SONAR User’s 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.
Table of Contents Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 About this manual . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Conventions used in this book . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Working on a project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .46 Windows taskbar indicators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .46 Screen colors and wallpaper . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .47 Color presets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .48 Installing SONAR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Tutorial 6 – Editing your music . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93 Selection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93 Moving clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95 Splitting Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95 Cropping Clips . . . . . . . . . . . .
New Impulse Responses for Perfect Space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .129 Step Sequencer 2.0 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .130 Integrated arpeggiator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .131 Support for more MIDI ports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .131 Matrix view . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
I Can’t Open My Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151 Audio Distorts at Greater than 16 Bits. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151 No Sound from My Soft Synth. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152 My Pro Audio 9 Files Sound Louder/Softer When I Open Them in SONAR. . . 153 SONAR Can’t Find the Wavetable Synth or MPU401. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Preface SONAR User’s Guide is designed to help you learn and use SONAR. This book explains how SONAR works and how to use it to create, edit, produce, and perform. The SONAR User’s Guide is task-oriented, with lots of cross-references, so that you can find the information you need. The User’s Guide book also includes a comprehensive index that you can use to find information on any specific topic.
Conventions used in this book The following table describes the text conventions in this book: Convention Meaning Bold Text that appears in bold is a command in SONAR. For example: Click OK. Right guillemet (File > Open) A right guillemet is a menu item separator and represents a level in the menu hierarchy. For example: File > Open means to click on the File menu and select the Open command. Monospace font A monospace font is used for file names, directory paths and code examples.
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.
About SONAR SONAR lets you work with music on your own level. Here are some of the ways you can make music with SONAR: Publish Publishing usually means printing your music; it’s one way to share your finished product with other performers. After you’ve recorded and arranged a song in SONAR, you can produce printed lead sheets and small scores with lyrics for sharing. You can also share the music files themselves.
Sound Production and Engineering If you want to produce music CDs or master tapes, SONAR has virtually everything you need from recording to mixing and mastering. Multichannel recording lets you capture studio or live performances track by track. Reconfigurable buses provide full control over your mix. Real-time stereo effects like chorus, flange, reverb, and delay/echo can be applied as track inserts, in effects loops, or to the master mix. SONAR supports 44.
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.
There are several important advantages of the MIDI format: • Large amounts of music can be stored in a very compact form • Different parts of a piece can easily be assigned to any instrument you can imagine • The music contains information on notes, tempos, and key signatures that makes it possible to display and edit the piece using standard musical notation The primary disadvantage of MIDI is that the quality of the sound a listener hears will vary depending on the MIDI equipment the listener is using.
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 want to hook up other devices, like a MIDI keyboard, an electric guitar, or a microphone, you need the right cables, and you need to find the right connectors on your computer. Before you install SONAR, take a minute to register the software so we can let you know when updates become available and provide you with technical support. To register anytime log onto www.cakewalk.
User accounts Previous versions of SONAR required a user to have Windows Administrator status. This is no longer the case. Any level of user can now install and run SONAR. Only one copy of SONAR per machine is necessary for multiple users to run SONAR with each user’s personal settings. When you first install SONAR, all application data files and .
have a stereo input) while digital inputs allow you to record 1 to 8 signals depending on the type of digital connection. The following table describes the various analog inputs and outputs. Type of analog input/output Description Balanced (XLR, phono or RCA) A mono input/output Unbalanced (TRS) A stereo or mono input/output Table 1. The following table describes the various digital inputs and outputs.
To connect a microphone to your computer • If your sound card has a 1/8 inch input jack (built-in sound cards that come with your PC usually do), and your microphone cable has a 1/4 inch plug on the end, plug the mic cable into a 1/8 inch stereo adapter, and then plug the 1/8 inch adapter into the microphone input jack on your computer sound card. 1/8 inch stereo adapters are available at consumer electronic supply stores.
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. To use this type of connection, find the end of one of the MIDI cables that is labeled OUT. Plug this connector into the MIDI IN jack on your electronic keyboard. The other 5-pin connector on the MIDI cable is labeled IN.
modes and the existing enabled devices will be remembered for the next time when you switch back to that mode. Loading a project after changing audio devices When loading a project after changing audio devices, SONAR will attempt to automatically remap any missing device to an equivalent new device. If an equivalent match is not found, the Missing Audio Outputs dialog appears, allowing you to manually reassign any unresolved output ports.
