Reference Guide

186 Controlling playback

Controlling the transport

To control playback, you have your choice of tools, menu commands, and shortcut keys for most

common operations.

When you start playback, the Now time updates continuously to show the current time. When you

stop playback, the Now time rewinds to the Now Time Marker. When you start playback again, it

continues from the same point.

If the Now time is advancing but you don’t hear any sound, see “Troubleshooting” on page 1251. If

you are using MIDI sync or syncing to MIDI time code, SONAR waits to receive external timing data

before it begins playing. If the various views are not updating during playback, make sure the

SCROLL LOCK key on your computer keyboard is not enabled. For more information, see

“Synchronizing your gear” on page 1153.

To start and stop playback

Note: If your Windows setup uses any system sounds that are associated with any typical

activity, such as minimizing a window, etc., you should disable these sounds. They can sound

extremely loud through your monitors, and also interrupt playback and recording, if you open

any dialog boxes or do anything that has a system sound attached to it while a project plays.

The quickest way to disable all system sounds is to open the Control Panel (Start > Settings >

Control Panel), double-click the Sounds icon to open the Sounds Properties dialog box, and

in the Schemes field select No Sounds. Click Apply, and then click OK.

To do this Do this

Start playback

Press the SPACEBAR key, click in the Transport module, or double-

click the bottom half of the Time Ruler

Stop playback

Press the SPACEBAR key or click in the Transport module

Rewind to the start of the project

Click in the Transport module, or press the W key

Skip to the end of the project

Click

in the Transport module, or press SHIFT+G

Table 20.

Note: The default behavior for the Now time when you click the Stop button is for it to return to

the Now time marker where playback began. If you want the Now time to remain where it is when

you stop playback, you can use the keyboard shortcut CTRL+SPACEBAR. If you want to

change the default behavior, clear the On Stop, Rewind to Now Marker option on the Track

view Options menu or press CTRL+W.