2. Choose MIDI Effects > Cakewalk FX > Velocity from the Process menu or from the pop-up menu to open the Velocity dialog box. 3.
Parameter/Option Meaning Custom Map Specifies custom transposition as defined by the map. Offset For Interval transposition, the number of steps for the transposition. For Diatonic Transposition, the number of scale degrees for the transposition. For Key/Scale transposition, a number of octaves added to each note after transposition. Key For Diatonic transposition, the key in which the transposition is made. From, To For Key/Scale transposition, the starting and ending key and scale.
Drum Maps and the Drum Grid Pane There are several panes in the Piano Roll view designed for use with MIDI drum tracks: the Note Map pane which lists the original pitch values and the mapped values for each note, and the Drum Grid pane which displays your drum tracks (any track assigned to a drum map) and where you can edit your drum tracks. The Basics The Note Map Pane The Drum Grid Pane Creating and Editing a Drum Map Using Drum Maps The Basics Drum maps are virtual MIDI ports that you create and edit.
Opening a Drum Map To Preview a Mapped Sound Creating and Editing a Drum Map You can create a drum map by either modifying an existing drum map or by creating a new drum map. See: The Drum Map Manager The Map Properties Dialog Saving a Drum Map The Drum Map Manager In the Drum Map Manager dialog you can create and save drum maps for use with hardware or software synths and samplers. You can customize drum maps to select specific sounds on any of your available sound sources.
Figure 103. The Drum Map Manager A B C D G F E A. New Drum Map button B. Delete Drum Map button C. Current Drum Map D. Preset list E. Port/Channel pairs F. Rows G. Click to create a new row Drum Maps Used in Current Project This field displays all the currently available drum maps. click the New button to create a new drum map and Delete to delete a drum map. Select a drum map to display the drum mappings in the Drum Map Manager. All drum maps in this field are saved with the current project.
note. • Vel+. Apply a velocity offset setting to an individual mapped pitch. • V Scale. The V Scale value sets a level of compression or expansion. A value below 100% is compression. A value above 100% is expansion. The Vel+ setting allows for gain make-up. Ports and Channels This section lists each unique Port and Channel pairing. This allows you to make quick global changes that Port and Channel pairing’s Bank and Patch settings.
Figure 104. The Map Properties dialog To Open the Map Properties Dialog • Double-click on a row in the Note Map pane. Or • Right-click on a row in the Note Map pane and select Map Properties from the menu that appears. See: The Drum Map Manager Working in the Drum Map Manager Creating and Editing a Drum Map Saving a Drum Map Use the following procedure to save a new or modified drum map. 1. In the Drum Map Manager, enter a name for the new drum map in the Preset field. 2. Click the Save button .
See: Assigning a MIDI Track to a Drum Map Opening a Drum Map Displaying Tracks in the Drum Grid Pane Velocity TailsEditing Note Velocities To Change the Order of Mapped Notes in the Drum Map Pane Assigning a MIDI Track to a Drum Map Use the following procedure to assign a MIDI track to a drum map: To Assign a MIDI Track to a Drum Map 1. Display the Track view if it is minimized. 2.
Velocity TailsEditing Note Velocities To Change the Order of Mapped Notes in the Drum Map Pane Displaying Tracks in the Drum Grid Pane Use the following procedure to display a drum track or tracks in the Drum Grid pane. To Display Tracks in the Drum Grid Pane 1. Create a drum map if you have not already done so. See “Creating and Editing a Drum Map” on page 530. 2. Change the focus to the Track view. 3.
• Press the Y key. See: Assigning a MIDI Track to a Drum Map Opening a Drum Map Displaying Tracks in the Drum Grid Pane Editing Note Velocities To Change the Order of Mapped Notes in the Drum Map Pane Editing Note Velocities In the Drum Map Editor you can display note velocities as a series of horizontal bars behind the note. Click the Show/Hide Velocity Tails button to display note velocities. To Edit a Note Velocity in the Drum Grid Pane 1. Click the Draw tool button . 2.
Displaying Tracks in the Drum Grid Pane Velocity TailsTo Change the Order of Mapped Notes in the Drum Map Pane Previewing a Mapped Sound Use the following procedure to hear the drum sound you have mapped a note to. To Preview a Mapped Sound • In the Note Map pane, click on the name of the sound you want to hear.
You can change the following settings in the Note Map pane: • Mapped-note name • Note Out • Mute • Solo To Change the Name Setting The name of a mapped note in the Note Map pane is a user-assigned variable. Make it descriptive for easy reference. To change the Name setting, use the following procedure: 1. In the Note Map pane, double-click on the appropriate row. The Map Properties dialog appears. 2. In the Map Properties dialog, enter a new name in the Name field and press the ENTER key.
To Display the Note In and Note Out Values By Their Pitch Name You have the option of showing the Note In and Note Out values by their pitch names. To do so, use the following procedure: • Right-click on any row in the Note Map pane and select the Display Pitch Names command from the menu that appears. To Change the Order of Mapped Notes in the Drum Map Pane Use the following procedure to change the order of mapped notes in the Note Map pane. 1.
To Set the Drum Map Pane Grid Line Resolution • Click the down arrow on the Show/Hide Grid Lines combo button the menu that appears. and select an option from See: Piano Roll View The Pattern Brush Tool The Pattern Brush Tool The Pattern Brush tool , on the Piano Roll View toolbar, allows you to insert multiple notes using your mouse, either following a pattern used in an existing MIDI file or at the current note duration setting.
Option Description Use Pattern Polyphony Select this option to use the pitch values from the custom pattern file you are using. If you are using the Note Duration option, this option is not available. When using this option, the vertical position of your mouse does not affect the note pitches draw; that information is read from the pattern. Note Duration This option uses the current note duration setting in the Piano Roll View toolbar as the interval between notes. Table 111.
Your cursor should appear like this when in the Drum Grid pane. 5. Click where you want to begin placing notes and drag until you have inserted all the notes you want. 6. Release the mouse button. To Use a Custom Pattern’s Pitch Values 1. Open a track in the Drum Grid pane. 2. In the Pattern Brush tool’s drop-down menu, select the custom pattern you want to use. If you need to create a custom pattern, see Creating Custom Patterns. 3. In the Pattern Brush tool’s drop-down menu, select Use Pattern Polyphony.
7. Save the file as a MIDI file (.mid) in the Pattern Brush Patterns folder in the directory where you installed SONAR. Note: You can change the default directory where SONAR looks for patterns in the Folders tab of the Global Options dialog. You may need to re-start SONAR to see the new patterns in the drop-down menu next to the Pattern Brush. The name you gave the file appears with an arrow next to it. Move your mouse over it to see a subdirectory which contains each of the patterns you created.
Drum Maps and the Drum Grid Pane The Pattern Brush Tool
Editing Audio The Track view lets you edit and arrange audio clips. You can perform basic tasks such as cut, copy, paste, and move; apply simple audio processing such as gain change, fades, and equalization; and use sophisticated audio effects such as stereo chorus and reverb. The Track view lets you see your audio clips on a timeline, arranged by track, to help you visualize the organization of your project’s audio data.
See: Basic Acoustics Example—A Guitar String Waveforms Recording a Sound The Decibel Scale Audio Clips Managing Audio Data Basic Acoustics Sound is produced when molecules in the air are disturbed by some type of motion produced by a vibrating object. This object, which might be a guitar string, human vocal cord, or a garbage can, is set into motion because energy is applied to it.
The actual distance the string moves is called its displacement. This is proportional to how hard the string is plucked. A greater displacement results in a louder sound.
Fundamental frequency (1f) 100% amplitude 2x fundamental (2f) 50% amplitude 3x fundamental (3f) 33% amplitude 4x fundamental (4f) 25% amplitude 5x fundamental (5f) 20% amplitude This composite waveform still doesn't account for the uniqueness of the sound of different instruments. For example, stringed instruments usually have a resonator. In the case of the guitar, the resonator is the big block of hollow wood to which the string is attached (the guitar body).
The waveform of a trumpet blast might look like this: And the waveform of a spoken word might look like this: The three waveforms shown above are quite different from one another, both in appearance and sound. Each has its own characteristic shape, or envelope, and each has its own complex combination of frequency components, which can change across the duration of the sound.
Back and forth motions of the vibrating object translate to upward (positive) and downward (negative) excursions of waveform amplitude. For example, a close-up of a portion of the guitar waveform might look like this: The waveform crosses the zero line twice during each complete vibration. These zero-crossings are important in digital audio processing; they are good places to cut waveforms apart and splice them together. If waveforms are cut or spliced at other locations, clicks and pops can occur.
The other important aspect of the measuring process is the sampling resolution. The sampling resolution determines how accurately the amplitude of each sample is measured. At present, the music industry has settled on a system that provides 65,536 different values to assign to the amplitude of a waveform at any given instant. Thus, each sample saved by your computer requires 2 bytes (16 bits) to store, since it takes 2 bytes to store a number from –32,768 to 32,767.
The reference level (0 dB) usually corresponds to the current loudness of the sound. A positive change in decibels makes the sound louder; a negative change makes the sound quieter. See: Digital Audio Fundamentals Audio Clips If you have read Digital Audio Fundamentals, you should have a good idea of what is contained in a SONAR audio clip. An audio clip contains a long series of numbers, or samples, representing the fluctuating amplitude of a waveform.
Basic Audio Editing The Track view lets you perform basic editing tasks such as cut, copy, paste, delete, drag-and-drop, split, and bounce. You can drag fade-ins and fade-outs onto a clip using your mouse or you can set complex envelopes on both clips and tracks. You can use envelopes to change settings for gain (volume), pan, mute, bus send level and bus send pan. The Scrub tool lets you audition portions of audio by dragging the mouse. Use the Select tool to make selections.
Audio clips have several properties that you can change: Property Description Name The name of a clip is used in the Track view and Event List view. You can assign any name to help you remember the contents of the clip. Start The start determines when the sample is played. Length The length indicates the size of the clip. Snap Offset A value that represents the number of samples into the clip at which the clip snaps to. Display Color The clip’s color in the Track view. Table 113.
Clips can be cut, copied, pasted, and deleted with Edit menu commands, or moved and copied with drag-and-drop techniques. For more information, see “Arranging and editing” on page 287. Audio Scaling Audio scaling is the increase or decrease in the size (scale) of the waveform in a track or bus. Audio scaling allows you to make detailed edits by zooming in on the parts of the waveform closest to the zero crossing (silence) while preserving the track or bus size.
the waveform is zoomed in by a factor of 10. Note: The Audio Scale Ruler display reflects the type of audio clip directly beneath it. If it is a stereo waveform, the Audio Scale Ruler appears in stereo (one for each channel). If it is a mono clip it appears in mono. Also, the Audio Scale Ruler only displays numbers when it is above a certain height. If you cannot see the Audio Scale Ruler, increase the size of your track or bus. To Change the Audio Scale Display Option 1.
To do this Do this Increase to maximum scale Hold down the CTRL and SHIFT keys and click the Vertical Zoom In button. When you hold down the SHIFT and CTRL keys and position your cursor over the Vertical Zoom In button, your cursor looks like this: Decrease to minimum scale Hold down the CTRL and SHIFT keys and click the Vertical Zoom Out button. When you hold down the SHIFT and CTRL keys and position your cursor over the Vertical Zoom Out button, your cursor looks like this: Table 114.
To Scale a Single Track or Bus Using the Audio Scale Ruler • In the track in which you want to change the audio scale, click in the Audio Scale Ruler and drag. Drag up to increase the audio scaling. Drag down to decrease the audio scaling. To Show or Hide the Audio Scale Ruler 1. Right-click in the Clips pane. 2. Select View Options from the menu that appears. The Track View Options dialog appears. 3. In the Track View Options dialog, click the Show Audio Scale check box and click OK.
Option Description Split At Each Marker Creates a split in the clip at every marker. Split When Silent For At Least Creates a split after each period of silence which exceeds the number of measures specified. Table 116. SONAR splits the audio clip according to your specifications. Each new clip has the same name as the original clip. Note: A shortcut to split a selected clip is to move the Now time to where you want to split it, and press S on your computer keyboard.
The clips are combined into a single clip on the destination track. Empty space between clips is filled with silence in the new clip. Scrubbing You can use the Scrub tool to locate or audition a particular sound or passage as you drag the mouse. You can scrub a single audio track by dragging over that track or all tracks by dragging in the Time Ruler. Note: The Scrub tool is not affected by current Mute and Solo settings of a track. To Audition Audio with the Scrub Tool 1. Click the Scrub tool button .
Many of the dialog boxes associated with SONAR’s audio processing and effects commands have two important features: Audition and Presets. The Audition button is used to audition the processed audio data. When you click Audition, SONAR processes the first few seconds of your data, then plays it repeatedly until you click Stop. This helps you to get an idea of whether the settings in the dialog box are producing the desired effect. The audition duration is three seconds by default.
• Due to the nature and limitations of digital audio, the sum of all audio signals played together cannot exceed the waveform amplitude limit. Even though no individual clip is clipped, the combination may cause distortion. If the selection contains any loud signals, Normalize may not seem to have any effect. This is because the volume increase is determined by the loudest audio in the selection.
The Reverse command does not reverse the musical position of audio data. Use the Process > Retrograde command to invert the order of clips in time. To Reverse Audio Data 1. Select the audio data to be affected. 2. Choose Process > Audio > Reverse from the menu. SONAR reverses the selected audio data. Advanced Audio Processing SONAR provides a number of advanced audio processing commands for power users.
The digital noise gate parameters are described in the following table. Parameter Meaning Open Level (dB) The loudness threshold for opening the noise gate. The gate officially opens when loudness rises above this level, although it can open earlier because of the Attack Time. Close Level (dB) The loudness threshold for closing the noise gate. The gate officially closes when loudness falls below this level, although it can stay open later because of the Release Time.
SONAR processes the audio as directed. Removing DC Offset Some models of audio hardware produce a DC offset while recording, which is caused by electrical mismatches between the audio hardware and the input device or instrument. Although imperceptible, DC offset may cause problems in further stages of sound processing. Note: An easy way to spot DC offset is to zoom in to a silent section of your sound file.
The envelope in the Fade/Envelope dialog box is made of one or more connected line segments (the linear curves are a single segment, the exponential curves consist of nine segments each). Although the endpoints of the curve are fixed, you can move the intermediate points, and create new intermediate points, to change the shape of the curve.
To Crossfade Two Overlapping Clips 1. Select two overlapping audio clips. They need not be on the same track, but they must overlap in time for the command to have any effect. 2. Choose Process > Audio > Crossfade to open the Crossfade dialog box. 3. Select an envelope from the drop-down list. Figure 109. The Crossfade dialog 4. If desired, manipulate the curve as described in the table above.
You can add audio effects, like MIDI effects, to audio tracks in real time (during playback) in the Console and Track views. Unlike some of the audio processing discussed so far, using effects in real time is non-destructive. This means that the audio clip data itself is not modified, and no new audio files are created. See “Mixing,” for more information about real-time effects. Note: Off-line effects may cause your audio clips to grow in length.
Software Instruments SONAR’s Synth Rack view (also referred to as just the Synth Rack) makes inserting a soft synth or ReWire instrument a one-step process, and makes viewing and configuring these instruments simple. In the Synth Rack you can insert and delete synths, create control knobs to control and/or automate parameters, scroll through patches and presets, mute, solo, freeze, and choose what track to display automation data on. You can easily control all of your soft synths from one view.
Synth Rack View Open the Synth Rack view with the Views > Synth Rack command. The Synth Rack view lets you view, insert, delete, and configure your soft synths. You can also mute, solo, and freeze any or all of them from this view. Each time you insert a soft synth into your project, a new row appears in the Synth Rack view with the name of the soft synth and its current preset. You can select different presets from the view.
Synth Tracks Using a soft synth introduces a third kind of track to your project alongside audio and MIDI tracks. A synth track functions much like an audio track, but with a few differences: • A synth track’s input is always a synth or a ReWire device, which means you cannot record audio or enable input monitoring from another source on that track. • A synth track can display a waveform preview of its output.
To add a soft synth to the audio and synth tracks’ Input menus (drop-downs) and the MIDI tracks’ Output menus, you have to insert each soft synth that you want to use into each project. There are two basic ways to insert soft synths in SONAR: 1. You can insert soft synths from the Synth Rack view or with the Insert > Soft Synths command. If you use this method, you can choose to have SONAR create the necessary synth and MIDI tracks, and patch them together correctly.
• If you want to open the soft synth’s interface from this dialog, check the Open These Windows: Synth Property Page check box. • If you opened this dialog from the Insert menu and want to open the Synth Rack view, check the Open These Windows: Synth Rack View check box. • If the synth you’re inserting can create or send MIDI data, and you want to record or redirect this MIDI data, enable the Enable MIDI Output check box.
Now you can record some MIDI data into the MIDI track to play the soft synth with. See “To Play a Soft Synth with Recorded MIDI Data” on page 576. You can also play the soft synth in real-time from a MIDI controller. See “To Play a Soft Synth from a MIDI Controller” on page 576.
Synth Rack Icons Each Synth Rack strip displays a synth icon so that you can easily tell one synth from another when the rack contains multiple synths. Icons have the same image format and file location as track icons, and use the same commands to show or hide the icons. Synth Rack Icons are enabled in SONAR by default, and the default icon for each synth is track_icon_dxi_large.bmp. The Synth Rack only displays large format icons, fixed at 48x48 pixels.
• Some soft synths that use the DXi 2 format can send MIDI data, sometimes including MIDI notes, from their interfaces to SONAR. For example, some soft synths have MIDI keyboards built into their interfaces that you can click to send note on/off messages. See “Recording a Soft Synth’s MIDI Output” on page 583 for more information. To Play a Soft Synth with Recorded MIDI Data 1. Insert a soft synth into the project. 2. In the MIDI track that sends its output to the soft synth, choose a MIDI channel. 3.
7. If you want to save your soft synth settings, type a name in the Presets field, and click the Disk icon that’s next to the Presets field. 8. Make sure that the MIDI track has the focus (its titlebar is lighter), and play your MIDI controller. When you play your MIDI controller you should hear the soft synth through your sound card’s outputs.
the correct MIDI tracks. Or • Click the M or S buttons (mute and solo, respectively) next to the soft synth’s name in the Synth Rack view. This mutes or solos all the tracks associated with this instance of the soft synth. You can use the Mute and Solo buttons in the Track view, Synth Rack view, or Console view. Rename synths in the Synth Rack view It is possible to rename synth in the Synth Rack view.
Converting Your Soft Synth Tracks to Audio Muting and Soloing Soft Synth Tracks To Remove A Soft Synth from a Track or Bus Converting Your Soft Synth Tracks to Audio Once your project sounds the way you want it to, it’s extremely easy to convert your soft synth MIDI tracks to either new audio tracks, or Wave, MP3, or other exported files. You can also do a temporary conversion, called freezing. See “Freeze Tracks and Synths” on page 617 for more information.
The Export Audio dialog box appears. 3. In the Look in field, choose the location where you want the new, exported file to be. 4. Type a file name in the File name field. 5. Choose the type of file, the format, and the bit depth of the new file you’re creating—for MP3 use 16 bits. 6. In the Mix Enables field, make sure all choices are selected. 7. Click OK. SONAR creates a new audio file of the type you specified. Find the file in the folder you specified, and double-click it to listen to it.
The Synth Rack displays knobs for the controls you selected, with the each knob’s name displayed below each knob. Now you can adjust some of the synth’s parameters by moving the appropriate knob in the Synth Rack.
Automating Controls from the Synth Rack Note: Your synth’s manufacturer determines which controls (if any) you can automate. If your synth does not expose its controls to SONAR, you can not automate the synth. Once you create some control knobs on the Synth Rack, you can record automation from them. Use the same procedure you would use to record automation of any other SONAR knob or widget.
Drawing Soft Synth Automation in the Clips Pane Some synths have controls that you can automate by drawing envelopes in the Track view. To Automate a Soft Synth’s Controls in the Clips Pane 1. In the Synth Rack, the Automation Track menu in a particular synth’s control strip displays the track that this synth’s automation appears in. Right-click in the Clips pane of this track, and choose Envelopes > Create Track Envelope > Name of your synth from the pop-up menu. The Synth Envelope dialog box appears. 2.
To Enable MIDI Outputs on a Synth • When inserting a synth from the Insert menu or the Synth Rack, check the Enable MIDI Output check box in the Insert Soft Synth Options dialog box. Or • Right-click a synth name in the Synth Rack to enable or disable Enable MIDI Output from a popup menu. The soft synth will now appear as an Input option on all MIDI tracks just like any hardware inputs. To Hear a Soft Synth’s MIDI Output Through Another Track 1.
ReWire SONAR can send MIDI events to any object in a ReWire client application on as many MIDI channels as the client application makes available. ReWire Instruments ReWire is a technology for transferring audio data between software applications in real time—the software equivalent of a multi-channel audio cable. ReWire is built on the following cornerstones: • Real-time audio streaming between applications • Sample accurate synchronization • Common transport functionality SONAR supports the ReWire 2.
Inserting a ReWire Instrument To Use Separate Synth Tracks for Each ReWire Device Automating ReWire Instruments Mixing Down ReWire Instruments ReWire Troubleshooting Guide Inserting a ReWire Instrument After you install your ReWire applications and reboot your computer, the names of the ReWire applications appear in SONAR’s Insert menu under ReWire Devices, and also in the Synth Rack view’s Insert button pop-up menu. To Insert a ReWire Instrument 1. Open a SONAR project.
in the same way, you can uncheck this option so you don’t have to deal with the dialog each time. To open the dialog when the option is unchecked, click the Insert Soft Synth Options button in the Synth Rack view toolbar. 5. Click OK to close the dialog. SONAR adds your ReWire devices to the audio and synth track Input menus and the MIDI track Output and Channel menus, creates any tracks you requested, adds the ReWire instrument to the Synth Rack view, and opens the ReWire application’s interface. 6.
Routing MIDI Data to ReWire Instruments Some ReWire applications can create large numbers of instruments. You can send a track’s MIDI data to any of these instruments by selecting the specific instrument in the MIDI channel menu of the relevant track. To Send MIDI Data to a Specific ReWire Instrument 1. In the SONAR MIDI track that contains the recorded MIDI data you want to send, make sure that the Output menu is set to the correct ReWire device. 2.
• My ReWire Project Plays at a Different Tempo when Opened from SONAR. When you open a ReWire project from SONAR, the ReWire project assumes SONAR’s default tempo, which is 100. Change SONAR’s tempo to match your ReWire project. • My MIDI Controller Works in SONAR or my ReWire Application, but not Both. Choose different MIDI In ports for both SONAR and your ReWire application. Do this in SONAR by using the Options > MIDI Devices command, and highlighting the MIDI In port you want to use in SONAR.
To Play a Stand-alone Synth 1. Use the Options > MIDI Devices command to open the MIDI Devices dialog box. 2. In the Outputs field, make sure the name of your stand-alone synth’s MIDI driver is highlighted, and click OK. 3. Click the Output field of an unused MIDI track to display the Output menu. 4. Select the name of the stand-alone synth’s MIDI driver. 5. If your stand-alone synth is multi-timbral, change the track’s MIDI channel to the same one that the synth uses for the sound you want to hear. 6.
4. If SONAR’s metronome is set to use any software synth to produce a click, disable the Recording option in the Project Options dialog box. To do this, select Options > Project to open the Project Options dialog box, select the Metronome tab and uncheck Recording in the General section. 5. Open your sound card's mixer device. This is normally done by double-clicking the speaker icon on the Windows taskbar, or by choosing Start > Programs > Accessories > Multimedia > Volume Control > Options > Properties.
Software Instruments Stand-alone Synths
Mixing SONAR lets you mix your projects with tremendous control and flexibility. The extensive bussing controls, support for DX and VST plug-ins, built-in EQ’s, automation, remote control, metering, grouping, and freeze features let you design your own style of mixing, with your own workflow. (Automation is covered in a separate chapter.) After you finish mixing a project, you can export the project in a variety of audio file formats to create a CD master or to publish your work on the Internet.
Preparing to Mix The Console and Track views contain all the controls you need to mix your project. To open the Console view click the Console view button always open. or choose Views > Console. The Track view is Note: You can control all sliders and knobs in the Console and Track Views by hovering over them with the mouse and manipulating the mouse wheel. Figure 111. The Console view A B C D E I H G F A. Audio module B. MIDI module C. MIDI velocity D. Bus out E. Main out F. Bus pane G.
A B F E DC A. Gain B. Band Q C. Band select D. EQ type select E. EQ enable F. Frequency Sound controls in the Console view are grouped in modules.
Volume and pan faders also have snap-to positions; double-click a fader’s knob to return the fader to its snap-to value. The controls and effects patch points all have tool tips associated with them. To see a description of a particular control or effect, simply rest the cursor over the item for a few seconds.
• Name tracks and buses Note: The Console view has additional controls to configure its appearance. See the online help topic “Console View” for more information. Meters are helpful in determining the relative volumes of your audio tracks and in detecting and preventing overload. By default, the Console view displays output level meters in main out modules at all times, and displays record level meters in individual tracks whenever they are armed and have an audio input.
appearance of your meters. Option What it does Record meters Displays record meters for any armed track. Playback meters Displays playback meters. Output bus meters Displays meters in buses Table 123. For more information about metering options, see “Changing the Meters’ Display” on page 611. To Change a Meter’s Range • Right-click on the meter and choose a new range. To Add a Bus 1.
To Insert a New Track 1. Right-click in the Console view or on the header of a track in the Track view. 2. Choose Insert Audio Track or Insert MIDI Track. SONAR adds a new track to the project. To Rename a Track or Bus 1. In the Console view, click on the module name. In the Track view double-click on the Track name. 2. Type a new name. 3. Press ENTER. If you rename a track, the new name is copied to the Track view.
You can control the mixing and playback of a MIDI track as follows: To do this Do this Add a real-time MIDI effect to the track Right-click in the FX bin and select an effect from the list (for more information, see Using Real-Time Effects) Remove an effect Select the effect and press DELETE or right-click and select Delete.
To Convert a Sound Card’s Synth Tracks to a Stereo Audio Track 1. Pick a destination audio track and set the Input field to Stereo-(name of your sound card). Note: If you have more than one sound card installed, select the one that your synth uses as an output. 2. Arm the destination track. 3. Mute or archive any tracks that you don’t want to record to the destination track. 4.
Signal Flow 602 Mixing Signal Flow
Hardware input Audio clip Soft Synth input Clip mute V-Vocal Clip fades Input meters (record) Clip envelopes/Clip Mute regions Clip FX bin Volume Trim Phase/Interleave Playback Meter (pre fader/pre FX bin) FX bin ( Pre fader sends are affected by M-S buttons unless you change the LinkPFSend Aud.ini option.
You control the mixing and playback of an audio track as follows: To do this Do this Add a real-time audio effect to the track Right-click in the FX bin and select an effect from the list (for more information, see “Using Real-Time Effects” on page 621“). Remove an effect Select the effect and press DELETE or right-click and select Delete.
Track 1 FX Bin Track 1 FX Output Sidechainable FX Sidechain input Bus Hardware Output Track 2 Output / Send Sum Bus Output / Send See also: Sidechaining Signal Flow External Insert signal flow Routing and Mixing Digital Audio Any audio track can be tapped, before or after the track volume control, and sent to one or more buses. A bus can tap any number of audio tracks. Each track’s data passes through the track’s send level knob on its way to the bus.
B A C D A. Pre-fader: output level to Bus 2 is not affected by the track’s volume fader B. This track is routed to Aux 1 and Aux 2 C. Bus enable button: must be lit to send track data to bus D.
Stereo Buses Stereo Buses Buses are useful for mixing together different audio tracks (in stereo) and applying effects to the mix. You can mix the tracks at different volume levels by adjusting each track’s bus send level. Buses output to either other buses or to a main out. You control the bus as follows: To do this Do this Send audio data from an audio track to the bus In an audio track, press the Bus Send Enable button corresponding to the bus, or choose the bus as an output for the track.
To do this Do this Set the Send Pan to be the same as the bus that the bus feeds into Right-click the Send Pan control and choose Follow Bus Pan from the pop-up menu. This setting is only active when the send has the same interleave as the bus it feeds into, and is set to Post Fader. If enabled, the Send Pan control no longer affects the output. Select the output Click the Output button and choose one from the list Table 126.
flowing through the bus. Main Outs Each enabled hardware channel has a main out channel strip in the Console view. Main outs are the final destination for all of your audio in SONAR. Main outs accept input from both tracks and buses. Main outs contains a left channel and a right channel, but only one volume fader. You control the left/ right balance of each main out with the balance slider.
Changing the Meters’ Display What the Meters Measure The following table summarizes what each kind of meter measures: Kind of meter What it measures Record The level of the instrument listed as an input for the track you are monitoring—the track must be armed to enable the meter Playback A playback meter measures the playback level of any pre-existing data in the track you are monitoring, either before or after the track faders, depending on what display options you choose Main outs The level of the
Track view toolbar Console view Vol button A B C A. Show/Hide All Meters B. Meter Options menu C. Meter Options menu To Show or Hide all Meters of a Certain Type • In the Console view, click the drop-down arrow on the Volume button, and check or uncheck the kind of meters you want to show or hide. • In the Track view, click the arrow to the right of the Show/Hide Meters button and check or uncheck the kind of meters you want to show or hide.
The drop-down menus give you the following display options: Menu option What it does Horizontal Meters (Track view only) Choose this option to display the Track view meters horizontally instead of vertically. Vertical Meters (Track view only) Choose this option to display the Track view meters vertically instead of horizontally.
Menu option What it does Hold Peaks Choosing this option causes the meter to display a small vertical line (the peak marker) that shows the peak level and then decays until a new peak is reached. Lock Peaks Choosing this option causes the meter to lock the peak marker at the highest level, until a higher level occurs. Table 129.
You can customize the colors of non-segmented meters in the Configure Colors dialog—use the Options > Colors command, and choose VU LO Level, VU HI Level, or VU Tick Marks. For more information, see Configure Colors dialog. Changing the Meters’ Performance There are two major factors that determine the performance of meters in SONAR. One is audio latency which you can adjust, within the limits of your audio hardware drivers, in the General tab of the Audio Options dialog.
MIDI Activity indicators Each MIDI track displays a MIDI playback meter in the Track view and Console view. The MIDI meter consists of two sections: • MIDI Activity Indicator. The MIDI Activity Indicator lights up whenever a MIDI event is encountered in the track. • MIDI Velocity Meter. The MIDI Velocity Meter shows the greatest current note velocity encountered during playback. A A B B A. MIDI Activity Indicator B. MIDI Velocity Meter Audio and MIDI meters can be either vertical or horizontal.
To Hide or Show Peak Markers on an Individual Track or Bus • Right-click the track or bus, and choose Show Peak Marker from the pop-up menu. To Jump to a Peak Marker • Right-click the numeric peak display in the track/bus header strip, and choose Go To Peak from the context menu (see picture below). Doing so will center the peak location and Now time in the Clips pane. This is useful because a Peak Marker may be offscreen.
A B A. Waveform Preview button in Track view B. Waveform Preview A A. Waveform Preview button in Bus Inspector Freeze Tracks and Synths The Freeze feature allows you to temporarily bounce your track, including soft synths and effects, to reduce the amount of CPU power needed. The Freeze feature also works for synths patched in the Synth Rack. The following are the available commands for track freezing: • Freeze Track.
audio is retained, however, and toggling between Quick Freeze and Quick Unfreeze should be instantaneous. • Quick Freeze Track. Only available after a Quick Unfreeze, the Quick Freeze function redisplays and unmutes the bounced audio instantaneously and disables the FX bin. The following are the available commands for synth freezing: • Freeze Synth. Audio from a soft synth is bounced and placed on the synth’s track. Output from the synth is disabled, as is the FX bin on the synth track. • Unfreeze Synth.
To Do a Quick Unfreeze of a Track Do one of the following: • Hold down the SHIFT key and click the track’s Freeze button . • Right-click on a frozen track and select Freeze > Quick Unfreeze Track from the menu that appears. SONAR hides and mutes the bounced audio, restores the original audio, and enables the FX bin. Bounced audio is retained, however, and toggling between Quick Freeze and Quick Unfreeze should be instantaneous.
• In the Synth Rack view, click the Freeze/Unfreeze button Synth from the menu that appears. , and choose Freeze > Unfreeze SONAR discards bounced audio, enables the synth and the synth audio track’s FX bin. SONAR will be re-bounce the audio if you choose Freeze again. To Do a Quick Unfreeze of a Synth Do one of the following: • Hold down the SHIFT key and click any associated track’s Freeze button .
Tip: To show/hide the Archive and Freeze buttons in the Track view, open the Widget Tab Manager and specify the visibility of the Track State group. For details, see Widget Tab Manager. Using Real-Time Effects In the Console view and Track view, you can use plug-in effects non-destructively, in real time (to apply effects offline, see “Applying Audio Effects” on page 656).
Effects Parameters How to Use Real-Time Effects Applying Audio Effects Applying MIDI Effects Effects Parameters Each effect in an effects patch point has its own independent set of parameter values. For example, you can apply a short reverb in one track and a long reverb in another track.
A B A. An FX bin in a track in the Console view B. An FX bin in a bus in the Console view Here’s how to insert and configure effects: To do this Do this Add a real-time effect to a MIDI track, audio track, synth track or bus. Right-click in the FX bin of the track or bus you want to add the effect to, and select an effect from the pop-up menu. Change the order in which effects are used. Drag an effect up or down in the FX bin. Edit an effect’s parameters.
When you place an effect in an FX bin, an abbreviated name is used to describe the effect. Sometimes the limited space makes it impossible to identify the effect. If this occurs, simply rest the cursor over the effect for a second or two, and a tooltip will pop up to display the full name of the effect. Effects in FX bins display “ticks” that tell you whether the effect is outputting a mono, stereo, or surround signal: A A. Mono indicator A A. Stereo indicator A A. Surround indicator (in 5.
a DXi-especially if SONAR is configured to use a high mixing latency. The symptoms include audio that appears to drop out, and/or missed notes (from the MIDI track that is assigned to the DXi). Again, this is more prone to occur with higher latency settings. This may happen if SONAR doesn't pump ahead enough MIDI data to compensate for ADC. To fix this problem, go to Options > Global > MIDI and increase the Prepare Using [n] Millisecond Buffers value.
The following table tells you how to use presets: To do this Do this Load a preset Do either of the following: • Click the drop-down arrow on the right side of the Presets menu, and click the name of the preset in the drop-down menu. • Click the left or right side of the Prev/Next button to load the previous or next preset in the menu. You can click the button repeatedly to step through the menu. Save the current settings as a preset If you’re using: • A VST factory preset.
Both audio and MIDI clips now contain full-featured FX bins. You can insert real-time effects on clips, in both MIDI and audio tracks. Each clip that you insert an effect on displays its own FX bin, that you can use to manage the effects on that clip. The characteristics of clip-based effects are: • Splitting a clip copies the effect(s) onto both clips. • You can copy or move clip-based effects from one clip to another, and to or from the FX bin on a track.
• To bypass or un-bypass all the effects on a clip, right-click in the clips’s FX bin and choose Bypass Bin from the pop-up menu. • To enable or disable an individual effect, click the effect’s green on/off switch. • To move an effect to another FX bin (on a track or a clip), drag the name of the effect to the other FX bin. • To copy an effect to another FX bin (on a track or a clip), hold the CTRL key down, and then drag the name of the effect to the other FX bin.
Sidechaining SONAR supports multi-input plug-ins, which are typically sidechain plug-ins that have two inputs: a primary input and a sidechain input. When SONAR detects such a plug-in in an FX bin, a virtual output port is created for each extra input exposed by the plug-in. Audio track, Bus and Send outputs can be routed to sidechain inputs. Sidechaining is typically used with compressors to limit one signal depending on the signal level of another.
2. Assign the desired audio track, bus or Send output to the plug-in’s sidechain input. For more information, see “Assigning Inputs & Outputs” on page 205. Note: All sources that are sent to a sidechain input will be mixed down prior to being sent to the sidechain. Sidechain plug-ins in clip FX bins and surround bus FX bins: Sidechain inputs are not exposed by plug-ins that are inserted in clip FX bins and surround bus FX bins.
Bouncing Tracks Bouncing to Clips Sidechainable Vintage Channel VC-64 plug-in Note: The Vintage Channel VC-64 plug-in is only available in SONAR Producer. The Vintage Channel VC-64 plug-in supports sidechaining (see “Sidechaining” on page 629). When an instance of Vintage Channel VC-64 is inserted in a project, you can assign audio track, bus and send outputs to its sidechain input. Each Compressor and EQ can be configured to listen to the sidechain input.
Figure 112. Vintage Channel VC-64 C A B A. Sidechain Listen B. Enable/disable sidechaining for the current Compressor C. Enable/disable sidechaining for the current EQ For more information, see the Vintage Channel VC-64 online help. External Insert plug-in The purpose of the External Insert plug-in is to route audio to and from existing I/O ports in SONAR, allowing an external audio device to be effectively patched into any FX bin.
Send VU Meter. This meter shows the signal level being delivered to the external send. Since this is feeding a sound card output, it is important to avoid clipping at this stage. Send Port Picker. This control lets you choose an audio output that currently has nothing routed to it. This is the port that you should connect to the input(s) of your external gear.
Figure 113. External Insert J I K E F G H A B C D A. Send Stereo Mode (Left, Right, Mono) B. Send Level C. Send VU Meter D. Send Port E. Return Phase F. Return Level G. Return VU Meter H. Return Port I. Delay Measurement J. Send section K. Return section Figure 114.
See: Automating Effects To use an external effect in a SONAR project 1. Make sure your external gear is connected to your audio interface and turned on. The external gear’s audio input must be connected to one of your audio interface’s output ports and the external gear’s audio output must be connected to one of your audio interface’s input ports. 2. Right-click an FX bin and select External Insert from the pop-up menu. The External Insert property page appears. 3.
1. Create an audio track and record or import some audio. 2. Clone the track (including the audio) to a new track. 3. Insert the External Insert plug-in on one of the tracks. 4. Assign the Send and Return to any available input and output on your audio hardware. 5. Patch an audio cable directly between the assigned input and output on your audio hardware. 6. Press Play in SONAR. You should hear both tracks out of time with each other. 7. Carefully match the levels of the two tracks.
When the current delay setting becomes invalid, an asterisk (*) is displayed next to the delay value. If you notice the asterisk, it means something has changed in your system and it's time to measure the delay again. Loading a project that uses the External Insert plug-in When you load a project with the External Insert plug-in (or select a preset in the External Insert interface), SONAR checks to see if the exact same ports are assigned as when the project was saved.
Organizing Plug-ins Once you have more than a few plug-in effects and/or soft synths installed on your computer, you might want to organize the way they appear in the various plug-in and synth menus that you use. The Cakewalk Plug-in Manager is a powerful tool to organize your plug-in menus. Open the Plug-in Manager by using the Tools > Cakewalk Plug-in Manager command, and display the Plug-in Manager’s help file by pressing F1.
To Remove a Folder from the VST Scan Folder(s) List • On the Global Options dialog/VST Plug-ins tab, in the VST Scan Folder(s) list, select the folder you want to remove, and click the Remove button. To Set Options for All Plug-ins in a Folder 1. On the Global Options dialog/VST Plug-ins tab, in the VST Scan Folder(s) list, select the folder you want to set options for, then click the Folder Defaults button. 2.
• Enable mono processing. When enabled, this option replicates the audio signal from the first channel to the left and right channel, effectively forcing the output of VST to be mono. • Translate Bank/Program Changes. When enabled, this option translates MIDI program change messages into VST preset changes. This is only used for plug-ins that do not support MIDI program change messages. • Always suspend on stop.
2. In the Plug-in Categories list, select VST Audio Effects or VST Instruments. 3. In the Registered Plug-ins list, select the desired plug-in. 4. Under VST Configuration, click Plug-in Propertires to open the VST Plug-In Properties dialog. 5. Select the desired options, then click OK to close the VST Plug-In Properties dialog. Note: For any of the VST properties to take effect, the plug-in must be re-instantiated.
unmute the original clip by using the Mute tool. You can also or create your own key binding to launch the V-Vocal editor. Note: Offline processing commands such as Process > Normalize and Process > Gain do not work on a V-Vocal clip. To Bypass or Unbypass a Single V-Vocal Clip • Right-click the V-Vocal clip and choose V-Vocal > Bypass/Unbypass from the Clips pane pop-up menu.
Figure 115. V-Vocal A B C D E F G H I J S R Q T K L P O N M A. Bypass B. Mute C. Solo D. Rewind E. Play/Stop F. AutoScroll G. LoopMode H. Undo/Redo I. Cent indicator J. Timeline K. Scroll L. Formant control M. Information view N. Zoom O. Edit mode P. Pitch correction Q. Spread editing area R. Select pitch correction key S. Tools T. Pitch to MIDI Description of Interface Components • Edit mode. Select the parameter you want to edit: pitch, time, formant, or dynamics. • Zoom.
• Vibrato. Set the depth of the vibrato. If you choose 100%, vibrato depth is set to zero. • Sense. This is a sensitivity control for pitch correction for unstable pitch areas such as portamento. Pitch correction gets stronger if you increase the value. • Cent indicator. This indicator shows the pitch correction amount by cents in realtime (+/- 100 cents). • Timeline. This gives a graphical display of the playback time in beats. • Select pitch correction key. Set the target notes for the pitch correction.
• To Solo the track that the V-Vocal clip is in, click the S button in the V-Vocal interface. • To rewind the V-Vocal clip, click the Rewind button in the V-Vocal interface. • To loop the V-Vocal clip, click the Loop Mode button in the V-Vocal interface. • To set the playback time for the V-Vocal clip, click in the timeline that’s at the top of the graph. See: Pitch Editing Pitch Editing Pitch editing requires that the Pitch button in the Edit Mode section is enabled.
To Change the Pitch of a Selected Region 1. Use the Arrow tool to select the part of the yellow line that you want to transpose (make sure that the Pitch button in the Edit Mode section is enabled). The selected region turns blue to show that it is selected. 2. Drag the yellow line up or down. Nodes appear automatically when you shift pitch. Tips: • CTRL-dragging snaps the pitch to the pitch correction grid. SHIFT dragging moves the pitch by 100 cent increments.
To Draw Freehand Pitch Changes 1. Click the Pen tool. 2. Draw a shape on the graph. To Draw Straight Line Pitch Changes 1. Click the Line tool. 2. Draw a line on the graph. To Correct Pitch 1. Select the region you want to correct by using the Arrow tool. 2. Select the notes that you want the selected region to become by clicking notes on the Keyboard button. The selected notes should be light blue. The deselected notes are dark blue.
To Add Vibrato 1. Click the Vibrato/LFO tool. 2. Move the cursor to the place where you want the vibrato to start. The cursor displays a vibrato icon when it is ready to add new vibrato: . 3. Drag to the right for the length of the vibrato segment that you want to add. To Edit Vibrato 1. Move the Vibrato/LFO tool over the vibrato segment that you want to edit. The cursor displays a double-arrow icon when it is ready to edit vibrato: . 2.
• Hold down the CTRL key while you move lines to move all the following lines by an equal amount. • To erase lines, drag a region with the eraser. Timing reverts to its original condition in the areas where you erase lines. See: Editing Formants Editing Formants A rough definition of formants is that they are vowel sounds. To edit formants with V-Vocal, the Formant button in the Edit Mode section must be enabled.
• You can add an LFO to a selected region by dragging the red line up or down with the Vibrato tool. Dragging left or right modifies the LFO frequency. • You can reset segments of the red line by dragging with the Eraser. • You can increase or decrease the formant for the entire phrase by adjusting the Shift knob. To Link the Formant Line to the Pitch Line • To increase or decrease the formant relative to pitch, adjust the Pitch Follow knob.
pitch as soon as you create a V-Vocal clip. If you decide to use another method, but change your mind and want to use this method, you can select this method to recreate the original data. • Standard 2. This is a general pitch detection setting that often performs better on styles with deeper vibratos. • Deep Vibrato. Special purpose pitch detection method for phrases that contain very deep vibratos; this detection method tends to create longer center pitches, but may detect multiple notes as a single note.
The following table lists the V-Vocal keyboard shortcuts: Command Shortcut Arrow tool S Line tool L, or hold down SHIFT while using the Pen tool Pen tool D Vibrato/LFO tool V Erase tool E Hand tool H Zoom tool Z Undo zoom U Redo zoom SHIFT+U Zoom vertically CTRL+UP/DOWN ARROW keys Zoom horizontally CTRL+LEFT/RIGHT ARROW keys Fit entire region into display SHIFT+F Fit content vertically F Pitch edit mode 1 Time edit mode 2 Formant edit mode 3 Dynamics edit mode 4 Cycle thr
Command Shortcut Cancel drag gesture ESC Select All CTRL+A Select None CTRL+SHIFT+A Return selection to default settings DELETE Solo track / Show/hide waveform in Pitch edit mode SHIFT+W Go to/Center cursor G Scroll up/down UP/DOWN ARROW keys; PAGE UP/PAGE DOWN Scroll left/right LEFT/RIGHT ARROW keys Table 133. Using the Per-track EQ SONAR has a 4-band EQ patched into each audio track by default. You can adjust these EQ’s in the Console view and the Track Inspector.
Console view Track or Bus Inspector A B C D E F G H I A. Plot B. Enable EQ C. Choose type of filter, band 4 D. Frequency, Gain, and Q controls for band 3 E. Enable band 2 F. EQ Plot button G. EQ button H. Display button I. Module options Here’s how to use it: To Show or Hide the EQ in all Audio Tracks • In the Console view, click the EQ button; in the Track or Bus Inspector, click the Display button and click EQ.
To Enable or Disable the EQ in a Track or Bus • Click the EQ Enable button. To Enable or Disable a Band • Click the Enable/Disable Band button that’s at the top of each band’s controls. To Choose the Filter Type for Each Band • Click the Filter Type menu, and choose a filter type. To Set Frequency, Gain, and Q for Each Band • In the Track or Bus Inspector, in the band that you want to configure, drag the frequency slider, gain slider, or Q slider, respectively, to the left or right.
This command is undoable, so you can quickly and easily revert to a track/bus’ previous EQ settings. Note: You can only copy settings from an EQ that is enabled. Before copy A After copy B C A. Hold down the CTRL key and left-click in the source EQ plot B. While still holding down the CTRL key and left mouse button, drag the mouse cursor to the target EQ plot and release the mouse button C.
CPU Usage of Audio Effects The number of real-time audio effects that your computer can handle depends on the number of audio tracks in your project, the number and type of effects you want to use, and the type and speed of your CPU. Certain effects are more CPU-intensive than others, and enabling certain settings (such as using equalization within the Stereo Reverb) increases CPU usage for those effects. Applying MIDI Effects You can destructively apply the MIDI effects in a track’s patch point.
You have several additional options. There are three general types of groups: absolute, relative, and custom. Here’s how they work. Absolute The range of motion in all controls in the group is identical. When you move one control in the group, all other controls in the group move the same amount in the same direction. The controls do not necessarily need to start at the same level. Relative The range of motion for controls in the group is not the same.
SONAR removes the control from the group and displays the control with the neutral color indicator. To Remove All Controls from a Group • Right-click a control in the group, and choose Clear Group from the pop-up menu. To Override a Control’s Grouping • Hold down the CTRL key while moving the control. The control remains part of the group and functions as such once the CTRL key is lifted. To Set the Group Type to Relative or Absolute 1.
3. Choose Set Start = Current. SONAR sets the start value of the control. The Set Start = Current and Set End = Current commands set the range of motion that a grouped control moves through as the other members of the group move through their starting and ending values. You don’t have to designate a group as a custom group to create a custom group—just group some controls and set their starting and ending values. To Adjust the End Value of a Control 1. Set the control to the desired ending value. 2.
selection (selecting a track and all its recorded MIDI or audio data) is still performed by clicking the track number, but not in the upper left corner. A B C D E A. A track strip selector in the Track view B. A track selector in the Track view C. A bus strip selector in the Track view D. A track strip selector in the Console view E.
