Cakewalk Sonar - 8.5 User's Guide

SONAR User’s Guide

Information in this document is subject to change without notice and does not represent a commitment on the part of Cakewalk, Inc. The software described in this document is furnished under a license agreement or nondisclosure agreement. The software may be used or copied only in accordance of the terms of the agreement. It is against the law to copy this software on any medium except as specifically allowed in the agreement. No part of this document may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, for any purpose without the express written permission of Cakewalk, Inc.

ACID is a trademark of Sony Creative Software, Inc.

Cakewalk is a registered trademark of Cakewalk, Inc. and the Cakewalk logo are trademarks of Cakewalk, Inc. Other company and product names are trademarks of their respective owners.

Visit Cakewalk on the World Wide Web at www.cakewalk.com.

Table of Contents

Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

About this manual . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Conventions used in this book . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

About SONAR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Publish . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Music Composition and Exploration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Remixing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Game Sound Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Sound Production and Engineering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Web Authoring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Film and Video Scoring and Production . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Publishing Music on the Internet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Burning Audio CDs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

Flexibility. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Computers, Sound, and Music . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

MIDI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Digital audio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Setup. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

Audio connections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

MIDI Connections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Changing I/O devices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Starting SONAR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

SONAR basics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

SONAR file types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

Opening a file . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

Views . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

Working on a project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .46

Windows taskbar indicators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .46

Screen colors and wallpaper . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .47

Color presets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .48

Installing SONAR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .51

Starting to use SONAR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .52

Tutorial 1 – Creating, playing, and saving projects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

Creating a new project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .54

Opening project files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .56

Playing project files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .58

Configuring your sound device . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .58

Setting the tracks outputs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .59

Playing the project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .61

Looping project files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .62

Saving project files. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .63

Tutorial 2 – Using the Media Browser. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65

Finding and previewing audio loops. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .68

Previewing MIDI groove clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .69

Adding loops to your project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .70

Tutorial 3 – Recording vocals and musical instruments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71

Troubleshooting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .74

Tutorial 4 – Playing and recording software instruments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

Adding an instrument track to your project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .78

Recording MIDI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .80

Manually entering MIDI notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .80

Tutorial 5 – Working with music notation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85

Printing your notation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .92

Tutorial 6 – Editing your music . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93

Selection. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93

Moving clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95

Splitting Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95

Cropping Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96

Undo and Redo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97

Tutorial 7 – Mixing and adding effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99

Volume and pan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100

Adding effects (FX) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101

Using Automation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105

Tutorial 8 – Working with video . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107

Importing video . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107

What if I don’t see the Video Thumbnail pane or Video view? . . . . . . . . . . 110

Changing the video properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110

Working with markers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112

Exporting your video . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114

Tutorial 9 – Exporting, CD burning and sharing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115

Burning an audio CD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117

Cakewalk Publisher . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119

New features in SONAR 8.5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121

PX-64 Percussion Strip . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123

VX-64 Vocal Strip . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124

Session Drummer 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125

Alias Factor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126

Classic Phaser . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126

HF Exciter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127

Mod Filter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127

Multivoice Chorus/Flanger . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127

Para-Q. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128

Stereo Compressor/Gate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128

Stereo Delay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129

Studioverb2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129

New Impulse Responses for Perfect Space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .129

Step Sequencer 2.0 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .130

Integrated arpeggiator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .131

Support for more MIDI ports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .131

Matrix view . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .132

REX file import . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .133

Freeze and Archive buttons in Track view . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .133

New Freeze option. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .134

Solo track/bus from plug-in window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .134

Insert Send Assistant enhancements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .135

DC offset meter in Analyst . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .136

AudioSnap 2.0 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .137

TAB to transients . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .138

Auto Scroll Lock in Clips pane . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .138

Clips pane vertical grid lines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .138

Draggable Now Time marker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .138

Change I/O devices without restarting SONAR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .139

VST plug-in compatibility options. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .139

Media Browser enhancements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .140

Troubleshooting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141

Audio dropouts or crash when playing back large files at maximum latency. . .142

When I Play a File, I Don’t Hear Anything . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .143

I Can’t Record from My MIDI Instrument . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .144

When I Play a File Containing Audio, the Audio Portion Doesn’t Play. . . . . . . .145

I Can’t Record Any Audio. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .146

The Music Is Playing Back with the Wrong Instrument Sounds. . . . . . . . . . . . .146

My Keyboard Doubles Every Note I Play . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .147

I Don’t See the Clips Pane in the Track View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .147

Why Can’t SONAR Find My Audio Files? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .147

Why Do I Get Errors from the Wave Profiler? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .148