Remapping using friendly driver names When Use friendly names to represent audio drivers is selected in Options > Audio > Drivers, SONAR can intelligently remap devices across different hardware configurations or driver models by using your assigned friendly driver names, even if the hardware names do not match. This can be very useful if you switch driver modes and load projects you worked on earlier in another driver mode, or if you collaborate with other people who have different hardware configurations.
Starting SONAR There are many different ways to start SONAR. Here are a few: • Double-click the SONAR icon on your desktop. • Click the Start button, and choose Programs > Cakewalk > SONAR 8.5 (Studio or Producer) > SONAR 8.5 (Studio or Producer). • Click the Start button, point to Documents, and choose a SONAR project from the menu. • Double-click the SONAR program or any SONAR document from the Windows Explorer or the Find menu. When starting SONAR, you will see the Quick Start dialog box. Figure 3.
If you don’t want to see the Quick Start dialog box in the future, uncheck the box at the bottom of the dialog box, and click Close. You can see the Quick Start dialog box later by choosing Help > Quick Start. RIFF/MID will not launch SONAR when double-clicked Note: Double-clicking RIFF MIDI files and Standard MIDI files will fail to launch SONAR even if these file types are associated with SONAR.
When Wave Profiler determines the kind of card you have, always accept the default settings. Note: You can run the Wave Profiler again at a later time (for example, if you install a new sound card or driver) by choosing the Options > Audio General tab command and clicking Wave Profiler. Setting up the MIDI In and MIDI Out devices When you start SONAR for the first time, it checks your computer to find all the MIDI input and output devices you have installed (such as sound cards and MIDI interfaces).
4. Check one device at a time in the Outputs window and click Move Selected Devices to Top to change its order. Then check all the devices that appear in the window to select them for output. Tip: Be sure to enable (check) MIDI output devices in the MIDI Devices dialog (use the Options > MIDI Devices command). If you don’t do this, you won’t hear any of your MIDI instruments when you play songs in SONAR.
Tracks are used to store the sound or music made by each instrument or voice in a project. For example, a song that is arranged for four instruments and one vocalist may have 5 tracks—one for each instrument and one for the vocals. Each project can have an unlimited number of tracks. Some of these tracks may be used in your finished project, while others can hold alternate takes, backup tracks, and variations that you might want to keep for future use. Each track can be made up of one or many clips.
Opening a file Use the following procedure to open a file. To open a file in SONAR 1. If you haven't already done so, start SONAR. 2. Choose File > Open. 3. In the Open dialog box, navigate to the directory where the project you want to open is located and select it. 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.
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.
Track/Bus Inspector The Track/Bus Inspector makes it easy to adjust the current track’s (or bus’s) controls, because it’s a greatly expanded version of the current track’s controls that is located on the left side of the Track pane. In addition to the controls that a track or bus displays in the Track view, the Track/Bus Inspector also contains a built-in 4-band EQ. See the online help topic “Using the Per-track EQ” for more information.
You can hide or show any of the Track/Bus Inspector’s controls, and use it to display the controls from any track or bus. The following table shows you how. To do this Do this Hide or show the Track/Bus Inspector Press I on your keyboard. Display a certain track’s or bus’s controls in the Track/Bus Inspector Click the track or bus to make it current, or choose the track or bus in the track/bus drop-down menu that’s at the bottom of the Track/Bus Inspector.
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.
Figure 8. The Piano Roll view 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.
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. 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. Figure 11. The Media Browser view The Event List view : displays the events in a project individually, so that you can make changes at a very detailed level.
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. Big Time To display the Now time in a large, resizable font that you can read more easily. Markers To add, move, rename, or delete labels for parts of your project that make it easier to move from one point to another. Lyrics To add and display lyrics for a track. To display a loaded video file.
Zoom controls Many of the views contain Zoom tools that let you change the horizontal and vertical scale of the 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.