To Remove all Controls from a Quick Group • Click a strip selector that is in or out of the group. Or • Right-click a control in the group, and choose Clear Group from the pop-up menu. To Make a Quick Group a Permanent Group 1. In a pre-existing Quick Group, right-click the kind of control that you want to group (for example, volume) to open the pop-up menu. 2. Use the Group > Save command from the pop-up menu. The Group Attributes dialog appears. 3. Choose a Group name and color, and click OK.
The type of MIDI message used to work a control is selected in the Remote Control dialog box.
See: Using the Learn Option Using the Learn Option The Learn option in the Remote Control dialog allows you to bind a parameter in SONAR to a knob or fader on your controller. To Bind a Control Using the Learn Option 1. Right-click on the parameter you want to arm in either the Track view or Console view and select Remote Control from the pop-up menu. 2. Move a knob or fader on your controller. 3. Click the Learn button in the Remote Control dialog and click OK.
If you mix down to tracks that already have data, the new events are placed in the track, but do not overwrite existing material. To Mix Down (Bounce) Audio Tracks 1. Set all volume, pan, effects, and automation settings just as you want them. 2. Select the tracks or clips you want to mix down. 3. If you are using effects on the tracks and want to mix the effects down at this time, select the whole length of the longest track or clip plus an extra measure for the reverb or effects “tail.” 4.
• Entire Mix. Choosing this option bounces your entire mix down to a new mono track, stereo track, or two to eight new mono tracks (the Split Mono option), depending on whether the output is a stereo output or the Surround Main, and depending on what you choose in the Channel Format field. 8. Select a channel format: the kind of track(s) you want to create with your bounce. 9. Select source buses or tracks. 10.Select the kind of dithering you want for your bounce, or select None.
External Insert plug-in is typically used to receive audio from external hardware, SONAR’s audio output must be sent to the external hardware in real-time. SONAR will display an error message if you attempt to bounce audio that is routed to the External Insert plug-in. • Certain software instruments, such as samplers, cannot process audio faster than real-time and will produce glitches when operated in fast bounce mode. • Some hardware-based DSP effects have trouble with fast bounce.
Bouncing/freezing with sidechain plug-ins Sidechain inputs are not automatically included when you bounce a selection. If you want to bounce the output of a single track that contains a sidechain plug-in, the easiest solution is to also select all tracks that contribute to the plug-in’s sidechain input, and do a bounce with Fast Bounce disabled and the Source Category set to “Tracks”. Note: Freezing a track with sidechain inputs will not include the sidechain input.
SONAR verifies, performs a layout of the tracks and writes the current track list to CD medium in the selected drive. After the disk is completed, the disk is ejected from the drive. Preparing Audio for Distribution The File > Export Audio command exports your project as a new file or files that you can burn to a CD, or distribute via the Web or email. In addition, SONAR Producer allows you to export surroundencoded files (see “Exporting Surround Mixes” on page 704).
Format Definition Core Audio Format Core Audio Format is a new 64-bit audio format supported natively in Mac OS X, and is also used by QuickTime 7. Audio in Core Audio Format files can be uncompressed PCM or compressed (such as AAC). The file extension is .caf. RAW Rarely used, a RAW file can contain audio in any codec but is usually used with PCM audio data. OMF The Open Media Format, created by AVID Technology, is designed to port a project to other applications or platforms.
surround project in wave format. • Broadcast Wave (time-stamped). Choose this if you want to create a Broadcast Wave file (see description below). 8. In the Source Category field, select one of the following options: • Tracks. Choosing this option creates a separate file for each track that you select in the Source Buses/Tracks field. • Buses. Choosing this option creates a separate file for each bus that you select in the Source Buses/Tracks field. • Main Outputs.
14.If you want to save the settings you created in the Export Audio dialog, type a name for them in the Preset window and then click the floppy disk icon that’s next to the window. 15.Click Export. The audio is exported to the Wave file or files. If you chose Broadcast Wave as the export format, the following information is stored in the file(s): • Description. A brief description of the contents of the Broadcast wave. Limited to 256 characters. • Originator. The author of the Broadcast wave.
• Mono. All exported tracks and clips are mixed down to a mono file or files. • Split Mono. All exported tracks and clips are mixed down to separate mono files. • Multichannel. All exported tracks are mixed down to a multichannel WMA file or files. 11.Choose the sample rate that you want your exported file to be. 12.Select the bit depth that you want the exported file to use. If your source file is 16 and you export to 24, you get more precision for any audio effects in the mix (and a larger file).
• Tracks. Choosing this option creates a separate file for each track that you select in the Source Buses/Tracks field. • Buses. Choosing this option creates a separate file for each bus that you select in the Source Buses/Tracks field. • Main Outputs. Choosing this option creates a separate file for each main output that you select in the Source Buses/Tracks field. • Entire Mix. Choosing this option creates one file for your entire mix. 9.
Cakewalk Publisher Exporting tracks with no selection If the source category is Tracks when you bounce or export audio with no selection in, each wave file will be exactly the same duration as the original source track. Encoding options After clicking the Export button, an additional dialog will appear showing Extra Encoding Options. These options typically determine the bit depth, endian-ness (the byte ordering in memory used to represent the data), and an encoding type within the major file format.
• 24 bit DWVW AIFF (Apple/SGI) (extension “aif”) • Signed 8 bit PCM • Signed 16 bit PCM • Signed 24 bit PCM • Signed 32 bit PCM • Unsigned 8 bit PCM • 32 bit float • 64 bit float • U-Law • A-Law • IMA ADPCM • GSM 6.
• 64 bit float • U-Law • A-Law FLAC (FLAC Lossless Audio Codec) (extension “flac”) • Signed 8 bit PCM • Signed 16 bit PCM • Signed 24 bit PCM RAW (Headerless audio file) (extension “raw”) • Signed 8 bit PCM • Signed 16 bit PCM • Signed 24 bit PCM • Signed 32 bit PCM • Unsigned 8 bit PCM • 32 bit float • 64 bit float • U-Law • A-Law SD2 (Sound Designer II) (extension “sd2”) • Signed 8 bit PCM • Signed 16 bit PCM • Signed 24 bit PCM W64 (Sony Wave-64) (extension “w64”) • Signed 16 bit PCM • Signed 24 bit
WAV (Microsoft) (extension “wav”) • Signed 16 bit PCM • Signed 24 bit PCM • Signed 32 bit PCM • Unsigned 8 bit PCM • 32 bit float • 64 bit float • U-Law • A-Law • IMA ADPCM • Microsoft ADPCM • GSM 6.10 • 32kbs G721 ADPCM Exporting OMF Files OMF (Open Media Format) files are designed for cross-platform compatibility. For more information about the OMF format, see “Importing OMF Projects” on page 279.
has to do a separate export operation for each Groove Clip in the track, which is very timeconsuming. If you only have one Groove Clip in a track, and you have rolled out numerous repetitions of the clip, SONAR exports a single clip that is the length of the original clip and all the repetitions, which is not a time-consuming operation. 7. Audio Format. (AIFC). Ask your engineer what format the studio uses, Windows (RIFF Wave) or Mac 8. Click the Save button. 9. SONAR exports the project as an OMF file.
• Pow-r 1. Noise-shaped dither. Advantages: less CPU-intensive than Pow-r types 2 and 3, lower perceived loudness than Rectangular or Triangular. Disadvantages: less noise shaping than Pow-r types 2 and 3, not recommended for operations where dither will be applied successively (e.g. bounce and freeze). • Pow-r 2. Noise-shaped dither. Advantages: lowest perceived loudness, highest quality settings, recommended for audio export.
Figure 119. Cakewalk Publisher To start Cakewalk Publisher There are three ways to start Cakewalk Publisher: • Click Tools > Cakewalk Publisher. • When exporting audio as an MP3 file, enable the Add to Cakewalk Publisher check box in the Export Audio dialog. • Click Start > Programs > Cakewalk > Publisher > Cakewalk Publisher. For more information about Cakewalk Publisher, see the Cakewalk Publisher online help and “Add to Cakewalk Publisher” on page 1309.
Mixing Cakewalk Publisher
Surround Mixing SONAR Producer fully supports surround mixing (SONAR Studio can open surround projects created in Producer, converting them to stereo). SONAR (Producer) can create finished surround mixes in all popular surround formats, including Windows Media 9 Pro. You can use a joystick to control surround panning if you want. Note: It’s always advisable to know the required sampling rate and audio driver bit depth for the target medium that your surround project will be used in.
• The number of speakers. This varies from 3.2 all the way to 8.1. • The angles of the speakers. • The intended final coding format. This depends on the media the audio will be "stored" on: film, broadcast video or DVD, for example. The most common format is 5.1, which consists of five full-range channels and a low-frequency effects (LFE) channel (the “.1” in 5.1 is the LFE or sub channel).
speakers. However, there are even different flavors of 5.1. The different flavors specify in which order the speakers are arranged, and the speaker angles. For example: Surround Format Speaker Order 5.1 SMPTE/ITU L, R, C, LFE, Ls, Rs 5.1 Music Alternative L, R, Ls, Rs, C, LFE 5.1 Film Alternative L, C, R, Ls, Rs, LFE Table 136.
• LRS • LFS+LFE • Matrix UHJ • QUAD • 4.1 (SMPTE/ITU) • Quad+LFE • PanAmbio 4.1 • LCRS • Surround (SMPTE/ITU) • Surround Media • LCRS+LFE • 5.1 (Standard 3/2) • 5.1 (Film/Alternative) • 5.1 (Music/Alternative) • 5.1 (SMPTE/ITU) • 6.0 (Hexagon) • 6.0 (Film/Alternative) • 6.0 (Music/Alternative) • 6.1 (Film/Alternative) • 6.1 (Music/Alternative) • 6.1 (SMPTE/ITU) • 7.0 (Heptagon) • 7.0 (Film/Alternative) • 7.0 (Music/Alternative) • 7.1 (Film/Alternative) • 7.1 (Music/Alternative) • 7.1 (SMPTE/ITU) • 8.
The Surround Format templates are hard-coded, and cannot be deleted. However, you can freely assign any enabled audio output port to any surround channel, and save the configuration as a preset. Surround settings are per project. Surround speaker assignments default to unique audio output channels when you choose a new template. You configure your surround settings in the Project Options dialog on the Surround tab (use the Options > Project command and click the Surround tab).
4. In the Output column, assign each channel to a sound card output. Note: Consumer-grade sound cards, such as Audigy or SoundBlaster, typically reserve output 4 for the LFE channel. Check your sound card manual for details. 5. Click OK. Note: Take a moment to make sure your speakers are correctly hooked up to the corresponding outputs before you attempt any playback. See the diagram in the Project Options dialog for the speaker setup.
prevented from creating a signal loop by routing the signal back into a bus that is already in the signal flow. The following table lists how each of these routing options affects the signal: Signal Flow Result Track to stereo bus No change Mono track to surround bus Mono signal is routed to both Left and Right channels of surround format. You can change the routing to other surround channels by using the surround panner on the track.
The following table lists the downmixing settings in the Surround tab of the Project Options dialog and gives a brief description of what the setting does. You can also manually enter other values besides these preset ones: Downmixing Setting Options Center Downmix Level (dB) These options determine how much of the center is mixed to the left and right. • -3 dB. Maintains the same level of center channel sound when you listen in a typically reverberant room • -4.5 dB.
Panning in Surround Unlike stereo panning which sends sound to left and right speakers, surround panning means sending sound to multiple speakers at points along a circle. When a track/bus/send is assigned to a surround bus, the Pan control turns into a multi-dimensional surround panner. The surround panner comes in four sizes: • Micro. This is found in the Track view. • Small. This is found on sends. • Medium. This is the surround panner which is displayed in the Track Inspector and Console view.
Note 2: If the track/bus/send is reassigned to a stereo bus, any surround automation will be orphaned, but will automatically reconnect if the track/bus/send is later assigned back to a surround bus. See: Controlling Surround Panning Controlling Surround Panning Here are pictures of the large surround panner and medium surround panner: Figure 121. Large Surround Panner A C B A. Angle and focus marker B. Width markers C. Right speaker icon Figure 122.
• Angle and Focus marker. A small sphere that you can drag in any direction to both control and display the following two parameters: • Angle. This is the perceived angle of the sound source as it differs from the position directly in front of the listener. The scale is 0 to 180 degrees on the listener’s right, and 0 to -180 degrees on the listener’s left.
• Press ENTER when the panner has focus. To Change the Angle • In either the large or small surround panner, drag the Angle and Focus marker to the left or right. Or • In the large surround panner, drag the Angle slider. To Change the Focus • In either the large or small surround panner, drag the Angle and Focus marker toward or away from the center. Or • In the large surround panner, drag the Focus slider.
To Solo or Unsolo the LFE Channel • In the large surround panner, click the LFE Solo button. To Isolate a Signal in One Speaker • In the large surround panner, drag the Width slider to 0, the Focus slider to 100, and then drag the Angle slider until the sphere icon is directly in front of the correct speaker. Or • Press the desired Numeric Keypad key that represents the speaker position (7=L, 8=C, 9=R, see “Keyboard Shortcuts” on page 695).
NumPad assignments: • 0 = n/a • 1 = Ls • 2 = Cs • 3 = Rs • 4 = Sl • 5 = centers the panner • 6 = Sr • 7=L • 8=C • 9=R • / = Lc • * = Rc See also: Automating Surround Panning Automating Surround Panning You can arm or disarm for automation all the controls in a surround panner by clicking any control in the surround panner (except LFE Solo), and choosing Write Enable from the pop-up menu.
Joystick Support SONARSONAR allows you to use a joystick to control surround panning. A force-feedback joystick such as the Microsoft® SideWinder® Force Feedback 2 joystick can add a tactile element to mixing sessions, and add button control to some SONAR transport and/or menu commands with the extra buttons on the joystick module. The joystick will grab the current pan position/sphere anytime you pull the trigger button (the "firing" button under your index finger).
Surround Metering Meters in tracks routed to surround buses or the Surround Main, and meters in surround buses work the same as stereo meters (see “Metering” on page 609), however, surround meters display more channels. For example, a project in 5.1 would have a six-channel meter. Figure 123. Multi-channel meter A A.
What this means during mixing is that you would have to turn the analog gain to your subwoofer up 10 dB relative to the other 5 speakers, so that you hear the sound as it will be played back in home theater systems that use bass management, and you will get your levels set right in the mix. SONAR’s bass management system allows you to monitor how a surround project will sound with bass management, so you don’t have to change the gain to your subwoofer during mixing.
assignments on the SurroundBridge tab that’s in the property page of every effect that’s patched into a surround bus. For example, if you want a certain effect on the Left Surround channel of a surround bus, but not on the Right Surround channel, you can assign these two channels to different instances of the effect you’re patching by choosing options on the SurroundBridge tab of the effect’s property page.
Effect Property Pages How to Patch and Configure Surround Effects For step-by-step instructions, see the following procedures. To Patch an Effect Into a Surround Bus • Right-click the FX bin of a surround bus and choose a mono or stereo effect from the pop-up menu. The SurroundBridge patches multiple instances of the effect you chose into the bus’s FX bin (however, only one effect appears in the bin), with default assignments of surround channels to plugin instances.
To view a list of the automatable parameters in a particular effect, uncheck one of the Controls Linked to Group check boxes on the SurroundBridge tab, and read the list in the Unlinked Controls field. To Relink Individual Effect Parameters to Other Effect Instances 1. In the Unlinked Controls field on the SurroundBridge tab, select the parameters you want to relink—if the parameters you want to select are adjacent, you can SHIFT-click the first and last ones in the group.
Importing Surround Mixes SONAR imports multi-channel (surround) files as a group of mono files. If the files contain information that labels the speaker location of each channel in the file, SONAR copies these labels to the clips in your audio tracks, but does not pan the tracks according to these labels. This is because you may not have your SONAR project set to the same multi-channel format as the imported project.
Exporting Surround Mixes You can export your surround mixes as multi-channel PCM wave files, or as Windows Media Pro files. To Export a Surround Multi-channel File 1. Use the File > Export > Audio command to open the Export Audio dialog. 2. Type a name for your file. 3. In the Files of Type field, choose one of the following: • If you want to create a multi-channel wave file, choose RIFF Wave. • If you want to create a multi-channel Windows Media file, choose Windows Media Advanced Streaming Format. 4.
Automation Automation means to record the movement of a fader, knob, or other control so that the next time you play your project, that control moves automatically. SONAR allows you to graphically automatey of SONARmuch more than just volume and pan controls—you can automate individual controls, faders, and knobs that control the main outs, individual tracks, buses, individual effects’ parameters (including some plug-in synths), and even individual clips.
Quick Automation Guide The following table summarizes Console and Track view automation: What you can automate Parameters you can automate How you can automate them Individual tracks Gain, pan, mute, bus send gain, bus send balance, MIDI controllers, MIDI chorus and reverb, pitch wheel, channel aftertouch, RPN and NRPN Draw envelopes in the Clips pane, record the fader movements, or take a snapshot Buses Input gain and pan, output gain and pan Draw envelopes in the Clips pane, record the fader moveme
Showing or Hiding Envelopes Deleting Envelopes Copying and Pasting Envelopes Snapshots The Automation Toolbar A. Punch-in time B. Punch-out time C. Set Punch to Selection D. Current record mode E. Automation record options F. Snapshot G. Disarm all controls H. Enable Automation Playback Display the Automation toolbar by using the Views > Toolbars command to open the Toolbars dialog box, and making sure that the Automation check box is checked.
• Snapshots.
In addition, SONAR has right-click commands to enable/disable automation playback and recording for individual parameters. The Automation Read/Write buttons enable or disable automation playback and recording respectively on all the parameters on an individual track, bus, or plug-in at once. The Automation Read/Write commands enable or disable automation playback and recording respectively on individual parameters of tracks, buses, or plug-ins.
• To write-enable an individual track or bus control, right-click the fader or control you want to automate and choose Automation Write Enable from the pop-up menu. • To write-enable individual plug-in parameters, right-click the name of the plug-in in the FX bin, and choose Write Enable Parameter from the pop-up menu. This opens a dialog that allows you to choose which parameters to write-enable.
To Create and Edit Audio Envelopes with the Select or Envelope Tools 1. Right-click in the Clips pane in the track (or bus) you want to automate. The Clips pane pop-up menu appears. 2. From the menu, choose Envelopes > Create Track Envelope > (name of the control you want to automate). Notice the envelope’s color at the right side of the menu. The envelope appears in the Clips pane as a straight, dotted line in the envelope’s individual color, with a node (very small circle) at the beginning.
8. Move the cursor over the segment of the envelope that lies between the two nodes until the double-ended arrow appears, and right-click the envelope to open the Envelope Editing menu. 9. Choose one of the following shapes from the Envelope Editing menu: • Jump. This choice causes the envelope to make a ninety degree jump where the envelope reaches the second node.
This method is only available in the Clips pane. You can also draw MIDI controller data in the Piano Roll view, but the technique is different (see “Adding and Editing Controllers in the Piano Roll” on page 466). Note 1: MIDI envelopes you create in the Piano Roll Notes pane and MIDI envelopes you create in the Track view Clips pane are actually separate envelopes, even if they control the same parameter.
The MIDI Envelope dialog box appears: • In the Type field, choose what kind of MIDI event you want to control with your envelope. • In the Value field, choose the name of the controller you want to edit. • In the Channel field, choose the MIDI channel that you want the envelope to send data on, and click OK. SONAR creates the envelope you chose. 4. Move the cursor over the envelope until a vertical, double-ended arrow appears under it, and right-click the envelope. The Envelope Editing menu appears. 5.
When you add multiple envelopes to a track, you can choose which envelopes you want to display. See “Showing or Hiding Envelopes” on page 717. You can also draw envelopes on audio tracks. See “Creating and Editing Audio Envelopes” on page 710.
To Draw a Preset Shape 1. Activate the envelope you want to edit (click it with the Envelope tool 2. Enable the Envelope Draw tool: click ). in the Track view toolbar. 3. Set the Snap to Grid to the desired length of each cycle of the shape you want to draw. For example, if you want to draw sine curves, and you want each complete sine curve to last one beat, set the Snap to Grid to a value of Quarter. If the Snap to Grid is disabled, the default cycle is one measure. 4.
You can also draw envelopes on audio clips, but only for gain, pan, and any automatable effects that are inserted on the clips. On MIDI clips, you can draw velocity envelopes. If there is already a Tracklevel envelope on the clip, the clip envelope data merges with the track envelope data. Note: The Trim value of a track is actually a clip parameter, not a track parameter. SONAR applies clip volume settings, including Trim, to a clip before the clip’s audio data reaches any plug-in effects.
2. Choose the kind of envelope that you want to show. To Show or Hide Individual Envelopes 1. Right-click the Clips pane in the track that contains the envelope(s) that you want to show or hide. The Clips pane pop-up menu appears. 2. Choose Envelopes > Show Track Envelopes. A menu of all the envelopes in the track appears. A checkmark appears to the left of each envelope that is currently showing. 3.
5. Click OK. SONAR deletes any track and clip envelopes that are in the data you selected. See also: Recording Individual Fader or Knob Movements Creating and Editing Audio Envelopes Creating and Editing MIDI Envelopes Drawing Envelopes on Clips Showing or Hiding Envelopes Copying and Pasting Envelopes Snapshots Copying and Pasting Envelopes You can copy and paste envelopes or parts of envelopes between tracks and clips.
2. Press CTRL+V or use the Edit > Paste command. The Paste dialog box appears. 3. Choose a track and location to paste to, if you haven’t already. 4. Click OK. SONAR pastes the automation data and any other types of data you chose in the Copy dialog box into the track and location you selected.
Creating and Editing MIDI Envelopes Drawing Envelopes on Clips Showing or Hiding Envelopes Copying and Pasting Envelopes Snapshots Envelope Mode and Offset Mode There are two modes which control how your volume faders, pan faders, bus send faders, and bus send pan faders behave during playback. The two modes are Envelope mode and Offset mode. Envelope mode. In envelope mode, volume and pan faders follow the project’s automation and do not respond to changes you make in real-time. Offset mode.
Control Envelope Mode Range Offset Mode Range Bus Return Balance 100% L to 100% R, default is C 100% L to 100% R, default is C Main Out Volume -Infinity to +6dB, default is 0dB -Infinity to +6dB, default is 0dB Main Out Balance 100% L to 100% R, default is C 100% L to 100% R, default is C Table 142.
parameter. You can convert Piano Roll view envelopes to Track view envelopes by selecting the time range and tracks that the Piano Roll envelopes occupy, and using the Edit > Convert MIDI To Shapes command. To Convert MIDI Controller Envelopes to Shapes 1. In the Clips pane, select the time range and track(s) that contain the controller data you want to convert. 2. Use the Edit > Convert MIDI To Shapes command. The Convert MIDI To Shapes dialog box appears. 3.
• Enable the Automation Write button in the tracks and/or buses that you want to automate. This also write-enables all parameters of any automatable effects that are in the track or bus. You can click the Clear All Automation Write-Enabled button in the Automation toolbar first if you want to make sure that no hidden tracks or buses are write-enabled.
3. Choose Add Nodes at Selection from the menu. Two pairs of nodes appear on the envelope—one pair at the start of the selected time range, and one pair at the end. Now you can drag the selected envelope segment up or down, and maintain the envelope’s shape. Automating Effects SONAR allows you to automate plug-ins, giving you real-time control over dozens of effects parameters. See also: Recording Individual Fader or Knob Movements Creating and Editing Audio Envelopes.
The effect’s envelope dialog box appears, listing all the parameters you can automate in the Envelope Exists list. 4. Check all the parameters you want to create envelopes for; as you check each envelope choice, you can choose a color for the envelope by clicking the Choose Color button that’s in the lower right corner of the dialog box. Note: You can change a plug-in envelope’s color whenever you want by highlighting its name in the effect’s envelope dialog box and clicking the Choose Color button. 5.
5. Start playback or recording, and move the slider or wheel that you selected on your external controller. 6. When you finish recording the automation, click the Stop button in the Transport toolbar. Listen to your project and either re-record the automation, or disable each armed control by clicking the Disable Automation Recording button in the Automation toolbar. You can disable remote control by right-clicking the relevant knob or fader and choosing Disable Remote Control from the pop-up menu.
Snapshots The Envelope Editing and Node Editing menus The Envelope Editing menu appears when you move the cursor over an envelope until a doubleended arrow appears under it, and right-click the envelope. The Node Editing menu is almost identical, and appears when you move the cursor over a node until a cross right-click.
Menu Option What it Does Automation Read Enabled This choice enables automation playback for the envelope. Clear All This choice deletes everything from the envelope except the first node. Reset Node (Node Editing menu only) This choice resets the node to the parameter’s neutral value. Delete Node (Node Editing menu only) This choice deletes the node. Properties (Node Editing menu only) This choice opens the Edit Node dialog box, which allows you to edit the node’s value and location. Table 144.
4. Click the Stop button in the Transport toolbar or press the SPACEBAR when the track has been muted in the appropriate places. SONAR draws an automated mute envelope in the track you recorded on. Before you listen to your track, make sure that the Enable/Disable Automation Playback button in the Automation toolbar is enabled.
Layouts, Templates and Key Bindings A layout is the current arrangement of all the views that pertain to a particular project. The layout of each project is stored automatically as part of every project file. In addition, you can save the current layout or load any saved layout and apply it to the current project. You might want to create a layout so you can easily arrange the views in a convenient size and position on the screen.
Layouts The layout of the views that are displayed for a project is stored automatically in the project file when you save the project. By default, the layout of all the views is restored when the file is opened. You can automatically arrange all open views so that they are all visible by using the Window > Tile in Rows command. In addition, you can save the current layout in a separate list—the global layout list. Once you have saved the layout in this list, you can apply it to any open project.
There are two options in Windows Layouts dialog (select Views > Layouts to open) that control how layouts are used, as described in the following table. Option Meaning Close Old Windows Before Loading New Ones If checked, SONAR will close all the views of the current project before applying the layout. If you leave this option unchecked, existing views remain open and additional views are created according to the settings in the layout.
2. Choose the layout you want to delete from the list. 3. Click Delete. 4. Click OK to confirm that you want to delete the layout. The layout is removed from the list. 5. Click Close to exit the Window Layouts dialog box. To Rename a Layout 1. Choose Views > Layouts to display the Window Layouts dialog box. 2. Choose the layout you want to rename from the list. 3. Click Rename to display the Rename Existing Layout dialog box. 4. Enter a new name for the layout, and click OK.
SONAR supports dual monitors and allows you to float most of your views to a second monitor giving you more options when working and increasing the number of views that you can have open at one time. Important: Dual monitor support requires that you have a video card that supports dual monitors. Follow your hardware manufacturers instructions for using dual monitors. You can float views in SONAR without having a second monitor.
you create or update the Normal.cwt file, SONAR will display this template automatically when the program is started. As a rule, any parameter that is saved in a project file is also saved in a template file.
SONAR saves the template file. To Create a New Project from a Template 1. Choose File > New to display the New Project File dialog box. The list contains the names of all existing templates. 2. Choose a template from the list. 3. Click OK. SONAR creates the new project and displays it in the Track view.
Now, each time you want to start working on a new project, you can simply load your template and start recording. See also: Templates Key Bindings Key bindings let you associate SONAR commands with keys on both your MIDI keyboard and your computer keyboard. This makes it easy for you to access specific features more quickly and efficiently.
have created and ignores the note. If this is ever a problem, you can disable MIDI key bindings without canceling the key assignments and then re-enable the MIDI key bindings later on. You can use a key binding to execute a command only when that command is possible. For example, the File > Save command is disabled when no projects are open. If you have assigned the CTRL+F2 key combination to the File > Save command, it won’t do anything when no projects are open.
• Check Controller under MIDI Shift Options, and choose the controller you want from the list. 5. Highlight the key you want to bind from the Key list (if you click inside the Key list to put the focus on it, you can then play a note on your MIDI keyboard, and the note automatically becomes highlighted in the Key list). 6. Select the command you want to bind from the Function list. 7. Click the Bind button.
Clicking the Export button in the Key Bindings dialog allows you to export the current set of key bindings, so that they are available when you want to switch key bindings. To Export Key Bindings 1. Choose Options > Key Bindings to display the Key Bindings dialog. 2. Click the Export button to open the Export Key Bindings dialog. 3. Navigate to the folder where you want to save the key bindings. 4. Type a name for the key bindings. 5. Click Save. SONAR saves the key bindings, and adds the file extension .
Layouts, Templates and Key Bindings Key Bindings
Notation and Lyrics This section describes three SONAR views that are used to edit the music notation and lyrics of your project. • SONAR’s Staff view lets you work with your composition in a standard musical staff, guitar tablature and a virtual guitar fretboard. You can add, move, and delete notes with your mouse or with your computer keyboard. You can add chord names, guitar chord grids, expression marks, hairpin symbols, pedal marks, and lyrics.
When you first open the Staff view, you may see only the Staff and not the Fretboard. Resize the Staff view by dragging its edges until you can see everything easily. When you save your file, whatever size the Staff view is will be the way it appears the next time you open the file. The Staff pane displays MIDI note events as musical notation. For some musicians, this may be the most familiar and comfortable view in which to work.
There are three ways to open the Staff view: • In the Track view, select the MIDI tracks you want to see, then click the Staff View button . • In the Track view, select the MIDI tracks you want to see, then choose Views > Staff. • Right-click on a track in the Clips pane and choose Views > Staff from the menu. You can always change the tracks that are displayed: click the Pick Tracks button the tracks you want. You can display one or more tracks.
The Staff pane right-click menu The Staff pane right-click menu offers the following editing options: Menu command Result MIDI Effects Opens the MIDI Effects submenu. See “MIDI Effects (MIDI Plug-ins)” on page 519 for more information. Layout Opens the Staff View Layout dialog box. Quantize Opens the Quantize dialog box. See “Quantizing” on page 520 for more information. Groove Quantize Opens the Groove Quantize dialog box. See “Quantizing” on page 520 for more information.
The Fretboard The Fretboard shows you the notes located at the Now time in the Staff pane, laid out on a virtual guitar fretboard. For example, if the Staff pane shows you this: The Fretboard pane shows you this: The Fretboard stays in sync with the Now Time during playback and recording, and stays in sync with the scrub time during scrubbing. The color of each note on the Fretboard is the same as the color of the corresponding clip in the Track view.
Editing Chords or Groups of Notes from the TAB Staff Fretboard pop-up menu When you right-click the Fretboard in the Staff view, the Fretboard pop-up menu appears, giving you choices for note editing, Staff view layout, and Fretboard appearance. Menu command Result Select Changes your cursor to the Select tool. Draw Changes your cursor to the Draw tool. Erase Changes your cursor to the Erase tool. Scrub Changes your cursor to the Scrub tool. Layout Opens the Staff View Layout dialog box.
Figure 125. The Staff View Layout dialog 2. Select a track from the list (if the track you want to edit is not in the list, click the Pick Tracks button in the Staff view toolbar and select it). The Clef option shows the track’s clef. 3. Select a new clef from the list. 4. If you select Treble/Bass, select a Split point. C5 represents middle C. 5. If you select one of the Percussion options, click Percussion Settings to set up the appearance of percussion notes. 6. Repeat steps 2-5 for other tracks. 7.
Beaming of Rests Changing the Way Notes Are Displayed Using Enharmonic Spellings MIDI Channels and the Fretboard Inserting Notes on the Staff You can add notes to your composition with simple point-and-click techniques. To help with your composing, SONAR gives you audio feedback as you place each note. You can insert notes anywhere in the Staff pane, but inserting them at the Now time gives you control over the exact time you want to insert to.
5. Move the Now time to the location where you want the new note by pressing SHIFT+RIGHT ARROW or SHIFT+LEFT ARROW. Notice the vertical line that marks the Now time in the Staff pane. The line moves by the duration of the note you selected to enter. 6. Click the cursor on the vertical line at the pitch that you want. 7. To add a sharp or flat, right-click the note to open the Note Properties dialog box—in the Pitch field, use the + or - buttons to raise or lower the pitch, and click OK.
To do this Do this Select symbols in a time range Click and drag in the Time Ruler Select symbols between two markers Click between the markers Remove all selections Click in an empty area Table 148. Note: Tied notes must be selected together, since the series is really just a single MIDI note. To select tied notes, you must click or drag a rectangle around the first note of the series.
To Copy One or More Notes in the Staff View 1. Click the Select tool . 2. Select the notes to be copied. 3. Press and hold the CTRL key. 4. Drag the notes to a new time, pitch, or staff. SONAR inserts copies of the notes at the new location. To Erase Notes with the Eraser 1. Click the Erase tool . 2. Click any notehead to erase the note. 3. To erase several notes, click and drag the eraser. Any notes whose notehead is touched by the eraser will be deleted.
Sometimes it is useful to listen to your music slowly, note-by-note, rather than at full speed. For example, you may need to locate a bad note, or you may be trying to learn the correct fingering for a difficult passage. The Staff view has two features that let you audition your composition at reduced speed: Scrub and Step Play. The Scrub tool lets you drag a vertical bar over the staff, playing the notes as it goes. You can scrub backward or forward at any speed.
To Edit a Note’s Properties 1. Right-click the note to open the Note Properties dialog box. Figure 126. The Note Properties dialog 2. Edit the note’s properties, as described in the table. 3. Click OK. SONAR changes the note’s parameters and redraws the note if necessary. Deglitch Dialog When recording MIDI guitar, even the best players occasionally play unintended notes. The Deglitch feature allows you to filter out the softest, shortest, and highest notes in the file.
4. Enter the parameters (maximum or minimum values) you want for each of the filters you are using. 5. Click OK. If you are not happy with the result, select Edit/Undo from the menu to restore the original MIDI track. Working with Triplets The Staff view places certain limitations on the use of triplets. The limitations are: • Triplets must occur in full sets of three. • All three steps in a triplet must be notes (no rests) of the same basic duration.
Changing the Way Notes Are Displayed Unlike musical notation programs, SONAR uses the MIDI events themselves as the permanent representation of the music; thus, the Staff view is only an interpretation of a MIDI performance. MIDI notes do not always correspond exactly to notes on a staff. Whereas a staff defines precise grid-like starting times and durations for notes, a MIDI note can start at any arbitrary time during the project, and last for any length of time.
Any musical note can be referred to by several different names. For example, C#3 and Db3 identify the same pitch, as do G#4 and Ab4. The most appropriate name depends upon the current key signature, but can also depend on musical context. SONAR uses a set of rules to automatically add accidentals (sharps, flats and naturals) to notes based on the current key signature. These rules cover the most common musical situations and usually lead to pleasing results.
Accidental Character Example Double flat “ C”5 Double sharp x Cx5 Displays as Table 152. To Change a Note’s Enharmonic Spelling 1. Right-click the note to open the Note Properties dialog box. 2. In the Pitch textbox, type a new spelling for the note. 3. Click OK. SONAR displays the note with the new enharmonic spelling. You can change enharmonic spellings in other views, such as the Event List view, by similarly typing a new spelling wherever the note pitch is displayed as a text string.
3. If you want the data from all 6 strings to be recorded to a single track, set the Input to OMNI. If you want each string on a separate track, you need to set up each individual track to record on the corresponding MIDI channel. The GT-30 Guitar Synthesizer template is designed to do this, so you may want to open that from the Quick Start menu or from the File menu. To use the File menu method, choose File > Open and choose Cakewalk Template from the Files of type field.
large number of predefined chords from which you can choose. You can also define and save your own chords. If a track is split into treble/bass staves, chords are allowed only above the upper (treble) staff. SONAR stores its library of chords in the file Chords.liw. The chords in the library are sorted into groups. You can add and remove chords from the library, create new groups (i.e., for alternative guitar tunings), and add chords from a different library file.
2. Edit information about the chord according to the table: To do this Do this Move a chord in time Change the Time property. Give the chord a new name Select a chord from the drop-down list, or type a new name. Use # for sharp and b for flat. Add descriptive text to the chord name Type the text in square brackets after the chord name. The text does not appear in the Staff view. See a different set of chords Select a group from the list.
2.
Adding Expression Marks Expression marks tell a performer how to interpret the notes and durations on the page. They provide a necessary supplement to simple notation, in which notes have only pitch and duration, but no hint of how loudly, softly, or smoothly, they are to be played. Dynamic marks—from ppp (pianissimo) for “very, very softly” through fff (fortissimo) for “very, very forcefully”—allow notation to convey volume instructions.
Figure 130. The Expression Text Properties dialog 2. Edit the time and text of the expression mark as desired. 3. Click OK. The Staff view displays the expression mark with the new text, including moving it to a new time if necessary. You can also use the Draw tool and click on an expression mark directly to change its text. Adding Hairpin Symbols Some musical phrases vary dynamically, increasing or decreasing in loudness for dramatic effect.
The Hairpin Properties dialog appears. 2. Change any of the following parameters: • Time. The beginning time of the hairpin symbol • Crescendo or Diminuendo. • Duration. Enter the number of beats followed by a colon (for example 4: for one measure in 4/4 time) or a PPQ number value. Adding Pedal Marks Pedal marks traditionally indicate where the sustain pedal of a piano is to be pressed and for how long.
To Edit a Pedal Event 1. Right-click the pedal symbol (pedal down or pedal up) to open the Pedal Event Parameters dialog box. Figure 131. The Pedal Proerties dialog. 2. Edit the pedal event parameters, as described in the table above. 3. Click OK. SONAR changes the pedal event parameters, including moving the symbol to a new time if necessary. Tablature The Staff view can display guitar or bass MIDI tracks as tablature.
In the Staff View Layout dialog box you can choose a preset style of tablature by choosing from the Preset pop-up menu, or you can define your own style by clicking the Define button in the Staff View Layout dialog box to open the Tablature Settings dialog box. To Define a Tablature Style 1. In the Staff View Layout dialog box, click the name of the track you want to define tablature for. 2. Click the Define button (lower right corner). The Tablature Settings dialog box appears. 3.
You can change fretboard texture and orientation (high string on top or bottom of neck) in the Staff View Layout dialog box, or by right-clicking the Fretboard. To Change the Fretboard Texture and Orientation 1. Open the Staff View Layout dialog box. 2. Click the Define button (lower right corner). The Tablature Settings dialog box appears. 3. Click the Fretboard tab. 4. In the Texture field, choose a texture from the drop-down list. 5.
can designate a specific finger span and lowest fret which causes the TAB of a selected region to be displayed within this range. This usually creates a more compact fingering system. The Regenerate TAB command gives you a third choice for displaying tablature MIDI channel. This uses the event's MIDI channel to determine which string the note should be displayed on. When MIDI Channel is selected, the user chooses which series of MIDI Channels should be considered.
• With the Draw tool selected, drag fret numbers up or down. When you reach the desired fret number, release the mouse. • With the Draw tool selected, move a note to a different string by holding down the ALT key while you drag the fret number to a different line. If the note you are moving won't play on the string you are dragging it to, you won't be able to move it. • Right-click the fret you want to edit. A list of fret numbers appears.
To Transpose Chords 1. Move the Now Time to display the chord you want to transpose. 2. SHIFT-select all the notes in the chord. 3. SHIFT-drag the chord to a new position and release the mouse. Entering Notes from the Fretboard If you prefer to work with the Fretboard instead of a musical staff, Cakewalk makes it easy to enter notes from the Fretboard. You can enter single notes or chords by clicking the string and fret of the note you want to enter at the Now Time position. 1.
SONAR lets you control the appearance of percussion staffs in considerable detail. You can display percussion notes using several different types of noteheads and articulation symbols, and you can map any percussion sound to any position on the percussion staff (in a percussion track, each MIDI note value designates a different percussion instrument; mapping lets you display any instrument in any position on the staff, regardless of the underlying MIDI note value).
If you want to change a Percussion Staff to a Percussion Line or vice versa, or if you want to change another type of staff to a percussion staff, you can do so in the Staff View Layout dialog box. If you change a track’s clef to a non-percussion clef, the percussion notation settings will be lost. The lowest and highest lines on the Percussion clef are E5 and F6, respectively. The Percussion Line represents E5. By default, percussion staves are given SONAR’s default note bindings and notehead assignments.
To do this Do this Remove a binding Select the percussion sound in the MIDI Note list, then click Unbind. Unbound notes are displayed in the default position. Load a preset Select the preset from the Preset list. Save your settings as a preset Click the Save button and enter a preset name. Clear all bindings Click Zap All. Select notes in the note lists with a MIDI keyboard Click in the MIDI Note or Display As list, then strike a key on your keyboard. Table 158. 5.
Printing The Staff view provides printing support of standard musical notation in nine staff sizes. The Staff view prints general project information from the File Info dialog box (see “Labeling Your Projects” on page 284) at the beginning of the score, including the song's title (or file name), subtitle (dedication), playing instructions, author/composer, and copyright. In addition, SONAR identifies the tracks by number and name, and numbers each measure and each page.
Can't print if Staff view is floating It is not possible to print the Staff view if the Staff view is float-enabled. If necessary, temporarily disable floating if you need to print from the Staff view. The Meter/Key View The Meter/Key view lets you enter meter and key changes at measure boundaries. Meter and key changes affect all tracks.
and the project file is in 4/4 time, then a whole measure equals 480 ticks. See “Setting the MIDI timing resolution” on page 241 for more information about the timebase. Usually the easiest approach to working with meter changes is to set all of them up before doing any recording. Use the Meter/Key view or the Insert > Meter/Key Change command to add meter changes at the desired measures.
Each meter/key change has the following properties: Property Meaning At Measure The measure where the meter/key change takes place. Beats per Measure The number of beats per measure, the upper number in the time signature. Beat Value The note length of a beat, the lower number in the time signature. 2 corresponds to a half note, 4 to a quarter note, 8 to an eighth note, etc. Key Signature The key signature. Table 160.
3. Click Delete . SONAR removes the meter/key change from the project. You cannot delete the first meter/key change from measure 1 of a project. To Move a Meter/Key Change 1. Select the meter/key change to be moved. 2. Click Add . 3. Edit the Measure parameter to the meter/key change’s new measure. 4. Click OK. 5. Select the original meter/key change again. 6. Click Delete . SONAR removes the original meter/key change and inserts a copy of it at the new measure. To Edit a Meter/Key Change 1.
Now that the pitches appear the way that the trumpet player needs to see them, the problem is that when you play your project, the MIDI notes in the trumpet track sound a whole step too high. 2. In the Track view, force SONAR to play the trumpet track a whole step lower by entering -2 (negative 2) in the Key+ field and pressing ENTER.
See: Adding and Editing Lyrics in the Staff View Opening the Lyrics View Adding and Editing Lyrics in the Lyrics View Adding and Editing Lyrics in the Staff View The Staff view displays lyrics below their associated track. If the track is split into treble/bass staves, lyrics are aligned with notes in both staves, but are displayed below the treble staff.
SONAR replaces the old word with the new one. Opening the Lyrics View There are three ways to open the Lyrics view: • In the Track view, select the track whose lyrics you want to see, then click • In the Track view, select the track whose lyrics you want to see, then choose Views > Lyrics • Right-click a clip in the Clips pane and choose Lyrics from the menu The Pick Track button opens a dialog box where you can select the track whose lyrics you want to see. Select the desired track, then click OK.
To Enter Lyrics in the Lyrics View 1. Click in the upper left corner of the view to position the cursor at the start of the text. 2. Follow the instructions in the table: To do this Do this Enter a word or syllable Type it End a word or syllable and move to the next note Type a space or hyphen Break a line for easier viewing Press Enter Table 163.
Instrument Definitions Instrument definitions are a powerful feature of SONAR that makes it easier for you to find the banks, patches, and controllers of your MIDI instruments. An instrument definition is a file that contains the names of the banks, patches, note names, bank select method, and controllers of an instrument. Instrument definitions for many popular MIDI instruments are included with SONAR or are available on the Cakewalk web site (www.cakewalk.com).
Assigning the Bank Select Method Assigning Patch Names Assigning Note Names Assigning Controller, RPN, and NRPN Names Assigning Instruments SONAR lets you assign a MIDI instrument definition to each available MIDI output and channel. The assignments you make determine the MIDI bank names, patch names, note names, and controller names that you see during your SONAR session. Suppose that you have a Roland GS-compatible synthesizer attached to MIDI output 1.
Figure 133. The Assign Instruments dialog 2. Select one or more MIDI outputs and channels from the Output/Channel list (use SHIFT-click and CTRL-click to select multiple outputs and channels). You can also drag through a bunch of channels to select them. For example, if you want to assign the first 16 MIDI channels on output 1 to a certain MIDI module, drag through the first 16 items in the Output/Channel list to select them. 3.
Importing Instrument Definitions Creating Instrument Definitions To Import Instrument Definitions To Create a New Instrument To Rename an Instrument To Add a Bank or Change the Patch Names for a Bank To Create and Edit Name Lists Importing Instrument Definitions When you install SONAR, a few common instrument definitions are already set up for you and ready to use. SONAR also includes several hundred additional instrument definitions that you can import.
To Create a New Instrument To Rename an Instrument To Add a Bank or Change the Patch Names for a Bank To Create and Edit Name Lists Creating Instrument Definitions SONAR lets you create and edit instrument definitions.
Figure 134. The Define Instruments and Names dialog A B A. The Instruments tree B. The Names tree The Define Instruments and Names dialog box contains two trees: • The Instruments tree in the left half of the dialog box lists all defined instruments and their characteristics • The Names tree in the right half of the dialog box shows all the resources you use to define an instrument You expand or collapse the folders and lists in each tree by clicking on the + or - key shown to the left of each item.
The instrument definitions organize all names (patches, notes, controllers, RPNs, and NRPNs) into lists. You may be able to define a new instrument using existing name lists. For example, two models of synthesizers made by a particular manufacturer may have identical patch name lists but use different NRPNs. In this case, you can use the same patch name lists for both instruments, but you would need to use a different NRPN list (or perhaps create a new NRPN list) for the second synth.
To Export an Instrument Definition 1. In the Define Instruments and Names dialog box, right-click an Instrument name in the Instrument tree and choose Export from the menu to display the Export Instrument Definition dialog box. 2. If you don’t want to save the file in the folder that’s listed in the Save In field, navigate to the folder in which you do want to save the file. 3. Enter a file name and click Save. SONAR saves the file, with the filename extension .ins.
Names dialog box, and follow the directions in the following table: To do this Do this Create a new name list Duplicate an existing Patch Names or other list by doing one of the following: expand the folder that contains the name list, highlight the name list and press the Ins (Insert) key; highlight the folder and press SHIFT+INSERT; or right-click any folder or name list and choose Add Names List from the menu. Then type a name for the list and press ENTER.
• Click OK. NewList will now be listed under the General MIDI branch. Any patch names that exist in the General MIDI list apply to NewList, too. • Add new patch names to NewList. These names will override those in the list on which NewList is based. If you change your mind about NewList and want to make it a stand-alone, separate list, simply drag it to the Patch Names root folder.
Bank select method To compute the bank number Controller 32 only The value of Controller 32 is the bank number. Patch 100...127 Take the patch number and subtract 100 to derive the bank number. Table 166. Here is an example of the Normal bank select method. According to the documentation for the Roland JV-1080 synthesizer, the PR-A Bank has a Controller 0 value of 81 and a Controller 32 value of 0.
B C A D A. There are three defined banks B. Instrument name C. The * indicates that this patch list is the default D. This is the name of a patch name list To Add a Bank or Change the Patch Names for a Bank 1. Drag a patch name list from the Names tree to the Patch Names for Banks folder of the instrument you’re editing in the Instrument tree. 2. Enter a bank number, or enter -1 to indicate that this list of patch names should be used as the default.
