Reference Guide

1086 Notation and lyrics
Basic musical editing
To enter a triplet
1. Enable Snap to Grid in the Control Bar’s Snap module.
2. Select the Draw tool in the Control Bar.
3. Select a triplet note duration in the Tools module.
4. Enter the first note at the desired location in the staff.
SONAR inserts all three triplet notes at the same pitch. You can then drag the second and third
notes to their correct pitch locations.
Beaming of rests
The Staff view supports beaming of rests, a practice that is popular with rhythmically complex music.
Beam lengths are extended to include rests that are integral parts of the beamed group of notes.
Short stems, called stemlets, extend from the beam toward the rest. This makes the rhythms easier
to read, because the beat boundaries are made clear.
To enable beaming of rests
1. Click the Staff view Edit menu and choose Layout to open the Staff View Layout dialog box.
2. Select the Beam Rests option.
3. Click OK.
Thereafter, the Staff view beams rests as though they were notes.
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. If you record a performance from a MIDI keyboard, for
example, you’ll find that some notes may start slightly before the beat, and some a little after, and
that the notes end a little late or a little early. Although these slight imperfections are what gives a
performance its “human” quality, you don’t necessarily want to see all these imperfections notated
with excruciating precision.
The Staff view has two options you can select to affect the way MIDI notes are displayed on the staff:
Option Purpose
Fill Durations Visually rounds up note durations to the next beat or the next note, whichever comes
first.
Trim Durations Visually rounds down note durations if they extend a little way past the start of the
next note.
Table 189.