You can also zoom with the keyboard: Key What it does CTRL+UP ARROW Zoom out vertically CTRL+DOWN ARROW Zoom in vertically CTRL+RIGHT ARROW Zoom in horizontally CTRL+LEFT ARROW Zoom out horizontally G Go to (center) the Now time, without zooming 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.
To do this Do this Display a view in tabbed format Click the upper left corner of a view, and choose Enable Tabbed from the pop-up menu Disable tabbed format for a view Right-click the view’s tab, and choose Disable Tabbed from the pop-up menu. Enable or disable tabbed format for all open views Use the View > Enable Tabbing for Open Views command. Maximize a tabbed view Click the Maximize/Restore button Restore tabbed view Click the Restore button that you’re restoring.
The X-Ray Windows feature works on the following windows: • AudioSnap palette • Synth Rack • Piano Roll view (when float-enabled) • Snap To Grid dialog • Plug-in effects and synths • Controller/Surface plug-ins To select key bindings for X-Ray windows 1. Use the Options > Key Bindings command to open the Key Bindings dialog. 2.
3. To X-Ray or un-X-Ray a single window, move the mouse cursor over the window, and press the keyboard shortcut (default is SHIFT+X) for the X-Ray command. The window does not need to have focus (does not need to be the highlighted window). 4. To X-Ray or un-X-Ray all plug-in windows at once, press the key binding for the X-Ray All FX/ Synths command. Note: If a window has focus, and the window’s Give All Keystrokes To Plug-in button enabled, X-Ray keyboard commands won’t work.
8. At the end of the file, find the [EffectProps View] section. You will see entries such as the following: ; Waves SSL EQ Stereo XRayExclude11=1397510483 XRayExclude12={E451379E-F7E1-4E82-98D9-BEB87AC45E90} 9.
To do this Do this Hide items in a menu Click a menu Item (CTRL-click to select multiple items) and press the Hide button. The hidden command(s) will only be visible in the submenu that is automatically created at the bottom of the menu. You can display the submenu by clicking one of the arrows at the bottom of the menu. Show items in a menu Click a menu Item (CTRL-click to select multiple items) and press the Show button. The command(s) will reappear in its original location.
Note 1: Keep in mind that the factory default menu layout cannot be overwritten. If you want to change this layout, save your changes under a new layout name. Note 2: If you change your menu layout so much that you can’t find some commands, you can always load the factory default menu layout. Altering your menus may affect your menus’ hotkeys, which allow you to navigate through the application’s menus without using a mouse.
To customize a toolbar: 1. Right-click the toolbar that you want to customize, and choose Customize from the pop-up menu to open the Customize Toolbar dialog. 2. In the Available Toolbar Buttons field, select a component that you want to see in the toolbar, and click the Add button to move the component to the Current Toolbar Buttons field. 3. Repeat step 2 for any additional components you would like to display. 4.
Working on a project Much of your time in SONAR is spent recording and listening to your project as it develops. The Transport toolbar, shown below, contains the most important tools and other pieces of information you’ll need to record and play back your project. Every project has a current time, known as the Now time. As you record or play back a project, the Now time shows your current location in the project. When you create a project, the Now time is set to the beginning of the project.
In this case, your sound card probably came with a separate program to control input and output levels. See your sound card documentation for more information. Screen colors and wallpaper SONAR lets you customize the colors that are used for virtually all parts of the program using the Options > Colors command. This command also lets you change the background bitmap that is displayed in the SONAR window.
To change the wallpaper 1. Choose Options > Colors to display the Configure Colors dialog box. 2. Choose the desired wallpaper according to the table: To do this Do this Use the default wallpaper Check Default in the Wallpaper list Not use any wallpaper Check None in the Wallpaper list Use a custom bitmap Check Custom, choose a bitmap, and click Open Table 14. 3. Click OK when you are done.
Figure 15. The Configure Colors dialog A B A. Presets menu B. Import and Export buttons 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.
To export the current color arrangement 1. Open the Configure Colors dialog by using the Options > Colors command. 2. Arrange or load the color arrangement you want to export. 3. Click the Export Colors button in the Configure Colors dialog. The Export Color Set dialog appears. 4. Navigate to the folder where you want to store your new color set file. 5. Type a name for your color set file in the File Name field. 6. Make sure that the Export Current Color Set check box is enabled. 7.
