Reference Guide

667
Real-time bounce
Mixing
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.
When Fast Bounce is disabled
When Fast Bounce is disabled, the bounce is performed in real-time by actually playing back the
project audibly in similar fashion to standard playback. In real-time bounce mode, all audio hardware
inputs and outputs are active in order to allow I/O to external hardware inserts.
If you manually stop playback during the bounce operation, SONAR will prompt you if you want to
keep or cancel the bounce.
Audible bounce
When Fast Bounce is disabled, the real-time bounce operation can be performed either silently or
audibly.
The following dialogs have a new Audible Bounce option:
• Bounce to Track(s) dialog
• Export Audio dialog
• Export Video mix options
• Apply Audio Effects dialog
• Freeze Options dialog
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.
Improve real-time bounce performance
When performing a real-time bounce operation, you can use the Pause button as a toggle to
temporarily reduce the frequency of GUI updates. This maximizes CPU resources for the audio
engine and can be useful while playing projects that consume a lot of CPU, to help avoid dropouts.
For more information, see “The GUI is not Smooth During Playback” on page 917.
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. Please be sure to turn down the master output level before using real-
time audible bounce under these scenarios to avoid the possibility of speaker damage.