Each patch may have a list of up to 128 names for notes. Usually, note names are labels for percussion instruments. For example, the pitch C3 may really be “Kick Drum,” and D3 may be “Snare.” Because a drum machine may provide different drum kits for each patch, SONAR lets you specify a different list of note names for each patch. The Piano Roll and Event List views show you these note names. You can assign a note name list to each patch.
To Change the Note Names for a Patch 1. Drag a note name list from the Names tree onto the Note Names for Patches folder of the instrument and bank you’re editing in the Instruments tree. 2. Enter the patch number that should use these note names, or enter -1 to indicate that this list of note names should be used as the default. SONAR displays the updated patch and note name lists. If necessary, SONAR adds a new patch to the instrument definition. To Remove a Note Name List 1.
A B C D A. Instrument name B. Controller name list C. RPN name list D. NRPN name list To Change the Controller, RPN, or NRPN Name List 1. In the Names tree, expand the branch containing the Controller name lists, RPN name lists, or NRPN name lists. 2. Drag the desired name list from the Names tree onto the corresponding branch of the Instrument tree. SONAR displays the updated Controller, RPN, or NRPN name lists.
UsesNotesAsControllers=1 Control=Mackie OTTO-1604 Patch[*]=Mackie OTTO-1604 Key[*,*]=Mackie OTTO-1604 NoControllerReset=n Any port/channel using an instrument definition that has a NoControllerReset flag set to 1 does not receive a "zero controller" message upon stop. You can enter this variable in any instrument definition by using a text editor, such as Windows Notepad. The variable should be entered directly below an instrument definition.
Next topic: What Can They Do and Not Do? What Can They Do and Not Do? Instrument definitions don’t increase the number of sounds or the capabilities of your modules, they just make it easier to find and remember the sounds and/or MIDI controllers you want to use, if they’re not all generic General MIDI items.
When you import an instrument definition, it is added to the master instrument definition file Master.ins. The contents of this file determines the list of instruments that appear in the Assign Instruments dialog box. Now let’s assign the XP-10 definition to some channels on a MIDI output: To Assign the Roland XP-10 Bank and Patch Names to a MIDI Output 1. Choose Options > Instruments to display the Assign Instruments dialog box. 2.
3. Choose Edit from the pop-up menu, and change the name from Roland XP-10 Var #01 to Roland XP-10 Var #011. 4. In the same tree find the Roland XP-10 Var #08 list and change the name from Roland XP-10 Var #08 to Roland XP-10 Var #01. 5. Drag the newly renamed list from the Patch Names tree in the right window to the Patch Names for Banks tree in the left window. 6. In the Bank Number dialog box, enter 128, and click OK. 6.
4. Assign names to as many patch numbers as you want—the numbers between 0 and 127 that you don’t assign any names to show up in the Track view Patch menu just as patch numbers with no other names. 5. When you finish assigning names, drag your edited patch list to the Roland XP-10 Patch Names for Banks tree in the left window. 6. Enter 8192 as the bank number, which we know is the correct bank number from the previous procedure. 7.
System Exclusive Data SONAR’s System Exclusive (Sysx) librarian provides you with 8192 banks in which to hold MIDI System Exclusive messages. A bank is a storage area plus some associated parameters such as a destination output and an optional description. Each bank can hold any number of messages; the amount of data it can hold is limited only by available memory. The banks are saved in the SONAR project file. Each bank can also be saved as a .syx file. Figure 135.
What Is System Exclusive? System Exclusive data is MIDI’s way of letting each synthesizer manufacturer transmit private data about its products. A System Exclusive message has a manufacturer ID; the rest of the message is completely proprietary and varies for each manufacturer, even for each of its products. SONAR does not understand what this data means; it simply can hold onto it for you.
Real-time Recording of System Exclusive Messages Sysx Echo Sending Sysx Banks at Startup Sysx .ini File Settings Troubleshooting Using the System Exclusive View The System Exclusive view has a list box for a maximum of 256 Sysx banks, plus a toolbar of buttons. Most of the buttons affect whatever bank you have selected in the list. Certain buttons will be disabled if the selected bank is empty.
SONAR highlights the bank you select. 2. Click the Auto Send Bank button . A checkmark appears next to the bank name in the Auto column to show that the bank is marked for auto-sending. 3. While the bank is still highlighted, click the Output button to open the Sysx Bank Output dialog. 4. Enter the number of the output you want to send this bank out through, and click OK. The output number you entered appears next to the selected bank in the Output column. 5.
The Edit System Exclusive Bytes dialog appears. 2. Type your message(s). Each message you add to the window must begin with F0 and end with F7 (that’s F zero and F seven). See your instrument’s manual for the messages you can create. 3. When you finish typing the message(s), click OK to close the dialog. After you close the editing window, your new bank appears in the Sysx view. Use the buttons in the toolbar to name it, give it an output number, and mark it for auto-sending, if you want.
When your instrument starts sending the bank, the Sysx Receive window counts the bytes as SONAR receives them. If the count stays at zero for more than a couple of seconds, something is wrong. The synthesizer may not be hooked up to the MIDI interface in both directions, or you may have answered a DRM prompt incorrectly. Click Cancel. If any data were received, you will see the number of bytes in the bank list. 6.
Request Macros] section. You may add your own DRMs or modify the ones that we have provided. Use the Windows Notepad to edit the file. Please note that many of the DRMs included with SONAR have been donated by customers who are using the particular equipment. In some cases, we have not been able to test those DRMs because we do not have access to that equipment. We redistribute such DRMs on an as-is basis. Additional user-supplied DRMs may be available on the Cakewalk website (www.cakewalk.com).
Send Send transmits the current bank’s System Exclusive message. If nothing seems to happen, make sure you have correctly set the output. This button is disabled if the current bank is empty. The shortcut key is S. Send All Send All transmits all non-empty banks. The shortcut key is L. Receive Receive dumps data from a synthesizer into the bank. If the bank contains data, SONAR asks you whether you want the new data to overwrite the existing data or be appended to it. The shortcut key is C.
Each bank is transmitted to a particular MIDI output, just as a track is. Click this button to change the output. The shortcut key is P. Edit Bytes Although SONAR’s Sysx features are designed mainly to store System Exclusive data for you, you can edit the bytes of shorter messages in hex format (many of the more popular synthesizers have special patch-editing programs available that let you edit data using sliders and other tools rather than raw hex data).
Transmitting Banks During Playback SONAR has a special meta-event, Sysx Bank, that lets you play a System Exclusive bank at a specified time in your project. You can use a Sysx meta-event to send any of the 8192 available Sysx banks at any time in a sequence. To do this, you have to insert a new event in the Event List using the INSERT key on the PC keyboard. Next you have to double-click Event Kind and change it to System Exclusive. In the Values column, select the bank (0-8191) that you want to send.
See also: Sysx Echo Troubleshooting Sysx Echo You can configure SONAR to echo received System Exclusive messages to output devices. To Echo Sysx Messages 1. Choose Options > Global. 2. Select the MIDI tab. 3. Check the Echo System Exclusive option. 4. Click OK. SONAR echoes received Sysx data according to the echo settings on the MIDI Input tab of the Project Options dialog box. See: Troubleshooting Sysx .ini File Settings The TTSseq.
SysxDelayAfterF7=n This setting causes SONAR to delay Sysx transmission for a certain amount of time if it encounters an F7 in a System Exclusive bank. This gives some instruments the required amount of “breathing” time necessary to process the Sysx transmission. The default delay is 1/18 of a second, but can be changed by also adding the SysxSendDelayMsecs=n line, where n is the number of milliseconds that the delay lasts. The possible values of n in the line SysxDelayAfterF7=n are 0 and 1.
You can also add a DRM for any unlisted instrument. For more information about how to do this, read the section “More about Dump Request Macros” on page 810 earlier in this chapter. Synthesizers Reporting MIDI Data Errors Some synthesizers will report data errors when you try to send Sysx information to them. This usually happens when SONAR sends data at a rate too fast for the synthesizer to keep up. You can use the SysxSendPacketSize=number setting in TTSseq.
What Is System Exclusive? Using the System Exclusive View Transmitting Banks During Playback Real-time Recording of System Exclusive Messages Sysx Echo Sysx .
Synchronizing Your Gear Your computer is often used with other equipment: sound cards, MIDI equipment, and digital tape decks or other digital recording tools. All these devices can have their own built-in clocks or timing mechanisms. When several pieces of equipment are used together, it’s important that they operate in synchronization. For this to happen, all the equipment must rely on the same source of clock or timing information.
When you use either the internal or audio clock, SONAR can control other MIDI devices using MIDI Sync. In this case, SONAR is the “master” device and the other MIDI devices are the “slaves.” When MIDI Sync is the clock source, SONAR operates either in response to incoming MIDI messages or as the sender. In this case, SONAR can be either the master or the slave. Note that audio playback is not supported when using MIDI Sync with SONAR as the slave.
synchronizes MIDI playback to match the audio. For more information, see “System Configuration” on page 843. You cannot use the tempo ratio controls when using the audio clock, because the audio playback speed is determined by the audio clock. When either of these clock sources is used, you can also configure SONAR to drive other MIDI devices using MIDI Synchronization. For more information, see “MIDI Synchronization” on page 821.
Message How it is used Continue This message tells slave devices to continue playing from the current location in the currently loaded sequence. Song Position Pointer (SPP) This message tells slave devices to change the current location to the designated point in the project. SONAR normally issues an SPP message immediately prior to any Start or Continue message. Clock The master sends clock messages to each slave device at the rate of 24 per quarter note.
From now on, SONAR starts playback and recording only after the appropriate message is received from the master device. Tip: Make sure the Status bar is displayed when using MIDI Sync. Otherwise, you will not be able to see the MIDI Sync status messages. To display the Status bar, choose Options > Global and click the General tab. Then check the Show Status Bar box.
7. In the MIDI Sync Output Ports field, check off the output ports that you want to send the sync signal out of. 8. Click OK. From now on, the transport controls in SONAR control playback on the external MIDI devices. Using MIDI Sync with Drum Machines The most flexible way to use a MIDI drum machine is to record the notes it generates into SONAR, then use that machine as a MIDI playback device. This lets you edit, cut, paste, and copy your drum parts like any other clip.
might start at 00:00:00:00, 01:00:00:00, or any other time. The material recorded on the tape usually starts anywhere from 10 seconds to several minutes after the start of the time code. Sometimes, the tape stripe starts at a time like 00:59:50:00, and the material starts 10 seconds later, at 01:00:00:00. When you create a new SONAR project, by default the project is configured so that the beginning of bar 1 is synchronized with a time code of 00:00:00:00.
External Timecodes Cakewalk Setting Description 30 frames per second non drop-frame 30 FPS NDF Most music projects and some film in North America. This is the best choice for any music project and should be used unless the situation dictates otherwise. 30 frames per second dropframe 30 FPS DF Not a standard type of timecode, used rarely for speed correction and transfer problems in tape based systems. Table 171.
3. Select one of the following options: • Ask first, then switch to clock source and start. This option prompts SONAR to alert you when it detects a SMPTE/MTC signal, asks if you want to sync to the incoming signal, and if you respond that you do, switches the clock source and starts to receive the signal. • Always switch the clock source and start. SONAR automatically switches to the clock source of the incoming signal and begins to receive the signal.
Troubleshooting SMPTE/MTC Sync Playing Digital Audio under SMPTE/MTC Sync SONAR gives you two choices for controlling audio playback when using time SMPTE/MTC Sync: Option How it works Trigger and freewheel Audio event playback is started (or triggered) at the exact time code, but then the audio plays at its own internal rate (or freewheels). When audio freewheels, it can gradually drift from the time code due to variations in the time code signal.
brakes, which lowers the pitch of the audio. These fluctuations continue until SONAR matches its playback speed to the external clock, which usually takes no more than 30 seconds. The stable playback speed, by the way, may be slightly faster or slower than the normal audio playback speed, resulting in a slight change in the pitch of the audio. Here’s the best way to address this problem: • Start each new SONAR session by playing some audio under SMPTE/MTC Sync.
Problem What to do Audio playback drifts out of sync with the tape Enable the Full Chase Lock option, which keeps audio from freewheeling. SONAR continues playing for up to one full second after the time code stops Some time code readers tolerate dropouts of up to one second, without affecting playback. When you stop the tape deck, it takes a full second for the reader to realize that this isn’t merely a dropout and to signal the end of the time code to SONAR.
To Configure MIDI Machine Control 1. Choose Options > Project, and click the Clock tab. 2. Select SMPTE/MTC as the clock source. 3. Click the MIDI Out tab. 4. Check the Transmit MMC box. 5. Enter the ID of the master timing device in the Time Code Master’s Unit ID box. 6. Click OK. MMC is now enabled. To Disable MIDI Machine Control 1. Choose Options > Project, and click the MIDI Out tab. 2. Make sure the Transmit MMC box is not checked, and click OK. MMC is disabled.
Synchronizing Your Gear MIDI Machine Control (MMC)
Audio File Management Project files in SONAR do not contain the digital audio itself. A SONAR project file (.cwp) references the audio contained in the project, so care must be taken when backing up your digital audio projects. This section covers file management, including backing up your projects.
The Project Files Dialog SONAR projects, extension .cwp, contain all your project information with the exception of your digital audio data. This data is stored in a separate folder or folders. You can opt to save the audio data for all of your projects in a single audio folder, or create multiple folders. The Project Files dialog lists all of your project’s audio files and their location. This dialog is a valuable tool for managing your audio files.
• External. This means that the file is stored in a directory other than the Global Audio Data directory or in a Local audio data directory. • Missing. This means that the file is not to be found. Project Files and Bundle Files SONAR project files contain various project settings, any MIDI data, and references which "point" to audio clip data. The audio data (and video data) itself is not saved in a project file. To save audio as well, save your project as a Bundle file (extension .cwb).
4. If you want to store the project in its own folder do the following in the Unpack Bundle dialog: • Enter a project filename in the Project Name field. • Use the Browse button to the right of the Location field to select a destination folder for the project, or to create a new folder, enter a new folder pathname in the Location field.
2. Enter the pathname of the new Global Audio Folder in the Global Audio Folder field, or click the Browse button that’s at the right end of the Global Audio Folder field to browse to the new directory. 3. Click OK when you are done. 4. Use the Windows Explorer or some other program to move all audio files from the old Global Audio Folder to the new Global Audio Folder. All new audio files will be stored in the new Global Audio Folder, unless you decide to use perproject audio.
To Create a New Project Using Per-project Audio 1. Select File > New. The New Project File dialog appears. 2. Enter a filename in the Name field The Location and Audio Path directories are automatically updated in the following format: • C:\default directory\. The default directory for new projects is assigned in the Folders tab of the Global Options dialog. is the project’s perproject folder name. • C:\default directory\\Audio.
rate (and if you edit any of the imported audio data). Automatic handling of imported files is enabled by default. Do not disable this option unless you are prepared to manage the audio files individually. Creating backups of your projects is very easy if all your audio is stored in a single, per-project directory. To Change Handling of Imported Files Use the following procedure to allow or disallow file sharing between projects: 1. Choose Options > Global and click the Audio Data tab. 2.
The following table lists several backup methods: Backup Method Advantages Per-project Audio Folders If you are using per-project audio folders you can create a copy of the project folder and its audio subfolder. This method is an exact copy of your project, preserving all clips and pathname information.
1. Open the project you want to backup. 2. Select Tools > Consolidate Project Audio. 3. A message box appears listing the destination folder for your audio backup. 4. Click OK to confirm. 5. Using Windows Explorer, copy the project, the backup folder and all its contents, including the project’s audio folder, to its backup location (CD-R, CD-RW, DVD-R, DVD-RW, Zip or Jaz drive, another hard drive, network drive, etc.).
Files dialog appears. It is very important that you restore any unreadable files from a backup before continuing, otherwise you risk data loss. 6. Follow the instructions in the table: To do this Do this Listen to a file Highlight the file name in the list and click Play Delete a file Highlight the file name in the list and click Delete Delete all files Click Delete All, and click Yes to confirm Table 176. 7. Click Close when you are done.
Improving Audio Performance Digital audio presents several challenges: it is large, using enormous amounts of disk space, especially at higher sampling rates and bit-depths, and it is CPU-intensive. Added to this mix is the wide variety of audio hardware available today. This section covers some common problems with recording and playback and how to configure your computer and audio hardware for optimum performance.
Profiler also sets a value in milliseconds for the Buffer Slider, which controls mixing latency. The Wave Profiler is unnecessary if you are using an ASIO driver. The DMA settings are used to ensure that a project that contains both MIDI and digital audio plays back in tight synchronization. If SONAR is not configured properly with your audio device’s DMA settings, MIDI and digital audio material may not play back correctly.
• To enable an audio device, click the name of the device so that it is highlighted. • To disable an audio device, click the name of the device so that it is not highlighted. 3. Click OK. Disabling a device in the Audio Options dialog box usually prevents conflicts with other audio devices. Occasionally you may need to disable a device in the Windows Control Panel.
4. After you’ve exported all the tracks you want to convert, open the Audio Options dialog (Options > Audio command), and on the General tab, change the Sampling Rate field to the desired number. 5. Use the File > New command to open a new project. 6. Use the File > Import > Audio command to open the Import Audio dialog. 7. Select the audio files you just exported (hold down the CTRL key while you click each one), and click Open to import the files. SONAR imports the selected files at the new sampling rate.
Bit Depth column. The following topics show you how and why to choose bit depths for various operations. See: Bit Depths for Playback Bit Depths for Recording Bit Depths for Importing Audio Bit Depths for Exporting Audio Bit Depths for Rendering Audio Bit Depths for Playback Most sound cards can play audio at 16-bit or 24-bit resolution, with a few sound cards supporting 18bit and 20-bit resolution.
To Rewrite Audio Files at Different Bit Depths 1. Use the Tools > Change Audio Format command to open the Change Audio Format dialog. 2. Choose a new bit depth in the New Bit Depth field. 3. If you’re changing to 16 bits, you can check or uncheck the Apply Dither check box. Dithering means to add a certain audio signal to 16 bit audio to make it sound more like it did as a higher-bit signal. 4. Click OK. SONAR rewrites the audio tracks in your project at the new bit depth.
2. On the Audio Data tab, under File Bit Depths, change the Import Bit Depth field to the desired number. You can choose the Original option to import the files at their current bit depth. 3. Click OK. This process changes the default import bit depth, which appears in the Import Audio dialog. You can override this value for one import process at a time by changing the value in the Import Audio dialog. See also “SONAR Project File Compatibility Notes” on page 850.
2. After exporting the audio, close SONAR and open up your sound card control panel (for M-Audio cards, usually the Delta Control Panel, for Echo Audio, usually the Echo Console, for MOTU it's the 324 console, etc.) Once the control panel is open, change the setting for your sampling rate to 44.1 kHz. 3. Next launch SONAR and use the Options > Audio command to open the Audio Options dialog. In the General section change the Audio Driver Bit Depth to 16.
• SONAR 4 may add extra groups to the project. Re-saving a SONAR 5 project file in SONAR 4 may permanently remove the project data described above. Improving Performance with Digital Audio When a project contains many tracks of digital audio or when many real-time effects are in use, your computer may have difficulty keeping up during playback. When this occurs, you'll hear portions of the audio drop out, stutter, or pop. Or maybe your project responds slowly to real-time effects and volume changes.
Approach How it works Refrain from other activity during playback If you open and close windows or do lots of editing while playback is in progress, you may steal CPU cycles that would otherwise be used for playback. Apply some audio effects offline If you are happy with your real-time effects, consider using the Process > Apply Audio Effects command to apply those effects offline. Then remove those effects from real-time use and free up lots of CPU power.
Digital Audio Files and Storage Digital audio requires a large amount of disk storage. The table below shows the disk space requirements in megabytes for a single minute of digital audio in mono and stereo at various sampling rates: Sampling rate 16 bit 24 bit 11 kHz Mono 1.3 MB per minute 1.9 MB per minute 11 kHz Stereo 2.5 MB per minute 3.8 MB per minute 22 kHz Mono 2.8 MB per minute 3.8 MB per minute 22 kHz Stereo 5.0 MB per minute 7.6 MB per minute 44.1 kHz Mono 5.0 MB per minute 7.
problems, if you hear dropouts try increasing the mixing latency. Sound cards differ in the precision of their timing, what size audio buffers they require, and other characteristics. SONAR has a utility called the Wave Profiler that can usually automatically detect the type of sound card that you have installed and configure its settings for best performance. If your sound card is a well-known model, you can usually use SONAR without having to change many audio settings.
Status Bar/CPU Meter/Disk Meter SONAR has several tools to help you identify and correct audio problems, including the CPU meter, the Disk meter, and the Dropout indicator. These tools are all located on the Status bar, which is at the bottom of the screen. The Status bar also contains a measurement of available hard disk space. If you do not see the Status bar, go to Options > Global, select the General tab, and make sure Show Status Bar is selected.
SONAR is taking to complete each cycle of disk Input/Output. Note: If you experience a dropout or your CPU or Disk meters are reading high, there are steps you can take to improve your audio performance. For more information, see “Dropouts and Other Audio Problems” on page 858. SONAR’s status bar displays bold letters to indicate when Caps Lock, Scroll Lock, Pause and Num Lock are enabled.
24-bit Tips Here are a few tips for playing back and/or recording at 24-bits: • Try to play back at 24-bits even if your sound card only operates at 20- or 18-bits: Having established the default settings for new files, you must also specify at what playback bitdepth you want your sound card to use. In the Audio Options dialog box, set the Audio Driver Bit Depth to the desired value.
simultaneous tracks, and use a smaller number of simultaneous real-time effects, in a 24-bit project than you would be able to in a 16-bit project. This is also true when working at higher sampling rates (i.e., a 24-bit/96khz project requires substantially more computing resources than a corresponding 16-bit/44.1khz project).
by one of the factors listed below.
• If SONAR's Auto Save feature is enabled, disable it. • Remove all programs from the Windows Start Up folder (\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Start Up). Cakewalk doesn't properly “recognize” your sound card Re-run the SONAR Wave Profiler, which will attempt to analyze your sound card and establish proper settings for it: • Choose Options-Audio, then click on the General tab. Click on the Wave Profiler button at the bottom of the dialog box.
control to the right in small increments until you see the value to the right of the slider increase; close the dialog (click OK) and re-test your project after each increment. • If problem(s) continue, move the slider control back to its original position, and try increasing the number in the Buffers in Playback Queue textbox. (This value starts out at 4; try increasing it to 5, 6, 7, or 8). Close the dialog (click OK) and re-test your project after each such change.
Your sound card's driver may be obsolete Obtain and install a new sound card driver (if available): • Consult your sound card manufacturer's web site (or contact their Customer Service department) to check for the availability of a later driver version. If one exists, obtain it and install it on your computer according to their instructions. With the new driver installed, restart the computer, then delete the file cw9auddx.ini from your SONAR folder. Launch SONAR and let it re-profile your audio hardware.
settings can reduce PCI bus contention problems. Be sure to check out www.cakewalk.com/ Support/Docs/VideocardTips.html for more information about these and other popular video cards: • If you have a Hercules Dynamite 128 card: Open the System.ini file in Notepad (or any text editor). In the section called [Hercules], check to ensure that this line is present: Optimization=1 (The default is 0; if necessary, edit the value to 1 and save the file. Restart Windows.
• Select Options > Audio, click the Drivers tab, and make sure that only your sound card's input and output drivers are highlighted in both menus. (If you have more than one sound card installed in your system, try using only a single sound card and deselecting the other(s). If you can get audio to record/playback properly on a single sound card, but you encounter problems using two sound cards simultaneously, there may be a conflict between the two sound cards.
• If you can't reduce your project's complexity, or if problems persist even after the complexity has been reduced, proceed to the next step. Upgrade your computer hardware: More RAM, a faster CPU, and a faster disk drive If your project makes extensive use of real-time effects (plug-ins), you should consider upgrading to a faster CPU.
There is also an option in the Clips Properties dialog to selectively redraw waveforms for individual clips that may have a corrupt waveform display (see “To Redraw Waveforms” on page 866). .INI File Picture Cache Options 3 new INI file variables that are used by picture cache generation and display: • In Aud.ini: In the [Aud] section: EnablePicCacheThreads=1 (default) This option creates extra background worker threads for the generation of wave pictures when you load a project.
4. Click Yes. Improving recording performance EnableCacheWriteThru=<0 or 1>, default = 1 This Aud.ini variable enables disk write thru caching, on by default. When write thru caching is on, data recorded to wave files is written to the hard disk immediately, circumventing the hardware disk cache. Having write thru caching off can be more efficient for disk I/O but can result in data loss if your system crashes.
Improving Audio Performance Improving Performance with Digital Audio
External Devices SONAR can be controlled by a wide range of MIDI controllers and external MIDI devices. SONAR also contains two generic controller/surface plug-ins (the ACT MIDI Controller plug-in, and the Cakewalk Generic Surface Plug-in), which allow you to use almost any MIDI controller or controller/ surface with SONAR. You can also control certain external devices from SONAR by using StudioWare or OPT (Open Plug-in Technology) panels. SONAR allows you to control soft synths as well as effect plug-ins.
Edirol PCR Controllers SONAR has a custom controller/surface plug-in that allow an Edirol PCR controller to control SONAR track, bus, and plug-in parameters (both effects and synths). This includes support for ACT (Active Controller Technology), which lets you use your controller to adjust plug-in parameters on whatever plug-in currently has focus. Using your Edirol PCR to control SONAR is as easy as: 1. Enabling the Edirol MIDI drivers in SONAR. 2.
To Connect an Edirol PCR to SONAR 1. Follow your controller/surface’s instructions for physically connecting your PCR to your computer. 2. In SONAR, use the Options > Controllers/Surfaces command to open the Controllers/ Surfaces dialog. 3. Click the Add Controller/Surface button dialog. , which opens the Controller/Surface Settings 4. In the Controller/Surface field of the Controller/Surface Settings dialog, select Edirol PCRM30. 5.
Setting up Control Surfaces If you are not using an Edirol PCR controller, use the following procedures to connect or disconnect your controller/surface: To Enable MIDI Input and Output Drivers 1. Use the Options > MIDI Devices command to open the MIDI Devices dialog. 2. In the Inputs pane on the left side of the dialog, make sure that the MIDI Input driver or drivers that your controller/surface uses are enabled (highlighted). 3.
7. In the Controllers/Surfaces dialog, make sure that both the ACT and WAI check boxes are enabled, and click Close. Important: If your controller/surface needs to be in a certain mode, or have a certain memory preset loaded in order to control a software application, put your controller/surface in the proper mode or load the required memory preset now.
The WAI Display ACT ACT MIDI Controller Plug-in The ACT MIDI Controller plug-in can be configured to support any generic MIDI controller (controller/surface), such as the JL Cooper FaderMaster, Peavey PC-1600, and Kenton Control Freak. Generic controllers/surfaces typically have 8-16 strips of faders/knobs/buttons, are nonmotorized, and can often be configured to transmit any MIDI message (continuous controllers, NRPNs, Sysx, etc.). The ACT MIDI Controller supports ACT.
To Load Default Mappings • In the Presets list, select the name of your controller/surface. If your controller/surface does not have a preset, select the Default preset , and see “Assigning Controls on Your Controller/Surface to Cells in the ACT MIDI Property Page” on page 875. Important: After you load the preset for your controller/surface, look at the Comments field on the Options tab of the ACT MIDI Controller property page.
Each cell or field on the Controllers tab of the ACT MIDI Controller property page lists the SONAR or plug-in parameter that is currently controlled by that cell. However, if your controller/surface does not have a preset, no knobs or sliders on your controller/surface will be assigned to that cell, or the knobs may be assigned in a pattern that you don’t prefer.
Generic Surface is not available in the drop-down menu, see “Setting up Control Surfaces” on page 872. 2. Click the Properties button that is in the Controllers/Surfaces toolbar. You can also doubleclick the WAI display of the Cakewalk Generic Surface plug-in. See: Loading Cakewalk Generic Surface Presets Loading Cakewalk Generic Surface Presets SONAR contains preset mappings for most controllers/surfaces.
To Configure Track Parameters 1. In the Cakewalk Generic Surface property page, in the Use ACT or Strip Params fields, make sure that either the ACT Enable check box is disabled, or that the Both check box is enabled. If the Both check box is enabled, your controller/surface is controlling both track and plug-in parameters. 2.
3. Next, in the Cakewalk Generic Surface property page, in the Use ACT or Strip Params fields, make sure that either the ACT Enable check box is enabled, or that the Both check box is enabled. If the Both check box is enabled, your controller/surface is controlling both track parameters and plug-in parameters. 4. In SONAR, put the focus on the plug-in effect or synth -that you want to configure: either click its property page, or click its name in an FX bin.
value of 16383 when you turn it to the left, you could use a Trigger Value of 1 to turn the Arm button on and off, and a Trigger Value of 16383 to turn the Solo button on and off. That way, each time you turn the knob to the right, the Arm button turns on or off. Each time you turn the knob left, the Solo button turns on or off. • Assign a two-way knob to control a continuous parameter.
Right parameters, or by clicking the BaseTrack buttons that are at the top of the Cakewalk Generic Surface property page. Note: If you don’t have any buttons left over to assign to the Move 1 or Move Bank parameters, you can click the right or left buttons in the BaseTrack section of the Cakewalk Generic Surface property page to move the Base Track to the right or left by one track. The buttons are located so that you can resize the property page to just show the buttons and the Presets field.
You define how many tracks are in a bank by entering a number in the Number of Track Strips field. The number can be from 1 to 32, inclusive. The property page is designed so that you can minimize it (by dragging the border) to show only the BaseTrack buttons and Preset window, so you can click the buttons while you’re working. The buttons are an alternative way to change the Base Track if you haven’t assigned any buttons on your controller/surface to do that.
allocate some physical controls to control Track parameters, while other physical controls are allocated to control plug-in parameters. ACT Controls This section let's you assign buttons and knobs to control plug-ins. This section has the following controls: • Lock Context radio button. Lets you assign a control on your controller/surface to enable or disable the Lock Context check box. • Lock Context check box.
• RPN. With this button enabled and a RPN number entered in the Number field, SONAR moves the selected parameter whenever it receives this specific RPN message from your controller/ surface on the specified channel. • Note. You can use a Note On message to trigger a parameter or action. The Number field next to the radio button displays the note number, and the Trigger Value field displays the velocity the note must use to trigger the desired parameter.
or toggle-type values, so most of the time this button is checked. A fader usually sends out a stream of different messages that are different for each position of the fader. The values of these messages are used “literally” to make timely changes in a continuous parameter such as Volume. The other common interpretation of a MIDI message is that it is meant to “toggle” a control such as a Mute button on and off. The property page interprets almost all MIDI messages as one of these two types of message.
To Save a Preset • Type a name in the Preset box, then click the Save (floppy disk) button. Euphonix EuCon control surface support SONAR supports the Euphonix EuCon protocol, which allows SONAR to be controlled by Euphonix surfaces such as the MC and CM408 series. To enable EuCon support in SONAR 1. Follow your Euphonix surface’s instructions for physically connecting the Euphonix surface to your computer and configure the Euphonix software. 2.
tracks to change which tracks each controller/surface is controlling. You can also double-click the WAI markers to open the property page of that particular controller/surface. Figure 138. WAI display A B A. WAI markers B. WAI strip If multiple controller/surfaces overlap, the narrowest strip range appears on top of the widest strip range. B A A. Red markers B.
The following table describes how you can use WAI markers: To do this Do this Change the group of tracks or buses that a controller/surface controls Drag the WAI markers from one group of tracks to another group, or from one group of buses to another group. Or Right-click in the WAI strip, and choose Move > [name of controller/surface] > here from the pop-up menu. Open the property page of a controller/surface Double-click the WAI markers for that controller/surface.
SONAR has built-in mappings for all relatively recent SONAR plug-ins, however some older plug-ins such as the TTS-1 do not support ACT. Note: If you’re not using an Edirol PCR controller/surface, using ACT at this date means using either the ACT MIDI Controller Plug-in, or the Cakewalk Generic Surface Plug-in.
To Edit the Default ACT Mappings 1. Enable ACT in the ACT MIDI Controller property page by enabling the Active Controller Technology Enable check box. 2. Enable the Learn button on the Controllers/Surfaces toolbar. 3. Open the property page of the plug-in that you want to control. 4. Click the parameters in the property page that you want to control. 5.
users. Check the Cakewalk web site (www.cakewalk.com) from time to time for new and updated StudioWare panels. StudioWare Panels SONAR comes with a variety of StudioWare panels. Some are designed to control a specific external MIDI device, while others are useful with a variety of devices. Here is a listing of some of the panels that are included with SONAR: Panel name What it’s for Line 6 POD Provides control for the Line 6 POD 2.0/Pro amp modeler.
Panel name What it’s for Yamaha ProMix 01 Provides parameter control for the Yamaha ProMix digital mixer Yamaha 03D Provides parameter control for the Yamaha 03D digital mixer Roland UA-100 Provides parameter control for the Roland UA-100 audio canvas Table 182. To Open a StudioWare Panel 1. Choose File > Open to display the Open File dialog box. 2. Choose StudioWare from the Files of Type list. 3. Choose a StudioWare file and click Open. SONAR opens and displays the StudioWare panel.
MMC General MIDI External Devices Working with StudioWare 893
MMC General MIDI There are a variety of ways to adjust the values of buttons, sliders, and knobs: To change this Do this The status of a button Click on the button Table 183.
To change this Do this The value of a slider Click on the desired slider position to move the slider to that position, or drag the slider to the desired position The value of a knob Click along the outer edge of the knob to move the knob to that position, or drag the outer edge of the knob in a circular motion to set the desired position Table 183.
SONAR creates a group from the selected controls. To Remove Controls from a Group 1. Hold down the CTRL key and click on any control in the group. SONAR removes the control from the group. To Adjust a Single Control in a Group 1. Hold down the SHIFT key and drag the control to a new value. The range for the control is adjusted so that its current position corresponds with the current position of other controls in the group. Example: To Set Two Faders for a Crossfade 1.
To set faders to move over different ranges of values, set them something like this: Fader Starting value Ending value #1 0 127 #2 0 100 Table 186. Recording Control Movements You can move the controls in a StudioWare panel while playing back a project to adjust the levels or other MIDI activity that the panel is designed to accommodate. In addition, you can record changes that you make to the controls in a panel so that these changes become a part of your project.
There are three tools in the StudioWare toolbar that are used to control recording and automation: Icon Tool What it’s for Update Makes the controls in the panel update automatically during playback or when MIDI data is received by the panel Snapshot Records a snapshot of the current position of all controls Record Activates real-time recording of all control movements Table 188. Most StudioWare panels are designed to both send and receive MIDI data.
2. Move the controls to the settings you desire. 3. Click . SONAR records a snapshot of the current control settings. If the Now time is the very beginning of the project, then the snapshot will change the track parameters to match the controls in the panel instead of recording automation events. To Record a Snapshot While Playback Is in Progress 1. Make sure the button in the StudioWare toolbar is not pressed so that Update is disabled. 2.
StudioWare Panel Drawing Speed Some StudioWare panels use bitmap graphics to enhance their appearance. These graphics can slow down the speed with which a panel is displayed on some slower PCs. You can turn off these bitmap graphics by adding this line to the [WinCake] section of the Cakewalk.ini file, as follows. PanelsShowWidgetBitmaps=0 To turn bitmap graphics on again, change the entry to: PanelsShowWidgetBitmaps=1 For more information about the Cakewalk.
Using CAL Cakewalk Application Language (CAL) is an event-processing language that you use to extend SONAR with custom editing commands. See: Running CAL Programs Sample CAL Files Running CAL Programs To interrupt a CAL program while it is running, press the Esc (Escape) key. Press OK to confirm that you want to interrupt the CAL program. As a rule, you shouldn’t interrupt a CAL program in this way unless you suspect it is stuck in an infinite loop. To Open a CAL Program 1.
See: SPLIT NOTE TO TRACKS.cal SPLIT CHANNEL TO TRACKS.cal RANDOM TIME.cal THIN CONTROLLER DATA.cal THIN CHANNEL AFTERTOUCH.cal THIN PITCH WHEEL.cal MAJOR CHORD.cal, MINOR CHORD.cal SPLIT NOTE TO TRACKS.cal This program splits individual notes to separate tracks. It is useful if you have one drum track but want to split each drum to a separate track (for more flexible editing). SPLIT CHANNEL TO TRACKS.cal This program splits a track by channel into 16 new tracks.
• A thinning factor. For example, if you specify the number 3, the program deletes every third Controller event of the kind you’ve specified. This program never deletes Controllers with the values 0, 64, or 127, because the goal is to thin the data without destroying the fundamental shape of it. THIN CHANNEL AFTERTOUCH.cal This works almost exactly like the previous program, but it thins channel aftertouch (ChanAft) events. It asks you for the thinning factor. THIN PITCH WHEEL.
Using CAL Sample CAL Files
Troubleshooting If you’re having a problem with SONAR, don’t panic. This chapter lists some common problems and how to solve them. If you don’t find an answer here, there are two other important places to look for help: • Check the ReadMe file that came with your software. It contains additional information that wasn’t available when this User’s Guide was printed. To view the Readme file, select Help > View README.RTF. • Visit our website at www.cakewalk.
Audio Distorts at Greater than 16 Bits No Sound from My Soft Synth My Pro Audio 9 Files Sound Louder/Softer When I Open Them in SONAR SONAR Can’t Find the Wavetable Synth or MPU401 I Get an Error Message When I Change a Project to 24-bit Audio Bouncing Tracks Takes a Long Time The GUI is not Smooth During Playback Plug-in windows flicker or don't display properly File Recovery mode Audio dropouts or crash when playing back large files at maximum latency Symptom: after several seconds of playback the audio
Possible problem What to do You don’t have Bank and Patch settings in your MIDI track Check the Bank and Patch settings for each track. Make sure that each track has a Bank and Patch assigned to it. You don’t have an Output setting Check Output settings for each track. Make sure that each MIDI track is assigned to a MIDI output which is connected to a MIDI device capable of playback. Make sure each audio track is assigned to an output that is connected to your speaker system.
I Can’t Record from My MIDI Instrument If you are unable to record music from your electronic keyboard, synthesizer, or other MIDI instrument, first test to see if you are able to play back a project through the keyboard. Then try the following: Possible problem What to do No MIDI input device is selected. Choose Options > MIDI Devices, and check the Input device list. Make sure that the MIDI input on your computer sound card is highlighted. Your MIDI cables are reversed.
Portion Doesn’t Play Open a bundle file (.cwb) and click the Play button. Do you hear the audio tracks in the project (there may be MIDI tracks in the bundle file, so you must mute them). If not, try the following: Possible problem What to do Your speakers aren’t connected Make sure your speakers are connected properly and the volume is properly, or the volume is turned down. turned up. Your sound card isn’t hooked up correctly.
Possible problem What to do Your sound card isn’t hooked up Try recording audio using the Microsoft Sound Recorder (Start > correctly. Programs > Accessories > Entertainment > Sound Recorder). If it fails, check your sound card documentation to make sure it is properly installed and configured. You have not set up SONAR to record. Make sure that 1) you have chosen an input for the track; 2) you have armed the track for recording; and 3) you have pressed the Record button, and not the Play button.
interface. In many cases, SONAR disables local control automatically when the program is started, but this is not always possible. It’s also possible that your keyboard is transmitting information on two channels at once. To see if this is so, create a new project and record two notes from the keyboard. Then look at what you’ve recorded in the Event list view. If you see four notes displayed instead of two, then your keyboard is transmitting on two channels.
3. Click OK. 4. Choose Options > Audio, click the General tab, and run the Wave Profiler again. My Track or Bus Fader is Maximized, But There’s No Sound or Level SONAR has two modes that govern how fader levels function: Envelope Mode and Offset Mode. In Envelope Mode, any envelopes in the track or bus control the level, and ignore any movements you make to the fader. In Offset mode, any envelopes in the track or bus add their level to any level that the fader contributes.
If your manufacturer or instrument doesn’t appear, check our web site to see if an updated instrument definition is available. You can also create your own instrument definition. For more information about instrument definitions, see the online help topic: Instrument Definitions. More Frequently Asked Questions.
Patching an Effect into SONAR Causes a Dropout You may have simply reached the maximum number of tracks and effects your CPU can handle. However, if your CPU meter doesn’t appear to be maxed out, or other plug-ins seem to work, you may need to address the problem by editing a line in the Aud.ini file. Using Notepad, open the Aud.ini located in the directory where you installed SONAR. The default value of the ExtraPluginBufs variable is 0. Try changing that value to 1, saving Aud.
No Sound from My Soft Synth Use the following table to troubleshoot problems hearing a synth in SONAR: Possible problem What to do Synth doesn’t sound when a • recorded MIDI track is sent to it. • • Make sure you select a MIDI channel in the MIDI track’s Output field; you may also need to select a Patch and Bank. Make sure that neither the MIDI track nor the audio track that contains the synth are muted. Make sure the MIDI notes are in the right range for the synth’s patch.
4. Reopen the Pro Audio file in SONAR. If the volume sounds correct, save the file in SONAR. If other Pro Audio 9 files were opening correctly in SONAR, change the VoMethod=n line in SONAR’s Aud.ini file back to what it originally was, and re-save the file. More Frequently Asked Questions. SONAR Can’t Find the Wavetable Synth or MPU401 Follow this procedure: 1.
For more information, see AUD.INI. More Frequently Asked Questions. The GUI is not Smooth During Playback If the GUI does not update smoothly during playback, press the Pause key to make sure you didn’t inadvertently put SONAR in CPU conservation mode. If the Pause key has been pressed, SONAR will display the letter P in the status bar. For more information, see “Reduce GUI updates to improve playback performance” on page 856. More Frequently Asked Questions.
9.
You save a “recovery file” through SONAR's crash exception dialog. When a crash occurs in SONAR you are presented with this dialog allowing you to attempt to save a recovery file. While this works most of the time, occasionally SONAR may be in a compromised state due to memory corruption. Under these circumstances, saving a file might cause a crash or the file might contain invalid data.
other problems. If you notice problems you should copy and paste the critical data from the recovered file into a brand new empty project to start clean. Important: Since File Recovery Mode ignores many critical error checks while loading a file, depending on the nature of the data corruption in the file, it is possible that opening a file with File Recovery Mode might cause SONAR to crash or become unresponsive.
Hardware Setup This appendix contains additional details on configuring your equipment for use with SONAR. See: Connect Your MIDI Equipment Set Up to Record Digital Audio Connect Your MIDI Equipment If you are using a MIDI interface (such as an MPU-401 or Sound Blaster MIDI option) with an external MIDI keyboard, you need to connect the equipment using MIDI cables. It is possible to connect your equipment in some rather complex ways that may cause problems.
If you are using a 15-pin joystick adapter cable that splits into two MIDI cables: • Connect the 15-pin jack to your computer’s joystick port. • Connect the In cable to your instrument’s MIDI Out jack. • Connect the Out cable to your instrument’s MIDI In jack. Here’s a checklist: Connect this To this Master keyboard Out MIDI interface In MIDI interface Out Master keyboard In Master keyboard Thru Another MIDI module’s In That MIDI module’s Thru Yet another MIDI module’s In Table 194.
If Your Keyboard Doesn’t Have a MIDI Thru Jack If your keyboard has only two MIDI jacks—In and Out—or if you have only one keyboard, use the following diagrams instead: Each MIDI device should be set to a unique MIDI channel or range of channels to avoid notedoubling. Refer to the manuals for your MIDI devices for information on how to set their MIDI channels.
Most sound cards use the Windows Volume Control to adjust the master input and output volumes and to control which recording inputs are active. If you don’t hear audio tracks, or if you can’t easily control the audio volume in SONAR, go to Start > Programs > Accessories > Entertainment > Volume Control and check the settings there. See your sound card’s documentation for more.
Rack effects units Rack FX Rack FX Rack FX To sound card line input (stereo) Rack FX 1/4 inch instrument cable RCA to 1/8 inch adapter (stereo) 1/4 inch to RCA adapter (x2) This diagram assumes that the output of the rack is at line level. If it is at pro level instead (+4 dB), and your card does not accept a +4 db input, you will need to attenuate (lower) the F/X rack’s signal. To do this, use a mixer between the rack’s output and the Y-adapter.
Home Stereo, CD Player, Radio Tuner, Preamp Output The output of a stereo component can be connected to the sound card’s line in, using a dual RCA to 1/8 inch stereo mini Y-adapter. Many portable cassette players come with this kind of adapter, or even with a single cable with all the necessary jacks.
Note: If your mixer has buses, use them! This helps to avoid feedback.
Hardware Setup Set Up to Record Digital Audio
Initialization Files Many Windows applications, as well as Windows itself, use files to store information about your preferences and configuration. Often applications store values to these files when you make selections in the program using menus or dialog boxes. However, you can also change these files directly. In some cases, there is no way to change the settings in the application, and changing the file directly is the only way.
the settings in these files only when it first starts up. Therefore, if you change any settings while SONAR is running, you should exit and restart SONAR in order for the changes to take effect. See: Initialization File Format Variables in the [Options] Section Variables in the [MIDI Input Devices] Section Variables in the [MIDI Output Devices] Section Variables in AUD.ini Cakewalk.ini TTSSEQ.INI AUD.INI Initialization File Format Initialization files all follow a common format.
Cakewalk.ini Many of the items in Cakewalk.ini are set using SONAR menus and dialog boxes. However, some items can be changed only by using the Options > Initialization File command or by directly editing this file using the Windows Notepad. Cakewalk.ini is divided into different sections. Unless otherwise noted below, all entries should appear in the section that starts with the line: [Wincake] For example, if you want to add the line PanicStrength=1 to Cakewalk.
The following section lists the different variables you can change in Cakewalk.ini. Variable Type Default value There are two variables that control the behavior of using a control surface jog wheel to change SONAR’s Now time: JogPosTimer is the period of the now time throttle. When a jog message comes in, SONAR sets the transport time immediately but will not set the transport time again for this length of time. During the time, SONAR just remembers the latest jog time received.
Variable Type Default value What it does WavePreviewInputBuffers=< 1-4> ) Integer 4 This variable allows control of the number of Waveform preview input buffers. The input buffers allow more efficient access to the recorded meter history on disk, and greatly speeds up performance access to previews while zooming and scrolling the clips view when waveform preview is active. You can control the actual number of history page buffers with this variable.
Variable Type Default value What it does TVWidgetsStickInHeader=<0 Boolean or 1> 0 By default, Track view controls (widgets) will only appear in the track header bar if the track is minimized and there is enough room to display at least one control. When TRUE (value=1) widgets stay in the header bar regardless of the height of a track. Note: the following controls will never appear in the track header bar: Send widgets, Meters, and Vertical FX Bin. VelocitySolidWidth=<1..
Variable Type Default value What it does VelocityBargraphFullWidth=< Boolean 0 or 1> 0 When displaying velocity tails as bar graphs (see above), you can specify whether the velocity tails should be fixed at 3 pixels wide (default), or extend the full width of the note event.
Variable Type Default value What it does PauseDuringSave= <0 or 1> f Boolean 0 By default, when saving a project file during playback, SONAR saves the file asynchronously while playback continues. While this is not a problem with most projects, complex projects under high CPU load conditions (particularly while running under low latency) may take longer to save than if the transport was not playing.
Variable Type Default value What it does AutoLoadAudioSnapPalette= Boolean <0 or 1> 1 By default, the AudioSnap palette appears automatically whenever you enable AudioSnap on a clip. If you prefer to never auto-show the AudioSnap palette, you can change this behavior by setting the value to 0. AlphaStretchIndicator= <0 or 1> Boolean 1 When an audio clip is slip-stretched, a yellow alpha-blended bar is displayed on the clip.