Installing SONAR SONAR is easy to install. All you need to do is choose the folder where the program and sample project files should be stored. Before you start, make sure you have your serial number handy. Your serial number is located on the back of your DVD case. Note: If you choose to not install the Sample files, you will not have the necessary content to use the tutorials in Chapter 2. To install SONAR 1. Start your computer. 2. Close any open programs you have running. 3.
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. The following tutorials will give you some hands-on practice in playing, recording, and mixing your projects. If you have not already done so, you may want to refer to “SONAR basics” on page 26 to get the most out of these tutorials.
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.
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.
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. You can load project files into SONAR in one of two ways: • Select a file by clicking on it so that it is selected, then click Open. • Double-click the file from the browsing pane. Let’s now use one of these methods to open the project file 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.
Playing the project 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.
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 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. This is the Delete Soft Synth button, which is used to remove the selected synth from the Preview Synth list from your project. Click the Properties button to open up the property page for the selected synth. Table 15.
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. .
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. In addition to using soft synths to preview MIDI groove clips, soft synths also have many other useful and powerful features.
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.
4. Select the physical jack that you're instrument is plugged in to. If you know, for instance, that your guitar is plugged into input 1, click the Input control and select the first option. Some audio interfaces refer to their stereo inputs as pairs, like 1/2, 3/4 or 5/6. Most often left channels are represented by odd numbers and right channels are represented by even numbers. Note: Most microphones and guitars are mono, so you'll want to select either the left or right channel accordingly. 5.
Recording your performance Now that everything is set up, let's record something! 1. On the Options menu, select Project and then click the Metronome tab. 2. Set the metronome for a 2 measure count-in. • Click Use Audio Metronome, select the Recording check box and set Record Count-in to 2 Measures. For details about each metronome option, click Help. 3. Make sure the track has been record enabled by clicking the track’s Record Enable button.
Troubleshooting If you weren't able to record successfully by following this tutorial, please check the following: I only get one side of my guitar/microphone recorded You may be recording a mono signal through a stereo input. Guitars and microphones produce mono signals. Right-click the track and select Track Properties from the popup menu. This opens the Track Properties dialog, where you can specify the desired input port.
The Windows Mixer looks like this: When you open the Windows Mixer it may be labeled Play Control or Recording Control. We want to see the recording controls. To view the recording controls in Windows XP: 1. On the Options menu, click Properties. The Properties dialog appears. 2. In the Adjust Volume For section, click Recording. 3. In the Show the Following Volume Controls section, click Line-in and Microphone. 4. Click OK to close the Properties dialog. The recording controls appear in the Windows Mixer.
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. Note: Feel free to skip to the next section if you want to start using synths right away.
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.
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.
Click OK. You can now draw notes at shorter distances from each other. What if I already have a project that contains MIDI tracks? If you already have a MIDI track that you would like to play through a software instrument, the steps are a bit different. Let's start by opening a sample project. 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.
3. In the Open These Windows area, click Synth Property Page. Note: If you would like a detailed explanation of each option, click Help. 4. Click OK. A new synth track is inserted in your project. 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.
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.
Next we need to configure the Staff View tools for the purpose of this tutorial: 1. Change the Display Resolution 2. Disable Fill Durations 3. Select the Draw tool to the smallest note value. and Trim Durations . . 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.
4. In the Clef list, select Treble/Bass, then click OK to close the Staff View Layout dialog. The Staff View now looks like this: 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.
Selecting notes To select notes: 1. Click the Select tool . 2. Do one of the following: • To select a single note, click the note head. • To select multiple adjacent notes, click outside the first note you want to select and drag the mouse to draw a rectangle around the desired notes. • To select discontiguous notes, hold down the CTRL key and click the desired notes. 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.
The following table shows the relationship between note durations and ticks (with the default timebase of 960 ticks per quarter note). Note Duration in ticks Whole 4:000 Half 2:000 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. Click the Draw tool . 2. Enable the Chord button . 3. Position the pointer above the note you want to add the chord to and click. A chord symbol is added above the note. 4.
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. A hairpin event (crescendo or decrescendo) is inserted. 4. To change the hairpin type and duration, right-click the hairpin event. The Hairpin Properties dialog appears.