My Track or Bus Fader is Maximized, But There’s No Sound or Level . . . . . . .148

How Do I Use SONAR to Access All the Sounds on My MIDI Instrument? . . . .149

I Hear an Echo When I Record . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .149

Dropouts Happen in High Bit-depth or High Sample Rate Audio. . . . . . . . . . . .150

Patching an Effect into SONAR Causes a Dropout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .150

I Can’t Open My Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151

Audio Distorts at Greater than 16 Bits. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151

No Sound from My Soft Synth. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152

My Pro Audio 9 Files Sound Louder/Softer When I Open Them in SONAR. . . 153

SONAR Can’t Find the Wavetable Synth or MPU401. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153

I Get an Error Message When I Change a Project to 24-bit Audio . . . . . . . . . . 153

Bouncing Tracks Takes a Long Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154

The GUI is not Smooth During Playback . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154

Plug-in windows flicker or don't display properly. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154

File Recovery mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156

Glossary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159

LICENSE AGREEMENT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177

Preface

SONAR User’s Guide is designed to help you learn and use SONAR. This book explains how SONAR works and how to use it to create, edit, produce, and perform. The SONAR User’s Guide is task-oriented, with lots of cross-references, so that you can find the information you need. The User’s Guide book also includes a comprehensive index that you can use to find information on any specific topic.

About this manual

This manual provides basic information about how to install and set up SONAR make initial settings and system setup. It also provides tutorials to help you get started as well as a glossary of terms used in this manual.

Using the online Help

SONAR also includes complete documentation in an HTML-based online Help system. SONAR’s online Help provides detailed information about each feature in the program, including menu commands, windows, dialogs, keyboard shortcuts and common procedures. You can get contextsensitive help at any time by pressing the F1 key.

Need more info?

In addition to the User’s Guide and the online Help, you can also find more help in the following places:

• The ReadMe file contains information that was not available at the time of this printing. On

SONAR’s Help menu, click View README.RTF.

• Access videos on the SONAR Owner’s page at

http://www.cakewalk.com/Owners/SONAR85.

• Visit the peer-to-peer Cakewalk forums at http://forum.cakewalk.com/default.asp.

• Visit the SONAR Support page at

http://www.cakewalk.com/Support/SONAR/DEFAULT.ASP.

Conventions used in this book

The following table describes the text conventions in this book:

Convention Meaning

Bold Text that appears in bold is a command in SONAR.

Right guillemet (File > Open)

Monospace font A monospace font is used for file names, directory paths and code examples.

Plus sign (+) A plus sign (+) is used between the keys to be pressed in a key combination.

For example: Click OK.

A right guillemet is a menu item separator and represents a level in the menu hierarchy. For example: File > Open means to click on the File menu and select the Open command.

For example: Locate the project named

For example: CTRL+A means hold down the CTRL key and press the A key.

SONAR_AudioDemo1.cwp.

Conventions used in this book

Introduction

SONAR is a professional tool for authoring sound and music on your personal computer. It’s designed for musicians, composers, arrangers, audio and production engineers, multimedia and game developers, and recording engineers. SONAR supports Wave, MP3, ACIDized waves, WMA, AIFF and other popular formats, providing all the tools you need to do professional-quality work rapidly and efficiently.

SONAR is more than an integrated MIDI and digital audio authoring software package—it’s an expandable platform that can function as the central nervous system of your recording studio. With drivers for common high-end audio hardware, full support for audio plug-ins, software synthesizers, MFX MIDI plug-ins, and MIDI Machine Control (MMC) of external MIDI gear, SONAR can handle your most demanding projects.

In This Chapter

About SONAR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Computers, Sound, and Music. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Setup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

Starting SONAR. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

SONAR basics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

Windows taskbar indicators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

Screen colors and wallpaper . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

Installing SONAR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

About SONAR

SONAR lets you work with music on your own level. Here are some of the ways you can make music with SONAR:

Publish

Publishing usually means printing your music; it’s one way to share your finished product with other performers. After you’ve recorded and arranged a song in SONAR, you can produce printed lead sheets and small scores with lyrics for sharing. You can also share the music files themselves. SONAR will save your music in a format that you can put on a web site or email to other people.

SONAR is the flagship product of the Cakewalk line of integrated MIDI and digital audio sequencers for the Windows platform. SONAR has a comprehensive feature set that makes it the single most productive tool for sound and music authoring. Here are some of the ways you can use SONAR.

