Reference Guide

Automation
SONAR has a very sophisticated automation system that lets you record fader moves and
parameter changes with a mouse or control surface during playback in real time, or edit automation
graphically offline.
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. This allows you to dynamically change
parameters over the course of a project’s timeline. SONAR allows you to graphically automate much
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. Easy to use read and write controls are featured on each
automatable component of SONAR.
You can also group several controls together and automate them all by recording only a single
control’s movements. You can draw freehand and geometric automation curves with the Freehand
tool and Pattern tools. All automatable controls are in the Console view and the Track view
(including the Clips pane), however, you can also graphically automate MIDI controllers from the
Piano Roll view in addition to the Console and Track views. You can enable or disable all automation
by clicking the Global Automation Playback button in the Control Bar’s Mix module. You can
also enable or disable automation by track or by parameter using the Automation Read button
on track strips, buses, effects bins and soft synths. This is a handy way to turn off automation for a
particular section of parameters while mixing.