Variable Type Default value What it does TransparentClipNames= <0 or 1> Boolean 0 SONAR can write Clip Names with an alpha channel such that the waveform behind the clip name can be seen. To enable this effect, set the value to 1. SmallIconHeight Integer 32 This variable specifies the small track icon size. By default, small icons are 32x32 pixels. LargeIconHeight Integer 48 This variable specifies the large track icon size. By default, large icons are 48x48 pixels.
Variable Type Default value What it does CreateNewGroupsOnPaste= Boolean <0 or 1> 1 When you copy and paste clips that belong to a clip group, this variable specifies if the pasted clips should be placed in a new clip group or continue to be grouped with the original clip group. By default, a new clip group is created. The values are as follows: 0 = The pasted clips will belong to the same clip group as the clips that were copied. 1 = A new clip group is created for the pasted clips.
Variables in the [Options] Section Variable Type Default value What it does MfxLookAhead= Integer 960*4 Defines how much extra MIDI data is sent to MFX plug-ins, so that they have extra room to quantize events into the future. Lower values mean MFX plugins can work more "just in time." Example: MfxLookAhead=480. SendResetsToSoftSynths= <0 or 1> Boolean 0 This variable controls (globally) whether SONAR sends MIDI controller resets to DXi’s.
Variable Type Default value What it does IgnoreMidiInTimeStamps= <0 or 1> Boolean 0 (disable) This line determines whether or not SONAR ignores any MIDI time stamping that a MIDI driver does. If you’re experiencing increasing delays between the time you play a MIDI note on a controller and the time you hear SONAR echo it, setting this line to 1 may help. Also, if you find that SONAR is recording MIDI data at a different time from when the data was played, setting this line to 1 may help.
Variables in the [MIDI Input Devices] Section Variable Type Default value What it does MaxInPort= Integer 15 (16 outputs) This variable determines the maximum number of MIDI inputs. The value is 0 based, so a value of 15 means that the limit is 16 outputs. Table 197. Variables in the [MIDI Output Devices] Section Variable Type Default value What it does MaxOutPort Integer 15 (16 outputs) This variable determines the maximum number of MIDI outputs.
Variables in AUD.ini Variable Type Default Value What it does MeterFrameSizeMS= <10-200> Integer 40 Meters in SONAR show peak (or RMS) values at a given instant in time. The actual peak value displayed by a meter is the highest peak recorded in an interval of time referred to as a "Meter Frame." The default size for a meter frame is 40 milliseconds, which is an accuracy of 25 FPS. The MeterFrameSizeMS variable allows you to change the size of this interval. It goes in the [Wave] section.
Variable Type Default Value What it does FlushWriteBeforeRead= <1 or 0> Boolean 0 The default setting causes SONAR to perform disk reads (for audio playback) before attempting any disk writes (for audio recording). Overriding this value by setting it to 1 causes SONAR to attempt disk writes first. This yields the best results when you are attempting to record a large number of tracks at high latency.
Variable Type Default Value What it does GapDezipperUsec=<0-1000> Integer 500 The audio engine will now render a smooth fade in whenever audio playback is interrupted and there is a abrupt transition in gain. The purpose of doing this is to dezipper (smooth out) the gain transition due to the discontinuity. For example, if you click on the time ruler to jump to a new time location during playback, the engine will smoothly render the transition to the new gain level as a fade in.
Variable Type Default Value What it does DefaultEqPosition=<0 or 1> Boolean 0 The integrated channel EQ is pre FX bin by default, but you can change the position of any channel EQ by rightclicking the EQ plot and choosing the desired position from the context menu. The DefaultEqPosition Aud.ini variable lets you specify the default EQ position for all new tracks/buses. This variable lives in the [Aud] section of Aud.ini, and legal values are: 0 (pre FX) or 1 (post FX).
Variable Type Default Value What it does ShowMultiChannelInputs = <0 or 1> Boolean 1 This is a line in the Wave section of the Aud.ini file that specifies whether SONAR uses multichannel audio devices as multiple stereo pairs or just a single stereo pair. ShowMultiChannelOutputs= <0 or 1> Boolean 1 This is a line in the Wave section of the Aud.ini file that specifies whether SONAR uses multichannel audio devices as multiple stereo pairs or just a single stereo pair.
Variable Type Default Value What it does ThreadSchedulingModel= <0 - 2> Integer 1 This variable goes in the [Wave] section and controls the interaction of the main audio thread and worker threads on multiprocessor systems when the Use Multiprocessing Engine option is enabled. Depending on the system, a particular model may result in less glitching and better overall performance. The values are as follows: 0 = Same as previous versions of SONAR. 1 = (default) Better thread balance.
MIDI Files The Standard MIDI file format is a file interchange format defined by the MIDI Manufacturers Association (MMA). The purpose of the format is to allow for the exchange of MIDI data between different programs. Any program that can read and write MIDI files has a common language with which to talk to other MIDI software. The compact size of MIDI music files makes them particularly useful for delivering music online.
A disadvantage of MIDI files is that the way the file sounds on playback varies based upon the sound reproduction hardware you are using. The same project sounds very different on two different synthesizers or two different sound cards. Another problem is that the Standard MIDI File specification leaves some details open to interpretation by software and hardware manufacturers. To Save a Project as a Standard MIDI File or RIFF MIDI File 1. Choose File > Save As to display the Save As dialog box. 2.
MIDI File Meta-event How it is represented in SONAR Track name Track name Port number (format 1) Port assignments are maintained. Only available when the Write Cable Meta Events to MIDI Files (Output Select) Table 200. Features Not Supported by MIDI Files While the MIDI file format is very flexible and extensive, it cannot store the following parameters that are part of a standard project file: key offset, velocity offset, time offset, and forced channel.
settings when composing songs: When you save your work as a MIDI File, SONAR will place these events in the track at the specific clock ticks recommended by the guidelines. You can tell SONAR to follow the GM guidelines by loading the “Turn GM System On” Sysx bank in the Sysx View (gmsystem.syx in your Cakewalk directory), and then either inserting a sysx event at time 1:1:0 or using the Auto setting for that bank.
• For best results, you should always place program changes and other MIDI messages in the same tracks as the notes they affect. This keeps the data for each track together as a single unit, and avoids problems that might occur when SONAR cannot easily correlate the program changes with the note events.
MIDI Files
New features in SONAR 8.5 SONAR 8.5 has many new features (some features are in SONAR Producer only). The following is a list and description of each new feature. New sound shaping effects: PX-64 Percussion Strip . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 959 VX-64 Vocal Strip. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 959 Session Drummer 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
REX file import. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 969 Freeze and Archive buttons in Track view . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 970 New Freeze option. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 970 Solo track/bus from plug-in window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 970 Insert Send Assistant enhancements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
New split clip options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1034 Notification when track/bus outputs are assigned to silent output . . . . . . . 1034 GUITAR RIG 3.2.1 LE enhancements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1035 TruePianos Vista 64 support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1035 New sound shaping effects: TS-64 Transient Shaper plug-in . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Aim Assist line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1019 Free Edit tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1020 Quick Group enhancement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1021 Edit tools enhancements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1021 Transport enhancements: Transport enhancements . . . . . . . . . . . .
PX-64 Percussion Strip Note: The PX-64 Percussion Strip plug-in is only available in SONAR Producer. Figure 139. PX-64 Percussion Strip PX-64 Percussion Strip is a multi-functional plug-in that combines a series of effects specifically optimized and streamlined for drum and percussion processing.
Figure 140. VX-64 Vocal Strip VX-64 Vocal Strip is a multi-functional plug-in that combines a series of effects specifically optimized and streamlined for vocal processing. Combining compression, expansion, equalization, deessing, doubling, delay and tube saturation in one convenient plug-in, VX-64 Vocal Strip is designed to make it fast an easy to enhance any vocal track. VX-64 Vocal Strip features include: • 5 professional quality effect modules, each with its own bypass toggle.
Session Drummer 3 Note: The Session Drummer 3 synth is only available in SONAR Producer. Figure 141. Session Drummer 3 Session Drummer 3 is a professional drum sampler and pattern player. It features Cakewalk’s patented Expression Engine technology, an anti-aliased, real-time sound production system for multisample audio playback. Session Drummer 3 accurately replicates the sound of its real-world counterpart and features a highly-detailed user interface as well as simple but powerful controls.
• An animated user interface (UI). • Controls for volume, pan and tuning of each drum kit piece. For more information, see the Session Drummer 3 online Help. See: “New features in SONAR 8.5” on page 955 Alias Factor Figure 142. Alias Factor Alias Factor combines bit crushing and low pass filtering in a unique way, allowing you to decimate your audio to create tones as varied as vintage samplers, cell phones, or old video games.
For more information, see the Classic Phaser online Help. See: “New features in SONAR 8.5” on page 955 HF Exciter Figure 144. HF Exciter HF Exciter lets you enhance the higher end of the frequency spectrum. This produces the psychoacoustic affect that the signal is brighter and clearer. This is done by adding harmonic content that is not present in the original signal. For more information, see the HF Exciter online Help. See: “New features in SONAR 8.5” on page 955 Mod Filter Figure 145.
Multivoice Chorus/Flanger Figure 146. Multivoice Chorus/Flanger Chorus/Flanger lets you add depth and thickness to the signal. The EQ section in the feedback path allows you to create some truly unique sounds. For more information, see the Multivoice Chorus/Flanger online Help. See: “New features in SONAR 8.5” on page 955 Para-Q Figure 147. Para-Q Para-Q is a two-band true parametric EQ that can be used to boost or attenuate generally high or low bands of the signal.
Stereo Compressor/Gate Figure 148. Stereo Compressor/Gate Stereo Compressor/Gate combines a compressor and a gate into a single effect, so you can increase the overall dynamic level of an audio signal, without distorting the loud parts, and without excessively boosting low-level noise. You can manually trigger the gate via MIDI, which makes it simple to produce stuttering effects. For more information, see the Stereo Compressor/Gate online Help. See: “New features in SONAR 8.
Studioverb2 Figure 150. StudioVerb2 Studioverb2 provides very dense and warm reverberation with 32-bit floating point implementation. This eliminates the digital grunge and harshness that occurs even in the best studio reverberation systems, which are implemented using less advanced fixed point processing. The Studioverb2 provides extremely high efficiency, typically using half of the CPU load of other premium reverb plugins. For more information, see the StudioVerb 2 online Help.
• Style settings, such as Duration, Swing, Time offset, Flam, and Slide/Portamento can be adjusted per row. • Velocity is now displayed as a vertical bar inside the step. • Ability to edit multiple rows simultaneously. • All modulation controls are per row. • Dedicated Step Recording button. • Preview Step Sequencer patterns in the Media Browser view. Figure 151. Step Sequencer Some of the editing gestures have changed slightly, so be sure to see Step Sequencer View for complete details.
Figure 152. Each MIDI and instrument track has an integrated arpeggiator. See: Arpeggiator Support for more MIDI ports The maximum number of MIDI ports that can be used simultaneously has been increased from 64 to 256. See: Setting up output devices Matrix view Note: The Matrix view is only available in SONAR Producer. The Matrix view lets you trigger individual or multiple audio and MIDI patterns, either with a computer keyboard, mouse or via MIDI remote control.
into the Clips pane. • Trigger any combination of loops in real-time Figure 153. The Matrix view See: Matrix view REX file import Note: REX file import is currently not supported under SONAR x64. Like ACIDized WAVE files, REX files are audio files that are designed to be looped and follow the project’s tempo. The time stretching technology that REX files use is well suited for percussive sounds, such as drums. You can import REX files into a SONAR project.
Freeze and Archive buttons in Track view SONAR 8.5 makes it easier than ever to archive and freeze tracks by providing per-track Archive and Freeze buttons in the Track view. You can also right-click any Freeze button to open the Freeze Options dialog. Figure 154. Freeze and Archive buttons have been added to the Track view A B A. Archive button B.
A Solo button is available on all plug-in property pages, which allows you to quickly solo the track or bus that the effect is inserted on while adjusting the plug-in. The Solo button functions the exact same way as the Solo button on the source track/bus. Figure 155. A Solo button is available on each plug-in property page A A. Solo button Note: If you solo a software instrument in the Synth Rack, the Solo button will also affect all associated MIDI and audio tracks.
Figure 156. The Insert Send Assistant dialog When Match Track’s Pan and Gain is selected, the newly created send will have Gain and Pan settings that match those of the strip's Main Gain and Pan. As a result, the headphone mix matches the main mix, and from there you can adjust the headphone mix as desired. Note: The Match Track’s Pan and Gain setting does not affect sends that are assigned to surround buses. See: Insert Send Assistant 972 New features in SONAR 8.
DC offset meter in Analyst A A. DC offset meter The DC offset meter is a bi-directional bargraph meter that lets you detect DC offset in audio. There are various ways DC offset can be introduced into a mix. DC offset can come from recording sources, software instruments, or it could be present in imported wave files. Although the effect of DC offset is normally impossible to hear, it can produce some very unwanted side-effects, including: • Loss of apparent loudness in mix.
AudioSnap 2.0 highlights include: • Audio clips are always ready to be processed via AudioSnap, without having to first enable AudioSnap on clips. • A dedicated Transient tool that makes it easier to select and edit transient markers. • A streamlined AudioSnap palette. • Each audio clip has an internal tempo map that can be edited. • Synchronize audio to the project tempo in one simple step. • Synchronize the project tempo to an audio clip’s tempo map in one simple step.
Auto Scroll Lock in Clips pane While editing, you can prevent the Clips pane from scrolling horizontally during playback. This allows you to focus on the edit location without worrying that the screen will eventually scroll away from the edit location. When the Left Click Locks Scroll option is enabled (default behavior), the Clips pane will not scroll if you click any object in the Clips pane.
Change I/O devices without restarting SONAR You can add or remove USB/FireWire audio and MIDI devices while SONAR is running, and the audio and MIDI engines will dynamically respond to any changes. When a device is added or removed, SONAR prompts you to confirm or cancel the change. If you click Yes, playback stops and the audio and MIDI engines reload.
jBridge support Similar to BitBridge, jBridge allows you to use 32-bit VST effects and instruments when using the x64 version of SONAR, as well as use 64-bit plug-ins when using the x86 version of SONAR. jBridge can also bridge 32-bit plug-ins in the x86 version of SONAR, allowing your computer to overcome the memory limitations of a single 32bit process. To enable jBridge, select the Load using jBridge wrapper check box in the VST Plug-In Properties dialog.
TS-64 Transient Shaper plug-in Note: The TS-64 Transient Shaper plug-in is only available in SONAR Producer. The TS-64 Transient Shaper plug-in provides powerful control over the dynamics of audio tracks and mixes. In a musical context, the term transient refers to a sudden increase in sound output that occurs for a short period of time. For example, the attack portion of a drum hit is a transient.
TL-64 Tube Leveler plug-in Note: The TL-64 Tube Leveler plug-in is only available in SONAR Producer. The TL-64 Tube Leveler plug-in is a preamp/processor that employs advanced analog vacuum-tube circuit modeling, which allows you to apply ultra-high-quality analog warmth and saturation to tracks and mixes. TL-64 Tube Leveler provides complete models of entire vacuum-tube circuits.
Beatscape Note: The Beatscape synth is only available in SONAR Producer. SONAR 8 introduces an exciting new way to create inspired beats from loops and samples. Beatscape combines a sophisticated 16-pad REX file player and beat slicer with per-pad effects, a step generator, extensive MIDI control, and more. Beatscape makes it easy to conform multiple loops to the same tempo, to reorder slices without changing the groove, or to break a loop up into a construction kit.
Dimension Pro Note: The Dimension Pro synth is only available in SONAR Producer. At Dimension Pro’s core is a powerful sample-playback engine paired with advanced synthesis capabilities. It draws on a comprehensive library of sounds covering every aspect of contemporary music. Dimension Pro is also expandable, meaning more sounds can be added to the instrument via expansion packs, or user multisamples based on standard PCM wave files.
Channel Tools plug-in The Channel Tools plug-in provides easy and powerful channel processing for gain, Mid-Side decoding, delay and stereo panning. Channel Tools is ideal for enhancing and adjusting stereo separation for stereo tracks and full mixes. With Channel Tools you can: • Use intuitive controls to easily place the left and right channels individually anywhere in the stereo space. • Automatically decode Mid-Side channel recordings. • Enhance the spatial characteristics of your mixes.
Native Instruments GUITAR RIG 3 LE Note: The GUITAR RIG 3 LE plug-in is only available in SONAR Producer. GUITAR RIG 3 LE is built on the latest award-winning guitar amp modeler from Native Instruments. This special edition contains 3 amps and cabinets, 11 effects, tuner, metronome and over 50 presets. Figure 162. GUITAR RIG 3 LE For more information, see the GUITAR RIG 3 LE online Help. TruePianos Amber Module VSTi plug-in Note: The TruePianos Amber Module synth is only available in SONAR Producer.
• Optimized for real-time performance, with low CPU usage even at 96khz host sampling rates and advanced polyphony levels. Figure 163. TruePianos VST For more information, see the TruePianos VST online Help. Digital Sound Factory Volume 2 Classic Keys for Dimension Pro Note: The Digital Sound Factory Classic Keys expansion pack is only available in SONAR Producer.
Dimension Pro expansion packs Note: The Dimension Pro expansion packs are only available in SONAR Producer. SONAR 8 includes two expansion packs for Dimension Pro. Expansion pack 1 • 350 new programs and over 120 MB of new samples and wavetables.
Assign tracks to mono hardware outputs SONAR 8 lets you assign audio track and bus outputs to individual (mono) hardware outputs in addition to stereo pairs. This is very useful, for example, if you record in SONAR but want to use an external mixing console to mix. To show mono hardware outputs SONAR does not show mono hardware outputs by default. To show mono outputs, do the following: 1. On the Options meny, click Audio and then click the Drivers tab. 2.
Enhanced CPU performance SONAR 8’s CPU performance has been optimized in many different areas, including: • Faster program start time. • Improved performance when using many tracks and low latency settings. • Reduced screen flicker when resizing windows. • Better meter performance. • More responsive zoom and scroll. Audio driver changes without restart You can now change audio driver settings in the Audio Options dialog without having to restart SONAR before the changes take effect.
Minimize driver state changes SONAR 8 has a new option to no longer reset audio devices each time playback or recording starts. This option minimizes device state transitions in response to transport operations. When enabled, SONAR attempts to keep the device in a running state as far as possible. To configure the MinimizeDriverStateChanges option 1. On SONAR’s Options menu, select Audio and then click the Advanced tab. 2. Under Configuration Settings, click Edit Config File. The Aud.
Vista audio enhancements SONAR 8 introduces several enhancements for communicating with audio devices in Windows Vista, including: • Support for WASAPI, which is the new standard for audio in Windows Vista and future Windows operating systems. • MMCSS task profile support. • Optimized WaveRT streaming.
Exclusive mode requires exclusive access to the audio device. Another program will not be able to use the audio device simultaneously with SONAR. Tip: If you select Share Drivers With Other Programs in Options > Audio > Advanced, SONAR will relinquish control of the audio device when the program loses Windows focus. To enable WASAPI mode SONAR 1. On the Option menu, select Audio and then click the Advanced tab. 2. In the Driver Mode list, select WASAPI. 3. Click the Drivers tab. 4.
MMCSSTaskKey=Pro Audio 6. Save Aud.ini and close the Windows text editor. 7. Click Reload Config Settings to reload the current audio configuration settings from Aud.ini. SONAR will now use the new task profile for MMCSS. WaveRT updates SONAR’s WaveRT driver support has been updated and enhanced to work properly with Vista SP1. SONAR supports WaveRT in two ways: WDM driver mode.
Instrument track SONAR has a new track type called instrument track, which makes it very simple to work with soft synths. An instrument track is essentially two tracks—a MIDI track and an audio track, both associated with the same soft synth—contained in a single track strip. An instrument track allows you to control the MIDI data that is sent to a soft synth and the audio signal that is returned from the soft synth.
Instrument tracks have a unique track icon the soft synth name. and track name color. The track name defaults to Figure 165. Instrument track strip Instrument track controls Because an instrument track is a hybrid between an audio and a MIDI track, an instrument track strip contains both audio and MIDI controls. The instrument track strip exposes MIDI input and audio output controls.
Control type Audio Inline Piano Roll MIDI X Volume X Pan X Trim X Input Quantize X Input (Internally assigned to synth output) X Output X (Internally assigned to synth input) MIDI Channel X Bank X Patch X Time+ X Pitch+ X Sends X Snap to scale X FX bin X Meter X Track scale (When track is frozen) X Table 201. Editing in the Clips pane By default, MIDI clips are displayed and can be edited in the Clips pane. MIDI track and clip envelopes are not available.
Exporting and bouncing When exporting or bouncing an instrument track, both MIDI and audio data are taken into account. The result is the same as if the track is frozen. Converting an audio and MIDI track to a single instrument track If an existing audio track and MIDI track are assigned to the same soft synth, you can convert the two tracks to a single instrument track. 1. Select the audio and MIDI tracks that you want to combine into a single instrument track. 2.
Figure 166. The Synth pane is a mirror of the Synth Rack view A B C A. Mute B. Solo C. Disabled Folders pane. Lists folders on your computer’s hard disk. Select a folder to show all audio and MIDI files in that folder. Tip: If you don’t see the Folders pane, click the Views arrow shortcut menu. and select Folders from the Content List pane. Lists all files in the selected folder. Select an audio or MIDI file to audition the file.
• Play . Play the selected file. Note: Playback stops if you change the directory or close the Media Browser view. • Stop . Stop playing the selected file. • Auto Play . When enabled, you can simply click a file to play the file. • Views . Lets you change how you view items in a folder. Content can be displayed as Large Icons, Small Icons, List, Details or Folders. • Content Location preset list. Lets you select a saved Content Location preset. • Delete Content Location preset.
To audition an audio file 1. Click the Preview Bus arrow and choose the desired bus that you want to audition the audio file through. 2. Browse to the folder that contains the file you want to audition. 3. Select the desired file. If you want to audition multiple files simultaneously, either in the same or in different folders, hold down the CTRL or SHIFT key and select each file you want to audition. 4. Click the Play button Tip: If Auto Play . is enabled, you can simply click a file to audition the file.
You can audition multiple MIDI files simultaneously, either through the same synth or through multiple synths. Note: MIDI Groove Clips loop indefinitely, but standard MIDI files play only once and do not repeat. To audition a MIDI file 1. In the Synth Rack pane, select the desired synth that you want to audition the MIDI file through. Note: If the are no synths in the project, click Insert Synth to insert a new soft synth. 2. Browse to the folder that contains the file you want to audition. 3.
To insert a soft synth • Clik Insert Synth and select the desired synth from the shortcut menu. To delete a soft synth 1. Select the synth you want to delete. 2. Clik Delete Synth . To open a soft synth property page • In the Synth Rack pane, do one of the following: • Double-click the desired synth. • Select the synth and click the Open Synth Properties Page button . Using Content Location presets The Media Browser allows you to save and recall presets to quickly access your favorite folders.
To Drag a Loop into a Project To Drag Multiple Loops into a Project Arm tracks during playback/recording SONAR is now able to arm and disarm tracks during playback and recording. This allows you to record to different tracks while the transport is rolling, without first having to stop playback in order to arm a track for recording. To allow arming during playback 1. On the Transport menu, click Record Options to open the Record Options dialog. 2.
Figure 169. The Insert Send Assistant dialog The Insert Send Assistant dialog has the following options: Send to Existing Bus. This option lets you assign a new send to an existing bus in the current project. Select the desired bus from the drop-down list. The New Bus Options section is unavailable when Send to Existing Bus is selected. New Bus. This option lets you assign a new send to a new stereo or surround bus.
the headphone mix matches the main mix, and from there you can adjust the headphone mix as desired. Note: The Match Track’s Pan and Gain setting does not affect sends that are assigned to surround buses. New bus options When you select New Bus, the following settings can be configured: Stereo. This option lets you assign a new send to a new stereo bus. Surround. This option lets you assign a new send to a new surround bus. Bus Output. Specify the desired output for the new bus.
The Insert Send Assistant dialog opens. 2. Under New Bus Options, select Surround and specify any other desired options (see New bus options). 3. Click OK to close the Insert Send Assistant dialog. A new send is inserted and assigned to the new surround bus. To insert a send to a new effect bus 1. Right-click on a track or bus and select Insert Send > Insert Send Assistant from the pop-up menu. The Insert Send Assistant dialog opens. 2. Under New Bus Options, select Stereo or Surround. 3.
Exclusive Solo mode By default, SONAR allows you to solo multiple tracks and buses simultaneously. With the new Exclusive Solo mode, you can only solo one track and one bus at a time. When you solo a track or bus in Exclusive Solo mode, all other soloed tracks or buses are automatically unsoloed. This allows you to quickly listen to individual tracks and buses in isolation without having to manually unsolo other tracks or buses.
Solo Override When you enable Solo Override on a track or bus, that track/bus will never be muted as a result of soloing any other track/bus. This is a very useful feature when you want to always hear a particular track regardless of which other tracks are soloed. For example, you may want to always hear the vocal track while you solo other instrument tracks. This can be accomplished easily by using Exclusive Solo mode (see “Exclusive Solo mode” on page 1005) and enabling Solo Override on the vocal track.
Clip selection groups SONAR lets you treat multiple clips as a single unit. By grouping clips, you can select and edit an entire group of clips by simply selecting or editing any group member. A group can contain both audio and MIDI clips from a single track or from multiple tracks. Clip groups are very useful, for example, when editing multitrack drums and you want to synchronize edits on all clips from the same recording take.
The following example shows two takes of a five track loop recording. The first clip group is selected. Note: The Group Clips Across Tracks setting is stored with each project. See: Editing clips in a group To create a clip selection group 1. Select all the clips you want to group together. 2. Right-click any selected clip and choose Create selection group from selected clips from the pop-up menu. A new selection group is created and the group number is displayed next to each clip name.
All selected clips are placed in a new selection group. Note: A clip may only belong to one selection group at a time. If any of the selected clips already belong to another clip group, they will be removed from the other group and placed in the new group. To temporarily ignore grouping You can temporarily override a clip group if you only want to select or edit a single clip in the group. To do so, do one of the following: • Hold down the SHIFT key when you use the Select, Mute or Split tools.
To specify the behavior, do the following: 1. On the Options menu, select Global and then click the Editing tab. 2. Under Clip Groups, do one of the following: • Select the Select all clips in groups check box if you want edits to affect all group members. • Clear the Select all clips in groups check box if you want edits to only affect a single clip. This option doesn’t remove any clip groups, so existing groups are still preserved.
time range. Note: Muting a time range is limited to one track or layer at a time. • [Isolate mode] Clicking an unselected clip will isolate that clip and all other clips in the same group. • [Isolate mode] Isolating a range will isolate all clips in the group that intersect that time range. Caution: Editing operations that are performed on any group member also affect any hidden clips that belong to the same group. Be careful that you don’t unintentionally modify or delete hidden clips.
Enhanced editing with keyboard SONAR 8 supports advanced editing via the numeric keypad on standard QWERTY keyboards. You can perform the following operations: • Navigate (see “Navigating with a keyboard” on page 1014): • Scroll • Zoom • Select (see “Selecting with a keyboard” on page 1015): • Clip select • Time select • Edit (see “Editing with a keyboard” on page 1016): • Trim/crop • Fade To enable/disable editing with a QWERTY keyboard 1.
Figure 171. Numeric keypad (NumLock mode) CROP OR FADE LEFT UP EDIT MODE CROP OR FADE RIGHT LEFT CENTER FREE EDIT CURSOR RIGHT DOWN SELECT MODE ZOOM/ SCROLL MODE ENABLE EDITING Key Function 0 Enable/disable keyboard editing (when NumLock is enabled) 1 Enable Zoom/Scroll mode 2 Down 3 Enable Select mode 4 Left 5 Center Free Edit cursor 6 Right 7 -- 8 Up 9 Enable Edit mode Table 202. New features in SONAR 8.
Key Function Volume knob (if keyboard has a rotary encoder) Zoom/scroll/trim/crop depending on current mode PLUS (+) Crop or fade right in Edit mode MINUS (-) Crop or fade left in Edit mode Table 202. See: Navigating with a keyboard Selecting with a keyboard Editing with a keyboard Navigating with a keyboard Scroll and Zoom are part of the same mode, which makes it fast to navigate around a project. You can zoom both horizontally and vertically, in small or large steps.
Key Function CTRL+ 4 Scroll left in large steps -Zoom in horizontally in large steps (based on selection) -- 5 Center Free Edit cursor -- -- -- 6 Scroll right in large steps -Zoom out horizontally in large steps (based on selection) -- 8 Scroll up in large steps Zoom in vertically in large steps (based on selection) -- -- 9 Enable Edit mode -- -- -- Scroll vertically Scroll in small steps Zoom (based on selection) Scroll horizontally Volume knob (if keyboard has a rotary encoder
The numeric keypad is mapped as follows: Key Function CTRL+ ALT+ 2 Move Free Edit cursor down Move to closest clip on next track Select down 4 Move Free Edit cursor left Move to previous clip Select left 5 Center Free Edit cursor -- -- 6 Move Free Edit cursor right Move to next clip Select right 8 Move Free Edit cursor up Move to closest clip on previous track Select up Table 204. To move the Free Edit cursor • In Select mode, do one of the following: • To move to the left.
Edit mode lets you fade and crop all selected clips. If no clips are selected when you enter Edit mode, SONAR will automatically select the clip that is under the Free Edit cursor. To enable clip editing with a keyboard 1. On your QWERTY keyboard, press the NumLock key to enable NumLock mode. 2. On the numeric keypad, press 0 to enable keyboard editing. 3. On the numeric keypad, press 9 to enable Edit mode.
3. Specify the clip edge that you want to crop: • Left clip edge. Press 4. • Right clip edge. Press 6. 4. Do one of the following to adjust the selected clip edge: • Turn the rotary encoder. • Press PLUS (+) or MINUS (-). Note: Crop obeys Snap to Grid. 1018 New features in SONAR 8.
Aim Assist line Aim Assist is a vertical white line that shows the mouse pointer’s horizontal position in the Clips pane. The mouse pointer’s time position is also shown in the time ruler. Aim Assist is a helpful guide when editing in the Clips pane, making it easy to align the mouse pointer with events on different tracks or markers in the time ruler. Figure 172. The Aim Assist line is a helpful guide when editing in the Clips pane B A A. Vertical Aim Assist line B.
See: AIM Assist enhancements Free Edit tool The new Free Edit tool allows you to perform both time based selection and clip selection. To enable the Free Edit tool • Do one of the following: • Click the Free Edit Tool button in the Track view toolbar. • Press SHIFT+E. The Free Edit Tool button is lit when enabled. To select by time or by clip A clip is divided into three zones when using the Free Edit tool. The mouse pointer changes depending on which clip zone the pointer is over: Top.
Quick Group enhancement SONAR makes it easy to create a Quick Group of all tracks that are assigned to a particular bus. To create a Quick Group for all tracks assigned to the same bus • Hold down the ALT key and click on the bus’ Strip Selector button in the Track view or Console view. All tracks that are assigned to the bus now belong to the same Quick Group. A A.
SONAR 8 introduces a true pause function that lets you temporarily pause playback without moving the Now Time cursor or the Now Time marker. A new dedicated Pause button is available on the Transport toolbar To pause playback • Click the Pause button . Playback stops, but the Now Time cursor and the Now Time marker do not move. To resume playback again • Do one of the following: • Click the Pause button • Click the Play button . . • Press SPACEBAR. Playback resumes.
Control surface enhancements SONAR 8 introduces several enhancements for using control surfaces. See: Synchronizing channel strips between SONAR and control surfaces Control surfaces keep MIDI port assignments Display logical VST parameter values Synchronizing channel strips between SONAR and control surfaces SONAR now allows control surfaces to display all channel strips in a project, or only the channel strips that are visible in the Track view or Console view. 1.
In SONAR 8, control surfaces retain their current MIDI port assignments even if you add or remove MIDI devices. If any assigned MIDI port is missing when you load a project, SONAR will let you remap each missing port to an available port. For more information, see “MIDI out port assignments are retained when adding/removing MIDI devices” on page 1024. Display logical VST parameter values SONAR is now able to display meaningful real-world parameter values for VST plug-ins instead of generic values (0.
• Control surfaces. The control surface output port is assigned to None. Figure 174. The Missing MIDI Ports dialog lets you remap missing output devices Figure 175. A track’s Output control shows the name of the missing device Opening projects after MIDI configuration has changed If any assigned MIDI output devices are missing when you load a project, which is likely to happen if you transfer projects between different computers, SONAR will do the following: • MIDI tracks.
2. Under Configuration Settings, click one of the following: • Edit Config File. Click to open Aud.ini in the default Windows text editor. Make any necessary changes in Aud.ini, then save and close Aud.ini. You must click Reload Config Settings to apply any external changes to Aud.ini. Warning: You should only change items in Aud.ini that are documented in the online Help or if you are instructed to by Cakewalk tech support. Undesirable changes to Aud.
Select all AudioSnap/SlipStretched clips SONAR 8 includes a new command to select all AudioSnap and stretched clips. The primary use of this command is to quickly select all stretched audio clips before you use the Edit > Bounce to Clip(s) command. There are two common reasons why you may want to bounce AudioSnap and stretched clips: • To free up CPU resources during playback. • In order to save a bundle (.cwb) file, which does not support AudioSnap data.
Live Input PDC override While working with virtual instruments and live input monitored tracks, it is important for audio to be streamed at low latency in order to minimize delay. Although SONAR supports streaming audio at very low latency, there are cases where internal buffering can cause additional latency. The most common scenario is when using plug-ins that require Automatic Plug-in Delay Compensation (PDC).
Some signal routings can cause tracks to be out of sync when Live Input PDC Override is enabled. To prevent any potential sync problems, follow these suggestions: • Output the live input tracks directly to the final bus in the signal flow. • Send live tracks directly to a hardware main. Multiprocessor load balancing SONAR’s audio engine has enhanced multicore performance and load balancing. The CPU meter in the status bar shows the peak processor with an average indicator for all processors.
See: Aim Assist line Snap to Grid enhancements You can save and recall Snap to Grid presets and specify if snap landmarks should be obtained from all visible tracks, or only the current track. To save Snap to Grid presets 1. Do one of the following to open the Snap to Grid window: • In the Track view toolbar, click the Snap to Grid arrow . • Press SHIFT+N. 2. Type a name in the Preset box and click the Save button . To enable/disable multi-track landmarks 1.
Figure 176. Snap to Grid window See: Defining and Using the Snap Grid Dynamic Arm enhancement SONAR has a new option that can reduce CPU overhead when the Allow Arm Changes During Playback/Record option is enabled (see Arm tracks during playback/recording). When Allow Arm Changes During Playback/Record is enabled, SONAR must keep all hardware input ports open so that it can dynamically arm tracks on the fly.
2. Select the Only For Inputs In Project check box. Note: If this option is enabled, you will not be able to change inputs while recording. See: Arm tracks during playback/recording External insert enhancements The External Insert plug-in has several enhancements, including: • Improved sync when mixing external hardware with other plug-ins that require delay compensation. • Improved sync while looping. • Multiple external inserts can be used in the same project.
You can selectively unbypass individual effects while in this global bypass state, whick makes it easy to quickly audition a single effect within a mix. Note: You can only globally bypass audio effects, not MIDI effects. To globally bypass all effects in a project • Do one of the following: • On the Process menu, click Global Bypass Effects Bins. • Press CTRL+SHIFT+Y. All FX bins in the active project are temporarily bypassed.
The values are as follows: 0 = The pasted clips will belong to the same clip group as the clips that were copied. 1 = A new clip group is created for the pasted clips. This is the default behavior. To view and edit the Cakewalk.ini file, choose Options > Initialization File. For more information about the Cakewalk.ini file, see Initialization Files. New split clip options SONAR allows you to specify what is selected after a clip is split into two parts: • Left portion (default).
GUITAR RIG 3.2.1 LE enhancements The GUITAR RIG 3 LE plug-in has several enhancements: • Vista 64 bit support. • New Bass Pro amp. • New Stomp Compressor. • MIDI input filter in the Preferences tab. • Improved performance. See: Native Instruments GUITAR RIG 3 LE TruePianos Vista 64 support The TruePianos Amber Module VSTi plug-in now supports Vista 64 bit. See: TruePianos Amber Module VSTi plug-in New features in SONAR 8.5 GUITAR RIG 3.2.
New features in SONAR 8.
Included plug-ins The following is a list of audio, MIDI and instrument plug-ins that are included with SONAR. For detailed informaiton about a specific plug-in, see the plug-in’s online Help.
Channel Strips, Stereo & Panning Channel Tools PX-64 Percussion Strip VC-64 Vintage Channel VX-64 Vocal Strip Delays & Modulation Chorus Chorus (mono) Classic Phaser Delay Delay/Echo (mono) DSP-FX Chorus (32-bit Only) DSP-FX Delay (32-bit Only) DSP-FX Flange (32-bit Only) Flanger Flanger (mono) Multivoice Chorus/Flanger Sonitus fx: Delay Sonitus fx: Modulator SpectraFX Tempo Delay EQ 2-band EQ DSP-FX EQ (32-bit Only) LP-64 EQ Parametric EQ Para-Q Sonitus fx: EQ VC-64 Vintage Channel Mastering Analyst Boo
LP-64 EQ LP-64 Multiband Sonitus fx: Multiband Sonitus fx:Phase TL-64 Tube Leveler Reverbs DSP-FX Studioverb (32-bit Only) Lexicon Pantheon Reverb Perfect Space (32-bit Only) Reverb Reverb (mono) Sonitus fx: Reverb SpectraFX StudioVerb 2 Signal Analysis Analyst BitMeter Cakewalk Tuner Specialty Effects Alias Factor FX2 AmpSim FX2 TapeSim HF Exciter Modfilter Perfect Space (32-bit Only) Pitch Shifter Sonitus fx: Surround Sonitus fx: WahWah SpectraFX MIDI effects MFX Arpeggiator MFX Change Velocity MFX Ch
MFX Echo/Delay MFX Event Filter MFX Quantize MFX Transpose Instruments Cakewalk TTS-1 Cyclone DreamStation DXi2 (32-bit Only) DropZone Pentagon I PSYN II Rapture LE Roland GrooveSynth RXP REX Player Session Drummer 2 Session Drummer 3 sfz Sound Font Player True Pianos (x86, x64) Z3ta+ See: Audio effects MIDI effects Instruments 1040 Included plug-ins
Audio effects 2-band EQ Figure 177. 2-band EQ The 2-Band EQ lets you choose the frequencies affected by equalization, and then choose how much to cut or boost each frequency. For more information, see the 2-band EQ online Help. Alias Factor Figure 178. Alias Factor Alias Factor combines bit crushing and low pass filtering in a unique way, allowing you to decimate your audio to create tones as varied as vintage samplers, cell phones, or old video games.
Analyst Figure 179. Analyst Analyst is a spectrum analyzer, and can also generate automation envelopes. You can operate Analyst in either one of two modes: • Spectrum mode. Vertical axis represents dB, horizontal axis represents frequency (as pictured above). • Sonograph mode. This mode displays a color-coded historical representation of the audio. Level is indicated by color; vertical axis represents frequency.
Boost 11 Peak Limiter Figure 181. Boost 11 Peak Limiter The Boost 11 Peak Limiter is a transparent peak limiting and volume maximizing plug-in for mixing and mastering purposes; it is designed to reduce peak levels without coloring the sound. Boost 11 uses a “look-ahead” limiter algorithm to prevent output clipping and PDR (Program Dependent Release) to minimize pumping (audible fluctuations of the volume) and maximize the loudness.
Cakewalk Tuner Figure 182. Cakewalk Tuner Channel Tools Figure 183. Channel Tools The Channel Tools plug-in provides easy and powerful channel processing for gain, Mid-Side decoding, delay and stereo panning. Channel Tools is ideal for enhancing and adjusting stereo separation for stereo tracks and full mixes. With Channel Tools you can: • Use intuitive controls to easily place the left and right channels individually anywhere in the stereo space. • Automatically decode Mid-Side channel recordings.
For more information, see the Channel Tools online Help. Chorus Figure 184. Chorus Chorusing “fattens” the audio to make one instrument sound like many. When many people sing together, for example, each of their voices is slightly out of tune and off the beat. Therefore, detuning and delaying the signal makes many instruments sound richer, including guitars, vocals, and strings. For more information, see the Chorus online Help. Chorus (mono) Figure 185.
Classic Phaser Figure 186. Classic Phaser This is a classic phaser effect that uses a modulating notch filter with a feedback loop. The “Quadra” mode provides extra wide imaging and animation. For more information, see the Classic Phaser online Help. Compressor/Gate Figure 187.
For more information, see the Delay online Help. Delay/Echo (mono) Figure 189. Delay/Echo (mono) Delay/Echo creates a series of repeating signals from the original signal. You vary the amount of this delay or echo by changing the Delay Time and the Feedback Mix. This effect is available both as a destructive, offline effect, and as a realtime effect in both the Track and Console windows. For more information, see the Delay/Echo (mono) online Help. DSP-FX Chorus (32-bit Only) Figure 190.
DSP-FX Delay (32-bit Only) Figure 191. DSP-FX Delay FxDelay creates a series of repeating signals from the original signal. You can create a single echo on the original signal, or a series of echoes. For more information, see the DSP-FX Delay online Help. DSP-FX EQ (32-bit Only) Figure 192. DSP-FX EQ FxEq is an extremely flexible EQ. It is highly customizable, offering 8 user-defined bands. For more information, see the DSP-FX EQ online Help.
DSP-FX Flange (32-bit Only) Figure 193. DSP-FX Flange The FxFlange is the first digital flanger to accurately model tape-based analog flanging, right down to the engineer's thumb applying pressure on one of the tape reels. Since its two voices are completely independent, the FxFlange can produce more complex effects than a standard stereo flanger—it's like having two separate flangers in the same unit.
For more information, see the DSP-FX Studioverb online Help. Flanger Figure 195. Flanger Flanging consists of two signals, one delayed slightly so that the signals are out of phase. This creates a spacey, ethereal sound. For more information, see the Flanger online Help. Flanger (mono) Figure 196. Flanger (mono) Flanging consists of two signals, one delayed slightly so that the signals are out of phase. This creates a spacey, ethereal sound. For more information, see the Flanger (mono) online Help.
FX Compressor/Gate Figure 197. FX Compressor/Gate A compressor takes the loudest parts of an input signal and reduces their volume. There are a variety of reasons why you might want to use a compressor: • Compressors enable you to increase the overall signal level of a mix, without causing the distortion that would result from exceeding the maximum allowable peak level. Increasing the average signal level makes a recording sound louder, with an apparent increase in “punch.
FX Dynamics Processor Figure 198. FX Dynamics Processor Dynamics processors are a class of audio effects that modify the dynamic range of an audio signal. The dynamic range of an audio signal is a measure of the level of variation between the loudest and softest parts of the signal. For more information, see the FX Dynamics Processor online Help. FX Expander/Gate Figure 199.
FX Limiter Figure 200. FX Limiter The purpose of the limiter is to prevent the audio signal from exceeding a threshold value. A limitter may be seen as an extreme case of compressing For more information, see the FX Limiter online Help. FX2 AmpSim Figure 201. FX2 AmpSim The AmpSim plug-in allows you to simulate processing your audio through a guitar amplifier and/or speaker cabinet, providing authentic distortion and speaker modeling characteristics. For more information, see the FX2 AmpSim online Help.
FX2 TapeSim Figure 202. FX2 TapeSim The TapeSim plug-in simulates processing your audio through an analog tape recorder, emulating the coloration effects that are inherent in magnetic recording, including natural tape overload compression, saturation and hiss (noise). For more information, see the FX2 TapeSim online Help. Guitar Rig 3 LE Note: The GUITAR RIG 3 LE plug-in is only available in SONAR Producer. Figure 203.
HF Exciter Figure 204. HF Exciter HF Exciter lets you enhance the higher end of the frequency spectrum. This produces the psychoacoustic affect that the signal is brighter and clearer. This is done by adding harmonic content that is not present in the original signal. For more information, see the HF Exciter online Help. Lexicon Pantheon Reverb Figure 205. Lexicon Pantheon Reverb Music recorded in a typical studio sounds lifeless.
Figure 206. LP-64 EQ Unlike traditional equalizers, LP-64 EQ provides highly accurate control of tonal balance while maintaining a linear-phase shift at all frequencies, regardless of the gain settings. Phase-shifting in typical equalizers means that audio material is shifted in time in a frequency-dependent way. Alignment of low and high frequencies may have changed with respect to one another and to the original audio material.
Unlike typical limiters, the filters that split up the frequency bands in the LP-64 Multiband Compressor plug-in are of the Linear Phase variety. This allows you to split up the spectrum into bands and then sum them back together with no phase errors or colorations. Most typical limiters color the sound even if they are doing nothing, because the splitting/recombining of the bands is done with IIR (Infinite impulse response) filters with phase shift.
Parametric EQ Figure 210. Parametric EQ The FX EQ (Stereo) is a parametric equalizer consisting of four bands which you can control using both the interactive graph and controls adjacent to it. To select a band either click near it on the graph or click one of the four buttons in the Band field at the bottom of the dialog box. For more information, see the Parametric EQ online Help. Para-Q Figure 211.
Perfect Space (32-bit Only) Figure 212. Perfect Space convolution reverb The Perfect Space convolution reverb is a stereo convolution processor. The process of convolution allows you to apply the acoustic characteristics of any space (or sound) to any input signal. Perfect Space can work with a latency as low as 64 samples (1.5 ms at 44.1kHz), making it possible to use it during tracking. The process of convolution allows you to apply the acoustic characteristics of any space to any input signal.
Pitch Shifter Figure 213. Pitch Shifter The Cakewalk FX Pitch Shifter raises or lowers the pitch of an audio signal, while leaving the duration of the audio event unchanged. This is a fast pitch shifter that uses minimal computation time. For more information, see the Pitch Shifter online Help. PX-64 Percussion Strip Figure 214.
Reverb Figure 215. Reverb Reverberation, or reverb, adds many small echoes to a signal to create spaciousness. For more information, see the Reverb online Help. Reverb (mono) Figure 216. Reverb (mono) Reverberation, or reverb, adds many small echoes to a signal to create spaciousness. For more information, see the Reverb (mono) online Help.
Sonitus fx: Compressor Figure 217. Sonitus fx: Compressor fx:compressor is a variable-knee compressor with built-in peak limiting. The purpose of a compressor is to limit the dynamic range of music or sound. Compression will make the loud parts of the signal more quiet, resulting in a more or less even level. For more information, see the Sonitus fx: Compressor online Help.
Sonitus fx: Surround Compressor Figure 218. Sonitus fx: Surround Compressor The Sonitus Surround Compressor is an enhanced, surround-capable version of the Sonitus:fx Compressor plug-in. The Surround Compressor is comprised of four stereo compressors. After you patch the compressor into a surround bus, you can direct any combination of the bus's input channels to any of the four compressors, sending any combination of stereo channel pairs, the center channel, and the LFE to the compressor(s) you choose.
Sonitus fx: Delay Figure 219. Sonitus fx: Delay fx:delay is an advanced stereo delay with tempo sync. For more information, see the Sonitus fx: Delay online Help. Sonitus fx: EQ Figure 220. Sonitus fx: EQ fx:equalizer is a 6-band parametric equalizer with selectable filter types for each band and frequency response graph.
music and sound. They let you use different filtering techniques to attenuate, cut or boost a specific frequency or a range of frequencies, allowing you the shape the overall characteristics of the audio signal. For more information, see the Sonitus fx: EQ online Help. Sonitus fx: Gate Figure 221. Sonitus fx: Gate fx:gate is a dynamic gate with side-chain filtering and lookahead. The fx:gate plug-in has wide variety of uses.