Music Composition and Exploration

SONAR is a powerful music-composition application, providing tools to record your own musical performances; enhance or improve the quality of those performances; and edit, arrange, and experiment with the music. With a few simple clicks of the mouse, you can arrange, orchestrate, and audition your composition. Fully integrated sequencing allows you to combine the convenience and flexibility of MIDI composition with the high-quality sound and subtlety of digital audio sound recording and reproduction. Change the feel of a piece by locking it to a musical groove, or add delicate delays, anticipations, or echoes that add richness to the music.

SONAR displays and lets you edit your music using standard musical notation and guitar tablature, so you can adjust individual notes, add performance markings, and print individual parts or full scores. You can graphically draw tempo and volume changes, or add lyrics to display on-screen or to include with printed scores.

Remixing

SONAR’s Groove clips allow you to import, create, export and edit loops, making it possible to quickly change tempos and keys for an entire project. The Media Browser view lets you preview loops in the project’s tempo and key before dragging and dropping them onto a track.

Game Sound Development

There’s no better tool than SONAR for composing music for electronic games. Clip-based sequencing lets you create and reuse musical themes freely, so you can associate musical sections with game characters, locations, objects, and actions. Your creations can be saved and replayed using the compact MIDI file format, which adapts its sound automatically to the target hardware for the best possible sound reproduction.

About SONAR

Sound Production and Engineering

If you want to produce music CDs or master tapes, SONAR has virtually everything you need from recording to mixing and mastering. Multichannel recording lets you capture studio or live performances track by track. Reconfigurable buses provide full control over your mix. Real-time stereo effects like chorus, flange, reverb, and delay/echo can be applied as track inserts, in effects loops, or to the master mix. SONAR supports 44.1 KHz sampling for CD-quality sound, 24-bit/96 kHz sound for DVD-quality sound, and lets you choose from lower or higher sample rates as well. All audio effects are 32-bit floating point for faster processing and high-quality sound reproduction. Many effects now support 64-bit processing for pristine quality.

Web Authoring

SONAR is the ideal tool for developing and producing music and sound for the World Wide Web, because it lets you save your work in the formats that are most commonly used on web sites: MIDI, MP3, and Windows Media Advanced Streaming Format. Any SONAR project—musical composition, audio clip, commercial spot, jingle with voice-over—can be stored in a web-compatible format with a few simple mouse clicks.

Film and Video Scoring and Production

SONAR has many of the tools you need to execute audio post-production projects quickly and efficiently. SONAR provides chase lock sync to time code for frame-by-frame accuracy when synchronizing audio or MIDI to film or video. Or, you can turn chase lock off to conserve CPU power. SONAR provides high-quality time stretching and sample-accurate editing with zero-crossing detection so you can make the fine adjustments you need very quickly and easily. In addition, SONAR’s support for video files gives you convenient synchronized access to digitized video, making film and video scoring easier than ever.

Publishing Music on the Internet

Cakewalk Publisher allows you to easily present and share your music online. With Cakewalk Publisher, you can create a customized streaming music player with a playlist of your music, upload it to your personal or band's website, and embed it in any other website. You can also update your playlist with album art, links (URLs), and artist, track, & album information.

Burning Audio CDs

SONAR has integrated Audio CD burning, which allows you to write your audio tracks to an audio CD that can be played in any standard CD player.

About SONAR

Flexibility

SONAR works the way you want to work—you can customize screen layouts, toolbars, and audio and MIDI system configurations to make your work more efficient. SONAR integrates with other sound editing tools so you can access them in an instant without leaving SONAR. There are custom software modules to support specialized audio devices from Roland and Yamaha. SONAR’s unique StudioWare technology provides software interfaces for common studio hardware.

Computers, Sound, and Music

This section provides some background on the different ways that computers store and play sound and music. Computers work with sound and music in two different forms: MIDI and digital audio.

MIDI

MIDI (short for Musical Instrument Digital Interface) is the way computers communicate with most sound cards, keyboards, and other electronic instruments. MIDI refers to both the type of cables and plugs used to connect the computers and instruments, and to the language those computers and instruments use to talk to each other. The MIDI standard is accepted and used worldwide. Almost any electronic instrument you buy today will have MIDI connectors and can be used with other MIDI instruments and with your computer’s MIDI interface. To record MIDI in SONAR, you have to have a MIDI cable connecting the MIDI OUT port on your MIDI instrument to a MIDI IN port on either your sound card or your MIDI interface. You must also make sure that you have installed the software MIDI driver that came with your sound card or MIDI interface.

The MIDI language conveys information and instructions, both from the computer to the instrument and from the instrument to the computer. For example, if your computer wants your keyboard to play a note, it sends a MIDI “Note On” message and tells the keyboard which note to play. When your computer wants the keyboard to stop playing that note, it sends another message that stops the note from playing.