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. Printing your notation Once you are finished entering and editing notes you can print out the score or individual parts. 1. Select the MIDI track or tracks you want to print the notation for. 2. On the Views menu, click Staff. The Staff view opens. 3.
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.
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.
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.
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. Note: When you close a project, the undo history is erased.
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”.
The next thing we'll try is panning. As with mixing in general, there are no rules when it comes to panning. Be creative, trying different ideas to see how they sound. One important thing to consider is 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.
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. It produces echoes that are similar to the natural echoes that happen when a sound bounces off the walls in a room. Delay. Delay plug-ins have the ability to create an echo.
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. Reverb and Delay Next, we'll add some space to the song.
3. Configure the Send Assistant as follows: • Click New Bus. This will create a new reverb bus instead of routing the tracks to an existing 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..
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. Using Automation Another feature that is important to mixing is automation.
Automation allows you to make gradual or sudden changes to make your song more dynamic. For example, in the tutorial project, you might find that Whiney Synth should become lower in volume at measure 25, when the drums and bass change. Try it: 1. Click the Write Automation button 2. Click Play on the Whiney Synth track. or press SPACEBAR to start playback. 3. At measure 25, turn the track volume down to the desired level. 4. At measure 33, turn the track volume back up. 5. Press Stop to stop playback.
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” on page 53 before going any further. 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. 1.
Figure 17. The Import Video dialog 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.
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. Import as mono tracks Select this option if you want to import the video file's embedded audio data as one or more mono tracks. Table 16.
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.
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. Select everything in the project that you want to export. If you want to export the entire project, simply select Edit > Select > All or press CTRL+A. 2. On the File menu, point to Export and click Video. The Export Video dialog opens.
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.
Figure 18. The Export Audio dialog 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” on page 53. 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 burn an audio CD of your music 1. Click File > Export > Audio 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. Enter a name for you mix in the File name box. 6. In the File type list, select Wave. 7. Specify where you want to save the file. Make note of this location, because you will need to use it later. 8. Click Export.
Depending on the type of blank CD you are using, you can fit up to 80 minutes of audio on one CD. Make note of the Space Available and Space Used fields; these will let you know how many more tracks you can fit on your CD. For the best compatibility with most consumer CD players, you should use a CD-R disc. CD-RW discs, while compatible with some newer CD players, may not play back in all systems.
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. Figure 20. Publisher 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.
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 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123 VX-64 Vocal Strip. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124 Session Drummer 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Recording and mixing enhancements: Matrix view. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132 REX file import. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133 Freeze and Archive buttons in Track view . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133 New Freeze option. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
PX-64 Percussion Strip Note: The PX-64 Percussion Strip plug-in is only available in SONAR Producer. Figure 21. 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.
VX-64 Vocal Strip Note: The VX-64 Vocal Strip plug-in is only available in SONAR Producer. Figure 22. 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.
Session Drummer 3 Note: The Session Drummer 3 synth is only available in SONAR Producer. Figure 23. 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. Alias Factor Figure 24. 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.
HF Exciter Figure 26. 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. Mod Filter Figure 27.
Para-Q Figure 29. 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. It consumes very little processing power, which allows you to use it on many tracks simultaneously. For more information, see the Para-Q online Help. Stereo Compressor/Gate Figure 30.
Stereo Delay Figure 31. Stereo Delay 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 Stereo Delay online Help. Studioverb2 Figure 32. StudioVerb2 Studioverb2 provides very dense and warm reverberation with 32-bit floating point implementation.
Step Sequencer 2.0 The enhanced Step Sequencer makes it easier than ever to compose patterns using a grid. New enhancements include: • The Step Sequencer interface has been streamlined to be more efficient and powerful. • The Step Sequencer is no longer dependent on drum maps, and rows can be assigned directly to the track output, or any available software instrument. • Option to preserve the original timing of note events when converting a MIDI clip to a step sequencer clip.
Integrated arpeggiator Each MIDI and instrument track has its own integrated arpeggiator, visually located in the Track view. The arpeggiator lets you play intricate patterns of notes that would otherwise be extremely difficult or impossible to play manually and at speeds and octave ranges that exist beyond the physical limitations of the player or keyboard range. Arpeggiated events are new events that are based on notes that you play on your controller keyboard.