Sonitus fx: Modulator Figure 222. Sonitus fx: Modulator fx:modulator combines six time-varying modulation effects into one integrated plug-in. For more information, see the Sonitus fx: Modulator online Help. Sonitus fx: Multiband Figure 223. Sonitus fx: Multiband fx:multiband is a 5 band variable knee compressor with both normal and vintage compression modes and output limiter.
Using a multiband compressor has many advantages over using a traditional ("single band") compressor when it is used on audio signals containing complex harmonic material like a complete music mix. • "Pumping" is virtually eliminated. "Pumping" is a phenomenon that is noticed when music with a heavy bass beat is run through a standard compressor; the mids and highs seem to vary in amplitude or "pump" to the beat.
Sonitus fx: Reverb Figure 225. Sonitus fx: Reverb Reverb or reverberation is the effect of resounding echos in a room or other enclosed acoustic environment. Reverb can be seen as a series of echos so dense that they can't be told apart from each other. fx:reverb emulates the phenomenon of sound being reflected off walls in a virtual room, and allows you to add reverb that resembles the character, decay and frequency response of various environments.
Sonitus fx: Surround Figure 226. Sonitus fx: Surround fx:surround is a surround sound panner with built-in doppler and attenuation rendering for distance and velocity effects, joystick control and graphical path editing. For more information, see the Sonitus fx: Surround online Help. Sonitus fx: WahWah Figure 227. Sonitus fx: WahWah fx:wahwah is a guitar effect emulator. A classic guitar effect, the wahwah stomp box became an instant hit when it was introduced in 1966.
fx:wahwah is a digital adaptation of the analog designs, and is modeled after real-life wahwah stomp boxes like the Morley Pro Series Distortion Wah, Jim Dunlop Crybaby Model GCB-95 and Model JH1 (Jimi Hendrix). For more information, see the Sonitus fx: Wah Wah online Help. SpectraFX Figure 228. SpectraFX The SpectraFX lets you modulate (change the settings of) a wide variety of powerful effects in real time, using a mouse, joystick, or the SpectraFX's LFO (Low Frequency Oscilator) feature.
Stereo Delay produces a tempo-synchronized echo on whichever channel it is patched to. The three-band EQ section in the feedback path allows you to create some truly unique sounds. For more information, see the Tempo Delay online Help. TL-64 Tube Leveler Note: The TL-64 Tube Leveler plug-in is only available in SONAR Producer. Figure 231.
In a musical context, the term transient refers to a sudden increase in sound output that occurs for a short period of time. For example, the attack portion of a drum hit is a transient. Unlike a typical compressor, TS-64 Transient Shaper lets you shape the audio signal’s attack phase independently of the decay/sustain phase. TS-64 Transient Shaper is primarily designed for drums and percussion, but can also be useful on other percussive sounds, such as guitar and electric piano.
VX-64 Vocal Strip Figure 234. VX-64 Vocal Strip VX-64 Vocal Strip is a multi-functional plug-in that combines a series of effects specifically optimized and streamlined for vocal processing. Combining compression, expansion, equalization, deessing, doubling, delay and tube saturation in one convenient plug-in, VX-64 Vocal Strip is designed to make it fast an easy to enhance any vocal track. VX-64 Vocal Strip features include: • 5 professional quality effect modules, each with its own bypass toggle.
MIDI effects MFX Arpeggiator Figure 235. MFX Arpeggiator The Arpeggiator command applies an arpeggio to its input and plays it back in real time. You can make it arpeggiate with a swing feel, or straight and staccato or legato, vary its speed and direction, and specify its range. MFX Change Velocity Figure 236. MFX Velocity The Velocity effect lets you adjust velocities of MIDI notes.
appears on the MIDI display and the staff, and its name with possible alternatives appears in the Chords recognized box. You can play the notes on your MIDI input device and have the Chord Analyzer identify the chords in real time. You do not have to set to playback. You can open the Chord Analyzer in the Track and Console views, press Playback and have the Chord Analyzer identify the chords in real time. MFX Echo/Delay Figure 238.
MFX Quantize Figure 240. MFX Quantize The Quantize command moves events to (or towards) an evenly-spaced timing grid. The Quantize effect is similar to the Process > MIDI Effects > Cakewalk FX > Quantize command. For more information, see “Other Settings” on page 489. MFX Transpose Figure 241. MFX Transpose The Process > MIDI Effects > Cakewalk FX > Transpose command is a flexible transposition feature.
Instruments Cakewalk TTS-1 Figure 242. Cakewalk TTS-1 Cakewalk TTS-1 is a GM2 (General MIDI 2) compatible, multi-timbral, multi-output, software synthesizer featuring a newly developed software synthesis engine, with 256 sounds and 9 drum sets built in. For more information, see the Cakewalk TTS-1 online Help.
Cyclone Figure 243. Cyclone The Cyclone DXi is a 16-part phrase sampler with beat-matching and extensive loop editing capabilities. With Cyclone you can trigger different loops of different tempos and Cyclone will automatically play them back at the same tempo, in sync with little or no signal degradation.
Figure 244. Dimension LE For more information, see the Dimension LE online help. DreamStation DXi2 (32-bit Only) Figure 245. DreamStation DXi2 DreamStation DXi2 is a fully automatable polyphonic analog synthesizer. DreamStation DXi2’s features include: • Subtractive synthesis combined with FM synthesis. • 3 oscillators, multimode self oscillating IIR filter, VCA, LFO, user EG for each voice. • Available waveforms: sine, triangle, sawtooth, pulse, square, noise.
DropZone Figure 246. DropZone There’s no easier way to add your own style to a track. Just drag and drop a sample into DropZone, and make it part of your beat. It is the ideal synth for creating remixes or for building the perfect hook for your song. DropZone includes real instrument sounds, drums, vocals, REX-format loops and more. For more information, see the DropZone online help. Pentagon I Figure 247.
PSYN II Figure 248. PSYN II PSYN is a very powerful virtual analog synthesizer, which recreates sounds of old analog and vintage synthesizers. Four oscillators with up to four waveforms each plus noise, a sub oscillator, several modulation capabilities, two filters, five envelope generators, three low frequency oscillators and a very flexible modulation array are the resources PSYN offers, combined with full automation and a powerful MIDI Learn mode. For more information, see the PSYN II online Help.
Roland GrooveSynth Figure 250. Roland GrooveSynth Roland GrooveSynth provides genuine Roland groove box and synth sounds. For more information, see the Roland GrooveSynth online Help. RXP REX Player Figure 251. RXP RXP DXi is a virtual instrument that plays REX files. The REX file format stipulates that audio slices play back individually, usually via MIDI. This allows arbitrary playback of slices and conformation of loops to the host tempo map. For more information, see the RXP online Help.
Session Drummer 2 is a professional drum sampler and pattern player. It features Cakewalk’s patented Expression Engine technology, an anti-aliased, real-time sound production system for multisample audio playback. You can load single samples (Wave or AIFF files), or multisamples, (SFZ files) which already contain key mapping and velocity switching assignments. You can load samples in any bit depth and sample rate, in mono or stereo, in looped or unlooped format.
Alternatively, it is possible to open multisample definition files (.sfz) or individual samples by dragging them to an instrument pad. Session Drummer 3 features include: • MIDI pattern playback. • Multi-velocity acoustic and electronic drum kits. • A comprehensive collection of presets and MIDI-based loop files, providing you with a creative jump-start. • An animated user interface (UI). • Controls for volume, pan and tuning of each drum kit piece.
Figure 255. TruePianos VST One of four modules that currently ship with the full version of 4Front Technologies’ TruePianos VSTi, the TruePianos Amber Module provides world-class, playable piano sounds through its combination sampling, modeling, and synthesis sound design. TruePianos sounds and feels great, just like a real acoustic piano, with all the important characteristics: sympathetic resonance, interstring harmonics, repedalling and more.
Figure 256. Z3TA+ Z3TA+ is an award-winning analog-style synthesizer with incredible sound shaping capabilities. The exclusive bandlimited Waveshaping technology makes Z3TA+ one the best and most respected synths in the industry. Whether you’re looking for lush, warm pads, slowly evolving atmospheres, searing leads or sparkling FM sounds, Z3TA+ delivers the goods, and includes hundreds of professional presets. For more information, see the Z3TA+ online Help.
Cyclone Figure 257. Cyclone D E F G H I A J K L B M N C O P Q A. Import Sound Bank B. Loops C. Key Map view tab D. Export Sound Bank E. Trash button F. Play button G. Stop button H. Auto Preview button I. Pad J. Pad Group K. Volume knob L. Pan knob M. Sync button N. Loop button O. Track handles P. Selected pad Q.
See: Cyclone Toolbar Pad Groups Pad Inspector Loop View and Key Map View Pad Editor Slice Inspector Using Cyclone Cyclone Toolbar The following graphic shows each of Cyclone’s toolbar buttons: A B C D E F A. Import Sound Bank B. Export Sound Bank C. Trash D. Auto Preview E. Stop F. Preview The following table describes each of Cyclone’s buttons: Button Description Import Sound Bank Opens the Open dialog so you can load an existing Sound Bank.
A B G C H D E F A. Pad B. Volume C. Load D. Mute E. Solo F. Sync G. Pan H. Loop A Pad Group in Cyclone has the following controls: Control Description Pad The trigger for playing a loop. Volume knob Adjusts the volume of the Pad Group. The volume value is displayed in the Pad Inspector. Pan knob Adjusts the pan of the Pad Group. The pan value is displayed in the Pad Inspector.
C A D B A. Click to enable tails for current track B. Click to force Cyclone to follow SONAR’s Pitch markers C. Select an audio output D. Click to toggle on/off Latch mode In the Pad Inspector there are the following controls: Control Description Output You can select from one of 16 audio outputs or use the Mix Only setting to use the Master out. MIDI In You can set which MIDI channel the pad group responds to. Each pad group could have a unique MIDI Input channel.
Control Description Latch The Latch option gives you a second mode for triggering pads. In Latch mode, a Groove Clip plays continuously when triggered until it is triggered again. With Latch mode disabled, a pad only plays as long as the key or mouse button is held and stops when you release. If you want to set all pads to the same Latch state, hold down the SHIFT key while setting the Latch for any one pad. Pitch Markers This option forces Cyclone to follow SONAR’s Pitch markers.
Figure 258. Loop view A B A. Click to open the Key Map view B. Slices The Key Map view shares the same space in Cyclone as the Loop view. You toggle between the two views by clicking on one of the tabs to the left of whichever view is displayed. The keyboard in the Key Map view shows the Unity note (in orange) and the range of notes that trigger the pad group (in blue). Drag the Unity note to change its value. Drag the white triangles to extend the range of MIDI note values that trigger the pad group.
Using Cyclone Cyclone is a multi-output synth, and you launch it the same way you launch other synth’s: by inserting it into a SONAR project. There are two basic ways to insert synths in SONAR: • You can insert synths from the Synth Rack view or with the Insert > Soft Synths command. If you use this method, you can choose to have SONAR create the necessary audio and MIDI tracks, and patch them together correctly.
• Drag a loop into Cyclone from SONAR‘s Clips pane or Media Browser view. Note: ACIDized and Riff Wave files imported into Cyclone can not be more than 64 beats long. Regular wave files are limited to 30 seconds. Cyclone does not support 8-bit files. To Audition Loops • Select a loop in the Loop bin, and then click Cyclone’s Play button. To Play Loops 1. Assign a loop to a pad or pads (see “To Assign a Loop to a Pad” on page 1094). 2. Select the pad or pads you want to play by clicking on them. 3.
when it’s engaged. To Set a Loop to Follow Cakewalk’s Pitch Markers 1. In the Pad Editor, select the track you want to follow pitch markers. 2. In the Pad Inspector, click the Pitch Markers control. The Pitch Markers control appears green when enabled. To Assign MIDI Keys to a Pad 1. Click the Pad that you want to trigger. 2. Click the Keyboard button in the Loop view to display the Key Map view. The blue keys between the Pitch Range markers show what MIDI keys trigger the Pad.
Loop Editing Keyboard Shortcuts in Cyclone Controlling Individual Pads—Volume, Pan, Mute, Solo, Sync, Looping, and Content Each Pad has the following controls: • Volume knob. • Pan knob. Turn to adjust. Turn to adjust. • Folder icon. Click this to import a loop to an individual Pad. • Mute button. Click this to mute or unmute the loop that’s assigned to an individual Pad. • Solo button. Click this to solo or un-solo the loop that’s assigned to an individual Pad. • Sync button. tempo.
You mix down a Cyclone session the same ways you mix down any synth. For step-by-step instructions, see “Converting Your Soft Synth Tracks to Audio” on page 579. Loop Editing Clicking a loop in the Loop bin displays that loop in the Loop view. The Loop view displays the selected loop as a series of slices that separate the transients in the loop. When the Auto-preview button is depressed, you can click each of the slices to hear it.
• 16/beat The number of divisions per beat in Cyclone is set. Keyboard Shortcuts in Cyclone The following table lists the keyboard shortcuts in Cyclone and explains what they do: Keyboard Shortcut Description SHIFT selecting Hold the SHIFT key to select multiple slices in the Pad Editor. SHIFT drag Hold the SHIFT key while dragging to maintain a slice’s time. CTRL drag Hold the CTRL key while dragging to copy a slice.
Menu Reference Use the Contents or Search tabs to find the menu command topic you are looking for. File > New The File > New command opens the New Project File dialog box where you choose a template for a new file. See “New Project File dialog” on page 1365 for more information. See also: To create a new project file File > Open The File > Open command opens the Open dialog box. Use the Open dialog to open an existing project. See “Open dialog” on page 1367 for more information.
File > Save The File > Save command saves the current project. If multiple projects are open, the project with the focus is saved. For more information, see Saving Your Work. File > Save As The File > Save As command opens the Save As dialog where you can save a project with the name, directory, and format you specify. The formats available are: • Normal. Also known as a Project file (extension .cwp) • Bundle. • Template. Contains all the audio and MIDI data (extension .
File > Import > Audio The File > Import > Audio command lets you import Digital audio information stored in wave file format into any track (or, for stereo, two tracks) of a project. The File > Import > Audio command supports the following digital audio file types: • Wave (extension .wav) • MPEG (extensions .mpeg, .mpg, .mp2, and .mp3) • Windows Media files (extension .wma) • Apple AIFF (extensions .aif and .aiff) • MS Streaming Format (extension .ams) • Audio files (extensions .au and .
synchronized with the Now time, giving you convenient random access to the video stream. This makes it easy to align music and digitized sound to the video. See: Video playback, import, and export File > Import > MIDI The File > Import > MIDI command opens the Import MIDI dialog. You must first select a MIDI track to make the command available. This dialog lets you import MIDI files and Project5 patterns. For more information, see Exporting, and Importing MIDI Groove Clips.
File > Export > OMF SONAR's File > Export > OMF command opens the Export OMF dialog. File > Export > Track Template This command opens the Export Track Template dialog. Use this command to save a track template using the currently selected track as a template. For more information about track presets, see Working with Track Templates. File > Print The File > Print command opens your system’s Print dialog box.
File > Recent File The recent file list at the bottom of the File menu lets you choose any file you have opened recently. Choosing a file in the list opens it immediately. File > Exit The File > Exit command closes SONAR. If you have made any changes since the last time you saved any of the open projects, SONAR prompts you to save the changes. Edit > Undo The Edit > Undo command reverses your last action. Successive Undoes cancel preceding actions in reverse order. To redo the action, see Edit > Redo.
Selecting and Editing Events Edit > Select > None The Edit > Select > None command cancels all selections, with the result that nothing is selected. See: Selecting and Editing Events Edit > Select > By Filter The Edit > Select > By Filter command lets you change a selection to keep only events with the criteria you specify. For more information, see Searching for Events.
Edit > Select > Thru = Now The Edit > Select > Thru = Now command lets you specify the Now time as the time through which a selection extends. The From and Thru times you select appear in the Select toolbar in the From and Thru fields. If you select a whole measure, the Thru time is the start of the next measure, which actually makes it a “to” time and not a “through” time.
You can paste the contents of the clipboard elsewhere. See Edit > Paste. See also: Moving and Copying Clips Erasing Tracks Edit > Copy The Edit > Copy command lets you put on the clipboard any selected objects. You can specify the kinds of objects to copy in the Copy dialog. You can paste the contents of the clipboard elsewhere. See Edit > Paste. To remove rather than copy objects, see Edit > Cut. To make copies of linked clips, see Splitting and Combining Clips.
Moving and Copying Clips Working with Partial Clips Deleting Measures or Time from One or More Tracks Edit > Bounce to Clip(s) The Edit > Bounce to Clip(s) command lets you combine selected audio clips into a single clip. Note: Like any clips, slip-edited clips can be combined with other clips using the Bounce to Clip(s) command. When a slip-edited clip is combined with another clip, any slip-edited data (audio or MIDI events that are cropped from view) is overwritten.
Edit > Clip Mute/Unmute This command mutes or unmutes all selected clips. Edit > Isolate Clip(s) in Layer The Edit > Isolate Clip(s) in Layer command solos selected clips in any tracks that are showing layers (Tracks > Layers > Show Layers command). “Isolating” (clip soloing) mutes any clips in a track that overlap the soloed clips, but does not mute clips in other tracks. To unsolo the clips, use the Mute tool to unmute the muted clips.
Edit > Clip Lock > Lock Data Using the Edit > Clip Lock > Lock Data command locks or unlocks a clip’s data. For more information, see Locking Clips. Edit > Convert MIDI to Shapes Using the Edit > Convert MIDI To Shapes command opens the Convert MIDI To Shapes dialog. This command lets you convert a controller envelope created in the Piano Roll view to a Track view envelope, or shape.
Process > Audio > Normalize The Process > Audio > Normalize command lets you increase the volume of the selected clips or tracks to the maximum level possible before clipping. For more information, see To Normalize Audio Data. See also: Basic Audio Processing Process > Audio > Remove DC Offset The Process > Audio > Remove DC Offset command lets you remove artifacts from audio files caused by DC offset. For more information, see Removing DC Offset.
• Exponential Crossfade • Inverse Exponential Crossfade • Linear Crossfade Alternately you can manipulate any curve in the dialog box to look exactly as you want. For more information, see To Crossfade Two Overlapping Clips. See also: Fades and Crossfades Process > Audio > Reverse The Process > Audio > Reverse command reverses audio data, making it play backwards. You may wish to do this to obtain unusual sounds for special effects.
Applying a MIDI effect means that the MIDI data that you apply the effect to is permanently altered to sound like it would if it was flowing through an effects processor in real time. You can leave the Delete the effects from the track inserts check box checked to remove the real-time MIDI effects from the track inserts after you apply them, so the track data does not receive a double dose of the same effects.
Transposing MIDI Notes with the Transpose MIDI Effect Changing Velocities with the Velocity Effect Process > Deglitch The Process > Deglitch command opens the Deglitch dialog. See also: To Use the Deglitch Filter Process > Slide The Process > Slide command opens the Slide dialog. You can move a selected track and/or its markers by a set amount of measures, ticks, seconds or frames. Positive numbers move the track to the right (forward) and negative numbers move the track to the left (backward).
Process > Nudge > Left 2 The Process > Nudge > Left 2 command moves a selected clip to the left by any of three increments that you set in the Nudge 2section in the Nudge tab of the Global Option dialog. You can assign a hotkey shortcut for this command. For more information, see Nudge. Process > Nudge > Right 2 The Process > Nudge > Right 2 command moves a selected clip to the right by any of three increments that you set in the Nudge 2section in the Nudge tab of the Global Option dialog.
Process > Nudge > Down The Process > Nudge > Down command moves a selected clip down a track at a time in the Track view or a note down a pitch at a time in the Piano Roll view. For more information, see Nudge. Process > Nudge > Settings This command opens the Nudge tab of the Global Options dialog box where you can customize the three Nudge settings. For more information, see Nudge. Process > Quantize The Process > Quantize command opens the Quantize dialog.
This command adjusts the start time and duration of selected notes using a music piece as a pattern. In the Quantize dialog, you assign the groove pattern you want to use (extension .GRV), adjust the resolution of the grid (note size) and specify which track properties you want to allow the command to change.
Process > Run CAL The Process > Run CAL command enables you to run CAL programs. Cakewalk Application Language (CAL) is an event-processing language that you use to extend SONAR with custom editing commands. You can write your own CAL program and use or edit CAL programs that other people have written. CAL files are stored on disk in files with an extension of .cal. See Also: Running CAL Programs Process > Retrograde The Process > Retrograde command reverses the order of events in a selection.
See also: Transposing MIDI Notes with the Transpose MIDI Effect Process > Scale Velocity The Process > Scale Velocity command lets you create crescendos (volume swells) and decrescendos on those instruments that respond to MIDI velocity. Most such instruments map changes in velocity to changes in note loudness. Many synthesizer patches alter the timbre of the sound as well, so that higher velocities produce brighter, as well as louder, sounds. Changes in velocity also affect the playback of audio clips.
Process > Fit Improvisation SONAR lets you record music from a MIDI controller without requiring that you use a fixed tempo. But if you record without using a metronome, you are very likely to end up with a recording that does not fit onto a fixed tempo grid. The Process > Fit Improvisation command lets you take a recording and create a tempo map (with measure and beat boundaries) that fits what you played.
See: Step Sequencer View Views > Event List Open the Event List view with the Views > Event List command, or by clicking the Event List view button in the Views toolbar. The Event List view shows events in a list format. You can insert, delete, or modify any kind of event, including notes, pitch-wheel data, velocity, MIDI controllers, patch changes, wave files, lyrics, text strings, MCI commands, System Exclusive meta-events, and more.
group with the lyrics during playback and recording. For more information about the Lyrics view, see Lyrics view. See also: Working with Lyrics Views > Media Browser Select Views > Media Browser to open the Explorer view. You can preview and import files using the Explorer view, without having to leave your work environment. For more information, see Media Browser View. See also: The Media Browser View Views > Matrix View Select Views > Matrix View to open the Matrix view.
Track View Views > Console To open the Console view, click the Console view button in the Views toolbar, or use the Views > Console command. The Console view contains all the controls you need to mix your project. For more information about the Console view, see Console View. See also: Preparing to Mix Views > Synth Rack Use the Views > Synth Rack command to open the Synth Rack. For more information, see Synth Rack View.
places in your song. The markers make it easier to move from one point to another. For more information about the Markers view, see Markers View. See Creating and Using Markers. Views > Tempo Open the Tempo view by using the Views > Tempo command or by clicking the Tempo view button in the Views toolbar. The Tempo view provides a graphic display of the tempo. In the Tempo view you can use your mouse to draw tempo changes directly onto the graph. For more information about the Tempo view, see Tempo View.
Views > Surround Panner Open the Surround Panner by using the Views > Surround Panner command. The Surround Panner allows you to control the output levels for each of your outputs. For more information, see Panning in Surround. Views > Layouts The Views > Layouts command allows you to save and load layouts. SONAR stores the layout of all of a project’s views in the project file when you save the project. By default, SONAR restores the layout of all the views when you open the file.
Views > Enable Tabbing in Open Views This command toggles the display of views other than the Track and Console views between floating and docked in the Bus pane of the Track view. When docked in the Bus pane of the Track view, each view has a tab that allows you to display that view. Insert > Bank/Patch Change Use the Insert > Bank/Patch command to insert a patch change and/or a bank change.
Insert > Marker Use the Insert > Marker command to insert a marker at a specified location. See: To Add a Marker Insert > Controllers Select Insert > Controllers from the menu to open the Insert Series of Controllers dialog. This command lets you change controller event values smoothly over a specified time range. See Adding and Editing Controllers in the Piano Roll.
Insert > Insert from Track Template > More Track Templates The Insert From Track Template > More Track Templates command opens the Import Track Templates dialog. For more information about track templates, see Working with Track Templates. Insert > Insert from Track Template > Import Filter The Insert From Track Template > Import Filter command opens the Track Template Import Options dialog. For more information about track templates, see Working with Track Templates.
See: Inserting Soft Synths Insert > ReWire Device The Insert > ReWire Device command displays a submenu of all installed ReWire soft synths. Clicking the name of one of the soft synths either displays the Insert Synth Options dialog, or inserts s soft synth into your project if you unchecked the dialog’s Ask This Every Time option previously. See: ReWire Instruments Transport > Play The Transport > Play command starts playback.
Recording audio Transport > Rewind The Transport > Rewind command rewinds to the start of the project. See: Controlling playback Transport > Stop The Transport > Stop command stops playback or recording. See: Controlling playback Transport > Stop Audio / Transport > Run Audio The Transport > Stop Audio command stops SONAR’s audio engine from running, which disables input monitoring temporarily. After you use the command, it changes into the Transport > Run Audio command.
Transport > Step Record The Transport > Step Record command opens the Step Record dialog box. Step recording lets you specify step size and note duration so you can record things that are hard to play a step at a time. See: Step Recording Transport > Toggle Step Record Activate The Transport > Step Record Activate command enables or disables the Step Record dialog box so that you can use keyboard shortcuts for non-step recording commands.
To choose a recording mode Transport > Reject Loop Take The Transport > Reject Loop Take command erases the most recent Take during loop recording. Note: This command is only available for MIDI recording. See: To Use Loop Recording Transport > Update Patch Cache The Transport > Update Patch Cache command is enabled only if you're using one or more sound cards which require "patch caching".
Transport > Tempo Ratio 3 The Transport > Tempo Ratio 3 command changes the speed of playback. See: Using the Tempo Toolbar Transport > Set Timecode at Now The Transport > Set Timecode at Now command opens the Set Timecode at Now Time dialog, which allows you to move the SMPTE time 00:00:00:00 to the current Now time. If you enter a value in the dialog, the SMPTE value that you enter is set to the current Now time.
See: The Now time and how to use it Go > Thru The Go > Thru command sets the Now time to the From time. See: The Now time and how to use it Go > Beginning The Go > Beginning command sets the Now time to the beginning of the project. See: The Now time and how to use it Go > End The Go > End command sets the Now time to the end of the project. See: The Now time and how to use it Go > Previous Measure The Go > Previous Measure command sets the Now time to the beginning of the previous measure.
Go > Next Measure The Go > Next Measure command sets the Now time to the beginning of the next measure. See: The Now time and how to use it Go > Previous Marker The Go > Previous Marker command sets the Now time to the previous marker. See: The Now time and how to use it Creating and Using Markers Go > Next Marker The Go > Next Marker command sets the Now time to the next marker.
For more information about the Go > Search Next command, see Searching for Events. Go > Go to Track Peak Because a Peak Marker may be offscreen, you can jump to a peak marker by using the Go > Go To Track Peak command. Doing so will center the peak location and Now time in the Clips pane For more information, see Peak Markers. Tracks > Property > Name The Tracks > Property > Name command lets you assign a name to a track for easy reference.
Tracks > Property > Key+ The Tracks > Property > Key+ command lets you specify how many half-steps the notes in a MIDI track should be transposed on playback. 12 half-steps make an octave. The Key+ command does not alter the data in a track, but causes it to play back in a different key. For more information about the Tracks > Property > Key+ command, see Adjusting the Key/ transposing a track (Key+).
For more information about the Tracks > Property > Patch command, see Choosing the instrument sound (bank and patch). Tracks > Property > Volume The Tracks > Property > Volume command lets you specify the starting volume level for the track, ranging from -INF (silent) to 6 dB (maximum volume). The Volume setting controls the initial volume of a track during playback. Every time you start playback, SONAR sets the volume to this initial level.
Tracks > Property > Icon > Reset Icon The Tracks > Property > Icon > Reset Icon command resets the track icon in the current track to the track’s original icon. For more information about track icons, see Track Icons. Tracks > Mute The Tracks > Mute command silences the specified track for playback. For more information about the Tracks > Mute command, see Track-by-track playback and Silencing tracks.
Dim Solo mode Tracks > Automation Read Enable The Tracks > Automation Read Enable command turns on and off the ability to read automation data on playback. For more information about the Tracks > Automation Read Enable command, see Automation. Tracks > Automation Write Enable The Tracks > Automation Write Enable command turns on and off the ability to record automation data. For more information about the Tracks > Automation Read Enable command, see Automation.
Tracks > Freeze > Unfreeze Track This command unfreezes all selected tracks. For more information about the Freeze feature, see Freeze Tracks and Synths. Tracks > Freeze > Quick Unfreeze Track This command returns the track to an unfrozen state and preserves the Freeze data which then can be recalled using the Quick Freeze command. For more information about the Freeze feature, see Freeze Tracks and Synths.
Tracks > Freeze > Freeze Options This command opens the Freeze Options dialog box. Tracks > Clone The Tracks > Clone command copies one or more tracks. You can choose to include events, properties, sends, and/or effects in the copied track(s). You can specify a destination. For more information about the Tracks > Clone command, see Copying Tracks. Tracks > Delete The Tracks > Delete command deletes one or more tracks entirely, including all its track properties and all its clips and events.
Tracks > Show Playback Meter The Tracks > Show Playback Meter command displays playback meters in all audio tracks. The command is greyed-out if any tracks currently show playback meters. You can hide or display meters on individual tracks by right-clicking them and choosing options from the pop-up menu. Tracks > Layers > Show Layers The Tracks > Layers > Show Layers command displays any overlapping clips that a track contains in separate lanes in the track.
Tracks > Inline PRV > PRV Tool > Select/Draw/Erase The Tracks > Inline PRV > PRV Tool Select/Draw/Erase commands allow you to activate the Select tool, the Draw tool, or the Erase button in the Inline Piano Roll view toolbar. For more information about using the Inline Piano Roll view, see The Inline Piano Roll View.
Tracks > Inline PRV > Display All Continuous Events The Tracks > Inline PRV > Display All Continuous Events command displays all continuous events in all tracks that are in PRV mode (Inline Piano Roll mode), regardless of the events’ previous show/hide conditions. For more information about using the Inline Piano Roll view, see The Inline Piano Roll View.
Tracks > Snap to Scale > Scales > Snap Settings The Tracks > Snap to Scale > Scales > Snap Settings command opens the Snap Scale Settings dialog. For more information, see Snap to Scale. Tracks > Input Quantize > Enable/Disable Input Quantize The Tracks > Input Quantize > Enable/Disable Input Quantize command enables or disables the input quantize feature on all selected MIDI tracks. For more information about input quantizing, see Input quantizing.
tag that you can paste into any other website to embed and display your audio player. For those familiar with it, the process is similar to displaying images hosted on one site in another. Figure 260. Cakewalk Publisher For more information about the Tools > Cakewalk Publisher command, see the Cakewalk Publisher online help. Tools > Consolidate Project Audio The Tools > Consolidate Project Audio command copies all the audio used by the current project into a subfolder of the project’s audio folder.
Tools > Clean Audio Folder Use the Tools > Clean Audio Folder command to delete digital audio files from an audio data directory that are no longer used by any of your projects. You should use this command from time to time to free up disk space. Important: Make sure that all of your important project (.cwp and .wrk) files are stored in your local hard disk(s) before using this command.
SONAR lets you assign a MIDI instrument definition to each available MIDI port and channel. The assignments you make determine the MIDI bank names, patch names, note names, and controller names that you see during your SONAR session. Suppose that you have a Roland GS compatible synthesizer attached to MIDI port 1.
Options > Audio Meter Settings The Options > Audio Meter Settings command opens the Audio Meter Settings dialog, which allows you to adjust the rise and fall times of both the RMS and Peak Meters. These settings control meter ballistics globally for all types of meters in SONAR. You can also choose to display segmented or non-segmented meters from this dialog. For more information, see For more information, see Configure Colors dialog., and Segmented and Non-segmented Meters.
Options > Icons > Track View > Show Icons This command hides or shows icons in the Track view, if the global command to show icons is not enabled. Options > Icons > Track View > Large Icons This command displays icons in the Track view in large format. Options > Icons > Track View > Small Icons This command displays icons in the Track view in small format. Options > Icons > Track View > Show in Header This command hides or shows icons in the Track view in the headers of each track.
Icons This command displays icons in the Track Inspector in large format. Options > Icons > Track Inspector > Show Small Icons This command displays icons in the Track Inspector in small format. Options > Icons > Console > Show Icons This command hides or shows icons in the Console view. Options > Icons > Console > Show Large Icons This command displays icons in the Console view in large format. Options > Icons > Console > Show Small Icons This command displays icons in the Console view in small format.
SONAR should look. Use the Attach button in the SoundFont Banks dialog box to override this behavior and specify a different SoundFont file to use with the song. Bank 0 is reserved for the Standard GM sound set, but user banks can be attached to banks 1 through 255. SONAR saves SoundFont file names in (WRK) files, but not in Standard MIDI (MID) files. In order to use an attached SoundFont, you must select your SoundFont device as an output and assign a MIDI track to that output.
Options > Time Ruler Format > H:M:S:F The Options > Time Ruler Format > H:M:S:F: command, which is also available from the Clips pane pop-up menu, changes the unit of measurement in the time ruler to H:M:S:F units. Options > Time Ruler Format > Samples The Options > Time Ruler Format > Samples command, which is also available from the Clips pane pop-up menu, changes the unit of measurement in the time ruler to samples.
Options > ACT Learn The Options > ACT Learn command enables or disables the Learn button on the Controller/ Surfaces toolbar. For more information, see: External Devices Controllers/Surfaces dialog Options > PRV Tool Configuration The Options > PRV Tool Configuration command opens the PRV Tool Configuration dialog, which allows you to customize the behavior of the Piano Roll tools. For more information, see PRV Tool Configuration dialog.
Help > Help Topics Use the Help > Help Topics command to open the entire help system. You can look for topics in the table of contents, in the index, and in the finder. Help > View README.RTF The Help > View README.RTF command tells you all about the current version of SONAR. Help > Quick Start The Help > Quick Start command gives you access to a number of ways to get started. For more information about the Help > Quick Start command, see SONAR Quick Start dialog.
Command Shortcut Edit > Undo CTRL+Z Edit > Redo CTRL+SHIFT+Z Edit > Select > All CTRL+A Edit > Select > None CTRL+SHIFT+A Edit > Cut CTRL+X Edit > Copy CTRL+C Edit > Paste CTRL+V Edit > Groove Clip Looping CTRL+L Edit > Clip Mute/Unmute Q Edit > Isolate Clip(s) in Layer SHIFT+1 Edit > Delete DELETE key Process > Global Bypass Effects Bins CTRL+SHIFT+Y Insert > Marker F11 Transport > Play SPACEBAR Transport > Record R Transport > Rewind W Transport > Stop SPACEBAR Transpor
Command Shortcut Go > Previous Measure CTRL+PAGE UP Go > Next Measure CTRL+PAGE DOWN Go > Previous Marker CTRL+SHIFT+PAGE UP Go > Next Marker CTRL+SHIFT+PAGE DOWN Go > Search Next F3 Tools > Run CAL CTRL+F1 Table 210.
Command Shortcut Hide selected tracks SHIFT+H Show all tracks A Undo view change U Redo view change SHIFT+U Snap enable/disable N Open Snap dialog SHIFT+N Activate Zoom tool Z Fast Zoom In CTRL+= Fast Zoom Out CTRL+MINUS SIGN (-) Decrease track height CTRL+UP ARROW Increase track height CTRL+DOWN ARROW Zoom in horizontally CTRL+RIGHT ARROW Zoom out horizontally CTRL+LEFT ARROW Zoom all tracks in vertically CTRL+DOWN ARROW Zoom all tracks out vertically CTRL+UP ARROW Zoom out
Command Shortcut Scissors tool C Center Now time G Puts focus in Track pane SHIFT+UP ARROW Puts focus in Bus pane SHIFT+DOWN ARROW Scroll Track view up or down PAGE UP or PAGE DOWN Move between same controls in different tracks UP or DOWN ARROW Move between controls in same track LEFT or RIGHT ARROW Moves to the previous or next tab in Track pane (All, Mix, FX, I/ O), or between views in tabs SHIFT+LEFT ARROW or SHIFT+RIGHT ARROW Raise or lower the pitch of a loop-enabled clip ALT+ or ALT
Command Shortcut Nudge left 3 NumPad 7 Nudge right 3 NumPad 9 Nudge up NumPad 8 Nudge down NumPad 2 Table 211. V-Vocal Editor Command Shortcut Open V-Vocal Editor CTRL+SHIFT+V Create V-Vocal Clip SHIFT+V Note: All V-Vocal shortcuts in the Editor itself are listed in the V-Vocal help file. Table 212. Piano Roll View Command Shortcut Select tool S Draw tool Note: you can draw straight lines with the Draw tool by holding the SHIFT key down before and while you draw.
Command Shortcut Enter an Eighth Note 8 Enter a Sixteenth Note 6 Enter a Thirty-second Note 3 Dotted Note PERIOD (.
Step Sequencer View Command Shortcut Open the Step Sequencer View ALT+SHIFT+5 Insert a new row above the selected row INSERT Delete the active row DELETE Move focus to the previous control LEFT ARROW Move focus to the next control RIGHT ARROW When there are multiple strips, move focus to the same control on the previous row UP ARROW When there are multiple strips, move focus to the same control on the next row DOWN ARROW When focus is on a control in the steps pane, move focus to the strips
Staff View Command Shortcut Select tool S Draw tool D Erase tool E Scrub tool B Lyric Y Chord C Expression I Hairpin H Pedal A Snap enable/disable N Fill Durations F Trim Durations M Layout L Pick Track T Whole note 1 Half note 2 Quarter note 4 Eighth note 8 Sixteenth note 6 Thirty-second note 3 Dotted . Triplet P Scroll left/right LEFT/RIGHT ARROW keys Play Previous Note CTRL+LEFT ARROW Table 215.
Command Shortcut Play Next Note CTRL+RIGHT ARROW Open Snap dialog SHIFT+N Export to ASCII TAB X Show/Hide Fretboard view V Table 215.
Command Shortcut AudioSnap Clear Selection ALT+SHIFT+C AudioSnap Select Moved Markers ALT+SHIFT+M AudioSnap Select Stretched Markers ALT+SHIFT+S AudioSnap Select Disabled Markers ALT+SHIFT+D AudioSnap Select Enabled Markers ALT+SHIFT+E AudioSnap Select Promoted Markers ALT+SHIFT+P Table 216.
Command Shortcut Filter Expression events E Filter Hairpin events I Filter Chord events O Event Manager V Insert event INSERT Delete event DELETE Play single event CTRL+SHIFT+SPACEBAR Pick Tracks T Table 217. Console View Command Shortcut Move between controls TAB Delete an effect DELETE Change values (small) + and - Change values (large) [ and ] Open Module manager M Toggle Envelope/Offset Mode O Table 218.
Loop Construction View Command Shortcut Save loop to wave file F Enable looping L Enable stretching T Follow project pitch P Preview loop CTRL+SHIFT+SPACEBAR Stop preview CTRL+SHIFT+SPACEBAR Select tool S Erase marker tool E Default all markers M Enable Slice Auto-Preview A Slice Auto-Preview Loop SHIFT+A Clip Properties C Move to Previous Slice PAGE UP Move to Next Slice PAGE DOWN Show/Hide Gain Envelope G Show/Hide Pan Envelope N Show/Hide Pitch Envelope K Table 219.
Synth Rack View Command Shortcut Close view CTRL+F4 Move to next or previous synth DOWN ARROW or UP ARROW Toggle connection for current synth PAUSE/BREAK Increment or decrement current preset + or - Increment or decrement current preset by 10 ] or [ Navigate between synths UP/DOWN ARROW keys Change preset for current soft synth + or - Insert A Rename synth F2 Properties P Open Insert Soft Synth Options dialog O Freeze F Unfreeze U Quick Unfreeze T Mute current soft synth M S
Command Shortcut Display the Track view ALT+0 (but not on the NumPad) Open the Media Browser view ALT+1 Open the Loop Construction view ALT+2 Open the Console view ALT+3 Open the Event List view ALT+4 Open the Piano Roll view ALT+5 Open the Step Sequencer view ALT+SHIFT+5 Open the Video view ALT+6 Open the Staff view ALT+7 Open the Synth Rack view ALT+8 Open the Tempo view ALT+9 Table 222.
Command Shortcut Jump to speaker angle at 100% focus NumPad 0-9 n/a NumPad 0 Ls NumPad 1 Cs NumPad 2 Rs NumPad 3 Sl NumPad 4 n/a NumPad 5 Sr NumPad 6 L NumPad 7 C NumPad 8 R NumPad 9 Lc / Rc * Table 223. Help > SONAR on the Web The Help > SONAR on the Web command opens your web browser to the SONAR Web page. This page has information about upgrades, patches and offers.
Help > Cakewalk Problem Reporter The Cakewalk Problem Reporter is a tool that gathers general information about your computer and specific facts about the current open project file. These log files may be used by Cakewalk Technical Support when detailed system info is required to resolve a problem on your computer. Help > About SONAR The Help > SONAR command displays copyright, version number of the product, and your licensing information.
starting and ending values. This makes it easy to group controls so that they move in similar or opposite motion and at similar or different rates of speed. For more information about grouping controls, see To Adjust the Start Value of a Control, and Using Control Groups. Set End = Current This command, which you find by right-clicking a fader, button, or knob in the Track or Console views, lets you adjust the end value of a control.
Set Snap-to = Current This command, which you find by right-clicking a fader or knob in the Console or Track views, sets the snap-to position of that fader or knob to its current value. When you double-click a fader or knob, it jumps to its snap-to position. For more information about the Console view, see Preparing to Mix. 90 dB Range This command, which you find by right-clicking any audio meter in the Track view or Console view, changes the range that the meter measures to 90 dB.
24 dB Range This command, which you find by right-clicking any audio meter in the Track view or Console view, changes the range that the meter measures to 24 dB. For more information about meters, see Metering. 12 dB Range This command, which you find by right-clicking any audio meter in the Track view or Console view, changes the range that the meter measures to 12 dB. For more information about meters, see Metering.
Set Loop Points This command, which you find by right-clicking in the Time ruler, sets the Loop From time to the start time of the selection, and the Loop Thru time to the end time of the selection. For more information about looping, see Looping. Select Loop Region This command, which you find by right-clicking in the Time ruler, sets the selection start and end times to the Loop From and Loop Thru times. For more information about looping, see Looping.
Select Punch Region This command, which you find by right-clicking in the Time ruler, sets the selection start and end times to the Punch In and Punch Out times. For more information about punch recording, see Punch Recording. Snap Properties This command, which you find by right-clicking in the Time ruler, lets you set snap options in the Snap to Grid dialog. For more information about setting snap options, see Defining and Using the Snap Grid.
Creating and Editing Audio Envelopes Creating and Editing MIDI Envelopes Linear This command draws a straight line between two nodes. See: Creating and Editing Audio Envelopes Creating and Editing MIDI Envelopes Fast Curve This command creates a curve between nodes which changes rapidly at first, and slower as it nears the second node.
Track Properties This command opens the Track Properties dialog. Layout The Layout command, accessed by right clicking in the Staff pane, opens the Staff View Layout dialog. Regenerate Tablature The Regenerate Tablature command generates a new TAB staff in the Staff pane. Export to ASCII TAB This command opens the Save As dialog where you can set the name and location for an ASCII text file of a track’s tablature.
Note Length > Eighth This command, also available on the Staff view’s toolbar, changes selected notes to Eighth notes or creates new notes as Eighth notes. Note Length > Sixteenth This command, also available on the Staff view’s toolbar, changes selected notes to Sixteenth notes or creates new notes as Sixteenth notes. Note Length > Thirty second This command, also available on the Staff view’s toolbar, changes selected notes to Thirty second notes or creates new notes as Thirty second notes.
Rosewood Lo This command changes the fretboard to appear as if made of rosewood in low resolution. Ebony Hi This command changes the fretboard to appear as if made of ebony in high resolution. Ebony Lo This command changes the fretboard to appear as if made of ebony in low resolution. Maple Hi This command changes the fretboard to appear as if made of maple in high resolution. Maple Lo This command changes the fretboard to appear as if made of maple in low resolution.
For more information about video, see Video playback, import, and export. Insert This command, which you find by right-clicking in the Video view, inserts a video file into a project. See also: Video playback, import, and export Delete This command, which you find by right-clicking in the Video view, deletes a video file from a project. For more information about deleting video files, see To delete the video from the project.
Integral Stretch This command, which you find by right-clicking in the Video view, stretches the video as much as possible, but only enlarges it by whole-number multiples. For more information about video, see Video playback, import, and export. Full Screen This command, which you find by right-clicking in the Video view, stretches the video to fill the screen. For more information about video, see Video playback, import, and export.
Time Display Format > Font This command, which you find by right-clicking in the Video view, lets you choose the font for the video view’s time display. For more information about video, see Video playback, import, and export. Background Color > Black This command, which you find by right-clicking in the Video view, changes the background color of the Video view to black. For more information about video, see Video playback, import, and export.
Delete Node This command deletes the node over which you have right-clicked. Note This command, which you find by right-clicking in the Event List view, hides all note events. For more information about the Event List view, see Event List View. Key Aftertouch This command, which you find by right-clicking in the Event List view, hides all key aftertouch events. For more information about the Event List view, see Event List View.
For more information about the Event List view, see Event List View. RPN This command, which you find by right-clicking in the Event List view, hides all RPN events. For more information about the Event List view, see Event List View. NRPN This command, which you find by right-clicking in the Event List view, hides all NRPN events. For more information about the Event List view, see Event List View. Sysx Bank This command, which you find by right-clicking in the Event List view, hides all Sysx banks.
MCI Command This command, which you find by right-clicking in the Event List view, hides all MCI commands. For more information about the Event List view, see Event List View. Audio This command, which you find by right-clicking in the Event List view, hides all audio clips. For more information about the Event List view, see Event List View. Expression This command, which you find by right-clicking in the Event List view, hides all expression events.
For more information about the Event List view, see Event List View. Lock Contents This command forces SONAR to open a new instance of the current view (the view you are locking) rather than using the current view. This allows you to keep multiple copies of the same view open at one time. See: Locking views Enable Floating This command allows you to “float” a view (move it beyond the boundaries of SONAR. This is especially useful when using dual monitors.
Previous Zoom This command returns the Track view to the previous zoom level. For more information about displaying tracks, see Configuring the Console and Track Views. Show All Tracks This command shows all tracks in the current project. For more information about displaying tracks, see Configuring the Console and Track Views. Track Manager This command opens the Track Manager dialog. For more information about the Track Manager dialog, see Track Manager dialog.
Record Meter Options > Peak Available in the Playback Meter Options, Record Meter Options, and Mains Meter Options submenus, this command sets the meter to Peak. For more information about Peak meter display, see Metering. Record Meter Options > RMS Available in the Playback Meter Options, Record Meter Options, and Mains Meter Options submenus, this command sets the meter to RMS. For more information about RMS meter display, see Metering.
Playback Meter Options > Peak Available in the Playback Meter Options, Record Meter Options, and Mains Meter Options submenus, this command sets the meter to show peaks. For more information about Peak meter display, see Metering. Playback Meter Options > RMS Available in the Playback Meter Options, Record Meter Options, and Mains Meter Options submenus, this command sets the meter to RMS. For more information about RMS meter display, see Metering.
Output Bus Meter Options > Peak Available in the Playback Meter Options, Record Meter Options, and Mains Meter Options submenus, this command sets the meter to show peaks. For more information about Peak meter display, see Metering. Output Bus Meter Options > RMS Available in the Playback Meter Options, Record Meter Options, and Mains Meter Options submenus, this command sets the meter to RMS. For more information about RMS meter display, see Metering.
Playback Meter Options > Pre Fader This command sets the meter to measure the volume level in the signal path prior to entering the fader. Output Bus Meter Options > Pre Fader This command sets the meter to measure the volume level in the signal path prior to entering the fader. Playback Meter Options > Post Fader This command sets the meter to measure the volume level in the signal path after exiting the fader.