The MIDI language has many other instructions, such as messages to change the sound that is used to play the notes (the bank and patch), messages that enable working with the sustain pedal and the pitch-bend wheel, and others. By sending the right messages at the right times, your computer can control your electronic instrument and make it play music.

MIDI information can be sent on 16 different channels. You can set up your MIDI equipment to listen for messages on all channels or on only a few.

MIDI files contain all the MIDI messages and timing information that are needed to play a song. MIDI files can be read and played by many different programs, including SONAR, and can even be played by programs on other types of computers. MIDI files have the extension .mid.

Computers, Sound, and Music

There are several important advantages of the MIDI format:

• Large amounts of music can be stored in a very compact form

• Different parts of a piece can easily be assigned to any instrument you can imagine

• The music contains information on notes, tempos, and key signatures that makes it possible to

display and edit the piece using standard musical notation

The primary disadvantage of MIDI is that the quality of the sound a listener hears will vary depending on the MIDI equipment the listener is using. For example, MIDI usually sounds much better on an expensive synthesizer than it does on an inexpensive sound card.

Digital audio

Digital audio (frequently referred to here as just “audio”) is a simple way to record and play sounds of any type. It works like a tape recorder—you record something, then later play it back. Digital audio stores the sound as a long series of numbers. To record audio in SONAR, you have to have an audio cable connecting the audio output of your electronic instrument to the audio input on your sound card or audio hardware. If you’re recording vocals or an acoustic instrument, you need to connect a microphone to the audio input on your sound card or audio hardware.

Sound Waves

Sound waves are vibrations in the air. Sound waves are generated by anything that vibrates; a vibrating object causes the air next to it to vibrate, and the vibration is passed through the air in all directions. When the vibrating air enters your ear, it makes your eardrum vibrate, and you hear a sound. Likewise, if the vibrating air hits a microphone, it causes the microphone to vibrate and send electrical signals to whatever it's connected to.

These vibrations are very fast. The slowest vibration frequency you can hear is about 20 vibrations per second, and the fastest is around 16,000 to 20,000 vibrations per second.

Recording digital audio

To record digital audio, your computer monitors the electrical signal generated by a microphone, an electric guitar, or another source. At equal intervals of time (for CD-quality sound, this means 44,100 times a second), the computer measures and saves the strength of the electrical signal from the microphone, on a scale from 0 to 65,535.

That's it. Digital audio data is just a long series of numbers. The computer sends these numbers, in the form of electrical signals, to a speaker. The speaker then vibrates and generates the same sound that was recorded.

The primary advantage of digital audio is the quality of the sound. Unlike MIDI, a digital audio recording is very rich, capturing all the nuances, overtones, and other characteristics of the sound exactly as performed. The main drawback of digital audio is that it takes up a lot of disk space. To record a 1-minute segment of stereo, CD-quality digital audio, you need about 10 megabytes of disk space.

On the PC, digital audio is usually stored in Wave files (extension .wav). There are many programs available that let you create, play, and edit these files. SONAR reads, writes, and lets you edit Wave files.

Computers, Sound, and Music

Setup

5-pin DIN connector

You can install SONAR on any computer that runs Windows XP or x64 and has a sound card or built-in sound module. If you want to hook up other devices, like a MIDI keyboard, an electric guitar, or a microphone, you need the right cables, and you need to find the right connectors on your computer.

Before you install SONAR, take a minute to register the software so we can let you know when updates become available and provide you with technical support. To register anytime log onto www.cakewalk.com/register, or call 888-CAKEWALK (U.S.) or +(617)-423-9004 (outside the U.S.) between 9 AM and 8 PM Eastern Standard Time. If you live outside of North America, please visit our distributor’s page at www.cakewalk.com/Dealers/International.asp to get the telephone number of your local distributor. You’ll need to supply your serial number, your name, and a valid email address.

To connect a MIDI keyboard to your computer, you need standard MIDI cables or a MIDI adapter cable (joystick connector), such as the one available in Cakewalk’s PC Music Pack. One end of the adapter cable should have two 5-pin DIN connectors that connect to your keyboard or other MIDI device. At the other end, you need a 15-pin connector to connect to a sound card through its MIDI/ joystick port.

A. MIDI to 15 Pin Connector B. 15-pin connector (DB15)

If you have a dedicated MIDI interface, lots of electronic music gear, or work with many different music software packages, see the online help topic “Hardware Setup.”

Before you attach or detach any cables from your computer, you should shut down your computer and turn off the power to all your equipment. This greatly reduces the chance of electrical damage to your equipment while plugging and unplugging cables.

