Reference Guide

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Input monitoring
Recording
Input monitoring
Being able to hear plug-in audio effects applied to a live signal is an exciting feature of SONAR.
However, there are two issues that users commonly stumble upon when using the input
monitoring feature. The first is that the monitored signal seems to have an echo associated with it.
The second is that live input monitoring can lead to nasty feedback problems, particularly if you have
an outboard audio mixer, or you record from a different sound card from the one you are playing
back with.
SONAR has several buttons to control input monitoring:
• Per-track Input Echo button. Each audio track has an Input Echo button that turn’s that
track’s input monitoring on or off.
• Global Input Echo button. The Input Echo On/Off All Tracks button in the Control Bar’s
Mix module turns input monitoring on or off on all audio tracks with one click.
• Audio Engine button. To disable all audio activity in SONAR, including input monitoring, click
the Audio Engine on/off button in the Control Bar’s Mix module so it lights up.
To understand the echo and feedback problems, let’s look at how audio signals travel through your
sound card, the drivers, and SONAR. The following diagram depicts a simplified version of this
signal flow.
Note: When you use input monitoring, make sure that the track you’re playing through uses the
same audio interface (sound card) for both input and output. Using different audio interfaces for
a track’s input and output can produce distortion during input monitoring.
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