Default Fade-In Curve > Slow Curve This command sets as a default a slow fade-in curve when dragging the beginning of a clip. For more information about crossfades, see Fades and Crossfades. Default Fade-Out Curve > Linear This command sets as a default a linear, or steady fade-out curve when dragging the end of a clip. For more information about crossfades, see Fades and Crossfades. Default Fade-Out Curve > Fast Curve This command sets as a default a fast fade-out curve when dragging the end of a clip.
Default Crossfade Curves > Slow Out - Slow In This command sets as default a crossfade in which the first clip fades out slowly and the second clip fades in slowly. For more information about crossfades, see Fades and Crossfades. Default Crossfade Curves > Fast Out - Slow In This command sets as default a crossfade in which the first clip fades out fast and the second clip fades in slowly. For more information about crossfades, see Fades and Crossfades.
For more information about crossfades, see Fades and Crossfades. Default Crossfade Curves > Slow Out - Linear In This command sets as default a crossfade in which the first clip fades out slowly and the second clip fades in at a steady rate. For more information about crossfades, see Fades and Crossfades. Percentage This command sets the Audio Scaling ruler to display the percentage of the waveform being shown.
Show only Selected Tracks Hides all tracks which are not selected. Hide Selected Tracks Hides all selected tracks. Show All Tracks and Buses Shows all tracks and buses in your project. Undo View Change Reverts the following parameters to their previous state: • Individual track sizes • Height factors • Scaling There are 16 levels of undo for this command. Redo View Change Negates the last Undo View Change command. Show All Envelopes Shows all track and clip envelopes in your project.
Show Volume Envelopes Shows all volume envelopes in your project. Show Pan Envelopes Shows all pan envelopes in your project. Show Bus Send Envelopes Shows all bus send envelopes in your project. Show Plug-in Envelopes Shows all effects envelopes in your project. Show Automated Mute Envelopes Shows all automated mute envelopes in your project. Show MIDI Envelopes Shows all MIDI envelopes in your project.
Velocity The Velocity command opens the Velocity dialog where you can set the default velocity value for each note entered using the Pattern Brush. If the Use Pattern Velocities command is checked, this value is not used. For more information about the Use Pattern Velocities command, see Use Pattern Velocities. Use Pattern Velocities When the Use Pattern Velocities command is checked, the Pattern Brush creates notes using the actual velocity values saved in the current pattern file.
Quarter Note Triplet An option in the Show/Hide Grid button, the Quarter Note Triplet option creates grid lines in the Drum Grid pane at quarter note triplet intervals (three lines per half note). Eighth Note An option in the Show/Hide Grid button, the Eighth Note option creates grid lines in the Drum Grid pane at eighth note intervals.
64th Note An option in the Show/Hide Grid button, the 64th Note option creates grid lines in the Drum Grid pane at 64th note intervals. Follow Snap Resolution An option in the Show/Hide Grid button, the Follow Snap Resolution command sets the grid lines to match the current Snap to Grid setting. Show/Hide Inspector Toggles on or off the Track/Bus Inspector. The keyboard shortcut for this command is I. Vertical FX Bins Creates a vertical FX bin in the Track view.
Envelope Draw Tool > Saw Mode Use the Envelope Draw tool in Saw mode to edit envelopes by drawing triangle shapes. Envelope Draw Tool > Random Mode Use the Envelope Draw tool in Random mode to edit envelopes by drawing random shapes. Save As Track Template This command is available from the track context menu by right-clicking on a track. This command opens the Export Track Template dialog. Use this command to save a track template using the currently selected track as a template.
For more information about V-Vocal clips, see V-Vocal Clips. V-Vocal > V-Vocal Editor This command opens the V-Vocal interface. For more information about V-Vocal clips, see V-Vocal Clips. Pick Tracks Menu Use this menu to choose what tracks you want to display. Snap to Grid Click this button to turn Snap to Grid on or off. Use the drop-down menu that is next to it to set the Snap to Grid options. Select Tool Use this to select data. Erase Tool Use this to erase data.
Unlink Step Sequencer Clips This command unlinks the selected step sequencer clips, allowing each clip to be edited separately from each other. See: To unlink copied Step Sequencer clips Convert MIDI Clip(s) To Step Sequencer This command lets you convert any selected MIDI clip to a step sequncer clip. See: To convert a MIDI clip(s) to a Step Sequencer clip(s) Convert to Mono This command lets you convert any selected stereo audio clip(s) to mono.
Free Edit Tool This button activates the Free Edit tool, which allows you to perform both time based selection and clip selection. See: Free Edit tool Envelope Tool This button activates the Envelope tool, which allows you to edit only envelopes without accidentally editing other types of data. Click the down arrow on the right side of the Envelope combo button to see the display options menu for the envelopes.
Show/Hide Meters Click this button to show or hide all meters in the Track view. Click the down arrow to display a menu with options for showing or hiding specific meter types. Set options for the display of each meter type in the appropriate submenu. See: Changing the Meters’ Display Split Tool This button activates the Split tool, which allows you to split a clip into separate clips. You can click on a clip once to create a single split, or click and drag over a section of a clip to create two splits.
Show/Hide Video Click this button to toggle on or off the display of the Video Thumbnails track. The Video Thumbnails track can be displayed even if there is no video in your project. You can also show or hide the this track by pressing l on your keyboard. See: Video playback, import, and export PRV Select Tool This command activates the Inline Piano Roll Select tool. For more information about using the Inline Piano Roll view, see The Inline Piano Roll View.
Microscope Mode This button activates Piano Roll Microscope mode. When Microscope mode is enabled, a transparent rounded square centered on the mouse cursor shows a zoomed in region of the Piano Roll data underneath it. See: Piano Roll Microscope mode Select Controllers Along with Notes WhenSelect Controllers Along with Notes is enabled, selecting a Note event or a range of Note events will also automatically select any Controller events that exist within the time range of the Note event(s).
Exclusive Solo This button enables Exclusive Solo mode. When you solo a track or bus in Exclusive Solo mode, all other soloed tracks or buses are automatically unsoloed. See: Exclusive Solo mode Edit > Select > All AudioSnap/Stretched Clips The Edit > Select > All AudioSnap/Stretched Clips command selects all AudioSnap and stretched audio clips. See: AudioSnap Selecting Clips Create selection group from selected clips This command places all selected clips in a new selection group.
Process > Global Bypass Effects Bins The Process > Global Bypass Effects Bins command lets you temporarily bypass all track, bus and clip effects. You can also toggle this option by pressing CTRL+SHIFT+Y. See: Global effects bypass Transport > Live Input PDC Override The Transport > Live Input PDC Override command enables or disables Automatic Plug-in Delay Compensation (PDC) on live tracks (an input monitored track or synth track), thereby removing the latency during playback and recording of such tracks.
Set project tempo from clip This command copies the clip’s tempo map to the project’s global tempo map. This allows the project’s measure boundaries to align with the audio clip. Whenever the project’s tempo map is generated from a clip, the clip’s Lock Position property is enabled automatically. See: Synchronizing audio and the project tempo AudioSnap Clip follows project tempo This command forces the selected audio clips to follow the project’s global tempo map.
Copy as MIDI This command copies the selected audio clip’s beats to the Clipboard as MIDI notes, which you can paste into a MIDI track. You select the MIDI note that the transients in the audio clip will be converted to in the AudioSnap Options dialog, which opens when you click the Options button in the AudioSnap palette. See: To extract MIDI timing from an audio clip AudioSnap Add Clip to Pool This command adds or deletes the clip’s transient markers from the Pool.
See: Using the Pool AudioSnap Quantize to Pool This command opens the Quantize to AudioSnap Pool dialog, which lets you quantize audio beats to the Pool.
Menu Reference Quantize to Pool
Beginner’s Guide to Cakewalk Software If you have little or no experience using music software to play and record music, this guide is for you. This guide explains the terms and concepts you need to know to use music software. You can get much more help in every Cakewalk program by using the Help menu, or by pressing F1 when you have any view or dialog box open. All Cakewalk programs have very basic tutorials in the Online Help that cover recording and playback.
the Record button in your Cakewalk software, start playing your instrument, and then click the Stop button (or press the SPACEBAR). The Line input has a little icon next to it, which is very hard to recognize, so it usually helps to look at the documentation that came with your sound card or computer. A guitar cable has a plug on it that is 1/4 inch wide (diameter), and the Line input on lowpriced sound cards is 1/8 inch wide.
• MIDI Files, Projects, Tracks, and Clips • Controlling Which Sounds You Hear Short for Musical Instrument Digital Interface, MIDI is a system that lets an electronic instrument or computer control other instruments. MIDI is largely a set of commands, called MIDI messages, that cause an electronic instrument to play specific sounds at specific times, and also to play those sounds in the style that you dictate.
MIDI Channels, Interfaces, Inputs, and Outputs Most MIDI instruments can play at least 16 different sounds at the same time—instruments that can play more than one sound at a time are called multi-timbral (pronounced multi-tambral). In order to control which sounds respond to which commands, MIDI messages are marked with a channel number from 1 to 16. That way a MIDI sound module, such as a drum machine, can tell which messages are meant for which of the sounds it is capable of playing.
Figure 262. Standard MIDI cable—use this if your MIDI interface has standard 5-pin input and output ports A B A. Connect one end to an OUT on your MIDI interface B. Connect the other end to an IN on your MIDI instrument MIDI instruments have inputs and outputs labeled MIDI IN and MIDI OUT. You connect a MIDI cable from one of your MIDI interface’s MIDI OUTs to a MIDI IN on an instrument.
Controlling Which Sounds You Hear MIDI Audio Audio Hardware (Sound Cards) and Drivers MIDI Channels, Interfaces, Inputs, and Outputs MIDI Drivers Your MIDI interface needs a driver to function. A driver is a small software program that controls input and output for a peripheral device. To use a MIDI interface in Cakewalk, you need to make sure that your interface’s driver is installed, and that you have told Cakewalk to use it.
In Cakewalk programs, the file that you use to store usually a single song’s data is called a project. This is the file you use to record, play back, and edit your song. The file extension for a project is .wrk in older Cakewalk programs and .cwp in newer ones. Projects that use only the MIDI format (no digital audio) can be saved in a format called a Standard MIDI File, and can then be played back in any program or machine that plays MIDI files. These files have the extension .mid.
keyboard (controller). If you click one of the other MIDI tracks to change the focus, the sound that’s selected for that track will sound when you play your controller. Figure 264. Track 3 zoomed in to expose track property fields A B C D E A. Track 3’s volume B. MIDI instrument that Track 3 is playing C. MIDI channel of Track 3 D. Patch name of Track 3 E.
Because each MIDI instrument can probably play many different sounds at the same time, you need a way to tell each instrument which tracks are meant for which sounds. You do this by assigning a MIDI channel to each track, and by assigning a specific sound, called a patch or program, to each track.
other messages that are meant for a different instrument on the chain. This setting is usually called MIDI Receive, and might be abbreviated on an instrument’s control panel as MIDI RX. Since most projects have several tracks in them, and each track is usually assigned to a different sound, how do you control what sound you hear when you press a key on your MIDI controller? In Cakewalk programs, one of your tracks is always a tan color, because it has the focus.
For more information, see: Audio Playback in Cakewalk Tracks Clips Track-by-Track Playback Connecting an Instrument, Home Stereo, or Microphone to your Sound Card Choosing Inputs Audio Recording Audio Hardware (Sound Cards) and Drivers Audio MIDI Audio Playback in Cakewalk To use digital audio in Cakewalk, you first have to make sure that your sound card and its driver are properly installed.
Playback Troubleshooting Table Possible problem What to do The volume setting is turned down on your If your sound card only has one stereo output, your sound card software mixer, or wave playback is muted. probably responds to the Windows Mixer. If your sound card has more than one stereo output, it might not respond to the Windows Mixer—launch your sound card’s own mixer software if it has it, and make sure all volume settings are turned up and nothing is muted.
For more information, see: Tracks Clips Track-by-Track Playback Connecting an Instrument, Home Stereo, or Microphone to your Sound Card Choosing Inputs Audio Recording Audio Hardware (Sound Cards) and Drivers MIDI Tracks A track is represented by a horizontal strip in the Track view that has a name and number on the left side (each track is also represented by a vertical module in the Console view).
after each note is struck. This is as expected since the pictures represent the actual sound that is recorded. The MIDI track’s graph is much simpler, since it only represents commands to turn a certain note on for a certain time period, then turn another note on, etc. We zoomed in on these two tracks far enough to expose all the track property fields, such as Volume, Pan, Input, Output, etc. Notice the different logos left of the track names that distinguish audio tracks from MIDI tracks.
A A. Clips You can rearrange the sound in both audio and MIDI tracks by dragging and/or copying clips. The precision of the clips’ movement is governed by the Snap to Grid button , which you can configure by right-clicking it or by clicking the drop-down arrow that’s next to it. In the following picture, the clips in Track 1 have been moved around to reverse their order, so instead of the first three notes of Three Blind Mice, we now have Mice Blind Three. A B C A. Mice B. Blind C.
Track-by-Track Playback You can change a track’s volume by dragging its volume fader (see picture below). You can silence a track by clicking its Mute button (any button you click lights up when it’s enabled). You can also silence all other tracks besides one if you click a track’s Solo button. You can click either of these buttons while a project is playing, and you can mute or solo as many tracks as you want.
Audio Recording Connecting an Instrument, Home Stereo, or Microphone to your Sound Card Choosing Inputs Audio Hardware (Sound Cards) and Drivers MIDI Audio Recording If your sound card and driver are properly installed, recording audio data is mostly a matter of accomplishing two tasks: • Connecting an instrument, home stereo, or microphone to an input on your sound card • Choosing that same input in Cakewalk, your sound card’s software, and/or Windows For more information, see: Connecting an Instrument, H
The following table summarizes the possible sound card inputs, types of cables required, and the inputs to plug into: Type of sound card inputs Cables and adapters needed Inputs to plug into 1/8 inch MIc and Line For most electric instruments: 1/4 inch balanced cable connected to 1/4 inch-to-1/8 inch adapter. For mics that have an XLR plug on their cable: XLR-to-1/4 inch adapter connected to 1/4 inch-to-1/8 inch adapter. Plug instruments into the Line input; plug microphones into the Mic input.
Figure 265. Electric guitar direct in To sound card microphone input (mono) 1/4 inch instrument cable 1/4 inch to 1/8 inch adapter The 1/8 inch plug should be plugged into the sound card’s Line input, although plugging into the Mic input will also work. If you use the Line input, make sure you have selected Line-In on the Windows Record Control dialog (Windows Mixer). If you use the Mic input, select Microphone.
Figure 266. Electric guitar through effects rack Rack effects units Rack FX Rack FX Rack FX To sound card line input (stereo) Rack FX 1/4 inch instrument cable RCA to 1/8 inch adapter (stereo) 1/4 inch to RCA adapter (x2) This diagram assumes that the output of the rack is at line level (consult your rack’s documentation). If it is at pro level instead (+4 dB), and your sound card does not accept a +4 db input, you will need to attenuate (lower) the F/X rack’s signal.
Figure 267. Microphone direct in Microphone To sound card microphone input (mono) XLR to 1/4 inch microphone cable 1/4 inch to 1/8 inch adapter Home Stereo, CD Player, Radio Tuner, Preamp Output The output of a stereo component can be connected to the sound card’s Line input, using a dual RCA to 1/8 inch stereo mini Y-adapter. Many portable cassette players come with this kind of adapter, or even with a single cable with all the necessary plugs.
Figure 269. Mixer From sound card line output tto inputs #1 & 2 From Aux Bus #1 & 2 to sound card line input Stereo Amplifier Main mixer outs to power amp 1/4 inch instrument cable to input #3 Let’s trace the signal flow in the above picture: 1. Your pre-recorded tracks flow out of the sound card’s outputs into mixer inputs #1 and 2. 2. Both the pre-recorded tracks and the live guitar’s sound flow into the main mixer outs, where you can hear them (monitor them) through the stereo amplifier and speakers.
Choosing Inputs Audio Recording Audio Hardware (Sound Cards) and Drivers MIDI Choosing Inputs After you’ve connected your instrument or other sound source to your sound card, you need to tell your sound card’s software, Cakewalk, and possibly the Windows Mixer which input you’re recording through. If you’re recording through the S/PDIF input, the procedure is a little different (see To Record Through the S/PDIF Input).
After you stop recording, you should see a picture of your audio data in the Clips pane of the track you’re recording in. Don’t forget to disarm the track and save your project if you want to keep what you recorded. If you don’t see any movement in the track’s record meter when you play your instrument, try some of the following: Possible problem Solution You have chosen a Right input of your sound card as an input, but your instrument is plugged into a Left input.
For more information, see: Audio Hardware (Sound Cards) and Drivers Audio MIDI Audio Hardware (Sound Cards) and Drivers There are many different brands of sound cards on the market today. This section aims to help you get the best out of yours. See: Consumer and Professional Consumer and Professional There are many sound cards to choose from. Nearly every PC comes with one. Some are nationally known brands and others are proprietary sound cards that are made specifically for a single manufacturer.
etc.). Professional sound card characteristics: • Multiple inputs and outputs. Many professional sound cards have multiple inputs and/or outputs. Some have analog and digital inputs or outputs for use with ADATs and digital mixers. • Type of inputs and outputs. Professional sound cards use quarter inch (mono or TRS), XLR or RCA inputs rather than the eighth inch jacks found on consumer grade sound cards. Some cards also have digital inputs and/or outputs like S/PDIF and ADAT.
Installing a Sound Card Follow your sound card’s documentation for installing the sound card in your PC. If you are installing a PCI card, or any hardware that requires you to open the cover of your PC, be careful to discharge any static electricity you are carrying by touching the metal casing of your PC before handling the sound card itself. Static electricity can damage a sound card’s circuitry. Installing a Driver on Windows 98 and Windows Me You sound card should come with software, too.
7. In the list of hardware types, select Sound, Video and Game Controllers and click Next. 8. Click Have Disk. The Install From Disk dialog appears. 9. Using the Browse button, navigate to the directory where the sound card driver is located (CDROM, diskette, hard disk, etc.) and click OK. The Locate a File dialog appears. 10.Select the driver file you want to use for your sound card and click Open. The Install From Disk dialog appears again. 11.Click OK. The Add/Remove Hardware Wizard dialog appears again.
can be a real problem. IRQ conflicts can cause your system to freeze or fail to boot up properly, or the system may fail to recognize your sound card. Sometimes the problem only reveals itself when you attempt to use the device that is sharing an IRQ. Checking IRQ Settings in Windows 98 and Windows Me If your computer is running Windows 98 or Windows Me, use this procedure: 1. Right-click on the My Computer icon on your desktop and select Properties from the menu that appears.
Checking for ACPI on Your System: 1. Look at your IRQ settings. If you don’t know how, see Checking IRQ Settings in Windows 98 and Windows Me or Checking IRQ Settings in Windows 2000 and Windows XP. 2. Look for an entry that says ACPI. Resolving IRQ Conflicts on a Non-ACPI System The easiest way to resolve a conflict may be to remove the piece of hardware that is conflicting with your sound card.
Dialog Reference Use the Contents tab, Index or Search tab to find the dialog you are looking for. About SONAR dialog When you use the Help > About SONAR command, the Cakewalk logo appears, with the version number of your Cakewalk product listed below it. Apply Audio Effects dialog This dialog gives you several options when applying audio effects: Delete the effects from the track effects bin.
Apply MIDI Effects dialog When you select Apply MIDI Effects from the Process menu, the Apply MIDI Effects dialog box appears. This dialog box lets you select options for applying MIDI effects to selected MIDI data. You can choose to delete the effect from the patch point after it is applied, so that it will not be reapplied on playback. See also: Applying MIDI Effects Assign Instruments dialog The Options > Instruments command opens the Assign Instruments dialog box.
Output/Channel This field lists all your MIDI outputs and all the channels for each output. Highlight the output/channel combination you want to assign an instrument definition to. You can select several output/channel combinations at the same time (for example, all 16 channels of a output) by CTRL-clicking or SHIFTclicking. Uses Instrument This field lists all the instrument definitions that are currently stored by SONAR.
Use this command to assign a series of consecutive mono input ports to the selected audio tracks. The First Input to Assign combobox lets you specify the audio input port that should be assigned to the first selected track. If a left or right input is selected, then mono inputs will be assigned. If a stereo input is selected, then stereo inputs will be assigned. Figure 262.
• Test Burn. Verifies, performs a layout of the tracks and simulates burning the current track list to CD. • Cancel Burn. This button appears when either Burn CD or Test Burn has been selected. It causes the current operation to be aborted. Figure 263. The Audio CD Burner dialog Audio Meter Settings dialog SONAR’s meters are extremely adjustable. The Audio Meter Settings dialog allows you to adjust the rise and fall times of both the RMS and Peak Meters.
• Rise (msecec). The time it takes for an RMS meter to register a 20dB rise in signal. • Fall (msecec). The time it takes for an RMS meter to register a 20dB fall in signal. • Peak • Rise (msecec). The time it takes for a Peak meter to register a 20dB rise in signal. • Fall (msecec). The time it takes for a Peak meter to register a 20dB fall in signal.
bounce mode (when Fast Bounce is unchecked). When Audible bounce is unchecked, no audio output will be heard during the bounce process. When in real-time bounce mode (Fast Bounce unchecked) and Audible bounce is enabled, you can hear the output of the mixdown.
Stereo Panning Law Use this menu to choose a panning law for the current project and new projects. The current project’s panning law is also displayed in the File Stats window, which appears when you open the File Info dialog (File > Info command), and click the File Stats button. Determines the mathematical formula used to control panning. The choices are: • (Default) 0 dB center, sin/cos taper, constant power.
Mixing Latency (MME and WDM drivers only) • The Buffers in Playback Queue values determine the buffer characteristics for transfers to and from the audio drivers. Lowering this value improves audio Latency, though making it too low makes your system more susceptible to stuttering or dropouts • The Buffer Size Slider enables you to set mixing latency manually, overriding the value set by the Wave Device Profiler. Lower numbers increase the risk of audio problems.
improve SONAR’s audio performance. Note: Changes to these settings only take effect when you restart SONAR. • I/O Buffer Size. This value determines the buffer characteristics for transfers to and from the disk. Changing this value does not affect audio latency, but will affect the disk throughput for audio tracks. The default setting is 128. A higher value causes more audio to be buffered from the disk ahead of the playback cursor.
Disadvantages: higher perceived loudness than Pow-r dither. • Pow-r 1. Noise-shaped dither. Advantages: less CPU-intensive than Pow-r types 2 and 3, lower perceived loudness than Rectangular or Triangular. Disadvantages: less noise shaping than Pow-r types 2 and 3, not recommended for operations where dither will be applied successively (e.g. bounce and freeze). • Pow-r 2. Noise-shaped dither. Advantages: lowest perceived loudness, highest quality settings, recommended for audio export.
Synchronization SONAR gives you two choices for synchronizing your audio tracks to SMPTE or MIDI Time Code: • Trigger and Freewheel. With this option audio playback starts (or triggers) at the exact timecode, but then the audio plays at its own internal rate. The audio can gradually drift away from SMPTE time due to variations in the timecode signal. • Full Chase Lock. With this option the speed of audio playback is continuously adjusted to stay with the timecode. • Timing Offset (msec).
Use Friendly Names to Represent Audio Drivers If you enable this check box, the Input and Output menus in audio tracks and buses will use whatever friendly names you’ve created for your Input and Output drivers. Friendly driver names are global, not per-project. For more information, see: Improving Audio Performance Audio Options dialog—Driver Profiles The Options > Audio command opens the Audio Options dialog box.
MIDI Extraction • Convert to MIDI Note. be converted to. This field lets you choose what MIDI note all the transients in the clip will • Note Velocities • Vary with Pulse Level. This option causes the velocities of the notes in the MIDI clip to vary with the level of the transients in the audio clip. • Set All to Same Value. This field lets you enter a velocity that all the MIDI notes in the clip will use. Split Beats • Auto Fade Split Clips.
Auto-Send Sysx dialog The Auto-Send Sysx dialog box appears when you open a project that contains Sysx data. The dialog box lets you choose whether to send the System Exclusive data to your MIDI instrument at that time. If you don’t want to, click Cancel. You can send the data later, if you choose to, by using the Sysx view. See also: Using the System Exclusive View AVI Encoder Options dialog Clicking the Encoding Options button in the Video dialog opens the AVI Encoder Options dialog.
• MSScreen encoder • WMVideo Encoder DMO • WM9Video Encoder DMO Audio Codec Note: If you’re exporting an AVI file to either a 24-bit audio format or to a multi-channel (surround sound) format, set the Audio Codec to No Compression. The following audio compression codecs have been found to be compatible (you may see different codecs installed on your system): • CCITT - A Law • CCITT - U Law • DSP Group TrueSpeech • PCM (this is the standard uncompressed format for wav files) • GSM 6.
Change AVI settings Checking this box causes another dialog box to appear after you click the Save button. This is the Properties dialog box that allows you finer control over the configuration of the AVI file you are creating. The available parameters are Microsoft Direct Show settings. Bank Name dialog When you select a bank in the Sysx view and click the Name button, the Bank Name dialog box appears. This dialog box lets you specify the name of the bank you selected.
Bank: Select the Bank you want to use. Patch: Select the Patch you want to use. If you want to use the Patch Browser dialog, click the Patch Browser icon. See also: To insert a bank/patch change Choosing the instrument sound (bank and patch) Bounce to Track(s) dialog Select Edit > Bounce to Track(s) to open the Bounce to Track(s) dialog box.
Preset You can create a preset out of your bounce settings, in case you use the same settings regularly. When the dialog box is set the way you want it, type a name in the Preset box and click the floppy disk icon that’s next to it to save the preset. Source Category Select one of the following options: • Tracks. Creates a new track or tracks (the Split Mono option in the Channel Format field) for each track that you select in the Source Buses/Tracks field. • Buses.
Mix Enables As default, each of the Mix Enables options is checked, meaning that your mixdown will sound the same as playback. You can check or uncheck each of the following settings to include or exclude them from the mix: • Track Mute/Solo. If you check this option, tracks that are currently muted are not mixed down. Also with this option checked, if any tracks are soloed, only those tracks are included in the mixdown. • Bus Mute/Solo.
Change Audio Format dialog Use the Tools > Change Audio Format command if you want to rewrite the audio in a project to a different bit depth. Your sound card must be capable of playing the project at the new bit depth, The Change Audio Format dialog box has the following fields: New Bit Depth Choose 16, 24, 32, or 64, depending on what audio format you want for this project. Dither This choice is available when you are converting to a lower bit-depth.
Choose Track Type dialog Using the INSERT key in the Track view inserts a new track of the same type as the current track, unless you use it in an empty project that has no tracks yet. In that case, the Choose Track Type dialog box appears, offering you the choice to insert either an audio or MIDI track. See also: Arranging and editing Chromatic Tuner The Tuner view helps you to tune your instrument by analyzing any input signal from the sound card and displaying the pitch on a meter.
Under Windows, deleted files are normally placed in the Recycle Bin. As a result, you should empty the Recycle Bin after using the Clean Audio Folder command, or the unused files will still physically remain on your hard disk. If you are using another utility program that protects you from accidentally deleting important files (such as Norton Protect), you may need to disable that program. Otherwise, the next time you use the Clean Audio Folder command you may once again find these not-quite deleted files.
Start Use this field to move the selected clip forward or backward in the track by setting a new start time. Length This field displays the length of the selected clip. Snap Offset (for audio clips only) The value of this field is the snap offset of the selected clip, in samples.
• Absolute. If the clip is set to the Absolute time base, its Absolute position stays constant, and its M:B:T position shifts. Clip Mute Check this to mute the clip. Lock Check this to lock the clip’s data and/or position. Use the drop-down menu that’s next to this check box to choose options. Enable Automation Read Check this is you want the clip to respond to clip envelopes. Clips Linked to this Clip This field tells you how many clips are linked to this clip.
The Audio Stretching tab has a section of options for Groove Clips, and a separate section for AudioSnap, described as follows: Groove Clips Both MIDI and audio clips can be set to act as groove clips. The options you see in this dialog for audio clips are different from the options for MIDI clips. The Groove Clips section of the Audio Stretching tab has the following options: • Enable Looping.
Working with Loops Working Groove Clip audio Creating and Editing Groove Clips AudioSnap The AudioSnap section of the Audio Stretching tab has the following options: • Enable AudioSnap. Enabling this check box enables the clip’s AudioSnap feature, which makes the following options available: • Show Transients. Enabling this check box displays the clip’s transients. • Add Transients to Pool.
Algorithm Description iZotope Radius Mix This is better for clips containing polyphonic, stereo data. iZotope Radius Solo This is better for clips containing monophonic, solo instruments. iZotope Radius Solo (Bass) This is better for clips containing solo bass instruments. iZotope Radius Solo (Vocal) This is better for clips containing solo vocals Table 225. For more information, see AudioSnap.
• Clone Effects. Check this check box if you want the new track(s) to use the same real-time effects that are patched into the original track. • Clone Sends. Check this check box if you want the new track(s) to use the same sends that are patched into the original track(s). • Repetitions. The number of tracks you want to create from the selected track(s). • Starting Track. The track at which your cloned track(s) appear. Existing tracks are moved down to make room, not overwritten.
Show Audio Scale Check this option to display the Audio Scale Ruler in the splitter bar between the Clips pane and the Track pane. Double-click to Open View Double-clicking a clip in the Clips pane automatically opens another view to edit the clip in, You can choose what view you want to open for both MIDI and audio clips in these two menus: • MIDI Clips. Choose what view opens when you double-click a MIDI clip. • Audio Clips. Choose what view opens when you double-click an audio clip.
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Configure Colors dialog The Options > Colors command opens the Configure Colors dialog box, which allows you to choose colors for most items that SONAR displays. You can create lots of different color schemes and save each one as a preset. After you create a color scheme that you like, type a name for it in the Presets window, and then click the floppy disk icon to save the preset. When you want to load the preset, just select it in the Presets window.
Saturation Slider This control increases or decreases the vibrancy of the selected color. A lower saturation value will input more “grayness” to the color, making it appear more faded. Reset Button Pressing the Reset button resets the Brightness, Hue, and Saturation sliders to default values. Save Changes for Next Session Check this check box if you want SONAR to use any new color assignments the next time you open SONAR.
Screen element Explanation Grid Rules Color of the Grid rule lines Values Color of selected events and tempo changes in the Tempo view Drawing Colors used to show your drawing in the Piano Roll and Tempo views Erasing Color used to show your erasing in the Tempo views Markers Color of markers in time rulers Pitch Markers Color of pitch markers in the Time Ruler Loop Markers Color of loop point markers Punch Record Markers Color of punch recording markers Now Time Marker Color of the Now T
Screen element Explanation Folder Line Color of the line on the left side of the Track pane connecting a track folder to the tracks that are contained in the folder Record Preview Clip Background The background color in the Clips pane of an armed track Recording Waveform Previews Color of the waveform in a clip during preview while recording Bus Waveform Preview Color of the waveform that a bus’s or synth track’s output generates Waveform Preview (>= 0dB) Color of the waveform in a clip during pr
Screen element Explanation Audio Tracks 6, 16, 26...Foreground Foreground color of all audio tracks that end in the number “6” (6, 16, 26, etc.) Audio Tracks 6, 16, 26...Background Background color of all audio tracks that end in the number “6” (6, 16, 26, etc.) Audio Tracks 7, 17, 27...Foreground Foreground color of all audio tracks that end in the number “7” (7, 17, 27, etc.) Audio Tracks 7, 17, 27...Background Background color of all audio tracks that end in the number “7” (7, 17, 27, etc.
Screen element Explanation MIDI Tracks 4, 14, 24...Background Background color of all MIDI tracks that end in the number “4” (4, 14, 24, etc.) MIDI Tracks 5, 15, 25...Foreground Foreground color of all MIDI tracks that end in the number “5” (5, 15, 25, etc.) MIDI Tracks 5, 15, 25...Background Background color of all MIDI tracks that end in the number “5” (5, 15, 25, etc.) MIDI Tracks 6, 16, 26...Foreground. Foreground color of all MIDI tracks that end in the number “6” (6, 16, 26, etc.
Screen element Explanation Selected Track Sets the color of any selected tracks Strip Selection Sets the color of any selected strip selector Track View Control Icon Sets the color of the icons that label the various controls in a track Partially selected Track Folder Color just to the left of the folder icon that indicates whether all the tracks in the folder are selected, or just some of them Partially selected strips in Track Folder Color on the upper left corner of the folder icon that indica
Screen element Explanation Track View Bus Name Text Color of the text for buses in the bus name field Track View Track Folder Name Background Color of the background for track folders in the folder name field Track View Track Folder Name Text Color of the text for track folders in the folder name field Track View Strip Background Background color outside the control fields in a track Track View Control Background Background color inside the control fields in a track Track View Control Text and V
Screen element Explanation Track View Bus Send Level 1, 9 Control / Envelope Sets the color of this parameter’s automation envelope Track View Bus Send Level 2, 10 Control / Envelope Sets the color of this parameter’s automation envelope Track View Bus Send Level 3, 11 Control / Envelope Sets the color of this parameter’s automation envelope Track View Bus Send 4, 12 Level Control / Envelope Sets the color of this parameter’s automation envelope Track View Bus Send Level 5, 13 Control / Envelope
Screen element Explanation Bus Send Angle 3, 11 Envelope Sets the color of this parameter’s automation envelope Bus Send Angle 4, 12 Envelope Sets the color of this parameter’s automation envelope Bus Send Angle 5, 13 Envelope Sets the color of this parameter’s automation envelope Bus Send Angle 6, 14 Envelope Sets the color of this parameter’s automation envelope Bus Send Angle 7, 15 Envelope Sets the color of this parameter’s automation envelope Bus Send Angle 8, 16 Envelope Sets the color of
Screen element Explanation Bus Send Width 5, 13 Envelope Sets the color of this parameter’s automation envelope Bus Send Width 6, 14 Envelope Sets the color of this parameter’s automation envelope Bus Send Width 7, 15 Envelope Sets the color of this parameter’s automation envelope Bus Send Width 8, 16 Envelope Sets the color of this parameter’s automation envelope Bus Send Front/Rear Balance 1, 9 Envelope Sets the color of this parameter’s automation envelope Bus Send Front/Rear Balance 2, 10 En
Screen element Explanation Toolbar Background * Color of the empty space surrounding toolbars (* means you have to restart the application to see the new color) Toolbar Background-In Views * Color of empty space surrounding toolbars in views Toolbar LCD Text * Color of numbers or text in variable fields of toolbars Toolbar LCD Background * Background color of variable fields in toolbars Toolbar Static Text * Color of toolbar text in non-variable fields Console View Label Text Color of the Conso
Screen element Explanation VU Hi level Sets the color of the higher portion of a non-segmented meter. VU Tick Marks Sets the color of the numbers and calibration lines of a non-segmented meter.
Screen element Explanation Synth Rack Parameter Background Background color around parameter controls in the Synth Rack Synth Rack Focus Border color around the space in the Synth Rack that has the focus Dialog Box Banner Text Color of the headings that separate different parts of a dialog page Dialog Banner Background Color of the background behind a dialog banner heading First Connected Control Surface Highlight color of any SONAR controls being controlled by the first control surface listed in
control data to SONAR. • Output Port. Use this field to select the MIDI port that the control surface will use to receive MIDI control data from SONAR. For more information, see: Controllers/Surfaces dialog External Devices Controllers/Surfaces dialog Using the Options > Controllers/Surfaces command opens the Controllers/Surfaces dialog. This dialog allows you to enable as many control surfaces as you want to control with SONAR, and configure the control surfaces’ interfaces.
WAI Display These check boxes show or hide the WAI markers in the Track view and/or the Console view. For more information, see: External Devices Controller/Surface Settings dialog Convert MIDI To Shapes dialog Using the Edit > Convert MIDI To Shapes command opens the Convert MIDI To Shapes dialog box. This command lets you convert a controller envelope created in the Piano Roll view to a Track view envelope, or shape.
nearest step. See: To convert a MIDI clip(s) to a Step Sequencer clip(s) Copy dialog The Edit > Copy command opens the Copy dialog box. which lets you put on the clipboard any selected objects. You can paste the contents of the clipboard elsewhere. See Paste dialog. To remove rather than copy objects, see Cut dialog. To make copies of linked clips, see Splitting and Combining Clips.
Create Fx Envelopes dialog If you have already patched an automatable effect into a track, you can right-click in the Clips pane and choose Envelopes > Create > (name of the effect you patched) to open a dialog box containing a list of the effect’s automatable parameters. You can create or delete an envelope for each parameter by checking or unchecking its check box.
slowly at first, but much faster toward the end of the crossfade. • Linear Crossfade. This option causes the selected audio to change volume at a constant rate throughout the crossfade. Crossfade graph The crossfade graph illustrates any type of crossfade you choose in the Name field, but you can also drag points on the graph to create any shape you want. Reset button Click this button to reset the crossfade graph to the shape that is selected in the Name field.
• Current Toolbar Buttons menu. current toolbar. • Reset button. buttons. This menu lists the buttons and separators that are on the Click this to reset the current toolbar to its default number and arrangement of • Move Up button. Click this to move a highlighted item toward the top of the Current Toolbar Buttons menu. • Move Down button. Click this to move a highlighted item toward the bottom of the Current Toolbar Buttons menu.
Delete Hole If you check this check box, SONAR removes the space in the track where the object was. SONAR moves all objects after the deleted object forward in time by the length of the deleted object. Checking the Shift By Whole Measures option causes SONAR to move the following clips forward, but only as far as the nearest whole measure. For more information, see Moving and Copying Clips.
Define Instruments and Names dialog When you use the Options > Instruments command, the Assign Instruments dialog box appears, which contains the Define button. Clicking this button opens the Define Instruments and Names dialog box, which has the following fields.
Duration With the Duration filter you can set a minimum note duration for the track in either ticks or milliseconds. If a MIDI event has a shorter duration than the one you set, it is removed. For step by step instructions, see To Use the Deglitch Filter. Delay dialog Using the File > Open command to open a Play List opens the Play List view, which has a Delay button. Clicking the Delay button opens the Delay dialog box, which lets you specify a different kind of delay before the start of each song.
Meter/Key Changes Removes all meter and key changes in the selected clip(s). Markers Removes all markers in the selected clip(s). You have the following options in the Delete dialog: Delete Hole If selected, the Delete Hole option removes the space in the track where the clip(s) had been. All clips after the deleted clip(s) are moved forward in time by the length of the deleted clip(s).
• Replace Old with New. Choosing this option tells SONAR to delete the old data, with the following option: • Delete Whole Measures. Choosing this option tells SONAR to delete the old data up to the next measure line, regardless of whether the new data fills the space up to the next measure. • Slide Over Old to Make Room. Choosing this option tells SONAR to slide the old data either forward or backward in the track to make room for the new data. with the following option: • Align to Measures.
note. • Vel+. Apply a velocity offset setting to an individual mapped pitch. • V Scale. The V Scale value sets a level of compression or expansion. A value below 100% is compression. A value above 100% is expansion. Port/Channel Pairs This section lists each unique Port and Channel pairing. This allows you to make quick global changes that Port and Channel pairing’s bank and patch settings.
See also: Step Recording Edit Node dialog Open the Edit Node dialog by right-clicking on a node and selecting Properties from the menu that appears. Level The node’s value (% left or right pan, for example). Change the level by using the + or - keys to the left of the Level field or by clicking and dragging up or down. Time The node’s time location in the track. Select from the following time measurement options: • M:B:T • Samples • H:M:S:F • Seconds Then change the value in the Time field as desired.
Searching for Events Event Filters Selecting Events Event Filter Select Some/Search/Replace dialog • Edit > Select > By Filter opens the Event Filter-Select Some dialog box. Use this command to select events of a specific nature that you specify in the dialog box. You can then edit all the events with any editing command. • Process > Interpolate opens the Event Filter-Search dialog box, which opens the Event FilterReplace dialog box when you click OK.
RPN Click RPN to include registered parameter controllers in your selection. Consult your sound module’s documentation to see what RPN’s it responds to. NRPN Click NRPN to include non-registered parameter controllers in your selection. Consult your sound module’s documentation to see what NRPN’s it responds to. Patch Click Patch to include bank and patch data in your selection. You can set a range of banks and/or patches to include or exclude.
None Clicking the None button clears the checkmark from all check boxes in the dialog box. See Also: Searching for Events Event Manager dialog You can open the Event Manager dialog box in two ways: • Right-click in the Event List view and choose Event Manager from the pop-up menu. • Click the Event Manager button in the Event List view. Use the Event Manager dialog box to select which types of events to display in the Event List view.
Export Audio dialog Select File > Export > Audio to open the Export Audio dialog box. This command lets you export your projects as Wave, MP3 files, and other types of formats. Note: If you select any data in your project, only that data is included when you choose to export audio.
• MP3. The mpeg-3 format, with the file extension .mp3. • Various surround formats. them listed here. If you have installed any 3rd-party surround encoders, you will see Preset You can create a preset for a mixdown. A preset contains all the settings within the Bounce Settings fields and also includes the File Type. Source Category Select one of the following options: • Tracks.
Dithering Whenever an audio signal is converted from a higher-bit resolution to a lower resolution, it is necessary to apply dither to avoid introducing undesirable quantization noise or harmonic distortion into the signal. You can select from four available dithering types. • Rectangular • Triangular • Pow-r 1 • Pow-r 2 • Pow-r 3 For more information see “Dithering” on page 679. Mix Enables As default, each of the Mix Enables options is checked, meaning that your mixdown will sound the same as playback.
Audible bounce is enabled, you can hear the output of the mixdown. Note: Depending on the gainstages used in the project and the mixdown options selected– such as bouncing with source category assigned to Tracks, or with mute/solo or automation disabled in the bounce settings or while freezing tracks–the output may be louder or softer than during normal playback.
Save as type Select the type of file you want to open. Export Current Color Set Enable this check box if you want to export the current color arrangement as a color set file (.clr). Export Color Preset Enable this check box if you want to export all the presets in the Presets menu as a color set file (.clr). Export MIDI Groove Clip dialog The File > Export > MIDI Groove Clip command opens the Export MIDI Groove Clip dialog. You must first select a MIDI Groove clip before the command becomes available.
File name Enter a name for the file you are creating. File of type Select from one of the following OMF file formats: • OMF version 1. Compatible with older applications. • OMF version 2. Compatible with newer applications. Audio Packaging • Embed Audio Within OMF. Saves all audio in the OMF file. • Reference Audio Externally. Saves all audio in a subdirectory of the directory where you save the OMF file. Audio Format • Write RIFF Wave. Export audio as WAV files. • Write AIFC.
Export Track Template The File > Export > Track Template and Save As Track Template commands open the Export Track Preset dialog. You must first select a track before the command becomes available. The Export Track Template dialog has the following fields: Save In Use this field to navigate to the folder where you want to store the track template. File Name Type a name in this field for the template you want to save (export). Save as Type The only option in this field is Track Template Files (.cwx).
Fade Selected Clips dialog The Process > Fade Selected Clips command opens the Fade Selected Clips dialog where you can create or edit one or more clip fades. The Fade Selected Clips dialog has the following options: Fade Select Fade if you want to create a fade-in and fade-out on the selected clips. Fade In The number of milliseconds the fade-in lasts. Fade Out The number of milliseconds the fade-out lasts.
Only Show if Pressing Shift Select if you want to apply previous dialog settings without opening the dialog. Hold shift when selecting command to override. File Info dialog The File > Info command opens the File Info dialog box. In the File Info dialog box, you can document the following information for your project: Title Your song’s title. Subtitle Your song’s subtitle. Instructions Specific instructions about for playing your song. Author The author of the song.
File Statistics dialog The File Statistics dialog box displays the following information about the contents of the project file: Statistic What it means Created The date the project was first saved. Editing time The total time you’ve had the project open, from the time it was created to the last time it was saved. This does not include time spent editing the project since you last saved it. If you want to update this value, save the project.
Skip All. Click this button to skip all missing audio files. When you skip all missing audio files, you project opens without those pieces of missing audio. Search. Click this button to begin a search of all available hard drives for your missing audio file. After locating the file Options. You can choose to either move an audio file to the project’s audio data folder, copy an audio file to the project’s audio data folder, or leave an audio file in its current folder.
better quality can take a long time if you’re processing several tracks. • Formant Scaling (disabled unless Stretch Audio is checked). (this is a SONAR Producer feature only) possible values range from -2.000 to 2.000 octaves. Formants give a voice its characteristic sound. If you find that changing the length of your audio changes the timbre too much, you can raise or lower the formant to try and maintain the characteristics of the sound.
Hide MIDI Tracks Check this box if you want the MIDI tracks associated with your synth to be hidden when the synth is frozen. Single Bounce Per Track Check this if you want to create a single clip for all the bounced audio. If you don’t check this, each separate clip on a track creates a separate clip when you freeze the track. Remove Silence If you checked the previous option, you can check this box and adjust settings in the Remove Silence dialog to remove silence in a frozen track.
• New Left Channel-From Right slider. Drag the From Right slider to determine the amount of the original right channel that will be mixed to the new file (range = -INF to 18.0dB). • Invert left channel phase. Enable the Invert left-channel phase button if you want to reverse the phase of the new left-channel mix. • New Right Channel-From Left slider. Drag the From Left slider to determine the amount of the original left channel that will be mixed to the new file (range = -INF to 18.0dB).
Display Envelopes on a Percentage Scale This option, when checked, causes new envelopes to be placed in the clip based on a range where 0 dB is in the middle of the clip. If the current volume is other than 0 dB, a new envelope is created at that location. For example a new envelope created at 6 dB would appear at the very top of the clip where a new envelope created at -20 dB would appear near the bottom of the clip.
Always Echo Current MIDI Track This option is on by default, and means that incoming MIDI data will always be echoed through the current track, even if the track’s Input Echo button is in the Off position. Disable Input Monitoring During Playback This option is off by default. When enabled, input monitoring will be disabled on all tracks during playback but not during recording.
• Opacity. Choose how transparent you want the X-Rayed window to become when it is XRayed. • Fade Out Time (Milliseconds). maximum transparency. • Fade In Time (Milliseconds). normal state. Choose how fast you want the X-Rayed window to reach its Choose how fast you want the X-Rayed window to restore its Global Options dialog—Autosave and Versioning Using the Options > Global command opens the Global Options dialog box.
MTC timecode is detected. Note: The final option, Never switch clock source, never start, should never be used if you are attempting to sync to an external clock source. When clock source is set to SMPTE/MTC or MIDI Sync, pressing play in SONAR will: This option tells SONAR what to do when you press play in SMPTE/MTC or MIDI Sync mode: • Switch current clock source and start playback. Switch the clock to Audio (from SMPTE or Sync), and start playback. This cancels SMPTE (or Sync) mode.
Playback Prepare Using N Millisecond Buffers. This option lets you specify how far in advance SONAR prepares MIDI data during playback. The default is 500 milliseconds. If playback stops prematurely, you may try larger values (although you should also check the buffer options in Options > Audio, Advanced tab). If you are using MIDI effects, you may want to try smaller values—for example, 100 milliseconds.
Track Templates These files store your most commonly used track settings, including track type (MIDI or audio), effects and their settings, hardware input, bus send settings, and a variety of other track-related parameters. The default directory is the Track Templates folder located in: Windows XP: C:\Documents and Settings\\Application Data\Cakewalk\SONAR 8.5 \ Windows Vista: C:\ProgramData\Cakewalk\SONAR 8.
Window Layouts You can save or apply (load) various arrangements of views that you create by using the Views > Layouts command. Naming and saving a layout creates a file called (file name)CakewalkWindowLayout, where you supply a file name. The file has the extension .CAK, but the extension is only visible if you look at the file’s Properties. The default directory is the Sample Content folder located in: Windows XP: C:\Documents and Settings\\My Documents\Cakewalk\SONAR 8.