Setup

User accounts

Previous versions of SONAR required a user to have Windows Administrator status. This is no longer the case. Any level of user can now install and run SONAR. Only one copy of SONAR per machine is necessary for multiple users to run SONAR with each user’s personal settings.

When you first install SONAR, all application data files and .ini files are installed to the systemspecified “all users” application data folders:

Windows XP:

C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Cakewalk

Windows Vista:

C:\ProgramData\Cakewalk

When you launch SONAR for the first time, all content files (such as track templates and project templates) will be copied from the global application data folder (All Users) to the user application data folder (User Account), before the program launches.

If you install a SONAR patch on top of the original installation, any updated content files in the patch will not overwrite existing content files in your personal user application data folder. However, you can force SONAR to update the default content files in your personal user data folder.

Warning: The following action will overwrite any SONAR data files such as track templates

and project templates that you may have customized. A message box will prompt you if you wish

to continue or cancel. Only proceed if you are certain that you will not overwrite any important

customized files.

To force SONAR to update and overwrite any default content files, hold down the CTRL key while starting SONAR.

Data in the Program Files folder will be common to all users.

Audio connections

There are several types of audio interfaces (soundcards). CardBus (PCI), USB/USB2 and FireWire are the most common. Laptops can use an audio PCMCIA card. Many audio interfaces also have MIDI inputs and some have built in MIDI synthesizers as well. This section covers the various audio connection options.

Analog and digital Inputs

There are two basic types of audio inputs, analog and digital. Analog inputs allow you to connect a guitar, mic or other instrument to your computer directly. The audio interface converts the analog input to digital. Digital inputs allow other digital devices to connect directly to your computer. Common digital inputs include external analog to digital converters, popular guitar processors like the Line 6 POD, and other digital recording systems like the ADAT decks. Analog inputs are very common, and are standard in virtually all consumer sound cards (the ones that come with your PC). Digital inputs are becoming more popular and are very common on professional and mid-level, “prosumer” interfaces. Analog inputs allow you to record a mono or stereo signal (assuming you

Setup

have a stereo input) while digital inputs allow you to record 1 to 8 signals depending on the type of digital connection.

The following table describes the various analog inputs and outputs.

Type of analog input/output Description

Balanced (XLR, phono or RCA) A mono input/output

Unbalanced (TRS) A stereo or mono input/output

Table 1.

The following table describes the various digital inputs and outputs.

Type of digital input/output Description

S/PDIF Sony/Philips Digital Interface capable of carrying a stereo signal, S/

PDIF is transmitted via RCA, Toslink or more rarely BNC jacks (singlepin cable-TV connections).

ADAT Lightpipe Up to 8 channels of simultaneous transfer. If you want to import your old

TDIF Tascam Digital Interface up to 8 channels of simultaneous transfer.

AES/EBU Often referred to as simply AES, this type of digital connection uses a

Table 2.

ADAT material without any signal degradation, this is the connection you should use.

modified XLR cable to transfer a stereo signal.

Read your hardware documentation carefully to determine what kind of digital connections, if any, you have on your audio interface.

To connect an electric guitar or keyboard to your computer

• If your sound card has a 1/8 inch input jack (built-in sound cards that come with your PC usually do), plug your 1/4 inch mono guitar or audio cable into a 1/8 inch stereo adapter, and then plug the 1/8 inch adapter into the microphone input or line input jack on your computer sound card. If you are connecting a keyboard, the audio cable must go from the keyboard’s audio out or line out jack to the sound card input jack. 1/8 inch stereo adapters are available at consumer electronic supply stores.

• If you use a professional or “prosumer” sound card, there is probably a 1/4 inch input jack on your sound card or audio hardware interface that you can plug your guitar cable or audio cable into.

Setup

To connect a microphone to your computer

• If your sound card has a 1/8 inch input jack (built-in sound cards that come with your PC usually do), and your microphone cable has a 1/4 inch plug on the end, plug the mic cable into a 1/8 inch stereo adapter, and then plug the 1/8 inch adapter into the microphone input jack on your computer sound card. 1/8 inch stereo adapters are available at consumer electronic supply stores.

• If you use a professional or “prosumer” sound card, there is probably a 1/4 inch input jack on your sound card or audio hardware interface that you can plug your mic cable into.

• If your mic has a cable with an XLR plug on the end, and your sound card or audio hardware interface has a 1/4 inch input jack, plug the mic cable into an XLR-to-quarter inch adapter, and then plug your mic cable into your audio hardware. If your audio hardware has an XLR input, of course it’s better to use that.

• You can also plug your mic into a mixer or pre-amp, and connect the mixer or pre-amp to an input jack on your audio hardware. This is usually the best method.