Matrix view 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.
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. Once imported, you can work with REX files just as if they were regular Groove Clips (see Working Groove Clip audio).
New Freeze option The Freeze Options dialog has a new Track FX option, which allows you to either include or exclude track FX bins during freeze operations. When freezing AudioSnap clips in order to conserve CPU resources, it is often desirable to not render track FX bins. Solo track/bus from plug-in window When tweaking an effect, it is often desirable to only hear the audio that is passing through the effect.
Insert Send Assistant enhancements The Insert Send Assistant dialog has an improved layout and a new Match Track’s Pan and Gain option that makes it easier to create headphone mixes. Figure 38. 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.
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 AudioSnap 2.0 provides simplified workflow and introduces many enhancements that make it easier to fix timing problems in audio and align audio with the project tempo. 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.
TAB to transients You can use the TAB and SHIFT+TAB keys to jump to audio transients, and MIDI Note events. In SONAR 8.5, TAB to transients is always available when the transport is idle, and is no longer dependent on AudioSnap. TAB to transients is now selection-based, which means tabbing will go to the next/previous transient amongst all selected clips. If there is no selection, tabbing operates on the current track. To move the Now Time to the next transient, press TAB.
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. For more information, see the online Help topic “Changing I/O devices”.
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.
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.
I Can’t Open My Project. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151 Audio Distorts at Greater than 16 Bits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151 No Sound from My Soft Synth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152 My Pro Audio 9 Files Sound Louder/Softer When I Open Them in SONAR . 153 SONAR Can’t Find the Wavetable Synth or MPU401 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
When I Play a File, I Don’t Hear Anything Open a project (.cwp) and click the Play button. If you don’t hear any music, try the following suggestions: Possible problem What to do Your speakers aren’t connected Make sure your speakers are on and the volume is turned up. properly or the volume is turned down. Your sound card isn’t hooked up correctly. See if other programs play sound correctly through your speakers.
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.
When I Play a File Containing Audio, the Audio 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.
I Can’t Record Any Audio If you are unable to record audio through your sound card, try the following suggestions: Possible problem What to do The track is not set up to receive Make sure that the input for the track you are recording (in the Track view) is audio input. set to an Audio input before recording. The software mixer is not set up properly. Double-click on the speaker icon in the Windows task bar to display the mixer.
My Keyboard Doubles Every Note I Play When your keyboard doubles the notes, each note seems heavier or thicker than usual, as if two notes of the same pitch are emitted when you press the key. Also, you may find that you can play only half as many notes at one time before some of the held notes drop out. This can occur when MIDI echo is enabled. The keyboard plays the note for the key you’ve pressed.
Why Do I Get Errors from the Wave Profiler? Audio devices such as voice modems or speakerphone devices can cause an error message when running the Wave Profiler. Sometimes these errors are harmless; on other occasions you need to disable the voice modem or speaker-phone device before running the Wave Profiler. To do so: 1. Choose Options > Audio and click the Drivers tab. 2. Make sure that the voice modem or speaker-phone device is not selected in both the Input and Output device lists. 3. Click OK. 4.
How Do I Use SONAR to Access All the Sounds on My MIDI Instrument? SONAR is normally set up to access the 128 sounds that are part of the General MIDI standard. SONAR also includes custom instrument definitions that match the sounds on many popular instruments. To use a custom instrument definition: 1. Choose Options > Instruments to display the Assign Instruments dialog box. 2. Click the Define button to display the Define Instruments and Names dialog box. 3.
To mute your sound card’s direct sound: 1. Open the software mixer that controls your sound card. If your sound card uses the Windows mixer, open the mixer by using the Start > Programs > Accessories > Entertainment > Volume Control command, or by double-clicking the speaker icon on the Windows taskbar. 2. In the Play Control window of the mixer, check the Mute check box in the Line-In column, or in the column of whatever jack your instrument is plugged into, and close the mixer window.
I Can’t Open My Project Your project may have become corrupted. You can attempt to open the project using Safe Mode. To Use Safe Mode • If you are opening a file from the Most Recently Used files list in the File menu, hold down the SHIFT key while selecting file name. • If you are opening the file from the Open dialog, select the file in the dialog and hold down the SHIFT key while clicking the OK button. Safe Mode does the following: • Opens only the Track view.