Play List (.SET) When you create and save a .SET file. The default directory for play list files is the Sample Content folder located in: Windows XP: C:\Documents and Settings\\My Documents\Cakewalk\SONAR 8.5 Windows Vista: C:\ProgramData\Cakewalk\SONAR 8.5 Groove Quantize (.GRV) When you create and save a .GRV file.
Drum Maps You can create drum maps to redirect any number of MIDI drum tracks to internal (software) and external (hardware) synthesizers or samplers. The default directory for drum map files is the Drum Maps folder located in: Windows XP: C:\Documents and Settings\\Application Data\Cakewalk\SONAR 8.5 \ Windows Vista: C:\ProgramData\Cakewalk\SONAR 8.5 For more information about drum maps, see Drum Maps and the Drum Grid Pane.
• How you want drag and drop to work (see drag and drop options below) • Whether you want SONAR to automatically add a crossfade between two audio clips that overlap (see general options below) Drag and Drop options: Choose from the following drag and drop options: Copy Entire Clips as Linked Clips. When you copy an entire clip, choosing this option causes the new clip and the clip that you copied it from to be Linked clips. What to do with existing material.
When splitting clips in groups, create new groups. Choosing this option tells SONAR to create a new clip group when splitting clips in an existing clip group. See Also: Moving and Copying Clips Fades and Crossfades Global Options dialog—Nudge There are three sets of Nudge settings. All are the same. The following is a description of the settings. • Musical Time. Select a note length setting. • Absolute Time.
Global Audio Folder The Global Audio Folder is where audio files are stored for all projects when per-project audio is not turned on. It is also used to store audio for older, non-per-project audio projects, as well as a temporary folder for unpacked bundle files and to store audio for as yet unnamed projects. Picture Folder This folder contains the waveform images for all audio files in all your projects.
• On Startup Load Normal Template. This option lets you leave the Use Per-Project Audio Folders option checked, but doesn’t ask you to choose an audio folder every time you open a new project. While you record audio into the new project, the audio data is stored in the global audio folder until you save the file, at which point you can choose to create a PPA folder, or retain the audio in the Global audio folder.
BitBridge Server Configuration Note: BitBridge server configuration is only available in SONAR Producer. Cakewalk’s BitBridge technology allows you to use 32-bit VST effects and instruments when using the x64 version of SONAR. 32-bit VST effects and instruments are loaded into “servers”, and each server can address up to 4GB of RAM.
To Time In this field, fill in the time you want to move to according to the table below. You can click the spin controls (Plus-Minus buttons) to move forward or backward one tick at a time. When you click OK, the Now time becomes the time in the To Time field. When you enter a time in MBT format, the beat and tick value are optional.
Groove Quantize dialog The Process > Groove Quantize command opens the Groove Quantize dialog box. Groove Quantizing is a way to edit a track so that its rhythmic feeling and, optionally, controller data are similar to some other piece of music. The other piece of music forms a groove pattern that you store in a groove file, which has an extension of .GRV.
the window. • Quantize to Resolution. Choosing this option means that SONAR quantizes out-of-window notes according to the resolution value instead of the groove pattern. • Move to Nearest. Choosing this option means that SONAR moves out-of-window notes to the nearest groove event. • Scale Time. Choosing this option means that SONAR moves out-of-window notes so that they are equally spaced. AudioSnap Beats Check this box if you want AudioSnap transients to be quantized.
Changing the Timing of a Recording Group Attributes dialog When you right-click a control in the Track view or the Console view that belongs to a Quick Group, and choose Save from the pop-up menu, the Group Attributes dialog appears. The Group Attributes dialog has the following fields: Group Name You can enter a name for the group in this field. Choose Color button Clicking this button opens the Color dialog, which allows you to choose or customize the group color.
Start Value column This column is not active unless the group is a custom group. The Start Value column lists the beginning values of all the controls in the selected group. End Value column This column is not active unless the group is a custom group. The End Value column lists the ending values of all the controls in the selected group. Preserve Mix Between Gain Members When this check box is enabled, any gain controls that are grouped will maintain the dB differential between them when they are moved.
See also: Using Control Groups Hairpin Properties dialog In the Staff view, right-click on a hairpin (crescendo or decrescendo) to open the Hairpin Properties dialog box. Use these fields to edit the hairpin that you right-clicked: • Time. Type the location you want the hairpin to move to. • < Crescendo. • > Diminuendo. Click this option to change the hairpin to a crescendo. Click this option to change the hairpin to a decrescendo. • Duration. Type the length you want the hairpin to last.
• Look In field. import. Use this field to navigate to the folder that contains the audio file you want to • File name window. Just below the Look In field, this window displays the contents of the folder that’s listed in the Look In field. In this window, you can click the name of the file you want to import to select it. You can select more than one file by holding down the CTRL key while you click. • File Name field. This field displays the name of the audio file that you have selected to import.
moments. • Import Bit Depth. Audio Tracks on a CD always have a bit depth of 16, but you can choose to import the tracks at a higher bit depth if desired. • Play. When a single track is selected, it can be auditioned by pressing the Play button. Once playback begins the button is renamed to Stop, so that the audition can be manually terminated. • OK. Imports the selected tracks. For each track selected, an Audio track is created in the project. • Cancel. Closes the dialog without performing any action.
file and folder window This large window under the Look in field lists the files and folders that are inside the current folder. File name Type or select the filename you want to open. Files of type Select the type of file you want to open. Import Instrument Definitions dialog When you use the Options > Instruments command, the Assign Instruments dialog box appears, which contains the Define button. Clicking this button opens the Define Instruments and Names dialog box, which contains the Import button.
Look In Use this field to navigate to the folder that contains the MIDI file or Project5 pattern that you want to import. File Name This field lists the name of the file you’ve selected to import. Files of Type Use this field to choose whether you want to display MIDI files or Project5 patterns.
Use these options in the Video File dialog box: Option What it means Look in Use this field to find the folder that contains the video file you want to insert. File name Use this field to find the video file you want to insert. Clicking the name of the file in the window above this field causes it to appear in the File name field. Files of Type Use this field to select what type of video files to display.
• Aud.ini To view and edit the Cakewalk.ini file, choose Options > Initialization File. To edit the other two files, or the Cakewalk.ini file, use the Windows Notepad. There are several other .ini files in the SONAR folder, but you should not attempt to edit or modify these files in any way. Changes to these other files could cause SONAR to stop operating properly. Before making any changes to any of the .ini files, you should make a backup copy in case you make a mistake.
Input Quantize dialog Using the Tracks > Input Quantize > Quantize Settings command opens the Input Quantize dialog. This command quantizes recorded input automatically during MIDI recording. This dialog has the following fields: Preset menu Save or select settings that you use often in the drop-down menu. To save a new group of settings, type a name into the menu, and click the Save button. To delete a group, select it and click the Delete button.
Quantizing Insert Pitch Change dialog Right-clicking in the time ruler and choosing Insert Pitch Change from the pop-up menu opens the Insert Pitch Change dialog box. This command changes the pitch of a Groove clip at the Now time at which you insert the command. For more information, see: Creating and Editing Groove Clips Using Pitch Markers in the Track View Insert Series of Controllers dialog Select Insert > Controllers from the menu to open the Insert Series of Controllers dialog box.
Insert Series of Tempos dialog This command lets you change tempo smoothly over a specified time range by inserting a series of tempo changes. Tempo Range • Begin–enter the tempo you want to start the tempo range at. • End– enter the tempo you want to end the tempo range at. • Step–enter a value in beats and clock ticks for how often you want SONAR to insert a tempo change into your tempo range. Time Range • From–enter the time location in your project where you want the tempo range to start.
• All Synth Audio Outputs: Stereo. If you select this option, one new stereo synth track appears for each stereo audio output that the synth you chose has. Each of the new tracks uses a different one of the synth’s outputs as an audio input. • All Synth Audio Outputs: Mono. If you select this option, two new mono synth tracks (one Left and one Right) appear for each stereo audio output that the synth you chose has. Each pair of new synth tracks uses a different one of the synth’s outputs as an audio input.
Insert Time/Measures dialog Select Insert > Time/Measures to open the Insert Time Measures dialog box. This dialog lets you insert the amount of time you specify at the point you indicate in the music. You can specify what events to slide over to make room for the new amount of time. At Time: The time at which you want to insert time, seconds, ticks or frames.
output that is listed in the Main Destination field. • Send. If you choose an option besides None in this field, each new audio track that you insert will contain a Send module whose output is the bus that you choose in this field. MIDI • Track Count. Set the number of MIDI tracks you want to insert. • Port. Set the output port that you want the new MIDI tracks to use. • Channel. Set the output channel that you want the new MIDI tracks to use.
• Key. Clicking this option makes a key on your MIDI keyboard act as a key binding shift key. Choose which key by clicking the + or - buttons in the window that’s just to the right of the Key button. • Controller. Clicking this option makes a controller on your MIDI keyboard act as a key binding shift key. Choose which controller (usually the sustain pedal) by choosing one from the drop-down list that’s just to the right of the Controller button.
Export Click this button to export your currently-loaded set of key bindings so that you can reload them if you want. See Also: Key Bindings Kind of Event dialog In the Event List view, double-clicking the name of any event that’s listed in the Kind column opens the Kind of Event dialog box. After you double-click the name of an event, you can change that event into another kind of event by choosing the new kind of event in the Kind of Event dialog box.
beat to the left, or half of 2 beats. • Durations. Choose this option if you want the durations of the selected events to shrink by a percentage. By “N” Percent Fill in the percentage number that you want the selected events to change by, which can be positive or negative. Stretch Audio Choose this option if you want duration of any selected audio to change. Type (disabled unless Stretch Audio is checked) This is a SONAR Producer feature only.
Loop/Auto Shuttle dialog The Transport > Loop and Auto Shuttle command opens the Loop/Auto Shuttle dialog box. This dialog box lets you specify start and stop times for looping and whether you want the loop to start over again. The Loop/Auto Shuttle dialog box has the following fields: Loop Start Enter a time where you want the loop to start. Loop End Enter a time where you want the loop to end.
Name A descriptive, user-assigned name for the current drum sound. In Note The recorded pitch as it appears in the Event List view. The range is from C0 to G10 or 0 to 127. Raise or lower values one half-step at a time using the +/- keys or by an octave at a time by using the open and close bracket keys ([ and ]). Out Note The specific note to which the In Note is mapped. The range is from C0 to G10 or 0 to 127.
Name: Enter the name you want to give the marker. Lock to SMPTE time Check this if you want to use SMPTE time code. Time: Enter the time at which you want to place the marker. Groove Clip Pitch If you want the marker to change the project pitch, select the pitch you want from the Groove Clip Pitch drop-down menu. See also: Creating and Using Markers Markers dialog This dialog box lets you choose any marker. Closing the box and the associated Go dialog box moves the Now time to the specified marker.
Menu Editor dialog The Options > Menu Editor command opens the Menu Editor dialog box, which lets you modify the layout of the application’s menus. The Menu Editor dialog box has the following fields: Menu Layout: Select the layout you wish to load or edit from the drop-down menu. To save a layout under a new name, type the name into this field, and click the Save button (the floppy disc icon). To delete a previously saved layout, display the name of that layout in this menu, and click the Delete button .
Beat Value: Select the value of each beat (i.e. 1 = whole note, 2 = half note, etc.) Key Signature: Select the key signature. For step by step instructions, see Setting the Meter and Key signatures. Microsoft Media Format Encode Options dialog You can create settings and a description for your Windows Media Advanced Streaming Format file in the Microsoft Audio Encode Options dialog box. Note: To create a surround encoded file you must export surround encoded buses. Title: Enter the title of the file.
MIDI Devices dialog The Options > MIDI Devices command opens the MIDI Devices dialog, which lets you choose the MIDI inputs and outputs you want to use. The selection in the Output menu for a track determines which piece of hardware will be used to produce the sound stored in your project. The list of enabled input devices in the MIDI Devices dialog determines which input MIDI devices can successfully send MIDI data into your Cakewalk application.
MIDI Envelope dialog When you use the Envelopes > Create Track Envelope > MIDI command from the Clips pane right-click menu, the MIDI Envelope dialog appears. The MIDI Envelope dialog has the following fields: • Type. • Value. Use this field to choose what kind of MIDI event you want to control with your envelope. Use this field to choose the name of the controller you want to edit. • Channel. Use this field to choose the MIDI channel that you want the envelope to send data on.
Preset Window The first window in the dialog lists the currently selected preset for the active track. When you want to create a new preset, type a name for it in this field when you’ve finished choosing channels and ports, and click the Save button (disk icon). Input Port The list of available MIDI input ports is listed vertically in this field.
MP3 Export Options dialog The following is a description of the options in the MP3 Export Options dialog: Bit Rate Choose a bit rate from the drop-down list. A higher bit rate creates larger, higher quality files. The Bit Rate allows you to select the trade-off between the size and the sound quality of the compressed file. Compressing to higher bit rates will provide better sound quality, but will also create larger files. Bit rate is specified in bits per second.
Variable Bit Rate Encoding Instead of producing a constant bit rate throughout the file, the Variable Bit Rate option optimizes the bit rate in different parts of the file to use a higher bit rate where it will make a difference, and a lower one where it won’t. This option generally produces a better quality file than constant bit rate encoding, but doesn’t produce the predictable file size you might need for downloadable files.
New Project File dialog Open the New Project File dialog by selecting File > New from the menu. In the New Project File dialog you choose the name of your project, where the project’s data is stored and which template you want to use to create the file. Name Enter a file name for your project. This option is only available if you have Per-Project Audio Data option selected in the Global Option dialog. Location Select a folder in which your project file is saved.
another program is using your system’s MIDI outputs. This dialog box lets you choose, or decide not to choose, an output. For more information, see To choose MIDI devices Normalize dialog The Normalize dialog appears when you use the Process > Audio > Normalize command. This dialog has the following controls: • Presets window. Use this window and the Save and Delete buttons that are next to it to save and manage any normalization presets that you decide to keep. • Normalize Level slider.
This dialog box lets you edit the note's time, pitch, velocity, and other MIDI properties. See also: Selecting Notes Online Registration dialog The Online Registration dialog appears when you start SONAR. You have three options in this dialog: • Register Now. This option opens your default Internet browser on Cakewalk’s registration page. • Please Remind Me Later. This options closes the dialog. The dialog appears again, periodically, to prompt you to register. • Don’t Ask Me Again.
Open Groove File dialog The Open Groove File dialog box appears when you click the Open button that’s at the right end of the Groove File field in the Groove Quantize dialog box. The Open Groove File dialog has the following fields: • Look In. This field lists the name of the folder whose contents are displayed in the window below it. Use this field to navigate to a folder that contains the groove file you need. • File Name.
Paste to One Track This option is greyed out unless you copy data from more than one track at a time. Checking this check box causes SONAR to paste multiple tracks’ data into a single track. Linked Repetitions Checking the Link Repetitions check box causes all the new clips to be linked clips with the clip you copied. Link to Original Clip(s) Checking the Link to Original Clip(s) check box creates a linked clip.
• Track/Bus Automation. If you have track or bus envelopes in the selection you are pasting, you can check this option to paste it to its new location. • Tempo Changes. If you check this check box, SONAR pastes all tempo changes from the copied data. • Meter/Key Changes. If you check this check box, SONAR pastes all meter and key changes from the copied data. • Markers. If you check this check box, SONAR pastes all markers from the copied data.
Choosing the instrument sound (bank and patch) Pattern Velocity dialog Clicking the Pattern Brush drop-down arrow and choosing Velocity from the drop-down menu opens the Pattern Velocity dialog. This dialog allows you to set the velocity for notes in the patterns you paint with the Pattern Brush. The Pattern Velocity dialog has only the following field: Velocity Fill in the velocity that you want notes in the patterns you paint with the Pattern Brush to use. Use numbers between 0 and 127.
Preset Use the Preset field to apply, save, or delete a set of percussion settings. MIDI Note Use this field to select the MIDI pitches in your track that you want to appear as different pitches (to make the notes fit onto the staff neatly). You can set MIDI notes that would normally appear with several or lots of ledger lines to appear somewhere in the staff. Display As Use this field to select the notes that you want to appear on the staff when particular MIDI pitches play.
Pick Track(s) dialog Clicking the Pick Tracks button in the Piano Roll, Event List, Staff, or Lyrics views opens the Pick Tracks dialog box, which allows you to choose which tracks’ data you want to display in any of the above views. To choose tracks to display, simply highlight the names of the ones you want to display. You can select nonadjacent track names by CTRL-clicking, and you can select adjacent track names by SHIFT-clicking or dragging.
Print The Print button in the Print Preview dialog opens your system’s Print dialog box. For more information, see Print dialog. Configure For the Staff view, the Configure button in the Print Preview dialog box lets you choose from a number of standard staff sizes. You can see which fits your needs best. Next Page The Next Page button displays the next page of the print preview. Prev Page The Prev Page button displays the previous page of the print preview.
All Prints the entire document. Pages Prints the range of pages you specify in the From and To boxes. Copies Specify the number of copies you want to print for the above page range. Collate Prints copies in page number order, instead of separated multiple copies of each page. Properties button Opens a dialog box that lets you specify whatever your printer allows. Project Files dialog Open the Project Files dialog by selecting Project Audio Files from the File menu.
Bit Depth The bit depth of each wave file. File Size The size of each wave file. Status The following status entries are possible in the Status column of the Project Files dialog: • Global. The file is stored in the Global Audio Data directory. The Global Audio Data directory can be changed in the Audio Data tab of the Global Options dialog. • Local. The file is stored in the local wave data directory, a per-project data directory which is a subdirectory in the directory where the project file is stored.
Ticks per quarter-note This section lets you choose the number of subdivisions of the beat (parts per quarter note), from fifteen choices. Timecode format This section lets you choose a SMPTE frame rate from among six choices. SMPTE/MTC Offset This section allows you to start SONAR playing after it starts receiving time code by an amount you choose in this field of the dialog box. Choose an amount in hours/minutes/seconds/frames format.
MIDI Note If you checked Use MIDI Note in the above section, then choose options for these three parameters: • Port. Choose the port that the MIDI note plays through. • Channel. Choose the MIDI channel your metronome plays on. • Duration. Choose how many Ticks you want the metronome sound to last. First Beat Choose a Key (a note) and a Velocity for the first metronome attack in the measure. Other Beats Choose a Key (a note) and a Velocity for the other metronome attacks in the measure.
zero. It also sends a “zero all continuous controllers” MIDI message which turns off other continuous controllers on newer synthesizers. If you experience frequent stuck notes when playback stops, try checking this option. • Patch/Controller Searchback Before Play Starts. If you choose this option, SONAR finds and sends the most recent patch changes, wheel events, and pedal events before starting playback. This way, all settings are correct even if you start playback at an arbitrary point in the project.
• Frame Rate. Use this drop-down menu to choose the frame rate for your project (see Frame Rates, if necessary). • MTC Output Ports. Check off the output ports that you want SONAR to send MTC out of. See also: MIDI Synchronization. Synchronizing Your Gear Project Options dialog—Surround tab The Surround tab in the Project Options dialog is where you set your surround options. Presets You can save your current settings as a preset. This allows you to easily move between different surround configurations.
• 5.1 (Film/Alternative) • 5.1 (Music/Alternative) • 5.1 (SMPTE/ITU) • 6.0 (Hexagon) • 6.0 (Film/Alternative) • 6.0 (Music/Alternative) • 6.1 (Film/Alternative) • 6.1 (Music/Alternative) • 6.1 (SMPTE/ITU) • 7.0 (Heptagon) • 7.0 (Film/Alternative) • 7.0 (Music/Alternative) • 7.1 (Film/Alternative) • 7.1 (Music/Alternative) • 7.1 (SMPTE/ITU) • 8.0 (Octagon) • 8.0 (Film/Alternative) • 8.0 (Music/Alternative) • 8.1 (Film/Alternative) • 8.1 (Music/Alternative) • 8.1 (SMPTE/ITU) 5.
into both left and right. The alternatives are: • -3 dB. This is the right amount to distribute into two acoustic sources to reach the same sound power level, thus keeping the far-field level (in the reverberant listening field, as is typical at home) equal. This is the amount by which a standard sin-cos panner redistributes a center panned image into left and right, for instance. • -4.5 dB.
Figure 265. The PRV Mouse Tool Configuration dialog A C B D E F A. Tool B. Context C. Keys D. Mouse Button E. Mouse Location F. Tool Action See: Tool Mouse Button Keys Mouse Location Tool Action To configure a Mouse Action Default PRV tool assignments Tool The Tool combobox lists the three Piano Roll tools: • PRV Tool 1. This tool corresponds to the Select tool ( ) in the Piano Roll toolbar. • PRV Tool 2. This tool corresponds to the Draw tool ( ) in the Piano Roll toolbar. • PRV Tool 3.
To Edit Notes with the Draw Tool To Edit Notes with the Select Tool To Use the Erase Tool Mouse Button SONAR allows you to assign the following mouse buttons: • Left • Middle (if available) • Right Keys In addition to a mouse button, you can optionally configure a mouse action to also use any combination of the following keys: • CTRL • SHIFT • ALT Note: Because Windows has a long-established standard of using CTRL-drag for copy operations, there is a potential collision when using the CTRL key to program
G A F BC D E A. Controller B. Note Slip Start C. Note Time Adjust D. Note Pitch Adjust E. Note Slip End F. Note Velocity Adjust G. Nowhere The Note event in the previous diagram has dotted lines that outline the various hit zones on Note events as possible context locations. It also shows a single value (controller) event as another context location. Clicking outside the Note event and value event is referred to as the Nowhere context location.
Action Mouse Down Mouse Move Mouse Up Paint Notes/Controllers See Note/controller painting (freehand) Add Note/Controller to edit buffer Insert additional events at mouse position. For notes, use snap as interval between and duration of notes. For Controllers, use the snap as interval between. Commit edit buffer. Paint Notes/Controllers Linear See Note/controller painting (linear) Add Note/Controller to edit buffer Commit edit buffer.
Action Mouse Down Mouse Move Mouse Up Sel and Move Notes/ Controllers Select any hit event. Obey SHIFT/CTRL as standard modifiers Move selected notes/ Controllers freely horizontally (in time) and vertically Commit edit buffer Sel and Move Notes/ Controllers (Vert) Select any hit event. Obey SHIFT/CTRL as standard modifiers Move selected notes/ Controllers ivertically only Commit edit buffer Sel and Move Notes/ Controllers (Time) Select any hit event.
See: To configure a Mouse Action Quantize dialog When you use the Process > Quantize command, the Quantize dialog box appears. Quantize has two different forms. • Process > Quantize. This is the standard quantizing command that adjusts the start time and duration of selected notes so that they line up with a fixed size grid. • Process > Groove Quantize.
• Window. This value determines whether SONAR quantizes notes that are far from the quantization points, or leaves them alone. A value of 100 percent quantizes every note. See Window. • Offset. This value moves the quantization grid forward or backward in the track, away from the beat boundaries. See Offset. • Auto XFade Audio Clips. This option becomes available if you enable the Audio Clip Start Times check box.
Zoom Out Select whether the Zoom out action is centered at the cursor or the Now Time in horizontal Zoom, and select whether the Zoom out action is centered at the cursor or the Active Track in vertical Zoom. Simultaneous Horizontal and Vertican Zoom Check the check box to make horizontal and vertical zoom simultaneous.
Record Options dialog The Transport > Record Options command opens the Record Options dialog box. This command specifies how SONAR records clips into tracks already holding other clips. If you use loop recording, the command also lets you specify whether to record takes in sequential tracks or stacked in a single track. Note: SONAR saves the recording options you choose with each project, so you can save a different recording mode with each of your projects.
Clip Groups • Group Clips Across Tracks. Choosing this option causes SONAR to place all new clips in a group after recording is complete. When loop recording, each pass of the loop gets placed in its own group. For more information, see Clip selection groups. See Also: Punch Recording To choose a recording mode Loop Recording Regenerate Tablature dialog In the Staff view toolbar, click the drop-down arrow on the Staff View Layout button to display the tablature drop-down list.
mode, where each string transmits on a different MIDI channel. (Values: 1 - 11). Selecting “1” will cause it to use MIDI channels 1 - 6, selecting 2, 2 - 7, and so on. Finger Span The value in this field determines the finger or fret span the new TAB covers. Usually, you set this value to 4. Lowest Fret The value in this field determines the lowest fret the TAB can use for the selected notes.
control is a button, it toggles between on and off position. • Note On/Off. With this button enabled, the selected control’s value is maximized when the note that’s listed in this field is depressed, and minimized when the note is released. If the selected control is a button, it toggles between on and off position. • Controller.
For step by step instructions: To Set Up Remote Control for a Knob, Button, or Fader See also: Using Control Groups Remove DC Offset dialog The Process > Remove DC Offset command opens the Remove DC Options dialog, which allows you to remove audio artifacts cause by electrical mismatches between recording hardware and input instruments or devices. This dialog has the following fields: • DC Offset Threshold (dB). You can set a minimum dB threshold.
Attack Time (ms) The value in this field is the interval of time after the volume reaches the Open Level for the gate to fully open. Opening the gate gradually produces a fade-in effect instead of an instant on-off sound. Hold Time (ms) The value in this field is the minimum time for the gate to stay open. Hold Time is useful when you've set high open and close levels—for example, when your source signal is very loud.
See also: Customizable toolbars Retain Cakewalk Preferences dialog If you choose to retain or migrate your preferences from a previous version of Cakewalk, the SONAR installer finds the existing Cakewalk.ini files on your system. The list of Cakewalk.ini files appears in the Retain Cakewalk Preferences dialog box. You may choose one from this list. The preferences and settings stored in the older version's Cakewalk.ini and TTSseq.
Safe Mode dialog Opening a file in safe mode opens the safe mode dialog, which asks you, one plug-in at a time, which of the file’s plug-ins to open each. If you think one of the plug-ins is preventing the file from opening, choose not to load that plug-in. You can also try loading only one plug-in, closing the file, and then loading 2 plug-ins the next time you open the file, etc., until you isolate the bad plug-in.
• MIDI Format 1. separate track. Save in this format to create a Standard MIDI File that keeps each channel on a • Riff MIDI Format 0. Save in this format if you need a Riff MIDI File of Format 0. • Riff MIDI Format 1. Save in this format if you need a Riff MIDI File of Format 1. Riff Wave files. If you are saving in the Loop Construction view, you can save the wave file as a Groove Clip/Wave file or a regular Wave file, depending on whether you enabled looping on the clip that you’re saving.
Save Pattern dialog To open the Save Pattern dialog, do one of the following: • Right-click in the Step Sequencer toolbar and select Save Pattern from the pop-up menu. • Open the Step Sequencer and press press CTRL+ALT+S. The Save Pattern dialog lets you save a step sequencer pattern as a separate file. Use the following fields to control your options: Save in Select the directory in which you want to store the file. File name Type or select the filename you want to open.
• Scale. This field lists the scales that are stored in the selected Scale Family. • Keyboard display. This keyboard display shows the notes that are in the selected scale by displaying a blue dot over each note in the selected scale. You can include or exclude a note clicking keys in the keyboard display. • Scale Degrees. This field lists the different scale degrees that are in the selected scale. • Scale Degree buttons.
End Enter a velocity value between 0 and 127 for the last event of the selection, unless you want to use percentages. If you use percentages, enter a number between 0 and the approximate percentage that would create a velocity of 127, when multiplied by the existing velocity of the last event. SONAR rounds off any values you create above 127 to 127. Percentages Check this check box if you want to modify existing velocities by a percentage. See also: To Scale Velocities.
To Select Partial Clips Using Time Ranges and Tracks Set Default Velocities for Steps dialog Open the Set Default Velocities for Steps dialog by right-clicking to the right of any row in the Step Sequencer and selecting Set Default Velocities for Steps from the pop-up menu. From the Set Default Velocities for Steps dialog you select the default velocity value that is assigned to new notes that are enabled in the Step Sequencer.
• Markers. If you select any locked markers, SONAR asks whether you want to slide them too. By Enter a number in the By field to control how many units (see below) your selected data moves. Negative numbers move the data to earlier positions in the track, but data can not move earlier than beat 1 of the first measure. Choose from the following units: • Measures. If you choose Measures, the selected data moves by a number of whole measures. • Ticks.
Whole, a mouse click in the Time Ruler automatically “snaps” the Now Time to the nearest whole measure. The following actions can be affected by the Snap to Grid dialog: • Selecting the Now Time • Making a time selection in the Time Ruler • Dragging and dropping a clip • Selecting partial clips • Slip-editing The snap grid in each view is independent. For example, you can enable the snap grid in the Track view without enabling it in the Piano Roll view, or Staff view.
• Markers • Audio Transients This option also applies to the Now Time and time selections in the Time Ruler. Snap to Audio Zero Crossings This option automatically snaps edited audio clips to the nearest zero crossing of the waveform, the point at which there is no volume, to minimize the glitches that can happen when waveforms are spliced together. Mode: The two modes apply to the Musical Time and Absolute Time options. The following is a description of the two Snap to Grid modes: • Move To.
Create a New Project button Clicking this button opens the New Project File dialog box, which displays a list of templates for new projects. Select the one you want to open, and click OK. Online Videos and more Click this link to view our tutorial videos online. An active Internet connection is needed in order to access this content. Getting Started button Clicking this button opens the Getting started help topic, which contains links that open tutorials and introductory help topics.
depending on whether you choose Ascending or Descending in the Order field. • Size. Choosing this option causes SONAR to put the biggest tracks (tracks that contain the most events) either first or last, depending on whether you choose Ascending or Descending in the Order field. • Output. Choosing this option causes SONAR sort the tracks by output. • Channel. Choosing this option causes SONAR to sort the tracks by their MIDI channels, in either Ascending or Descending order.
You can also manually attach a .sf2 file to a project by clicking the Attach button in the SoundFont Banks dialog box, and browsing to the .sf2 file you want to attach to the project. Manual attachment overrides base name attachment. Note that bank 0 is reserved for the Standard GM bank and cannot be assigned. The SoundFonts Banks dialog box has these fields Banks window This window lists all the SoundFont banks that are currently loaded into this project.
Split At Selection Choosing this option splits the clip(s) at the boundaries of the selected area. If you’re splitting a MIDI clip, the split will not split any notes, so the split may not happen exactly where your selection boundary is.
Display The Display fields in the Staff Layout View dialog box enable you to choose a variety of display options for the Staff view: • Whether you want rests to be beamed together with the notes that occur on the same beat (Beam Rests check box). • Whether the staff view will display sustain pedal events (Show Pedal Events check box). • Whether you want chord grids displayed above chord symbols (Show Chord Grids check box).
Printing Step Record dialog The Transport > Step Record command opens the Step Record dialog box. Step recording lets you specify step size and note duration so you can record difficult passages a step at a time. Step Record always uses the Sound on Sound (blend) record mode, regardless of the current record mode. The Step Record dialog has an extra set of controls called Advanced mode that only appear when you click the Adv. button.
distance away from the insertion point. You can enter a positive (after the insertion point) or negative value (before the insertion point). Insertion Point Field This field lists the current insertion point in MBT format. Scroll Bar The scroll bar provides a visual representation of the insertion point’s location. Drag the scroll bar to move the insertion point forward or backward.
Unlink Controls You can unlink a parameter in an instance of a plug-in by clicking the Unlink Controls button so that it turns red, making some adjustments to the parameters that you want to unlink, and then clicking the Unlink Controls button again so that it’s not red. Presets Existing plug-in presets are available in the SoundBridge Plugin Linker. When you select a stereo preset, the settings apply to each instance of the plug-in.
The next time you want to use these settings for a track, choose your Preset in the Staff View Layout dialog box from the Presets drop-down list. Tablature The Tablature tab has these fields: • Method. Choose a tablature method from the Method drop-down list. There are three methods to determine how the TAB is displayed: • Floating. Analyzes all events in a track and attempts to optimize tablature with reference to open position • Fixed. This specifies where on the neck these notes should be played.
See Also: The Fretboard Quick TAB Staff Pane Layout The Staff View Basic Musical Editing Chords and Marks Tablature Tempo dialog The Insert > Tempo Change command opens the Tempo dialog box. In the Tempo dialog box you can set a new Tempo at a specified point. Use the following fields to insert a tempo change: Tempo. Type a new tempo or use the Click here to tap tempo button to tap out a tempo. The Tempo field changes as the tapped tempo varies. Change the Most Recent Tempo. recent tempo.
Next Tip button Click this button (or press ENTER if the button is highlighted) as many times as you like to display the next tip. Show Tips on Startup If you uncheck this check box, the Tip of the Day dialog box appears only when you use the Help > Tip of the Day command. Toolbars dialog The Views > Toolbars command lets you select which toolbars are displayed and also the style of display for the toolbars. To display a toolbar, click the check box next to its name.
See also: Assigning a MIDI channel (Chn) Track Inputs dialog The Tracks > Property > Inputs command opens the Track Inputs dialog box. This command lets you specify inputs for all of your project’s tracks for recording and MIDI echoing purposes. Use these fields in the dialog box to choose inputs for your tracks: Track Column Use the Track column to choose which track or tracks you want to choose an input for. Click the name of a track to select it or CTRL-click to select several at once.
Amount Fill in the number of half-steps that you want SONAR to transpose the track. Positive numbers transpose the track up; negative numbers do the opposite. See also: Adjusting the Key/transposing a track (Key+) Track Manager dialog Clicking the Track Manager button or pressing M in the Track view or Console view opens the Track Manager dialog box. Use this dialog box to hide or display the various track modules and buses in the view that you opened it from.
MIDI Outputs Choose the MIDI output that you want this track’s data to be sent to. The MIDI Outputs field is grayed out if the selected track is an audio track. Audio Outputs Choose the audio output that you want this track’s data to be sent to. The Audio Outputs field is grayed out if the selected track is a MIDI track. See also: Setting up output devices Track Pan dialog The Tracks > Property > Pan command opens the Track Pan dialog box. Use this command to set the pan for the highlighted track(s).
Choosing the instrument sound (bank and patch) To choose patches with the Patch browser Importing Instrument Definitions Creating Instrument Definitions Track Properties dialog Right-clicking a track and choosing Track Properties from the pop-up menu opens the Track Properties dialog box. The Track Properties dialog box has the following fields: Input The Input for the track, used in recording Output This field lists the output device through which this track is played.
Background Color Click the Choose Color button in this section to change the background color of this track’s clips. Default Track Color When this check box is enabled, the track uses default background and foreground colors for this track’s clips. You can choose which set of default colors the track uses by selecting a different option in the drop-down menu next to the check box. Description This field provides a place that you can enter a text description of the track, for future reference.
Track Time+ dialog The Tracks > Property > Time+ command opens the Track Time+ dialog box, which allows you to set the amount that SONAR advances or delays the start time for all events in the highlighted track. The Track Time+ dialog box has only the following field: Amount This field adjusts the start time for an event in two ways. If you click in the field and adjust the value using the +/- buttons, the start time for the event is adjusted by ticks.
In some projects you want the volume of a track to change while playback is in progress. You can accomplish this using the Track, Console, Piano Roll, or Event views. Note: Not all keyboards and synthesizers respond to volume change messages. Check the manual that came with your keyboard or synthesizer for more information.
• Type. only). Choose the type of audio data you’re transposing (this is a SONAR Producer feature • Formant scaling. (this is a SONAR Producer feature only) possible values range from -2.000 to 2.000 octaves. Formants give a voice its characteristic sound. You can use the Formant Scaling value to offset the pitch transposition you’re applying. For example, if you’re transposing the pitch down, you can raise the formant to try and maintain the characteristics of the sound.
Unlink Clips dialog When you right-click a selected group of two or more linked clips and choose Unlink from the popup menu, the Unlink Clips dialog box appears. This command lets you specify when unlinking selected linked clips whether to form a new, different linked group or to make the clips completely independent.
Unpack OMF dialog The Unpack OMF dialog appears when you open an OMF file. Note: When you import an OMF that uses embedded media, SONAR can determine the bit depth and sample rate of the embedded media, and it will set those fields as the default values for OMF import. If the OMF is using externally linked media, SONAR will not be able to determine the sample rate of the media and will default to a 44,100 sample rate.
Unreadable Files dialog This dialog may appear when using the Clean Audio Folder command. This dialog lists any files on your system which have a Cakewalk file extension (.cwp, .cwt, .wrk, and .tpl), but cannot be read by SONAR. These files may be corrupt or they may not be SONAR files at all, if for instance you have another application on your system which saves files with the same extension.
• Clip. This field lists the name of the currently-loaded video file. • Start Time. If you don’t want the video to start playing until some later time in the audio project, fill in the time that you do want the video to start. For example, if you want the beginning of your video to start playing at measure 3 of your audio project, enter 3 in the Start Time field. • Trim-in Time.
Tab Name Use this field to choose the tab that you want to configure, for all kinds of track and bus strips. You can also create a new tab by choosing the option in the drop-down menu, and typing a name for the new tab. Audio Strip In this column, check off each control that you want to see on the tab that you chose in the Tab Name field for all audio tracks. MIDI Strip In this column, check off each control that you want to see on the tab that you chose in the Tab Name field for all MIDI tracks.
The Views > Layouts command opens the Window Layouts dialog box. Use the following fields to control your layouts: Global window This large window lists all your saved layouts. Close Old Windows Before Loading New Ones If you check this option, SONAR closes all the views of the current project before applying the layout. If you leave this option unchecked, existing views remain open, and additional views appear according to the settings in the layout.
Rating: This field only relates to exporting video, which you can’t do from this dialog box. Copyright: Enter any copyright information for the file. Description: Enter a note about the file. Variable Bit Rate VBR encoding makes the quality of the encoded audio more consistent, but can make the resulting file size less predictable. Codec Select a codec from the drop-down list. Format Select a format from the drop-down list. The higher the kbps setting, the higher the quality of the file.
www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/download In Select Download choose Windows Media Encoder. In Select Version choose 9 Series. The setup program will install the Windows Media Profile Editor utility. If you author your own profiles (.prx files), they must be placed in the \Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Cakewalk\SONAR 8 Producer Edition\WMV Profiles directory in order to be available in SONAR. Note: If you use SONAR Studio, substitute “Producer” with “Studio”.
Post Fader (best for effects). When Post Fader is selected, the send signal is taken from after the channel volume fader. As a result, the send level going to the bus changes when the channel fader changes. Select Post Fader if you want to create an effect bus. Doing so allows you to maintain a consistent balance between the “wet” and “dry” signals as you adjust the channel fader. Pre Fader. When Pre Fader is selected, the send signal is taken from before the channel volume fader.
The Silent Buses Detected dialog also appears if any track or bus output is assigned to “None” as a result of changing the audio configuration. Rename Cell dialog When you right-click a cell in the Matrix view and choose Rename Cell from the pop-up menu, the Rename Cell dialog appears. This dialog lets you rename the cell.
Quantize to AudioSnap Pool dialog When you click the Quantize to pool command on the Transient tool pop-up menu, the Quantize to AudioSnap Pool dialog appears. This dialog lets you configure various settings that affect how audio beats are quantized to the Pool. The options are as follows: • Max Distance From Pool. The value in this menu determines which notes are affected by the Quantize to Pool command.
View Reference Track View Console View Loop Construction view Media Browser View Matrix view Piano Roll View Step Sequencer View Event List View Staff View Big Time View Lyrics view Video View Tempo View Meter/Key View Markers View SYSX View Synth Rack View Navigator View Play List View Track View The Track view is always visible. It is the main window that you use to create, display, and work with a project. When you open a project file, the Track view is displayed for the project.
The Track view is divided into several sections: toolbars (at the top), the Navigator pane, the Video Thumbnails pane, the Track pane, the Clips pane, and the Bus pane. You can change the size of the panes by dragging the vertical or horizontal splitter bars that separate the them. Figure 266. The Track view A B I C H G F E D A. The Track Pane B. The Clips Pane C. Clips D. Splitter bars E. Show/hide bus pane F. Track/Bus Inspector G. Minimized tracks H. Expanded track I.
Track View Toolbar The Track view toolbar gives you quick access to Track view display options and allows you to move between the different editing modes. The following table gives a description of each of the Track view toolbar controls: Control Name Description Insert new track(s) or bus(es) Click this button to choose from a variety of insertion options.
Control Name Description Zoom tool Use the Zoom tool to zoom in on a clip or clips in the Tracks pane. With the Zoom tool selected, drag around the clip or clips you want to zoom in on. Scrub tool Enables scrubbing in the Clips pane. For more information about scrubbing, see “Scrubbing” on page 560. Show/Hide Inspector Click this button to toggle on or off the display of the Track/ Bus Inspector in the Track view.
Track Pane The Track pane lets you see and change the settings for each track. Selected tracks always appear in a different color. The controls for an individual track are grouped together to form that track’s track strip. To change the current track, move the highlight using the mouse or the keyboard as follows: Key What it does UP ARROW and DOWN ARROW Moves the selection to the adjacent track.
The Track view makes it easy to select tracks, clips, and ranges of time in a project. These are the most common selection methods: To Do this Select tracks Click on the track number (the right side of the track number; the upper left corner of the track number is for grouping tracks), or drag over several track numbers Select clips Click on the clip, or drag a rectangle around several clips Select time ranges Drag in the time ruler, or click between two markers Table 235.
The following graphic shows most of the Track/Bus Inspector’s controls (there may not be room to display all of a track’s controls on the Track/Bus Inspector, depending on the resolution of your monitor): Track/Bus Inspector for an Audio Track Track/Bus Inspector for a MIDI Track Most controls can be shown or hidden. A F B C G H D I E J A. Audio icon B. Output routing C. Track name D. Display menu E. Module menu F. MIDI icon G. Output routing H. Track name I. Display menu J.
To do this Do this Hide or show any of the Track/Bus Inspector’s controls Click the Display menu or Module menu, and choose options. Note: you can not display a MIDI track’s Time + or Key + controls in the Track/Bus Inspector. Reassign MIDI controller sliders in a MIDI Track’s Fx bin Right-click the slider you want to reassign and choose Reassign Control from the pop-up menu, choose the new parameter, and click OK.
• Scroll the display of the Clips pane (drag the green rectangle, or click in the Navigator pane) • Zoom in and out in the Clips pane (drag a node on the green rectangle) • Change the Now time using the Navigator pane (CTRL-click in the Navigator pane) SONAR and screen readers for vision impaired users SONAR has a special Accessibility Mode which can be helpful for vision impaired users when working with screen readers (Window-Eyes, JAWS, etc.).
• Selecting the track you want to edit and clicking the Piano Roll view button toolbar in the Views • Double-clicking a MIDI clip in the Clips pane (you can change this option with the View Options command that’s listed in the Clips pane pop-up menu, which appears when you right-click in the Clips pane) The Piano Roll view displays all MIDI notes and events from one or more tracks in either the Drum Grid pane or the Notes pane. The Notes pane is a grid format that looks much like a player piano roll.
Button Erase button Pattern Brush tool Scrub tool What it does When this button is enabled, you can erase notes or controller events by clicking them. Click and drag to “paint” notes in either the Drum Grid pane or Notes pane. Click the drop-down arrow to show the drop-down menu of pattern options, velocity options, and polyphony options.
Button What it does Invert Tracks Show Velocity Tails Show/Hide Grid All hidden data is displayed and all displayed data is hidden. Hides or shows velocity tails on individual notes in the Drum Editor pane of the Piano Roll view. Hides or shows grid lines so you can see how your notes align with various subdivisions of the beat. Click the drop-down arrow to select a subdivision.
In this pane you can add, edit, and delete notes for a track or tracks. You can also edit controllers in this pane if you choose to hide the Controller pane. See also: Editing Notes with the Draw Tool and the Select Tool Selecting Notes Displaying Notes and Controllers in the Inline Piano Roll View Adding and Editing Controllers in the Piano Roll Controller pane This pane displays controller events, which you can edit.
Step Sequencer View The Step Sequencer makes it easy to compose patterns using a grid, where each cell (step) represents a note. You create patterns by clicking the cells in the grid to turn notes on or off, or by using step recording. Many step sequencers use a Piano Roll grid-style interface. SONAR already has a very powerful Piano Roll view with similar MIDI editing functionality, so the purpose of the Step Sequencer is to provide a very different method for working with patterns.
Figure 270. Step sequencer interface B C A D A. Rows B. Toolbar C. Controllers pane (controls on the left side) D. Notes pane Toolbar Figure 271. Step sequencer toolbar A B C D E F A. Pattern Length (beats per measure and steps per beat) B. Fit to Quarters C. Entry mode (monophonic or polyphonic) D. Step Record E. Play F. Position indicator The Step Sequencer toolbar consists of the following controls: • Pattern Length.
and the default value is 4 steps. Changes are undoable. Note: When changing the number of steps per beat, you can configure how existing notes are affected. By default, SONAR will preserve the original pattern whenever possible as you add or remove beats. Doing so ensures that notes retain their original position within each beat. If you prefer, you can instruct SONAR to instead append additional steps at the end of each beat.
• Use Fixed/Default Velocity for Step Recording. This option lets you specify whether step recording should use the recorded velocity or a fixed velocity value for new notes. For information about setting a fixed velocity, see To specify the default velocity value for new notes. • Preserve Pattern for Step Size. This option lets you specify how existing notes are affected when changing Steps per Beat value in the toolbar.
Figure 272. Per-row controls A B C D E M N O F G H I J K L A. Drag to reorder rows B. Select row (and show Controllers pane) C. Note name (click to audition pitch) D. Note number E. Mute and Solo F. Output G. Step Editor parameter (Event Type picker) H. Velocity I. Duration J. Swing K. Time offset L. Flam M. Incoming MIDI activity indicator N. Shared MIDI channel indicator O. Output channel Each row represents a specific pitch.
• Channel. Use this control to specify the output channel for all selected rows. • Velocity. Use this control to apply a velocity offset to a pitch. The value range is -127 to +127 and the default value is 0. • Duration. The Duration knob controls how long each note is held. The value range is 0 to 100% and the default value is 100% (hold each note for its full duration). • Swing. The Swing knob controls the amount of swing that is applied to the sequence.
See: Working with rows Toolbar Notes pane Controllers pane Step sequencer interface Working with rows Working with steps Working with Controller events Working with patterns Working with Step Sequencer clips Keyboard shortcuts Notes pane The Notes pane consists of the following controls: Rows. Each row represents a specific pitch.
Rows Controllers pane Step sequencer interface Working with rows Working with steps Working with Controller events Working with patterns Working with Step Sequencer clips Keyboard shortcuts Controllers pane The Controllers pane in the Step Sequencer is similar to the Controllers pane in the Piano Roll view and allows you to include Controller, Pitch Wheel, Channel Aftertouch, RPN and NRPN events in your sequences. You can also edit velocity values in the Controllers pane.
Working with rows Working with steps Working with Controller events Working with patterns Working with Step Sequencer clips Keyboard shortcuts Keyboard shortcuts You can use the keyboard to navigate around the Step Sequencer interface and adjust settings. A focus rectangle indicates the step/control that is selected.
Action Key When focus is on the steps pane, move focus to the next enabled note on the same row TAB When focus is on the steps pane, move focus to the previous enabled note on the same row SHIFT+TAB Shift the active row's steps by 1 step and wrap first step to the end ALT+LEFT ARROW Shift the active row's steps by 1 step and wrap the last step to the beginning ALT+RIGHT ARROW Load a pattern CTRL+ALT+L Save the current pattern CTRL+ALT+S Enable/disable MIDI step recording CTRL+R Go to previous
Sequencer. • To create a new pattern. Click the MIDI track in which you want to create the new pattern. The track then becomes the active track. Make sure that no MIDI clips are selected. 2. Do one of the following: • Select Views > Step Sequencer. • Press ALT+SHIFT+5. The Step Sequencer window appears. Note 1: You can also open an existing pattern in the Step Sequencer by double-clicking an existing Step Sequencer clip.