That's it! Now that your instruments are all set to go, you can restart your computer and turn on your keyboard, guitar, and microphone.

For a complete description of audio input options, see the online help topic “Hardware Setup.”

MIDI Connections

There are three types of MIDI cables in common use. Here’s how to connect each of the three types:

• USB cable. This is extremely common. Many electronic keyboards and stand-alone MIDI interfaces use this type of connection. To use this type of connection, simply plug one end of the USB cable into the USB jack on your MDI keyboard or stand-alone MIDI interface, and plug the other end into your computer. If you are using a stand-alone USB MIDI interface, you then need to connect standard MIDI cables between your MIDI keyboard and your stand-alone MIDI interface (see the next procedure, below). If you haven’t already installed the software MIDI driver that came with your keyboard or interface, make sure you do so.

• Standard MIDI cable. This is also very common. MIDI keyboards usually have jacks for these cables even if they have a USB connection. You need two of these cables. To use this type of cable, use one cable to connect the MIDI OUT jack on your MIDI instrument to the MIDI IN jack on your stand-alone MIDI interface or sound card, and one to connect the MIDI IN jack on your MIDI instrument to the MIDI OUT jack on your stand-alone MIDI interface or sound card. Many stand-alone MIDI interfaces and audio interfaces use this type of connector.

Setup

Figure 1. Standard MIDI cable—use this if your MIDI interface has standard 5-pin input and output ports

• Joystick connector. This is becoming less common. This is the type of connection seen on older SoundBlaster type sound cards. To use this type of connection, find the end of one of the MIDI cables that is labeled OUT. Plug this connector into the MIDI IN jack on your electronic keyboard. The other 5-pin connector on the MIDI cable is labeled IN. Plug this connector into the MIDI OUT jack on your electronic keyboard. Plug the 15-pin connector on the MIDI cable into the MIDI/joystick port on your sound card. If you have a joystick, unplug it, plug in the MIDI cable, and plug the joystick into the pass-through connector on the MIDI cable.

Figure 2. Joystick connector—use this if your MIDI interface is the joystick port on your sound card.

A. Insert this MIDI IN plug into the MIDI OUT port on your MIDI instrument B. Insert this MIIDI OUT plug into the MIDI IN port on your MIDI instrument C. Insert this plug into the joystick port on your sound card

Changing I/O devices

You can add or remove USB/FireWire audio and MIDI devices while SONAR is running, and the audio and MIDI engines will dynamically respond to any changes.

When a device is added or removed, SONAR prompts you to confirm or cancel the change. If you click Yes , playback stops and the audio and MIDI engines reload.

Preserve selected audio devices on device changes

Enabled inputs and outputs are persisted per device and per driver mode. This prevents audio ports from shifting around and causing unwanted devices to become selected as active audio inputs and outputs. You can add a device back at any time and SONAR will remember the last set of enabled inputs and outputs for that device.

You can freely add or remove devices without impacting the current working set of enabled devices. Adding a device back will remember its last selected inputs and outputs. You can also switch driver

Setup

modes and the existing enabled devices will be remembered for the next time when you switch back to that mode.

Loading a project after changing audio devices

When loading a project after changing audio devices, SONAR will attempt to automatically remap any missing device to an equivalent new device. If an equivalent match is not found, the Missing Audio Outputs dialog appears, allowing you to manually reassign any unresolved output ports.

The Missing Audio Outputs dialog will suggest default assignments for any missing devices. You can click OK to accept the assignments, or click Cancel to preserve the original missing device assignments. You can also preserve the original missing device by selecting [Unassigned] from the Available Devices list. If you choose not to reassign a missing device, the Output port selection in SONAR will show the missing device name prefixed by MISSING.

Note: The Missing Audio Outputs dialog is not shown if there is only a single missing output port and only one available output port. In this case, SONAR will automatically assign the missing output port to the available output port.

Setup

Remapping using friendly driver names

When Use friendly names to represent audio drivers is selected in Options > Audio > Drivers, SONAR can intelligently remap devices across different hardware configurations or driver models by using your assigned friendly driver names, even if the hardware names do not match.

This can be very useful if you switch driver modes and load projects you worked on earlier in another driver mode, or if you collaborate with other people who have different hardware configurations. As long as you set up friendly names that match, all outputs will be automatically remapped.

Note: Remapping with friendly names takes precedence over the actual hardware device names.

Automatic MIDI port remapping for control surfaces

SONAR persists the names of MIDI ports that are assigned to control surfaces. This ensures that the correct MIDI ports are assigned to control surfaces, even if you add or remove other MIDI devices.

