Reference Guide

SONAR basics

Introduction

Using MIDI devices after making driver changes

If you later add or remove drivers using the Drivers icon of the Windows Control Panel, SONAR

reacts in the following way:

• If you remove a Control Panel driver, SONAR will not use the device it belongs to the next time

you run the program. Any other devices you had selected using the Edit > Preferences > MIDI -

Devices command will remain selected.

• If you add a driver through the Control Panel, SONAR does not automatically use it. You must use

the Edit > Preferences > MIDI - Devices command to enable the new driver in SONAR’s list.

Defining your MIDI instrument or sound card

Once you have selected your MIDI Input and Output devices, SONAR, by default, plays back MIDI

sequences using a General MIDI instrument definition. If you are using a synthesizer or sound card

that does not adhere to the General MIDI standard, you may want to define that instrument. For

more information, see “Instrument definitions” on page 1117.

SONAR basics

SONAR’s menus and tools give you quick access to all the features of SONAR. Some menu choices

and tools display dialog boxes that let you choose among various options, or type in the values you

want. If you click in most views, in time rulers, or on certain other items with the right mouse button,

you see a pop-up menu that provides quick access to many common operations.

The project is the center of your work in SONAR. If you’re a musician, a project might contain a

song, a jingle, or a movement of a symphony. If you’re a post-production engineer, a project might

contain a 30-second radio commercial or a lengthy soundtrack for a film or videotape production. By

default, every project is stored in a file (known as a project file). The normal file extension for a

SONAR work file is .cwp.

SONAR organizes the sound and music in your project into tracks, clips, and events.

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

(SONAR X2 Essential supports unlimited MIDI tracks and up to 64 audio track). 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.

Clips are the pieces of sound and music that make up your tracks. A clip might contain a horn solo,

a drum break, a bass or guitar riff, a voice-over, a sound effect like the hoot of an owl, or an entire

keyboard performance. A track can contain a single clip or dozens of different clips, and you can

easily move clips from one track to another.

Note: After you add or remove a driver with the Drivers icon in the Windows Control Panel, you

must restart Windows for the change to take effect.