To delete a row • Right-click a row and select Delete Row from the pop-up menu. Or 1. Click the row you want to delete (so it has focus). 2. Do one of the following: • Click the Delete Row button . • Press the DELETE key. Note: By default, the Step Sequencer opens with 12 rows. If you delete any rows in a pattern that contains no note events—or the track is not assigned to a drum map—the Step Sequencer will revert to 12 rows the next time it is opened. To reorder a row 1.
The Controllers pane is displayed below the selected row. If multiple rows are selected, the Controllers pane is displayed below the top-most selected row. If no rows are selected, the Controllers pane is hidden. Editing in the Controllers pane affects all selected rows. Note: The Shared MIDI Channel indicator lights up if a selected row shares the same MIDI channel as any other row.
which means the notes always play. To reduce the likelihood that a note will play, decrease the Probability value. To step record notes from a MIDI device To edit the drum map properties of a note A B D C E A. Disabled step B. Enabled step (double-click to create a flam) C. Current step (yellow) D. Merged steps E. Flammed step To enable a note Do one of the following: • To enable a single note. Click on the note that you wish to enable. • To enable multiple notes of the same pitch.
A pop-up menu appears. 2. Select Trigger Note on Click from the pop-up menu. The Trigger Note on Click option is disabled by default. To automatically enable notes every “n” steps You can quickly enable notes every 2, 3, 4, 5 or 6 steps: 1. Click on the step where you want the first note to be enabled. If a step is not selected, the first step in the row will be used. 2.
2. Right-click to the right of the row where you would like to paste the notes and select Paste Row Steps from the pop-up menu. The note events are pasted to the new row and any existing events in the row are removed. To shift all notes in a row to the left or right You can easily move all notes in a row to the left or right by one step: 1. Right-click to the right of the row that contains the notes you want to move. A pop-up menu appears. 2.
D A B B C A. Unmerged note B. Merged notes C. Hold down the CTRL key and click here to merge notes D. Hold down the CTRL key and right-click here to unmerge notes To edit a note’s velocity A note’s velocity is shown inside the note cell (step). To edit a note’s velocity value, do one of the following: • Click a row’s Select button to show the Controllers pane, select Velocity in the Step Editor list, then draw velocity changes in the Controllers pane.
1. Click the Options button . A pop-up menu appears. 2. Select Set Default Velocity for Steps from the pop-up menu. The Set Default Velocity for Steps dialog appears. 3. Specify the desired velocity value and click OK. Note: The default velocity setting is global and only affects new notes. To compress or expand all note velocities in a row 1. Right-click a row and select Adjust Velocity Multiplier from the pop-up menu. The Adjust Velocity Multiplier dialog appears. 2.
2. Click the Step Editor control and select Probability from the drop-down menu. 3. Draw events in the Controller pane to specify the desired Probability value for each note. The Probability value specifies the likelihood that a note will play. The value range is 1 (seldom) to 100 (always). To step record notes from a MIDI device In addition to entering note events with the mouse, you can also use a MIDI input device to enter notes. 1.
Step Record Shortcuts Action Key Enable/disable MIDI step recording CTRL+R Move the current step backward by one step COMMA (,) Move the current step forward by one step PERIOD (.) Undo the most recent step entry and move the current position backward by one step CTRL+Z Table 239. Tip: To insert a rest, simply move the step forward or backward without pressing a key on your MIDI controller.
The Controllers pane appears below the row. The Controllers pane contains a series of columns that correspond to the steps in the selected row. Note: The Shared MIDI Channel indicator lights up if a selected row shares the same MIDI channel as any other row. This is a convenient reminder that any controller events you edit in the row will also affect all other rows that share the same MIDI channel. 2. Click the Step Editor control and select a parameter name from the drop-down menu.
• Type. Choose the type of controller you want to add (for example, choose Control if you want to edit volume). • Value. This field is unavailable if you choose Wheel or ChanAft in the Type field. If you choose Control, RPN, or NRPN in the Type field, choose which Control, RPN, or NRPN you want to add. For example, to edit volume, choose 7-Volume in this field if you chose Control in the Type field. • Channel. Choose a MIDI channel for the controller event. 3.
To step record a pattern To create a brand new pattern 1. Click the MIDI track in which you want to create the new pattern. The MIDI track then becomes the active track. Make sure that no MIDI clips are selected. 2. Select Views > Step Sequencer. The Step Sequencer window appears and SONAR creates a new Step Sequencer clip in the active track. By default, each row is assigned to the track’s output.
To load a pattern Do one of the following: • Click the Options button and select Load Pattern from the pop-up menu. • Right-click in the Step Sequencer toolbar and select Load Pattern from the pop-up menu. • Press CTRL+ALT+L. • Drag a pattern from the Media Browser view and drop it in the Notes pane. You can press CTRL+Z to undo the loaded pattern. When you load a new pattern, the current pattern is cleared and replaced by the new pattern. To specify the default folder for patterns: 1.
A C B A. Note Name B. Notes C. Mute, Solo, Velocity and Velocity Multiplier are separate for the drum map and step sequencer A change made in the Drum Map Manager dialog will affect the Step Sequencer and vice versa. Note: Mute, Solo, Velocity and Velocity Multiplier are separate for the drum map and step sequencer. To edit the drum map properties of a note 1. Click a row’s Select button to show all controls for the selected row. 2.
Working with rows Working with steps Working with Controller events Working with patterns Working with Step Sequencer clips Keyboard shortcuts Working with Step Sequencer clips When you create a sequence in the Step Sequencer, SONAR creates a new Step Sequencer clip. A Step Sequencer clip shows the first iteration of the sequence/pattern and all Step Sequencer clips can be identified by a small Step Sequencer clip icon in the top left corner of the clip.
4. Specify the desired resolution value and click OK. Note: The resolution value should correspond to the shortest note value that you expect. For example, if you specify Sixteenth notes, you will get four steps per beat.
Event List View Open the Event List view by: • Selecting one or more tracks and choosing Views > Event List • Selecting one or more tracks and clicking in the Views toolbar • Right-clicking a track in the Clips pane and choosing Views > Event List The Events List view hides or displays all the Events in a project in a list. Clicking one of the buttons in the Event List toolbar hides the kind of event that the button represents.
The Staff view displays MIDI note events as musical notation. For some musicians, this may be the most familiar and comfortable view in which to work. The Staff view provides many features that make it possible for you to compose, edit, and print music. The Staff View Toolbar has all the buttons you need to enter and edit notes, and control the display of your notation. The Staff view is composed of a Staff pane and a Fretboard.
The Staff View Toolbar The Staff view toolbar has all the controls you need to enter and edit notes and symbols, and control the display of your notation.
Button What it does Play Next Clicking this button plays the next note from the Now time l Play Previous Clicking this button plays the previous note from the Now time Fret View Clicking this button displays the Fretboard view Clicking this button exports tablature to an ASCII file for printing or distribution on the Web Whole Note Clicking this button chooses a whole note duration for any notes you insert— there are buttons for durations as small as a 32nd note Dotted Note Clicking this button c
number after the name. ReWire soft synths can only have one copy open. The new higher-numbered name also appears on the menus of audio track inputs and MIDI track outputs. Figure 274. One Row in the Synth Rack A B C D E FG H I J N M L K A. Connect/Disconnect synth button B. Synth icon C. Synth name D. Automation track menu E. Patch menu F. Mute button G. Solo button H. Freeze/Unfreeze button I. Quick Freeze/Quick Unfreeze button J. Show/Hide Assigned Controls button K. Assign Controls button L.
Button What it does Automation Track menu Lets you choose which track to display a synth’s automation data on. Preset menu Lets you choose preset sounds; click the left/right arrows to step through the menu. Mute button Lets you mute the synth, and all tracks associated with this instance of the synth. Solo button Lets you solo the synth, and all tracks associated with this instance of the synth. Freeze/Unfreeze (individual synth) Lets you freeze or unfreeze a particular synth.
Lyrics view Open the Lyrics view by any of three methods: • Using the Views > Lyrics command • Clicking the Lyrics View button in the Views toolbar • Using the Lyrics command from the Clips pane right-click menu The Lyric view lets you edit a track's lyrics. You can use it to cue yourself or your group with the lyrics during playback and recording.
• Click on the center of the knob and drag the mouse up or down to adjust the knob • Double-click the bottom of the knob to return it to its snap-to position • You can control all sliders and knobs in the Console and Track Views by hovering over them with the mouse and manipulating the mouse wheel Volume and pan faders also have snap-to positions. Set the snap-to by moving a control to the desired snap-to position, right-clicking the control, and choosing Value > Set Snap To = Current.
Figure 275. The Console view A B C D E I H G F A. Audio module B. MIDI module C. MIDI velocity D. Bus out E. Main out F. Bus pane G. Show/hide strip controls buttons H. Widen all strips I. Show/hide for tracks, buses, mains Note: The above view does not show EQ. It is pictured below. A B F E DC A. Gain B. Band Q C. Band select D. EQ type select E. EQ enable F.
Figure 276. Audio track strip in Console view F A G B C D H I J K E A. FX bin B. Aux bus level C. Aux bus pan D. Automation read/write E. Quick Group selector F. Trim control G. Aux send enable H. Mono/Stereo, Phase invert, and Input Echo buttons I. Pan control J. Output K. Track name L. Text A A.
Customizing the Console View You can show or hide individual tracks or buses in the Console view by opening the Track Manager dialog (press M on your computer keyboard). This dialog works independently in the Console view and the Track view. The show/hide buttons in the lower left corner of the Console view have numerous options for customizing what you see in the Console view.
Button Description Vol • • • Shows or hides the volume faders and meters Right-click the button to show or hide the pan controls (the volume faders must be visible to see the pan controls). Click the drop-down arrow to display the Meter Configuration menu. The meter options are explained in the Metering topic in the online help. Icon Shows or hides track and bus icons in the Console view. Output Shows or hides the Output menus in the Console view. Table 242.
giving you convenient random access to the video stream. This makes it easy to align music and digitized sound to the video. If the Video view is the active window, you can now use keyboard shortcuts to advance by a frame or a frame increment. The +/-, and left/right arrow keys move forward/backwards by a single frame. If the control key is pressed, then the frame increment value is used (default = 5 frames) Alternatively you can use the [ and ] keys to seek by the frame increment.
To set the Start and Trim times See Also: Optimizing video performance Tempo View Open the Tempo view by using the Views > Tempo command, or by clicking the Tempo View button in the Views toolbar. The Tempo view shows the tempo of your project. You can use the mouse to draw tempo changes directly onto the graph. The Tempo view provides both a graphic display of the tempo and a list of all tempo changes in your project.
events. To insert a larger number of relatively small tempo changes, move the mouse slowly. To insert a smaller number of relatively large tempo changes, drag the mouse quickly. The tempo list has its own tools for editing tempo changes: Tool Name What It’s for Tempo List Displaying a list of all tempo changes in the project. Insert Inserting a new tempo change Delete Deleting a tempo change Tempo Properties Editing a tempo change Table 244. For more information, see Using the Tempo View.
To Delete a Meter/Key Change To Move a Meter/Key Change To Edit a Meter/Key Change Markers View Open the Markers view with the Views > Markers command, or by clicking the Markers view button in the Views toolbar. The Markers view lets you add, move, rename, or delete Marker (labels) for places in your song. The markers make it easier to move from one point to another. See “Creating and Using Markers” on page 318.
Enable Looping Button Click the Enable Looping button to loop clips in the Track view by dragging the right side of a clip with your mouse. When Enable Looping is not on, you are able to slip-edit the clip. For more information about slip editing, see “Applying Fades and Crossfades Offline” on page 565. Beats in Clip Field The number of beats (quarter notes) in the clip. Enable Stretching Button The Enable Stretching button instructs SONAR to stretch or shrink the clip to fit the project’s tempo.
Another example: The clip pitch is E. The desired clip pitch is D. If the Follow Project Pitch option is not checked, and a value of “2” is entered in the Pitch (semitones) field, the clip is transposed down two semitones to D from the original pitch of E. Pitch Field (fine) The Pitch (fine) field allows you to make tuning adjustments or to transpose the pitch of a clip up to 50 cents. There are 100 cents in one semitone. A Pitch (fine) setting of 1 adjusts the pitch up one hundredth of a semitone.
Slices Resolution The Slice Resolution control sets the resolution for the creation of markers, or the “slicing” of the looped clip. This control uses note lengths, so the settings are: • No Slicing • Whole notes • Half notes • Quarter notes • Eighth notes • Sixteenth notes • Thirty-second notes The automatic markers appear at the note resolutions according to the slider setting. At the eighth note setting, there are eight markers per measure.
Slice Pan Control Change the pan setting for the selected slice. Slice Pitch Control Change the pitch setting for the selected slice. Slicing Markers There are two types of slicing markers in the Loop Construction view: automatic and manual. Automatic markers appear in red and are automatically generated by SONAR when you loop enable a clip. The one exception to this is if you import an ACIDized wave file into SONAR. ACIDized files always appear with manual slicing markers.
The Media Browser view toolbar has the following controls: Tool Name What It Does Move Up Opens the folder one level above the active folder. Refresh Refreshes the active folder. Windows Explorer Opens Windows Explorer at the same directory being viewed in the Media Browser view. Play Plays the selected media file. Stop Stops the playback of the selected file. Auto Preview Automatically preview files when you click on them in the Media Browser view.
Matrix view Note: The Matrix view is only available in SONAR Producer. The Matrix view lets you trigger individual or multiple audio and MIDI patterns, either with a computer keyboard, mouse or via MIDI remote control. The Matrix view consists of a grid, with unlimited rows and columns. You can drag audio, MIDI Groove Clips, Step Sequencer patterns and Project5 patterns to cells in the grid, and each row can be routed to any track in your project. You can record the Matrix performance to the Clips pane.
Matrix view user interface Figure 278. The Matrix view B A C D A. Rows B. Toolbar C. Cells D. Columns The Matrix view consists of four sections: • Toolbar. The toolbar contains controls that let you specify how patterns are triggered. For details, see Toolbar. • Rows. Each row is assigned to a track and can play one pattern at a time. A row can be routed to any track in your project. For details, see Rows. • Columns. Each column contains one cell for each row. An entire column can be triggered at once.
Toolbar Figure 279. Matrix view toolbar A B C D E F G H I J A. Capture Matrix Performance (arm Matrix for recording) B. Follow Transport C. Trigger Resolution D. Alternate Trigger Resolution E. Global Loop Mode F. Global Latch Mode G. Retrigger Mode H. Cell Start I. Cell MIDI Trigger J. Options The Matrix view toolbar contains the following controls: • Capture Matrix Performance .
• Next 1/32 Note. Playback starts on the next 32th note. This is the default setting. • Next 1/64 Note. Playback starts on the next 64th note. • Global Loop Mode / . This toggle lets you specify if a triggered cell should repeat indefinitely, or stop when it reaches the end. When Loop is enabled indefinitely. When Global Loop Mode is disabled This option is enabled by default. , a triggered cell loops , a triggered cell plays once then stops. • Global Latch Mode / .
• Options . Click the Options button to open the Matrix Options dialog. The following option is available: • Triggering Empty Cell(s) Mutes Row(s). This option determines how playing cells are affected when triggering an empty cell in the same row. If Triggering Empty Cell(s) Mutes Row(s) is disabled (default), triggering an empty cell has no effect on other cells. If Triggering Empty Cell(s) Mutes Row(s) is selected, triggering an empty cell in a row will force the row to stop playing.
created in the Matrix view, a corresponding track is also inserted in the project. New rows are named Matrix row “n”. Note: Rows that are assigned to audio tracks can only contain cells with audio data. Likewise, rows that are routed to MIDI or Instrument tracks can only contain cells with MIDI data. The Audio or MIDI identity of a row is established when the first pattern is dragged into the row. A B A. Row contains audio data B.
Above each column is a Column Trigger, which lets you simultaneously trigger all cells in a column. Just like cells, the Column Trigger can be triggered with a mouse or via MIDI remote control. If you trigger a column, all other cells in the Matrix will be turned off, since only one cell per row may be triggered. The Matrix view supports unlimited columns. A column is created automatically when at least one cell in the column contains a pattern.
A cell is simply a pattern holder. You can drag one pattern into each cell, or leave the cell empty. By default, a cell displays the name of the assigned pattern, but the cell can be renamed. You can trigger cells by clicking with a mouse or via MIDI remote control. Only one cell per row can be triggered at a time. Patterns repeat themselves until you stop playback or until another pattern in the same row starts to play. A cell blinks when it is triggered but not yet playing.
see To use independent Loop mode per cell. Note: After a cell’s Loop Mode button has been engaged, the cell will no longer continue to follow the Global Loop Mode setting, even if you disable the cell’s Loop Mode button. To restore the link to the Global Loop Mode setting, hold down the CTRL key and click the cell’s Loop Mode button. • Latch mode. Each cell has a Latch Mode button, which lets you override the Global Latch Mode setting. By default, each cell inherits the Global Latch Mode setting.
To trigger a cell To trigger all cells in a column simultaneously To trigger a cell or column via MIDI remote control To stop playing one or more cells To rename a cell To move a pattern to another cell To copy a pattern to another cell To render a single pattern to the Clips pane (Quick Capture) See also: Matrix view user interface Using the Matrix view View Reference Matrix view 1507
Using the Matrix view To open the Matrix view To assign a pattern to a cell To assign multiple patterns to subsequent rows To assign multiple patterns to subsequent columns To remove a pattern from a cell To specify how soon a pattern should start playing after being triggered To start a pattern from its beginning To synchronize a pattern with the project’s Now time To synchronize the Matrix with SONAR’s transport To trigger a cell To trigger all cells in a column simultaneously To trigger a cell or column
• Click the Matrix View button View Reference Matrix view on the View toolbar.
To assign a pattern to a cell You can drag audio, MIDI Groove Clips, Step Sequencer patterns and Project5 patterns from the Media Browser view or from the Clips pane into the Matrix view. Do one of the following: • To assign a pattern to a cell in an existing row. Drag a pattern to the desired cell in an existing row. • To assign a pattern to a cell in an empty row.
To remove a pattern from a cell • Do one of the following: • Click the cell then press the DELETE key. • Right-click the cell and select Clear Cell from the pop-up menu. • Drag the pattern to a different cell. To specify how soon a pattern should start playing after being triggered When you trigger a cell or column, playback starts after the amount of time that is selected in the Cell Trigger Time menu in the Matrix view toolbar.
To synchronize the Matrix with SONAR’s transport • Make sure the Follow Transport button is enabled. Patterns will now only play when SONAR’s transport is rolling. To trigger a cell • Do one of the following: • Click the desired cell. • Use the ARROW keys on your computer keyboard to navigate to the desired cell, then press ENTER. • If the cell has been assigned to a MIDI event, press the appropriate key, pad or button on your MIDI controller.
See also: To trigger a cell with an alternate trigger time To trigger a cell or column via MIDI remote control To trigger a cell with an alternate trigger time 1. Click the cell’s Alternate Trigger Mode button. 2. Do one of the following: • Click the desired cell’s trigger area. • Use the ARROW keys on your computer keyboard to navigate to the desired cell, then press ENTER. • If the cell has been assigned to a MIDI event, press the appropriate key, pad or button on your MIDI controller.
To trigger a cell or column via MIDI remote control You can trigger a cell or column via MIDI remote control, but you must first specify the MIDI message that should trigger the cell or column. 1. Right-click the cell or Column Trigger that you would like to trigger via MIDI remote control, and select MIDI Learn from the pop-up menu. The cell has a yellow outline. The next MIDI event the Matrix receives will be assigned to all cells that are in MIDI Learn mode.
To clear MIDI event assignments • Do one of the following: • To clear MIDI assignments for a single cell. Right-click the desired cell and select Clear MIDI Mapping for Cell on the pop-up menu. • To clear MIDI assignments for a single Column Trigger. Right-click the desired cell and select Clear MIDI Mapping for Column on the pop-up menu. • To clear MIDI assignments for all cells and Column Triggers. Right-click any cell or Column Trigger and select Clear MIDI Mapping for All on the pop-up menu.
The cell now uses its own independent Latch mode and no longer follows the Global Latch Mode setting. Note: After a cell’s Latch Mode button has been engaged, the cell will no longer continue to follow the Global Latch Mode setting, even if you disable the cell’s Latch Mode button. To restore the link to the Global Latch Mode setting, hold down the CTRL key and click the cell’s Latch Mode button. To use independent Loop mode per cell • Click the cell’s Loop Mode button.
Rows that contain audio patterns can be assigned to any available audio track, and rows that contain MIDI patterns can be assigned to MIDI tracks. A A. Click arrow to reassign a row to a different track To rename a cell 1. Right-click a cell and select Rename Cell from the pop-up menu. The Rename Cell dialog appears. 2. Type a new name and click OK. To move a pattern to another cell • Drag a pattern to an empty cell.
If SONAR’s transport is looping, captured Matrix performance data will overwrite itself. 6. When you want to stop recording, press Stop in SONAR or press the SPACEBAR key. SONAR records the output of all unmuted rows to their respective target tracks. The new clips inherit their colors from the triggered cells. Audio patterns record as audio clip in the Clips pane, and MIDI patterns record as MIDI clips. If you want to undo the recording, press CTRL+Z.
Navigator View The Navigator view displays a large part of your project so you can see an overview of your song. The Navigator view is a floating version of the Navigator pane found at the top of the Track view. Track Rectangle The Track Rectangle appears as a green rectangle within the Navigator view. The Track Rectangle indicates the section of your project which appears in the Clips pane of the Track view. You can move the Track Rectangle or change its size.
Playing files in Batch mode Surround Panner The large surround panner has the following controls: • Angle and Focus marker. A small sphere that you can drag in any direction to both control and display the following two parameters: • Angle. This is the perceived angle of the sound source as it differs from the position directly in front of the listener. The scale is 0 to 180 degrees on the listener’s right, and 0 to -180 degrees on the listener’s left.
Glossary Aftertouch AIFF Archive Arm Audio clip Audio track Audition Automation Bank Bit depth Broadcast wave Bundle file Cakewalk Application Language (CAL) Channel Channel aftertouch (ChanAft) Chord Chord symbol Clip Clone Controllers Controls Crescendo Crossfade dB Decibel
Decrescendo Digital audio DMA DRM (Dump Request Macro) Duration Echo Effects (audio effects) Envelopes Event Expression Expression marks Fade Fade-in Fade-out Frame Frame rate From time Full-duplex Global layout Groove clip Groove pattern Groove quantize Group Guitar chord grid H:M:S:F Hairpin symbol Input Input monitoring Inspector menu (same as context menu) Instrument definitions Key aftertouch (KeyAft) Key offset Key signature Latency 1522 Glossary
Layout Linked clips Live mode Locked (SMPTE) time Looping Loops Lyrics Marker MBT MCI command (Media Control Interface command) Meter Metronome MIDI Mixdown MMC (MIDI Machine Code) MME MTC Sync Mute Normal template Now time NRPN Offline Offset Overload Pan Patch Pedal mark Phase Pitch bend Pitch marker Pitch wheel Port PPQ Project pitch Glossary 1523
Property Quantize Quantize resolution Quantize strength Record RIFF wave RMS RPN Ruler Sampling rate Scrub Sensitivity (window) Shape Size Slip editing SMPTE Snapshot Solo Split point Staff Striping Submix Swing Sysx Sysx bank Take Template Tempo Thru time Ticks Time Time offset Time ruler Timebase 1524 Glossary
TPQ Track Transients Vector Velocity Volume WASAPI WDM Widget Wipe xRPN Aftertouch MIDI property controlling how much pressure is applied after sending a Note On message. See “Channel aftertouch (ChanAft)” on page 1526 and “Key aftertouch (KeyAft)” on page 1530. AIFF Short for Audio Interchange File Format, the audio file format on the Macintosh platform. Files in this format have the extension .aif or .aiff. Archive Silence and suppress the processing of a track.
Automation Ability to change controllable parameters over the length of a track. This is achieved by referencing “snapshots” or “nodes” assigned to specific parameter values in relation to their position on the timeline and is achieved with envelopes. See Quick Automation Guide. Bank A means of categorizing sounds. A “bank” can store up to 128 “patches”. Bit depth The amount of data allocated to reproducing a sound wave of digital audio file. Closely related to the dynamic range of the audio file.
Clip A reference to a portion or entire audio or MIDI file stored on your computer. Clips can be edited, moved, linked, copied etc. as a means of creating your project. Clone A command that allows you to copy a track along with its properties. You can choose to copy the clips or events or both. You can choose the destination track for the copy. Controllers Pedals, knobs, and wheels on your electronic instrument that you can use to change the sound while you're playing.
DRM (Dump Request Macro) Utility for getting synthesizer data into a bank. Duration In SONAR’s Step Record dialog box, duration means the actual length of time that a note sounds, as opposed to the notated value of the note, which could be different. If you check the Follow Step Size option in the dialog box, the notated value and the duration are the same. Echo Enables real-time monitoring of the associated track's inputs through the outputs of your sound device.
Frame One of the many single photographic images in a motion picture or video. It the smallest unit used for SMPTE synchronization. See SMPTE/MIDI Time Code Synchronization. Frame rate Indicates the number of frames displayed per second. From time The beginning of a selection. Set it in the Select toolbar. See “Now time” on page 1532. Full-duplex The ability to stream data in two directions simultaneously. Sound cards that support full-duplex allow for simultaneous recording and playback of audio.
Hairpin symbol Crescendo or decrescendo mark. See Chords and Marks Input The selection for which channel of a device you wish to receive signal from. See Choosing an input. Input monitoring Hearing real-time playback of a track's input as it is being sent to, or recorded, in SONAR. You can enable input monitoring with a track’s Input Echo button. Inspector menu (same as context menu) Menu appropriate for a particular location or item. Display a context menu by right-clicking on the location or item.
Live mode Temporary condition of a project with all automation turned off. You can toggle back and forth between live mode and regular mode by clicking the Live Mode button. Locked (SMPTE) time Locks a marker to a specified time from the start of the music. Not affected by changes in tempo or time signature. See Creating and Using Markers. Looping Repetition of a part of the whole piece of music.
MIDI Musical Instrument Digital Interface. The means by which computers communicate with most sound cards, keyboards, and other electronic instruments. Note: MIDI data does not contain any audio data. Mixdown Combination of two or more audio tracks into a stereo submix. See Routing and Mixing Digital Audio. MMC (MIDI Machine Code) A protocol that controls an MMC-equipped remote device through MIDI. See MIDI Machine Control (MMC).
Offset Shift (time, key, velocity) by a specified number of units. For example, you could offset the start of a track by two measures. Overload Loss of audio information caused by the audio level exceeding 0 db. Pan Degree to which a sound or piece of music comes from the left or right speaker. This control is commonly used to adjust the level of a signal in different channels. In a stereo mix, the level is adjusted between the left and the right speakers. Patch Particular sound in an electronic device.
Project pitch Also known as the default project pitch. The project pitch is the pitch that all groove clips and ACIDized loops in your project follow if there are no pitch markers in the project. You can set the project pitch in the Markers toolbar. Property Any attribute or value belonging to an object. Often you can see these by right-clicking on the object.
Sensitivity (window) Distance from a timing grid a note has to be to be unaffected, or affected less, by quantizing. Shape An automation envelope created in the Track view or Console view. Size The number of events in a track, listed in the Size column of the Tracks window. This number changes every time you add or delete events to or from that track.
Sysx Short for System Exclusive, refers to MIDI messages that only a specific device can use and understand. Cakewalk's System Exclusive library, which can store, record, and display for viewing or editing 256 banks, each holding any number of patches. See System Exclusive Data. Sysx bank A Sysx bank is a storage area plus some associated parameters such as a destination output and an optional description.
Timebase Same as PPQ. Timing resolution, measured in pulses (ticks) per quarter note. Determines how finely you can specify notes. See Setting the MIDI timing resolution. TPQ Same as timebase or PPQ. Short for Ticks Per Quarter note. Track Cakewalk's representation of one or more lines of music with shared properties, for example, music played by one instrument. Transients Peaks of loudness in an audio clip. Used to determine where the beats lie in audio clips.
Glossary
Index Symbols ACT 888 .clr 88 linking knob to cells in ACT MIDI prop page 875 ACT Lock button 889 .cwb files 282 .cwp files 66 .cwt files 735 .cwx file extension 294 .mid files 282 .syx files 813 .SYX files 805 .
Arm for Recording 1140 Arpeggiator 249 controls 251 enable/disable 252 how to use 252 show/hide controls 253 using patterns and presets 253 ASCII TAB exporting to 771 saving as 771 ASIO drivers enabling 854 Assign Instruments dialog 1246 Audible Bounce 667 Audio 1224 auditioning with scrub tool 560 basic editing 553 connecting instruments to sound card 1231 digital 55, 545 distortion 255 effects 567 exporting 669 finding missing 230 importing 276, 278 metronome 237 mixing 605 playback troubleshooting 1226 p
Wave Profiler 843 Audio loop defined 1228 Audio Options dalog Drivers tab 1256 Audio Options dialog Advanced tab 1253 Driver Profiles tab 1257 General tab 1251 Audio performance improving 843 Audio processing playing backward 562 removing silence 563–565 See also Volume Audio scaling 555 Loop Construction view 416 Audio Snap See AudioSnap Audio Track inserting 1127 Audio tracks parameters 193 AudioSnap adding automation 403 adding markers at Pool lines 398 algorithms and rendering 406 enabling 368 groove qu
Automation toolbar 707 B Backing up your work audio data 839 bundle files 282 using per-project audio folders 840 Bank/Patch Change dialog 1261 Banks 199, 207–208 assigning a bank select method 794–795 assigning patch names to 795–796 assigning to a track 208 load 813 parameters 514 save 813 Sysx 805, 806 Bar lines adding to an improvised track See Fit Improvisation Batch mode playing back files in 217 Beat Value 779 Beats per Measure 779 Beats, accenting 498 Beatscape 980 audible 667 Bounce to Clip(s) 55
preparing higher resolution audio for CD burning 849 CD player connecting to 926, 1235 Cell MIDI Trigger 1501 Center material removing 562 ChanAft event 514 Change Audio Format 1148 Change audio format 848 Change Audio Format dialog 1265 Channel 199, 211, 510 assigning instruments to 786–787 note property 754 pedal event parameter 766 splitting 902 Channel Aftertouch thinning 903 Channel Tools 982 Chn parameter 211 Chord analyzing 525 Chord event 515 Chord Grid 762–763 Chord Library 763 Chord Symbols 760 Ch
not visible 911 Clock sources 819–821 Clone 293, 1142 Clone tracks dialog 1272 Cloning tracks 293 Color screen 86–87 Color presets import and export 88 Color set files importing and exporting 88 Colors 86, 1150 Colors dialog 1276 Combining clips 325 Commands missing 82 Comping takes 326 Confidence recording 257 Configurable Track view Track controls changing the order of 297 Configuration files edit, reload and reset 1025 Connecting electric guitar 58 guitar through effects rack 1233 microphone 59 Connectin
Copyright 284 Count-in 237 CPS (cycles per second) 546 CPU conservation mode 856 CPU meter 855 CPU performance 657, 851 CPU performance meter 186 Create New Layer On Overlap 1391 Credits 284 Crescendos 489–490, 765 creating using Process-Scale Velocity 489 Cropping overlapping clips 329 Crossfade 349 changing the curve types in 352 curve types 349 Crossfade 566 Pad Editor 1092 pad groups 1088 Pad Inspector 1089 Slice Inspector 1092 toolbar 1088 using 1093 Cyclone Soft Synth 1087 D D/A 1224 Data sysx 805–8
Dim Solo Gain 1252 Dim Solo Mode 190 adjust dim level 191 enable 190 Dimension LE 1078 Diminuendo 765 Dirty flag in presets 626 Disk cache meter 186 Disk meter 855 Disks caching 852 compressed 851 fragmented 852 storage requirements 853 Displacement 547 Dithering 679 during rewrite procedure 848 DMA settings 64, 843 Docking views 78 Dotted lines 715 Double Precision engine 846 Doubled notes 217 Downmixing 689, 1381 Drag and Drop 323 Drag-Quantize 452 Drivers MIDI 1220 using ASIO 854 Dropouts fixing 858 Drum
copying envelopes using 719 importing tracks from other projects with 279 keyboard shortcut 1157 Edit-Cut 293, 299, 306, 518, 718, 1106 keyboard shortcut 1157 Edit-Delete 1107 deleting clips using 309 deleting measures using 485 deleting time using 485 keyboard shortcut 1157 Edit-Groove Clip Looping 1108 enabling Groove clip looping using 419 Edit-History 345, 1104 Editing slip editing 346 with keyboard 1012 Edit-Paste 1107 arranging clips using 299 importing tracks from a project using 279 keyboard shortcu
deleting 517 inserting new 517 searching for a 508 Event Filter dialog 1351 Event filters 505, 505–510 selecting events using 508 setting up 507 Event inspector toolbar 433 special 1112 step by step playback 518 stretch using percentages 487 stretching and shrinking 486 transposing selected 483 xRPN 507 Exclusive Solo mode 1005 Export Audio dialog 1306 Event List toolbar 1477 Export Broadcast Waves By Default 1331 Event List view 75, 433, 512–519 Export OMF dialog 1310 Exporting audio 668, 669, 670 enc
Fade-in, edit a 350 Faders 657 Fades 349 FAQs 905 Fast Bounce 666 Fast forward 1022 Fast Zoom 301 FAX modems 844 File opening 67 File extensions .CAL 1118 .cwb 282 .cwp 66 .cwt 735 .mid 282 .syx 813 .
focus track focus definition 1221 Follow Bus Pan 608 Follow Track Pan 604 Free Edit tool using 1020 Freezing tracks and synths 617 Frequency 546 fundamental 547 Fretboard changing appearance 769 displaying 747 hiding 747 Fretboard pane See Fretboard Friendly driver names 1256 Friendly names for MIDI devices 205 From 177, 1133 keyboard shortcut 1157 Front/rear balance slider 693 Full chase lock 828 FX bin global bypass 1032 mono/stereo/surround indicator 624 FX bins vertical display 292 G Gain command 561 G
Next Measurekeyboard shortcut 1158 Previous Marker 321, 1135 Previous Measure 177, 1134 Previous Measurekeyboard shortcut 1158 Search 505, 507, 1135 Search Nex 1135 Search Next 505 Search Nextkeyboard shortcut 1158 Thru 177, 1134 keyboard shortcut 1157 Time 177, 1133 keyboard shortcut 1157 Gridlines, displaying 315 Groove clips 67, 411 creating 421 dragging into project 418 editing 421 editing slices 423 following project pitch 422 how they work 419 importing into project 420 MIDI 427 previewing in Media Ex
I Icons for soft synths 575 track icons 295 Importing audio files 276, 277, 278 from a Cakewalk project 278–281 music 276–285 preview bus 277 Importing different sampling rates 846 Importing key bindings 740 Importing MIDI Groove clips 429 Importing OMF 279 Importing surround mixes 703 Initialization File 929, 1029, 1034, 1153 Initialization File Settings dialog 1344 Initialization files 929 Inline Piano Roll toobar displaying 477 Inline Piano Roll view 477 auditioning and selecting notes 480 zooming 479 In
parameter 199 track settings 193 wrong, on playback 910 See also Instruments Instruments accessing all sounds on 912 assigning, to outputs 786–787 bank assignments 794–795 defining 789–792 deleting 791 non-concert key 212, 780–781 patch names for 795–796 problems recording from MIDI 908 recording from MIDI 246 Instruments 786, 1148 Interface picture and description 642 Interleave indicator FX bins 624 Interpolate 213, 509, 759 Interpolate dialog 1351 Interrupt request (IRQ) settings 64 Isolating 333 Key Bi
Length dialog 1353 LFE Send level default value 694 Link button 1484 Linked clips 323 creating 323 unlinking 323 Live input PDC override 1028 Live MIDI playback controlling 214 Load Bank 813 Load Pattern dialog 1354 Local Control 217 Local On/Off 1219 Lock track height 292 Locked clips and tempo change 310 Locking clips 310 Locking views 79 Loop defined 1228 Loop and Auto Shuttle 183, 1131 Loop Construction view 75, 411 Loop Explorer See Media Browser Loop recording 263 using 263 Loop, moving a 182 Loop/Aut
locking/unlocking 320 moving 321 pitch 425 setting Now time with 177 setting time range with 321 snap-to grid 315 using 318 Markers module 184 Markers view 76 Marks 760 expression 764–765 Masked the active track error message 437 Matrix view 1498 MBT (measure, beat and tick number) 172, 487, 766 MBT time entering 173 MCI (Media Control Interface) command 515, 519 MCI cmd event 515 Measure inserting a blank 484 Measures inserting 484 Media Browser view 75, 416 Menu 650 Menu commands missing 82 Menus customiz
controller 1219 converting MIDI to audio 600 devices 203, 827 drivers 1220 echoing 1219 equipment connection 921–923 files 949 how it works 54 ignoring MIDI messages 1223 importing files 281 input and echo controls 217 inputs and outputs 1218 interfaces 1218 key aftertouch 512 Local On/Off 1219 machine control (MMC) 830–831 messages controlling 181 filtering 275 mixing 599–600 note parameters 754 notes 757 Omni 243 output devices 203–205 outputs 203–205 pitch wheel 512 pitch-bend 512 playback settings 193–2
enabling groove function 428 exporting and importing 429 in Media Explorer view 430 previewing in the Import MIDI dialog 430 transposing 428 using pitch markers 429 MIDI In and Out devices driver changes 66 MIDI input filtering 275 MIDI input presets creating and editing 216, 275 MIDI keyboard multiple performers on multiple tracks 216 playing multiple tracks from 215 MIDI meter activity indicator 615 velocity meter 615 MIDI notes editing using Note Inspector toolbar 434 MIDI Out 951 MIDI playback live on m
Mute 188, 189 Mute 188, 1139 Mute button showing automated mute status 729 Mute buttons, grouping 657 Muting a soft synth 577 Muting clips 329 N Name, of a track 195 Navigator pane 1444 Navigator view 1519 changing display of Clips pane using 303 using 303 New Global Layout dialog 1364 New track adding 291 Next Marker 321, 1135 keyboard shortcut 1158 Next Measure 177, 1135 keyboard shortcut 1158 NoControllerReset 799 Nodes adding to a selected envelope segment 724 Non-destructive editing 346 Normal templat
stuck 181, 214 transposing 212 using enharmonic spellings 757–759 Now time 85, 172, 177 changing 173 keyboard shortcuts 176 large print 176 rewind on stop 175 NRPN (Non-Registered Parameter Number) 510, 511, 514 assigning, to instruments 798–799 event 514 Nudge 312 moving clips left or right 312 moving clips up or down 312 settings 312 numeric peak values showing 616 O Offset mode 721 OMF exporting to 678 importing 279 project data discarded when saved as 679 project data preserved in 679 saving projects a
global 736 pedal events 766 template file 736–737 See also Events Partial clips selecting 70 Patch 199, 207–208, 514 assigning note names to 796–798 assigning to a track 208 definition 1223 event 514 names 795–796 numbers 507 Patch Browser dialog 1370 Patch/Controller Searchback Before Play Starts 214 Patches downloading 905 Pattern Brush tool 540 creating custom patterns for 542 how it works 540 painting a custom pattern with 541 painting notes using 541 Pattern Velocity dialog 1371 Pattern-based Step Reco
Microscope Mode 474 MIDI data lanes 466 Note and Controllers pane 436 note hit testing 454 Note Map pane 436 note names in 795 opening 437 overview 73 scale pane 467 select controllers with notes 472 show velocity for selected notes 447 Track List pane 437 velocity audition 455 Piano Roll view envelopes converting to Track view shapes 722 picture audio definition 1227 Picture Cache 1227 Picture cache redrawing optimizing 865 Picture Folder 1331 Pitch changing a MIDI note’s 447 changing project’s with marker
assign different input ports to multiple audio tracks 206 assign same input port to multiple audio tracks 205 assign same output port to all buses 207 assign same output port to multiple audio tracks 206 assigning instruments to 786–787 Pow-r dithering 679 PPQ, see timebase 241 Preamp output connecting to 926, 1235 Preferences migrating from previous version of Cakewalk 64 Preferred interleave 191 Presets dirty flag 626 for plug-ins 625 Pressure value 506 Preview Bus 277 Previewing MIDI Groove clips in Impo
opening 63, 67 saving 283 views 732 Project 238, 241, 1150 Property-Vel+ 213, 1137 Property-Volume 210, 1138 Publisher 168, 680 Punch recording 185, 264 Project Audio Files dialog 1375 looping 266 using 264 Project file 66 creating new 234 Project Files dialog 834 using 834 Project information diplaying 284 editing 284 Project Options 820 metronome 237 MIDI out 213 sync to SMPTE/MTC 827 time base 241 Project Options dialog Clock tab 1376 Metronome tab 1377 MIDI Out tab 1378 Sync tab 1379 Project pitch c
keyboard shortcut 1157 MIDI 246 Record latency adjustment 1256 Record Mode 242, 830 Record Options 263, 266 Record Options 243, 1131 Record Options dialog 1391 Recording Arming tracks for 245 arming tracks for 245 audio 255 choosing an input 243 definition troubleshooting 908 automation 709 background noise in 255 changing timing of 490, 498, 499 channel-by-channel 274 checking input levels 255 checking levels 255 confidence 257 controlling using Transport toolbar 85 converting MIDI to audio 600 digital aud
routing MIDI data to specific instruments 588 to use separate audio tracks 587 troubleshooting guide 588 ReWire instruments 585 REX file import 426 Riff Wave files description of 1399 saving a Groove clip as 424 RPN (Registered Parameter Numbers) event 514 RPNs (Registered Parameter Numbers) 510, 511, 514 assigning, to instruments 798–799 Run Audio 1130 S Safe Mode 918 Sample rate definition 550 setting 239, 240 Sample rates 845 converting 845 setting for new projects 845 Sampling rate setting 239 Sampling
Settings migrating from previous version of Cakewalk 64 Shapes 712 Snap magnetic snap 316 Snap Grid See Snap to Grid Snap offset 307 Shortcuts 1156 Snap offsets 318 Synth Rack view 1169 Track view 1158 Show Automated Mute 729 Snap to Grid 316–317 Show layers 326 Show numeric peak values 616 Sidechaining 629 assign track/bus/send to sidechain input 629 bouncing audio with sidechain plug-ins 630 freezing a sidechain input 630 limit number of inputs 1026 Signal flow diagram 602 Silence removing 563–564 S
as slave 823 features of 51–54 sync to SMPTE/MTC 826 uninstalling 91 Songs publishing 952–953 quantizing 493 title 284 Sony Wave-64 format 240 Sort 289, 1143, 1144 Sort Tracks dialog 1407 Sound card built-in 845 high-end 845 Sound controls 595–596 SoundFont Banks dialog 1408 SoundFonts 1152 SP/DIF connecting to 1232 recording through 1238 Split 326, 558 split notes 450 SPLIT CHANNEL TO TRACKS.CAL 902 SPLIT NOTE TO TRACKS.
position indicator 1452 Preserve Pattern for Step Sizes 1452 rows 1453, 1456 cut, copy and paste 1464 delete 1461 insert 1460 Stereo mode 1363 Stop 180, 246, 257, 264, 265, 266 Stop 1130 keyboard shortcut 1157 Stop Audio 1130 rename 1462 Strength, quantizing parameter 492, 494 reorder 1461 Striping 824 select 1461 Stuck note, stopping 181 StudioWare editing automation data in the Piano Roll view with 897 faders 896–897 recording a snapshot 898 recording real-time control movements 899 StudioWare Cont
problems 844–845 SMPTE/MTC sync 824 status messages 823 types of 819–821 Synth Rack automating controls 582 hiding or showing control knobs 580 rename synths 578 Synth Rack automation choosing a track to display on 582 Synth Rack icons 575 Synth Rack view 570, 1480 keyboard shortcuts in 1169 Synth Tracks 571 Synthesizer patches 207–208 software 844 with handshaking dump protocols 810 Synths MIDI output support 583 System Exclusive See Sysx System sounds turning off 179 Sysx 817 defined 806 Dump Request Macr
Taskbar indicators 86 Templates 731, 735–738 creating 736–737 track templates 294 Tempo changing 337, 339, 490 correcting 498 decreasing steadily 343 drawing tempo changes 341 editing a change 344 erasing changes 344 error 499 increasing steadily 343 inserting a change 340, 343 inserting a series 340 modifying the most recent change 341 ratio 339 setting for new project 237 setting the 237–239 settings 237 view 341–344 Tempo Change 337, 340 Tempo commands using 339 Tempo dialog 1416 Tempo Ratio 1 keyboard s
errors 491 MIDI offset 1256 resolution 241 Tips--24-bit 857 TL-64 Tube Leveler 979 Toolbars creating 84 customizing 84 docking and undocking 85 hiding and showing 84 renaming 85 Tools menu Change Audio Format 1148 Clean Audio Folder 841, 1148 Consolidate Project Audio 841, 1147 Tooltips appear when editing MIDI events 443 Track current 214 focus 1221 layers 326 locking height of 292 number vs.
normal 187, 1230 solo 187, 1230 Track templates 294 Track Time dialog 1423 Track Vel+ dialog 1423 Track view 68–70, 287 adding effects in 209, 336 bank settings in 207 clips pane not visible in 911 keyboard shortcuts in 69, 1158 patch settings in 207 Track view time display 175 Track View toolbar 1439 Track Volume dialog 1423 Track/Bus Inspector 70 Tracks 916 adding lyrics to 782–783 aligning 498 archiving 189, 852 arming 245–246, 604 arranging 288 assigning input channels and ports 274 assigning to outputs
fast forward 1022 Loop and Auto Shuttle 1131 pause 1021 Play 1129 Record Options 243, 1131 Reject Loop Take 264, 1132 rewind 1022 Run Audio 1130 Stop Audio 1130 Update Patch Cache 1132 Transport menu Loop and Auto Shuttle 183 Play 180 Record 246, 257 Reset 181 Reset 1130 Rewind 180 Rewind 1130 keyboard shortcut 1157 Step Record 269 Step Record 273, 1131 Stop 180 Stop 1130 keyboard shortcut 1157 Tempo Ratio 1 keyboard shortcut 1157 Tempo Ratio 2 keyboard shortcut 1157 Tempo Ratio 3 keyboard shortcut 1157 Tra
Undo 345 Undo History 345 Undo History dialog 1425 Unfreeze 617 Uninstalling SONAR 91 Unlink surround effect 701 Update Patch Cache 1132 Updates 905 USB audio 24 bit problems 916 UsesNotesAsControllers 799 Video thumbnails 225 Video view 1488 View options display clip names 302 View-Layouts 1125 Views 68–85 V Vel+ 199, 212–213 Velocity 506, 518, 754 adjusting note 212–213 compressing 509 Ctrl-key editing 445, 559, 631, 633, 666, 673, 674, 691, 1262 data display 512 inverting 510 note 212–213, 492, 518 not
changing audio data 567 envelopes 716 faders 657 output 609 recording 255 setting 604 track settings 199 VST Configuration 638 VST MIDI output 583 VST plug-ins organizing in menus 638 VST support integrated 638 V-Vocal context menu 650 Dynamics editing 650 Formant editing 649 Pitch editing 645 pitch-to-MIDI 651 Time editing 648 undoing edits 646 V-Vocal keyboard shortcuts 651 W WAI 886 Waveform preview on buses and synth tracks 616 turning off 258 Waveforms 548–550 clipped 551 redrawing 865 to not display
configuring the display of tracks in the Track view 291 entire project 291 Zooming in the Inline Piano Roll view 479 1576 Index