Setup

Starting SONAR

There are many different ways to start SONAR. Here are a few:

• Double-click the SONAR icon on your desktop.

• Click the Start button, and choose Programs > Cakewalk > SONAR 8.5 (Studio or Producer) > SONAR 8.5 (Studio or Producer).

• Click the Start button, point to Documents, and choose a SONAR project from the menu.

• Double-click the SONAR program or any SONAR document from the Windows Explorer or the Find menu.

When starting SONAR, you will see the Quick Start dialog box.

Figure 3. The Quick Start dialog

The Quick Start dialog box has several options:

Option How to use it

Open a Project Choose a project from the Open File dialog box to open it

Open a Recent Project Select a project from the list, and click this button to open it

Create a New Project Click here to create a new project.

Online Videos and more Click this link to view our tutorial videos online. An active Internet

connection is needed in order to access this content.

Getting Started Click here to view the Getting started topic in the Help file. This topic has

links to a glossary of terms, as well as some basic procedures.

Table 3.

Starting SONAR

If you don’t want to see the Quick Start dialog box in the future, uncheck the box at the bottom of the dialog box, and click Close. You can see the Quick Start dialog box later by choosing Help > Quick Start.

RIFF/MID will not launch SONAR when double-clicked

Note: Double-clicking RIFF MIDI files and Standard MIDI files will fail to launch SONAR even if these file types are associated with SONAR.

Migrating preferences

If you have a previous version of Cakewalk installed, SONAR will detect it and give you the option of migrating certain preferences from a single earlier version.

When you choose to migrate preferences, SONAR migrates the following settings from an earlier Cakewalk version:

Setting Description

Global Options Settings in the Global Options dialog. Open by selecting Options >

Key Bindings Your customized key bindings for controlling SONAR using your MIDI

Instrument Definitions Files used to control specific MIDI instruments.

Audio data directory (WaveData folder) and Picture Cache directory locations

Table 4.

Global.

keyboard or computer keyboard.

SONAR uses the Data directory and Picture Cache directories from the previous Cakewalk version for storing project wave files and their waveform image files.

Running Wave Profiler

The first time you start SONAR, it automatically runs the Wave Profiler utility. Wave Profiler determines the proper MIDI and Audio timings for your sound card and writes them to a file that SONAR refers to when using the card. Wave Profiler does not change the sound card’s DMA, IRQ, or port address settings.

Wave Profiler detects the make and model of your sound card, which determine the card’s audio characteristics. If Wave Profiler finds a card that has a WDM driver, it only profiles that card. If you want to use more than one sound card at a time, and they don’t both have WDM drivers, you must force the one with the WDM driver to use that driver as an older, MME driver. It is not necessary to run the Wave Profiler for a sound card using an ASIO driver. For more information about Wave Profiler, WDM, and MME, see the online help topic The Wave Profiler.

Starting SONAR

When Wave Profiler determines the kind of card you have, always accept the default settings.

Note: You can run the Wave Profiler again at a later time (for example, if you install a new sound card or driver) by choosing the Options > Audio General tab command and clicking Wave Profiler.

Setting up the MIDI In and MIDI Out devices

When you start SONAR for the first time, it checks your computer to find all the MIDI input and output devices you have installed (such as sound cards and MIDI interfaces). However, sometimes you need to tell SONAR exactly which devices you want it to use. If you’re not getting sound from your sound card or MIDI keyboard, or if you just want to change the MIDI outputs and devices that you are using, follow the steps in this section.

Choose Options > MIDI Devices to open a dialog box in which you select the MIDI In and MIDI Out devices that SONAR will use. Each item in the list is a MIDI Input or MIDI Output from drivers installed using the Windows Control Panel.

1. Select Options > MIDI Devices. You will see the MIDI Devices dialog box, which lets you choose instruments on MIDI inputs and outputs.

Figure 4. The MIDI Devices dialog

2. Look at the top window. Notice that it shows devices on MIDI Inputs; make sure that all devices in

this window are checked. If a device isn’t checked, click on it once to select it for MIDI Input.

3. Look at the window on the bottom. Notice that it shows devices on MIDI Outputs. SONAR numbers its MIDI Outputs by the order of the devices in this window. The device on top is on Output 1, the one below it is on Output 2, and so on.

Starting SONAR

4. Check one device at a time in the Outputs window and click Move Selected Devices to Top to change its order. Then check all the devices that appear in the window to select them for output.

Tip:

Be sure to enable (check) MIDI output devices in the

MIDI Devices

play songs in SONAR.

command). If you don’t do this, you won’t hear any of your MIDI instruments when you

MIDI Devices

dialog (use the

Options >

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 Options > 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 Options > MIDI Devices command to enable the new driver in SONAR’s list.