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.
My Pro Audio 9 Files Sound Louder/Softer When I Open Them in SONAR Pro Audio 9 has a setting in the Audio Options dialog box called MIDI Volume Mapping. This setting determines how many dB that a movement of a volume fader produces. This setting is not stored in each project file, so SONAR can’t tell precisely what dB scale was used to produce the file you’re opening. If the volume sounds incorrect: 1. Open SONAR’s Aud.ini file (find it in your SONAR folder and double-click it). 2.
Bouncing Tracks Takes a Long Time By default, SONAR uses a buffer for bouncing tracks that is the same size as the Mixing Latency value that you set in the Audio Options dialog. But with some projects, especially ones that use certain soft synths, the bounce buffer needs to have its own value. You can set the value in the Aud.ini file with the BounceBufSizeMsec=0 line in the Wave section.
7. Use Notepad to open the XRayExclude.ini file that's in your SONAR program folder (C:\Documents and Settings\\Application Data\Cakewalk\SONAR 8 Producer Edition). Note: If you use SONAR Studio, substitute “Producer” with “Studio”. 8. At the end of the file, find the [EffectProps View] section. You will see entries such as the following: ; Waves SSL EQ Stereo XRayExclude11=1397510483 XRayExclude12={E451379E-F7E1-4E82-98D9-BEB87AC45E90} 9.
File Recovery mode SONAR 5 introduced a special diagnostic mode called Safe Mode to fix problems with project files that would not open. Safe mode is activated when you open a file while the SHIFT key is pressed. In certain rare circumstances, on attempting to open a project file you may see the following error message: “This file you are trying to open is not compatible with this version of SONAR”. This message indicates that SONAR detected errors in the project file and was unable to open it.
What does File Recovery mode do? File Recovery Mode applies the following behavior when opening a project file: • Opens only the Track view, skipping all other opened views in the project including effects windows, Console View etc. • Prompts you if you want to open the plug-ins saved with your project. Each plug-in gets a prompt, so you can open some and not open others.
Glossary Aftertouch MIDI property controlling how much pressure is applied after sending a Note On message. See “Channel aftertouch (ChanAft)” on page 160 and “Key aftertouch (KeyAft)” on page 164. 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. Archived tracks are not loaded into RAM, so they can’t be unmuted in real time.
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 the online Help topic 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.
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 the online Help topic 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 166. Full-duplex The ability to stream data in two directions simultaneously.
Hairpin symbol Crescendo or decrescendo mark. See the online Help topic Chords and Marks Input The selection for which channel of a device you wish to receive signal from. See the online Help topic 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.
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 the online Help topic 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 the online Help topic Routing and Mixing Digital Audio. MMC (MIDI Machine Code) A protocol that controls an MMC-equipped remote device through MIDI. See the online Help topic 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 the online Help topic 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 the online Help topic 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.
Index .clr 48 .
Errors Wave Profiler 148 Event List view 35 F FAQs 141 File opening 28 File extensions .
N Notation working with 85 Notes doubling 147 Now time 46 O Options menu Colors 47 MIDI Devices 25 P Partial clips selecting 30 Patches downloading 141 Piano Roll view 33 overview 33 Playback controlling using transport toolbar 46 problems 143 Port Address settings 24 Preferences migrating from previous version of Cakewalk 24 Project definition of 26 opening 23, 28 Project file 26 Projects working on 46 Publisher 119 R Recording audio definition troubleshooting 145 Index controlling using Transport too
Tracks 154 See also Recording; Track Properties Transport toolbar 46 Troubleshooting 141 Tutorial 5 Working with Music Notation 85 U Uninstalling SONAR 51 Updates 141 USB audio 24 bit problems 153 V Views 28–45 allowing multiple instances of the same 39 docking in bus pane 38 floating 39 Lyrics 36 Markers 36 Meter/Key 36 Sysx 36 Tempo 36 W Wallpaper 47–48 Wave Device Profiler errors 148 Wave Profiler using 24 World Wide Web authoring 13 X X-Ray Windows 39 176 Index Z Zoom keyboard shortcuts 38 Zoom C
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