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.

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. See the online help topic: Instrument Definitions for more information.

SONAR basics

SONAR’s menus and toolbars 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.

SONAR basics

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. 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.

Groove clips are audio clips which have tempo and pitch information embedded within them, allowing them to follow changes to the project tempo or project pitch. You can click on either edge of a Groove clip and drag out repetitions in the track.

Events are MIDI data (in MIDI tracks) or automation data.

SONAR file types

Projects in SONAR can be saved as a project file with the extension .cwp or as a Bundle file with the extension .cwb.

For a complete description of the differences between project files and bundle files, see the online help topic Project Files and Bundle Files.

Other types of files

SONAR lets you create and work with several other types of files, in addition to project (.cwp) and bundle (.cwb) files that store your projects:

File type Description

MIDI files (extension .mid) Standard MIDI files.

Template files (extension .tpl) Templates for new files you create

StudioWare (extension .CakewalkStudioware) To control external MIDI devices from SONAR

OMF (extension .omf) Open Media Framework format files.

Table 5.

SONAR basics

Opening a file

Use the following procedure to open a file.

To open a file in SONAR

1. If you haven't already done so, start SONAR.

2. Choose File > Open.

3. In the Open dialog box, navigate to the directory where the project you want to open is located

and select it.

4. Click the Open button.

5. If you are opening an OMF file, the Unpack OMF dialog appears. Set the initial tempo and specify

the directory where you want to save the file and its audio. For more information about opening OMF files, see Unpack OMF dialog in the online help.

SONAR loads the project.

Views

SONAR displays your project in windows on the screen that are known as views. You can have many views open at once, all showing the same project. When you edit a project in one view, the other related views are updated automatically.

The Track View

Track view is the main window that you use to create, display, and work with a project. When you open a project file, SONAR displays the Track view for the project. When you close the Track view for a project, SONAR closes the file.

The Track view is divided into several sections: toolbars (at the top), the Navigator pane, the Video Thumbnails pane, the Track pane, the Track/Bus Inspector, the Clips pane, and the Bus pane. You can change the size of the panes by dragging the vertical or horizontal splitter bars that separate them.

SONAR basics

Figure 5. The Track view

A. The Track Pane B. The Clips Pane C. Clips D. Splitter bars E. Show/hide bus pane F. Track/Bus Inspector G. Minimized tracks H. Expanded track I. The Video Thumbnails Pane

All of the current track’s controls, plus a few that are only available in the Console view, are contained in the Track/Bus Inspector which is an expanded version of the current track’s controls located on the far left side of the Track view. You can hide or show the Track/Bus Inspector by pressing I on your keyboard (see “Track/Bus Inspector” on page 31, for more information).

The Tra ck pane lets you see and change the initial settings for each track. By default, the current track is displayed in gold. To change the current track, move the highlight using the mouse or the keyboard as follows:

What it does Key

Moves the highlight to the next or previous control. LEFT/RIGHT ARROW

Moves to the same control in the adjacent track, or the next track of the same type if the control only applies to a specific track type (for example, the Patch control only applies to MIDI tracks).

Displays the next page of tracks. PAGE DOWN

Displays the previous page of tracks. PAGE UP

Table 6.

UP/DOWN ARROW

SONAR basics

What it does Key

Moves the focus to the first track. HOME

Moves the focus to the last track. END

Table 6.

The current track’s controls are contained in the Track/Bus Inspector.

The Clips pane shows the clips in your project on a horizontal timeline called the Time Ruler that helps you visualize how your project is organized. Clips contain markings that indicate their contents. The Clips pane lets you select, move, cut and copy clips from place to place to change the arrangement of music and sound in your project.

The Bus pane shows the buses in the project, and also shows any editing views that are in tabbed (docked) format. The Show/Hide Bus pane button allows you to show or hide the Bus pane at

the bottom of the Track view.

The Navigator pane displays a large part of your project so you can see an overview of your song. The Navigator pane displays all of your project’s tracks.

The Track view makes it easy to select tracks, clips, and ranges of time in a project. These are the most common selection methods:

To Do this

Select tracks Click on the track number, or drag over several track numbers

Select clips Click on the clip, or drag a rectangle around several clips

Select time ranges Drag in the Time Ruler, or click between two markers

Select partial clips Hold down the ALT key while dragging over a clip

Table 7.

As with most other Windows programs, you can also use the SHIFT-click and CTRL-click combinations when selecting tracks and clips. Holding the SHIFT key while you click adds tracks or clips to the current selection. Holding the CTRL key while you click lets you toggle the selection status of tracks or clips.

SONAR basics

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